So clearly I am not the best blogger.
It's been almost 5 months since my last post but here's what's been happening in a nutshell.
The volunteers in Dashoguz weleyat were finally sent off to their sites late January
several volunteers came in to take the Foreign Service Officer Exam in Feb
In March all the Volunteers gathered to have workshops and learn about grant writing. This was long but very interesting.
I hoped to follow up on an idea from the previous volunteer at my site, renovating the gym. The school like the idea, sadly the ministry turned me down. But it's not so bad, they claim the government will renovate it and once it's renovated then I can run any sport/ health training I want there. I was told to wait until the end of June/July to hear about plans for renovation this year. I'm still keeping my fingers cross.
Late March and early April was the start of what would be a horrible headache. First I had an awesome time hiking, climbing a few rocks and getting lost for about 8 hours. 'Course being out of shape made me miserably sore the next few days. I ended up calling in sick for two days which made my director really worried. I should've manned up because after that the idea of me hiking, walking a lot or going near mountains seems like a dangerous idea both to my direct and my host family. PC staff was aware of my situation and were supportive of my absence from work, they agreed I should rest and hydrate. There was no serious danger I'm just horribly out of shape...I almost regret getting lost but that was part of the adventure.
April flew by and I made more American friends in Ashgabat. They came to visit my site and I introduced them to one of my best students was was really excited to be around English Speakers. He even offered to drive us to the underground lake, my friends had their own driver, but the boy insisted so we accepted. Apparently the lake costs 3 Manat for locals and PCV's but is ridiculously expensive otherwise. The boy ended up not going down to the lake he said it was dirty and he wanted to wait outside. Still we had a good time and I finally got to eat in a cafe at my site.
Sadly that one day brought more worry from my director. Going to the underground with a student and many adults he didn't know was unacceptable to him. The boy's parents knew about it all but the director was still worried because it also impacts the schools reputation. In the end though all of my director's worrying from way back in March brought on more restrictions on where I could go and how I would notify him. He changed the policy to include a faxed letter from Peace Corps, phone calls and a letter from myself, which is far more than any other volunteer does. And if such things were not done then I was forbidden to leave my site...this was the biggest headache but I talked with Peace Corps and others for help on how to resolve this issue. There were several weeks of headaches and me pestering Peace Corps for a fax that they said wasn't necessary. Luckily, last week a PC staff member came by and smoothed things over and calmed down my director.
That didn't stop rumors and word spreading between the teachers and them now asking if i think the director is bad. To be diplomatic my only response is that he is really strict and I can understand why (because of pressure from higher ups). I'm just gonna try to stay in his good graces and hang out with students less, especially the male ones. That's just mascara "shameful."
But yea that's been my life these past few months.
On a sad note: we've lost more volunteers. But they accomplished what they felt they could here and so made the hard decision to go back. It's been sad, but we're recovering and looking forward to any new volunteers who should just about now be making their decisions about whether or not they want to join us here in Turkmenistan <3
I'll try to post more often and keep it short. I hope everyone is well back in the states.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
More things to know about Turkmenistan and a little about my life over here
Time:
There is a 10 hour difference between Turkmenistan and New York City. I’m 10 hours ahead over here. Somehow jetlag worked to my advantage. At the start of my stay I would sleep by 9pm and wake up by 7am. The rising sun was all I needed to wake up.
It helped that I had to wake up by 7 if I wanted my 7:30am breakfast. Turkmen language classes and technical training did not start until 9am. 9-1, 1-2 lunch, then 2-6. It was intense but I do believe I learned enough to get by without much trouble. Of course eventually I gave up on waking up early for breakfast and slept in ‘til a little past 8. I also eventually found out my family woke up around 5am to go to the mosque and pray and came back around 6am. I started to wake up when I heard them moving about but I always went right back to sleep.
Mosques:
The religion of the country is Islam, and they have very beautiful mosques here. The first one I saw was the one in Gokdepe, which happens to be my profile picture on my facebook. That was the first day I arrived in Gokdepe and I was wearing my first koynek. My host sister was kind enough to take me to the mosque and even pointed out that there was another volunteer living a few houses over, we picked him and his little brothers up and went to the mosque together. It was a beautiful inside and it felt like a private tour since we went in just after everyone had left. Of course I work a scarf to cover my head out of respect.
