A day in the life...
As frustrating as it can be that my sister’s won’t speak Russian to me, I have to say sometimes I appreciate Jildes’ and I’s conversations when they’re half and half because combined we have a much larger vocabulary. She wants to learn English slang and idioms to be able to understand when I talk to my friends and she’s constantly asking me to translate songs. I couldn’t give her a good enough answer for songs like, “candyshop”, “dirty” and “my humps” but I was able to tell her what “ghetto” meant in definition and in slang. So the other day we were getting ready to watch a movie on my laptop, which unfortunately has a teeny crack through the monitor because my porter dropped it when I was in Fiji. After I explained what happened she looks at it for a minute and asks, “is it… ghetto?” and I burst out laughing hysterically. She was like, “What? What? Is that right?” And I was like, “yeah, that’s exactly right, this laptop is ghetto.” It’s always one of my proudest moments when one of my students actually remembers what I say and then correctly use it in context but this topped all of that, she used the word “ghetto” correctly. Hey, I said I was going to come here to teach English… that includes slang too, right?
A major topic of conversation between volunteers is always about how we are losing a sense of what’s “normal”. Not that things are necessarily abnormal here but just different from what we’re used to. (That’s me being culturally sensitive). The thing that bothers me about marshrutkas is that there is too much protocol for when you should give up your seat. Old babooshka? Any man under the age of 25 would be expected to give up his seat but every time I try to give up mine, most people insist I sit down. But the other day there was mitigating circumstances: a screaming hungry baby in a jam-packed marshurtka. I stood up to give the mother my seat but in all the confusion there was no where for me to go so I ended up sitting on the Turkish woman’s lap while she breastfed her son. Is that normal?
I have also realized that the 5-second rule does not apply in this country. There was one particular night out in Adam’s Morgan this past summer where Craig and I ended our debauchery with a Jumbo Slice nightcap. I took one bite and accidentally dropped it on the cement, cheese side down. I think Craig understood my thought process as I stood there, contemplating the logistics of picking it back up and eating it. To stop me from doing something out-of-control he looked at me, looked at the pizza, stepped on it and said, “no” in a way that someone scolds a small child. I am happy to report that no one has to take such drastic measures to keep me eating a dirty germy slice of pizza here. The other day I was waiting for a marshurtka (one of my most time consuming tasks) and this grandma looked at me, scowled at me and blew a monstrous snot rocket on the ground. I was quite impressed by the trajectory and velocity from which a glob of mucus (I hate that word) flew from her nose. I feel like I could practice that move everyday for the next two years and I still wouldn’t acquire that skill.
Recently I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries on what to send and what kind of stuff that I need here. I can actually get a lot of stuff at Beta Store, a Turkish grocery store, which I usually refer to as “heaven”. They carry a lot of American products and although there is a 100% mark-up, sometimes I can justify spoiling myself with a $7 jar of extra crunchy peanut butter. I hate making requests but I figure some suggestions wouldn’t hurt. I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to send me anything, because letters are just as good as a package… with that said, here is my “wish list”:
Trashy magazines (the trashier the better with Life and Style topping the list- Libbey, Tiffany, I know you understand)
Beef jerky, turkey jerky, tuna jerky… whatever as long as it’s rock hard meat (I am dying for protein because I don’t get enough of it)
Any old DVD’s that you’re sick of or you just don’t like. (I watched Monster-In-Law twice in a row and thought it was Oscar-worthy - that’s how desperate I am for movies).
Mac and Cheese or any other snack-type stuff.
Facial or body scrub (I only shower once a week, you know?)
I think that covers it for now, I’ll try to add stuff as I go along but like I said, there is no really big pressing need and letters will do just fine too, I know you fresh-out-of-college-kids are just as poor as I am. One thing I don’t need is pads or tampons. Our Peace Corps Medical Office is awesome and they take good care of those types of things.
Quick shout outs:
Lace, I got your pictures, your puppy is so adorable and you look fantastic!
Tiffany, I got your Valentine’s package but I’m ashamed to admit that the candy did not last for more than 3 minutes. I think I set some kind of record wolfing that chocolate down. Thanks so much!
My Mom also wrote out instructions on how to call me because she figured that maybe if people knew how to call cheaply then they would (thanks Jase ;o) So here they are:
1. Go to Nobelcom.'s website:
http://www.nobelcom.com/nobelcom/jsp/home/nobelcom_home.jsp
2. Search for phone cards- From: United States To: Kyrgyzstan - cell
3. Four phone cards will come up: the best one we found is the 3rd one :
Call Kyrgyzstan Cellular, Nobelcom $20
Rate: 12.5cents
No Connection Fee
Rechargeable Card
Pinless Dialing
Minutes - 160 - $20.00
4. Select "Buy Now"
5. You will be directed to a page that asks for information; profile name (?), name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and credit card information.
6. They will send you an e-mail confirmation of your purchase. It sometimes happens automatically, sometimes takes about 5 minutes. Could be up to 20 minutes before you can use the card.
7. You will receive this message: Thank you for shopping with NobelCom.com!
If your order has been automatically confirmed, your calling card PINs will be sent by email in a few minutes.
Your order may be subject to additional confirmation. To confirm your order, please call
Local: 1-760-517-0765
8. To call Katie: Use calling instructions they send: They give a 1-800 number, but from whatever state you are in, you can link from their site onto a page that has local access numbers. From Virginia I use the Warrenton number: 703-468-0692. Then enter your PIN number that is given at the top of the e-mail they send you. (The PIN number is the same as your Password for future orders.) Then dial Katie's cell phone number: 011-996-502-173-582#(Pound).
7. The best time to call Katie is from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM our time which is her evening or anytime past 10:00 PM our time which is her morning (our 9:00 AM is Katie's 8:00 PM, our 10:00 PM is her 9:00 AM)
8. There is a good chance of getting disconnected while talking to her, the instructions say you can just re-enter her phone number followed by the pound sign, but often you will have to re-enter the access number, your pin, and her phone number and the # sign. It is annoying but just because Kyrgyzstan has cell towers and phone access doesn’t necessarily mean that it works flawlessly. Nevertheless, I have always re-connected and can continue my conversation.
posted by Katie P. at 2:08 AM
2 Comments:
Love your wish list! It's scary what you miss when you're away from home.
Enjoy the rest of your time there!
hey kate,
sadly/ luckily (?) i'm not in tajikistan permanently. i'm from scotland, but then livedin bosnia and then moved to hungary. i live in budapest, working for habitat for humanity's regional office: europe/ central asia. that means i travel to tajikistan & kyrgyzstan as well as a number of other countries to visit our national offices.
the good thing about being in budapest is that our friends visit fairly regularly and they bring goodies from home - yay!
take it easy,
nats
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