"Do you live in a 3rd world country?" or 50 pounds of cheese

We are back from winter break. Surprisingly enough it only took us 20 minutes to get through passport control and customs at the Tashkent Airport, not the normal 2-3 hours. This seems to be some sort of record among our colleagues. We’ll see what happens next time.

One thing that people do while they are away from Tashkent is to stock up on things that are unavailable here or are expensive, like good red wine, cheese or certain products from the drug store. Like others, Jeanette and I bought a few items while we were in Maryland over break, enough to fill an extra suitcase for the return trip. On one of our purchasing trips to CVS (local drug store), we placed so many bottles of contact lens solution, packets of Emergency, multi-vitamins and ibuprofen on the counter that the clerk asked Jeanette, “What, do you live in a 3^rd world country or something?” We both chuckled, realizing that we do live in a pretty unusual place, even if we would not call it 3^rd world.

We arrived in Tashkent early Saturday morning, and had a get-together with colleagues to share stories. Like us, the elementary principal and her family did some shopping. One day they went to Wal-Mart to purchase some cheese, cheddar cheese specifically. As they stood in line, the clerk proceeded to scan their items. And after scanning 50 pounds of cheese, turned to them and said, “Ya’ll sure do like cheese, don’t ya’!” Indeed they do, and with 6 people in their family, they ended up with more than 50 pounds in their 11 bags. Needless to say, they did not get through the airport in 20 minutes.