The following day, I was out allll day. The translator came bearing gifts. She gave me a cute little pair of shoes with an eye on them which signifies that they will keep a look out on my house. She also gave me a little glass full of sand from the desert. She also brought some pictures showing traditional Turkmen weddings; where the girl wears very heavy jewelry, over 30 kilos if I’m not mistaken. Also, when she is married, she wears a bandana-like hat on her head which signifies she is a wife. Some women wear kerchiefs over their mouth which is traditional and means she does not speak to her husband’s parents directly, she only speaks to them through the children. But she rarely speaks. Some couples follow arranged marriages, where the daughter’s family seeks out a son-and-law suitable for their daughter. The son-in-law’s family brings gifts to the daughters family; jewels, dresses; money, things that the girl would like. The girl decides whether or not she would like to marry him and they have very few opportunities to get to know each other beforehand, if any. They learn to love each other over time. Crazy, I don’t think I could deal with that.
We headed out. The phone company tried to tell us they couldn’t give us the price for long-distance phone calls. What? Then we went to a bazaar. Ohhhh the bazaar. A man selling watermelons give us a small piece to try, and then of course wants us to buy it. Since Yazgul said she loves watermelons, I decided to get one for her as long as she was willing to carry it around. After buying it, she laughed and said to me, did you see his face? Did you see how happy he was? He was so inspired to have an American buy his watermelon from him! Never has he had that kind of experience before! He thinks you are so kind! She was dumbfounded. The little things I guess! A few minutes later, a guard tells me to stop taking pictures. Watermelon man sees this and comes over and asks the man to allow me to. I didn’t know that’s what was happening. When they both went away Yazgul told me the watermelon man made it alright for me to take pictures. Wow, I was amazed.
Many things are subsidized for the people. Renting a car. Gas. The locals have coupons so they can get free gas daily. Everyone here hitchhikes. It’s perfectly, absolutely safe, 24/7. Many people make a full-time job out of it. I love the idea. We even tried it and yes, it was totally fine. The taxi would stop for other people going in the same direction. I wouldn’t have done it if Yazgul wasn’t with me. We ended up having a taxi who stayed with us for the remainder of the day after we had lunch. He was a very nice guy, a big teddy bear. And, he asked for my autograph. HAHA. He ASKED for my AUTOGRAPH. I have had many people who have wanted pictures of me, but never for an autograph. He asked Yazgul how to say a bunch of words in English. She giggled everytime he tried to say them. At one point we drove by a cemetery. The driver shut off the music. When we got past it, he turned it back on. Yazgul said to me that he did that to pray for the dead.
Yazgul and I went to a car shop to get some prices. After we badgered the guy for quite a while, when we were about to leave he gave us both car fresheners to take back with us! How sweet!!
I noticed Yazgul’s mood change towards the end of the day around 5 pm, apparently she had stayed up until 4 am talking with her boyfriend which she shouldn’t have done if it was going to affect her work! But I told her to go home if she was tired. I didn’t really need her anymore anyways. Her mood quickly changed though when I handed her a $100 bill for the past two days. She was cute and idealistic. Man I remember those days. I still like to think I have them sometimes.
PS: There is Mango and Benetton here but I think it’s all fake.
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