Tashkent told what difficulties visitors from Russia face

The elections came to an end, the polling stations in schools and universities were empty, once again turning into classrooms and auditoriums, and with them the feeling of something festive and solemn that has been hovering in the air all these days has gone. Although changes in Uzbekistan are constantly happening…

School of Life

School number five in the Yunusabad district, one of the Russian-speaking schools in the capital, has recently experienced a rebirth. A major overhaul has turned the gray and shabby building into a modern training center. “We often have foreign guests,” says school director Nargiza Khidoyatova, “Immediately after the renovation, about twenty days later, the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Sergey Kravtsov came to visit us. He was very surprised to learn that all the materials used in interior decoration are made in Uzbekistan – flooring, desks, doors. The extensive renovations were carried out by local contractors working around the clock. Everything is thought out to the smallest detail, made with love. We sat and, together with the engineers, drew the project. We even have our own server room, and also an elevator, and this does not happen in every school.”

On this elevator we rise from floor to floor. The director conducts a tour, showing the equipment of the classes, along the way telling the history of the educational institution. The school was built after the earthquake in 1966, when the former republics of the USSR together revived Tashkent. “Before, we did not have an assembly hall,” the director continues to introduce the innovations. – After the repair, a hall for 200 seats was built. Now our teachers of the Russian language and literature are staging theatrical performances, staging the works of famous classics of Russian and Uzbek literature. For example, recently the children played a play based on Alexander Kuprin’s story “Garnet Bracelet” about the mysterious and strange love of a petty official for a married princess.

The school is divided into blocks, both national, Russian or Uzbek, and thematic: mathematics, physics, the sector of natural sciences, and so on. In addition to classrooms, each block has laboratory audiences. Here, for example, is a modern “steam-laboratory” in which experimental activities take place using microscopes and various scientific instruments. Or a chemistry laboratory, which can be immediately identified by the abundance of test tubes and cones. A mysterious metal suitcase with Chinese characters catches the eye. Inside is a set brought from China for chemical experiments. However, the classrooms are equipped not only with modern instruments and aids, but also with relief models traditional for the old school. And this symbiosis evokes a warm feeling – it’s great when a drop of the best is taken from each era.

“And here is our informatics compartment,” the director continues the tour, “Four rooms are equipped with computers. Each classroom has twenty computers and one teacher. For sports, we have two gyms, one for older children, the other for toddlers, and for development – an electronic library equipped with computers. Now it is closed, the day off. .

Are children interested in printed books?

– Very much. Our children are reading. We also have a traffic rules office, we tell the children how to cross the road correctly, what a traffic light is, and so on. Employees of the traffic police of Uzbekistan also come to us, conduct classes with children.

– This is probably an elite school, which is difficult to get into?

“This is a regular public school for residents of the C-4 area. If there is a minor child in the area and he is not studying at school, we are still responsible for him. After all, the Constitution stipulates a mandatory 9-year education.

In the end we go to the heart of the school – to the dining room. They feed children “for slaughter” – in the diet, the first, second, vegetables, fruits, dessert. I sit down to dine at the table with teachers who for some reason take me for an “IT specialist”. “Every teacher has difficulties in their work,” says one of the teachers. – But we have decent conditions. Each teacher has his own computer, there is a connection to the electronic diary system and the ability to immediately inform parents about how the children are learning.”

– Do you use a paper diary anymore?

– Completely switched to electronic. It turned out that it is much more convenient, especially in terms of performing all sorts of reports. It is much more convenient when the analysis is carried out by a machine, and the teacher is engaged in teaching.

Farm on five acres

If you want to know how people live in the country, go visit. We stopped by Shakhzod Achilov, the owner of a large family and five acres of land in the suburbs of Tashkent, on which living quarters are located along the perimeter, and in the center there is a small field where livestock grazes.

It is customary for Uzbeks living in their homes to have a subsidiary farm. Shakhzod has hens in one enclosure, and two black lambs in the second. In the yard there is a set table “for guests” and two beds covered with blankets. I pay attention to them and wonder how comfortable it is to sleep in the open air.

