katydieters's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member katydieters on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/katydieters en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 10 May 2006 06:06:30 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Thailand to Turkmenistan — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1147255500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1147255500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1147255500/tpod.html Wed, 10 May 2006 06:06:30 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Bangkok, Thailand

Hello All,

Well I have made it back to Turkmenistan in tact. It was defiantly a lot of traveling and a lot of thinking about what the hell I am doing. Being in Thailand, I really questioned every last thing of Turkmenistan; meanwhile living a completely normal and happy life in Bangkok. I really am looking at this place with different eyes, integrating my first year bitterness with my post leg injury second year to see many realities of this place and of life. So there is some news in here: I will finish my real commitments to Turkmenistan and then move on. I am planning on leaving here about 3 months early and (at this moment of time, no commitments), and possibly teaching in Thailand while trying to find some international NGO/company to work for. It is time to move on from the volunteer lifestyle and work and get working on whatever I will be when I turn 50. As Tom Petty sang the words, ¡§time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have no way of knowing. But under my feet babe, the grass is growing.¡¨

I am excited to finish up my sports project that will buy about 100 jerseys and balls for local sports clubs and do my village and city camps. It will take a lot of work and energy, but also give me just enough down time to plan the future move and say my goodbyes, properly this time. So that is the news, I have committed to moving on and finishing up this experience, I just decided that teaching 50 year olds the Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round can only last so long¡Kbut I loved doing it and glad I did it. Someone had to.

On to my great week in Thailand. I arrived in BKK at 4 am and then had a day of MRIs MRAs dr. appointments and such. The hospital was absolutely crazy, it was an international hospital/resort where people come to get plastic surgery and spa weeks for super cheap. It was amazing seeing the irony in the Saudi women walking hand and hand with their husband out of a nose job and shopping¡K.interesting. But yeah, my head was fine, got some meds and then had a week to slowly explore BKK. I wanted to get out of the city to ride elephants, but it just never happened. Instead met some really cool South Africans and they showed me the ¡§normal expat life.¡¨ It was great, full of good food, good conversations and did I say good food. I ate the spiciest chicken and veggies (sorry Moira, this is better than your stir fry fº ) and also got some amazing Mexican food. I relaxed and understood what it would be like to have a real job and not be a damn volunteer that feels responsible for everyone¡¦s problems. I didn¡¦t have to make any one happy all week; they actually smiled back at me. And I had an AC to come home during the day to. I met up with a friend of a friend who showed me the local life in BKK as well. I witnessed one of the funniest, most Asian public health implementation of public aerobics and the thought of it still makes me laugh until I cry. I went out to Buddhist temple opening, realizing that yes, Buddhism is a religion and I don¡¦t want to join, but met with a modern monk who taught me exactly what I wanted to hear. It was interesting to see the countryside and find where I want to try to live for a few months¡K.on my own.

So I am back in Turkmenistan. Please call as much as you can. It will be a struggle to finish up, but knowing that freedom is close, I will make it just fine. I hope that Thailand or wherever I end up will draw a few more tourists than my current situation. I guess this is the email that is saying that it might be time to think about visiting, since it might be awhile before I am ¡§home.¡¨

I love you and miss you all!

KD
]]> WHEEL CHAIR INFORMATION — Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144997400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144997400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144997400/tpod.html Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:51:36 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

Hey I forgot to put the link on here....here you go! Thanks again for support!

I submitted the project to Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) and it is currently on the web site. I would really appreciate your help in looking for people who would be willing to donate to this project - since it is such a large sum of money, the more donors the better. If you know anyone or any group at home who would be interested in helping to buy wheelchiars for people in T-stan, please forward this information to them. This is procedure for donating from the peace corps website:
- Go to www.peacecorps.gov
- From the menu on the left hand side of the screen, click "Donate Now"
- From the "Choose a Region" area on this page select "Eastern Europe and Central Asia"
- Scroll down through the projects until you get to Turkmenistan, to the Project called Wheelchairs and Training for the Sports Club for the Disabled, the one with Erin McNally's name next to it.
- Type in the amount that you want to donate, and then the site will ask you to enter your name and credit card information.

Thank you so much. If you have any questions, please e-mail me and I'll get back to you. Again, any help you could give towards making this happen would be greatly appreciated.
]]> Long time, no talk....update from the desert — Danew, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144995360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144995360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1144995360/tpod.html Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:17:05 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Danew, Turkmenistan

Dear Long Lost Friends.....

Well, I guess I should start off with an apology or state why I haven't had a chance to update this much. To begin with, I returned to site to find that my computer battery will not charge anymore, so that has significantly limited my transformation from all my thinking and journaling to typing time. Also, email and internet has been oddly weird here...I have created a new email address to respond from...so if you get an odd email from katydieters@rambler.ru, you know why. So I will try to sum up the past two months as concisely as I can.....

