October 4, 2008
I have just met the host family and things seem OK although I still have virtually no language so I can’t be entirely sure of that. The family lives in the village of Herrick-Gala, 14 miles southwest of Ashgabat. The mother is 55 and the father is 54. They have two sons, 30 and 24. The 30-year old son is married and his wife and two children – a seven-year old daughter and a five-year old son – also live here. I haven’t met them yet, as I only arrived half an hour ago. Why am I hiding in my room writing this, you may wonder? Well, having exhausted my impressively minuscule vocabulary, I got the impression that my host mom wanted a break; she kept asking me if I was tired and wanted a nap, so I figured she was asking about herself. Despite this, she is very, very friendly. She kissed me and took my hand at the hotel. At the house, she showed me how to use the squat toilet (there is an outhouse in the garden, but running water to fill the bath). The mother has four gold teeth in the front of her mouth.
I get the impression that this family is upper middle-class or wealthy. The house is one story, and plain, but very neat, with a garden in the back (as I mentioned of the outhouse) and chickens and a cow! My room has a bed, a chair and a small desk, all of which is unusual. Usually, there is no furniture, only carpets and mattresses on the floor. That way, Turkmen can host lots of people as family visits. You just pull out the extra mattress and there is plenty of room. Outside the window of my gigantic room, twice the size of the one in
http://www.bdtw.tv/photos/turkmenistan/turkmenbashy-mosque).
Also, outside my window there is some kind of squash plant. There is a major road about 10 meters outside the window.
This morning we learned a little more about the progression of our training: for the next nine weeks we will have four hours of language lessons, six days a week and a meeting every day to shadow a nurse or a doctor at the local hospital. We will also be giving three health-related presentations as our Turkmen progresses. While the English-speaking volunteers work 95% in English, we work 95% in Turkmen.
… Later, same day.
I helped with dishes! Yes, I can do that when I need to make a good impression on a Turkmen family (Dad’s note: wow). And I helped feed the bull and the cow. As it turns out, they have both. I think the host mother invited me to join in, but I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t. When my language gets better, I may add that to my chores. I did chop onions and peppers for the goat soup, though. Then the mother made fresh pasta. She used a thin wooden rolling pin to roll it out and, to get the dough super-thin, wrapped it around the pin and rolled multiple layers together. The pasta was boiled and then served with some of the warm water, yogurt and salt. I got a big bowl of that around 5:50 and thought that was it, but we got the goat soup I mentioned before. There is still no sight of the grandkids, and I am not entirely sure they live here, although their parents certainly do.
Now for some hilarious cultural misunderstandings. We were instructed in a few key points before we met our host family:
- Bread is sacred. Ensuing taboos include stepping over it, placing it the wrong way upon the plate, breaking it with one hand. OBSERVED TRUTH: They keep the bread in a plastic bag.
- Burping is extremely, extremely rude. OBSERVED TRUTH: People burp here.
- Father will ignore woman (me) out of respect. This seems true.
- It is believed that black tea and green tea have different health effects and are good for different people. OBSERVED TRUTH: I tried to ask if a given tea was black or green and the host mother dumped it left and made another pot. Perhaps she thought I was refusing one type of tea or another.
- Turkmen believe that being alone is sad and will be very protective. OBSERVED TRUTH: My host mother’s niece insisted on accompanying me to the outhouse. She was very surprised when I told her I didn’t need her to do that. I haven’t figured out how to take a shower yet, but given the level bathroom supervision, I; sure I’ll figure it out.
