The art of the TOQUE

Hi gang :) Fall weather has hit Turkmenistan and boy, it's made me long for home. We don't have quite the array of colors to admire here, just yellows and browns. However, there's a lot to look forward to: I'm going to a wedding tonight. My friend Annie's counter part is getting married and invited us all! It's unique a) because Jennet is 31 (not the typical 20-23) and b) she's hired an Uzbek singer and dancer! Not the kind of wedding I'm used to! This coming weekend, I'll be traveling to the "Pit of Hell" in the desert north of Ashgabat. It's a giant gas crater in the desert that was lit on fire years ago and has been burning since. Should be interesting. THEN, the following Sunday we're having a Halloween party at Elliott's and on November 8th I've invited all the volunteers and several Turkmen from my village to my birthday party. It's shaping up to be an eventful 3 weeks!

In my last email I alluded to the fact that the next group of volunteers was not going to arrive when expected. Well, it turns out they're not coming at all. No one is exactly sure why, but PC was informed last minute that T-stan didn't want volunteers this year. It even made the news back home! Here's are a few articles: http://www.rferl.org/content/Turkmenistan_Denies_Entry_To_Peace_Corps_Volunteers/1849867.htmlhttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/09/ap/asia/main5373489.shtml

And, on to the good stuff:

In countries with cell-phone plans consisting of an alloted number of minutes and free nights and weekends, the toque isn't necessary. But in Turkmenistan and, I'm assuming, other countries where you pay-per-call (and here you also pay more when you call rather than when you are called) the toque reigns supreme. A toque: when one doesn't want to spend money calling another person, but wants to speak with said other person, one dials the number, listens for the call to go through, and upon hearing the first ring immediately hangs up. This says, "I don't want to use my money to call you, so please call me." Toque is not Turkmen -- it's Spanish (it means "touch"), but there is no cute, concise way of expressing this idea in Turkmen. They use the verb "aylanmak" which means "to turn." You could call it a "turn around" I suppose, but I prefer toque.

In Turkmenistan, where entertainment is lacking, toques have become a game. To wit: the other day an unknown number kept calling Bagul's phone and hanging up right away. Were it me, I would not have cared and put my ringer on silent. But Bagul was intrigued. "Who is it?" she wondered outloud. And so she began calling the number back and hanging up on the first ring. It went on like this for hours -- I watched as she kept her finger pressed to the green answer button, wating for a call to come through so she could try and pick up before the caller hung up. I imagine the person on the other end doing the same. It didn't matter that the identities on either end were unknown to each other. It had become a competition: who can pick up fast enough? Eventually Bagul pounced and answered the phone before the caller had time to hang up. "Allo?" she said. No one was there. All the same, she was pleased. "I ate their money," she said triumphantly.

That does it for me this week. I hope you are all well and enjoying the fruits of the season (mmm, apple cider!)

Lots of love,Jessica