The Town of Flower Mound recently posted an
Environmental Resources Clerk position at:

http://www.flower-mound.com/hr/jobs.pdf

The job may be 75-80% administrative, but provides an
excellent look into the environmental issues a local
government deals with on a daily basis.

Please forward to anyone you think may be interested.
The closing date is Nov. 7.

Becca Ostheimer Madsen
Mali 00-02

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.
Please submit your articles for the winter newsletter by Friday,
November 7th.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Monday, November 3, 2003
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Gloria's Restaurant
5100 Belt Line Rd.
Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin, 972-234-2190

Although Roger C is already working on a newsletter article, please let me copy some preliminary info below about this year's annual Thanksgiving project in Mexico (near McAllen) of the Austin RPCVs. 

 

There are also very good websites on the project at: http://www.geocities.com/texasrpcvs/riobravo.htm  and www.my-amigos.org

Anybody else from DFW considering to go? 

 

(Maria and I are tentatively planning to drive on and spend Sunday in Monterrey and watch the Dallas Sidekicks play the Monterrey indoor soccer team play the inaugural sports event in that new arena on Thanksgiving Sunday night.  If that fits your interests and schedule, we would be glad to take carpoolers.)

 

ED & Maria Hromatka

Rockwall Home #: 972-722-5254

Dallas Cell # 214-564-7201

---

Yes, Dallas RPCV's are welcome. You only need to register in as much as  I need to know how many will be there, so I have enough hotel rooms reserved and enough work for everybody.

    That, and I will put your names on the listserve, so you will get anything I put out between now and then. Shall I? Are you planning on driving down straight from Dallas, or do you want to meet the caravan leaving here usually 9am Thursday. (not necessary, it is easy to find the hotel) 

    Rio Bravo is in the free trade zone, about 5 miles south of the river, and 12 miles or so east of the International Bridge crossing at Pharr. I have never bought special mexican insurance, but I live a life where I weigh the risks, and accept responsibility for those I take. If you are not willing to do that, then mexican insurance is probably a good idea. I understand it doesn't cost much. The parking lot at the hotel is gated, fenced, and has a cool old guy there at night. I have never had a problem.

    Let me know if it is just Ed and Maria, or if there will be more. Here is what I just sent out to the volunteers...   Sam

 

---

Hi There Volunteers!

    Well, I got a lot to cover, so read this thru, then do your duty. Here are the projects I am planning, and some other stuff. First, since I am trying to get in touch with my feminine side, let me discuss my needs.

    I need, really bad, someone to coordinate the rides and riders. Rob says a van rental is possible, if there is a designated driver of legal age and good skill level, and Amigos de las Escuelas will subsidize the cost to some degree, lowering the costs to the users. Then there are people who want to come, and need a ride. Then there are people who are willing to drive, and have space for others. Then there are people who have come before, and their car is not full, and they don't need to wait for the caravan because they know how to get there. I am asking for a volunteer who will accept the emails I forward to them, of people who need/have space. I will be happy to be the firewall, and just gather what comes in, and forward it to you, the caravan coordinator, to put people in touch with each other, fill cars, and see that everybody has a ride. I don't have time to do the coordination, and won't be here anyway. I will be down in Rio Bravo, buying stuff, and preparing for you folks to get there. Please email me if you will do this. If I don't find someone to be coordinator, then it's anarchy, and I will see ya down there if ya make it. Sorry, but I don't have Christine to do it this year. The sooner I find you, the better, as I hope to be getting response from this for a preliminary head count as well.

    I also need some folks to help Lorel and Roger with the lunch crew, which will be feeding several large groups at several different sites, not near each other, both days. This kind of limits your actual participation in a project, especially on a management level, because you will be making lunch for a chunk of time out of the middle of the day. This is a very important job. Hungry volunteers are easily turned into a murderous mob rioting thru the streets. If you are interested, e me soon.

