TURKEY ~ Call to Prayer (July 10 2012)

 

Call to Prayer. Kurds.  Halay Dances.
  

It feels like I’m flying through Central Asia.  Since my last Public Letter about Tajikistan, I’ve trapsed through the oldest cities in the world in Uzbekistan (Bukhara and Samarkand), flown in and out of the “New York City of Central Asia”(sophisticated Almaty in Kazakhstan), and danced at two Syrian- Kurdish and Zaza ethnic weddings in eastern Turkey.  Far from my fears that I wouldn’t be able to stand being a tourist for three full months, I’m thriving and loving each day.  

The irony of being a solo traveler is that one seldom travels alone. 

TURKEY ~ Dancing beneath the Full Moon (July 7 2012)

Remembering Bora Özkὅk.  Turkey's 4,000 Folkdances.  Two weddings.   
 Kazali, the Shoulder Shaking Dance.  Halay.
 

This letter is for the Folklore Village Dancers of the 1980’s [1] – and for all of the old Folklore Village crowd in Wisconsin who learned from Bora Özkὅk how to ululate and shimmey the shoulders and chest and who caught the fever of Turkish dancing.

Bora Ozkok 1979. Photo credit: Phantomnet.com

The Turkish government should give Bora a Medal of Honor for undoubtedly bringing so many travelers to Turkey – all those 1980’s dancers from Boston and Mendicino Folkdance Camp in California who signed up for his folk dance tours in the days before he figured out that you couldn’t make money off folk dancing hippies and switched to doing tours of Turkey for affluent retirees.  I don’t think any of us at Folklore Village signed up – was it the money, the idea of a “tour,” or was it that by that time we’d already switched allegiance to Norwegian pols and Swedish hambo? 

Can we roll back the clock, please?  I’d take that tour now!  Turkish folk dancing with Bora in TURKEY.  That would be heady.

TAJIKISTAN ~ Roof of the World (May 31 2012)

 Pamir Mountains. 

Mountains without Names. Swimming to Afghanistan.

There are probably more remote places in the world than Tajikistan, but as “the roof of the world," it’s on the list.  Tonight I’m in the Pamirs, gorgeous, remote mountains along the border of Afghanistan, curling over to the border of China.

Afghanistan to L of river, Tajikistan R side

Australian Dayna gazes at Fort Ratm

Grandpa & grandson in Bolunkul, a tough, remote settlement

Tajikistan is a mountaineer’s dream, an anthropologist’s field day, dance/music lover’s find.  For three days now I’ve been riding in a Land Cruiser, following a gravel, pot-holed road through a valley – snow-covered mountains on each side.  A river divides the Tajik mountains from the Afghan ones.  It amazes me to look just a stone’s throw away and see Afghan journeyers on camels, women in blue burka, covered head to foot, and men in white turbans.  I wave to a turbaned man watching his flock of sheep. He waves back.  “My first Afghan friend,” I say to Dayna, fellow traveler from Australia.

TURKMENISTAN ~ 10 Lessons Learned (May 15, 2012)

Witnessing a nation defining itself.  Diversity of the 'stans.'  
A gentler Islam.  Turkmen patience & dignity. 
 

It has been a rich 15 months since I left Washington DC for a job as Director of Program and Training in Peace Corps Turkmenistan.  As I stuff my backpack and ship things to self storage, here are 10 reflections about Turkmenistan. Some of the “private” stories are more colorful, of course, but we all self-censor when we write.  

KYRGYZSTAN ~ Thank God for Kyrgyzstan (Dec 1 2011)

World's #2 Most Beautiful Country.  Ancient Hunting Festival.  
Nomadic Traditions.  Peaceful Election 2011.  
Back to Turkmenistan.

Muslim cemetery near Chaek

Though no one call spell or pronounce it[1], thank god I got to see Kyrgyzstan.  Otherwise I might have thought all former Soviet republics were as repressive and closed as Turkmenistan.  If one could combine the energy, openness and eager potential of Kyrgyzstan with the wealth and natural resources of Turkmenistan, one would have quite the up and coming country.

KYRGYZSTAN ~ Moving Herds down Highways (Sept 23 2011)

A great and glorious day. Nomadic lifestyles. 
Alatoo Mountains.

Autumn on Otmok Pass

Some days abroad are great and glorious. Grab and write, else they  fade, blurring with ordinary days, lonely days, frustrating days, days of diarrhea and bedbugs, or worst of all, days when one remembers home too vividly.   So let me capture yesterday. 

KYRGYZSTAN ~ Lost on the Silk Road (Sept 11, 2011)

Temporary Duty in Kyrgyz Republic. Gorgeous country. Two elections. Eclectic cafes & ethnic riots.

Alatoo Mt. switchbacks, Kygyz Republic

Suddenly, I’m no longer in Turkmenistan.  As surprising as it was to find myself in that country where I’d never had intention or curiosity to go, it’s even more surprising to find myself further off-track.

Career out of control

When I decided to do a late-in-life career change, from international education to international development, I pictured myself teaching small children and young mothers in a refugee camp in eastern Africa.  Now, five years later, I find myself in Kyrgyzstan, a poor, landlocked country with an amazing energy to become all things modern and prosperous.  The range of snow-capped Tien Shen Mountains overlooks the bustling capital Bishkek, and glaciers, high altitude lakes, and some of the world’s best treks beckon to us who are living down in the valleys.