Let the games begin
A quarter of a century old! Wow, when you say it like that..just kidding. Its official I am now 25. My birthday (feb. 21) was very nice, I got a number of presents from my students, new host family, and of course had to have some celebratory drinks with the other PCVs in Mary. It was very nice to have everyone in the community be able to celebrate my b-day with me.
I am back in the capital for our project design management conference for the first time since I left my first home family.
Its amazing to hear some of the stories that the volunteers have had in the past two months since they have been at site. Some have been stories of adventure, some have been stories of uneccessary drama or actions, but most of the stories have been of great times that we had apart from one another. There is a strange but comfortable feeling that I have with the other volunteers now, like the slight yet comfortable chill that raises the hair on your arms as you step outside after an autumn rainshower. For a majority of us, we have settled into our lives at our sites quite comfortably, the culture shock for the most part is now is a distant memory. Despite the fact that every once and again something happens in our daily lives that we shake our heads in disbelief and our fists in frustration, for the most part we have now are beggining to truely become members of our community. So what does it mean to become a part of a community in Turkmenistan? Well...
My new host family is great. I am living in an apartment in the city which, most days, I only share with my 14 year old host brother. This is due to the fact that the family has a house in a village just outside of Mary and my little brother goes to school in Mary. My new host mom and dad are great and stop by the apartment three or four times a week to help out with the cooking and just to see how we are doing. The family also has two brothers that are now studying foriegn languages in universities in Ashgabat. In addition, my apartment is just a 20-25 minute walk to work. So much like my living situation in DC I get to have a lot of exercise everyday. One of the most amazing things that I have found in moving as an American in Turkmenistan into a new community is the almost overwhelming number of new invitiations and requests that you receive from the Turkmen. There are those that want to know if I have met Brittaney Spears, undoubtedly there are teenagers that want me to explain the meaning of a 50 cent or Eminem song (Candyshop by 50 cent and Mockingbird by Eminem are now the local favorites), there are those that want me to take them back to America with them, but the most fascinating and common request that I have had is the request for me to teach the sons and daughters of neighbors and friends English. It may seem very logical for me to say, "Absolutely tell them to come on by," seeing as though I am an English teacher. The interesting part of this exercise happens when you tell them that they have to do work and heaven forbid do homework. It seems that there is a myth of learning English from an American can be done completely by osmosis. The students and people that truely do want to learn the language because they want to succeed are a breathe of fresh air. Unfortunately for a very few they look at the English language as a golden ticket to prosperity. In some ways I agree with them, but to be the conduit of that myth is sometimes frustrating. It's not frustrating because I dont want to help them, it's frustrating because I feel like I am being used a bit. But then again, why shouldn't I be viewed in that way, I am an American male that is teaching English in a country that is pretty close to as far away from the US as possible.
Despite these momentary doubts of self-esteem, I could not be more excited or content in my work situation right now. I am still teaching my clubs once a week: debate, journalism, acting and softball. Two weeks ago we had a scrimage with about 20 kids. The game started off really fast with both of the teams racking up the runs. At the end of the second inning the score was knotted at 7, and one of the best players we have, Anton, stepped up to the plate. He let my first pitch go by as it was outside. The second pitch he smashed a hot ground ball that headed straight for me. I prepared to scoop up the grounder, but just as the ball was in front of me it hit a rock and ended up in the one place that no man wants to be harmed. The moment it hit me, I didnt think of the pain that was shortly coming. Instead my mind flashed back to me playing Little League baseball during coach pitch. I saw myself as a short, skinny kid with rec-specs, running toward first base as I saw out of the corner of my eye my dad crumpled on the ground due to a well placed line drive of my own. So instead of being mad and in pain, I came up limping and smiling at the knowledge that literally it all comes full circle.
The weather here in T'stan or at least in Mary this week has been absolutely perfect. It is in the mid to high 60s during the day and down in the high 40s to 50s at night. Unfortunately, because of the amount of work that has come my way the past couple of weeks I have not had that much time to enjoy it.
I would like to take this opportunity to give a big congratulations to my cousin Gabe Schirm. He was selected out of 10,000 contestants to be a travelling journalist with five other people for the Travel Channel. He will be travelling around the Pacfic Rim for the next 13 weeks. You can check out the actual details at www.travelchannel.com but from what I hear the show will be airing on the travel channel on Mondays at 6:00pm Pacific time. Who knows you might see me make a cameo appearance if I get a chance to meet up with him in Thailand.
Thank you all of you that have sent letters, cards, and packages this way. It means a ton to be able to hear from everyone back home. So please keep them coming. I will try to make one more post about the projects that I am planning to do in the coming months, before I take off back to my site on Sunday so stayed tuned. And please let me know what you think of these postings. If you do send me a comment please make sure to have your email attached so that I can send you a response back.
