December 29: I was lucky and convinced a staff member to drive me to the airport at one in the morning for my 5am flight. Otherwise, I would have had to take the bus at 9pm and sit in the airport for six hours before even checking in, and the Ashgabat airport is the most unaccommodating international airport I’ve ever seen. From Ashgabat I flew to Istanbul where I had a five hour layover, then flew to Chicago.
December 30: I was so relieved and happy to see Greg waiting for me at O’Hare, ready to take me through the labyrinthine ways of the Chicago public transportation system. We took a train, then another train, then a taxi. Our cab driver was an angry individual who did not care for Chicago and its “supposed democracy.” I wanted to tell him he should try Turkmenistan on for size but thought better of it.
After I took a much needed hot shower, we ordered deep dish pizza and settled in for the evening. Greg had recorded the new show Grimm for me since I’m such a fan of fairytales and we watched the first episode of the season. That was about all the excitement I could take after such a long trek.
December 31: Because I was still a little jet lagged, we took it easy today. We saw The Muppets, which was really good. Then we just went around town to check out some stores. I hadn’t been in a legitimate bookstore since I left the States, so it was nice to wander around Barnes & Noble even though it’s not as good as Borders was (R.I.P.). I picked up a math book for one of my Turkmen students. Barnes & Noble does not give a Peace Corps Volunteer discount, if you were wondering.
We had decided before I even came that we wouldn’t go out on New Year’s Eve. It’s too expensive and a big headache. So we went to Whole Foods and bought a rotisserie chicken and some sides and sparkling grape juice. Greg made baked potatoes and green beans with bacon to go with our chicken. We watched Times Square which is an hour ahead of Chicago time and then switched to televised coverage of celebrations in Chi-town. Then went to bed immediately after it turned midnight. What can I say? We’re old.
January 1: We went to Navy Pier today. I love Navy Pier because it’s free to walk around and I like the stained glass museum. Plus, the last time I was there, my bff wouldn’t ride the Ferris wheel with me because she’s afraid of heights. She’s still wonderful though. So, Greg and I rode the Ferris wheel. I picked up a small Chicago souvenir for Phil, a PCV who’s from Chicago, so he can give it to his new host family.
January 2: We went to see Sherlock Holmes 2. I’ve been on movie withdrawal. Sure, I can watch movies on my laptop in Turkmenistan, but I can’t go to the movie theater and see a brand new movie on the big screen and eat movie theater popcorn. (When I lived in Nevada, I went to the movies every weekend with my friend.) After that we had drinks at the top of the John Hancock building and enjoyed the view. Later that evening we met up with my pal, Carrie, and her husband. It was great to see her again and catch up.
January 4: We wandered around some shops and took it easy, waiting until we could go meet my parents who had driven down to meet up with me. We had dinner with them and opened the presents they brought.
January 5: My parents and I met up with Greg and we all went to Shedd Aquarium. I hadn’t been there since I was about ten and it’s grown significantly since then. We spent pretty much the whole day there, then walked over to the bean in Millennium Park. I had to say goodbye to Greg because he was leaving early the next morning. It was hard. When my parents and I returned to the hotel, my brother joined us shortly after and we chilled as a fam. I showed them some of the things I brought from Turkmenistan and talked about the culture.
January 7: I shopped for some stuff to take back and said goodbye to my brother and parents who are amazing and incredibly supportive people. Then I boarded the plane to Istanbul.
January 8-10: After a five hour layover in Istanbul, we flew out to Ashgabat. We got all the way there only to be turned away because of fog. We landed in Baku, Azerbaijan to refuel and continued back to Istanbul. I had no clue what to do from there, so I just followed the mob to a desk where I heard another passenger speaking to the clerk in English. I asked if I could follow him and he said ok. He introduced himself as Doug and he’s Canadian. He waited for me to buy a visa (which I needed to enter Istanbul) then we headed to the Turkish Air hotel desk where we waited for them to call our names for the shuttle that would take us to the hotel they arranged for us. The shuttle took us to a hotel but after we all unloaded and lined up at the desk, we were informed that they were booked up and we would be going to a different hotel. So we clambered back up into the bus and rode to the Ramada. We got there around 11am. They gave us vouchers for lunch and dinner and we were told a shuttle would pick us up at 6pm to take us back to the airport to fly out. I took a shower then emailed PC to let them know what had happened and ate lunch. Then I napped until close to dinner. After dinner, when we all met up in the lobby again, they told us we weren’t going to fly out that night after all and that we would get picked up at 4am. They provided us a small breakfast at 3:30 before we left.
Once we got to the airport, it was totally unorganized. The people at the counters didn’t seem to know what was going on. I followed Doug to the business class desk where he made sure we both got new boarding passes. He tried to get me access to the business class lounge but they wouldn’t let him bring a guest. Still, it was nice of him to try. Our flight finally took off sometime after 8am.
We landed in Turkmenistan around 3pm. I didn’t get out of the airport until 5ish; we were the only incoming flight at that time, which tells you something about the organizational skills going on there. I missed the first day of our Mid-service conference, but the good news is I made it safely back and in time to make my scheduled presentations on the second day.