Kirk Gyzlar

May 19, 2009


The legend goes like this…

Many years ago forty girls (kirk gyzlar) were doing their laundry at the mouth of this ancient cave in the Koyten Dag Mountains when a group of suitors arrived and began to bother them.

Scared and afraid, they began to pray, asking to please let them disappear. Their prayers were answered and they disappeared into the rocks of the cave.

The water that drips down inside the cave are their tears, mixing in with the mud, creating a clay-like substance on the floor of the cave.

Today travelers from all over the world (myself included) take a strip of material and dip it into the clay. Then they throw the clay-sodden cloth up into the roof and walls of the cave and make a wish.

If your material sticks, your wish will come true…if it doesn’t, it won’t.

Mine stuck. The future awaits…

Rainbows and Butterflies

I really want a shrimp burrito right now.

It's all I can think about.

This week I was convinced I had appendicitis.

Don't worry, people. I do not, in fact, have appendicitis.

I have mid-service-itis...

On the positive side, I successfully started teaching with other teachers this week, and I found cream cheese in Yoloten. It's incredibly expensive, and not so often that the shop has it, but oh so delicious.

I also successfully cooked chicken tiki masala. Who's jealous out there, hmmm?

My boots are completely broken and I had to throw them away. Hopefully it won't snow next December before I vacate this magical world. Let's keep hope alive, guys!

My host cousin is getting married March 20 and it's the most exciting event of my Peace Corps experience, so far...the family is coming this weekend to pay the bride price. I'm making two cakes. Mmmmm....

My students have been coming to my lessons for over a year now, and their English has had incredible improvement. Students who could barely tell me their name are talking about fairness and idioms, etc.

I kind of don't want to leave, but we'll see how I feel in a few months. Spring is a glorious time for Turkmenistan...rainbows and butterflies everywhere.

Mutton for Breakfast

Yesterday I bit into a nice fatty piece of mutton while I was eating my oatmeal for breakfast.

It was the fourth most disgusting thing that's happened to me here.

I don't get it...why can't shops keep meats and grains separate? Is it that hard?

Sooooo gross....

Home Sweet Home

Twenty-f0ur hours ago I was sitting on the steps of the Taj Mahal.

I am now in Ashgabat eating leftover naan from last night's dinner.

Vacation was awesome, but it's good to be back, as always.

2009 is going to be a very promising year.

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…