Thanksgiving, and Language Mishaps

It is Black Friday in Türkmenistan and I didn’t think about shopping once, unless you consider the food we are going to buy tomorrow for the celebration we will have on Monday to thank all of our counterparts. (Kärdiş Toý) A few stories/experiences to share with you all are listed below. As always thanks for all of your support! Keep sending me letters! I will also hopefully have a cell phone soonish for anyone who might want to call! I will have free incoming calls and texts!
Thanksgiving – Turkmen Style
Thanksgiving in America – Macy’s Day Parade, Lots of food, Football
Thanksgiving in Turkmenistan – A classroom of children all singing Yesterday by the Beatles and Hound dog by Elvis. (If I can figure out how to post video on the blog I will!), Palow (rice, meat, carrots and onions) followed by an entire afternoon making a lot more food, and some more singing!
Thanksgiving menu: Baking powder biscuits (made with baking soda and vinegar), Mashed potatoes and gravy, Sweet potatoes with sugar (not brown sugar), Stuffed Chicken killed the previous night by Jessie’s family, A ton of stuffing (which we realized was actually very similar to Turkmen dograma – a dish I have not found a liking to), Pumpkin pudding (we used a pie recipe but didn’t have a crust and didn’t let it cook nearly long enough because we needed to cook the chicken, but it turned out really really good!).
We invited my host family to eat with us as well as our LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator) named Soltan and the only thing the Turkmen actually seemed to enjoy was the pumpkin pudding. But we didn’t despair because each time we’ve made ‘American’ food Turkmen don’t really seem to eat much if any of it.
Language Misinterpretations 101
It is strange what a person dreams about while in new and unpredictable situations! This story begins with my good friend Jessie and I’m publishing this with much thanks to her for any embarrassment that may be a result of this publication. Jessie, similar to many of us (myself included) woke up before her alarm this morning. Instead of going back to sleep she began to daydream. The goal was a simple romantic dream in London. Instead she began to daydream about eating eggs for breakfast. Naturally, she shared her dream with each of us this morning as part of the morning ritual: How did you sleep? Are you gastro intestinally healthy? What did you dream about?
Several hours lapsed and we are at lunch. I was in a rather grumpy mood all day and when Sarah suggested we watch some Pride and Prejudice on her computer rather than the normal MTV in Russian I voted yes! We watched the entire second episode of the BBC version. It put me in a better mood and the girls in my group were talking with Soltan about the movie and Amy mentioned “Maña Mr. Darcy gerek” (I want/need Mr. Darcy). Sarah repeated the same statement and I followed suit. Jessie, however, commented, “Maña yurmurtgalar gerek” (I want/need eggs). Soltan began laughing hysterically and asked, “Really?!?!?!?!?” and continued to laugh. We all joined in and Jessie began to think if she said what she really thought she said. She then had a moment of clarity and realized the word yurmurtgalar sounded a lot like yurmurtgalich which means testicals. She clarified to Soltan and we all marked it up to another linguistic misunderstanding.
I can’t say I’ve had any misunderstandings quite that entertaining but I have absolutely messed up leaving and coming verbs. I’ve told my family and a bunch of community women that I have kids and am unmarried (this was because I thought I was asked if I liked kids to which I responded yes). I quickly clarified and their looks of shame changed. I’ve also found some fun verbs. For example :çykmak means: to exit, to climb, to seem, to appear (as in to appear that you are correct), to appear (materialize), to perform (i.e. a play), to take off (i.e. clothes), to come from, to deviate from, and finally it is also used after a gerund to indicate a completed action (like I am done cleaning my room – çykdym would go at the end of that sentence). Just imagine all of the complications this verb alone could cause!
In less than 1 week I will be an official Peace Corps Volunteer! I am very excited and daunted by that fact. During the swearing in ceremony two of my fellow trainees will be giving speeches in Turkmen. The group voted on Joshua and Nancy. Several groups of trainees will be presenting music in various forms. I’m hoping that our training group will be able to pull it off but we’re hoping to perform a traditional Turkman piece of music with dutar (Turkmen guitar with two strings) played by Joel and the lyrics sung by some portion of the rest of us. We shall see. I’ll keep you posted. Becoming a PCV is different from a Peace Corps Trainee in only a few ways. First, and most obviously I will no longer be in training. I will be alone in a village where the nearest American is a 30 minute Taxi ride to the south. I will be getting paid a real wage (although even in Turkmen standards we are paid subpar). We get 2.8 million manat .8 of which goes to our families. The average teacher gets paid 4ish million manat. We will also see how/if that changes when the economy is switched to the new currency system. I am not complaining, however. I will probably have to work fairly hard to spend that much money each month. I’ll probably be cooking for myself several dinners a week, getting a few more new dresses made, and traveling to the regional capital of Lebap several times a month. But other than that I just won’t have anything to spend money on.
I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! Wishing you all a beautiful and joyful start to the holiday season! Send letters!!!

