One Year Down...

I cannot believe I've been in this country for one whole year.

I have not done nearly enough yet...it feels as though it seriously just flew by.

One year is gone...I have fifteen months to go...

New volunteers will be here in about seventeen hours.

Time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you're still complaining about language skills, studying for GREs and trying to make great pasta noodles.

Livin the life.

I Smell Bacon, I Smell Grease

September 16, 2008


People give me things all the time here…a handful of walnuts, some candies, a piece of cake, a somsa (meat pie), and I never really question what the food I’m nourishing myself with consists of.

I’ve eaten so many different things out here that eating something strange doesn’t really phase me.

So when another teacher excitedly pulled me aside during class and opened up a plastic bag full of delicious-smelling meat, I said sure I’ll take a piece. It was saturated in a thick sauce, and she told me again and again what it was exactly, but I had never heard the word before so I just assumed it was no big deal.

Then when I was at home cutting a piece off later in the evening I realized it was different from other meats.

Probably because it wasn’t meat.

I was still curious, so I put a nice big fat piece in my mouth…but something was a little strange about this foreign object I was chewing.

Afterward I looked up the word she had said during class a few hours earlier.

“FAT”, the dictionary said. “PIG FAT” …”LARD.”

So I had a nice chunk of pig fat for dinner.

I feel gross.

What to Send…What to Send…

September 16, 2008

I sometimes get emails from people asking me what they can send to help out over here, so I thought I’d write a blog about it.

Things that would be helpful, if you have any types of these things hanging around unused at home:

Games (anything that would be helpful to educational development, especially) like Scrabble, Taboo, Balderdash, and others. And games that don’t require a ton of English to play would be cool. Like Uno cards maybe?

Frisbees (they LOVE ultimate Frisbee out here)

Books (children’s or young adult- nothing too difficult)

Any types of short stories, poems or plays (junior high level, nothing to difficult) found online printed out (8 copies would be really cool…it’s expensive to print and Xerox anything here)

Honestly, I think that last one would be the best way to help out, if you have the time to do a Google search for some stories, poems or plays online and also any discussion questions to go along with it.

I am completely and totally aware and adapting to the idea of using my own creativity to create an interesting learning environment, and trust me I’ve done my share of adaptation here.

Every time I get ahold of a magazine of some sort it is turned into a lesson plan…every piece of cardboard from a package I receive is used to create fake clocks, or other types of visual aids for my students. Every piece of paper is double used for something else and I keep every cover of the notebooks I go through so that can be used also. I’ve spent hours drawing, coloring, cutting and gluing stuff together for lesson plans.

I’ve dealt with having no chalk, no books, no classroom, even…they’re just things that have to be dealt with.

But sometimes I get frustrated because my brain can only be stretched so far…which is why volunteers rely on each other and the outside world so much for ideas.

Here’s the address:

Angela Generoso/PCV
Mailbox 24
Central Post Office
Mary City, 745400
Turkmenistan

And a nice little story for ya:

Two frogs are in a jar of cream, and they try to jump out but fail. One frog says its hopeless and sinks to the bottom. The other keeps trying until the cream turns to butter, which lifts her to the top so that she can step out of the jar.

Keep on, keeping on…

Do you have the time…to listen to me whine…

September 10, 2008

Songs to describe my life at this time last semester:

“She’s Gonna Break Soon” by Less Than Jake

“I Wanna Be Sedated” by the Ramones

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones

“Stronger” by Kanye West


Songs to describe my life right now:

“Imagine” by John Lennon

“Blowing in the Wind” by Bob Dylan

“Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer

And everything and anything by Fergie

I feel like everything has just swirled around and changed and hit me upside the head with reality and lack thereof at the same time.

I go through the weirdest pangs and sensations here. I will go for days thinking that I can’t imagine not being a part of these people’s lives, and that two years is not nearly long enough to be here.

And then today I had the weirdest craving for a McDonalds cheeseburger and all I wanted was to go home.

I never even ate cheeseburgers that often back home.

I don’t know why I’m so weird.

But the connection is real. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be here for two years and not truly connect with someone. For me that one person has been my host mother…I owe her my entire Peace Corps experience. I have never met someone with such a humongous heart of gold, and I know there’s a reason we came into each other’s lives.

Fifteen months is a long, long time.

And at the same time, not nearly long enough.

I’ll Have a Bear, Please

September 7, 2008

Walking into my fifth form class during the first day of school was incredibly uplifting. I can’t imagine how a person wouldn’t smile seeing those 27 adorable, grinning faces.


“HOW ARE YOU????” I asked.


“GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!” They yelled giving me a thumbs up.


That’s why I love my job.


One of my advanced students came in to class this week and said, “I am so exhausted today!” and I was crazy with pride because we had just gone over extreme adjectives this week.


It’s incredible being around these students. I asked them this week, “What is ideal?”


And their answers were as far and outlandish as you could possibly imagine.


As for the ones who are struggling and working their butts off to get to a more advanced level, I have extremely high hopes. Some of them never miss a lesson once and I just want for them to not lose interest.


On the other hand, I’m getting really tired of explaining the verb “to be” and scolding kids for saying “beer” when they mean to say “bear” among other things. I’ve repeated myself over and over again and will continue to do so.


But I guess that’s part of what I’m here to do.


Overall I can’t complain about the little things…how it’s really hard for me to get a classroom often…how people steal my chalk…kids who come into lessons just to chat with their friends…and I really hate it when people constantly come to the door asking to talk with me about lessons when I’m in the middle of giving a lesson.


It’s irritating, but I guess the overall picture is good.

All My Dreams are Just Islands in the Sky

September 6, 2008


I went to a conference in Almaty two months ago and it was so interesting to hear these teachers talk about the importance of increasing kids’ interest in reading.


But how the hell can that happen if there’s no books?


The US embassy allows its centers to make one request for books a year, which is a little irritating.


All I can think about are the millions and trillions of books just sitting around in libraries and schools across the US. We have three centers here in Turkmenistan and luckily there’s one in Mary, but when I asked what book sets we had available, I was given “My Antonia” which is way above their heads.


I’m definitely not complaining, because for one, at least I have advanced students, and secondly, I’m lucky to have any books at all.


I just wish a set of 7 educational, interesting books would appear magically in front of me and I could start a book club for these kids.


Maybe I’ll write a letter to Oprah…