Day 2: Profound Disappointment

After nearly 30 hours of travel, we arrived in Tashkent this evening at about 10pm. We handed our passports over to the border official, after a few minutes of looking at her computer screen, we were told to sit in a special place until we were called for. Nearly an hour later, we were told that we would be deported to New York in the morning. We were sent to a "transit lounge", a miserable little place inhabited with uninspired workers who seem to have neither the will nor the power to do anything but play computer solitaire (from where I was able to use a computer to write this message). We were given no reason for our deportation. Based on the experience of coworkers and the advice of those with experience in the country, we expected to be allowed in on our current visa, but to be denied any request for visa renewal in the future. We called our director, who was "flabbergasted" by the news.

After a great deal of pleading and negotiation, they agreed to send us to Kyrgyzstan instead of NYC (all the while reminding us that we have no say in where we are deported to). I cannot tell you what a big deal this is, since one of the main reasons for this trip to Central Asia is to visit Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to explore opportunities for future work. If they return us to NYC, I don't know if anything could be salvaged from this trip. If they follow through, and actually send us to Bishkek (Kygyzstan) in the morning we will still be able to arrange travel to Osh (Kyrgyzstan) and then on to Tajikistan as planned. We would then need to arrange different tickets out of Central Asia, since our current tickets have us leaving from a country we are not permitted to enter. This all means that we are being forced to buy several (four more flights by my count) additional plane tickets which our budget shudders in the face of. These plans are all still complicated, as our colleagues in Osh do not know we are coming and we as yet have no way to contact them. We expect to find black stamps in our passports signifying the deportation when we receive them in the morning. However, if there is no stamp, we may try to pick up tourist visas and come in through a land crossing from Kyrgyzstan next week.

As you may be able to tell from this stunted, rambling, and troubled post, our heads are spinning right now. We are both profoundly disappointed, and at this stage, it is best not to think of what we are missing. We had looked forward to many wonderful reunions in the next two weeks with friends from our time here previously. Our luggage was filled with small gifts that we had picked out over the last few months, and a large supply of insulin for one of our friends who is diabetic. We are dirty, tired, and hungry in a place where the only things for sale are duty free vodka and chocolate. We will mourn all of this, but it is too overwhelming to dwell on right now. So I am instead focusing on how to deal with the situation that we find ourselves in. There are many decisions to be made and hurdles to be overcome in the next 24 hours. Please pray for us.

Until all of this happened, I had looked forward to writing a short update about how wonderfully Ella had done with the traveling. She made a friend (about her age) on the first flight and has been the most popular person on whatever plane we have been on. Since the trauma at the passport control, we have been deliberate in trying not to let our stress affect her. Thankfully, she has been happily oblivious to it all, laughing and blowing raspberries at the most inappropriate times and generally keeping us sane. She is truly a blessing to us, especially, it seems, in times of great disappointment.

I will update as soon as I have the opportunity, probably tomorrow from somewhere in Kyrgyzstan if I can find a computer. We need your prayers now more than ever. Thanks for reading this far - it was a doozy.

~Aaron