The largest mosque in all of Central Asia also happens to be located here in Turkmenistan in a town called Gypjek (my spelling may be off). It’s large and has golden domes. I have yet to go inside but I’ve passed it many times so I have pictures of it. The previous Turkmen president is buried there.
Finally, the only other mosque I’ve seen is the Turkish Mosque within the capital. It’s extraordinarily beautiful, the colors, the marble, it’s just lovely. I recommend going inside if you ever get the chance. It’s also near this Turkish café which has good food and plays American music videos.
Another place of holy respect would be the Gokdepe hill where a great battle took place in 1881. Russians invaded Turkmen land and thousands died there. I only recently found out that was the reason why people did a certain hand motion as a sign of respect when in cars around that area (even drivers do it sometimes, that’s a bit scary). Their hand motion would be similar to how Catholics cross themselves in front of churches. Here the norm is a hand motion over the face in the same way one would rinse their face with water. This motion is also done after meals, usually by the elder. After meals the motion is done once first to start the prayer, then the hands are held cupped in front of them, then when the prayer is over the face washing motion is done again. Occasionally I’ll do the motions as a sign of respect if the prayer is done while I’m still around.
Prayer doesn’t stop at meals and mosques, you will see many of them pull out their prayer carpets and point it in the right direction to pray several times a day. I think I was the most impressed when I saw a 15 year old boy do it. It doesn’t seem excessive though. If they do it 5 times a day I’m sure I miss most of them.
Food:
My first encounters with Turkmen food here was good. I enjoyed it very much. Sadly, I did not take into account how much oil was in some food or pay close enough attention to the preparation of the food and somewhere along the way my stomach decided it did not want anymore. I probably should’ve eaten less at a time or stopped being so eager to eat. My language group was impressed by how hungry I always was at lunch.
So, most of the meals here include meat and dough in some shape or form. The meat is usually mixed with diced onions and tomatoes, some salt, black pepper and oil. One of the most common meals is Manty and it’s pretty much like dumplings. They are steamed and if not steamed long enough the meet will still look a little pink. During my stay here I’ve helped slice and diced thing for Manty at least 3 times. I’m no chef, but I’m learning. They encourage girls in the kitchen from a very young age. I saw them give a dull knife to a three year old who was learning to cut onions. I was terrified for her, but she was watched and there were no accidents. So far I’ve had the most trouble just folding the dumplings nicely and apparently the quick way I learned in Gokdepe is not good enough for the Manty I had to prepare for new years. And for vegetarians you can also make Manty with pumpkin instead of meat. They’re really good.
Another usual meal is Berek, which I call kichi manty because that means little Manty. It looks the same only smaller, they aren’t folded in the same way though. The dough is put into a pan with many little hexagons, then the meat is placed on it and last another layer is place on it. You then press hard enough so they’ll come out in little hexagon shapes, like mini ravioli. And they are boiled, not steamed. Turkmen tried to make it clear to me that Berek is not kichi manty and that they are indeed different, but I forget the name from time to time so I still describe it as kichi manty.
Finally, the most typical meal here that I’ve had often is Palow. It’s a rice dish with onions and carrot and in some places made with lots of oil but I’ve mostly encountered amazing palow.
There are other meals like chorba which is the name for any soup and mash which is lentil soup. So far I’ve liked just about any soup placed in front of me and I’ve learn to eat lamb. But I will tell you more about the soups another time.
Other activities:
Chores at home in Gokdepe included breaking bread for the cow and sheep, then feeding them and I even got to milk my first cow while in Gokdepe, washed the udders and squeezed away. The first time I had milk here I was ok, but after that I haven’t gotten along well with dairy and have avoided it. Then again I rarely get along with whole milk in the states too. Soon enough I’ll dare to test the boundaries of dairy again. Other chores include washing clothes midday to make sure they dry. I was sure one day that as I washed clothes I was tanning, that's how hot it can get midday. Well, lately it's just warm midday and freezing by nightfall, but most wome dont wear their heavy coats they just used sweaters one or two at a time and then deny the fact that they are cold.
