6 Comments

1. 

   Elizaveta on April 25, 2023 at 8:33 am

   Thank you, Tim, for a lively and picturesque story about your travel. One can immediately notice that your memories are still bright and fresh. It’s always fascinating to see a subjective side of this too. I would probably have taken tons of photos of decorative patterns, carpets or textile, mosques and food. One question: how do people get around between cities? Is there a railroad system, or is it impossible because of the mountains?

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     English With Tim on April 27, 2023 at 12:47 am

     Hi Elizaveta!
     I did not notice a single railway or train station while traveling around the country. Google Maps shows two train stations in Dushanbe and a few other cities, but the main way to get around the country is definitely minibus or private car.

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     English With Tim on April 27, 2023 at 1:04 am

     About mosques and their decorative patterns- there actually were not many mosques. The calls to prayer were also conspicuously absent. The country is ostensibly Muslim, but the president, who also claims to be a devout Muslim, requires men to shave their beards and forbids parents from giving their children Arab names. In other words, the government tries to walk the line between two facts: first, that the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, and second that the poverty of the country, its proximity to Afghanistan and Islam’s status as an often political religion.
     There is a gargantuan new mosque in Dushanbe, but it was built as a gift from a Gulf Arab state (forgive me for not recalling who). I do regret not visiting it, but a lot of my time was spent working- doing interviews and then summarizing them.
     If I am fortunate enough to return, I will certainly visit more mosques!

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2. 

   Elizaveta on April 25, 2023 at 8:44 am

   And another thought for English teachers: the episode can be easily used in English lesson with some preparation. My German students like to listen to one podcast (or I make them do that;) where the presenter explains some vocabulary items at the end and provides a worksheet with the explanations.
   L

   PS Looking forward to the episode on Bangladesh. I’ve been several times in India, it’s interesting to compare.

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3. 

   English With Tim on April 27, 2023 at 12:52 am

   Hi again!
   I admit that I had to put this episode together a bit hastily- there were some health issues in the house this week and as I got close to completing what I had originally planned, I realized that what I wanted to do had a flaw in it and so decided to do something else rather late.

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     Elizaveta Gorskaya on April 28, 2023 at 2:46 pm

     The episode came out great, don’t overthink it. Stay well and healthy!

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