7 months

Here I am, at the 21st month of my Peace Corps Experience, still not sure how I'll make it to the end. It is currently cold and wet outside and its not helping me kick my ‘internet’ addiction. That’s right…Internet! I decided that in order to survive one more miserable Azeri winter, I’d have to take drastic actions which resulted in me buying a phone line so I can surf at home. Buying the phone line itself was a mess which is quite blog worthy. In the period of 7 days which it took for me to get a working phone, I ended up going to the post office around 8 times. That’s twice a day on certain occasions, running up and down like a chicken without a head around the 5 floors of the building, arguing and complaining. First of all the subscription guy tried to overcharge me immensely, so I went straight to the Post's director and complained which brought the price down to almost what it should have been. Then the mechanic came to run the cable through and attempted to charge me 60 manat (roughly 70$), for his lunch and tea. In Azerbaijan it is customary to pay people for their food and drink while on the job. I was outraged because in any restaurant a meal plus drinks is never more than 4-5 manat per person. Eventually he brought the price down to 40 and my landlord helped me by paying half. Ultimately all was done and set, except that the post office wouldn’t give me my actual phone number or turn on the damn thing. It took another 3 days of me running around the place complaining to whoever would listen that the phone eventually started working. I found a gray hair that week and I blame this fiasco for it…So anyway, I got internet at the exact moment I ran out of books to read, movies to watch, and yarn to crochet, so now I sit and surf 4-5 hours a day. That’s what a lack of a social life will do; I guess I am lucky I don’t have a TV.

As far as my life here is concerned, most of you got my email about my Jehovah’s Witness counterpart who got harassed by the police and almost lost her job at school just for the fact she is of a different religion. The rumor is that the mullah at the mosque complained about her going door-to-door and preaching, and with the addition of a new Barda police chief things got ugly. We still don’t know what will happen to her, since the police follow her around and her phone is tapped. She has filed a report with the Political Officer at the US embassy, and is talking to some lawyer here in Barda. Apparently a few men of the congregation got thrown into jail for various reasons, so she is talking to the lawyer on their behalf too. Either way it is an unpleasant story, and I want to thank all of you who forwarded my email to friends and colleagues.

A lot of you have been asking me about my dog so here is a little Kiwi update. She is the happiest most energetic little dog in Azerbaijan. She still lives outside and has a little doghouse which the landlord built for her from an old crate. The thing is insulated and keeps her warm at night. She gets fed meat and bones everyday and when she is a good pup she even gets a doggy treat. I feel safer with her around because at night she barks at things that move and have come to the conclusion that when I go she will be what I miss most.