End of Summer Report

My long awaited vacation to New Zealand is over and I am now back to my little town in Azerbaijan. It was quite a shock to come back from winter to a scorching summer. Surprisingly the other way around didn’t seem to bother me as much. My trip went great and I got to do everything that I had my mind set to do: skiing, glacier hiking, bungy jumping, drinking beer, etc. It was a great time and I secretly hoped I would break something on the last day so I get to stay a little longer. Nonetheless the three weeks flew by and now I am a week into being back, still trying to get over how great civilization is.



I have been keeping myself busy the past two weeks in attempt to get over the civilization blues. Coming back did bring me one surprise in the fact that when I walked through my door I found a puppy in my yard. It was tiny, skinny, and balding due to malnutrition. Turns out my landlord picked it up from the street and would feed it with a few pieces of bread every morning which the poor thing wouldn’t eat. Of course Azeris hate dogs, so they never paid enough attention to notice that it was actually the chickens who took care of the few dried up pieces of bread. So now it is me who takes care of it, and am proud to report that little Kiwi (in commemoration of NZ) is growing new fur and in size. I wish I could say something to my landlord about the food situation, but I wouldn’t put it past them to throw her out on the street when they find out she is not eating. Doesn’t make sense I know, but in reality that’s all it would take. So now she keeps me company and hopefully soon enough will learn how to take care of the hoodlums bothering me on the streets. Here is a picture:



I also got the chance to go to training last week and meet the new group, all 52 of them. It looked like so many people, especially in comparison to us who have only 33 left (we were 47 when we started). They seemed like a nice bunch of kids, yet so inexperienced…”said grandma Ina, with all those skills under her belt.” It will be interesting how long it will take them to discover the reality of the situation. That sounds mean, and truth is if I can do it then anyone can. Either way it was nice to meet them and see who my new friends will be, especially since I had to delete half my phone numbers with the departure of the previous group. So this is it. I don’t have much energy to write more or make this witty and exciting due to the fact it is 95 degrees and I can’t think straight due to extreme sweating.
        (seems to be the theme this summer…)


PS. I tried to put up a lot more pictures but with each attempt the electricity went out...So this is all you get!

Ina's Summer Schedule

Daily Routine:
10:00 - Wake up sweating or with the intense urge to urinate.

11:00 – 12:00 - Clean and laundry (yes everyday, I count it as my work out!)

14:30 – 17:00 - Nap, DVDs or read, but in most cases I just stare at the ceiling, sweating.

17:00 – 18:00 - Shower (rarely after Tae Bo) to wash of that day’s sweat.

18:00 – 20:00 - Internet CafÈ where I sweat some more.

20:30 - Dinner

21:00 – 23:00 - Stare at the ceiling for a little while longer, happy that the sun is gone.

23:30 – 1:00 - Lay aimlessly in bed trying to fall asleep.

Yep, I am saving the world….by sweating!!! Seriously though, everyday this past week has been in the 90s with no AC and I am melting away.

In reality, I haven’t been quite as useless as it sounds. After GLOW camp I had about a week long break and then I went to Ali Bayramli, an oil town in the middle of the desert, to help out two volunteers with their English camp. Everyday we went to their mosquito infested school where got eaten alive for 2+ hours. Only 8 kids showed up, due to the fact it was scorching outside, but the ones that did really seemed to have fun. Right after the camp I went to Baku to pick up a group of 8 new trainees and bring them to Barda for a few days where they were suppose to learn through observation. I was surprised at how fresh and clean they were. The girls still wore make-up and did their hair, while the one boy was showered and smelled nice. They were exuding positively and excitement which I knew would slowly drain out of them as the months pass. Is that what I was like last year!? I tried my best to be positive and constructive which proved really difficult and took a lot out of me. After they left I had to call a friend and hate a little bit in order to feel better. Don’t get me wrong, I am not evil or anything, but this country has its shortcomings which I don’t think I’ll ever learn to handle. Can’t ruin the newbies though, according to Peace Corps they must reach their own conclusions, which soon enough would match up with mine! It did feel good to be an all knowing mentor, and talking about what I have done made me feel that I am being a productive volunteer. We didn’t do anything Azerbaijani those few days. Amongst others, we played softball, made burritos, had a cook-out, drank beers and went to the internet. It was a good time and exactly what they needed after 2 weeks of Azeri host family life. Additionally, I have been working with one of my counterparts to develop a conversational program for her tutoring sessions. It’s a kind of knowledge exchange where I correct her grammar while learning the principles that guide it. So these have been my official Peace Corps activities in addition to the sweating I previously described.

Look at them, they are so happy!

Either way this summer of boredom is slowly passing and I have almost reached the long awaited August when I get to get out of here for 3 weeks. I am eager to leave the 90 degree weather and go to ski, jump off things, and hike in the cold. I fear the possibility that I may like it way too much and never come back to my life of solitude. I say that because lately I never leave my house, which I have turned into little America, in order to avoid the judgmental stares of greasy men.

6 more days till New Zealand…WOOO HOOO!!