    I will be giving a brief description of the projects, and am asking you to consider what you would like to do, and email me. Don't wait, because I will be filling project lists first respond/ first get on the crew. There are some really cool projects, and I expect these to fill quickly. Some of these crews will need first night meetings with me, so I can fill you in ahead of time. Don't let lack of self confidence influence your choices. I need people at different levels on every project. And there is nothing on any of these projects that can't be taught to another, except maybe the art. And they are all important. For those of you who wish to wait till you get there, and see which projects have the hottys (men and women, please, it is a unisexual form of the word hotty), there will be sign up sheets somewhere you go the first night, and you can sign up then. Also, should you desire to lead one of these projects, tell me.

    Clinic in FC4- There are walls constructed already. We need to frame and cover the roof, hang some windows and doors, and prime and paint it before the weather ruins it. Probably some other finish out stuff too. Crew of 10

    Clinic in Monterreal- There is a 13' x 20' slab, waiting for us. We will construct from scratch, the walls and roof, windows and door, and paint it Need a couple of creative carpenters here, and lots of hammerers and painters. Crew of 10

    Rotary Clinic Fence- There is a partially completed fence at this clinic, and some gates standing ready. We need to redirect one of the legs of the current fence, and dig postholes, set posts, and hang chain link fence to enclose the back and parking area of the grounds. Crew of 4 or 5

    Fence in front of FC4 primary- This fence is partially destroyed and needs resurrecting, and a top rail added, about 120'. Maybe a couple posts. Crew of 4

    Kinder Wall Painting- There is a wall about 6 feet tall and 120 feet long, and it needs bright pictures and cartoons painted on it inside. I have Tracy to manage the project, and the world famous artist Marilyn Flanegan, as well as several other gifted artists. Need people to sketch, paint, mix colors, and assist the artists id creating. Crew of 10

    Trash Program- This is a project close to my heart, and I need some creative people to help me. I want you to put on a skit for the kids the first day (friday) about noonish, showing what a problem the trash on campus is, and what to do about it. I need someone to play me, in this skit, as I am well known for shouting about what a dump the school is. Humor is the key here, and giving an awareness of why to pick up the trash that they are currently throwing on the ground. Afterwards, you will make painted wooden signs and trash containers, and place them in spots you select around the school. Any other ideas you have about how to abate the trash problem will be gladly accepted. The skit must be in spanish, and if no spanish speaker volunteers, I will teach you what to say, tho we will have to keep it simple, and rely on good, no, great acting to carry the day. Crew of 4 to 6

   Kinder Kitchen- Tear down a wall, and expand the kitchen into an unused space. Hang some windows, screening, and shelves, and repair some benches. Possibly make some tables to supplement what is there. Crew of 4

    Play area- Kinder- I am trying to locate some railroad ties, out of which we will make a big square around the present play equipment, and fill it with rounded pea gravel. I would also like to construct a simple playscape, which you will have to design on the spot. Crew of 4 to 6

    Fix-up Crew- There are always general repairs to be done to the school, and this crew will be evaluating what is necessary, prioritizing, and implementing the plan. Could be lots of different things to be dealt with. Crew of 4

 

    OK people, let's get to it. I will have more details the first night when you arrive.

 

    I need an opaque projector. Not an overhead, unless you have transparencies of cartoon characters, but an opaque. This is a very old machine, not much in use any more, but would serve our needs well if I could find one to borrow for a week. Please ask around, and if you find one, email me immediately. I am willing to rent it.

    Let me hear from you. Are you coming? Where do you want to work? I need a head count to make room reservations. Will you be driving? Need a ride? Want to be caravan coordinator? Want to lead a project? Please let me know soon.

    Wanna have a dance friday or saturday night? The school has some new speakers, big ol thangs, and I can probably come up with a CD player. Maybe you could bring your favorite CD. I will be bringing both of my guitars, so come and get em to play.

 

                                                                     I am waiting.

                                                                     Love, Sam

                                                                      sam@...

-----Original Message-----
From: hromatka [mailto:hromatka@...]
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2003 10:26 PM
To: hromatka; sam@...
Subject: PS Re: Mexico Project

 

Is that far enough from the border where one has to buy special Mexican auto insurance? 