Guychbirleshek, Lebap

I have been to my permanent site and am extrordinarily excited! I didn't have my computer with so I haven't had a chance to write a thoughtful, thorough post. I'm sure I'll get one up eventually, or if not I sent a very detailed letter to my parents who can fill in the blanks.

We took an overnight train from Ashgabat to Lebap where we paused in the Capitol, Turkmenibat. It was large but I didn't actually get to get out of the train. We then traveled another several hours until we arrived in Halach - the etrap center (kind of like counties in the states). I am 15 - 25 minutes northwest of Halach in a small oba (village) called Guychbirleshek. My family was really nice and they are rather wealthy and have a large house. One of the main reasons I know they are wealthy is because my father has a second wife. There is a six month old baby at home and I have a 17 year old brother and a gelneje (sister-in-law) living at home. The clinic I'm working at is small with four doctors and four nurses. We didn't see any patients the entire time I was there. But everyone was very nice! My bedroom is small but has a bed (that creaks when I breathe) and a wardrobe type thing as well as a tv and a stereo sound system. I don't know if those will still be there when I arrive in December for the rest of my service. Overall I am very excited and can't wait to leave for permanent site in December. I am really in the middle of nowhere with the closest volunteer being 30 minutes away by taxi, but it is very exciting and I am the first volunteer at this site. Therefore I was constantly stared at everywhere I went! My gelneje took me to two toy's (parties for a wedding) and everyone kept staring at me. This was particularily exciting when they told me I had to dance. Turkmen dancing (for women) is basically walking in a circle to a beat waving your hands in a circular motion. I'll teach anyone who is interested when I arrive back home. Men have a much more fun time dancing as they get their entire bodies to do these crazy body moves. The thing I am most excited about is that in Halach people are much more liberal and open. Men and women talk, they are friends and men help in the house and with children. My future family is truly a family unit that openly cares for one another. It is going to be a very good few years!

That's all for now and I can't wait to hear from you all via email and letters!

Some updates about my permanent site:

So, I am going to Lebap vilayette. My village is Guichbirleshik and it is located in Halach Etrap (sort of like a county). I am leaving here in about 15 minutes. I will be meeting my host family that has a mother, father, two brothers (only one is at home often). The older brother is married and his wife and 6 month old child are at home. The younger brother is 17. I am very excited and should have time to update you all on what it is I encountered when I return (Wednesday morning here). I hope you are all looking forward to the update! I know I am!!!!!

Finally we have internet access!