I am back in the capital for our project design management conference for the first time since I left my first home family.
Its amazing to hear some of the stories that the volunteers have had in the past two months since they have been at site. Some have been stories of adventure, some have been stories of uneccessary drama or actions, but most of the stories have been of great times that we had apart from one another. There is a strange but comfortable feeling that I have with the other volunteers now, like the slight yet comfortable chill that raises the hair on your arms as you step outside after an autumn rainshower. For a majority of us, we have settled into our lives at our sites quite comfortably, the culture shock for the most part is now is a distant memory. Despite the fact that every once and again something happens in our daily lives that we shake our heads in disbelief and our fists in frustration, for the most part we have now are beggining to truely become members of our community. So what does it mean to become a part of a community in Turkmenistan? Well...
My new host family is great. I am living in an apartment in the city which, most days, I only share with my 14 year old host brother. This is due to the fact that the family has a house in a village just outside of Mary and my little brother goes to school in Mary. My new host mom and dad are great and stop by the apartment three or four times a week to help out with the cooking and just to see how we are doing. The family also has two brothers that are now studying foriegn languages in universities in Ashgabat. In addition, my apartment is just a 20-25 minute walk to work. So much like my living situation in DC I get to have a lot of exercise everyday. One of the most amazing things that I have found in moving as an American in Turkmenistan into a new community is the almost overwhelming number of new invitiations and requests that you receive from the Turkmen. There are those that want to know if I have met Brittaney Spears, undoubtedly there are teenagers that want me to explain the meaning of a 50 cent or Eminem song (Candyshop by 50 cent and Mockingbird by Eminem are now the local favorites), there are those that want me to take them back to America with them, but the most fascinating and common request that I have had is the request for me to teach the sons and daughters of neighbors and friends English. It may seem very logical for me to say, "Absolutely tell them to come on by," seeing as though I am an English teacher. The interesting part of this exercise happens when you tell them that they have to do work and heaven forbid do homework. It seems that there is a myth of learning English from an American can be done completely by osmosis. The students and people that truely do want to learn the language because they want to succeed are a breathe of fresh air. Unfortunately for a very few they look at the English language as a golden ticket to prosperity. In some ways I agree with them, but to be the conduit of that myth is sometimes frustrating. It's not frustrating because I dont want to help them, it's frustrating because I feel like I am being used a bit. But then again, why shouldn't I be viewed in that way, I am an American male that is teaching English in a country that is pretty close to as far away from the US as possible.
Despite these momentary doubts of self-esteem, I could not be more excited or content in my work situation right now. I am still teaching my clubs once a week: debate, journalism, acting and softball. Two weeks ago we had a scrimage with about 20 kids. The game started off really fast with both of the teams racking up the runs. At the end of the second inning the score was knotted at 7, and one of the best players we have, Anton, stepped up to the plate. He let my first pitch go by as it was outside. The second pitch he smashed a hot ground ball that headed straight for me. I prepared to scoop up the grounder, but just as the ball was in front of me it hit a rock and ended up in the one place that no man wants to be harmed. The moment it hit me, I didnt think of the pain that was shortly coming. Instead my mind flashed back to me playing Little League baseball during coach pitch. I saw myself as a short, skinny kid with rec-specs, running toward first base as I saw out of the corner of my eye my dad crumpled on the ground due to a well placed line drive of my own. So instead of being mad and in pain, I came up limping and smiling at the knowledge that literally it all comes full circle.
The weather here in T'stan or at least in Mary this week has been absolutely perfect. It is in the mid to high 60s during the day and down in the high 40s to 50s at night. Unfortunately, because of the amount of work that has come my way the past couple of weeks I have not had that much time to enjoy it.
I would like to take this opportunity to give a big congratulations to my cousin Gabe Schirm. He was selected out of 10,000 contestants to be a travelling journalist with five other people for the Travel Channel. He will be travelling around the Pacfic Rim for the next 13 weeks. You can check out the actual details at www.travelchannel.com but from what I hear the show will be airing on the travel channel on Mondays at 6:00pm Pacific time. Who knows you might see me make a cameo appearance if I get a chance to meet up with him in Thailand.
Thank you all of you that have sent letters, cards, and packages this way. It means a ton to be able to hear from everyone back home. So please keep them coming. I will try to make one more post about the projects that I am planning to do in the coming months, before I take off back to my site on Sunday so stayed tuned. And please let me know what you think of these postings. If you do send me a comment please make sure to have your email attached so that I can send you a response back.
posted by Schirm 2605 | 8:11 PM
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