RHEST

Happy Holi

Holi festival is here! As I had mentioned earlier kids have been preparing for this for the past 2 weeks, targeting young girls and tourists with water balloons and buckets. Today however, the game is different and EVERYONE participates, and not only with water but also with tika paints. I have spend all day hiding while local kids and even foreigners downtown have chosen to join into the water war or as I liked to call it ”get the tourists” event. I have been observing carefully the festivities from my supervisor’s house and its insane. Anyone who walks through the street gets soaked from kids prepared with balloons and full on buckets of water which they pour on people and if you are lucky, the water is bright red and leaves a nice sewer like stench. Kids, and teenagers have been storming the streets looking like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, with their faces painted in various colors, and yelling like someone is ripping out their guts. I say “NO THANK YOU,” to that and good luck to my fare faced comrades downtown who are bound to get water ballooned in the face....OH NO, have i turned into a party pooper!?

Other than that I had my first field visit this past week. It was in Nagarkort which is known for having spectacular views of the Himalayas, but I barely got to see any mountain since most of the time haze was covering the peaks. A few of the photos I took ended up ok after some photo shopping and int he end the 2 days of fresh air away from Kathmandu were much appreciated. RHEST was having their annual meeting there to talk about new policy and the successes and failures of the past fiscal year. course it was all in Nepali, and my purpose there was to get a better idea of it all it all and maybe interview some of the volunteers from the regions. relaxing right? Well, it was for about a hot second, until my supervisor sprung a surprise Focus Group Discussion and four 40 min interviews on me. My preparation was close to nil and my translator was no where to be found. Somehow it was all pulled off and I got some answers by rugged men, who were not really sure what this white little lady was doing there in the first place. I think that for the circumstances it all went down ok. During the two days I also got to experience my first Bollywood sing off and it was amazing. After dinner everyone met up in one of the hotel rooms, all the women (around 15) were sitted in a tiny bed, and all the men sat on chairs around. The crowd was split in two teams and they would start a different Bollywood song beginning with the last syllable of the previous song sang. It was confusing, and I heard about 50 Bollywood songs in the span of 15 min. It was an amazing experience, and their knowledge and skill was impressive.

And let me end with the exciting news that I now have a new apartment with a cool roommate from Spain for about half the price of what I pay now. WooHooo! Also my supposed field trip starting on Tuesday might have to be pushed due to the fact I am having translator issues. However if everything stays on track I might not have Internet for the next week and a half and will be able to communicate normally around March 10th.

Week 2

Ah Nepali life…still trying to get the hang of it. So immediately after my last blog, all my exploration plans were ruined due to the fact the stomach gods cursed me with some food poisoning. How I miss the days of constant stomach activity of the negative kind...NOT! So I spent my 3^rd and 4^th day in the country ‘cleansing’ my system from and thinking that I’ll never eat again. Luckily I recovered and now I am on the path of becoming a healthy plump woman. Ever since the forsaken illness I just can’t stop eating. I am still not brave enough to cook my own food, so I buy things from the nearby bakery and eat delicious vegetarian dishes in the nearby ‘trusted’ fast food restaurant. I get fed at my office as well, and curried vegetables, rice, and flat bread will never get old. I hope the Azeri 20 kilos doesn’t catch up to me, because I do not miss the days when I had only 1 pair of pants that fit.

So this past week I started going to the office, where I got to meet everyone and figure out how the next 3 months will go. The rest of the time I spend fighting with internet and hang ing out with my coworkers. My field visit schedule was set this week, and it looks like I’ll be taking two 10 day trips in 2 and half districts. The districts completely changed from what I was originally anticipating, but I wasn’t in anyway expecting that thing’s won’t change. So on March 2^nd I head out to Makawanpur which is a hilly region near the Terai (plains) known for human trafficking. The program has existed there for only 4 years, which is not that much, but they insist I should go there since a lot of girls get sold to Indian circuses from the local villages. Then I will go to Syangja and Kaski which are in the mountains and have had the scholarship program active for 12 years. I’ll go there at the end of April for 2 weeks. In the middle I am on my own, doing background research, teaching myself Nepali, and hopefully not getting fat. The week ended in hanging out with Brian, Giulietta, and Su from my program in Utrecht, and a new friend we met here, who is doing research on the expat community of Nepal. I feel grateful that I can have some sort of social life, because I know how dreary it can be without, and my hat goes off to those friends who are doing their internships alone in non-tourist centers.

In other news, my supervisor keeps hinting that I have to move out of her parents place and since I have started looking I am realizing that where I am at now and what I am paying for it is not actually a good deal at all. I have paid up for a month and looking to move out in the second week of March. Wish me luck!