So to begin with, returning to Turkmenistan was the "right" decision. Things have been amazing since I have been back. I think that I have taken full advantage of my 5 month break (no pun intended) and really been able to be aware of my prior mistakes and realize what I need to do to make things happen here. I defiantly got hurt at a time that was positive: after camps and successful projects. I was worried that I was romanticizing about the success of these projects, but overall, it was true; we are here for two years for a reason. After the initial Turkmen relearning, I was able to really start communicating and feel like I have found a place in such a foreign place. I returned to my host family, who were very happy to see me, but weren't overbearing with excitement. It was perfect. Over one bottle of vodka, all was shared, and I was back in Turkmenistan. I think that a neighbor put it well in this conversation:

N: Katy, are you here?
K: Yes, I am back.
N: What happened?
K: I broke my ankle.
N: Oh, that is too bad. Is it better?
K: Yes, much. Thank you.
N: Well we missed you. You missed winter. It was cold for ten days. We are glad to have you back.
K: Oh, I heard it was bad.
N: Yes, it was. Well, have a good day at work!

So apparently in some of the most mentally changing months of my life, it was only cold for ten days here! But I have taken that to heart and jumped right back in. Coming back, I noticed that the cows were a little skinnier, the dresses a little more elaborate, and the roads a little more bumpy, but overall, I came back and all went well.....

My work is going really well....everyday it gets better. I am teaching at my old school working solely with the teachers and then I go to a new school for my own courses. I am have a teachers club three times a week where we practice new methodologies and games, vocab and grammar and a song or fairy tale. Singing in front of the class reminds me how humbling the Peace Corps can be, but it is only the "itsy bitsy spider" so it is all good! My teachers are very happy to have me back and are attending all my seminars that they can. It is fun to see them and realize my mistakes of last year and adjust my expectations to what they are expecting of me. So far so good.

I also have partnered out with a local English club to start up a new language center in my town. We will have all the students come there for extra English lessons and I will hold my own courses there. The progress is slow, but eventually I think the remodeling will be finished and classes will start. I have about 30 kids signed up for classes and I am just waiting....I guess that is what this is all about. But during the waiting, I have started up an amazing sports club. Basically, we play whatever sport we have a ball for (aka what the kids bring!) I have played handball, Frisbee, soccer and basketball. It is fun, we run laps at the stadium for a warm up, play for an hour and then do a quick health lesson. It has been great to improve my Turkmen and just find kids that are willing to have fun. It is interesting how your basic interests in life continue on in life! So, overall work is going really well.

Since being back, I really have found a peace at living out in the village. I was really nervous of returning back here without a site mate, but really the city is so crowded with volunteers now that I don't know how to act when in town. I am really enjoying not coming in contact with another American for weeks at a time and when calls come from home, I am not feeling that void as deeply. I guess you can say I have finally fully adapted to living here. Not to say there aren't days where I am missing home, but I guess overall my appreciation for being here on my terms has changed my outlook on the experience.

Summer is coming soon...that means lots camps in the planning. I am planning my local GEAR English camp, the big camp in the city and also this year, a sports camp in danew. I am writing a grant right now for the sports school to get new balls and uniforms for the programs in my town. The director of the school is really excited about it and I am really excited to try to repave the track and basketball court! I will let you know the progress of that.

Some funny things that have made me laugh these past few months:

1. Seeing a man cross the road with his goat on a leash
2. Going camping on land where Ghangis Khan sent his brother...come on Ghangis Khan!
3. Playing Sorry! With my host sister nightly...and actually building strategy in the game.
4. Reading 6 books in 4 weeks and listening to the shortwave BBC....I am a PCV
5. Going to school is like the paparazzi....kids just shoot your pic at any time and I find myself hiding my face from the camera!
6. My German language coming in handy for the competition of the tomatoes book.

Overall...I am alive and well. I am figuring out my travel plans for the next few months. I know June will have a vacation in it, depending on the Chinese people, I might go to Beijing or second resort Dubai and UAE.....either will be exciting.....although I am not itching to leave like I was before. I am ok here....

I do want to let you guys know of a project that we are working on here in Turkmenistan. Last year, we conducted a camp for the disabled children of our state. Here, when a child is born with a disability, they are considered an outcast. There is no way for them to go to school, so they often go without ever learning to read or write. We held a camp for these children last summer and really saw how difficult it is for these families to take care of these children; but, also saw how much community support can make them feel normal. We had kids with different problems, but many were unable to walk. Due to the lack of wheel chairs here, many kids brought their sisters, brothers, mothers or whoever else could carry them to participate in our activities. Together over the past month, we have written a grant that would give over 300 wheelchairs to the children of Turkmenistan. This project is very big, one of the biggest ever written for Turkmenistan. We need over 21,000 dollars to make this happen, but every contribution can help. This will help children from my village to villages that do not have PCV's so please, if you have anything to give, it would be greatly appreciated. The information below will allow you to donate to the project and every donation is tax deductible. One wheel chair is $75 dollars....so maybe you can brag at work that you donated a bolt to some kid in Tstan! Please if you know other people interested in the project, let them know the website. I know the forwards that happen at work, so please add this plea for money to all the corporations out there! We really want to prove what is possible here! Lets see what happens!

So that is the news. For those of you that need it, my address and phone number have not changed.

Turkmenistan
Lebap Velayat
Turkmenabat-22
Central Post Office
Mail Box 46
PCV Katy Dieters

0011 993 446 55 1 69

Feel free to send letters, packages, and whatever else will get here! I miss you and love you all!