 

Are cars fairly secure at night there?

 

The Winter Newsletter is now posted on our website
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/North_Texas_Peace_Corps)in the files
section. Yahoo changed the rules and we can no longer attach the
newsletter to an e-mail. Hard copies have also been mailed out for
those who have paid memberships.  Check it out for information on
upcoming happy hours, the Christmas party, Tree Trimming and other
events.

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the North_Texas_Peace_Corps
group.

   File        : /E-Passport-Fall2003.pdf
   Uploaded by : chapinr75081 <chapinr@...>
   Description : E-passport-Southwest Regional Recruitment Fall Newsletter

You can access this file at the URL

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/North_Texas_Peace_Corps/files/E-Passport-Fall2003.\
pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

chapinr75081 <chapinr@...>

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2003
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Happy Hour
Two Rows Brewery
5500 Greenville Ave., Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin
972-234-2190

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Scottish Rite Hospital

Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Time: 5:30PM - 7:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Scottish Rite Hospital Tree Trimming
2222 Welborn St., Dallas
Contact: Kathy Carson, 214-378-9443

The latest news from Sharon Sugarek in Ashgabat.
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. Here in Ashgabat this year, the
Ambassador invited a bunch of us over for turkey and everyone brought
a favorite dish to share. It was a lovely day with warm weather in the
afternoon so we were able to sit our on the patio until the sun went
down. Then it got a little cool.  All in all, a very pleasant holiday.
We had a wonderful Swearing In ceremony for the newest group of 56
Volunteers on November 14th. We had more than 500 people attend the
ceremony and received a letter of congratulations from the President
of Turkmenistan. It was an exciting time for the new Volunteers and
for the staff as well. So now, the Volunteers have all gone off to
their work sites and the staff is recovering from the intensive
training period we just completed with them. What a fine group of
people they are.  Guess that's what makes this job so rewarding.

I had originally planned to go to Istanbul in November and would have
been there about the time they bombed the British Consulate and the
Jewish Synagogues there. Would have been in a different part of town
but it still makes one pause! It is really a shame these crazy people
are running around blowing up things. Anyway, I hope it calms down
there. It is a lovely city with lots of history.

I am very excited about my upcoming trip to Thailand. I have wanted to
visit there for many years but never had the opportunity. But on
December 7th I will be going for two weeks. The plan is to spend about
10 days on the beach in Koh Lanta—just south of Phukett and 4 days in
Bangkok. I hope that the place we are staying is nice. I'm looking
forward to good Thai and Indian food and some rest and relaxation.
Seems that when I am in country, I am on call 24 hours a day seven
days a week, especially during training periods.  So two weeks with no
one to be responsible for except myself sounds appealing!

Had a great time putting up my Christmas tree yesterday. I bought a
fake tree last year and have managed to find assorted things to
decorate it with in addition to the stuff I brought with me. Somehow,
I'm not quite in the Christmas spirit yet but baking cookies will
probably help. It has been sort of a tradition here to send little
Christmas packages to the Volunteers. The packages usually include
home baked cookies as well as assorted other goodies. This year they
will have bars of Ivory soap since I was able to buy a bunch from an
American leaving the country. We usually include some American candy
and a pen or marker as well. The staff has a good time putting them
together and the Volunteers enjoy their treats.  But this year we have
92 Volunteers here, so we have a lot of cookies to bake!!



I'm afraid this update is not too exciting. There is not a lot going
on that I can tell you about. The situation here continues to get more
and more difficult.  This puts a constant strain on the Volunteers who
are trying to do their work and on the staff who are trying to work
with the authorities to remove barriers, when new ones are thrown up
every day. There was an interesting report issued by the International
Crisis Group recently that talked about the Youth in Crisis in Central
Asia. I've included some of the information from their press release
below.  It gives you some insight into why we keep trying to make a
small difference every day.  (Those of you who have decent Internet
speed can probably download the whole report. I'm working on that as I
type this document.)

