Written TODAY!
This is being beamed speedily from the Peace Corps office satellite internet line because I am in Ashgabat. I ran away for a weekend of not being in the oba and not being in Mary. It's a refreshing recharge.
I took the train with the Friday Club. Four of us meet on Fridays in Mary City and hang out while conducting important personal business. The train was the best possible combination of hectic, dodgy, and mindblowing awesomeness. It is far cheaper than a taxi, but it does take 11 hours, but overnight so you can sleep. With four of us we had the whole cabin to ourselves and had far ranging discussions on Enrique and the falling price of tomatoes. SWEET!
Ashgabat looms larger after the oba. There are shops and streets and buses and monuments to the late great Turkmenbashi. Its expensive though. We took a taxi to a restauant on Friday night and it cost 15000 manat!!!!!!!!! That would from my oba, to mary city and back. Oh, and the plummeting value of the dollar is wreking havoc with my travel plans. The Government is probably going to lower the exchange rate from 20,000 to 15,000. Since coming to this country, I've lost a whole snickers bar on the exchange; when we came in october it was 23,000. BOO!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wow, Look At You Now, Flowers in The Window
Written April 10, 08
I have quasi-begun actual work with Peace Corps. With improved weather and language skills I have embarked on a low-key, but I hope effective anemia awareness campaign. When I say anemia awareness campaign, it makes it sound much larger and strategic than it is, but such is the joy of semantics.
My campaign is actually stolen from another volunteer’s, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is the Çigit Card. Çigits are sunflower seeds and eating them is both an art form and a national pastime in this country. People stroll around with a handful (they are dirt cheap, too) and eat them as they go, leaving a scattering of discarded shells in their wake. They also have a graceful, dare I say elegant, way of eating them. The shells are cracked down the middle with two or three gentle cracks of the teeth and the seed popped into the mouth. It takes practice, and I am not yet a master.
Another fun fact about Çigits is that they are nominally iron rich, as they have 2 mlg. of iron per cup. I am quite sure most Turkmen eat a cup of Çigits daily. Anyway, the campaign involves me going on home visits with my nurses to see pregnant women, who are generally at risk for anemia. A pregnant woman needs 30 mlg of iron per day, as opposed to 15 mlg for women and 10 mlg for men and children. I hand out a flyer detailing important information and preventative measures for anemia (if you are anemic or pregnant eat spinach…it has 6.5 mlg of iron per cup, vitamin C which helps the body absorb iron, and folic acid. It’s a triple threat.) Along with this flyer, I hand out a little bag of Çigits because people always like you more when you come with presents. I also rattle off a 5-minute lesson about the dangers of anemia and try to get the women to promise to cook an iron rich dinner.
So far, it has gone well. People like me showing up, perhaps because I am the American, but they listen with good grace as I butcher the language. My nurses are also great, after the first few visits, the nurse I was with got the blurb down herself and began rattling it off and elaborating on it. I have to do my first report to Peace Corps in the sort of near future, and while I am pleased with my project, I don’t really know how to tabulate results as far as behavior changes go. That will be something to puzzle over later.
So, wish me luck on further campaigns!
I have quasi-begun actual work with Peace Corps. With improved weather and language skills I have embarked on a low-key, but I hope effective anemia awareness campaign. When I say anemia awareness campaign, it makes it sound much larger and strategic than it is, but such is the joy of semantics.
My campaign is actually stolen from another volunteer’s, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is the Çigit Card. Çigits are sunflower seeds and eating them is both an art form and a national pastime in this country. People stroll around with a handful (they are dirt cheap, too) and eat them as they go, leaving a scattering of discarded shells in their wake. They also have a graceful, dare I say elegant, way of eating them. The shells are cracked down the middle with two or three gentle cracks of the teeth and the seed popped into the mouth. It takes practice, and I am not yet a master.
Another fun fact about Çigits is that they are nominally iron rich, as they have 2 mlg. of iron per cup. I am quite sure most Turkmen eat a cup of Çigits daily. Anyway, the campaign involves me going on home visits with my nurses to see pregnant women, who are generally at risk for anemia. A pregnant woman needs 30 mlg of iron per day, as opposed to 15 mlg for women and 10 mlg for men and children. I hand out a flyer detailing important information and preventative measures for anemia (if you are anemic or pregnant eat spinach…it has 6.5 mlg of iron per cup, vitamin C which helps the body absorb iron, and folic acid. It’s a triple threat.) Along with this flyer, I hand out a little bag of Çigits because people always like you more when you come with presents. I also rattle off a 5-minute lesson about the dangers of anemia and try to get the women to promise to cook an iron rich dinner.
So far, it has gone well. People like me showing up, perhaps because I am the American, but they listen with good grace as I butcher the language. My nurses are also great, after the first few visits, the nurse I was with got the blurb down herself and began rattling it off and elaborating on it. I have to do my first report to Peace Corps in the sort of near future, and while I am pleased with my project, I don’t really know how to tabulate results as far as behavior changes go. That will be something to puzzle over later.
So, wish me luck on further campaigns!
You Won't Need A Camel When I Take You For A Ride
Written on April 7th
My neighbors recently bought a mommy camel and a baby, and this is exciting for several reasons. First, how often does anyone live next to a camel? Yeah, that’s what I thought; it’s pretty cool. Second, they make this nifty beverage called chal from camel’s milk. I am a fan, and now it is next door! Finally, I got to see a camel being milked and man did that blow some minds.
Chal is not necessarily the most appealing thing ever. It’s vaguely fermented, so it has a bit of a soda water vibe to it. It’s also got bits of camel yogurt floating around in chalky colored water. I find it delicious though, and horribly appropriate for the summer. It is cool, a bit salty, and probably calorie rich for a drink. This will be necessary when it’s 120 degrees and eating anything beyond a watermelon will be impossible. It’s also dairy, and I probably need calcium.
Upon witnessing my first camel milking, I was shocked that you milk it standing up. I can’t really say I ever thought about milking a camel, but if I did, I probably pictured milking stools, only a bit taller. (Camels are really quite big). Instead, a person stands with a bucket slung around their necks, nestled against the back legs of the camel. It all seemed rather dangerous given the size of the animal, but it wasn’t me doing the milking.
Other fun camel facts from this the stan of Turkmen: a camel costs about $1,000 so my dream of owning one will have to be put on hold for a bit longer. No camels can be kept in the town of Yoloten, which is a Soviet bastion about an hour from Mary; I don’t know why.
And, a test for all those of you who are bored and have access to the internet. In English, is there a word that connotes baby camel the way calf, lamb, and kid connote baby cows, sheep, and goats? It’s come up on several occasions. I say no, but I really have no clue.
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