Ugly Americans

This is now, officially, week 3 of living in Ashgabat. The city is both weird and interesting at the same time. It's safe to walk about, even if there are street ninjas on every corner (I have to take some photos of them when I can!). Some people like dogs, other people look at you as if you are insane for walking with one. There are cats everywhere.

I was going to post some entries that have been sitting in editing hell, waiting to be posted that (chronologically) take place before this post. But they're going to wait because frankly no one gives a shit about our trip to Hagerstown, or about our 8 billion trips (it at least seemed that many at the time) to BJs for our consumables, or anything else that took place before we got here. So those posts will have to wait for another day. Oh well. Also, this post is super-long. We 'officially' left Oakwood (the temporary housing we were staying at) at about 5pm on Wednesday, February 2nd. We arranged for a super shuttle van to pick us up and cart our asses to Dulles airport, and that was pretty uneventful. When we got to the airport, I had all the pet information in hand (vaccinations, health certificate, etc. etc.) ready to go for the attendant at the counter. That part went smoothly. Our luggage on the other hand, was one big mess. We had left Oakwood with four suitcases,...