ONE LAST THING! I went rug shopping the other day. Basically if you are interested in a rug, I can get one sent to you for about 250 dollars. That is, now I think, 2 meters by 1 meter long (bigger than you are imagining, would fit under a dinner table or a center piece for a room). They come in all kinds of colors and designs, but typically they are the teke design in a deep red. Do some internet research on Turkmen rugs and you will see the pattern I am talking about. I will do some shopping this summer for rugs, so if you are interested, let me know and we will work out how to get the funds here. They are beautiful and if you let me know what colors you want we can get it to you. They do get bigger, so if you want it bigger.....you will have to pay! Maybe just let me know if you are interested so I can think about the quantity I am in for and we will start individual emails about how big, what color etc...

I love you and miss you all. Please keep in touch. I can use some spices: maybe the Mrs. Dash pre-made spice kits. Any add water meals and soups, protein fortified anything, children's songs on tape, and creative fun things that would be nice in tsan....I would love!

Sorry I asked for so much in this email....no pressure. An email is all I really need.

Peace out!

katy
]]> Heading Back! — Denver, Colorado, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1139335320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1139335320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1139335320/tpod.html Tue, 07 Feb 2006 13:18:01 -0500 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Denver, Colorado, United States

Hello All,

Well this is the official announcement to family and friends....I AM RETURNING TO THE DESERT!

After the, what I will now refer to as "the fall of 05", I have decided (or lack of work has decided for me) that I will return to Turkmenistan to finish up my Peace Corps service. To give you all a break down of what happened, here it goes:

August 14th: Leave my host family in Turkmenistan
August 20th: Arrive in Germany to visit old friends and host family
August 26th: Fall, tear two ligaments in my ankle
August 27th: Don't return to Turkmenistan
August 29th: Return to USA
Sept-November: Physical therapy, dr. appointment, arguing with insurance
December: PC physical failed
January: PC physical passed, financial failed
Feb: YEAH! Departure Feb 15th

So it has been a long six months over here, but in many ways I don't think I ever left Turkmenistan. Everyday was a battle with my head, and the song lyrics of "should I stay or should I go now..if I stay there will be trouble, if I go it will be double..." rang through my head. I gave the USA a great shot, with some interviews that would rival the experience of Turkmenistan, but ultimately, I could hear the camels calling my name (even with my hearing loss). I know there are rugs to be bought, Russian to be learned, and some more self growth that needs to happen.

To be honest, I don't know how long I will be gone. It may be only 3 months and I am out but it could be up to three years. Being home made me realize a lot of things, and I have challenged many of them. Now the challenge is to find balance of me wherever I go. The biggest lesson I have learned and it deepens the more I think about it is, wherever I go, there is still me.

I believe that I will be returning to my same village (pending some approvals) and working with the same teachers. I have a lot of goals for my second year and I hope that I can get some success going. I figure I will finish painting some maps until the summer and have a great summer of camps. Then finish it out with the good byes. It is weird to think that this time I am only going for 10 months...seems like nothing in hindsight.

So hopefully, my hindsight is 20/20 and I will be able to make some serious changes me my work and my attitude and finish up this goal I set out to do 18 months ago.

It truly is the toughest job I'll ever love. (love has a strong connotation there)

Thank you all for your support during this time, it has been a roller coaster of a ride!

Katy
]]> Camps, Taxis and Ambassadors — Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1121234220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1121234220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1121234220/tpod.html Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:01:14 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

July 13th 2005

Long time no updates! I apologize for the lack of communication in the past months. There are so many excuses but I will not give them to you now. Maybe after reading all the updates you will know that I was either super busy planning camps of which most won't happen, taxing around the county to eat with ambassadors or working at some of the most rewarding camps in the world!

June started out in a pretty depressing way. Fortunately I became healthy again and was able to pull off the most amazing week in Turkmenistan. I received permission for GEAR camp in my village exactly 2 days before the beginning of camp. In those two days, I was able to gather local teachers, find 25 students and go to Ashgabat for our 4th of July celebration. Camp was a huge success. The laundry list of things that we did included: watermelon eating contest, an American wedding, Win Lose or Draw, a production of Cinderella, a mini-Easter with an egg hunt, and a fashion show through the decades of Turkmenistan. It was great. It was the first thing that I did that was successful. I had 25 kids at the beginning and ended up with 32 on the last day. It was hot, but so much fun. My junior volunteers were amazing as I thought they could be and all of the hard work paid off. I think that is the most difficult thing here is that you have to keep believing in yourself and your mission here. I was at the lowest point at my service and had people telling me this will never happen, but somehow it did. I have been invited back into my school, have a new counterpart and my old counterpart even managed to say to me, "now you are doing good work." (Like I was doing bad work for the past year! But she was just jealous she couldn't have fun with us!) I will try to get some camp pictures out for you, but to see those kids smile and be early everyday for camp meant that they loved it. Crazy to think they probably will remember that little day camp for the rest of their lives, just like those of us that have been to an American camp will remember that. I am glad it worked out and it saved my service for the time being.