GLOW Camp and Phyllis

Summer camp, an American phenomenon I had only observed on TV…Well I did it, in Azerbaijan, and surprisingly it worked quite well. I went into it thinking how I am going to be running after and babysitting 14 year olds that have never been out of the house before. It wasn’t far from the truth except that it turned out I didn’t mind it quite as much as originally predicted. We had all the usual camp activities including: bonfire, smores, dance, talent show, journaling, games, etc. We had the girls divided into groups and I happen to be the counselor of one of those. My girls were precious with the exception of one…The kid was bright but had a severe case of ADD, which of course is not recognized in this country. She never listened, couldn’t concentrate on anything, ran off without asking permission, and was involved in all aspects of my camp life. At night I literally had to tuck her in and turn off the light. During the day I had to constantly watch her so she doesn’t run off and further our group ended up being last in points, because she was always late and non-cooperative top it off, on my birthday, which was also the last day of camp, she head butted me in the eye during a water balloon fight. Ugh! Other than that, GLOW was amazing, we could see the girls break out of their shells and really experience something new and exciting. For most of them this was their first time away from their families and the friendships they made are ones they will never forget. The camp ended with snot and tears and lots of wet kisses which I didn’t quite enjoy, but I pretended…

So camp ended and now I am back in hot and steamy Barda. Sweatiness is in full force once again. When I came back I was naturally worried that I got robbed but instead I found an egg on my doorstep. I was quite excited thinking how nice of my landlord to give me a fresh egg for my return. The next day me and my dear friend, who joined me at site for a few days, woke up and started with our morning routine of doing nothing. At one point, while lying in bed, I heard a piercing scream coming from the kitchen, sheer terror… I ran to the door where Jenny googly eyed was looking through the glass at a strange phenomenon occurring in my kitchen…. A chicken had wandered in; it was huge and black, and looked even bigger in my tiny kitchen area. It was squacking and quacking and couldn’t get out due to the fact the door to the outside had closed. We screamed for help but nothing happened, it was stuck! Eventually I managed, through screams and fear, to release the poor thing. And then the strangest thing happened…I looked down to the floor and what do I see? A perfectly shaped beige egg sitting on my flip-flops. I looked at it once, and then twice, and pushed it slightly with my finger…It was warm! The chicken had given me a present, and it had done so the day before too. I know exactly who she is because there are 6 chickens running in my yard and she is the only black one. To commemorate the moment we named her Phyllis and we are good friends now. Even today I found an egg on my doorstep.

Sweating Already

Its not even June yet and the temperatures are in the high 80s, and to think it will only get worse! So here I am again, school is finished and I have a ton of free time on my hands! So far I have napped a lot, sweated a lot, and managed to get a nasty stomach flu which is not desirable when the WC is a jog away. I am not completely worthless though, I actually have an agenda for this summer: I am hosting an all girl conversation club at my house, teaching adults at the municipality, participating in a number of English camps and hopefully getting involved with the Pre-Service Training for the new group which arrives in less than a month. Other than filled with mosquitoes and sweat, May was also quite a productive month. I participated in America Day in Lenkaran (a region in the south), where we taught teenagers about American culture through fun and games. There, we also celebrated Cinco De Mayo like real Mexicans thanks to the generous parents of the volunteers down there. The weekend after that we hosted the first ever softball tournament in Azerbaijan. Teams consisting of Americans and Azeris came from 3 regions and competed against each other the 1st day, while the 2nd we had an all American game. I don’t know how it was possible but I did not play on a winning team that whole weekend! Additionally not only did my team come in 4th on Saturday because our Azeris didn’t get that running after the ball is a necessity, but also because our captain, insisted I pitch. Regardless it was one of the best weekends in country so far. Our next tournament is in 2 weeks, and I am getting ready for another Barda bashing tournament.

So there, that first paragraph was aimed at proving that I am not actually worthless. I have realized that none of my other entries deal with what I actually do, and thought it was about time I show you that I do more than feel sorry for myself. Even though greasy boys haven’t stopped harassing me, and it doesn’t seem like they ever will, the fact that I am finally on my own has made me a much happier person. I haven’t eaten Azeri food in over a month and am definitely not missing the 10 cups of hot tea I was force fed last summer. So it is due to this major improvement that I have decided to NOT quit early. I was definitely considering it when I lived in the waterless apartment and who knows what would have happened had I stayed there. I definitely lucked out with my house, while my poor site mate Sarah got kicked out of “the palace” for no reason what so ever. That, however, is a whole story on its own….

Pics: 1) Me looking surprised at my school 2) At the Peace Corps Lounge in Baku 3) How we travel around in 90 degree weather!

The jon...

You can't imagine whats its like until you see it!