Central Asian Youth In Crisis, Group Warns

UN Wire, Tuesday, November 4, 2003

  The poverty, illiteracy, drug use and despair that plague Central
Asia's  huge population of young people could foment serious trouble
in the future without focused national and international attention,
the International Crisis Group <http://www.intl-crisis-group.org>
warned Friday.

In a new report, Youth in Central Asia: Losing the New Generation
http://www.crisisweb.org//library/documents/asia/ntral_asia_losing_the_new_=
generation.pdf\
  , ICG said struggling economies and crisis-riddled education systems
that have suffered since post-Soviet independence have left young
people with few job prospects and little hope, a state of affairs that
has left an opening for escapism through drug use, crime or membership
in radical Islamist or Christian groups. The HIV infection rate is
soaring and many young people are emigrating from the region.…



ICG advises the governments of Central Asia to raise education
spending to pre-independence levels, retrain teachers and encourage
critical thinking rather than rote learning. The report says
Turkmenistan's education system in particular seems to be geared to
"produce a generation of automatons who know nothing but state
propaganda."



It is a matter of great concern since there are lots of bright,
talented young people here.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because the idea is to stop and
give thanks for all that we have. The thing I am most thankful for is
that my ancestors got on the boat and came to America.  From my
previous experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer I also added hot
showers and drinkable milk to the list of things I am thankful for
every day. And from my current Peace Corps experience I will add
personal freedom and the support of family and friends to the list of
things that I won't take for granted any more.  We Americans are so
very fortunate.

I'll close now with good wishes to you and your family for a wonderful
holiday season and a happy New Year.



Sharon

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

NTPCA Christmas Party

Date: Saturday, December 6, 2003
Time: 7:00PM - 11:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

3839 Valley Lawn Place, Dallas
Contact:Gary Zimny 214-357-8337
Bring a covered dish from your country of service & BYOB

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Scottish Rite Hospital

Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Time: 5:30PM - 7:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Scottish Rite Hospital Tree Trimming
2222 Welborn St., Dallas
Contact: Kathy Carson, 214-378-9443

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

NTPCA Christmas Party

Date: Saturday, December 6, 2003
Time: 7:00PM - 11:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

3839 Valley Lawn Place, Dallas
Contact:Gary Zimny 214-357-8337
Join with  Returned and Prospective Volunteers,  their family,
staff, and friends to join to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah,
Solstice &Boxing Day. We are partying at the home of Gary and
Judy  on Saturday December 6th starting at 7:00pm. The address
is 3839 Valley Lawn Place. From the intersection of Royal Lane
and Midway Road in Dallas go west on Royal 5 blocks to Rosser
and go right,
second street is Valley Lawn, go left, it's the second house on
the right. Please bring 3 non-perishable food items for our Food
Bank collection, and a covered dish from your country of service
(or wherever including take-out) for our dinner banquet, and
BYOB.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, December 18, 2003
Time: 6:30AM - 8:30AM CST (GMT-06:00)

Happy Hour
Gloria's Restaurant
5100 Beltline Rd., Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin,972-234-2190

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, December 18, 2003
Time: 6:30AM - 8:30AM CST (GMT-06:00)

Happy Hour
Gloria's Restaurant
5100 Beltline Rd., Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin,972-234-2190

We have the 2004 Peace Corps Calendars put out by the Madison RPCV
group now available.  The price is $10 each.  If you are interested
in getting one or more send a check made out to NTPCA to the North
Texas Peace Corps Assc., PO Box 720832, Dallas, TX 75372 along with
an address where you want the calendar sent.

Good Morning.

My name is Janet.  I am currently a PCV in Ghana.  I will COS in
August, and I'm trying to figure out what I will do when I come back
to the states.  I am currently on vacation, so I'm in north Dallas
until Jan 15.

My undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering, but I'm now
trying to change directions.  I want to pursue International
Development in graduate school (or else anthropology or
sociology...).  The only money I will have when I come back will be
the money that the PC gives me, so I need to find a way to pay for
school.  Then there is the issue that most international devel.
schools require fluency in a second language - which I don't have.
Plus I think I will have to wait until Fall 2005 to actually start,
so I need a relevant job for almost a year.  If any of you have any
advice for any of these areas, I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you.
Janet Robbins
tenja_timber@...

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Monday, January 5, 2004
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Steering Committee Meeting
Enchiladas, 7050 Greenville Ave., Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin 972-234-2190

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Steering Committee Meeting

Date: Monday, January 5, 2004
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Steering Committee Meeting
Enchiladas, 7050 Greenville Ave., Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin 972-234-2190

Hey Y'all !

I am posting some information about a STUDY GROUP that is forming
fast! Have you ever heard of Marshall Rosenberg?

There is a preview presentation of this Group taking place on
Monday, January 12th in Dallas (about a mile from Inwood Rd & Cedar
Springs.) I think I am going for sure…but wanted to share the info
with you - in case any of you would like to check it out too.

Looks like a good program for CAREER, RELATIONSHIPS, and SPIRITUAL
LIFE!

The details are below, if you are into it….

         --------------------------------------------
         NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION: A Language of Life
         --------------------------------------------

Can you imagine connecting with the human spirit in each person in
ANY situation?

Can you imagine everyone's needs being met through compassionate
giving?

INTRODUCTION night - Monday, January 12, 2004, 7-8:30 pm
STUDY GROUP - begins Monday, January 26, 2004, 7-9:30 pm

12-week group, cost $150, payment plan and limited scholarships
available.

The workshop will be facilitated by Judith Stuart-Coale.
Source material is Marshall Rosenberg's book,
NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION: A Language of Life

For more information visit

http://ww.clenrichment.org/calendar.htm

www.clenrichment.org

6115 Denton Drive
Dallas, TX 75235
(214) 351-9909
Need a Map

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, January 15, 2004
Time: 6:30PM - 8:30PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Happy Hour
Trinity Hall Irish Pub
5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas
Contact: Roger Chapin, 972-234-2190

This was sent to the NTPCA and I thought I would pass it along
to the members who might be interested in assisting Bob in this
project.  If you would like to contact Bob to discuss or meet with
him please contact him directly with a copy to me at
chapinr@....  If there are more than one person who would like to
meet with Bob perhaps we could arrange a joint meeting with him.
Roger Chapin

   Date:    1/20/2004 4:33:11 PM Eastern Standard Time
   From:    Bob Klein <ayzee@...>
   To:    <north_Texas_Peace_Corps@yahoogroups.com>, Roger Chapin
<chapinr@...>

Dear Roger,
    This is a request for your assistance in beginning
the process of establishing the Archival Project
(see below) in the Dallas area. I am planning a visit
to Dallas to meet with any RPCVs who might be
interested in participating in the Project. My proposed
dates are:  Tues 2/3 through Thurs 2/5
    I'd be happy to meet with individuals or a small
group.

Bob Klein (Ghana 1961-1963), Project Organizer

The RPCV Archival Project
    The Project works in cooperation with the Kennedy Library to
afford the greatest number of former Peace Corps Volunteers the
opportunity to include their stories in the National Archives and to
assure that these materials are properly preserved as part of the
public record. The Project organizes the taping of oral history
interviews and the screening for donation of
RPCVs¹ personal papers.
    The RPCV Collection of the Kennedy Library is the repository for
personal materials that relate to the individual and group
experiences of those who served as Peace Corps Volunteers from its
inception in 1961 to the present. It consists of papers, such as
letters, diaries, and journals, illustrative sets of photos, oral
history interviews, and other items of unique archival value. The
Collection is part of the National Archives and Records
Administration.
    The Project is endorsed by the National Peace Corps Association and
functions primarily through its geographic area Affiliates, with the
goal of having the archival activities become part of each Group. The
Project provides orientation and training in the techniques and
procedures needed.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Annual Meeting

Date: Saturday, January 31, 2004
Time: 4:00PM - 8:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

NTPCA Annual Meeting
613 Harvest Glen Dr.,Richardson
Contact:Roger Chapin 972-234-2190
Bring a covered dish from your country of service & BYOB

The latest news from Turkmenistan from Sharon Sugarek.