Current observations on life in Kathmandu: There are dogs everywhere! Some look happy and fat, living next to butcher shops, others are the most miserable sites ever, and break my heart; The pollution leaves black gunk in my nose; Text messaging to the USA works, but not to India; Kids throw bags full of water at you because a 'festival' is coming – I guess water is an improvement over rocks, which is what boys used to throw at us in Azerbaijan; and finally, brushing your teeth with Sprite is better than using the water from the tap.

Quote of the Day....

"Inuu make sure you lock the terrace door so the monkeys don't come in...."

Namaste Nepal!

Going on day two in Kathmandu. I have been bad at blogging while in Holland, but I promise that with this adventure I will do better. For those of you who haven’t kept up with me, I am in Nepal as a part of my master’s degree and am doing an internship for a small NGO which assists poor girls in rural areas to go to school. My job will be to do an impact study of their program, which will take me to two districts in the mountains where I will conduct interviews, focus groups, and investigative work with local stakeholders. When all is done at the end of May, I will leave a report for my org and go back to Europe where I will write my master thesis based on my findings. Unlike with the Peace Corps where everything in the beginning was nicely organized, this is solely on me and at this point I am still without a local number or any friends, (hmmm maybe i should have taken notes on how they did things...). I am currently living in the upstairs apartment of my supervisor’s parents. They live on the East side of the city (which is considered to be part of the Old Kathmandu) in a big compound above a small department shop. Its really nice, with the only problem being that it’s kind of far from the center. Kathmandu is unlike any place I have been to. First off, there are more people and cars than anywhere else, and honking twice per minute while driving is the norm. The fumes and pollution are bad due to the amounts of cars, motorbikes, and mopeds and I am seriously considering joining the many Nepalis that wear face masks. Currently, the city has 11-16 hour power cuts per day (load shedding), with the exception for today, because evidently the Gods are cooperating. My apartment has a light in my bedroom which works during power outages and one plug which is connected to a generator. The water situation is ok , because it runs all the time, unlike many other places who don’t have water or even plumbing. I have to take bucket baths, because the pressure is not strong enough for the shower to run, but I don’t mind since Azerbaijan prepared me well (Thank you, Peace Corps!). I may move to somewhere else if opportunity permits and if I find something nicer and closer to the center, but at this point I think i will stay here, plus the family downstairs is really nice and let me use their computer and internet which are connected to the generator.

I went out exploring yesterday and took it easy today, with the plan to go out again tomorrow. The city is really interesting and impressive from what I have seen and am excited to check out some more places tomorrow. Yesterday, I went to Durbar square, which is full of beautiful Buddhist and Hindu temples that date back to the 17th century. There you can see people praying, cows running around, pigeons pooping, animals being sacrificed, and many interesting people (a bit of a sensory overload).

Following, I went to ‘monkey’ temple or Swayambhunath, which is an incredibly beautiful Buddhist monastery overlooking central Kathmandu. I found some scammer tour guide, or actually he found me, but in the end I didn’t mind paying him REALLY well, because I was alone, on my first day, and needed someone to show me around. I ended up in the Thamel (tourist district) where most the tourist hotels, shopping and restaurants are and walked around aimlessly for 2 more hours until I finally made it back. There are so many first impressions that I don’t know where to start….Hindus, Buddhists, hippies, traffic, military, three wheelers, holy men, oh my! I will get through them all since I plan to be a good little blogger. I start work with my NGO on Monday, so I have until the end of the week to explore and do some shopping. There are amazing things to buy here, and additionally I have to get some traditional Nepali wear for my site visits in rural villages. Locals are really friendly, the city is so exciting, and am sure that the rest of the country will be amazing as well! I will end on the note that after feeling like a midget living in the Netherlands, I now feel quite tall, which for me is always amazing!

Funny impressions

I have been in The Netherlands for 2 weeks now and I have to say I am really enjoying it. I live in Utrecht (which is a 25 min. from Amsterdam) and doing a master in International Development Studies at Utrecht University. My next year will prove to be quite busy since I’m doing an internship abroad starting in February, and then coming back and working hard-core on my thesis in the summer and fall. This coming internship will send me back to the developing world where I will have to do a project for an NGO based on which I will eventually write my thesis. I still don’t know where I am going and what I want to focus on, but will have a bit more clarity in about a month when we get the list of countries and research topics.