On the weekends I like to spend my time in the Capital and explore. During training we all got to see the theme park of Turkmenistan which they nicknamed “Disneyland” it was cute and felt like a carnival. There was a small roller coaster (which went around twice because it was a short ride), little boats on a pond which were maneuvered by bicycling, and then there was this pendulum-like ride which gave me a terrible headache and of course I was frightened because rides like that always scare me. But all in all it was still a good time.
They also have a circus here, a drama theater, and an ice skating rink (only 1M60teneng for an hour). The rink is opened at 10, 12, 2, and 4 usually but it stays opened only for an hour then it closes to clean the ice.
I still have more to explore. But when I learn more I will share it. Feel free to ask me any questions about anything.
<3 Geri
There is a 10 hour difference between Turkmenistan and New York City. I’m 10 hours ahead over here. Somehow jetlag worked to my advantage. At the start of my stay I would sleep by 9pm and wake up by 7am. The rising sun was all I needed to wake up.
It helped that I had to wake up by 7 if I wanted my 7:30am breakfast. Turkmen language classes and technical training did not start until 9am. 9-1, 1-2 lunch, then 2-6. It was intense but I do believe I learned enough to get by without much trouble. Of course eventually I gave up on waking up early for breakfast and slept in ‘til a little past 8. I also eventually found out my family woke up around 5am to go to the mosque and pray and came back around 6am. I started to wake up when I heard them moving about but I always went right back to sleep.
Mosques:
The religion of the country is Islam, and they have very beautiful mosques here. The first one I saw was the one in Gokdepe, which happens to be my profile picture on my facebook. That was the first day I arrived in Gokdepe and I was wearing my first koynek. My host sister was kind enough to take me to the mosque and even pointed out that there was another volunteer living a few houses over, we picked him and his little brothers up and went to the mosque together. It was a beautiful inside and it felt like a private tour since we went in just after everyone had left. Of course I work a scarf to cover my head out of respect.
The largest mosque in all of Central Asia also happens to be located here in Turkmenistan in a town called Gypjek (my spelling may be off). It’s large and has golden domes. I have yet to go inside but I’ve passed it many times so I have pictures of it. The previous Turkmen president is buried there.
Finally, the only other mosque I’ve seen is the Turkish Mosque within the capital. It’s extraordinarily beautiful, the colors, the marble, it’s just lovely. I recommend going inside if you ever get the chance. It’s also near this Turkish café which has good food and plays American music videos.
Another place of holy respect would be the Gokdepe hill where a great battle took place in 1881. Russians invaded Turkmen land and thousands died there. I only recently found out that was the reason why people did a certain hand motion as a sign of respect when in cars around that area (even drivers do it sometimes, that’s a bit scary). Their hand motion would be similar to how Catholics cross themselves in front of churches. Here the norm is a hand motion over the face in the same way one would rinse their face with water. This motion is also done after meals, usually by the elder. After meals the motion is done once first to start the prayer, then the hands are held cupped in front of them, then when the prayer is over the face washing motion is done again. Occasionally I’ll do the motions as a sign of respect if the prayer is done while I’m still around.
Prayer doesn’t stop at meals and mosques, you will see many of them pull out their prayer carpets and point it in the right direction to pray several times a day. I think I was the most impressed when I saw a 15 year old boy do it. It doesn’t seem excessive though. If they do it 5 times a day I’m sure I miss most of them.
Food:
My first encounters with Turkmen food here was good. I enjoyed it very much. Sadly, I did not take into account how much oil was in some food or pay close enough attention to the preparation of the food and somewhere along the way my stomach decided it did not want anymore. I probably should’ve eaten less at a time or stopped being so eager to eat. My language group was impressed by how hungry I always was at lunch.