January 24, 2004
  Dear friends and family,
  Hope you had a nice holiday season and that the New Year has been
good for you. All is well here and I guess I have been doing a bit of
globetrotting since my last update.
  I went to Thailand for two weeks in December; it was delightful. I
was able to convince our Medical Officer to go with me (It wasn't
hard!). She and I spent ten days on the beaches of Koh Lanta, a
beautiful island in the Andaman Sea. It was quiet, not too crowded and
there wasn't a lot to do. It was a perfect place to just get away
and
relax.  Walked on the beach a lot and did a little snorkeling. Read
lots of books and generally lounged about! We did go and ride on an
elephant. It was an interesting experience! Their gait is rather
lumbering and comfortable but I really had to hang on when we were
going down slopes! It was great fun!
  Then we spent four days in Bangkok, which is a huge, busy city with
lots of traffic and noise. But I enjoyed that as well. It has a
Skytrain that allows you to get around without getting in the
automobile traffic and there are water taxis that go up and down the
river. Between the two we never took regular taxis. Went to the Grand
Palace, which was quite interesting, also saw the Emerald Buddha (very
sacred to Buddhists) and went to another temple that held a huge, gold
reclining Buddha.  The last night of the trip, we went to The Oriental
Hotel to have dinner and see a performance of traditional Thai dances.
It was quite interesting and enjoyable and I highly recommend it if
anyone ever gets to Bangkok. Also I saw three movies, had a couple of
really American good dinners and enjoyed a trip to the grocery store.
  So it was a terrific break.
With 90 Volunteers, we are as busy as ever. But I an enjoying getting
to know the new PCVs who are dedicated and working hard to adjust to
their new surroundings!  Since we require everyone to live with a host
family for six months, they must all become part of their host
families. That can be challenging when the PCVs are not yet fluent in
Turkmen or Russian. But they are doing just fine.  I hope to start
doing some site visits in the next couple of months. Meanwhile we are
planning for Peace Corps Day events on March 1 and starting to think
about the next group to come in September.  With the Federal budget
such as it is, it will be a tight year for Peace Corps and we will be
tightening our belts as mush as we can. However, Peace Corps never has
much fat in their budget so this will hit pretty hard. But I guess
Peace Corps is all about doing more with less—or with nothing-- in
many cases.  I know it will be challenging as we look for ways to do
the things we need to do with less funding. Guess if it were easy they
wouldn't need the staff!
I am starting to think about the end of my tour. I have been here 19
months and I have 11 months left on my contract. It is hard to
believe;it seems like I just got here yesterday. I still have lots of
things left on my list of things to do and see while I'm here in
Turkmenistan. Some are in the country and some are in nearby
countries. For example there are a couple of nature reserves here that
are supposed to be very interesting. Hope to visit them in the spring.
Since they are in restricted areas one never knows about getting
permission to go. But the local tour companies seem to be able to
handle getting permissions.  Plus there are still things I haven't
gotten around to seeing and doing right here in Ashgabat just because
I kept thinking that I have plenty of time!  You all know how that
is.
We have had a bit of excitement in the last couple of weeks here.
Probably the biggest news was that the Turkmen government has lifted
the requirement for Turkmen citizens to obtain an exit visa to leave
the country. As many of you might know, most countries regard
preventing citizens from traveling freely as a huge violation of human
rights.  And there has been a lot of pressure on Turkmenistan to lift
the exit visa requirement. So now Turkmen citizens are freer to travel
outside their country.
With respect to more mundane matters, I recently learned that there is
a new shop in Ashgabat that sells good cheddar cheese and fresh bread
from England.  And today I actually found the shop!  Good cheese is
hard to come by and good sandwich and toast bread is also hard to find
here. The second big piece of food news is that someone here has gone
into business making peanut butter. These will be tremendous news for
the Volunteers. We have a number of vegetarians but there really is
not much available in the way of nutritional vegetable protein here.
So peanut butter will be a great addition to their diets. From
everything I hear so far, it will be affordable for them.
One of the perks of living here is our central location and cheap
airfares! So last weekend two of us went to Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates for the weekend. It is only a 2 ½ hour flight from
Ashgabat
and US citizens do not need a visa. It is a city built in the last
30-35 years so it is very modern, clean and pleasant.  And it has
gorgeous beaches. It is an amazingly diverse place with all kinds of
people from all over the world. We stayed at a hotel in the city
across the street from a nice park, near to shopping and movie
theaters. It was also a short taxi ride to most other places. Dubai
has an interesting history museum inside an old fort and we saw the
remnants of other old structures that predate modern Dubai.
My impression is that before the mid 1960's they did not have
much and
it was a fairly poor country. With the discovery of oil offshore,
things changes a lot. Today they are aiming to become the
entertainment and vacation destination of choice for the region and
the world. They are building lots of expensive hotels, shopping malls
and amusement parks.  We really enjoyed the weekend and are planning
to go back in May if we can. It was just a little too cool to swim
when we were there and we would like to go back to the beach. The
place is impressive because the development seems to be thoughtful,
the city is very clean and very safe and again we enjoyed movies, good
food, and a nice grocery store as well as people who were friendly and
happy to see us.  We did not make it to the Camels races but may try
to go if I make it back there in May.
Some of you may have caught the 60 Minutes segment on Turkmenistan a
few weeks ago. The crew was here last June! But it finally made it
onto US TV this January. If you saw it, you have an idea now of what
it is like here: a challenging environment to say the least. But at
the local level where PCVs are working, the people are happy to have
them.
So that's about it for this update. I am always delighted to hear
from
you about what is happening back home. But I have to admit I am not
going to miss the endless political campaigning that has started in
earnest now. So have a great 2004. And stay in touch.

