Tashkent.....Finally!

[Lily]

Are you a novelist Mir? perhaps you could offer JR a co-authorship   I agree that it remembers O'Henry stories.

JR, I am simply out of words after having read this thread. If I'd be an esotheric adept, I'd probably say that some supreme forces lead you even under dire circumstances.

P.S. Folks, could you please enlighted me on what is tucked vs. untucked shirt?

[Ade]

Not to seem unwise by the words of Mrs Stepford wifey but I agree it's more of a fashion thing and what was the "in thing" whilst one was of an age when such things mattered; it has little to do with weight primarily.

Strangely enough, or perhaps not, there seems to be reams of google-results related to tucked or untuck shirts. Whoda thunk it ay.

http://www.yelp.com/topic/san-francisco-tucked-vs-untucked

http://www.mensflair.com/fashion-q-a/should-the-shirt-be-tucked-or-untucked.php


FYI, I'm generally an untucker - and I can see why it may be construed as a weight related issue when I'm all of 76kg.

P.S. Folks, could you please enlighted me on what is tucked vs. untucked shirt?

Lilly,

[Boethius]

Thanks for the laugh, SJ.

[BillyB]

  You seem deserving of everything you are seeking.

If the lady who JR visited recognizes that, it may just happen.

[Gylden]

Billy,
You mean her sister!!!
 

[BillyB]

Lol. I should rephrase that with "If the lady who JR  WANTED to visit recognizes that, it may just happen."

[Lily]

SJ, thank you for great illustration combined with little lesson in style

[IAmZon]

I wear my shirt half tucked in and half tucked out.

Really looking forward to JR's next installment.

[JR]

Friday was my last day in Tashkent and O had arranged for me to go to the opera with Anna and Sergei. We were waiting at O's apartment and I thought we would all go together. But O told me that she and Ruslan were going to the clinic to see if she was pregnant, at the restaurant she had confided to me that she might be. I asked if they wanted a girl or another boy (they already have two boys). Anna is hoping for a girl and Ruslan indicated he would be happy either way. I told them girls give more love))) O and Ruslan left a few minutes before us. We risked the elevator down to the street, it is pitch black inside. Sergei told me they rigged the lights to turn off when the doors close to keep kids from playing with it.

We caught a ride with a civilian taxi. Anna and the driver engaged in conversation and Sergei pointed out the Uzbekistan "White House" and other points of interest. We damn near got into an accident. I don't know why they bother painting lines on those roads! Lane discipline is non-existent. But one thing you don't see there is people pushing a light at an intersection. I was amazed by that. Only once did I see someone run a light. A light begins to change and those people stop. I got the impression it was understood there wouldn't be much mercy for someone caught running a light.

We made it to the opera house alive, crossed the street and headed for the entrance. I was a little surprised by the guys at the front door with metal detector wands. I thought perhaps we were early because there weren't many people there yet. We walked around a little and took a couple photos. We headed in to take our seats and to my surprise we had front row center. From what I was able to deduce the ballet was about some bird that had to make a choice between two suitors. Her choice did not please the jilted suitor and so he collaborated with a king from the east to capture the bird. The bird rejected the King's advance and the chosen suitor disguised himself (or became one of them) to be near her. Anyway, he eventually won her back.

After the performance we waited outside for the driver to show up. As we did Sergei and I chatted as best we could. He related to me how K's father had been murdered (he did this by miming a knife to my stomach) when she was two and a half years old. O was with the driver and we all piled in. They dropped me off first and O related that they would pick me up at 2 AM to take me to the airport. I thanked them and headed in to try to get a few hours of sleep. I thought about just staying up as I didn't have an alarm clock. I wasn't sleepy just yet so I read for about an hour and then lay down on the bed fully clothed.

[BillyB]

We caught a ride with a civilian taxi.

Is there any other kind of taxi? I used to think there was a difference but after being told enough times every car is a "taxi", I got the point. How much you paying for your taxi rides around town?