Misfortunes and such

April is almost over and I am I couldn’t be happier. It was an adventure with a bad start but a good enough ending (knock on wood). Here is what happened…I moved into my new apartment, located in the scary “bazaar” neighborhood. I was excited because it was decent, with a western style toilet and a decent looking bathroom in addition to the fact that it was newly painted and clean looking. I was positive and looking forward to my new Azerbaijani existence. The day after I moved out my water stopped. Apartment buildings in Azerbaijan are usually not the best when it comes to water supply. Usually each apartment has its own 50-liter tank which gets filled when the water does come. In most cases this happens 2 to 3 times a week so I figured I’d have to wait a day or 2. On the 3rd day, however, I figured out that the water hadn’t been coming to the building for over a month, and was lied to by my landlords who I asked 2+ times about why the hell people kept coming in the building lugging buckets of water. I continued to live like this for the next 3 weeks, showering and doing laundry at other people’s places, and buying food day to day. I chose not to buy the necessities I needed such as a mop, cooking utensils, a fridge, pots and pans, etc until this issue got resolved. I got in touch with the ex-com, police, and everyone in power I knew in order to get the government on the ball of getting the water fixed. To top it off, I could barely sleep in this apartment due to the fact the street dogs would have a barking contest outside my window from 1 till 6 am….and I thought the roosters during training were bad. Basically I had had enough. Meanwhile my counterpart, who helped me look for houses for 3 months, found my site mate Sarah a GREAT house in just one week. Not only does she have running water, but also her house is fully furnished, renovated, and with all the housing utensils she needs, that and she has a swimming pool/tub in her yard. Being pissed was understatement. So then that was topped off by the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech. Being so far away from it did not make it any easier on me, having in mind that I have walked the halls, have friends there, and had always considered the place home. Nothing was going right, until just a few days ago when the Peace Corps housing coordinator actually did his job, and found me a house! I moved today and am ecstatic. I have a huge yard which will have tons of fruit in the summer. It also has furniture, a fridge, and all the basic necessities that were lacking before. The only negative to my little house is the scary outdoor toilet that I am trying to get used to. Its basically a concrete slab with a hole, under which there is a poop well. Lets just say that it DOES NOT smell like roses and the scorching summer heat will only make it worse.

Well this was an unexciting blog entry so let me try and change that.

Everybody has pet peeves. The big ones I had before moving to this country included slow drivers, prick customers, talking with your mouth full, and people waking me up for no good reason. Reasonable right? Well let me tell you about the new ones I have developed in my 10 month Azerbaijani life:

1. Waiting in line - Making a line does not exist in Azerbaijan. Weather you are at the bank, post office, train station, or market instead of a line one usually encounters a semi circle. When you get in the semi circle it is all a battle of who will get to the cashier first. Now personally I enjoy my personal space and when there are only 2-3 people waiting I stay behind like a good little girl waiting my turn. And that’s usually when the assholes come. They will literally wedge themselves between me and the person in front and ignore the fact that anyone else exists. When this happen I fuuuuuume. Lately I have started to literally push the kids out of the way, but the old people just don’t get it! Ah! I get frustrated just writing about it.

2. Catcalls - If you are a girl, I am sure you have experienced the occasional whistle or catcall. Sometimes you ignore them, sometimes you retaliate by a certain hand gesture we are all familiar of. Well in Azerbaijan this is a daily occurrence. I have been asked to get married, live together, kissy sounds, “I love you” calls, as well as the occasional walking into me on purpose thing. The problem is that yelling and cursing in English or Azeri doesn’t help, and neither does just ignoring them. Lately my iPod has been helping, but seriously will they ever learn? Surprising for a conservative Muslim culture, but fact.

3. Money talk - We have been taught that asking about salaries and similar money issues is not polite. I have always avoided the subject and felt uncomfortable when it was brought up. Well in Azerbaijan they have been brought up exactly the opposite. Even though I keep telling them “Konolluyam, konolluyam (I’m a volunteer, I’m a volunteer),” they just do not get it! And this is not just my school colleagues, this is cab drivers, shopkeepers, old ladies, and anyone I ever meet! What’s your salary? How much do you pay for this? How much do you pay for that? How much money did you make in America? Lately I just tell them I don’t like to talk about money and they drop the subject for about 5 min.

4. VIZIFs – Peace Corps Azerbaijan requires all volunteers to have cell phones. The cell phone system is probably the most developed thing Azerbaijan has and there is great service everywhere. Peace Corps provided us with the phones and it was our job to get a sim cards and a pay as you go plan. The credit we get on our phone is fine for text messaging people and checking your email, but actually calling costs a lot and therefore we never do it. This is speaking for us volunteers, because Azeris rarely text. They make 1 min phone calls to each other and the infamous vizif. That is when someone calls you and hangs up, meaning they have no credit on their phone and want you to call them back. This annoys me, because I never have any either and if you want to talk to me then use your own money! (PS. If you have a Cingular or a TMobile phone, I can text you for the same price as anyone in Azerbaijan, so let me know!)

5. The “Bush” talk – I don’t like President Bush just like most of the world at this point. I trash talk him all the time and enjoy the occasional discussion on why he keeps digging his hole deeper. Half of the time when a local finds out I came from America, they start talking shit about Bushy to me, and surprisingly that really pisses me off. They don’t know me, or my beliefs so they are being disrespectful to my home and purpose. If I ever was to talk bad about their president, I would be hated by everyone and I know not to do it because its clearly insolent. So yes I can talk shit about Bush, but you better not say anything until you get to know me!

Don’t misunderstand though, there are lovely people here who understand what my mission is, and have been nothing but helpful to me. Uneducated, disrespectful, and rude folk exist everywhere and this is what the ones in this country do. Other than that the school year is almost over and there are only 4 more weeks of classes left. Let me tell you teaching in a 3rd world country is exhausting and I am looking forward to having little to do. This is it for now!

