The Suns a Circus Clown and The Moons a Lemon Pie

Written on January 18th

Today was a phenomenal day; you have those sometimes in the Peace Corps, where things just seem to fit and you feel like you are doing the right thing. It is funny because today didn’t start out like it would be a good day. I was supposed to leave at 7 for a bazaar to buy material and a yaka (embroidered collar) for a party dress. There are several upcoming social events for which I did not have proper attair. The leaving at 7 was so that I would be back at my work by 9. We didn’t leave until 8:15 and didn’t get back until about 10:30. But, I do have everything I need to have a dress sewn up this week, so little victory # 1.
I wanted to be on time to work so that I could go with one of the nurses making their rounds. Turkmenistan is moving to an almost Cuban-style system of health care, where the emphasis is on family physicians and preventative healthcare. There are some gaps in the system (some of which I’m here to fill), but they have, in many cases, the numbers. There is supposed to be one nurse for every 1,000 people, and they go around and visit these people periodically to tell them things like “vaccinate your children tomorrow” or “breastfeed, and don’t give your baby tea.” Its funny because I can’t imagine that working out so well in America. (We will vaccinate our children if our rugged invidualism feels like it and who cares if whooping cough and measles are making a comeback.)
I missed the patronage (doing the rounds) with one nurse, but I stumbled upon my counterpart—a woman who is beyond fantastic and so amazing I could cry—going on her own rounds. This was a vaccination round. This week at my clinic, they are vaccinating new babies against polio and hepatitis B, and giving tetanus boosters to people born in ’83 and ’93. Anyway, I had a good long converstation with my counterpart about everything from swaddling babies (she’s against it, but understands tradition) to the words for snow in three languages (Turkmen—Gar, English—Snow, and Russian—Snek).
I went home for lunch and had an awesomely delicious pumpkin soup, and they let me put my own amount of pepper in a bowl. SO FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! And, then my host mother, recognized that I was tired and put me in a corner by the pech (stove). It was a good day too because the gas was flowing freely and the room was warm. I had a blanket and a pillow and an hour and a half before I had to be back at work. Nap times are owadan (beautiful).
I toddled off to work at 1:45 have woken up in time to play a few games of Alty Cart with the host siblings. I didn’t lose once. That is a big accomplishment because everyone cheats a little bit at cards here. (My mom used to say something about bridge and a peek being worth two trumps or something to that effect; same goes here.) I sat with Myrat who is a doctor for a bit, had some tea because I’d only had about 12 cups by that point. Then I went and sat with some other nurses. We chatted at length about my new dress, about their families, and how disappointed we were that it was snowing again. It hasn’t been above freezing for more than 2 consecutive hours since Christmas. Its exciting when I have feeling in my toes.
At about 4:00 everyone left my clinic except for the vaccination specialist. Everyone told me to go home, but I stayed to watch babies cry. That’s mostly what vaccinations are. In between the crying babies I spoke for an hour with the specialist. He knows all about my family, the prices of gas and other commodities in America, and I know how old his children are. I just felt a little bit like I was getting it.
At home again, we ate palow, which is usually not my favorite dish, but this one had minimal oil. Also, my gelen-eje remembered that I prefer carrots to meat, and whenever we have palow we also have picked tomatoes. I am in the perfect place for me. Turkmen actually encourage the drinking of pickle brine. I am super psyched about summer because a) it won’t be cold; it will be 130+ degrees and b) I will learn how to pickle tomatoes.
After dinner I did my little English/Computer lesson for my host family. Thank you to whoever wrote Learning English Through Guided Conversation. My siblings were getting pronouns like it was their job. This was exciting because for the past three days its been “No, He is one person, are is for many people.” And, they remembered at least half of the locations and verbs we were using. ROCK ON!!!!
Now its to bed, but que rico today was a good day!