On Friday morning I woke up vaguely aware of a funny noise near my head. Once I came closer to full consciousness, I realized it was the sound of the dog throwing up. For some reason, I reached my arm out to check on her, dropping it right into a patch of dog vomit. So I got up and headed right for the shower. Which didn’t work, because there wasn’t any water. I found a washcloth, dipped it into the toilet tank, and sponged the puke off me.

Thankfully, we have a shower at the office, so I went to work in dirty clothes, and then showered and dressed at the office.

Other than that, Friday was uneventful. Work, work, blah, blah. Jen came over Friday night and we watched Keeping the Faith, which I liked much more than I expected to. Oddly enough, it rang very true for me. Made me almost homesick for the time of my life when love and nervousness went together. Love, now, is much calmer. There is no doubt in Kir and I. No doubt, and no drama. Passion, yes, but no drama. Which is a good thing, but also a different kind of life than the terror-laced ride of new love.

Saturday morning I went to the President’s health walk. It’s a concrete paved path in the mountains. Jeni went with me. I was expecting to do the 8 kilometer path (there are two – an 8k and a 25k), but as we drove out there, Jeni told me it’s not a loop. You walk to the end and then walk back. Which meant we were looking at a 16 kilometer round trip. When we arrived, it turned out that the 8k health walk was closed for renovation anyway. We headed down the 25 kilometer walk with the understanding that we’d just turn around and come back when we started to get tired.

The health walk is very strange. (Fancy that, something in Turkmenistan that’s strange…) I mean, you’re in the mountains and it’s all green and beautiful, but you’re on a paved walk with full railings. Very much a city person’s idea of being outdoors. There were even lamps to light the path at night. It’s also mostly stairs. Instead of using switchbacks like a normal trail, you climb stairs right up the side of the mountain. You climb a lot of stairs. Jeni and I walked for an hour before turning on, and it was almost all stairs uphill.

After the health walk, I went to Yimpash, the Turkish grocery store, and spent what felt like a small fortune. Once I’d done the math on the exchange rate, I realized I had spent $28 on six bags of groceries. Turkmenistan has its qualities, I suppose.

Then dinner with a colleague. Her husband is with the KNB (new name for the KGB) and they live in a house in a whole KNB neighborhood. The husband seemed like a very nice man, but it was hard not to feel creeped out. Dinner was good, though – me, my two colleagues, and the host’s daughter-in-law. We ate a lot of food, and talked about weight loss. A classic female experience.

<<|>>

You might have missed...
I’m not sure my ego has ever cycled as fast as it has lately. - 15 July 2004
shots - 12 July 2004
But that was long ago, and in another country. - 22 June 2004
I was getting bored with linear thought… - 09 June 2004
You told him we slept together before marriage? - 20 May 2004

USAID is one of many donors for the project I work for. The views expressed herein are the author’s own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer or especially those of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. And I mean it. I probably give the US government heart attacks.