I was also amazed at how when the camp ended, I went directly back to my bored and lonely state of mind. The high of camp wore off in approximately 25 minutes and I was back to reading and realizing that many of our other projects won't go off. But luckily, I was off to the Caspian Sea for an overnight camp there. It was the best camp I have ever worked at in my life! They rented out one of the nicest hotels in Tstan and the counselors had a summer house right on the beach. This summer house made me the most home sick I have been in awhile. It was a replica of an American town home. It had a full size refrigerator, an upstairs and downstairs with AC, I had my own bedroom with a bed and closet, two bathrooms with running water and showers, stoves and privacy! I started to remember what it was like to have roommates and a job. We had a mission and all did our work. I do miss the productivity of work and deadlines and most of all the pride that goes along with doing a project well. I was in college again for a week, playing in the ocean and doing great work with some amazing kids. These kids were the best speakers in Turkmenistan, and I was very impressed with the things they could do. My favorite class I taught was snowboarding history. I researched the history of snowboarding and made a dictionary of about 100 slang words! I had an email from a "friend" in Colorado and they had to write him back using the words and the dictionary! It was great. So fun to hear the kids talking about a blue bird day on the Caspian! It was very cute!
Camp ended very quickly and unfortunately I got sick again. Very sick. It is very difficult to not eat as many fruits and veggies as possible, but I have decided that every 40 tomatoes I eat, one of them is bad and makes me really sick. So I found myself in Ashgabat again and sleeping at the nurse's home. It is a slice of heaven to go to a staff member's house, but once again makes you think how easily I could have all of that again. I got healthy pretty quickly, it is amazing with Cipro will do to you and I got permission to stay in town for the embassy's 4th of July celebration! I have never been so happy to be in Ashgabat at the right time. We ate hamburgers and hotdogs, drank Budweiser beer (I did mention to the Ambassador next year I request Coors Light, and she laughed.) and had a great time dancing to a live band. They eventually had to kick out the volunteers because we were drinking too much Jim Beam and were worried about the stock of beer. They told us, "there is a bus outside, it will drive you wherever you need to go.....LEAVE!" It was rather amusing, but we did walk out with some good souvenirs. They certainly don't live in the Tstan I live in, but it was very kind of them to invite us to the party. The ambassador gave a great speech and I spoke some German to the German ambassador! It was a high class event and we as volunteers represented well.

I returned to site this past week and found out that we just received permission for our overnight kids camp in the city. So once again we are running around trying to find teachers, students and plan a camp that we thought was going to be cancelled. It will be a success, I know it, but very annoying to have to throw together like this. I have my classes planned and ready to do one more camp in the heat. I am drinking up to 5 liters of water a day and still worry about hydration! It is so flipping hot, but I am getting used to it. I will keep you posted on how the camp goes.

I also came to site and found out that my site mate will be moving to the city. His work tells him that it is better if he is in the city, so he must move after orphan camp. I think this is the hardest news I have heard since I have been here. That will leave me about an hour from another volunteer. I am really worried about what I am going to do and how I will react to it all. On one hand I am worried that I will be the next one moved to the city, and I don't know if that is what I want. On the other hand, I am worried about my sanity. He is a huge reason I am still here and was a pillar of support for me. He promises to come back but I know the city is where he will stay. They all say they will come to the village and it rarely happens. That makes me and one other volunteer left in the villages and they are only putting new volunteers that will come here in the city. So I was very sad to hear this news, and feel bad for my site mate. I can't imagine a year of this and being told you must start over at a new site. They tell you that you need flexibility, but I think a better description is be ready to submit to everyone telling you what and when to do it and not to complain about it.

So if you can't tell, this month was full of crazy emotions and taxi rides. Camps have been huge successes but in the midst of news that will really change my time here. I officially have been really home sick but also know I can get through it. So to help it all, I am taking another vacation in August. I am going to go to Germany for a week. I am very excited to see my host family, my old friends and eat some good food. It will be a short trip, but it will be the first trip to help me adjust for the trip to the USA. Summer is flying...I can't believe I am starting to think about August and September and know that the year mark is quickly approaching. I can't believe that I have been here as long as I was gone for Germany and how differently I have approached all of these situations. I keep thinking about the fact that these people have taught me more than I have given them. Hopefully I will be allowed to give them things next year.

Ok, I am off. I am sure I have some funny stories to tell you, but I have been rambling on for a little bit. I need to go plan and figure out a way to kick my host sister out of my room. My host brother is away for 20 days working in the fields and she is bored out of her mind. It is crazy that she can just sit and watch me type or work for hours. Anyway....not going to let it bother me!

Talk to you all soon! Or better yet, see you soon! 8 weeks and counting....

katy
]]> ADDRESS IN TURKMENISTAN — DENVER, Colorado, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1094201340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1094201340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1094201340/tpod.html Mon, 06 Jun 2005 01:43:05 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
DENVER, Colorado, United States

Welcome to the Peace Corps!

*****the contents of this travelogue are my thoughts and
experiences only and do not reflect the views,
opinions or policies of Peace Corps, Peace Corps staff
or the U.S. Government****

Here is my address in Turkmenistan!

PCT Amanda-Kate "KATY" Dieters
US Peace Corps/Turkmenistan
PO Box 258 Krugozor
744000 Ashgabat
TURKMENISTAN
VIA ISTANBUL/AIR MAIL
]]> Slow Days — Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1118036040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1118036040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1118036040/tpod.html Mon, 06 Jun 2005 01:37:04 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

It has been some slow days here in Turkmenistan. It is amazing how much work one can really have, but absolutely no motivation to do it. School ended on May 25th only days after I was kicked out of my school. Since then, I have been trying to motivate myself to do the endless work for camps that may not even happen. I am trying to keep positive, but things are a bit odd around here lately and I don't know how much more will be allowed. If you don't understand what I am talking about, pull out a map and watch the news.