I am officially half done with my training. We have done so many new and exciting things! I have written letters to everyone who provided me with their address before I left. You should probably get a letter before the end of December, but remember there are no guarantees with Turkmen or US mail systems.
The past month has been a time of constant adjustment. It has been stressful, tedious, educational, strenuous, and lots of fun. Overall it has been a growing experience. I have been getting to know my fellow PCT’s in my training village, spending at least four hours/six days a week on formal language practice and learning. Plus countless numbers of hours with my wonderful host family whenever they are patient enough to listen to me slaughter their beautiful language. I can talk extensively about food and family in Turkmen, I am supposed to know how to talk about transportation, Peace Corps and many other subjects that seem to float in and out of my mind hourly.
Training is a lot of fun, but it is also extremely packed with activities, lessons, observations, camps, excursions, semi-realistic language practice a few of the more recent ones I’ve chosen to list below in short stories for your perusal.
Saturday Nov. 1: Trip to the underground lake.
Today we were given the opportunity to go to an underground lake west of Ashgabat. It was about an hour from my training village. We arrived and of course chatted with our fellow PCV’s in different villages. And anytime we all get together there will always be an ‘educational’ session. Today’s session was on development, specifically sustainable development. It was good because the length was relatively brief. We were then given lunch: tomatos (pomidor), cucumbers (hýyar), meat (et), bean salad (salat), eggplant salad (bodomli salat), bread (çorek), and expensive soda (coca-cola, and fanta). Then we managed to find a outdoor dukan that sold beer. I’m fairly certain we greatly increased this particular vendor’s daily income a great deal! I then slowly approach the mountain base that is covered with about three very brightly painted rocks (they looked similar to the flat irons except much smaller and painted white). Behind one of the rocks is a locked gate (much to our disappointment). However, safety Ata (PC staff member in charge of safety and security for PCV’s, there is more than one Ata) came to our rescue and talked with the gate keeper who proceeded to unlock the gate and we glanced over the ledge into the abyss. One by one we carefully stepped down the stairs, beginning with the first two flights that dropped down probably 100 feet. Each step was more like a three foot jump or many times leap of faith. Every time the steps leveled out I glanced around me in hopes of catching a glimpse of this famed lake. Each time being just a little annoyed that I had to keep walking down the steps. Knowing somewhere in the back of my mind that I would soon be walking back up… Finally, after about 6 or 7 minutes walking down into the dark and mysterious abyss we hear voices and some splashing. Meanwhile, it is growing darker and darker and the lighting that has been provided is beginning to be inadequate. Each time I pass a light I have to feel my way down the steps until I begin to approach the next light. On my right I pass an area that is meant to be the changing area, however, I don’t stop to change thinking it is just around the corner and I can check out the lake and then come back and change. The smell that began faint is growing stronger and stronger, the sulfur rising around us. It is also becoming more and more humid, I begin to shed layers of clothing. Continue walking down, and still further down. Suddenly I see a group of people standing at a railing and I hear splashing and yelling! We have made it to the famed underground lake. After surveying the area I head back up to the changing area and back down to the lake. I join everyone already swimming and ease into the very warm, pleasant water (as long as you dismiss the smell). As soon as my eyes adjusted to the dark (unlike any American equivalent this lake is relatively unlit similar to the path heading down) I begin to explore. It was a lake whose water is replaced three times every 24 hours and this particular water table extends into Iran and apparently there is a hold underwater in this cave that leads to another cave behind it. That would be really sweet to check out with scuba gear and some lights. There are several stalagmites sticking out of the water in various locations and I managed to bring back a rock (I originally had two but I think I lost one somewhere along the way). It is pretty cool! The cave was extremely cool, a few volunteers brought head lights and we were able to see more of the cave than we would have otherwise. It is very dark in the back of the cave where the lake goes to.
October 29: My first ‘real’ toý experience.
Turkmen really know how to celebrate and have a good time! They have toýs for births of children, birthdays, and most importantly for weddings! I have officially been at three different toys. The first was for the birth of my host nephew one week after I arrived. I, however, missed the majority of the toý because I was at school learning. The second was at Michael’s (a fellow volunteer) home. This was an exciting toý because it was my first chance to see gellin’s (brides). The first time I was in the toý atmosphere, the first time I got to dance at a toý, and the first and most likely last time I’ll dance with men at a toý (they were Americans so I’m told it was ok). It is truly a unique experience, one I probably won’t do justice to in this brief explanation, but I will do my best.
So my third toý (officially first) was at our gonşe’s (neighbor). It was huge! A two day affair. I went to the second day. This toý had a large stage where the musicians produced live music, and where I saw my first Turkmen comedy act. The stage was surrounded by a 30 foot tall background that had many large flashing neon lights. The stage was situated on the end of the block that my gonşe lives on. On the street there was a large area in front of the stage for dancers and then there were lots and lots of really long tables that were covered in food. I was accompanied to this toý by Guljahan (I think she is the niece of my gelneje – sister in law). We sat at a table for about 20 minutes while I slowly ate and picked at the food. I have been told that food is abundant at toýs and I needed to go slow in order to not seem rude. Guljahan (who is 15 I think) then informed me we were going to go stand up and wait for the gellin to arrive. We stood and she came in. Turkmen brides (dressed in traditional dress) are truly a sight to behold. They are so extremely beautiful! I was able to get rather close to this one as well! Guljahan and I then found a place on the side of the dance floor to be invited to dance. You are not allowed to dance at a Turkmen toý unless you are invited by someone already dancing. Men and women dance in separate circles. Women dance by moving their hands in circular motions and moving their feet to the rhythm of whatever music is playing while walking slowly in a circle. Men get really physical with their dancing and do some pretty entertaining acrobatic moves. Guljahan and I stood on the side of the dance floor for the next three hours. The temperature outside is maybe 45 F and it keeps getting colder. I am luckily thoroughly dressed in all my warm clothes but many of the Turkmen women are wearing koineks and thin jackets and of course their three inch stiletto heels. I finally got a chance to dance when we were invited by one of Guljahan’s friends (or family – I’m not sure). We ended up staying at this toý for about three and a half hours when I finally decided I needed to go home and get some sleep.
A quick note on sleep in T-stan:
I get a lot of sleep! I have been averaging 9 – 10 hours a night. This is fantastic because I’m hardly tired during the day and it is many times necessary because I am more able to function and concentrate during the day. The downside is that when I only get 7 – 8 hours I feel completely disoriented and thrown off entirely! It is very challenging and confusing! Get ready family! When I return in a few years I’m going to need lots and lots of sleep!
Finally, thanks again to everyone who has been keeping me in your thoughts and prayers! They have proven to be immensely helpful! This upcoming week is going to be both challenging and extremely exciting! On Wednesday I find out two very important pieces of information. I find out where I will be spending the next two years of my service, and we find out who the next president of the US will be. Thursday and Friday here I meet my counterpart and we all undergo a counterpart conference in Ashgabat. And Friday evening or Saturday morning I depart to my permanent site to visit and meet my family, get to know a little bit about the town. We stay at our permanent sites for about 3 days and then return to finish training. Please, keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I go through this very exciting and scary new change! I will be sure to update everyone first chance I get!

