The first thing most visitors notice about Ashgabat is that there are no people on the streets. This is not a city where people use the public space. You can walk around, night or day, and the only people you see outside are obviously going somewhere. People do not stroll. It’s disconcerting, especially for someone used to the way that Uzbeks practically live outside when the weather is above freezing. When Kir and I go for walks, we generally walk alone.

This summer, though, there are people out. For the last couple of weeks, the streets at night have been full of people. Tonight we went for a walk, and watched the people around us. Mothers were out, walking their small children until they tired enough for bed, couples were out giggling together, and preteen boys roamed in groups on bicycles. Every yard was full of people who had moved their dining outside to enjoy the relative coolness. I think it’s just so scorching at this point that people have to overcome their fear of the outdoors because there is no way they can stay inside in the heat. (and it’s only July – the weather will get worse before it gets better)

We wandered around for a while, and stopped at a café for ice cream. There were tables outside, so Tezy got to sit with us. German tourists sat on one side of us, and a group of hip young Turkmen guys on the other side. We ate ice cream and sweated, then moseyed on home. Tezy peed on every plant she could reach, and met a wide variety of small children and other dogs who badly needed to be barked at.

We needed a good evening, today. There was a video game that Corrado used to play, and I’d hit and watch him. Street Fighter, according to Kir. But what I remember is that when your character got hit, a robotic voice would say “body blow, body blow.”

That’s what today was like. All day long. In the car, on the way to work, Lilya tells me about the Ministry of Health meeting she went to on Saturday. They have decided that while women who are spacing their children should get contraception if they want it, women trying to limit family size should be seriously counseled not to, because of the president’s pro-natalist policy. “Body blow, body blow.”

The partners in my project can’t agree on a strategy for Turkmenistan. “Body blow.” Lilya can’t get the maternal and child health institute to send a trainer with her next week. “Body blow.” None of the people we invited to our teacher training showed up. “Body blow.” My funding organization doesn’t return my call. “Body blow.”

The robotic voice followed me around all day. The soundtrack to my life in Ashgabat. I’m a public health street fighter.

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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.