Day 11 Turkmenistan National Television

Although we may never be famous in the U.S.A. we are now famous in Turkmenistan. A few days ago a camera crew from the Turkmen National T.V. station followed us for a day and interviewed us as well. Last night their was a news story on our experience in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan, roughly the size of California and home to some 5 million plus residents. Although we have not seen the television special, our students have been coming in all day telling us that we were on tv with all of our english translated into native Turkmen language. We really look forward to seeing the special and are all honored to be a part of it. Apparantly they listed Mr. Shields' email address on the T.V. so he is expecting an email or two this week. We are hoping to get a copy to make it a part of our documentary to show students and other Americans upon our arrival home.

In other news our presentations on Photoshop, Word and iMovie/Garageband have been a huge hit in Turkmenistan. We are impacting so many students each day. Although the work days are long and take a lot of effort, they are well worth it. The students are very eager to learn and cooperative.

Yesterday we visitied a traditional Turkmenistan yurt for lunch. A yurt is a traditional hut that is built in the desert out of wood and other natural materials. Temperatures inside the yurt manage to stay quite cool. We were able to dress up in traditional Turkmenistan clothes and hat while we ate a very nice meal sitting on the ground surrounded by the infamous Turkmen carpets.

They highlight of yesterday might have been our trip to the old stadium in town. We had actually taken a taxi to go and try to work out and found that their were thousands of people jam packed into the stadium. They were having a send off ceremony for the athletes that were headed to the Bejing Olympics. It was one of the most colorful and interesting experiences I've ever witnesses. There was song after song and hundreds of Turkmenistan dancers dancing on the field. At the same time there were hundreds of athletes, boxing, playing ping pong, tennis, running track, basketball, judo and even swinging swords all while running around the track. The ceremony lasted for around 2 hours. There was one section of the crowd that must have rehearsed for a year as they held up colored signs in a coordinated fashion to represent the various sections of the Turkmenistan flag. Sometimes the best things in life seem to happen when you do not expect them. Untill next time this is Anna, Kenny and Mr. Shields signing off from Central Asia!