But on the bright side, I have had a lot of time to think, read and gear up for the hot weather camps. It is amazing how desolate a place can get when it is a 110 degrees outside. If you take a walk at 1:00 pm the only person you will see is another PCV! But we Americans have been proven stupid over and over again.

The crazy camp season that I am talking about is going to be crazier than expected (pending permissions). Starting on Sunday, I will not be at my host family's house for a few months. I will be in other states, cities and homes trying to teach some English. I am pretty excited for most, especially the 5 day overnight camp out on the Caspian Sea where I get to teach swimming lessons and mountain culture! Now all I need to teach is Financial Aid and all of my skills will have been tapped! I actually am just really excited to get to do work and have fun here. It has been a slow few months...but that is what the Peace Corps is all about.

I just finished a great book. Life of Pi is about a Indian kid that is shipwrecked and is on a life boat for almost a year. It had a few references that reminded me of my position, although his situation is much worse. One quote that really got me was "Time is an illusion that only makes us pant. I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time. What I remember are the events and encounters and routines, markers that emerged here and there from the ocean of time and imprinted themselves on my memory." I thought about that for a second and then went to sleep. Today, I woke up only to realize it is the 5th of JUNE! I totally understand how that is, I am no longer based off a calendar, rather how hot it is or what day I have to go into the city. It is amazing, there are very long days here when I am sick and hot, but overall the weeks go quickly and the months even faster! I can't believe that I will be home in such a short amount of time.

The anxiety of coming home for a two week vacation is hitting hard. I am really hoping that this summer proves to be the experience I need it to be. The thought of stepping off the plane and going right back to my former life overwhelms me more than many can understand. To begin with, I don't know how I will react when I am trying to explain this place uncensored. I don't want to sound like I hate it or it is dangerous, but when I talk it may come off that way. Also, I wonder how much I have changed. What is important to me now really wasn't then. Overall, I do think I have one thing going for me. This experience has made me the most adaptable person I know. I can go into any situation and figure it out pretty quickly and be content. I just hope that I am not constantly saying, 'Tstan this, tstan that, in tstan it is like this, oh relax at least you are not in tstan." I remember this feeling quite well while living in Germany, but that is the 51st state in comparison. Basically I know I have lost some confidence in me and my mission, but I am sure those insecurities will pass with the sight of my family and friends.

On to the new adventures in Turkmenistan. Most would get excited for the sight of the newly found fruit in our bazaar! Let me tell you, there are so many colors now I don't know what to do. Granted that only brings more people to the bazaar and that means more fighting and grabbing but I am happy to see an array of cherries, apricots, cucumbers and tomatoes! It is a sad truth, they will only last a month or so. So now, my host mother is buying them 10 kilos at a time and canning them more than she can enjoy the fresh fruit! We are making everything from fruit juice to chase the winter vodka down to the jams that we eat year-round. I was helping her yesterday in awe thinking how cool it is that I can make all this stuff when I go home. Then I came to my senses and realized I will never do this at home unless home is very far away from a grocery store with Smuckers and Kool Aid. Who knows, RPCVs do have some crazy work history! But if you ever need pickles, jam or juice in the future, I only charge 20000 manat per jar!

It is fun to sit around the kitchen and talk to my host mother. She has never had help before with all of this work, and she has some interesting perspectives on life. It is fun to sit in a room and both be blown away by the questions we ask each other. For example, she thinks it is so funny when I ask her "where do the kids take all of those weeds to?" as much as shake my head in amusement to her questions of "when you go home to America, will you take grapes with you?" It is fun to realize how much we don't know about each other and how much we never will know. As long as I have lived with her, or as long as I will, she will probably never know me because my home is beyond her imagination. She is truly living in the present and not much else crosses her mind except the neighborhood gossip.

My host dad has been on Outspka for the past month. Each Turkmen worker works for 11 months and gets one month off. Similar to vacation time in the USA, but here they don't really go anywhere. I have never seen anyone relentlessly work on a house before in my life. He is remodeling the room next to mine, repainting the house, fixing the garden hose, building new chicken coup doors and any other random thing you could think of doing. I am trying to figure out if any of the work really needs to be done, or if he is just bored out of his mind. It is fun to have him home during the day. His favorite questions is when is my outspka going to start so I have to start working too! He is cute. My hot mom and dad will move into the new room and I will have a neighbor, while my host brother and sister will take over the main house. It is also fun to see that every month when I pay my 20 dollar rent, something else gets done on the house. Amazing how far 20 bucks will go here. They tell me that next month I will get a phone in my room. I can't decide if that is good or bad, I don't really want to take messages for people, but I would like to be able to get phone calls that I answer and not have them staring at me when I am talking to home. I will worry about that when it happens. It will improve my Turkmen skills to say the least.

I have been passing the time really well by teaching my host brother and sister dominoes. It takes all my might to not cheat since they don't understand that me seeing their dominoes hinders their chances of winning. But there have been some close games recently. They both can beat me in Jenga, but I am still the overall dominoes master. I can't wait for when I come home in September and buy monopoly or games that will be really fun to play. Some variety will be key to my boredom next year.

