Bangkok, Birthdays and more
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2004
1
21
27
Trip End
Dec 28, 2006
Bangkok,
Thailand
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
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
