Autumn
My last blog took me weeks to complete just so I could see this website platform mark it as a five-minute read. I love history and it's so much more satisfying to write about, but it's unsustainable to do all the time. So, here's a quick little life update instead.
Autumn has fall-en in Tashkent (see what I did there?), and there has literally been no period of time in which my mini-split hasn't been working for its life. I arrived when it was boiling, and then, one random day in October, it got too cold for my Arizonan soul. My monthly electric bill has doubled since I changed from A/C to heat, a huge leap from $3.90 to $7.80.
There's also a certain amount of feeling like you are living in a simulation in Uzbekistan in the colder months. Firstly, after work, I step into the metro in the daylight and step out at night. It's an icky feeling. Additionally, they just keep planting pansies and replacing them every time they die. This latest planting of pansies was bordered in...kale?
I also really struggle with temperature control here and what to wear. Take the following scenario:
Get out of bed and step onto the balcony to check the temperature. It's cold. Put on a jacket.
Walk 6/10 of a mile to the metro station, warm up a little, and unzip the jacket.
Step down into the metro only to be hit with a heatwave from the magma at the center of the earth.
Cram into the subway car wedged in amongst the other warm-bodied folks with the heat on. Be the only one sweating; it's awkward. How is everyone okay?
Transfer trains and eventually climb out of the metro into the frigid air. Zip back up but recognize the sweat that pooled under the backpack.
Hike up to the office on the fifth floor. Too hot again and there's a space heater blasting. Strip down to a t-shirt. Everyone worries that it's too cold and death is imminent despite a very visible sweat mustache.
Head to the unheated classroom and put the damp jacket back on.
Rinse and repeat as needed.
Taco Baked Potato
Note: This is not how I would do it in the US, but Uzbekistan has her own rules.
Cook time: 40 minutes
Serving: 1 person over several days
Ingredients
Taco seasoning
6 parts chili powder
4 parts ground cumin (unground works in a pinch)
2 parts paprika
2 parts salt
1 part black pepper
1 part dried oregano
A heart's measure of garlic (there's no garlic powder here, so I chop it and at it fresh)
A heart's measure of onion (see note about garlic powder)
Pico de gallo?
1/2 a red onion, chopped
1 medium spicy pepper, diced (if unavailable, chili flakes work in a pinch)
1/2 a lemon worth of juice (there are no limes here)
1 pinch of salt
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Rice
1 part rice
2 part water
1 sprinkle of chicken bouillon
1 diced tomato
1/2 can of corn
The rest
1 can black beans
4-6 potatoes
Butter
1 bag shredded cheese
1 container of suzma (or sour cream)
Hot sauce
Make rice like normal, but add the bouillon, tomato, and corn
Make the taco seasoning by adding the dried ingredients together
Add a healthy dash of that taco seasoning to a pot with the rinsed black beans, diced garlic, and diced onion; heat that up
Chop up everything to make the Pico de Gallo, let rest
"Bake" your potato in the oven; make sure to stab it with a fork to prevent issues
Stir up your potato meat, top with rice, beans, and cheese; pop it in the oven to get melty
Add your pico, suzma, and hot sauce
Enjoy
Brian Jordan Alvarez
If you are chronically online like me, you might have come across BJA's brilliant marketing campaign to get people to sign up for Hulu or Disney to watch his show English Teacher. I don't watch much TV, but I couldn't resist his cutie lil' charm, so I signed up for Hulu to watch it.
Look, having been a teacher in Arizona, I can honestly say that not only would BJA's Mr. Marquez be summarily fired, but he would have been tarred and feathered in many places I have lived. While this show is obviously satire and he takes this very far, it is still a nice reminder of the state of education in the U.S.
I loved being a teacher; students are the future, and I think that future is bright. But as under-18ers, they aren't getting to make decisions about their education. So we 18-and-overs have to do it for them by voting. While the position of Superintendent of Public Education for the State of Arizona is not up for a vote for another two years, remember what that vote has said historically. Think about how national elections change the educational landscape.
Currently in Arizona, our vote has said:
We don't want education about social inequality or about which party is to blame for historic atrocities
We don't want ethnic studies in schools, at one point banning Latinx Literature in a state that historically belonged to Mexico (and which was overturned in 2017 for being discriminatory)
We don't want bilingual education in schools even though most countries worldwide embrace multilingualism
We think that charter schools that don't have to follow any curriculum are more important than public schools
We should create a hotline for parents to report teachers and instate expensive fines for teachers who break arbitrary rules
We should maintain some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation with some of the highest student-to-teacher ratios and then gaslight teachers by saying, "You didn't become a teacher for the pay" (I could die happy if I never heard "Teaching is a work of heart" ever again)
It can be hard to consider more than our gut feeling when voting, but remember the students and what kind of educational landscape we want to create to prepare them for the future.
And watch some of those BJA Reels on Instagram.
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