Happy Thanksgiving

Hello, friends!

Wow, it's been so long since I've written that I hardly know where to begin. I don't even remember when I last wrote an email home. Yikes. So, I suppose it would be best to submit a flurry of updates to you today:

1) The T-18s did not come. And it looks like we will not get another group until (hopefully) March and then again next October. What happened? As best as we can tell, there was some miscommunication.

2) The Pit of Hell was a) cool and b) not the crater of lava that I had imagined. Not surprising, no one ever said it was a lava pit, but I had visions of Mt. Doom dancing in my head. It was a crater of burning rocks. But still cool. And it's been burning for over 40 years! (Cue: "We Didn't Start the Fire" or "Ring of Fire") I'll try to post pictures.

3) I finally got my computer back! Woo-hoo! Try living for 5 months without a computer - not having internet is bad enough but no computer, egads. As a result, I'm exercising more (thanks to my yoga and P90X workout videos) and reading much less (I'm so addicted to TV series. I don't watch a lot of movies, but give me an interesting TV series and I can't stop watching. Current favorites: Top Chef, Glee (wow, great show), season 5 of The Office, and of course, the latest season of Lost (which I know I'm way behind in watching, but at least I finally got to see it. And OMG what a cliff-hanger.

4) My program manager Rahman came to visit a few days ago and was really pleased with my work and my idea for a classroom remodel/creation of an adjacent resource room. It was most gratifying to get some positive feedback because it's the only feedback I get. Ever.

5) My counterpart and I are finally getting an idea of where above project is going. I'm hoping to have my grant application written by January. Which she's already told me that I will have to do by myself because she "doesn't understand" even though we both attended the same seminar and the seminar was given in Turkmen. Sigh. Oh well, If I don't do it, it won't get done. Not a very sustainable attitude, but these days I take heart in the saying "Is it better to be right or effective?" I'm going for effectiveness here.

6) And that reminds me: around my year mark I was pondering ways in which I'd changed over the past 12 months. And you know, from my perspective, I don't think I've changed all that much. However, I think I am a heck of a lot more patient. For a while I was wondering if I've just become resigned to dealing with things that frustrate me, but then I thought, well, if that's not patience, then what is? Also, I think I'm definitely more mature. Case in point: when I was preparing to come to T-stan, I remember being very frustrated with the clothing, long skirts/dress issue. I was ticked that I had to conform to another culture's norm. Hah. Such naivete. Now, I could care less. In fact, I've taken to only wearing my Turkmen dresses to work because it cuts down on time spent deciding what to wear and, also, Turkmen love it when I wear their clothes. It's honestly the only time anyone has called me beautiful, so there you go. And I used to attempt to match outfits. Now, that's a forgotten notion. Friday, I wore a purple and white checkered sweater, a giraffe print dress, blue argyle socks, and floral shoes and I liked it! And no one batted an eye. I'll miss this back home. And adopting cultural norms? Well, it makes total sense.

7) I'm traveling to Thailand and Cambodia! I'm going with a few other volunteers. We leave on December 27th and return January 14th. of course, being here hasn't cured me of my over-active guilty conscience and I feel bad about the few days of work I'll have to miss (we do get 2 weeks off school, but the flight schedule didn't leave us with too many options for going and returning). Rahman aforementioned Program Manager, didn't have a problem with my plans and as such I am feeling less guilty. Well, really, not at all.

8) I have reached my quarter century mark. We celebrated my 25th birthday a few weeks ago, Turkmen style. It was fun, actually. Lots of Turkmen ladies came and gifted me totally useless stuff that I'll never be able to take home (glasses, plates, etc.) but the thought we nice and we had good food. I made a carrot cake with cream cheese icing! Delicious.

9) Is it just me, or did this year go by wicked fast? Jeeze. I can't believe it's almost December. It's scary how quickly I perceive time passing. I suppose it's because I'm really busy this year, which is a good thing, but I'm also worried. Before I know it, I'll be grey haired and retired. Not ready for that.

10) And yes, with December, that brings an end to Elliot's Peace Corps service. He's leaving December 6th, so I'm on my own after that. The closest person to me will be Kelsey, and she's 35 minutes away by car. I'll be okay. But I'm going to miss Elliott for sure.

11) It's Thanksgiving! It could possibly be my last Thanksgiving in Turkmenistan. Did I send out a list of things I am thankful for last year? I can't remember. Well, in any case, here are a few more: lunch meat, dogs in the house, affectionate parents, books, USPS, appreciation of good food (Twinkies-like food isn't a delicacy at home), common sense and logic, good education, competent health care, and a culture of good dental hygiene. We celebrated Thanksgiving as a group yesterday. It was the last time to see several of our friends. After eating, we watched a Will Ferrell comedy routine lampooning former President Bush (43). And we all marveled that that sort of routine was okay at home. That one can say just about anything without facing persecution, jail time, exile, or worse. It's a pretty amazing concept and something we all agreed that we're thankful for...free speech.

Happy Thanksgiving! And don't forget to floss :)

Love,

Jessica

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