My health is much better, I am feeling back to normal more everyday. I have to be really careful now eating more fresh fruits and making sure they are well washed and not bad. But I am doing great, off re-hydration salts all together! I am glad that passed. Mental note for all of you, don't ever get bacteria dysentery in your life. It sucks. But, anyway...

I am rambling now. The best way to contact me all of July will be email. I will get it about once a week and we can set up phone calls like that. I will give different numbers and set up times as usual. I hope all is well at home, I will be there before you know it.

Miss you and love you all!

katy
]]> Bangkok, Birthdays and more — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1115796240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1115796240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1115796240/tpod.html Wed, 11 May 2005 03:26:02 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Bangkok, Thailand

Let me tell you how funny it is to see a traditional Turkmen woman making bets and stressing out over a game of jenga! This is what the past few days have been for me. I brought back many gifts from Thailand, but Jenga and the non-stick pan have been the hits of the party. I came home today from work to see my host mom "practicing because my (her) hands are fatter than her kids!" Anyway, it was great to come back from vacation and see my host family estatic to see me again. I was so worried to come back to Turkmenistan, but we had the traditional bottle of vodka to celebrate a safe return and my host mom said in a toast, "Katy, you may never go back to America. This past week without you has not been normal. Your door never opened and I am glad to see it open again. You and Maysa are my girls, you may never go back!" It almost brought me to tears and I was back at home.

Sorry I haven't been able to write in a long time, it has been a busy few months. I am still wondering where April went! So I guess I will start there. My birthday was a huge success. My host family rented out some tables and re-arragend the whole house to host about 35 guests. All of my host family came, teachers from school and about 15 volunteers! It was so great to see everyone come to my home and have fun. My host mom is still talking about dancing with Americans and they are now making a list of who should come to Maysa's birthday next week. It was really fun to have them see me in a "normal" atmosphere, speaking English and having fun with my friends. I think they got to know me a little better. My host mom did get to touch other volunteers and she has a crush on a PCV in Lebap! It is cute. She had a great time hosting all those people and dancing until 4 am is and will be my record for the next two years.

After my birthday, the PCVs took a trip out to the desert to celebrate the April birthdays. For about 5 dollars, we rented a bus and a driver to drive us to the middle of no where and stay with us for the night. It was fun, we played waffle ball, Frisbee and had a good camp fire. It was pretty sad, there wasn't much wood around, so we just had to choose different dead bushes to burn down and move our sleeping bags around them. Around 11pm, I was still sweating from the heat, so I asked my friend Kelly to cut my hair off. Let me tell you, she defiantly did. My hair is back to high school length, but I don't regret one day of it. It is so much easier to manage, and I can no shower with only one bucket! Might sound like a small improvement from my previous 2, but not dragging the extra bucket from the well makes a world of a difference in 100 degree heat! Most showers are unsatifying now, it is too hot to enjoy it and you are more wet from sweat than your shower afterwards. Oh well, what can you do? At least everyone is sweating!

Some updates on my life in Tstan...no worries the chickens are big enough and got moved outside when I was in Thailand. I was so excited to see that! So no more chickens to dodge in my shower. Work, well the teaching is down to almost none, but I have lots of other work going on right now. We have 55 days of camp to plan along with other projects. So it has boring days, but there is something I could always be doing if I decide to complain about the situation. The potatoes are growing like mad, and we are starting to pick the onions to eat. I also am trying to convince my host mom to plant some soy beans so I can get some protein. So far, she doesn't know what I am talking about, but who knows, next year I may have some beans.

So on to the exciting part! I just got back from my first vacation! I was able to escape for one week in Thailand! It was amazing to get out and see society again! I spent 2 days in Bangkok. The place was ok, not too much personality and a little seedy. But, the shopping was great! I went to a mall that was 9 stories tall with 4 movie theaters and a spa. It was nice to see real products again. They had everything from KFC to Starbucks, so it was nice to step into America again and have fun. I could have lived with out some of the craziness we saw, but it was fun to see a place that is so tolerant of each other and their beliefs. It was fun to try to figure out who really is a girl there, it was kind of like playing slug bug with volkswagons, only we hit each other for fake girls. I think I still have a bruise....

Then we took a night bus down to Ko phangan island. If you have ever seen the movie or read the book, The Beach you would enjoy this place. I don't think there was a person over the age of 35 and everyone was there to enjoy the young carefree culture. It was nice to meet people who speak English and tell some stories about Turkmenistan. Ian and I made a list of messed up stories we were going to tell, but I think we got side tracked by other ones! It was interesting to think about my reality and put it into conversation. It can be very limited while you are living in it. On this island, we stayed in a Bungalow up on a mountain that looked over the ocean. It was so beautiful and quiet. At night, we either went out to the disco, watched a DVD, or went to the beach and roasted coconuts. It was so much fun and relaxing. Exactly what I needed. Then we headed off to the touristy island, Ko Samui. It was a lot like Hawaii. So much to do and see and pleanty of things to spend your money on. We saw a lot of fat Europeans in speedos and just drained our money away on hotels and shopping. It was really nice to go to Tesco (the international walmart) and get things that I needed. My standards have defiantly lowerd, a walmart shirt 8 months ago would have "never fit me" whereas now it is the best thing I own! I don't have to get measured for it and there will be no fight of no having shoulder pads in it! I also was able to get some good food products that will help me cook a little better, or at least eat better. So the Tesco trip was half of the excitement of that island. We met some crazy old brits here and just watched football with them and laughed about the real world and what people can complain about. But it was fun to be back for a few days. Interesting that I went to Thailand to see many islands, travel, ride an elephant and shop and in reality I didn't do any of those things, but it was the best week ever! I had so much fun and was really able to reflect on what is going on here and redirect my energies here in Turkmenistan.

