Come Together Right Now July 8, 2008

I’ve recently returned from my second in-service training, which was the All-Volunteer conference in Ashgabat. This is the only time that all the volunteers in country in a given year will be in one place at one time. Well, there were a couple who were absent; there were some vacation extensions and cancelled flights. It was socially fabulous. I was able to see friend that I hadn’t seen since we left for site back in December. There were also a few people that I had never met at all. Outside of welyats and border zones, we are actually quite spread out. It was funny to be introducing ourselves to each other after being in country for 9 months.

This was also deeply exciting because I had a shower with a real faucet and water poured down without the aide of a bucket. I hadn’t had a real shower since the middle of April. I averaged about 3 per day. We got to stay at the Ak Altyn hotel, which is fabulous mostly because of its breakfasts. They have delicious Iranian cream cheese. Delicious things in Turkmenistan tend to come from Iran—pistachios, long grain rice, and cheese.

Day 1 (May 30th) was actually just the evening. I left work a bit early and went to see another volunteer. She trimmed my fraying ends from my hair. It was rather frightening; I hadn’t cut my hair since September. My ends are looking far tidier. Then we went to a restaurant to wait for the train. The 9 Mary volunteers who weren’t on vacation decided to take the train, and ostensibly we all bought tickets together so we could be in the same compartment. But, the joys of developing world travel obstructed those plans. Three people got on the train at a town before Mary. We got on to find that one of our cabins had been occupied by some renegade Dyzas. We were told by the conductor to just find seats other places, but we were ejected from the other cabin we found by a slightly intoxicated pair. Eventually, we convinced the conductor that the women in our compartment didn’t have tickets and needed to leave. He was shocked that his suggestion of sleeping 9 in a cabin for 4 was not met with approval. Crazy Americans and our insistence that we get what we pay for!

Day 2: We rolled into Ashgabat the next morning two hours late, but not really the worse for wear. We made it to the Peace Corps lounge where we ran into about half of the PCVs in country. The Dashoguz train had arrived at 6 am. They had a 20 hour train ride. As annoying as the 11 hours I had to spend was, I’m glad not to be them. I went to the Russian bazaar for my levash. It’s sort of like a gyro, but less delicious. As far as the street food of Turkmenistan goes, it’s probably the best thing out there. I also tried ineffectually to find a travel agency, but did go on a crazy trek of the city which the taxi driver didn’t charge me for. He felt bad that I didn’t get to where I wanted to go. I also spoke to my parents. At night we ordered pizza and watched a bootlegged copy of Sex and The City that someone had procured from Thailand. At this point, I’d like to give a huge shout out to the people on the American Embassy 4th Floor room. They were fantastic, and let us watch the movie on the projector even though it meant staying open late.

Day 3 was the official start of the conference. It started like most do with the ubiquitous ice breakers and team building exercises that are fun until they start getting annoying. I mostly stood there, but as most others were doing the same thing, I was in good company. We had I’m sure very informative sessions on important Peace Corps things, but I don’t really remember them. I did like the health session. My table team won the Jeopardy game and I got an honest to god root beer. It was deliciousness in an A&W can. That night was the Embassy 4th of July party. I think the PCVs are invited out of pity. It was fun in that sort of fourth grade field trip kind of way. We were all told to be on our best behavior, surreptitiously watched, and bused in and out. We were also told not to make a beeline to the buffet until the dignitaries ate. I did my best, but it was taco night.

Day 4 was called open space, and it was probably the best part of the conference. We got to meet in small groups with PCVs presenting on a range of topics that were pertinent to their work in the field. I attended two on social marketing because a lot of what a health volunteer does is market healthy and lifestyle behaviors. The first session was more theory; the second was the practical applications. Then I went to a session on Turkmen health beliefs. It was also fun! I wish I could have gone to working with health counterparts and the beginner’s English curriculum. Too much I need to know, and so little time.

Day 5 was traveling back to site. We were kicked out of the hotel early because of the Russians. The new president was doing his official state visit to Turkmenistan and apparently the Russian media outranks PCVs. We had to check out by 8 am. Pretty much everyone went to the PC lounge, so that was rapidly overrun, and the three computers seemed paltry. I did make it to a travel agency, so nesip bolsa (god willing) my parents will have their visas and will visit! 6 of the Mary volunteers all decided to leave in the early afternoon. We decided to try for a marshrutka, and did get one. For 80,000 manat per person, we were able to get a minivan to take us to Mary. Ultimately I think the 30,000 more is worth the 7 hours we didn’t have to be traveling. I have to remember that in the future.

So, now I’m readjusting to life in the oba again. After a week of shaved legs, constant showers, and no koyneks, it’s harder than I thought it would be. I am a little bit worried about how I’ll fare after a real vacation!