| Sunday, June 03, 2007 |
| wah wah ha |
dear all-
It's been awhile since my last update and I have been up to so much. In the past month I have read 8 books, had worms, and lost my mind. It's been a fun ride...
I guess I will start at the beginning. So this month I had a lot of fun at the airport. I HAD to get my ticket to London so that i could go on vacation. this presented several problems...see turkmenistan is not a why country so the following events should not be followed with a question of why? rather just wah wah ha. which is the turkmen "word" for poor you. literally wah for me. twice then ha.
so international tickets anywhere on turkmen air are about 120 dollars. i know. i can go to London, China, Turkey, Russia, Germany, and other fun places round trip for about 120 dollars. it's pretty amazing. i love the subsidies in this country when they work for me. i do not however like lines in this country or groups of more than 5 people anywhere in the world. i truly believe when you get 5 people gathered in one place it will be stupid. time and time again this phenomenon has proved true....
so I arrive to the airport with Umit, more on him later, but he has come to help me yell in russian while i push my way through crowds of crazy exsoviet turkmen all trying to go to turkey. the reason why the exsoviet description is important is because i truly believe that before this country was "russified" they knew about lines. these people are too passive to have come up with the idea that lines do not exist and anytime you are waiting all anarchy should and will insue. i blame it on the russians. i heard it happens in all those other places. lines are your friend! the soviets had it wrong!!!
so as i arrive i sign up on the "list". which is run by just a random person on the list. and changes day to day. so i tell them my name and where i am trying to buy tickets for and instead of writing down my name, which after laughing at (my name means either sofa, bottom of the foot or crazy in love, i love the turkmen language) they couldn't decide how to spell, so they wrote me down as london. so for the next 3 days i was known as london by over 100 different turkmen and russian people at the airport.
the first day there was 2 lists. one for turkey and one for everywhere else. and i was on the everywhere else as number 21 but was told they only got to 3 or 5 people a day on that list. so i was like shit....
but by the next morning the turkmen "civilian" had combined the two list and i was now number 36 on a list of over 200 people. and in order to keep things straight they recall the names when the airport is closing and cross off anybody who hasn't come. so if you cant make it at closing time you are shit out of luck. don't ask why it's just the damn system.
so after 3 days of hanging out at the airport chatting people up and playing nice...it was my turn. now during my 3 day stay i had seen 1 lady faint, the police had to come 3 times to break up fights, got hit on, got proposed to, got yelled at in Russian and turkmen. but i made it! i was at the counter. i was ordering my hand written ticket in turkmen. and kicking ass. when all of a sudden this Korean bitch enters my life....
yes- not many people know charjew/turkmenabat (same place) has a korean population. they were misplaced here by stalin...so they make me salads, speak russian and usually leave me alone. but no this 4 ft 5 woman descided it was her turn and was going to bring the smack down. and so i had to kick her. she wouldnt stop pushing me and i was surrounded by people. i dont hate korean turkmen but this woman was messing with a 3 day adventure in buying international tickets in turkmenistan. she had to be put in her place.
but i got it. 2 minutes later the international desk closed. taught her!
so i am on my way to the america...i am trying to figure out what to pack, what i will eat, when i will go up to central texas, and what i want to do (shop!). i will be in south texas on the 9th. after spending the night in jfk airport!!! but i am coming. i have mixed feelings about this whole trip. i am missing an important event by about a month, and still want to go to turkey, thailand/cambodia/laos, and do the trans Siberian. but that comes later...
we spend the majority of our time here talking about the america. so i will be "in a better place" as if i am dead. home means many things now that i am an expat. but i am going to see the people that really matter in my life and that is a lesson to me in what family means. family means spending 2 days on a plane, 3 days in a "line" and going to a place that you aren't ready for yet. america is not where my mind is anymore. i secretly could do this expat thing for the rest of my life and that scares the shit out of me.
but i look forward to seeing as many of you as i can. i will bring you all rad turkmen handcrafts. and eat you out of house and home. buy me drinks and i will love you forever
other than that. school is out. i am having a lot of clubs. including a soccer and Frisbee club. i lost 11 pounds to worms. ate hand made peanut butter icecream. learned how to knit. and puked in a taxi. i also had to say goodbye to a good friend who went to a "better place" for medical reasons. went on a date. i am looking forward to the next group of volunteers to come.
see you in a month.
davonne |
posted by D-Von @ 8:53 PM  |
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| About Me |
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Name: D-Von
Home: Halach, Turkmenistan
About Me: THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEB SITE ARE MINE PERSONALLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY POSITION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OR THE PEACE CORPS.
I am a 22 year old dreamer who still believes that human beings can be saved from themselves. I am interested in different cultures, history, and making a difference.
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