Have you been to a cafe where a belly dancer entertains the customers? It's hard to stay focused on a lady when the belly dancer is shaking her breasts right next to your face.   I stayed focused on my ex fiancee. If I had turned my head, my nose would have been in the belly dancer's cleavage. That's how close she got to me.

How many times did you have to squat going #2?

[Seeker]

Friday was my last day in Tashkent and O had arranged for me to go to the opera with Anna and Sergei. We were waiting at O's apartment and I thought we would all go together. But O told me that she and Ruslan were going to the clinic to see if she was pregnant, at the restaurant she had confided to me that she might be. I asked if they wanted a girl or another boy (they already have two boys). Anna is hoping for a girl and Ruslan indicated he would be happy either way. I told them girls give more love))) O and Ruslan left a few minutes before us. We risked the elevator down to the street, it is pitch black inside. Sergei told me they rigged the lights to turn off when the doors close to keep kids from playing with it.

We caught a ride with a civilian taxi. Anna and the driver engaged in conversation and Sergei pointed out the Uzbekistan "White House" and other points of interest. We damn near got into an accident. I don't know why they bother painting lines on those roads! Lane discipline is non-existent. But one thing you don't see there is people pushing a light at an intersection. I was amazed by that. Only once did I see someone run a light. A light begins to change and those people stop. I got the impression it was understood there wouldn't be much mercy for someone caught running a light.

We made it to the opera house alive, crossed the street and headed for the entrance. I was a little surprised by the guys at the front door with metal detector wands. I thought perhaps we were early because there weren't many people there yet. We walked around a little and took a couple photos. We headed in to take our seats and to my surprise we had front row center. From what I was able to deduce the ballet was about some bird that had to make a choice between two suitors. Her choice did not please the jilted suitor and so he collaborated with a king from the east to capture the bird. The bird rejected the King's advance and the chosen suitor disguised himself (or became one of them) to be near her. Anyway, he eventually won her back.

After the performance we waited outside for the driver to show up. As we did Sergei and I chatted as best we could. He related to me how K's father had been murdered (he did this by miming a knife to my stomach) when she was two and a half years old. O was with the driver and we all piled in. They dropped me off first and O related that they would pick me up at 2 AM to take me to the airport. I thanked them and headed in to try to get a few hours of sleep. I thought about just staying up as I didn't have an alarm clock. I wasn't sleepy just yet so I read for about an hour and then lay down on the bed fully clothed.

JR, this is one of the strangest and most endearing stories I have read here.  And it shows what kind of person you really are.  Thank you for sharing it with us... with all of its strange twists and outcomes.  Of course like many others I am wondering where it goes from here.  I guess only time will tell.   

But we all have our imaginations.     And I am sure you will hear about them.

[Mir]

Are you a novelist Mir? perhaps you could offer JR a co-authorship

No just a humble doctor hoping to do a Bulgakov or Chekov one day.

JR will get an acknowledgment but not a co-authorship.

[Seeker]

No just a humble doctor hoping to do a Bulgakov or Chekov one day.

JR will get an acknowledgment but not a co-authorship.

JR, I will give you lead credit and just ghost-author it if I get 40% of the net profits.

 

Let the bidding war begin. 

Seriously, it is a great story.  And I am sure it is not your only adventure. 

You should write it all down.  You never know...

[Chicagoguy]

How to turn lemons into lemonade !!

[Seeker]

How to turn lemons into lemonade !!

Or just how to be a good man (person) no matter what happens.


And of course suffer the huge financial loss that comes with that.      But It seems he enjoyed it.  Not the loss, but the convoluted gain.  And as Pandora showed, there is nothing left but hope.  I admire JR's hope.  Only he has even .0013927% of the truth.  And I applaud him. 

Still, there is always the future....  I know I have my preference about what I would want to hear next in this adventure.  I am a romantic at heart.  But it is not up to me.  I wish the best JollyRats.  As sick as it might seem, you are one of the ones that gave me faith in this bizarre collection of people I now call home.  Damn, I have an empty life.

