31 Days in Kyrgzstan

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Day 31, July 26, 2009, Sunday, Jekshembi

I had planned a couple of middle of the night calls early this morning to the West Coast of the US to get some updates from my friends Ray and Tariq. I had given myself one of those auto suggestions that allow me to wake up at a specified time for 2 am. There is a thirteen hour difference and I thought that calling around that time would be best for both of them. But when I woke up, the phone was not where I left it. Timka had struck again. He is a good kid but he sometimes fails to check with me before he takes off with the phone.

He is using the mp3 player in this Nokia N95 to listen to rap music. I don't mind him doing so, except for when he runs the battery down and does not charge it up. Most of the time he asks, but last night he did not. I was really angry at 2 am, but then finally decided I would just let him know about the issue this morning when I had had a chance to sleep on it.

So, he brought me the phone this morning when he woke up. There was a message from my friend Ulan that his wife had had a little boy during the night. I told Timka that I had been planning to make calls during the night and that I was surprised to find the phone missing. “I was listening,” he said.

“I know, but you took it without asking me.”
“You were sleeping.”
“Then your options were to wake me and ask, or to not take the phone.”
No response.
No apology.

It has become one of my pet peaves with the culture. No one ever apologizes even when they cause grievous harm. No one really respects the privacy of others, either. A closed door is an invitation to open it. No one knocks, they just enter. God forbid that you were doing something private, it could prove very embarrassing.

I have nothing to write about since I have really done nothing for several days now. I am going to make a break for it later today, though. I will walk after 6 pm over to the nearby park and try to find a taxi to get me down to the ZUM and where I know there are Apoteka's. I have to do something about this runny nose.

I need to move some things into the computer from the camera, and need to create a Timka playlist on the iTunes that will give him what he listens to on the phone.

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