So, most of the meals here include meat and dough in some shape or form. The meat is usually mixed with diced onions and tomatoes, some salt, black pepper and oil. One of the most common meals is Manty and it’s pretty much like dumplings. They are steamed and if not steamed long enough the meet will still look a little pink. During my stay here I’ve helped slice and diced thing for Manty at least 3 times. I’m no chef, but I’m learning. They encourage girls in the kitchen from a very young age. I saw them give a dull knife to a three year old who was learning to cut onions. I was terrified for her, but she was watched and there were no accidents. So far I’ve had the most trouble just folding the dumplings nicely and apparently the quick way I learned in Gokdepe is not good enough for the Manty I had to prepare for new years. And for vegetarians you can also make Manty with pumpkin instead of meat. They’re really good.
Another usual meal is Berek, which I call kichi manty because that means little Manty. It looks the same only smaller, they aren’t folded in the same way though. The dough is put into a pan with many little hexagons, then the meat is placed on it and last another layer is place on it. You then press hard enough so they’ll come out in little hexagon shapes, like mini ravioli. And they are boiled, not steamed. Turkmen tried to make it clear to me that Berek is not kichi manty and that they are indeed different, but I forget the name from time to time so I still describe it as kichi manty.
Finally, the most typical meal here that I’ve had often is Palow. It’s a rice dish with onions and carrot and in some places made with lots of oil but I’ve mostly encountered amazing palow.
There are other meals like chorba which is the name for any soup and mash which is lentil soup. So far I’ve liked just about any soup placed in front of me and I’ve learn to eat lamb. But I will tell you more about the soups another time.
Other activities:
Chores at home in Gokdepe included breaking bread for the cow and sheep, then feeding them and I even got to milk my first cow while in Gokdepe, washed the udders and squeezed away. The first time I had milk here I was ok, but after that I haven’t gotten along well with dairy and have avoided it. Then again I rarely get along with whole milk in the states too. Soon enough I’ll dare to test the boundaries of dairy again. Other chores include washing clothes midday to make sure they dry. I was sure one day that as I washed clothes I was tanning, that's how hot it can get midday. Well, lately it's just warm midday and freezing by nightfall, but most wome dont wear their heavy coats they just used sweaters one or two at a time and then deny the fact that they are cold.
On the weekends I like to spend my time in the Capital and explore. During training we all got to see the theme park of Turkmenistan which they nicknamed “Disneyland” it was cute and felt like a carnival. There was a small roller coaster (which went around twice because it was a short ride), little boats on a pond which were maneuvered by bicycling, and then there was this pendulum-like ride which gave me a terrible headache and of course I was frightened because rides like that always scare me. But all in all it was still a good time.
They also have a circus here, a drama theater, and an ice skating rink (only 1M60teneng for an hour). The rink is opened at 10, 12, 2, and 4 usually but it stays opened only for an hour then it closes to clean the ice.
I still have more to explore. But when I learn more I will share it. Feel free to ask me any questions about anything.
<3 Geri
Things to know in Turkmenistan
Money:
It’s called Manat over here but it recently changed over from old to new, yet people still give prices and talk about it in old Manat terms. 5,000 old Manat = 1 New manat, but sometimes they just leave out the “thousand” part and say an item costs 5 Manats… when really they mean it costs one. It can be very confusing when you don’t know how much things should cost
Also $1 = 2.84 new Manat. That’s the set exchange rate, but I’ve learned you can also exchange your money at dukans. They’re usually at a lower rate such as $1 = 2.8 new Manat. Thanks to my host sister I found a dukan that exchanges for 2.84 in Gokdepe.
Cell phones:
You pay as you go mostly, but the amount of money you have on your phone is written in dollars. So, if you add 21 Manat (M) to your phone you have $7.02 cents. And the cost per call or text is in American cents.
To call the states $5/ min!! don’t do it. You can usually receive calls for free depending on your plan. And International texting was possible from MTS – Tmobile. (for .10 cents a text) But now MTS is down and only TM Cell is alive and I’ve yet to get a TM Cell sim card, but once I do I will let you know how that works.
Buying a cell phone isn’t so bad, I bought an old b/w Nokia phone with snake and text message capability for 75M. Phones with internet can cost about 200M. Phones with color cost more about 90 M although one girl found one for 75 M (but no snake game).
For any future visitors to Turkmenistan you can get a sim card on your American passport.
