Summer in the City

Yesterday I saw the most amazing thing. First, I’ll set the scene. I now live in a Soviet style apartment complex. Read: big, square, and concrete with brightly decorated clothing lines extending from all floors in all directions. I live on the first floor of this building. The first floor has a number of perks. Most importantly, we have a deck. If any one is interested in exporting some cracker-barrel rocking chairs, please let me know. We also have a small yard. Here my two host sisters spend the evening hours concocting delicious meals of mud and grass. The gate to this yard is one in a long line of green gates belonging to other first floor apartment dwellers.

Outside of this line of green metal, gobs of neighborhood kids play endless games of soccer in the street. Inevitably the boys play and the girls watch. At best, the girls are assigned to the unsavory role of goalkeeper (never goalie because goalie=naked in Russian!). The sidelines are delineated by the older boys who sit in their pristine Ladas or Toyotas, with the windows down, blasting Russian rap. Leaving my house feels at times like running the gauntlet. So yesterday, I emerged from my green gate as usual into a game of soccer. My presence, however, went unnoticed for perhaps the first time. In the middle of the field a woman towered over the kids. She, like nearly all Russian and Turkmen women in Ashgabat, was perfectly done up. Her tunic style blouse was powerfully striped with red, yellow, and blue and belted in the middle. Underneath black tights hugged her skinny legs. Her blond hair was pulled back and the gold molding of her sunglasses flashed in the sun. Her heels lifted her a full five inches off the ground. This 40 year old woman hung for a second over the soccer ball and then streaked forward. Her shot was strong and true. GOAL!!! Watch out USA! When Turkmenistan does eventually put together a women’s soccer team, they will be a powerhouse. Years of wearing high heels does wonders for your leg muscles.

So, I apologize for the belatedness of this post. Perhaps because I feel pretty assimilated, my life generally seems less noteworthy than before. Not in the negative sense but rather in the sense that I have settled into daily and weekly routines. So here is a quick update on the big events in my life during the last couple of months.

I have begun to do Yoga. Yup, that’s right. I never did it in the US but now I go twice a week to Yoga class in Turkmenistan. One of the wives of the Peace Corps staff holds free Yoga class in the office every Tuesday and Thursday. I was convinced to go and now am hooked. It is so freakin’ relaxing! For any of you out there who need some stress relief or who have been pondering how to fill your summer months, I really do recommend it.

Two weeks until finals. I’m excited because I need a mental rest but a tad disappointed because I feel like I was just beginning to really bond with the students in some of my classes and now they will move on to become third year students. As I teach only second year classes, I won’t see them as often after the summer holidays. My hopes rest on the fact that they will come back to attend my after-school clubs. During finals I hope to daily or maybe tri-weekly computer trainings for my teachers.

I moved! In case you didn’t catch that from my first little anecdote, I have changed my domicile. I now live with a single mom (her husband lives in the US) and two girls, Mahre and Nabot, ages 6 and 10. This new place is more spacious and much closer to my work. I also have much more freedom to cook for myself. Most importantly, I now have a 20 minute bus ride to work instead of a 45-1 hr bus ride. I am quite content.

In other news, the summer is a coming. I am frightened. Ok, that is a slight understatement I am scared for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the heat. URGH. The heat is already pretty intense and promises to creep up to 115 F before too long. During a 15 minute bus ride, I made the mistake of sitting down. The hot of the plastic seat seeped quickly through the cloth of my skirt made the sweat roll down my legs. I have learned that it is far better to have even the possibility of air circulation on all sides. Other things I have learned/am learning about summer in Ashgabat:
1) It is absolutely necessary to gravitate towards the shade. I now plot my path to and from the bus stop, to and from the bazaar, to and from anywhere and everywhere, by following the irregular splotches of dark on the sidewalk.
2) One must choose the side of the bus that will receive the least amount of direct sunlight over the course of the ride. This can be difficult to calculate because buses have this little habit of turning.
3) Choose articles of clothing by comparing thickness of material. I have been encouraged to buy transparent material for summer but can’t quite bring myself to do this. Wait a couple months and check back on this one.
4) It is never too hot to drink tea.
5) Purple sandals are all the craze.
6) If I run after 7 am, I turn a deep shade of red. This frightens any and everyone that happens to see me. I generally try to avoid this.

In parting I will entice you with my summer plans. June, as I have said, I will hopefully be doing some teacher training. The first half of July, I hope to help another volunteer out with her Water Camp on the Caspian Sea in Turkmenbashy. All those years and years of teaching swim lessons and lifeguarding seemed to have earned me a place at this dream of a camp. During the second half of July, I hope to head over to Thailand. This seems to be one of the more popular vacation spots for Peace Corps volunteers from Central Asia. It is close, plane tickets are cheap, living expenses are cheap, there are mountains, there are beaches, and there is Bangkok. August will be intensive Russian training, lesson planning and gathering resources for the new school year, and potentially traveling some within Turkmenistan. Then September will be back to school! All of these plans, however, hinge on my ability to withstand the heat. Wish me luck!

Write me or e-mail me! I miss you guys!