All On My Own

A new chapter has begun in my Azerbaijani and overall existence. For the 1st time in my life I am living on my own. After 3 months of searching and seeing one overpriced dump after another I have finally found a new home and am currently the proud renter of a 3 bedroom decent apartment that has been recently repainted and slightly renovated. Of course it is not without problems in the sense that I don’t have a fridge and frankly I can’t afford one since they cost more than my living allowance. That should be interesting since the weather is already starting to get warmer and storing food will become an issue. Through this fridge experience I also learned another interesting fact about Azeris. They tell you what you think you might want to hear, even though five minuets later you will figure out that they were lying. For instance I had found an old fridge to buy from my counterparts relative. Even though I had not seen it I felt I could trust her since she is the Azeri I am closest to. When my 80 dollar “barely used, small, working fridge arrived,” I came to discover that the thing is at least 30 years old, is huge, rusty, and with 20 year old muck on it. When I turned it on, it not only sounded like a tractor but it vibrated the floor so bad that one could mistake not only the kitchen for a vibrator factory but also the whole floor! At least now I know…Furthermore, my neighborhood is not the friendliest looking and at night it is quite scary. I live next to the bazaar which is empty and dark at night and also right next to another refugee school which is almost as creepy looking as mine. I have to restart doing my pushups in case I have to fend the hoodlums off with my mighty fists. They won’t know what hit them!! Secret parties are already in the plans in order to break in the crib.

Other than that my first vacation passed. I went back to Bulgaria where I enjoyed a week of much deserved fun and civilization. I realized that I have changed, in the sense that I appreciated everything so much more. I couldn’t sleep the first two nights because my room was ‘too warm’ and got stomach problems eating my favorite foods. I have also never found clean toilets as exciting as I did then! Coming back to Azerbaijan was a whole different story. I had a panic attack on the airplane and made myself sick having to miss school for a week. Apparently most of us go through similar emotions when coming back from vacation and I have now begun the countdown for my next out of country experience.

In other news, winter is finally over (even though it is still freezing at night!), there are 8 more weeks of school, and I initiated the start of a new Peace Corps committee! Things are actually looking better, even though I feel there will be a future blog entry about the scorching heat that is about to befall me. Summers in Barda are hot and dry and with no air conditioning I will be a sweaty mess. At least showers will not be a problem…or will they (my apartment building hasn’t had water for 2+ weeks, but more about that issue next time)?

I Dream Of Shower...

I am sitting here trying to figure out what to write and I really can’t think of an exciting topic so I’ll just tell you about the logistics of my recent life. Work is trotting along, the weather is tolerable, and my Baku visits have been frequent due to work necessities. The one thing that has changed are the prices which has made me enjoy host family life less and caused me to spend my living allowance half way through each month. With the New Year and Russia flexing its gas muscle, Azerbaijan retaliated by raising the prices for everything (water, gas, transportation) including that of electricity which went up by 3 times! I never realized how much my life relied on power until now and this situation is really frustrating me. First, my bathing capability has worsened; if I want more than one shower a week I have to heat up buckets of water and bathe 17th century style because heating up the boiler uses a ton of power. Second, I am restricted on running my electric heater and spend cold nights dressed like a cabbage in my sleeping bag killing any desire to be productive. And finally the few rooms in the school that were heated are now the same temperature as outside making my life in Barda uncomfortable EVERYWHER. Additionally I can’t use my water distiller as much and have to pay 25% more when I travel to Baku and the regions. So yes, life has changed a bit and when I said, “I am pretty” before, post price increase Ina is even more fun to look at!! I hope that once I move out, things will get better, but finding a place is proving impossible, mostly because people are trying to sabotage me. It is rare, if at all existent, for women my age to live alone and the fact that I don’t get a salary also doesn’t help. To top it off I just found out host dad lost his job as a truck driver, which means even more restrictions in my weird existence

My work here is not really exciting and maddening at times. I have approximately 4 classes every day, where I co-teach with my older counterparts. Its tougher than it sounds, because all the ‘new methodology’ I am trying to show is just NOT sinking in. They basically teach to the 4 students that get it, and assign memorization of obscenely long texts for homework. If I had to learn the way these kids do I would definitely not speak English either. I also have conversation clubs, where I struggle trying to trying to make the kids think on their own, because children here have never been made to use their imagination. If you show them something on paper they get it and can translate it into their language perfectly, but if I ask “Why?” or make them play pretend NOTHING comes out. That is what takes up most of my time and since I don’t really like teaching I struggle with it more than others. Some other activities I am involved in are trying to start a Peace Corps Environmental Committee, renovate the school gym (which is a whole challenge on its own), and working on logistics for a summer camp for girls with other Peace Corps volunteers.

The picture describes my current state of mind and the blog is a bit on the depressing side mostly because I am cold right now. Other than that I am going to Bulgaria in a month and am going to come back in higher spirits. WOO HOO!

Holidays...

Happy New Year!! The holidays have passed and, unfortunately, were barely felt by me. Christmas was pretty non-existent and New Years was like any other dinner party except the annoying popping fireworks going off all night. Even though I had planned to go to Baku and celebrate with the right amount of alcohol, I decided to save my vacation days for when I actually get to leave the country. As a result I sucked it up and stayed at site where I spent the big night with the host family, watching Az TV. The night consisted of Ina being stuffed with food from 6 pm on and being made to drink sweet Azeri wine. I have probably told the host dad 10 times that I like dry wine, but according to him the desert wine he had gotten was sour and was even squinting when sipping it. I did let that one slide because “Dorothy ain’t in Kansas no more,” and good wine is scarce if at all existent. So 2007 began with a glass of equally sweet, tasteless champagne, tons of greasy food, and with a resolution to definitely leave the country for 2008.