American phones:
Cingular works here but with roaming fees, and I could not access the internet on my American phone. Calls are very expensive though about the same price $5/min unless you set up a special plan. My phone now only has text messaging capabilities for emergencies. But I wouldn’t recommend it. And I’ve seen other American phones which are used with Turkmen sim cards, I can only imagine they are unlocked because my Turkmen sim card does not work on my American phone.
Currently I am without a phone service but I do still have the home line which receives free phone calls so if anyone wants to call that’s the best way.
Letters:
Take a really long time to send or receive, packages somehow make it through faster. It costs about 0,20 M (that’s 20 teneng –like cents for Turkmen money) for a Turkmen envelope, you must use their envelopes. And 2M for a stamp. That’s to send a letter to America, I still haven’t figured out if it costs less to send a letter within the country.
Internet:
It exists here. You can use the internet on your phone or you can buy a modem to connect to your laptop and insert your Turkmen sim card. A modem cost $38 or 110Manat. MTS (spelt MTC because the Russian C is the “s” sound) is decent, skype chat worked on it, gchat was alright in Gokdepe from time to time, but skype was better. On the Red Energy plan it cost about 7cents/ MB (on other plans it costs about 25-50cents a MB unless you buy packets as in pay $3 something for about 30 MB). Sadly MTS is down and I do not know about TM Cell yet, but I have heard TM cell runs on 3G.
It’s called Manat over here but it recently changed over from old to new, yet people still give prices and talk about it in old Manat terms. 5,000 old Manat = 1 New manat, but sometimes they just leave out the “thousand” part and say an item costs 5 Manats… when really they mean it costs one. It can be very confusing when you don’t know how much things should cost
Also $1 = 2.84 new Manat. That’s the set exchange rate, but I’ve learned you can also exchange your money at dukans. They’re usually at a lower rate such as $1 = 2.8 new Manat. Thanks to my host sister I found a dukan that exchanges for 2.84 in Gokdepe.
Cell phones:
You pay as you go mostly, but the amount of money you have on your phone is written in dollars. So, if you add 21 Manat (M) to your phone you have $7.02 cents. And the cost per call or text is in American cents.
To call the states $5/ min!! don’t do it. You can usually receive calls for free depending on your plan. And International texting was possible from MTS – Tmobile. (for .10 cents a text) But now MTS is down and only TM Cell is alive and I’ve yet to get a TM Cell sim card, but once I do I will let you know how that works.
Buying a cell phone isn’t so bad, I bought an old b/w Nokia phone with snake and text message capability for 75M. Phones with internet can cost about 200M. Phones with color cost more about 90 M although one girl found one for 75 M (but no snake game).
For any future visitors to Turkmenistan you can get a sim card on your American passport.
American phones:
Cingular works here but with roaming fees, and I could not access the internet on my American phone. Calls are very expensive though about the same price $5/min unless you set up a special plan. My phone now only has text messaging capabilities for emergencies. But I wouldn’t recommend it. And I’ve seen other American phones which are used with Turkmen sim cards, I can only imagine they are unlocked because my Turkmen sim card does not work on my American phone.
Currently I am without a phone service but I do still have the home line which receives free phone calls so if anyone wants to call that’s the best way.
Letters:
Take a really long time to send or receive, packages somehow make it through faster. It costs about 0,20 M (that’s 20 teneng –like cents for Turkmen money) for a Turkmen envelope, you must use their envelopes. And 2M for a stamp. That’s to send a letter to America, I still haven’t figured out if it costs less to send a letter within the country.
Internet:
It exists here. You can use the internet on your phone or you can buy a modem to connect to your laptop and insert your Turkmen sim card. A modem cost $38 or 110Manat. MTS (spelt MTC because the Russian C is the “s” sound) is decent, skype chat worked on it, gchat was alright in Gokdepe from time to time, but skype was better. On the Red Energy plan it cost about 7cents/ MB (on other plans it costs about 25-50cents a MB unless you buy packets as in pay $3 something for about 30 MB). Sadly MTS is down and I do not know about TM Cell yet, but I have heard TM cell runs on 3G.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
10/10/2010 late post!
