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

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

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

Spring and summer in Tajikistan

By
Spring has arrived; also in the Botanical Gardens It’s been over a month since we were last in touch……   No thanks to our Russian internet service providers on which we are so dependent.   But life trundles on here, albeit at a pace that makes us wonder what we will look like when we emerge in October from our Tajik chrysalis into the real world of stress and bits and bytes and innumerable options on the type of coffee we would like to order.   In Khorog, the choice of coffee is simple; instant – with or without sugar or milk.   That’s it!   No decisions over the fat content of the milk, no choice of sweetener and heaven forbid that you can decide on the roast of the bean, its origin or the depth of the froth on the drink.   So, THANK YOU to our friends for maintaining our Western stress levels.   We happily raise our coffee cups to you every morning when we brew our choice of ‘Seattle’s Best, Douwe Egbers, Lavazza, Illy, Peet’s (still on its way w...
3 comments
Read more