Nuthin’ But A G Thang

The Turkmen government owns channels one through five. The channels rotate through Turkmen news, pictures of factories, dancers, and music videos (Any one who has spent a morning with me lounging knows I LOVE music videos but not these. They are boooooring). The “five channels” show the traditional culture of Turkmenistan. What is really interesting is the pop culture that is stirring beneath the surface. What is beneath the surface? Rap youth explosion. Youth rapping famous raps, rapping their own raps, and recording raps. Break dancers, tectonic dancers, melodist, producers. The work they produce is still raw impersonations of other people’s creations but it’s a beginning with the possibility of being something wonderful. 

            I didn’t realize that a rap culture existed here until recently. My friend Moral called up one afternoon and asked if I was busy on Friday. Being that I had no plans she invited me to come over and record a rap for Women’s day. I was thinking that we were going to be sitting around her living room raping into a phone or recorder. Boy was I wrong. As soon as I got to Moral’s apartment, Moral, Sofia, Niseba, and I hopped on a bus and drove across town. We got off the bus and headed into an old high rise apartment building 13 stories tall. I trust them so I was not really thinking as a followed them into the apartment of a Russian teenager. Inside he had a make shift recording station. Everyone had there own part of the rap to record which was “technoized”. We weren’t the only ones recording that day. Over the three hours we where at the “studio” people came in and out, all working on their own stuff.

            My second encounter with Turkmen rap was far more enjoyable because a) I didn’t have to rap and b) I didn’t have to rap. The same group of teens I meet at the Russian’s apartment had organized a showcase at the local cultural center. The group took turns raping and singing. The house was not packed, most of the time the performer was drowned out by the music, and random people walked randomly across stage but it was incredible. They had stage presence, charisma, and heart. You could tell that they really loved performing.  

            If you ever come to Turkmenistan you most likely will never encounter the experiences I have described here. It is not shown on the television or visible as you walk the streets but its here and for many Turkmen teens it is the only way accessible for them to express their individuality among the monotony of Turkmenistan. So to rap it all up…

Paka paka

Biz item bishirjek

Olar suji sababi

Sen biz soymally

One Day Three Stories

I had just gotten back from a week long conference in Ashgabat that left me exhausted but excited about work. As I settled in for a couple of hopefully productive hours of grant writing the room became flooded with doctors and nurses stopping in to say hi. In Turkmenistan work is a social environment. I might even dare to say that being social is more important than being productive. Since I had not seen any of my co-workers for over a week I was more than happy to tell them the “edited” version of my adventures in the capital. One of my favorite nurses, Natasha, made a note of inviting me to tea in her office. I should explain that Natasha does not speak Turkmen or English and I only speak Turkmen and English. When we get together there are always tons of laughs and even though I could not tell you what she is saying I get it. So after everyone cleared out I put away my books and headed down the hall towards her office. When I got there, there was no Natasha and no tea but there was a question for me. Jeren a nurse who shares Natasha’s office handed me a small tube of “lotion”. Her mother-in-law had given it to her and as far as she knew, it was under-the-eye cream. All the words were in English and from reading the logo I knew immediately that this tube was no beauty product. It said “Viagra: Long Lasting Gel” smack dap in the middle. How was I going to explain in Turkmen that the gel was not for under-the-eye but for under-the-pants? With a few words and some creative acting they soon realized what its real purpose was. Within an hour the whole health clinic was laughing over this little bottle of Viagra gel.

The background of my laptop is of me and Alex at a Mariners game just before I took off for the Peace Corps. I love this picture. It makes me happy to think back and to look forward. Between flipping back and forth between word documents one of the doctors who I work with, Maya, asked to see it and if I had any other pictures of my family. I quickly opened up a few pictures of my family and flipped through them, explaining who was who. Maya commented about how young my mom looked and how beautiful all the dresses were then she turned to me and said, “Stephanie in these pictures you have such beautiful clothes on. Why do you wear ugly clothes here?” If she was not 100% correct I might have taken a little offense to the comment. My clothes consist of a hodge-podge collection of free box finds and random pieces from home. This does not bother me one bit but in Turkmenistan what you look like is very important. People are quick to point out if you are skinny or fat, if you are tall or short, if you look better with your hair up or down. People who look good get things done because they are respected. So with a smirk on my face I took my self to the bazaar to get some dresses made. You don’t have to tell a girl twice to go shopping.

On most afternoons my health center is pretty slow. During this time I get the majority of my work done because my co-workers have usually exhausted all of their questions by lunch. I had had a fairly eventful day and still had a birthday party to attend later that night so I was taking a few minutes inside my head to reflect. (I have never thought so much in my life as I do here.) Maya turned to me and asked if I liked Mary. Usually I always answer yes and throw in a few complements about how the people are so friendly. This time I didn’t. I told her I liked the city but that many people are to busy to talk to me. This snowballed into one of the deepest conversations I have had with a Turkmen since coming to Turkmenistan. We talked about how America and Turkmenistan is different but how where ever you go you will always find rude people, nice people, and smart people. There are those you love and those you hate, people are just people.

What I learned this day…

1. If you apply Viagra gel under the eye, nothing bad will happen. In fact it had an uplifting effect for those who used it.
2. Even if you live in Turkmenistan dress to impress.
3. People are just people; we have more similarities than differences. The differences are just easier to see sometimes.