Fitting In (Different or the Same)

Fitting In (Different or the Same)

I have moved in with a family in Turkmenistan and I wanted to let you know what the home is like.

The floors are wooden covered with tapestries.
The toilet is in the farthest building from the main house. It has a cement slab 6'X6' and 8' tall walls with a hole and a basket of paper (not the best stuff). A friendly goat wandered on the trail side (we will come back to the goat).
The wash room (Banya) is 10' X 8' and heated with free natural gas. A pile of clothes is usually piled in one end next to an old fashion tub. There is a drain in the center of the floor and a sink on the wall with a faucet that doesn't work. A bucket of water is on the stove and buckets of cold water are all around. You mix the hot and cold water to get the temperature you want and dump it over yourself while simultanously scrubing. Clothes are washed by hand and hung out wrong side out. this prevent evil spirits from entering your clothes as they dry.
The sleeping area is large with a 2" mattress on the floor and neatness is of high value so everything is lined up along the wall neat and tighty.
Water comes from an underground well. I was issued a water filter but it is missing a piece so I might get sick.
There is a new baby in the family a boy born Oct. 19. He has a 3-year old sister a 5year old brother. This is a reason for a celebration. After a full day of training, I returned home to a car full of grocieries. On the first trip to the storage area I spoted the head and legs of the family goat on the floor. Goat for dinner! I cooked for four hours. The morning came fast and guests arrived. During dinner I was served a big helping of goat and given the high honor of being served some of the goat liver.
All women wear dresses all the time. There are three types of dresses; those for everyday at home, those for everyday when leaving home and party dresses. I bought material to have a dress made by a mom of one of the other volunteers and maybe embrordied by my host sister inlaw that has the new baby.
Our training with 5 volunteers other in same town requires us to run a camp at the school. Language is still a challenge but I am learning all the time.

Thanks for all the letters, thoughts and prayers.
Kelsey

First update from Turkmenistan

October 5, 2008

Salaam Blog Readers!

I have officially been in the country for two weeks today! It is hard to believe! I have been staying with a family for the past 5 or 6 days now and am learning new things every day. Some days it is frustrating and some days it is very rewarding (usually everyday is some of both). I am staying in a small town just west of Ashgabat and learning Turkmen as fast as I can. When I first arrived at my host family I could say (in Turkmen) Hi, How are you, Where is the toilet, Where is the wash room, How old are you, Are you married, and I could ask about your family and say I don’t understand. Now I have also learned about housing and family and food and tomorrow I’ll begin learning about the post office which means I’ll be able to send you all the letters that have been piling up in my room. As of yesterday I had 15 letters – that means I’ve been writing an average of 2 a day. I’ve lost count for now. This experience has already been nothing I could have imagined. Every single day I face unbelievable challenges but I’ve heard that those kinds of challenges produce the best rewards. I’ll give you one example: I arrived at my host family’s residence and immediately I placed my belongings in my room and we sat down for chai. We drank around three cups while I exhausted my Turkmen and we sat there for about a half an hour – me in near silence and my gilnege (sister-in-law, also a word for woman older than me but not old) and her mother in niece(I think) talking. Prior to this we had been spoiled (we were given chairs anytime we wanted to sit down). The half hour I spent on the floor attempting to find the best way to be comfortable. It wasn’t easy but I finally figured it out. Then we attempted to communicate (this consisted of my host sister in law and her cousin saying the same thing over and over and over again while I sat there dumbfounded repeating I don’t understand!). I was then taken inside the house and shown how to vacuum, sweep many rugs, wipe down with wet rags anything that was not covered by rugs and then repeated the process in each room. For those of you who know me I am someone who cooks, not someone who cleans! The cleaning process was repeated the next day (they show me how to do something, take it away from me when I do it wrong, show me again and then return the task to me). Meanwhile anytime we take a break from cleaning we are either cooking or sipping chai (sitting on the floor of course). So right now my lower back and hips hurt in places I didn’t know existed. The hurt is a constant reminder of just how much I am going to be changed (and hopefully the change that will occur because of me). Finally, I thought you might be interested in some of the current ideas, thoughts, quotes, etc. that are getting me from moment to moment.


