Dashoguz

Yesterday we traveled to Dashoguz, a regional capital in the far north of Turkmenistan near the Uzbek border. It was Joe's second trip outside of Ashgabat to talk to people in other parts of the country about the visa process. One of his Turkmen employees, who will be leaving soon to pursue graduate studies in the US, is from Dashoguz originally. It seemed like a great opportunity for Ruth Anne and I to tag along and see life outside our own little sandbox.

We had a 6:50 AM flight and had to wake up about 4:30. Everything went really smoothly. Ruth Anne's oatmeal went down before the sun came up. She loves airplanes to our ridiculously good fortune. We rode on the plane with a Turkmen wedding party. The bride's veil hung to her knees and she jingled and tinkled as she walked on the arm of her gray-suited groom. Another member of the party was a little girl in a ivory dress and a leg cast. The twenty or so people on the airplane were met by at least thirty more and a video camera just inside the Dashoguz airport. They passed out gifts, including a pretty washcloth that entertained Ruth Anne most of the day, and danced. They caravaned away with rolled down windows, shouting and passing more gifts along the road.

Before the flight schedule changed we were supposed to fly out around 11 AM, so the American Corners library where Joe gave his presentation had to scramble to notify people that he'd now be available mid-morning instead of mid-afternoon. Nevertheless, he got a good crowd thirty or so people in a couple of waves. He particularly enjoyed the Q+A session and got a lot of thoughtful questions about the ins and outs of the visa procedure. I met briefly with some local English teachers and got to chat with them about slang (a subject I know very well in theory) and childhood language acquisition.

After the meetings, Joe's colleague Gozel invited us to her family's apartment for lunch. They prepared a vegetarian spread with the traditional pizza shaped bread (chorek), cottage cheese, salad, and potato dumplings. The food was great and it was Ruth Anne's first visit to a Central Asian home with the table set on the floor surrounded by cushions. Living and dining rooms become bedrooms at night with the bedding packed into cupboards during the day. This gives the whole house a very open feel.

We had to be back at the airport at 4 for a 5:30 flight. We got to Ashgabat about 6:30 and were stuck in the baggage claim section waiting for Ruth Anne's carseat for more than an hour. The president had suddenly decided that he needed to use the airport, so all the roads were closed and no one was allowed in or out of the building. Ah, Turkmenistan... We still had fruit and sandwiches to snack on since we'd been so well taken care of at lunch but Ruth Anne was wearing the last diaper in the stash. It was dry when we got home though. Lucky day.