Sharon
sharonsugarek@...

Thanks for those who have responded to Bob Klein and  his archival
project visit next week (see the message of Jan 22). Bob sent an
additional message which reads: "Do you know anyone who might offer
me accommodations? This Project is an interesting, but bare-bones,
operation. I'm a non-smoking 74 year old who can tell endless stories
and legends about the first group of PCVs to go overseas in 1961
(Ghana I).
If there is anyone interested helping Bob out please contact him at
ayzee@.... Also, if there are others who wish to meet with Bob on
the Archive project please be sure to contact him before he comes to
coordinate his meetings.

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

Annual Meeting

Date: Saturday, January 31, 2004
Time: 4:00PM - 8:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

NTPCA Annual Meeting
613 Harvest Glen Dr.,Richardson
Contact:Roger Chapin 972-234-2190
Bring a covered dish from your country of service & BYOB

For those of you who expressed interest in the oral history/archival
project of the Peace Corps experience, Bob Klein will arrive in
Dallas on Tuesday and stay through Thursday to meet and discuss the
project. We will meet in the coffee shop area of Borders Book store
located on the corner of Lovers Lane and Greenville, immediately east
of Hwy. 75. Bob will be there both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. If
that does not work out for you please contact Bob directly at
ayzee@... or call him at 520-977-2120 to make other
arrangements.  Hope to see you there.
Roger Chapin

Sorry, I forgot to mention the time is at 7:00p.m.

For those of you who expressed interest in the oral history/archival
project of the Peace Corps experience, Bob Klein will arrive in
Dallas on Tuesday and stay through Thursday to meet and discuss the
project. We will meet in the coffee shop area of Borders Book store
located on the corner of Lovers Lane and Greenville, immediately east
of Hwy. 75. Bob will be there both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. If
that does not work out for you please contact Bob directly at
ayzee@... or call him at 520-977-2120 to make other
arrangements.  Hope to see you there.
Roger Chapin