Essay #3 (My Day)

Ashlee and I speak hurried, giggly English to each other as we break frequently to yell "Hello" to frighteningly persistant children dressed in suits and matching school-dresses. Girls wear long blue or green dresses with white aprons, and boys wear black dress pants and black ties. We get to school and find our language group in the bookless library where G___'s smiling face struggles to teach us Turkmen language for 3.5 hours every morning.

Our minds are on lunch at 11:00, and we finally migrate to Scott's family's house at 12:30 where a spread is ready for us. I chat with non-trilingual G___ in Russian, and we gossip in English about the latest PCV news. After eating, we lie against pillows and wallow in the most American surroundings we've got (each other).

Three of the five of us head back to school for technical training which usually involves observing classes taught by English teachers here. After class we trudge home in the hottest sun we could imagine. It never ever rains during the dry season, and I once saw a cloud. As Ashlee and I head to the main road, we hear footsteps approaching behind us. One set turns into 3, 4, 5 sets. Suddenly the first "Hello!" is shouted followed by a "How are you?", two "What is your name?" and even a few "My name is." We're beginning to get used to being followed. The shouting doesn't lessen the longer we're here. We keep going after a polite "Hello." At least they aren't throwing rocks and insults today.

I come home today to find my eldest sister visiting. I greet her and sit for chai as we all watch the video of her toi (wedding). The tape is worn from use, and my family seems to have it memorized. I sit and listen for a while, but soon walk to my room where 8 neighborhood girls could sense my intention and wait to look through my pictures of America and listen to my ipod. As conversation is slim, I often tell them which one smells the worst and how my intestines are working today. If I smile, they smile. They count the lines on my paper and play hand slapping games until finally I announce in Turkmen my intent to sleep. I fall asleep to muffled T.V. and dream of comfort and quiet. Thus ends another day.