Exchange Value

So today we finally made a trek out to the biggest bazaar in Ashgabat. The name of the bazaar Talkouchka (which I never pronounce right) is derived from the word push or shove. This gives you a fairly good idea of what to expect.

We took the first turn in and basically wound up driving through the loading docks - trucks and people and cars moving in all directions. Ruth Anne had already told us that she was "finished" sitting, but soon caught on that we were doing the best we could. I was all for turning around at the first available opportunity or stopping to catch our breath but there were no such opportunities so Joe kept winding his way through huge puddles, vegetable stands, stacks of mattresses, push carts and so on. Finally things started to thin out. We contemplated a harrowing return and buying souvenirs at a hotel, but followed the cars in front of us around the bend and came out onto the giant parking lot(aka the desert) which also would have been accessible from the actual road that would have been the second turn.

When we finally emerged we found ourselves in the electronics section, very reminiscent of those Silk Road days. This faded into snack vendors and shashlik stands, into fabric, into place settings made in China, and finally our first evil eye necklaces and painted spoons. Again, if I'd had my way it would have been evil eye necklaces and painted spoons for everyone, but soon after this we got to the machine made carpets, then the knitted socks and we were in business.

The only problem was that twice when we'd negotiated a price through a combination of Russian and Turkmen, vendors insisted they'd meant another currency and we had to start all over. Part of the problem was language, their Russian was about as good as Joe's Turkmen which is better than my Russian but trying all the way around. The other problem was currency. Unlike our green grocers, these two sellers seemed baffled by conversion from old manat to new manat (5000:1). So they'd say they meant old manat (it was common to talk about old manat in terms of 1000's the most common denomination)or dollars, even though I know the first guy said new manat in Russian when he put the number on the calculator. The second woman didn't even have a calculator. We finally came out very close to the original terms both times but it was pretty tiring.

Not everyone was like that though. Another seller confused us by switching to English for all the words he knew. He was very proud that his sheep's skin hats had no "smell," though Joe and I expected that to be part of their charm... Another woman clarified the whole currency issue with us in advance and even through a purse for Ruth Anne in as a present. Once shyness abated slightly Ruth Anne was very pleased with this gift. "Money, money," she said. So we transferred the 500(old) manat bill she'd proudly put in her pocket on our way of that house into her new purse.

We decided to circle back to the car and this meant going through the produce section. Ruth Anne saw the fruit and said, "'nana'". "Did you buy bananas this morning?" I asked Joe. "Yes," he said, striding a bit further ahead of us. "Money," Ruth Anne said. I took the bill back out of her purse, happy to distract her from the bananas. She took the money. Her eyes lit up and she said "'nana." I knew Ruth Anne valued money. She always asks for some when we're distributing stacks for the market or putting it a way afterwards. It just hadn't occurred to me that she'd recognize exchange value. Now that she knows you need money to get things we just have to teach her that you need to work to get money. And yes we bought more bananas in a hurry. We all felt like we'd earned a snack.