IRAN ~ Opposite of Everything Expected (Aug 6 2012)

Phenomenal welcome.  Tragedy of Iran-Iraq War.  
New perspectives on anti-Americanism.  
Conversations with liberal mullahs.  Ramadan.

Seven insights from Iran: From the moment of boarding the Trans-Asia Express train (Ankara, Turkey to Tehran, Iran) to my last lingering days, for three weeks my eyes were as wide as a child’s.  Seven things made it an exceptional experience:

•  our phenomenal welcome by Iranian people;
•   the beginning ride in a train filled with dissidents; 
•   the curiosity and cultural respect of my fellow American travelers; 
•  a new experience viewing anti-Americanism;
•  a glimpse of the tragedy of the Iran-Iraq War; 
•   insights in mosques and in conversations with thoughtful mullahs;
•  and finally, getting to experience Ramadan in two countries.

"Gentleness” is the one word I wouldn’t have expected to summarize my impressions of Iran.  The friendliness and welcoming hospitality of 100% of people we met, from turbaned mullahs in the mosques and complete strangers on the street, was almost embarrassing, considering the hostility and vitriol of the current international media toward Iran.

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.