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From Sweden to TajikistanFirst lecture at IREXBY BJÖRN PAULSSONWhen I applied for the IAESTE exchange inTajikistan, this part of the world was a whitespot for me. The reasons for applying for thisoffer were: the possibility to improve myRussian, a chance to practice computer scienceand most importantly - to visit a region Ihardly knew anything about.After a one-day stop in Dushanbe, the capital ofTajikistan, I finally landed in Khujand in thenorth of the country. Representatives from thelocal committee met me at the airport. Myhost buddy Nosirkhon took me to his family inChkalovsk where I was going to stay while inTajikistan. I felt very comfortable at onceand I was immediately counted as one ofthe family.The first few days I got acquainted withthe local IAESTE office and IREX, where Iwas going to work, teaching InternetTechnology. The local committee wasreally friendly and everyone I met tried to helpme as best they could.My work at IREX was flexible and it was prettymuch up to me to plan everything. I hadclasses in HTML, dynamic web pages and datacommunication. I also held a lecture aboutSweden. This was very interesting since I gotthe chance to see that we are quite similardespite the big differences in background andcultural traditions. The group I taught consistedmostly of students but also some other peopleattended. Many of them came there eventhough they had summer holidays or a longjourney to get there.The local IAESTE committee had a lot ofcultural and social arrangements for us trainees.This was also the best chance to ask all thequestions I had about how young people live inTajikistan. While I wasthere we visited theKairrakum Sea, the biggestlake in Tajikistan, andShakhristan, which was abeautiful place in themountains. We playedsoccer at the same altitudeas the highest mountainin Sweden!From Finland to UruguayA lake in Shakhristan, NorthernTajikistanThe family I lived in was a big source ofinformation about Tajik traditions and living.Many families live in a mixture of old and newtraditions. Since no special arrangements weremade for me, I ate the same food as the familyand had the chance to taste many specialties,like the national dish plov. Tea is essential as apart of daily life andthere are different teas fordifferent occasions.Tajikistan itself is amixture of Muslim, Tajikand Russian culture andtradition. People can beseen in the streets dressedin traditional TajikThe grandmother’s birthday partydresses walking next to people in modernwestern clothes. Since Tajikistan was a part ofthe Soviet Union, Russian influence is still verystrong. Most people speak two languagesfluently: Russian and Tajik. The Tajik languageis related to Farsi, which is spoken in Iran.People in Tajikistan are very friendly and whenI left my traineeship I also left good friendswhom I would like to meet again, hopefully inTajikistan.While thinking about my options aboutwhat to do in the spring-term 2004, Istumbled across the opportunity to go toMontevideo, Uruguay, through IAESTE.I did not hesitate even for a second beforesending in the application and you canimagine the excitement I felt when Ifinally got a positive answer.It did not only mean an opportunity to work ina field closely related to my studies, but also anopportunity to familiarise myself with a totallynew continent and language.As a student of mechanical engineering, Iworked in the technical department of thecompany, Ing. Ulises Puig & Cia, S.A and thiswas a great experience. I participated in manyprojects and my assignments included thermalbalances-calculation, air ducts calculation anddesign and pipe design. During my first weeks Ifamiliarised myself with the Carrier TechnicalDevelopment Program, which gave me a goodbasis for the work. The work itself was not theonly good thing at the office though. Thepeople were great and I never went to workreluctantly.When I first found out that I was the onlyIAESTE trainee in Uruguay at that time, I wasslightly worried, but I soon realized that I wasreally lucky. I was actually forced to interactonly with local people and that gave me somuch more than being just with other fellow-Europeans.I will always be grateful for the opportunitygiven to me by IAESTE, which not onlycontributed to my work experience, but alsoopened up my eyes to a new culture.Rina Nikander, FinlandI A E S T E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 0 4 13