So you are probably wondering what made me want to start blogging again? I honestly thought this was done for a while, but a week and a half ago I attended the orientation for international students a German undergrad explained what we were to expect while settling here. All of her cultural descriptions sounded really funny and unbelievable, but alas… That same night a friend and I decided to go have a beer in town. Walking into the bar we immediately noticed that we were two of six girls among a sea of identical Dutch men. They all had long side swept hair (with lots of hair product in it), collared shirts, tight jeans, brown belts, and fancy shoes. They ignored our presence and hugged, touched and talked into each other’s ear. Naturally we realized that we had found our first gay bar in Utrecht. What a joy, I thought! I get to make some gay friends which subsequently end up being great girlfriends. As the night went on, one of the gay guys came to our table and invited us to go to the bar next-door with them, since this one was closing. We joined them happily to dance club next door and all of sudden things started changing. We slowly started to realize that these guys were not gay at all! They looked stoic and waited for girls to go up to them and then engaged in totally heterosexual activities with them. The AW! Then one of them came to us, and asked if we matched our purses to our shirts on purpose…I mean what would you think? He was straight. Laura and I quickly escaped this skewed world of metro sexual straight men, and told ourselves to beware for these strange bars. On the walk back, I realized what a culture shock this had been, and hence the blog writing started again.

Since that experience I have learned that there are plenty of places with men that are more of what I am used to, but still giggle when I pass a group of pretty boys, who obviously spend more time getting ready than I do.

(A tribute to Donnie Darko perhaps?)

Transmitting again

The decision has been made to continue this blog, due to the fact I am yet again in a new place. Even though this time i am in the quite developed world, I have already made quite a few interesting observations which differ from anything i have experienced before, and may be able to entertain a soul or two with my skewed views. So the first real post is soon to come. And for those who read my Peace Corps posts, let me just tell you that one year later, I miss Azerbaijan more than any place I have ever been.

Almost done!

My service is slowly coming to an end and there are only 2 weeks left till I must go to Baku and close out my Azeri life. Who would have thought that through all of the anticipation to finally finish I would actually become nostalgic? It happened and I am realizing how many small things have mattered a lot to me, and how leaving them won’t be a piece of cake. At the top of the list for that is Kiwi (my dog) who with the help of my friend Meredith, I will try to bring to America next summer. I have become so attached to her, and I miss her even when I travel within Azerbaijan. Too bad she can’t drink beers with me in the summer heat…Some other things that have mattered to me and I will miss are:

• My two favorite students Fidan and Shabnam.
• My house, since who knows when I can afford to live on my own again.
• Famile, my counterpart, who has always stood behind my decisions and has helped me through my problems.
• My Peace Corps friends.
• Making my own work schedule and not working a 9-5 job.
• Not worrying about money (too much) and having hassle free health care.

There are probably more aspects of my life that I will realize I’ll miss as my time here diminishes. Needless to say I am also looking forward to plenty when I come home, such as: a social life, supermarkets, sit down toilets, sushi, and washing machines among others.

Two things that I am most definitely happy to be leaving behind are Azeri men and being a teacher. I take my hat off to all of my current colleagues because teaching is not as effortless as it may and in fact is pretty hard! Maybe it’s a bit different teaching here, but still, I can’t picture ever being able to handle the job with the little amount of patience I possess.

So you probably wonder what I have been doing for the past 2 months? The answer is: not much! Once school ended and the heat cranked up to 90-100 degrees everyday, it is not only I who wanted to hide out with a fan in my face. All summer I have had one conversation club which would meet bi-weekly for 2 hours and that’s about it. I left Barda a few times to go help out friends with their clubs and camps, and finally took a trip to go see the mountains with my friends from Baku. Other than that I have been sitting at home in front of the Internet, cuddling a frozen water bottle and waiting for the sun to go down so I can function. Don’t ever take your air conditioning for granted people!!!

So everyone has been asking about my return. As previously mentioned I arrive on September 21st at Dulles, at 8:53 pm. Its taking me a little longer to get home because I'm taking a week to go to Berlin and re-civilize myself. When I come back home base will be my mom’s house in Alexandria for about one month, and around October 19th I’m heading out to Breckenridge, CO to live for the winter. I will email ways to reach me as soon as I get a cell phone and then the reunions shall begin. I can’t wait!!!

Pictures: 1) At Ilisu in Gax 2) Fidan and I 3) Museum in Sheki 4) In Sheki with Bulgarians 5) The Kiwi

US bound

My official return to America is:

September 21st!

