Thanks for sharing, and keep it coming!
There's not to much more to say since this trip was more business than pleasure. But I've got one more post in me for this thread.
Last weekend when I call Natalia, she was babysitting her 3 year old niece Alina and asked her if she wanted to talk to me. Aline initially said "no" but later changed her mind as she had something important to say. She gets on the phone and yells out the Russian pronunciation for "monkey" and then gives the phone back to Natalia. A month and a half and she still remembers our debate. She won't let me forget!
There were a variety of men on my flight from Frankfurt to Tashkent. Some seem to be educated and others were not. As I was waiting over an hour for my luggage to show up since the conveyor belt broke 5 times, one American man from a small town in Minnesota who talks with his mouth on one side of his face inches away from mine said it was his first time in Uzbekistan and basically his first time anywhere and was a little worried. I said the people are friendly here and it's safe enough to hitch hike compared to America. He went on to tell me of a story of a woman he picked up hitch hiking and drove her 50 miles(80km) to his hometown and she asked him to rent her a room in a motel. He did and come to find out, she destroyed the room and when he went back to talk to the motel manager, the manager told him that wasn't a woman he picked up, it was a man. I hope he wasn't going to tell the woman he's visiting that story. It's best to learn from his stupidity instead of advertise it. It's also a behavior I've notice in a lot of men. They go out of their way to do things and spend money on women they don't know. If he knew that woman was a man, he may have not picked her up or put her in a motel for the night.
The guy went over to talk to a couple of German guys and all three of them where chain smoking while waiting for their luggage and throwing their cigarette butts on the floor. These guys were setting poor examples as they had no discipline to obey the "NO Smoking" signs posted everywhere.
Ernest the apartment manager says most of his customers are decent men but he's had some strange ones. One guy had a habit of inviting young neighborhood boys to his apartment every night for free booze and a party. The boys parents asked Ernest to never rent to that guy again. I know some men who come to Tashkent are sex tourists. I'm sure some sincere RW are meeting these sex tourists unfortunately. I once got a call from a guy working at a strip club asking for Chris. After I told him Chris don't live at the apartment anymore, he asked me if I needed a girl.
When cruising around Tashkent to find the new location of the US embassy, Ernest stopped many times and men were friendly and shook his hands. When he asked for directions from women, they kept their distance I noticed. Maybe they already have a man and giving no impression they're available. Uzbeks have been friendly with me. when they find out I'm from Seattle, a few commented that it's the sister city of Tashkent and one said that's where Bruce Lee is from which is true since he's buried here and went to the University of Washington. Uzbeks seem to know much about American life. Most Americans probably never heard of Uzbekistan. When Americans ask where's it at, I just tell them it shares a norther border with Afghanistan. Of course by saying that, it raises their eyebrows.
One interesting story Ernest told me was that the President of Uzbekistan's daughter is marry to a man who owns the right to bottle Coca Cola there. Once she got upset with her husband and for a while, there was no Coca Cola manufactured in Uzbekistan. I guess it's not smart to piss her off!
Black was the prevailing color men wore during the cold month of February I was there. Women did mix it up the colors a little.
Things are still going well for Natalia and I.
