Summer is NOT my favorite season in Turkmenistan

Hello, friends.

No long missive from me today. It's been too hot to write lately.
It's too hot to do anything, really. The only pleasant time of day is
from when we wake up around 6:00 to about 10:00. I dug potatoes for
an hour yesterday and then weeded my lettuce crop for two and a half
more hours. I finished at 11:30 sweaty, sunburned and exhausted, and
had to take a long nap after lunch to recover. When my friend,
Collin, told me that his thermometer maxed out the other day, I didn't
believe him. That would have meant the temperature was over 50
degrees Celsius – 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought, no way. I mean,
it's hot. It's really, really freaking hot, but 120 is ludicrously
hot. Surely it wasn't that hot.

Well, I was wrong. When I came home from a fellow teacher's birthday
party Saturday afternoon, I happened to notice the thermometer that I
bought last year (for just this purpose of tracking how perspiringly
hot it can be here) read over 105 – and that was in the shade. So, I
plucked up some courage, took the thermometer and stood in the sun for
about 5 minutes, watching the red dye creep up incrementally towards
the 50/120 mark. I got too hot around 114 degrees, admitted that it
was entirely likely that the temperature reached 120 degrees recently,
and decided to go back inside to the relative cool of my 86 degree
room.

I shouldn't be surprised. It's been so hot that you sweat just
sitting. I spend most days glistening with perspiration. Last year I
got really bad heat rash around my bra line, so this year I've given
up on wearing bras. Most Turkmen women don't wear bras unless they're
at work anyway, so I'm not creating scandal by not wearing one. It's
nice and breezy going bra less, and I briefly contemplated keeping the
practice up at home until my neighbor came over. Faced with her
pendulous, sagging bosoms, I decided that I probably won't sweat as
much in America and heat rash won't be an issue so therefore going
bra less won't be a necessity. In any case, these days I wear as
little clothing as I can get away with. I've contemplated shaving my
head. I knock back liters of water like shots.

So yeah, it's hot. It gives summer a whole new meaning. It makes you
wonder why people settled here. And totally makes me understand and
feel less bad for joining in the afternoon nap phenomenon, which I've
been doing instead of writing emails to you all.

I would, however, like to plug a little project my mother and I are
working on. Mom's collecting used children's books and kid-friendly
DVDs to send to me (which I'll give to my school). If you have any
books no one's reading anymore or DVDs you'd like to donate (no
specific genre necessary, just fun books or movies that kids of all
ages would enjoy), please feel free to pass them on to either of my
parents.

Also, and please note that I feel awkward saying this and there is no
obligation whatsoever, if you would like to contribute to the shipping
costs, which will most likely be on the low end of outrageous, that
would be lovely, as Mom and Dad will be fronting the bill. Please,
please, please, no obligation, but if you feel so inclined, you can
pass on whatever amount you would like to my parents. Mom said that
if she gets more money than she needs, she'll just buy a few more
books/DVDs to put in the box. If you'd like to know how much they
need or if they've gotten enough already, you should talk to them. I
am out of the loop on the whole shipping business. Also, if you don't
live in the greater Elizabethtown/Lancaster County area, don't worry
about it.


No pendulous, sagging bosoms for me,

Jessica