Turkeys Turkeys and more Turkeys

The time finally arrived yesterday, Thanksgiving morning, for us to end the lives of the turkeys my friend in the next village over had been raising for months.

I arrived in the early morning to find both turkeys already, and the plucking process about half-way through. But everyone had a sad look on their faces and the first thing out of Halley's mouth was, "We had a problem."

"What's that?" I asked. The turkeys looked fine to me (it's not every day that I examine dead turkeys)

"A wild dog took off with the head of one of our turkeys. He took most of the breast meat with him."

After all that work...months of pumping these turkeys full of garlic and healthy food, a dog came and ruined it all.

But it was okay...we cut around the area where he chewed, plucked off the rest of the feathers and cooked those suckers up and it was an absolutely fantastic Thanksgiving.

I am so grateful to be here. :)

HINDISTAN!!!!!!!!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

My paperwork for a visa to India has been accepted and in just six weeks I'm off.

I usually have such bad luck at embassies...but this was a golden experience.

Maybe it was because we're American...

Maybe it's because we smiled a lot...

Or maybe it's because I kept gawking over the girl at the front desks' hot new boots.

Who knows?

But I've got the golden ticket...

Just Gross

I just spent eleven hours on the train, sharing a compartment with a man who had severe sleep apnea.

It sounded as though he was going to choke on himself and die...

The wailing, nasal bellows are still wafting through my ears.

Oh these unforgettable experiences...how they shape my patience.

Success is Golden

November 7, 2008

I was sitting in my English club yesterday looking around and I started thinking, “Is my life fulfilled? Am I happy with my work? Am I happy here?”

And I listened to my students practicing their past tense verbs and continually repeating things we had gone over during the past few weeks, and I thought about how enriching the experience was, overall. I thought about how far they’ve come over time and how far I’ve come during this past year.

I realized something yesterday…a little phenomenon is happening in Yoloten: something I like to call PROGRESS.

And it’s just fantastic, in every way, shape and form.

Absolutely fulfilled…definitely enriched…almost magical.

Still Number Two

November 5, 2008

Everywhere in Turkmenistan is different, and certainly my experiences aren’t the same as others in other parts of the country.

And being American gives me special privileges also, I know. People often want to help me out, talk to me, etc.

But sometimes it’s really hard to be a woman out here, and I’m reminded of this from time to time. It’s those instances when I must sit in the back of a car even if the front seat is open, when I’m the last served in a shop full of male customers and when my vodka shot glasses are removed from my place at the table at weddings that make me say oh yeah…I’m a woman and that’s tough here.

I also don’t like watching my male American friends laugh and shake hands with new people we meet while I just slightly nod my head in acknowledgement.

I was walking home with my Tartar friend tonight and she asked me to stop in a small shadow on the street corner so she could smoke a cigarette without anyone seeing her.

About ninety percent of men here smoke, but if a woman were to do so it would be the greatest scandal.

“I just wish I could be free,” she told me. “I want to wear shorts and cute shirts without everyone saying I’m a prostitute. I’d like to walk down the street and smoke a cigarette without people saying that I’ll never find a husband.”

“Time changes everything,” I told her.

“Ahhh,” she said. “Takи дeлa.

Such is life.

YES WE CAN!

November 5, 2008

Today during my Advanced English Club, on the faded, old blackboard in my classroom, I wrote, “Idiom for today: BREAK THAT GLASS CEILING!!!!”

I have to say that I felt special during Obama’s speech when he mentioned the many people out around the obscure corners of the world crowding around satellite radios and gathering together with other forms of communication to hear the news.

I felt special as I talked with my students about the history of the United States, and the importance of never giving up.

I felt special encouraging my students to make the impossible possible. To not stop studying, to keep trying to continue their education, to make their dreams come true.

YES WE CAN.