My Peace Corps journey started on 09.26.08, and today is 10.08.08 (almost two weeks). My host family is asleep, and I want to put some thoughts on my flash drive before I turn in for the night. Tomorrow, I can go to Ashgabat, the capital, for some quality Internet time. Yay! Almost (just dashed to the outhouse and woke the entire family. How embarrassing.)—a week went by without me using the Internet.
So. The difficult question is where to begin. Where to begin to catalogue my thoughts, my reflections, my thoughts. Things are constantly bombarding me from all sides. There’s of course that damnably frustrating language barrier. All the time, there would be an onslaught of words, me looking like a retard, their laughing, pointing at me, and saying “China.” I don’t have enough words to explain that I am indeed an American citizen. But then there are those moments where I feel comfortable and cared for by my family and community. The 7-year-old girl that gives me delighted daily hugs, my host sister that looks out the window and looks out for me (I couldn’t enter the bathroom, and she ran to me, bearing help), and that feeling of embarking on an amazing, different adventure. At the oddest moments, it would strike me: you’re in Turkmenistan.
I want to so bad capture in words the sensations, the smells, the looming and misty mountains that border Iran, and the daily walks to school. Veteran volunteers always say that these two years are an emotional roller coaster with unexpected turns and dips, and at this very moment, I am at a high. I feel blessed, albeit with an upset stomach. I have always wanted to immerse into another culture, and this culture is wonderful. There are so many things to learn, and I wish I could detail them all. But the low battery sign is popping up, and I have yet to buy a workable surge protector. But I promise to detail a day in the life of me: a Peace Corps volunteer in an obscure Muslim country.
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