Its not like nothing came out of this joyful time though. The Barda populace’s desire to marry me off was reignited. My previous excuse of “I can’t cook, I don’t like cleaning, and I don’t wash other people’s clothes” had ceased to work. I believe it is because I am reaching the “hag” age of 25 and no one will want me afterwards. The ladies as well as some older gentlemen are sure that I will learn to love these tasks I so strongly hate. Some ladies have even offered me their own sons (to whom I look like a great green card I’m sure). Due to all of this I had started to be more blunt and my current excuse for why I don’t want to marry here is “I DON'T WANT TO GET MARRIED!” How else am I suppose to convince them that it is OK to be single at my age! You’d think that would work, but noooo, according to the ladies smart and modern minded men exist in Azerbiajan and I should stick around! I don't deny that these men are here, but for 1 reason or another I still would never marry one…Now let me describe what the candidates actually do represent. The style is: a shiny striped polyester suit, brown sweater underneath, shiny pointy elf shoes, greasy side swiped hair, and at least one gold tooth. These are at least the specimens that stand on the street corners with nothing better to do than bother bypassing foreigners like myself. My irritation speaks for itself...

The Weather Outside is Frightful….

It is December, Christmas is nearing, and the weather is nippy. I have turned into a cabbage in the sense that I always have at least 3 layers of clothes on. Those layers rarely come off in order to reflect my showering schedule which in turn has become quite empty. Having the bathroom outside the house really is no fun when the temperature is in the 30s and you have to get naked and wet. Mornings are also tough and almost as unpleasant as showering. I sleep inside a humungous Slumber Jack bag which PC provided and is perfect for here. Getting out of the bag is the problem due to the fact that not only is it freezing inside my room, but I have to literally jump up and down while I dress so I don’t freeze my buns off. As you might have guessed the long underwear I sleep in NEVER comes off in order to minimize the amount of clothes I have to put on. I am so pretty right now!

Azerbaijani fashion in the winter is really amusing due to the choices of winter coats that are in. There area two styles: “ The Dark Ages” one and “The Matrix” one. The Dark Ages coats are tan, light green, brown, or sometimes all of these in 1 and have a large fur around the neck. They come to the ground, are bulky, and smell a little like a wet dog. A Kate Moss type woman may pull off a coat like this, but since most Azeri women are heavy set and short the coat along with some other features pop out like no other. “The Matrix” coat is just as unflattering and scary looking as the “Dark Ages” one. It is usually made of dark brown or black leather and is quite shiny. A long leather coat doesn’t sound that bad you say…Well, please stop imagining the coats in Benetton and picture this coat with a waistline, leather patches and sometimes so long that you can’t see the woman’s pointy high heels. Women that wear this style look like a mix between a Renaissance woman (with the bulky skirts) and Neo. I say that because the waistline comes right underneath the boobs and the skirt part of the coat usually covers a quite large behind. Azeri fashion in general is quite ‘different’, but since I find the coats especially amusing I thought I’d share.

Speaking of cold and winter, Christmas is completely non-existent in Barda. In accordance with Soviet Union tradition though, fake Christmas trees are put up for New Years and presents are exchanged. I managed to buy myself one that comes up to my knee along with some mini ornaments and have it propped up in my room. I also got my hands on some Christmas music and truth is my attempts to get into the sprit have done nothing more than depress me! I have to go to work on Christmas and am planning to have my students sing carols to me in order to have some sort of observance. New Years will be spent in Baku where I will have a real celebration in order to make up for Santa Clause forgetting me!

The "Toy" - Azeri Weddings

It is currently fall break which has given me a lot more time to reflect on my recent experiences in good old Azerbaijan. Today I will be telling you about my first wedding experience combined with all I have heard from other volunteers…So as most of you have already guessed most couples are set up by their parents and even though the bride can say no, the marriage is pretty much arranged. Traditionally there are two weddings: a bride’s, after which the bride goes back home, and the groom’s, which is the official one and the bride goes with her new husband. In smaller towns and villages the “Japanese flag” tradition is still practiced. For those who haven’t guessed it, that involves a family member checking the post marital sheets and in some cases hanging them from the window to prove the marriage has been consummated. If for some reason there is no blood the girl is returned to her family and is screwed for the rest of her life (figuratively and literally). Most know that us women don’t always bleed during our 1st time, but in Azerbaijan trying to explain that phenomena will get you just laughs and eye rolls. It is also not unheard of for mommy or daddy to listen at the door or actually sit in on the sacred act in order to spot fakery. Apparently this doesn’t happen so much to the more liberated Azeri’s in Baku, but in the regions such practices are quite common.

