very good of you to hold your tongue in this situation. though i know it must have been VERY hard. but as you well know, the culture is different and it is no use arguing with someone who feels that way. now, if you were having this conversation with the same man, and he was living in the US, then yeah, i could totally debate the issues with him. i can only imagine how hard that experience was. hopefully having the "Uzbek women" around keeps such things from happening... women are natural mediators you know *wink* in almost any culture

if you dont mind me asking, how did you decide on going to Uzbekistan for your studies vs somewhere else? Its not a choice that I have ever heard of before... however, what bit of your posts and journal that I have read, it seems to be a very interesting place. (read interesting = different = i like different from a learning perspective)