“We sleep on them in the summer, it’s more convenient,” says Shahzod, “If it rains, we will take them and move them under the roof. But usually we don’t have rain.”

In addition to Shahzod, his wife, sister and three children live in the house. Shahzod himself works in the field of jurisprudence, but the eldest son decided not to follow in his father’s footsteps, but became a doctor. The family is not small, but everyone in it is busy with their own business. Children help their parents with the housework, otherwise nothing.

“I didn’t want to build a chicken coop, but my wife forced me, and I built it,” the owner admits, “For me, the family is sacred and most important. If you have a good wife, she makes you do something. She is my teacher, we have been married since 2007.”

Is it difficult to combine work and animal husbandry?

– This is how it is accepted with us, we need to run a family business, so we equipped the enclosures. Livestock goes to meat, which can be profitably sold. Chickens lay eggs. In Uzbekistan, gastronomy is considered an honorable thing, meat is in use. I bought five little lambs a year ago for 500 thousand soums (3,915 rubles), now they have grown, and I can sell them in the market for two and a half million soums (19,575). And they eat everything that remains from the table: watermelons, crusts of bread, porridge. Special care and costs are not required. Now we have two lambs left, and three have already gone to new owners.

You can sell lamb or chicken, as well as meat, eggs and vegetables in markets or bazaars, which are in abundance in the district. In Asia, this is a separate world, which a tourist who is fond of the East must definitely see with his own eyes. The largest bazaar in Uzbekistan is the Chorsu market in Tashkent. Very old, founded more than 2 thousand years ago, it is the oldest bazaar in Asia and impresses unprepared visitors with its diversity and architecture: seven domes around the main dome of the historic Chorsu market in Tashkent are going to be included in the list of cultural heritage sites of Uzbekistan.

We started our inspection of Chorsu from the part where they sell fabrics. Skullcaps, flaps, blankets, jackets. According to the sellers, all this is created by local artisans. On the shelves, mainly Margilan silk, linen or natural “hebe”. I draw your attention to a funny find: for some reason, there is a whole bunch of national daggers in a sheath between the fabric on the shelf. “Please be careful,” the seller warns, without explaining the purpose of cold steel.

The heart of the market is a domed building, around and inside which they sell food for every taste. Vegetables, fruits, berries, fish, meat – eyes run wide. This part is the busiest, colorful rows of stalls stretch to the horizon, between which hundreds of buyers crowd and scurry back and forth nimble children with food carts helping their parents. It is customary to bargain with merchants, and if this is not done, the merchant may be surprised. In some cases, he will offer to bargain. We are interested in an elderly woman selling fruits, how the business is going. “I don’t collect anything myself, I buy from a supplier, I’m a speculator,” she laughs. “Buy apples here, a kilogram costs 18 thousand soums, but I will sell you for sixteen.”

— Is it difficult to rent a place in the market?

We sell every day, we pay every day. But things are moving along slowly.

Tashkent is famous not only for its markets, but also for its dental masters. “Dentistry in the capital has been strong since the times of the USSR,” Gleb, a resident of Tashkent, told Moskovsky Komsomolets, “And now it is well developed. I recently did a filling, and they did it so well that you can’t see which tooth it is on. In addition, dental medicine is affordable, but much depends on the specialist. Many residents of Kazakhstan specially go to treat their teeth to us.”

— What else can surprise a tourist in Tashkent?

– Gastronomic tour. There are very decent restaurants in Tashkent, there are international chains where prices and stability are at a high level. There are private shops and cafes, both expensive and inexpensive, which consistently taste good. But delicious food is not everywhere. There are also places where, of course, not entirely bad, but not “wow”, as expected. However, there are a lot of delicious places. You just have to know how to find them. I have my own long list of places to check, ranging from expensive restaurants to budget ones.

— What difficulties do visitors from Russia face in Uzbekistan?

– It is better to arrive in advance with dollars and euros. They are reluctant to take Russian money from us. Rubles are not in use, although some traders in the market take your currency. Money can be exchanged for sums in advance in Moscow, but the exchange rate will not be favorable, and there will be a lot of banknotes. In general, we are waiting for guests at any time of the year and are always glad to see them.