A wedding is essentially a big party where the bride and groom sit on a pedestal and look miserable. They are not supposed to smile in order to signify their sadness for having to leave their families. The wedding hall is divided into a women’s section where the women sit and gossip, and a men’s section where the vodka flows and the more interesting conversations occur. After the plov and dolma are served and the eating ceases, the dancing begins. Azeri music is like nothing I have heard before… It is super fast and dancing to it consists of men and women doing the step accompanied by some hand twirls and waves. I like electronic music, its fast and I can dance quite well to it. It is due to that I always thought I could handle fast…Boy was I wrong…my attempts to do something on the dance floor resulted in me looking like an octopus or a tree on a windy day. Sometimes you can get away with not dancing by blending in with the crowd, but as a foreign object I was not that lucky. Grandma spotted me from across the hall and literally dragged me to the ‘dance floor.’ I remember holding on to the tablecloth until there was danger of pulling everything of it resulting in me having to give in to the awful music. I could have at least had a laugh at this had I managed to slip some vodka in my coke but that was a doomed mission from the start. Throughout all of this sober dancing random people go and take pictures with the happy, or should I say ‘unhappy’ looking couple. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether the couple knows you or not, whether dressed or underdressed, you must go to the pedestal and take a picture in order to be cool. I have contributed one of mine for the purpose of this blog entry. This experiences lasted from noon till five…longest 5 hours of my life…

The “gonaglig” (or guesting)

A lot of my friends seem to be curious about the food here so I thought it is time to share the art of “guesting" with all of you. I feel that I have finally gotten down the Azeri eating habits and now you can see why it is so hard to stay slim in this country. As I have mentioned before “the show off your American” is pretty big in the regions of Azerbaijan. All of my friends and I are constantly on the move guesting at either a relative’s or a colleague’s house and the routine for all seems the same. This is the menu: for an appetizer, you are served tea with cake and chocolates which you cannot refuse in fear of being disrespectful, following are the salads, which include a tomato/cucumber one, and at least 2 mayonnaise based ones, for the main course come the dolma, that’s meat stuffed vegetables for those of you that haven’t experienced them. You have to have at least two servings of each course in order to satisfy grandma who looks in your plate every two seconds to assess your progress. The dolma are cooked in about a pound of sunflower oil and if you ignore the fact you may get a heart attack at any minute they are quite delicious. After that comes the 2nd maine course, the plov which is a rice dish with fruits and chicken and is quite delicious the first few times you have it. During the main part of the course your eating speed must be super slow because if god forbid your plate starts getting empty grandma will fill you right back up...After you are done with all that most Americans tend to want to explode, but right when that feeling sets in the tea and cake come out again! Here being skinny is looked down upon and everyone, including my family wants to make you look like a sausage.

Other than that, work is OK. I have come to the conclusion that being a teacher is just like being a middle school student but a little worse because you don’t have the socializing aspect of it to look forward to. It is also difficult because I have not one but three counterparts. I cannot get sufficient time with either and am afraid that what I am doing will not sink in. To top it off the textbooks are written poorly with a ton of grammar and spelling mistakes and the lessons don’t flow in any logical order…As you can probably see, I am getting quite frustrated At this point I am starting to put more focus on secondary projects which eventually should become the more fulfilling part of my Peace Corps experience. This is it for now! Expect another installment of my exciting new life in about 3.5 weeks!

Going, going...

So I have been at site for almost a month now. I know the town inside out and am starting to get bored of walking and seeing the same things over and over. Things seem to be moving in the right direction at this point. I am teaching, and the students are actually learning. I don't feel like I suck anymore which is a relief. Between Azeri and Russian I can express every need I have, on their own though I am worthless in each. I am getting tutoring for Azeri starting next week and hopefully for Russian in another month and will hopefully pick them both up. This language thing is so annoying, imagine trying to explain to people why you are so 'weird' without being able to speak. It gets old.

I just survived my first sickness in Azerbaijan. I managed to pick up a stomach virus last weekend in Baku and had to miss four days of school. The interaction between me and my family was comic now that I look back at it, but at the time I wanted to kill them. As you all know a stomach virus involves constant trips to the bathroom after every bite of food or sip of water. Well, in Azerbaijan food is the solution to all problems and my family would not stop forcing me to eat pomegranates and greasy potatoes (both 'great' for an upset stomach). Apparently to them those are the cure for everything, and my refusals were pure insanity. Then they tried to convince me to get cupped (the hot cups on your back thing they did in the 1800s). Everyday they would talk about it for at least 30 min and swear by it, calling my PC doctore stupid. Then they tried to convince me to go to their doctor and get on a blood iv because clean blood will just clear whatever I had up....To top it all off my family had 2 parties during my 5 day illness (the only 2 they have ever had in my presence), and during all of them they had a "Show the American" session. So they would force me to get out of bed, all greasy and in PJs and go to their party, sit, be stared at, and forced to eat greasy nastiness which of course caused me further pain and bathroom problems. It was 'lovely', but i survived!! I went to school 1 day this week and now we have a 4 day weekend. Lie is tough. ;)

Back to the logistics now. As I said school is going well. Some teachers are easier to work with than others and I seem to be having a farley OK time in comparison to other volunteers who are either totally ignored or don't even have a school schedule yet. My living situation seems to be OK too, especially compared to people who have warm water once a week or have to go to the river to do laundry. I don't think I'll ever complain about my long walk to the bathroom/toilet or the constant blackouts after i heard those stories. So yeah relatively speaking everything is OK. I do miss home a lot and with nothing to do most nights I tend to look back a lot. A little cry now and then helps and I deal with it mainly by talking to other people in my group going through the same thing. Emails always help too *hint hint.* I'll post soon again, I promise`

At site - First Impressions

This is my second attempt to publish a blog, and am really not excited about typing it again. SO i am in Barda where the weather is finally nice and not a scorchign 105 degrees. So far i am happy here. I have a really nice host family, which leaves me alone when I need to be and treats me like one of them. My 11 year old host sister is precious and i kind of enjoy her company. THe mom and the dad totally understand that i am having a hard time adjusting and missing home and are really supportive. I don't want to jinx the situation, but so far so good.

