Cats of Tashkent

Posted on by Prof. Laurie

So my husband said that last week’s blog post sounded like it was written by Eeyore and he suggested that this week’s post be a bit more upbeat lest people think that I’m not doing well here.

In fact, things are going quite well for us. I found out where to buy popping corn at Chorsu bizarre and saw Philadelphia Cream Cheese for the first time at my local grocery store. I heard about a local bakery that supposedly has both bagels and authentic flour tortilla shells. So YEAH! I wish I had known about all these places when I first arrived. I’m going to write a future blog post about all these great places I’ve found, either on my own or through my awesome friends here.

My project is wrapping up nicely. We’ve finished the pilot project in the schools and collected the post-test data. Students are preparing to take final exams this week so we wanted to get the stress assessments done before they get into exam week.

I’m preparing to do the last of my regional psychologist trainings at the end of this week and throughout next week. After that, its just interpreting the data and writing up my report and recommendations.

So… with all that said, I spent the last few days walking around Tashkent photographing the street cats. I’m not going to call them strays, or feral cats, because many of them seem to be taken care of by some humans. They have a specific territory and generally hang out around the same front stoops or courtyard areas. When I asked my driver about all the cats he said people like having them around because they take care of the rats!

If you are part of the 1% of the online population that doesn’t love looking at cat photos, just stop reading now. For the rest of you, I present #CatsofTashkent

Cats of Tashkent

Captain Jack likes to hang out by the entrance to my building. He looks a little crazy with his different colored eyes and likes to watch me as I walk past.
Suka lives in the park near my house. She always looks like she’s about the rip your face off.
This cat lives by my friend Jordan’s house. I’ve decided to name him Poirot, on account of his lovely mustache. He’s very self assured and has claimed this spot as his own. Do NOT even think about asking him to move.
Mac lives near the Burger Embassy restaurant. I don’t think he needs to work very hard for his dinner so he can afford to lay around napping all day.
My friend Tullo snapped this cutie. I’m going to call her Snickers, just cause I can. I know nothing else about her.
Ginger lives in the courtyard of a building near a Greek restaurant. you can see that she also has a family that puts out food and water for her. She’s got it pretty good.
Marianne shares the same courtyard as ginger. She’s definitely the brains of the pair. She is often prowling the courtyard while Ginger is napping.
I call this beauty Ghost. I only see Ghost at night and always in passing. It took me a week just to get this grainy photo. I don’t know if ghost is male or female but I’m guessing male based on my next photos.
  • The “black sheep” of the litter is Shadow.
  • Snowflakes’s sister, Frost.
  • This adorable little Snowflake is one of a litter of three kittens that I think was sired by Ghost.
  • Snowflake and Frost, with Shadow lurking in the background.

I hope that you have enjoyed this feline tour of my neighborhood. If you want to see more photos of the Cats of Tashkent, comment on this post. Maybe I’ll venture into another area and find their cats. Every neighborhood seems to have them.

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