From Planet Walker by John Francis (thanks Leeann!)
“I have taken the first step on a journey that will shape my life. I cannot stop now”


From my journal thanks to Steve (although I don’t know who the original author is…ask Steve!)
“If you ever feel stuck, and think you can’t do much, look past the structures of today, because love will flip the world sideways.” I like this one because one of my major complaints or grieves is the extreme division of men and women here. It is noticeable in each and every day in many ways. And once I move past that and remember the intense swell of love that I feel for our world the little things no longer matter.

Thanks everyone for your support! Send letters, send letters, send letters! You have no idea how wonderful it is to receive a small word of support from home! Sunday I was feeling so negative about my situation until I had a chance to talk with the other Americans in my town. The whole world changed in an instant (or more likely my whole world). A little bit of the known makes the unknown much less scary!
Sag bol!


KELSEY

P.S. I’ve been trying to take lots of pictures and will hopefully send/post some of them soon-ish!

Hello from Turkmenistan!

I only have a few moments to update this blog, so I'll make it brief. My parents should be posting a short note I composed last night (assuming there are no technical problems)!

I am currently sitting in the Peace Corps Office listening to odd sentences and conversations in a bizarre conglomerations of Turkmen and English. It is truly amazing at how the human mind picks up language. We are in Ashgabat to get some shots, get a chance to send a quick email and have a super quick training on using the work stations. So exciting!

Important stuff: I am happy (most of the time :)) and I am finally healthy after a week long bout of intestinal issues. Life is good and very busy!!!

Send me letters!!!

One Moment

This is it! One moment to take life and make it what you want.

Staging was a unique experience filled with 43 strangers (all fellow volunteers), skits, discussions, new friends, meals at exotic restaurants, a roommate named Mallory, and a capstone in which we each chose among the following: actor, dancer, storyteller, artist and musician/poet. Now those of you who know me should know that I wear my heart on my sleeve (therefore I cannot pretend to be someone who I am not) - no acting...I only dance on very rare occasions and while I can appreciate interpretive dance I cannot necessarily perform it...I suck at telling stores as EVERYONE who knows me can attest...and while I play the flute I am not necessarily a musician. So I chose (drum roll please!)...musician/poet. Our job was to explain the importance of cross cultural integration and the aspects we had learned in some sort of musical/poetic way to the rest of the group. Well we were fortunate to have several volunteers with musical instruments with (Joel and Russ both had guitars and Kathy had a trombone!) and several people in the group could sing. I cannot. Therefore we created a haiku to explain what cross cultural integration would mean to each of us. The haiku is as follows:
Salaam new family
Firm Peace and Understanding
Now we all see green.

For most of you this poem may not make any sense...let me expand.

Salaam means hello in Turkmen and we will be living in host families for the majority of the time while in Turkmenistan. One of the main goals of Peace Corps is to be able to have a successful term of service all volunteers must integrate into the community and gain a new understanding of their community. Finally Sheila (our Staging Director) told us a story. There are two communities in the world. In community one every person born from today on has and will always be born with two legs, two arms, two ears, one nose, one mouth and a pair of yellow sunglasses. In community two every person born from today on has and will always be born with two legs, two arms, two ears, one nose, one mouth and a pair of blue sunglasses. Now a person from community two decides to join this organization called Peace Corps and visit community one. They are going to stay in community one for two years and three months. This person lives with the community, works in the community, learns the language, and has a profound connection with community one. When the person returns to community two they explain to all of their friends all about the community across the world and they very precisely explain the central cultural trait or difference: In community one everyone has green sunglasses! It is supposedly most important to begin a cross cultural experience by first and foremost understanding your own culture and knowing that that culture forms your expectations/experiences/history and therefore is the basis for you as a person.

We sang this haiku with Joel, Russ, and Kathy playing beautiful music in the background and I was so superbly entirely in touch with Peace, the world and myself that I began to tear up.

I feel so blessed to be starting this experience and I look forward to the 'new me' of 2010! Look out world - here I come!

Thanks everyone for supporting me and for all of the letters you will be writing, I truly appreciate it!

This is the last chance I'll have to update my blog for a while, so thank you to my family for updating it and keeping everyone posted!

All my love.

Salaam new family
Firm Peace and Understanding
Now we all see green.