We got moved into our apartment. It’s a really great space in a nice neighborhood. There is market on the corner to get the essential groceries and a large department store a block away. One thing to note about living in Uzbekistan, addresses are a bit vague. You can’t really just give someone your address and expect them to find your place. You have say things like, “Do you know where the Upensky Cathedral is? From there go along Oybek street towards the di Gavi restaurant. Turn right just before the restaurant and go two blocks. My place is across the street from the little Pepsi Market. Text me when you get here and I’ll come out a meet you on the street.”

Seriously, we got food delivered the other night because I hadn’t really gotten groceries for making dinner. Luckily my friend Jordan, who speaks Russian, was over and talked to the delivery person. He called three times to ask for directions. It took two hours from when we placed the order and it was luke-warm when it arrived. It was still good food and better than trying to cook but quite the ordeal.

Since we needed a few things for the apartment, like a trash can, we decided to go to the famous Chorsu Bazaar, which is nearby and known for having everything imaginable. According to the US Embassy guide to Tashkent, Chorsu is one of the oldest and largest bazaars in the world. After seeing it for myself I can believe it.

Jordan came along and acted as our tour guide/translator. This place was enormous and had everything from fruits and vegetables, to fresh baked breads, to pig feet and other unknown animal parts I wish I hadn’t seen, to souvenirs, rugs, silks and all other fabrics imaginable. Oh, and did I mention the fresh bread? There was an entire building at the bazaar dedicated to bread.

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We bought some produce, nothing exotic, just bananas, apples, and kiwis. We also found out that avocados don’t exist here. So no guacamole for us until the end of June. Actually, Mexican food doesn’t exist here at all. I’m attempting to locate the ingredients to make flour or corn tortillas from scratch but even that is proving to be a challenge. Baking powder is a foreign concept and no one here has ever heard of cream of tartar. Maybe my Chemistry professor friends can tell me how to get around the lack of an appropriate acid for my base. (Baking soda is readily available in every market.) But I digress…

We wondered the market for about 2 hours, sampling foods and looking at all kinds of never before seen things. It’s a little like Costco on steroids and in a foreign language, using Monopoly money. (more on the money here in an upcoming post) We even managed to wonder into the meat market area which was unlike anything I’ve seen before. Luckily there were no live animals in here but there was a vendor outside selling roosters in cages. I didn’t ask what they were meant for…

We found most of the household items on my list, including some type of mattress padding for the beds. Beds here in Uzbekistan are rock hard. On the bright side, they sell handmade, absolutely beautiful, traditional Uzbek mattress called a Kurpacha. They aren’t actually mattress in the same sense as in the US but more like a futon mattress. Still they are amazingly beautiful and cost about $12 for a single sized one. I bought two to lay side by side to fit a double bed.

In addition to the kurpacha, my son was able to buy the one item that he had his heart set on as a soveniur from this former Soviet controled republic, an Ushanka. He found it in the more touristy section of the bazaar. It isn’t really an Uzbek item, but we have seen men wearing them around Tashkent on colder days.

We also had some chai (which is the Russian word for tea) and ate some Somsa, which are a little like a puff pastry filled with either potato, pumpkin, or mystery meat. We had potato and it was absolutely delicious. Sorry, I was so excited to eat that I didn’t think to stop and take a photo before I devoured the whole thing. I promise to go back when I have more self control and take some photos.

All in all it was a pretty fantastic day. We will definitely be going back to Chorsu as well as other bazaars in Uzbekistan.