I thought coming home was going to be hard, but it wasn't. It was nice to open up my bedroom door and be happy to be at home. This really has become my home and these people have become my family. I am glad that I felt like that when I got back to site, because there were many doubts going through my head. Although, the idea of 2 years is still very difficult to grasp, I think I will be ok. Only 4 more months until my next vacation, and that is actually to THE amecica!

My host family I think has started to understand that I am white and I change colors. The teva tan she is still really worried about, and she still makes me put on my "sun medicine" aka sun screen when I go outside, but coming back from Thailand darker than they were, they kind of accepted the situation. But now the problem is my hair. My hair naturally lightens in the sun and they are convinced that I dyed it and are asking me to dye their hair. I don't know a thing about dying people's hair, let alone putting blonde streeks into dead black hair. It is funny how their culture doesn't depend on, "katy, where did you get your haircut, it looks really good. Could you give me the number to the person?" It is more, "Katy, you hair looks good. Can you cut mine?" they assume that a friend did it or you did it, and since I am American I have been qualified to cut hair, pluck eyebrows, give injections, and do hair for weddings. All of which I have done, and done very badly, but they didn't have many expectations for it and it was better than they could have done, so they are content. I just wish people would come and ask me to teach them English...what I am actually here to do. But as for now, I will just keep buzzing little boys' hair, it is kind of fun and I get to know the parents a lot better and I get to go into their house to do it. That is still my favorite things to do, just mosey around people's houses.

So that was my April and beginning of May. I hope everyone had a great Cinco De Mayo and Earth Day. Thank you for all your letters and phone calls for my birthday. It was great to talk to everyone. If you want to call, please do! I realized how great it is to hear voices after all this time. It is not scary and not too expensive. All the info is on my website....

I love and miss you all!

katy
]]> Chicken season — Danew, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112943420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112943420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112943420/tpod.html Fri, 08 Apr 2005 02:58:34 -0400 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Danew, Turkmenistan

Hello America....

First I will apologize for the April fools joke, many of you loved it and some threatened to come to Turkmenistan to hit me. That was the purpose; I would love to see anyone of you out here!

So school started again, after an amazing trip to the Caspian Sea (I would like someone to find out why it is called a sea and find out if it is salty or not, there are some bets on the table). I flew to Ashgabat and saw my old host family for a night. It was good to see them again and realize how much happier I am out in Lebap. I can honestly say that if my site were in that conservative of a region, I may be sitting in Colorado right now. The next morning we all met up and took the party marshutka taxi up to Turkmenbasy city. It was very interesting to see the rest of the county and look at other people's sites as we went. That part of the country is actually really beautiful and there were plenty of camels to keep me entertained for 7 hours. We made it to the sea and checked into our luxury hotel right on the coast with an indoor swimming pool and spa and just relaxed and hung out with other volunteers for 2 nights. It was great to just have fun and not worry about the normal things that stress us out. The ocean itself was really pretty. I couldn't believe that that exists in Turkmenistan, but it was very fun to see the coast. It was a little too cold to really tan or swim, but we did get in the water once and sat out on the beach most the days playing football and telling stories. Many laughs were shared and I really came back to site pretty motivated with a smile on my face because March was almost done!

March was a bad month. I was very excited to cross that month off the list. I do think that will go down as one of the harder months in the Peace Corps. But it is now April and there is no looking back. My schedule is in full swing and I have started to work with the other teachers a lot more. We will see if any of them turn out to be motivated, probably not, but there are only 8 more weeks of school! WAHHHHOOO! Teaching in the schools sucks. No better way to describe it. There is no consistency in the kids, discipline is a huge problem and there are so many strategies to make it impossible for me to teach English. But 8 more weeks of school and then I am off until December (summer break and then all my kids will be picking cotton until the beginning of December). I am talking to some aid agencies and working on reviving an old center that could be very successful here, and even if it isn't it will give me a place to teach on my own for the next 20 months. So that is the school/work update.

To bring in the new month, my site mate and I decided that we needed to go to Ashgabat to say goodbye to a volunteer that is heading home. He went to Thailand and took an English teaching job there that will start up in October, so he called it quits. So we took the train to Ashgabat. We were lucky enough to score first class tickets that we were told, "it is for two people, table, bathroom and air conditioner!" They forgot to leave out the part of wildlife, but it was great to see some cockroaches and mice for free! Plus, it made great time, 600 km in 14 hours! I tell you they got the train system down. Apparently there is a train that goes from my town to the northern part of Tstan that has to cut through Uzbekistan for a few miles. Well since the train doesn't meet the standards they have to leave half the train in Tstan and meet another in Uzbekistan! If a train doesn't meet the standards of Uzbek railways, you know that is not a good sign. We made it to Ashgabat, and had a good 24 hours in the city. Went to the disco with our friend one last time and started to plan the big birthday party in the desert! I am way excited for that, it looks like about 30 volunteers are going to come out here for my birthday and we will go camping in the desert. Should be fun, but a little sandy.