Salam to everyone who is reading this! I am writing from Turkmenistan! Currently, I am in a town called Gokdepe, it is my training site and it’s much bigger than I imagined. I spent my first few days in a hotel in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, and I’ll probably be posting this from Ashgabat. I’m so happy to finally be here.
I first met all the other volunteers in Washington DC. We are a total of 29 volunteers (18 guys and 11 girls—a rare occurrence where the males outnumber the girls) known as the T18b group (the T18a’s came in March. there were only 6 of them). TheT17’s have been expecting us for quite some time. They did not get any new volunteers here last fall, possibly because of some paperwork issues, and so there was a lot of excitement when this group made it through. There are about 35 T17’s, I forget how many exactly, but they will be slowly leaving between now and early December. All the T17’s were nice and shared some of their experiences with us. They also left us some hand-me-downs. I received my first koynik (traditional Turkmen dress) from a T17 after complimenting her on how beautiful it was. I was very lucky because it really is beautiful and I recently learned buying that material would be expensive for me, well considering my stipend. I am expected to live off the stipend provided by Peace Corps. Not sure how much that’s going to be just yet.
The first few days in Turkmenistan were the easiest. I stayed in a suite with a shower and western toilet. The food they gave us was also very international. There were certain meals that reminded me of Peruvian dishes. In particular there was a beet salad like the one my mom makes, some meat, onions and French fries which reminded me of Lomo Saltado. Then in Peace Corps headquarters we received some introductory language lessons and learned about safety regulations. For our language lessons we were split up into small groups. My group and teacher are all males; we are 5 people all together. But, I am lucky enough to have a health group in my town and they have a female teacher and another girl (they are 4 people altogether). I can go to her for any female advice on Turkmen culture.
I should let you know that when I signed up for Peace Corps I imagined a place like my mother’s hometown in the Andes, Cajamarquilla, Ancash, Peru. The first time I went to her hometown I believe I was 13 and I was shocked by everything that I saw and didn’t see. I didn’t see electricity or toilets, or bathrooms in the house, and basically nothing modern. What I saw was dirt roads, stone/ mud brick homes with nicely tiled roofs but there were a lot of open rooms. Going into a house meant first walking into an open courtyard sort of place and then cooking meals outdoors. All the kids had old and dirty clothes. I met a boy my age that was shorter than I was at the time (and if you know how short I am then he was REALLY short). I forget why, but I asked him what 5+8 was and then realized he could not add. When I asked him if he went to school he said he did, but only when he had time. It was more important to him and his family that he help with the crops in the fields.
When people ask me why I wanted to join Peace Corps I always think of Cajamarquilla and that boy. I think of visiting their school and seeing a building with only two classrooms for grades 1-3 and 4-6. That was the extent of their education there at the time, they would have to go somewhere else for further studies, and girls were less likely to go. But thinking of that I remember wishing I could do something and feeling so useless because I couldn’t. 10 years later I finally have the knowledge and capacity to help. I heard of Peace Corps while in HS and have wanted to do it ever since. But like I said this town is not quite how I imagined it.
Gokdepe is much bigger than I imagined. The school has about 8 classrooms from what I’ve seen so far, and I’ve heard they have just over 1,000 students. I have not met that many students yet, but I may soon enough. There are dirt roads, old cars and outhouses but inside the homes there’s heat and electricity. I’ve seen a television in almost every home and many people have satellites to watch Russian shows, or American shows dubbed in Russian. If you listen close enough you can hear the English very softly and then the Russian dubbing being yelled over it. They have “Friends” here! That was very exciting for me until I realized a friend gave me all the season’s on my external, I love you Erika! All homes have carpets which they sit on, furniture is not used often. In my house there’s only one chair and we decided to put my water filter on it as opposed to using it as a chair. They sleep on mats on the floor with thick blankets as covers. The mats and sleeping on the floor actually reminded me of futons in Japan. It’s really cold at night outside but the homes are well heated and the thick blankets help. I suppose the only real difficulty I’m having right now is learning how to squat for long periods of time. During the day they wash their clothes and break spare bread to feed the animals they keep (my family has a cow, a sheep, and plenty of chickens), but they squat while they do these tasks! Lucky for my family has tiny benches but my host sisters have no trouble at all.
