12th July

12^th July

I had a genuinely gourmet meal last night, fried marrow with garlic and dill mayonnaise sauce. It was rather a shock actually, and very tasty. There was no meat to be seen, which is a godsend. I reacted rather badly to a meal that was presented on Sunday, and this may have been one of the consequences. It was boiled intestines and other internal organs, and I may have mentioned that this is ‘the worst food’ (yeng jaman tamak), and preceded to only eat the salad and bread that was on the table.

So hopefully this spells a new period of reduced meatiness and I was very appreciative (dap damda = tastiest) of the food. On one hand I was trying to redeem my earlier rudeness, but also reinforce what exactly it is that I do like! Peace Corps pays 4,500tenge a week for my food (about £20), which is double what I was paying for myself in England at University, and I currently don’t think my family spends nearly that much my weekly food. So if I can at least demonstrate what I like, the money might be better spent. Today I ate all 4 major carbohydrates – rice, pasta, potatoes and bread, but no meat!

Another quote from The Great Game, about the defence of Kandahar in Afghanistan by the British in 1880,

“Although weakened by illness, [General] Roberts had commanded the entire operation from the saddle, taking occasional sips of champagne to keep up his strength.”

Ahh, the good old days of soldiering!

At the same time, this is a quote, after the Russian defeat of the Turkoman fortress of Geok-Tepe,

“I hold it as a principle that the duration of peace is in direct proportion to the slaughter you inflict upon the enemy. The harder you hit them, the longer they remain quiet” General Skobelev

There is no underlying message I am trying to get across with these two quotes, I just thought they were interesting insights into the thoughts and actions of the time.