Skip to main content

A Volunteer and the FBI

Image
By
Some of you might have heard of Christine's troubles with the FBI (a friend of Jelte thought that gave her a lot of extra credit). Signing up for a volunteer job involves filling out a lot of forms; one of those is a criminal record check, which after 9/11, in the USA, is being handled by the FBI. We were warned about their bureaucracy but didn't expect that they couldn't read Christine's fingerprints which we heard a week before our intended day of departure to Dushanbe.

A frantic couple of days followed with Christine re-issuing her fingerprints (three sets to be on the safe side), follow up calls from England and Holland to chase the FBI,  all in the hope that we would make our scheduled departure from Frankfurt on Sunday Oct 2. We almost made it (one UPS delivery too late) but are happy to report that we are getting out of Europe on Wednesday October 6, arrival in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 3.20 AM local time October 7.  A huge THANK YOU  to 'Monica' at the FBI from Christine.  She's sure that without your incredible customer service and efficiency, she would still be languishing in Holland.  For the followers; in hours, Dushanbe is + 13 from LA, + 5 from London and + 4 from Amsterdam (so we will start really bright and early).

Every cloud has a silver lining of course, since the short delay gave us the opportunity to stock up on necessary supplies and medicines (thanks to our local GP), download all the books we wanted on our Ipad and to catch up with old friends in the UK and Holland.

So now it's on our way to Frankfurt to catch a 'plane to Tajikistan, where, it seems, they are waiting for us. There were already reports in the local press about two tourism advisors, who were on their way (that's us folks). Can't wait to get going....

Comments

  1. kay*October 5, 2010 at 10:31 AM

    so glad to read an update from you guys and i'm glad that everything worked out! so excited to read about your adventure and to hear more about what it's like in Tajikistan - and pics too!

    and yay! you decided on an iPad! how are you liking it?

    safe travels - looking forward to your next update from Taji!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andi of My Beautiful AdventuresOctober 9, 2010 at 5:50 AM

    Good luck with your trip! What an interesting country you're going to.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cross Border Markets and our First Tajik Wedding

By
The kids (here at a wedding) are all right - always It's Friday afternoon, 4:30 pm and a colleague mentions, by-the-way,  that Monday is a holiday as Constitution day falls on Saturday, 6th November.  A long week-end with places to go and things to see!!  To hell with a two week pile of unwashed clothes!   Here in Khorog, every Saturday morning  there is a cross-border market, which is the closest we can get to actually visiting Afghanistan.   View from the bridge in our village towards Afghanistan At 10 am Jelte, Rod and I hail a 'cab' and for the price of  just one Somoni each (the equivalent of 30c or 20p) we share a 'golf cart' - commonly known as a Chinese van - with 4 other passengers to take us to the site of the cross-border market.  When we arrive, things are just beginning to come alive.   Standing out in the crowd We wander around the few stalls of fruits and clothes and odds and ends. Jelte and Rod si...
Post a Comment
Read more

Boom-boxes, Birds and Bush-masters

By
 Memories go back to  Tajikistan; here an Afghan trader at one of the border markets Our memories drift back to October 2010, Dushanbe, the Prospekt Medical Clinic at Rudaki Avenue, the boulevard that dissects the capital of Tajikistan......... .................As part of the VSO-CUSO in-country training programs, new arriving volunteers have to meet with the staff of an always private local hospital to understand, what living in a new environment means and what bacteria, viruses and rabid dogs are on the loose and will visit the ignorant new-comers (unfortunately with alarming frequency). In Dushanbe we meet with the (German) Herr Dr. Andreas Hencko, an interesting, quirky and fascinating character. The older volunteers, quite unceremoniously, refer to him as Dr. Death. In a mere 20 minutes he manages to scare the bejeezus out of us hardy volunteers, with stories about the use of un-boiled or untreated water (filter first, boil twice), meat bought at the local ...
4 comments
Read more

Dongles, Trotters and Opera

By
Detail of the famous Rohat National Tea House Welcome luncheon with VSO Tajikistan staff Ten days into our arrival and we're finding our way around this fascinating part of the world.  We're still in Dushanbe, waiting for permits to allow us into the GBAO (Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast); our final destination is Khorogh, in the Pamirs.  The town nestles between the mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan and is the Oblast's capital.  Twenty-eight thousand people, predominantly Ismaili Muslims, live here.    From Dushanbe,  Khorogh can be reached by either road (497 km) or small aircraft if the weather permits.      So, now we have completed our 10 day In Country Training and are ready and raring to start work as Tourism Advisors to the MSDSP (Mountain Societies Development Services Programme)....... Still in a holding pattern: gives us time to explore Dushanbe and its attractions.  Saturday, one of our co-volunteers...
4 comments
Read more