Anyway that’s all for now I will write more later.
I first met all the other volunteers in Washington DC. We are a total of 29 volunteers (18 guys and 11 girls—a rare occurrence where the males outnumber the girls) known as the T18b group (the T18a’s came in March. there were only 6 of them). TheT17’s have been expecting us for quite some time. They did not get any new volunteers here last fall, possibly because of some paperwork issues, and so there was a lot of excitement when this group made it through. There are about 35 T17’s, I forget how many exactly, but they will be slowly leaving between now and early December. All the T17’s were nice and shared some of their experiences with us. They also left us some hand-me-downs. I received my first koynik (traditional Turkmen dress) from a T17 after complimenting her on how beautiful it was. I was very lucky because it really is beautiful and I recently learned buying that material would be expensive for me, well considering my stipend. I am expected to live off the stipend provided by Peace Corps. Not sure how much that’s going to be just yet.
The first few days in Turkmenistan were the easiest. I stayed in a suite with a shower and western toilet. The food they gave us was also very international. There were certain meals that reminded me of Peruvian dishes. In particular there was a beet salad like the one my mom makes, some meat, onions and French fries which reminded me of Lomo Saltado. Then in Peace Corps headquarters we received some introductory language lessons and learned about safety regulations. For our language lessons we were split up into small groups. My group and teacher are all males; we are 5 people all together. But, I am lucky enough to have a health group in my town and they have a female teacher and another girl (they are 4 people altogether). I can go to her for any female advice on Turkmen culture.
I should let you know that when I signed up for Peace Corps I imagined a place like my mother’s hometown in the Andes, Cajamarquilla, Ancash, Peru. The first time I went to her hometown I believe I was 13 and I was shocked by everything that I saw and didn’t see. I didn’t see electricity or toilets, or bathrooms in the house, and basically nothing modern. What I saw was dirt roads, stone/ mud brick homes with nicely tiled roofs but there were a lot of open rooms. Going into a house meant first walking into an open courtyard sort of place and then cooking meals outdoors. All the kids had old and dirty clothes. I met a boy my age that was shorter than I was at the time (and if you know how short I am then he was REALLY short). I forget why, but I asked him what 5+8 was and then realized he could not add. When I asked him if he went to school he said he did, but only when he had time. It was more important to him and his family that he help with the crops in the fields.
When people ask me why I wanted to join Peace Corps I always think of Cajamarquilla and that boy. I think of visiting their school and seeing a building with only two classrooms for grades 1-3 and 4-6. That was the extent of their education there at the time, they would have to go somewhere else for further studies, and girls were less likely to go. But thinking of that I remember wishing I could do something and feeling so useless because I couldn’t. 10 years later I finally have the knowledge and capacity to help. I heard of Peace Corps while in HS and have wanted to do it ever since. But like I said this town is not quite how I imagined it.
Gokdepe is much bigger than I imagined. The school has about 8 classrooms from what I’ve seen so far, and I’ve heard they have just over 1,000 students. I have not met that many students yet, but I may soon enough. There are dirt roads, old cars and outhouses but inside the homes there’s heat and electricity. I’ve seen a television in almost every home and many people have satellites to watch Russian shows, or American shows dubbed in Russian. If you listen close enough you can hear the English very softly and then the Russian dubbing being yelled over it. They have “Friends” here! That was very exciting for me until I realized a friend gave me all the season’s on my external, I love you Erika! All homes have carpets which they sit on, furniture is not used often. In my house there’s only one chair and we decided to put my water filter on it as opposed to using it as a chair. They sleep on mats on the floor with thick blankets as covers. The mats and sleeping on the floor actually reminded me of futons in Japan. It’s really cold at night outside but the homes are well heated and the thick blankets help. I suppose the only real difficulty I’m having right now is learning how to squat for long periods of time. During the day they wash their clothes and break spare bread to feed the animals they keep (my family has a cow, a sheep, and plenty of chickens), but they squat while they do these tasks! Lucky for my family has tiny benches but my host sisters have no trouble at all.