[CanadaMan]

Nice report JR.

Here's the part I don't understand. As Aloe already alluded to, why didn't you hunt her down?

You spent at least a couple grand on this trip, possibly more, and the time investment was huge.

It's not as if she would have been difficult to track down either. Her family, who you were spending all of your time with, had to know exactly where she was.

Even with the most busy of work schedules, surely she would have been able to have at least a coffee with you for 10 or 15 minutes?

You travel half way around the world to meet this woman, yet you don't go the extra few hundred miles/kms to travel to her working town? I just don't get it.
Surely you must have thought of this? What was stopping you?

[Dave13]

CanadaMan, Very good question? ??? ???

[Dave13]

JR, With such a large city, population 2,180,000 plus you had your own flat, why not go out and try to meet some interesting ladies.

[ML]

You travel half way around the world to meet this woman, yet you don't go the extra few hundred miles/kms to travel to her working town? I just don't get it.
Surely you must have thought of this? What was stopping you?

Didn't she actually go to another country?
That would be another visa for JR with inherent time delays getting it, etc.

[rjd400]

JR, With such a large city, population 2,180,000 plus you had your own flat, why not go out and try to meet some interesting ladies.

I'm in no way going to speak for JR, as I'm sure he has his own reasons, but after corresponding with a gal for some time, while you may not be "in love" you may certainly have some feeling of connection, maybe even responsibility, and that coupled with the fact it seems like he had a LOT of time with her family, is probably a good reason, at least in my eyes, of why he didn't go out looking for others.

I've been corresponding with a gal from Tashkent for a few months now and to be honest, if I was in the same circumstance <me praying to the gods that's not the case, as I'm not nearly as resilient at JR >, I don't think I'd go looking for anyone else either. 

Just my 2 cents.

If this "works out" for JR, it will really renew my faith in the whole notion of romance, I have to say that.  Lately, it's been feeling a little thin....

[CanadaMan]

Didn't she actually go to another country?
That would be another visa for JR with inherent time delays getting it, etc.

Yeah she went to Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Still just a hop on a plane for an hour's flight max.
It takes three business days to get a Tajikistan visa for an American.

Again, this would be peanuts compared to all the effort required to get there in the first place. Even if it meant extending his trip a few days, wouldn't you say it would be worth the effort; to meet her on this trip?

[Dave13]

RJD400, Ok, its not a real relationships until you meet and most guys never get their butt on the plane, so if you take the time to actually travel thousands of miles to visit a lady, if she says I can't meet you at the last minute, ???
 Doesn't the lady have some responsibility, if a RW is interested in you, believe me, she will let you know it  . But she doesn't even meet you, come on guys lets be real about this.

Dave

[BillyB]

JR, With such a large city, population 2,180,000 plus you had your own flat, why not go out and try to meet some interesting ladies.

I would have done that. If not to look for a relationship, to find new contacts and friends. Whether or not people agree with JR's actions, it says something about his character that he can be dedicated and devoted to one woman and he probably showed good manners in front of the lady's family. The woman he visited has yet to display she could be dedicated and devoted or displayed any good or bad behavior so JR has more to learn about the woman than the woman has to learn about him.

If this story has an happy ever ending, they will have something to talk about for years. If it doesn't end up happy, JR may kick himself in the butt for walking past a number of attractive ladies on the street without talking to them and ignoring what could've been his destiny.

[Chicagoguy]

Billy, there is a possibility that her family could have noticed him chasing another woman and he would have lost his sainthood.

[Mir]

So the plot of this story is:

Man corresponds with a girl in Kiev and decides to visit her.
When he arrives there and turns on his cell there is a message from her that she had to leave as she got a job in Turkey.
Man meets with her family who tell him that she has simply disappeared since she left for Turkey.
Man hunts her down and finds out she is being held by White slavers in Turkey.
Man rescues her and they live happily ever after.
Any suggestions about the title?