Home alone 5

In my opinion sometimes life is random and unexpected, and other times
it is completely intentional. I am still trying to figure out what
today was. It all started when my 12 year old host sister, Solun,
knocked on my door at 7:30 this morning to inform me that she was
leaving. Not fully awake I told her “Şutyda açar galya.” This roughly
translates to the key stays here. Apparently not one bit of this made
any sense because when I rolled out of bed and on to the carpet where
I eventually got to my knees and then my feet, I woke up to find that
Solun had taken the key with her. Let me clarify this a little before
moving on. My host family’s apartment has one key. This key is a
skeleton key. You need the key to lock and unlock the door. Solun took
the key because it was the only way to lock the door. In locking the
door she also locked me inside the house. At first this seemed like a
random mistake that could have easily happened as a result of good
intentions and being short on time. Then again today was also the day
that the President came to my city and the week before the police had
called my director needing a copy of my passport and home address. Oh
and there were the numerous comments by my host family that I was not
allowed to wait on the street and watch the President drive by.
Coincidental? I will let you decide. The funniest part of this whole
situation was that being locked in the house for 5 hours only slightly
changed my plans for the day. You might be asking yourself, “What
exactly are a Turkmenistan PCV’s plans for the day?” To shed more
light on my time in Turkmenistan I have provided my daily schedule by
the hours. Please note that half the week I work in the mornings. On
these days my day is flip flopped.

Key
* = things 80 year old ladies and I do for fun
çorek = traditional Turkmen holy bread
koynek = traditional Turkmen dress
work = drinking chi and reading health books

8am   Wake up
8:30am  Drink chi and eat çorek for breakfast*
9am   Watch music videos
10am   Exercise…endorphins make you happy!
11am  Change into my house koynek and read*
12pm  Make arts and crafts or sew*
1pm  Drink chi and eat lunch with my host mother
1:30pm  Dink more chi and listen to the latest gossip from the neighbors*
2pm  Work on a 1000 piece puzzle with my host sister*
3pm  Watch more music videos/Run errands
4-7pm  Work
7:30pm Drink chi and eat dinner
8pm  Knit mittens for my grandchildren*
9pm  Watch a movie and fall asleep during it*

Truth. This is my daily schedule but mixed into the week are meetings,
trips to the bazaar and post office, and sometimes toys. My life is
finally settling into normalcy. It’s like what Turkmen tell new
brides, “May you be like a stone and find your place.” Hopefully my
“place” does not included being locked into the house again.
Free at last,
Steph
P.S. I don’t knit mittens for my grandchildren every night at 8. I
only do that on Tuesdays.