Anyway that’s all for now I will write more later.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Still packing
Just sent out the link to many of you so hopefully you are capable of commenting on this blog. Here is where I will post the many events that go on in Turkmenistan as a volunteer. I wont be able to post daily since the internet is limited but I will try to write often. I may even have friends and family update for me via letters that I will write to them and have them transcribe.
For now I am in the middle of packing. I am trying to find as many long skirts as possible. I will need skirts that go down to my ankle so that I am covered up. It's an Islamic country, if that helps to explain why I need the long skirts. Still, I will not need to cover my head and I can still wear short sleeves.
Aside from clothing I am also in the midst of collecting movies and music from friends and family alike. My terabyte has gotten really full since I left NY. (Thanks Erika ^_^)
I will have many American things to share with the Turkmen people now. From what I heard their access to American music was outdated and mostly from the 70's and 80's with people using scrunchies! Yay for time traveling, but I should check my facts. I will let you know how much of this hearsay is true.
Also, I will let you know about the food because that seems the most intimidating right now. I don't really know how much meat I can handle. I don't want to be a vegetarian but from what I've read on other blogs there are some experiences with meat that can be really traumatizing. I'll just have to man up and deal with it though. For posts about those kinds of events I'll add little stars (***) and a warning for those with weak stomachs.
There are many new experiences waiting for me in Turkmenistan but I'm really excited for this new adventure and this opportunity to make a difference. It helps that I have this new bracelet from my mom that will keep encouraging me day after day. On it are wonderful phrases engraved all over the place. They are as follows:
CHOOSE this moment
Love
Shine
B THE CHANGE U WISH 2 SEE [-Gandhi]
DREAM BIG
Love Life Be Brave
Smile
Laugh
Sing
Play!
Dream
Wish
DARE 2 B DIFFERENT
All of which I hope to do.
Finally, I will let you know the Mission for Peace Corps as stated on their site:
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.
The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
(http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=about.mission)
I hope that this Blog will help me in completing the third goal. For those of you who will read my blog feel free to ask any questions about what I post or even questions about things I don't post but you're just curious about.
I will write again soon, probably when I'm back in DC and meet all the others who will be joining me in Turkmenistan (Tstan).
~GERI~
For now I am in the middle of packing. I am trying to find as many long skirts as possible. I will need skirts that go down to my ankle so that I am covered up. It's an Islamic country, if that helps to explain why I need the long skirts. Still, I will not need to cover my head and I can still wear short sleeves.
Aside from clothing I am also in the midst of collecting movies and music from friends and family alike. My terabyte has gotten really full since I left NY. (Thanks Erika ^_^)
I will have many American things to share with the Turkmen people now. From what I heard their access to American music was outdated and mostly from the 70's and 80's with people using scrunchies! Yay for time traveling, but I should check my facts. I will let you know how much of this hearsay is true.
Also, I will let you know about the food because that seems the most intimidating right now. I don't really know how much meat I can handle. I don't want to be a vegetarian but from what I've read on other blogs there are some experiences with meat that can be really traumatizing. I'll just have to man up and deal with it though. For posts about those kinds of events I'll add little stars (***) and a warning for those with weak stomachs.
There are many new experiences waiting for me in Turkmenistan but I'm really excited for this new adventure and this opportunity to make a difference. It helps that I have this new bracelet from my mom that will keep encouraging me day after day. On it are wonderful phrases engraved all over the place. They are as follows:
CHOOSE this moment
Love
Shine
B THE CHANGE U WISH 2 SEE [-Gandhi]
DREAM BIG
Love Life Be Brave
Smile
Laugh
Sing
Play!
Dream
Wish
DARE 2 B DIFFERENT
All of which I hope to do.
Finally, I will let you know the Mission for Peace Corps as stated on their site:
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.
The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:
1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
(http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=about.mission)
I hope that this Blog will help me in completing the third goal. For those of you who will read my blog feel free to ask any questions about what I post or even questions about things I don't post but you're just curious about.
I will write again soon, probably when I'm back in DC and meet all the others who will be joining me in Turkmenistan (Tstan).
~GERI~
Friday, September 24, 2010
One week left!
So it's Thursday night and I finally decided to make this blog. I will be leaving for Turkmenistan on September 30th. Very excited.
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