The town itself is not bad either. I have everythign i need in walking distance from me. I even found an internet cafe which so far hasn't charged me for my surfing. THe people here are much nicer than those of Sumgayit. SO far, neither me nor Sarah have had problems with men harrassing us like we did in Sumgayit and the locals have been nothing but helpful. I don't doubt that i will run into the occasional asshole, but so far the majority of people have been lovely.

At school things are moving along too. The conditions really are miserable, but the teachers and students are really nice. I am currently just observing classes and have to make my schedule and pick counterparts by the end of next week. I think i am going ot stick to teaching 5, 6, and 7th grade because they are still the ones who care about learning English. THe classes are basically a mess, there is little dicipline, the teachers don't lesson plan, and the students speak little English. I really think i can make a difference now that i have seen what i will be up against.

So this is it for now. This weekend Sarah and I are going to Baku which will be a nice change to my DVD watching marathos i have every night. The picture is of my school. You can see the tin classrooms and the two miserable building that are home to the refugees. There is no bathroom on the premises or running water.

My site and such

My summer school practicum ended and I survived. I discovered that I really hate teaching, and am glad that I never have to teach a whole class on my own. My future work in my region involves working with a counterpart where we get to plan together and co-teach rather than me busting my butt trying to figure it out myself. Also a lot of what I do will be outside the classroom, such as grant writing and English conversation clubs.
This week I also found out my site, went to visit it, met my new host family, and most importantly saw my future place of work. The town itself is called Barde, its really small, but has and ATM, internet, and yellow cheese (which is usually hard to find). The city itself has a good water supply but on the negative has horrible electricity which shows during the winter where its on for only a few hours a day. The weather is really hot in the summer (40C; 100F) and mild in the winter (0C; 32F) with only a few snowstorms. Barde is 4-5 hours away from Baku and close to lots of other good locations such as a lake and Ganja which is the second biggest city. My new host family is really nice too; I have the second floor of their house to myself which includes a bedroom and a small living room. The bathroom and toilet are outside in a separate building, and the toilet is not a poo hole but the real sit down kind (so happy!). Needless to say there is no heating in the house just like most places and in the winter I will be freezing my ass off!
Now about my school…When I walked through the gate of the yard I saw the saddest picture of my life and remembered why I joined the Peace Corps. The school itself has two large buildings, a gym, and a huge yard. Sounds nice! Now imagine a lot of trash everywhere, almost every window being broken, and little room for classes due to the fact most of the rooms are occupied by IDPs (internally displaced persons). For those of you who don’t know Azerbaijan’s territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has been occupied by Armenia for nearly a decade. Only a few miles form my city there are trenches, landmines, and soldiers like at any war zones. There has been a ceasefire for a number of years but that hasn’t helped the number of IDPs and refugees who have not been able to return home and have lived in camps for nearly 12 years. The story of the conflict is really tragic and I won’t get into it or else this will turn into a book. Anyway, about 70 IDP families live in the school. They have created rooms in old classrooms and surrounded other areas of the school with wood panels for additional living quarters. Classes are held in a few rooms that are left for the students as well as tin trailers outside the school. The situation has been such as this for the past 10 years and the school is in dire need of refurbishment. I won’t even get into the fact that a new school was built just down the street from mine, and government buildings sprawl up every second in the surrounding regions…
So just like you I am trying to imagine my life for the next two years and I don’t know what to expect. I am nervous about working in the school mostly because I am sure that as an American there is a lot expected from me. I also have to figure out how to deal with boredom because there really is NOTHING to do in the city….But my spirits are not down and I am looking forward to learning 2 languages (my school has a Russian and an Azeri shift), and doing the best I can to make improvements in my school.
(The picture of me is taking a nap in front of Maiden Tower, which is a monument in Baku which dates to some time BC. I was obviously preparing for a night of partying. Unlike the rest of the country Baku is like any western European city. The contrast is quite striking and bothersome at the same time)

3 more weeks of training!

I am currently in my final week of teaching summer school and I can almost see the end of training. The teaching has been interesting especially since I have never done it before. The process is suppose to be kind of a preview of what is to come, except not really because in our future schools we’ll never be teaching a whole class alone. My language is coming along well and in 4 days I find out where my permanent site is. I am quite nervous because there is no perfect location and each comes with its own set of hardships. For example a lot of people will be going to cities and villages in the desert where the summers are going to be miserable. For those going to the mountains, the winters are going to be miserable. Then there comes the issue of villages vs towns which will have an effect on how much more conservative your location will be. Other than that I am finally starting to develop real friendships and have people that I consider really close. This is making the acclimatization process much easier. I still complain plenty about certain things but I feel like I am even getting used to them. I don’t know whether I am saying this because today I am having a good day or I am finally realizing that I will be ok for the next two years.
I also had a really good weekend which has proven to me that fun is to be had and I will be bored only 80% of the time rather than a 100. As a group we went to Qobustan, which is a rock pile in the middle of the desert, housing prehistoric carvings and then about half of us went to Nabran which is one of their beach towns. The town itself is kind of miserable in comparison to any American resort but for here it was wonderful. Even though the beach was a nasty muddy mess, and the water belongs to the most polluted sea in the world it actually had a decent night life which we exploited to the fullest! We stayed out till 3-4, dancing and having fun the old fashioned way.

