I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but Turkmen are not particularly industrious people. Upon first coming here you may see their attitude toward punctuality and work ethic as “laid back” or maybe “transcendental” until you realize it’s a holdover of laziness from the Soviet era and it means that nothing gets done. The one exception is if a city is expecting a visit from the President. Frankly, that’s the best thing that can happen in town because it means people start to care what the city looks like.
The President is coming to Balkanabat to open up our new museum and for a month or two leading up to it, things started to happen. Buildings were repaired and repainted. Roads were repaved. Litter was picked up. Even the defunct Ferris wheel in the park was given a new coat of paint so that while it may not work, at least it’s not an eyesore.
Some people will be required to wait outside the museum beginning at 4am so that the President (who is scheduled to arrive at 10am) will be greeted by a host of “fans.” Other people, like Lindsay and me, will be wise just staying home. There’s no way we’ll get anywhere close to seeing the President even from a distance because we’re foreigners. I doubt ethnic Russians whose families have lived here for generations could get near. They only want hakyky (real) Turkmen around wearing traditional dress. Even if we could get close, as soon as we pulled out a camera, we’d be in big trouble. (I’m thinking immediate physical trouble more than legal trouble). Everything will be closed, so we’re going to sleep in and lounge around our houses until the afternoon when he’ll be gone.
Still, I will say the new museum looks really great (at least on the outside) and hopefully after all the hoopla, when Berdy has returned to Ashgabat, I’ll be able to get some daylight pictures of how much nicer things look around town.