Incompetent blogger forgot to add titles for photos, Nairobi May 16

I think this is fun!

Photo 1: PCVs destroying nature
Photo 2: Expat brats do Peace Corps
Photo 3: The mervolous walls
Photo 4: the resting place of Sultan Sanjar

Not so proficient blogger fails to upload photos with correct post, in Nairobi on May 16

Here are the photos that go with the previous post.

The Battle Outside Raging Will Soon Shake Your Windows and Rattle Your Walls

Last Saturday was the inagural Merv camp out. Well it was inagural for the T-16s. Merv is one of those cultural heritage type places, and rightly derserves to be. It was sacked by all manner of mauradering hordes including Ghengis Khan, the Mongols, and the Russians. It was strong hold of Sultan Sanjar who used to dictate the Persian caliphat from his desert. Even though it now stands in ruins, the place is awe inspiring. The old walls of the city loom up like mountains. The area where towns and houses used to be look like immense valleys, and it is littered with thousand year old pottery shards. Conservation is a bit behind.

We rolled up, 19 altogether, in two vans with carpets to sleep on, kilos of meat to cook, and a burning desire to “destroy some nature.” We had to hack our own firewood with axes whose heads were liable to fly off the handle and clear the sleeping area of vicious desert thorn plants. When that was done, we toasted the night (Merv bolsun), and cooked shashlik. I overcame my distates, fear, and repugnance of raw hamburger in order to make beautiful skewers.

As I stood on top of one of the walls, I saw a tour bus in the distance. Turkmenistan is wary of foreingers being in their country unsupervised. Generally to travel here, you need to be on a tour or have an approved travel ‘minder’ at all time. As we waved from our sentinel positions on the wall, I was really that I have this chance to see Turkmenistan at a different level. Those on the bus were guided among the stones, while I slept among the ruins!

The Line It is Drawn, the Curse it is Cast

This is a testing of the indirect blogging system. Access to blogger has been denied for the past month or so from the internet café in Mary. So, everyone should give a big shout out to my mom who grandly offered to post my blogs and photos from Kenya. THANK YOU MUMMY!

“Restraints shan’t hold me. Power is nebulous. Control is an illusion.”

~~some dead philosopher!

We Built This City

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!

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!

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.