Stop 1: DC
Stop 2: Breckenridge
Stop 3: San Francisco
(Inshallah, as the Azeris would say)

Toes

It always surprises me how time flies when you have things to do. June began with my long anticipated vacation to Riga which was exactly what I needed in order to remind myself what I have been missing out on. My friend and I stayed in a hostel in Old Town Riga where we met a ton of cool people, partied, ate amazing food, and did a number of touristy activities which I didn’t dread as much as I had imagined. Each day was more fun than the last, and once we came back to Azerbaijan we both went through a 2 week long nostalgia for Latvia. Immediately after our vacation we headed to our Close of Service Conference (COS), where our group reunited one last time before heading our separate ways on September
13th. We had sessions ranging from health to career advice, and even though helpful, what I got out of it was a good dose of stress, since I am still confused about my future. Why can’t my perfect job just hit me in the face so I won’t have to get wrinkles over it? If anyone has any future opportunities for me that involve skiing, traveling and not sitting behind a desk now is the time to speak up!! After COS, I came back to Barda for the environmental camp my site mate, Mare, and I had planned. We did environmental activities, every morning with a group of kids and we ended up enjoying it so much that we are going to gather with them two times a week, every week, until I’m done.

So logistically this is what my life had consisted of. Now I want to share a story about my foot…In late May after running daily on a crappy sprinter’s track I injured my left foot. The pain was gradual and I ignored it for about a week until one day I took my shoe off and I could barely step on it. The Peace Corps doctor sent me to the local hospital to get an X-Ray since I could get that over with right away and possibly skip the trip to Baku. I went to the scary hospital and did the deed, following which I had to talk to the orthopedist and get the diagnosis for my condition. After examining my foot, which was already de-swelled, and looking at the X-ray upside down, he told me that I have a serious condition called aseptic necrosis, which a lot of young women get due to the fact they wear high heels a lot. He told me I’ll be fine after serious physiotherapy and about 10 prescriptions. Our PC doctor freaked out and immediately summoned me to Baku for a second opinion. Meanwhile I researched this condition that I apparently had just to find out that it usually occurs in older people at the hip bone or the knee, rarely at the ankle and possibly never in the foot…Hmmm. Additionally I haven’t worn high heels in over 2 years which was the doctor’s main argument for me having this softening of the bone he diagnosed. So I went to Baku and Irina, my doctor straight out laughed at the diagnosis after looking at my seemingly perfect X-Ray. At the end it turned out I had just pulled a ligament and as long as I took it easy for a while it would heal. Should I believe that? I don’t know... What freaks me out is that this Barda doctor gives these sorts of diagnosis on a regular basis, sending people to surgery, and prescribing them unnecessary drugs. Once again this incident made me feel so damn lucky that I wasn’t born here.

And here is a snippet of important information:
I have decided to travel for a week after I’m done so my official return has been postponed till September 21st. The plane tickets are bought so its all set. Mark your calendars!

2 Years of Being a School Teacher - check

Today was graduation and school is officially over. I’m never ever EVER teaching again and couldn’t be happier about it. I know this means I am one step closer to coming home, but 103 days still sounds like an eternity away. At least I won’t be too bored while counting down till September 12th. I am barely going to be at site in June due to my Riga vacation and the Close of Service Conference, and then in July I’m planning and participating in a number of summer camps which will keep me busy and whining for at least a few more weeks. In addition I have decided to take the Foreign Service Exam, which also fits in that time period of crazy.

Other than that the Peace Corps has been quite the love mixer lately. We are on our way to marry off our second PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) couple in June and are wondering who is next. The first two got hitched back in January and moved in together right after. They are both in my group and are preparing to go home, meet each other’s families, and plan the American wedding with all the perks they didn’t get here. The second couple is a mix between my group and the new group, and is tying the knot in the next week or so. The wife to be, Mariko is extending her service one year and switching her site so she can be with her man. None of this of course can happen in Azerbaijan, so both couples have had to go to Georgia in order to legalize their union. They come back with the papers and PC handles all the rest. Love love love. BLAH! Speaking of this, just this week I realized that I have forgotten what to do with myself around normal, interesting and attractive men. My local interactions with the opposite sex are either accompanied with anger and annoyance (at local Azeris), or the sisterly nudge nudge (with PC guys). How did I figure this out? It happened three days ago, when a Spanish cyclist contacted me via Couch Surfers, asking if he could stay with me since he was to pass by on his way to Iran. He is taking on the world with his bike and at the age of 40 has been on the road for 4 years and has gone through South America and Africa already. He left his job as a lawyer in Spain, and while on the road entertains the poorest of the poor as a clown, for which he actually has training. If you speak Spanish and would like to check out his videos you can go to his website at www.biciclown.com. Needless to say he was just as amazing in person as he is on paper, and yours truly wanted to hide under the table not knowing what to do with herself around him. Quite sad, I hope my flirting skills come back to me once I return to civilization because this is totally UNACCEPTABLE!

