Ugly Americans

We are in the home stretch of our time here in Turkmenistan, which is to put it bluntly, awesome . So awesome in fact, that I want to do a little happy dance every time I think about it. As you can expect, we have been preparing for our departure. This involves me going through our belongings and tossing the things we don't want or need before people come by to inventory our stuff for the movers. That is ostensibly, what I have been doing for the past month. Yet somehow this place still looks like I haven't tossed anything out. Which isn't true- I have about five trash bags filled with shredded papers, and two bags of clothes destined for the trash. There are small electronics I still need to toss (broken VCR, broken vacuum sealer- I see you) as well, but there's still more tossing to do. All our remaining consumables (save for the spices and select dry goods) will not be coming with us. The car supplies (oil) won't be going with us. Neither will the remaining bag...

[Author's note: This entry was originally written in January 2012. It was originally sent to a smaller circle of family and friends on Facebook as a way of explaining in one go what happened at the end of my pregnancy. However I have decided to publish the original draft on my journal since Facebook is not the best way to present, locate, or archive long postings.] Since Facebook updates are best for bite-sized portions of information, I have decided to explain why I've been scarce lately. I include a tiny disclaimer- everything that happened in this story is true, however I might have a few things out of order due to circumstances beyond my control. Memory is funny that way. For 37 weeks, I had what most people would describe as a normal, uneventful pregnancy. I'd been taking my vitamins regularly, eating as varied a diet one could manage in Ashgabat, and keeping busy. Everything was fine, and nothing was out of the ordinary. I'd picked out my OBGYN back home...

It is past the midway point of October, and the weather is only mildly cooler during the day than it was in the summer. Our air conditioning has been taken away from us, not to be seen again till some time next spring. That's what happens when your AC is centrally controlled by the building, not by unit. It would be one thing if we were able to leave our windows open all the time- the wind we see on the 9th floor (late in the day when the sun is behind our building) is cool enough that the apartment is breezy and not that warm. The sandstorms, however, make it impossible for us to leave them open all the time. If you are in the apartment you can see them rolling in, across the city. It always looks like a big yellow cloud enveloping the city block by block. They're not really something you want to drive in, either. We had another carpet/arts&crafts/ yard sale this past weekend. I ended up buying more gifts for home. We also picked up three more carpets for home. One for ...

It is now nearing the end of August, and we have been here six months now (September 1st will be the start of month 7). A lot has happened between my last post and now. All of our stuff is here, and we are for the most part completely settled in. So settled, that we have had dinner parties (shocking!). We still have way more consumables than we should have purchased, but that's ok. We have purchased small 220 appliances (a toaster and a food processor 'kitchen robot'). We have had some of our U.S. appliances die horrible, horrible deaths (a blender and food processor). I can read a good deal of Russian, order my food in Russian, have simple conversations in Russian, etc. etc. I know this doesn't sound like much, (and sometimes it feels like very little progress) but it is a BIG THING when everyone speaks Russian (or Turkmen), and most of the goods you can buy (and the signage) are written in Cyrillic. I am now, once again, gainfully employed (and have been sin...

I am tempted to construct a countdown calendar on the wall of our office. This isn't because I'm miserable here, I would like to point out. I think both of us came here with the lowest expectations possible , and we have been pleasantly surprised at every turn with day-to-day life here. I have been taking the bus for the past four months everywhere in-city, and while it can be very crowded at times, it's cheap and no one bothers me. We have our car now, but I will likely continue to use the buses when Mike needs the car. Sometimes it's better to use the bus than feel you are putting someone out/ inconveniencing them by asking for a ride. You can find most everything you need here regularly, save for a few things (celery and lettuce, for example) as long as you are willing to look for them. So far driving is no more/no less stressful than driving in Miami.

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,...