Greetings! We arrived safely in Ashgabad October 1st, after a brief visit with Rebekah's cousin, Adrienne, whom is living in Istanbul, Turkey. We had a wonderful visit with Adrienne and have also really enjoyed our time in Turkmenistan.
We are living with a host family in a small village called Yalkym. Our family is very loving and we are enjoying our time with them as we learn the language. English is not spoken here at all, so we have been doing a lot of pantomiming. We study Turkmen language with two other volunteers four hours a day and it has been going well. We go to the village health clinic the second half of each day to shadow a doctor. With our limited language skills, our tasks are limited at the health clinic. We will stay in Yalkym for 10 weeks for our language and health training. In mid-December we will be posted to a permanent volunteer site elsewhere in the country.
Our host family has three children. Tawas is 22 (girl), Ishen is 19 (boy), and Begenche is 15 (boy). We have two cows and a family garden that we help tend. All home interiors in Turkmenistan are covered in beautiful Turkmen carpets. Furniture is very uncommon-- we eat and sleep on the carpets. Women wear dresses to their ankles and often wear head scarves (thanks for the dresses you made, Mom! They really did mean to ankle length!).
Joshua and I attempted to go for a run this morning and may have woken up the entire village from all the dogs barking. We retreated to our family's yard to jump rope instead, but the family dog wouldn't stop barking. We finally devised a plan with one of us taking a turn petting the dog while the other jump-roped (I hope our host family doesn't think we're crazy!) *lol*.
Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers! We will have many stories to tell you. We will keep you posted as we have access to the internet (once or twice a month).
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5 comments:
We are glad to hear you are safe...are prayers are with you continually.
God Bless,
Katie Jean
Your home in Turkmenistan sounds wonderful, can't wait to see pics soon :) What is the process to get internet access, a trip into the Capital? Can you see the mountains of Kazachstan? What's planted in the garden? LOVE< MOM
Ha ha....i am laughing because i can totally see josh petting the dog while Rebecca is jumping rope. You two are so funny. We love you guys and are praying for you. Thank you again for the blessing you were to our family the weekend you guys came over before you left.that was a special time for our kids! Grace and peace be with you both and may you learn the language fast in the full immersion environment you have!!
Corey
Don't doubt it you are crazy Americans! I remember an African asking me, when we told him it was good for his heart to exercise, whether riding his moped was exercise because it made his heart beat faster. Ha! You two are funny with the jumping rope business. I would think you were crazy for sure!
sounds awesome guys! happy 1 month in PC...miss you and hope all is fabulous and cool! i've been sharing your halloween costumes from last year with friends as we attempt to do halloween in the African desert.
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