My Ashgabat abode

So let me tell you about my apartment. It’s quite cozy despite the fact that my landlady informed me that she took out the radiators and there’s no heating except for the AC units which provide decent heat. I was never one for overheated places (like my office) so an apartment that’s cool is fine by me. As I always like to say, I’m like champagne, best when chilled. When I arrived here early Monday morning, I was immediately taken with the place. It’s spacious for one person: living room, bedroom, breakfast nook (my favorite place to be), and nice sized kitchen. There are most of the comforts of home here, enough for me in this temporary home and I’m sure as I get settled in, I’ll be buying more things that I need (note to self—buy a decent can opener).
Irina, my landlady, is a bubbly, short, bleached blonde woman who came swirling into my place the other night to show me how everything works and talk about our rental agreement. Bedazzling rings on most fingers, a waft of lovely perfume, she moved about from room to room explaining things to me in detail, speaking slowly in Russian as if I didn’t understand her (but I did). I had my list of questions and she had hers and together we crossed them off the list as we got them answered. The rent is $500 a month, a steal by New York standards, on the high side for Ashgabat but hey, she’s got a daughter in school in Russia she wants to help support and my company pays $275 of it so it’s not a huge dent in my pocket. She’s happy, I’m happy, we are all happy.
The breakfast nook is where I spend most of my time—a cozy place with a small couch and chair, TV and table where I can do my writing. The living room is nice when I want to chill and watch TV but for the most part the nook is where you can find me. The kitchen is a decent size and most importantly comes with a washing machine. Now I can join my neighbor in hanging out clothes to dry along the stairwell! The bedroom is cozy and while the bed is a bit hard, it’s not killing me.
My apartment is a ten-minute walk from my office, down a quiet residential street with private homes behind white walls. I would love to rent one of these houses with a small garden, but it’ll probably be too much work and I’d rather go home and work on my own house. Still I enjoy the daily walk through this neighborhood, avoiding the busy streets with cars whizzing by.
As I stretch my arms out and explore the city, day by day, week by week, there are more adventures to be had, things to find and people to meet here in Ashgabat. Despite the Wonderland-like quality to the place, I will try to remain positive about things in my comments. I’m looking forward to exploring all the food and shopping places here in town and commenting on them, so stay tuned.
My friend Kamal and I went out again last night with his girlfriend Enesha and my colleague Rafael to yet another eatery—Koptdegay. We had chicken fajitas (the closest we could get to a turkey) and sangria and toasted the holiday. The food was good, decent fajitas and potent sangrias, plus a nice Caesar salad. The place we went the other night, Merdem, a Turkish restaurant, I liked better. Good food and service, a more focused menu with big, glossy pictures of all the dishes. There are more places to explore and I will be updating you on all the eateries as my adventure in Turkmenistan unfolds.