Hello hello!
I posted new pictures today! Link below! Hooray!!!
Okay, brace yourselves. This will be my last email for an indefinite period of time. Please, please, hold back your tears. I'll be back before you know it. Here's the deal: tomorrow at 5:30 am I am getting into a mini-van and 5 of us are heading east to Lebap. The van will be packed because although we only came with 100 pounds of luggage, the amount of stuff we have has grown exponentially in the two short months we've been here. Sigh. Can't get away from stuff.
So we've been in the city since Thursday. I have been in awe of the fact that in my hotel room, there is a toilet not 15 feet from my bed! Indoors! Ah, it's heaven. Paradise. Pure happiness. I will miss that. And running water. And hot showers. But, enough. Small sacrifices. I get to come home eventuall, after all.
Thursday evening, we went out to dinner at a place called "City Pub." This restaurant has soccer paraphernalia all over the walls. They played English language music. I had pizza -- it was so-so, but it was pizza. Afterwards, we went to the "Zip bar." Had a beer and smoked a hookah with several other people. Then, we decided to go to a disco. I didn't even know Ashgabat had discos, but it makes sense. The Russian population here is pretty western and they have just as much desire as anyone to get their grooves on. It was deserted when we got there around 10:30. And, the DJ wasn't there so the music wasn't very danceable. Around 11:00 more people came, the DJ came, and the music got better. They played Kanye West (for those of you who know who that is) and I jumped onto the dance floor to shake my booty. It was a lot of fun. Then the turned on the green strobe light which was fun at first but a bit dizzying after while. The fun thing about this disco was that, other than the Americans, the other patrons were Turkmen men and prostitutes. They were scantily clad and danced mostly with themselves or with potential clients. Prostitution is not uncommon in the city. And I hear they don't make a lot of money which is unfortunate. I mean, if you're gonna sell your stuff, at least make some bank. IMHO.
What was cool about the whole evening was how un-Turkmenistan it was. We really could have been anywhere -- we could have been home. It was a very "normal" night out. It was also a lot of fun :)
Yesterday, we woke up, gussied up, and headed to our swearing in ceremony. Our host families, counter parts, Turkmen government officials and US Embassy folks were all invited and present. Our CD spoke, a representative from the Turkmen Edu. Ministry spoke, and the Ambassador spoke. He administered our oaths to us and presented us with our certificates stating that we are now all official Peace Corps Volunteers. The oath said that we would do our best to protect the constitution of the US while here and things like that. Not very Peace Corps if you ask me, but I have a feeling all government employees take this oath (or something similar). Even though we're not "technically" gov't employees.
After the ceremony we had more information sessions at Peace Corps. We got our first month's salary and settling in allowance. I got 4.16 million manat which is about $250 dollars. Not too shabby. I've never had a million of anything before, so that's pretty cool. But it doesn't go very far, unfortunately.
For dinner last night, a HUGE group of us went to a Karaoke bar (again -- Turkmenistan?). It was a fiasco really -- too many people for the kitchen to handle and well-intentioned people trying to make life easier by limiting our orders but ultimately being obnoxious by limiting what I could order. Grr. The evening was saved by singing Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer." Bon Jovi makes everything better.
Today our CD had us over to his apartment for breakfast. His apartment building is beautiful inside and out. It was so crazy to see his house -- it was so American! A sofa! Hardwood floors! A flat screen TV! Oh, and he and his wife have a gorgeous kitchen. The plumbing is still weak -- can't flush paper-- but still, he has a very comfortable living situation. And, because we won't be in the city for Christmas, he had a Christmas tree for us. My training group and I took a picture in front of the tree -- I haven't uploaded them yet but I will as soon as I can. It's great -- we look like a happy group of siblings :) But you may not see it until January :)
After brunch, I went shopping! I spent 740,00 manat. Ugh. I bought soap, a trash pail, cooking supplies, a bread pan, a water pitcher, a plate (for monitoring how much I eat), a plastic mug, shoe polish, shout for stain removal, fabric softener (this was a mistake: I meant to buy liquid laundry detergent but it was in foreign languages I don't know...), soap, soap dish, a cup, candles, more minutes for my cell phone...
It adds up quickly. I headed back to the office by bus, dropped my stuff off, and went shopping again! I bought olive oil :) This makes me very happy.
So, it's been a busy day. A busy few days.
We have a friend who had to go to Thailand for medical reasons -- she got a rectal infection of all things and needed minor surgery. She's back but still not 100%. Anyhow, she had a great time in Thailand despite being in pain and in the hospital for a week. She met PCVs from Thailand and she says that they all have internet and indoor plumbing in their homes. Ah, well... Indoor plumbing is for weenies. Real PCVs squat :)
I've posted several more pictures today, so look at those when you get a chance :) Here's the link again in case you need it:
Also, I gave you all my address in Lebap. I've talked to several PCVs there and it sounds like the post office in T-bat is just as reliable as Ashgabat's, so you can send your letters there, too. Here it is again, just in case:
US Peace Corps Turkmenistan Türkmenistan
P.O. Box 46 Lebap Welayaty
Central Post Office Türkmenabat – 22, 746100
Turkmenabat – 22, 746100 Merkezi poςta, abonent 46
Lebap Welayat Korpus Mira
Türkmenistan JESSICA HOOVER
JESSICA HOOVER TÜRKMENISTAN
TURKMENISTAN
This address is slightly different from the one I gave you before. In Turkmen, write "Korpus Mira" instead of "Parahatcylyk Korpusy." Korpus Mira is Russian and is the name the postal workers know Peace Corps as.
I'm sure I had more I wanted to tell you -- I know I mentioned a cultural discussion last email, but we'll leave that for another time. I hope you're all doing well. Only 19 more days until Christmas! Happy Holidays!! Feliz Navidad!!
Love and hugs,
Jess
P.S. My Country Director reads Junot Diaz. If you know who that is, you won't be surprised know that I freaked out when I saw the books on the bookshelf and had to tell him that I read Junot, too :)
P.P.S. There is a dusting of snow on the mountain tops now. It's beautiful :)
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