So now I am back at my site getting ready for the week. It is nice to come home from a trip and know that I have so much to do because I went somewhere. Before it was very easy to just stay longer and not worry about it. But the big news of the week is: I BOUGHT MY TICKET TO THAILAND! I am so excited to go ride elephants on the beach and meet some new people. I love all the volunteers, but I haven't met one new American in 7 months! In Tstan, my tourist sighting number is up to 6: 2 Germans, 2 American hunters, and 2 Italians. I am sure I will meet plenty of Americans in Thailand and get some crazy stories out of here without being monitored. I am going there from the 1st of May to 8th of May. I am pumped, I have always wanted to hit up Asia and now I get to for a whopping 169 dollars (it should have only been 160, but we had to fly business class....boo hoo). So if anyone is in the neighborhood, let me know and we can meet up. I know a few of you are in Japan...who knows right?!

So my tidbit from Turkmenistan for this update will talk about spring. It has defiantly come in full force. It is already hot, it was 32 degrees the other day, I am guessing about 90s and it is only getting hotter each day. The sun comes up now at about 6:30 and goes down about 9....wow, when it will in the summer I am quite nervous. But what is really cool about this spring, is it is one of the first times I have observed nature in the spring time. I can say, the baby sheep (I think it is a kid) are so cute. I want to take one home, but I know my host family would eat it pretty quickly, and I don't need to skin any more. There are baby everything everywhere. Goats, cows, chickens, geese, frogs all are here and louder than ever. Our chickens are now laying about 30 eggs a day and I am feeling my cholesterol points skyrocketing now! Well with this spring brought what I call "chicken season." It is a pain in the ass, every where you go there are damn baby chickens. They are in the busses, in the bazaar, in the street, EVERYWHERE! Everyone sells them for about 15 cents a piece. Great deal if you ask me. Well, I said they were everywhere, but my quality of life dropped many points this week. My host mom was telling me to start wearing my shoes in the bathroom and I was like why, won't the rugs get dirty. She kept saying juyja and I had no idea what she was talking about. I go into my bathroom and there are 25 baby chicks running around. So now I get to shower with them...I am trying to remain calm about the situation, they are cute, but they smell. I have also somehow been giving the job of feeding the damn things too, and what do you feed a chick do you ask? Nothing but a hard boiled egg. My sister died of laughter when she came in one day and I was feeding them going, here chickie, here is Cousin Murat....for some reason I was speaking in Turkmen to myself. She has told about 40 people the story now. It disgusts me. But what can you do...so that is my rant on chicken season.

Have a good April! I miss and love you all! Let me know if you can make it to the desert party on the 23rd! Happy trails to you until we meet again!

Love
katy
]]> last email — Turkmenatbat, Turkmenistan http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112349600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112349600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/katydieters/dc_staging/1112349600/tpod.html Fri, 01 Apr 2005 05:16:30 -0500 Peace Corps Turkmenistan!
Turkmenatbat, Turkmenistan

April 1st 2005

Hello everyone.

I have some bad news for you all. Unfortunatly, this will be my last email from Turkmenistan. I have decided that it is time for me to leave. I really need a burrito. Being here in Turkmenistan really made me understand how important burritos are to me, so I have decided to say good bye to this amazing adventure. Surprising, I know. This is coming at a time when my Turkmen language was starting to improve, work was picking up and things were really starting to feel good, but I am just really craving the beans, rice and perfect tortilla that only Chipotle can make. I know it may sound a little selfish, but I am going to have to put myself infront of the people of Tstan for a burrito.

Thank you for your efforts of trying to deliver the burrito to me. Many of you wrote, many of you didn't, but there are no hard feelings. I mean, I really only missed the burrito. I tried many of times to overcome making the perfect burrito here, but my tortillas always ripped, there are no tomatoes avaliable in the winter, the sour cream gave giardia to half the PC volunteers and I won't even tell you about the numerous disasters of my attempts at salsa. So it is time. For many other reasons as well I am calling it good. I have notified Peace Corps about my decision to leave. They have been very supportive of the whole thing. Apparently people leave all the time for numerous reasons, some similar to mine included quitting for a New York Pizza, a subway sub with all the fixings and one extreme case left for KFC (it was still Kentudky Fried Chicken when he was here, but got wind of KFC and healthy food so made a run to the boarder, my guess is he wanted Taco bell as well, but it wasn't in the paper work). So they are doing their best to get me out of here as soon as possible. There is a lot of paper work that I have to fill out and exit interviews, but really, it is time for me to come home. I think my flight will get me back on
























APRIL FOOLS!





November 17th, 2006. Seeing as I want to eat a burrito for everyday I was gone, that would be about 735 burritos. Chipotle watch out. I left this country for the burrito~!

Wow that was a lot easier than I thought to write, those are some dangerous words! I am really going to ashgabat this weekend, so I will get out a good email hopefully in my time there. I hope all is going well with you all. I miss you all lots! Keep writing, cause something as a letter helps the cravings!

love you
katy
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