Alice,
I got your second letter first, so I’m replying a bit out of order. It’s so nice to have questions to answer, though. So far I’ve been writing whatever I could think of and haven’t had much response because of the time it takes to send things. I’ll try to describe things a bit here.
I’m in a city of 110,000, so I don’t see the real desert until I go out of town. Then you exit the city and drive for hours past nothing but camels on the worst roads you could imagine. Then I see the real desert. My family here is quite wealthy, so they have none other than a Chevrolet. Most people take taxis here, so there is little need for a car.
In Gypjak the population was more openly Muslim, but the two legal religions here are Islam and Russian Orthodoxy. (Sorry Bob!) So the city, with a much higher foreign population, has more variety. Not many people practice religion (left over from Soviet times), and I don’t think our city has a church of any religion.
As for landowning, I know there are landlords here, but the entire city has planned apartments. I don’t think there is a house in the entire city, but people often buy apartments here. We have 2 floors and have redone most everything in ours to look new. Our neighbors (in the same building) have a slum, basically. Our house is unique in its indoor plumbing and the fact that we have a pump. Most families have no running water from about 10 am until 7 pm, but we can draw water all day. No one has a boiler, though, so water is only hot with a special gas boiler-contraption. (We have one for the shower.)
One of the great things here (I told Mom a bit about this) is their system of dressmaking. You can purchase 2 meters of material from a store for about $3-$5 in any color/variety. Then you ask around and find a good dressmaker. They are usually women whose husbands work but not enough. For another $3-$6 she makes the dress however you request in about 2 days. I love not having to search in stores, and I hate how nothing in the states ever fits. This way you get exactly what you need, and it always fits. Usually your own family sews your dresses, but my family here is not “Turkmen” enough.
I wouldn’t worry too hard about not being able to visit. It’s really a pit here, and the things I love about it have grown through my connections to things. The postcards, I believe, are about the only thing the department of tourism puts out because they are extremely unwelcoming of visitors. They don’t like our presence here very much either. I assume by now you’ve seen descriptions I’ve sent to different people. I’ll keep up writing while I'm here for sure. I have an almost insatiable need to write something every day whether it be a journal, a letter, or an essay. Mom and I talked a while about your family and their current plans, but I would love to hear updates!
Right now, actually, I am sitting in a Turkmen language class (the students speak Russian natively) because it’s one of the 6 rooms in our school with heat. We teach with winter coats on and ‘visit’ the heated rooms as much as possible. Rumor has it that some rich kids’ parents bought heaters for the classrooms that their kids are in. That’s the routine here. There’s a strange dichotomy between attempting to make everyone and everything equal, and, on the other hand, surviving by who you know.
I hope my letters aren’t too negative, but I’m hoping to create as honest a picture as I can! It was great to hear from you! Keep writing!
Love,
Kari
