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…
- If you apply Viagra gel under the eye, nothing bad will happen. In fact it had an uplifting effect for those who used it.
- Even if you live in Turkmenistan dress to impress.
- People are just people; we have more similarities than differences. The differences are just easier to see sometimes.
No comments:
Post a Comment