Our group

This is the 47 of us minus 3.

Site Visit

So I just wrote a blog and for some reason it deleted itself. So here I go again....

This weekend I went on a site visit to Oguz. That is a small town located in the mountains. We stayed with a current volunteer for 3 nights and found out more about what we will be experiencing in the months to come. It was definitely a nice getaway, first of all because I was glad to leave Sumgayit where I have been stuck for the past month, and secondly due to the cooler temperature. We got to hike in the mountains for a bit too which was nice. Other than that all we did was eat and sleep and observe the daily routines of the locals. Again I was struck by the culture in regard to gender issues. All of the young women in town were really bored due to the fact they had literally NOTHING to do. Unlike guys who have cafes, pool halls, and sports to participate in, girls only have a newly opened "girls only" internet club, and walking around the streets. Dull huh? Our volunteer was not very entertained herself. She had 2 conversation clubs a few times a week and in the rest of the time does tie bo or watches DVD in addition to whatever chores she has to do. Basically I need to find ways to entertain myself so I don't go crazy. So far DVDs and my Ipod have been good friends to me, so if any of you get bored do send me some mixed CDs!!

To finish this off, I have to say all of the prep paper work I have read is completely true. Training turns you into an emotional rollercoaster. Somedays I am frustrated as hell and ready to leave, then on the next I am motivated again. I cannot wait to get over this wave of permanent PMS, because currently it is driving me insane. Mostly though I am pretty positive, so no worries!! ;)

that's it from me for now!!

Host Family Life

I am starting to get used to my new way of life. My host family is very nice and very liberal in their views in comparison to those of other volunteers. The reason for that is that they are actually from Baku, which is quite a tourist attraction and modern. The ones I interact with the most are the mom, who is a housewife and the two older sisters, who are home only in the evenings. The youngest sister is also always at home but she is shy and doesn’t really talk to me. The father, who is a car repair I pretty much never see. He works from early in the morning till late at night and then probably goes out with friends. There is also a grandmother who has her own room and doesn’t really interact with the rest of the family much. The communication methods I am using are quite interesting. I speak a mix of Bulgarian, Russian and Azeri, and definitely cannot have any meaningful conversations. If I have something important to say I wait for the sisters to come home, since one speaks good English and have her play translator.
I am really happy with the food here. Everything is organic and without preservatives and all that crap. In the summer Azeri’s eat lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, salami and the meals consist of lots meat, bread, oily sauces great for dipping, and about 29438547 cups of tea a day. We were told by the Peace Corps to be careful with what we eat. For example never to have milk, yogurt, and cheese that are not pasteurized, to wash everything we eat with boiled H2O, and not to even brush our teeth with the local water. Well I have already broken all these rules. I figure I need to train my stomach to the local tastes and have to say that my body definitely hated me until right about now.
My Peace Corps training as a whole is going well. Every Monday through Saturday we have language training from 9 till 1, and then it is “Self Directed Learning” time which I don’t think any of us are actually using. In a few weeks we start model school, which is something like a 2-week summer school program. I am kind of nervous about it, especially since I have to write my own lesson plans, get really nervous talking in front of people, and oh yeah I have never been a teacher!
When it comes to being homesick…yeah, I am, A LOT! But I guess that’s unavoidable. The good thing is everybody has been great in keeping in touch and writing me emails which always cheer me up.

1st Host Family

So yesterday I moved into my first host family. It ended being only a 10 min walk from where our hotel was which is good because I know that area. My family seems really nice too. Its a mom, dad, three daughters in their 20s, 3 kittens, and a big scary dog that wants to eat me. The house is not as bad as I thought. My room is big but the bed kind of sucks because its a box spring with a bunch of pads on it. It hurts a lot to sleep on it, but I guess I'll have to manage. The toilet is also not bad, it is a flush one, except that I have to manually flush it with buckets. I also feel that I am getting fatter by the second because the mom won't stop feeding me. Since we can't really understand each other all she does is feed me tea and sweets and then two hours later gives me a huge meal. I cant say no because I don't want to offend which results in me eating without being hungry. One of my host sisters speaks really good English so thats good. She has a degree in English actually and translates for me at night. My Azerbaijani language skills are still no where and I am starting to think I will never get it. The language sounds cool, but its like nothing I have ever heard. As much as I was worried about not going to be able to communicate I actually ended up having an internet cafe right by my house, so I will actually be on quite frequently if not daily. I also have a cell phone which if you are interested you can have. The only way to call me for cheap though would be to go to noblecom.com and buy a phone card which makes phone calls only a few cents per minute. Otherwise if you have ATT/Cingular or T-Mobile you can text me for 15c a min. So again shoot me an email and I can give you the number. I miss everyone very much and am very homesick so the more emails I get the better I'll feel. Much love!