And now back to my Peace Corps life. I have been quite busy in the past two months planning an Earth Day event and an end of the school year assembly with my 5th formers. For Earth Day I planned an awareness campaign for my classes, which ended up with a school clean-up on the weekend. Around 25 students showed up, and we had a grand time picking up syringes, beer bottles, and cigarette butts. At the end I gave all of them hand sanitizer and candy for their hard work. The end of the school year event was a bit more complicated since I had to teach 26 students a number of poems and songs. It sounds easy, but I tell you getting those kids into gear and controlling 26 little torpedoes is a tough job. It took 3 months to have them learn 4 songs, a poem, and create a letter from cardboard. Any less, and the program wouldn’t have been a success. The theme was the alphabet so each student had to make their own letter, say a poem about it and learn 4 songs with the accompanying dances. On May 16th we had an assembly inviting parents and teachers and it was an utter success. I was very proud of the little ones and almost cried when they presented me with gifts and speeches about what a great teacher I am. Now I know that there is something I will miss once I go from here.

I have also been working with my Jehovah’s Witness counterpart, who along with her group have been harassed and persecutes since they started their activities here. She has written a letter to mail out to different NGO’s and International organizations and I have been helping her revise it and make it more professional. The letter entails all of the discriminatory acts against Jehovah’s Witnesses by town people, the police and the Ex Com and is quite lengthy. Her English is not that good so it hasn’t been an easy task to arrange and re-write it. I have uploaded the letter in case you want to read or give it to anyone who may help. You can download it HERE.

And finally, I have been an essential part of the Barda Bandits, and had to say goodbye to a friend who recently quit due to the fact he got a job in Iraq. 3 more blog entries till the end!!!

On Local Men

Here is what my site mate Sarah wrote on the topic of local men. This is what we deal with on a daily basis, and why i chose to spend a chunk of my own money to get internet at home. Enjoy:

Observation On The Male Species

by Sarah Choy

Whether it be standing on street corners practicing their staring skills, following me from one end of town to the other grunting, trying to run me over with their speeding Ladas, throwing me random crude comments while I pass on the opposite side of the street, demanding for what I’m selling whilst grabbing at my pack, or sitting at the popular man made habitat/internet cafe for hours on end looking at porn for free because they are the buddy of the guy that works there, I have developed a strong dislike towards the male species in this country—maybe even borderline hate.
Side Note: Yes, I’ve had my share of negative experiences with the dominate populous here, but I’ve also met a few good men. For example, I have enormous amounts of respect for everyone at PCHQ and a good 2 in my surrounding environment.
The following are my observational notes…
Entry 612 [sometime last week in the year 2008]: The other day I ventured into the popular man made habitat with an intention of emailing my family after avoiding the outside world farther than the distance from my house to my work. At the internet café in Barda there are three “boys” that work there at varying hours in the day, if they aren’t at the çay xanas giggling and gawking. Usually I chose to pay a visit to the net in the morning hours when the environment is calmer and less dense with the male species. I would normally call or message Sean Paul, the morning worker and the most predictable of the three, to make sure he’s there because I hate standing on the street at the door to the net while people start drifting closer and closer to me as I wait. It was late afternoon by the time I decided to go the net. The guy working at that hour looks like he’s 12, but observation proves him to be older. All three computers were occupied, and one of them by the guy working there. I waited about an hour along the walls reading a book and occasionally glancing up to check on any movement from the boys. Finally the internet guy got up from his dwellings and calls me towards the computer signalling he was finished. I pack my book away and cautiously made my way over. I sit down and his hand is still on the mouse looking at me. I look onto the screen and there is a video of a girl on her knees giving a blow job to a headless body. I roll my eyes and open my bag to dig out my USB. I think to myself if he was done why did he not close the window? One of the many why questions I wonder about the species. I see his face curl into a seedy smirk and it hits me that he wanted to see my reaction to the video. After what seemed like an eternity as he waited for a reaction from me, he finally closed the window, put in the password for me to access the internet and went on his way. But this was only the beginning. Shortly afterwards he sits with another customer/friend/non-paying boy and they start giggling trying to get my attention. From being in the Peace Corps I’ve been working on my ignoring and jading skills. Being American that wasn’t really that difficult because I have the ability to focus on the tasks at hand. Then he strikes up a cigarette and blows a few puffs into my face as he gets up walking towards me. My peripheral vision indicated him throwing another smirk my way. I thought it best to not acknowledging anything around me and experiment what the species may do next and hoping he will loose interest in me and leave me alone. I probably seemed like an empty shell, or as a person living in my own bubble to him. And as I observed him I saw a freak in a glass box and noted his many attempts at annoying the foreigner who ventured into his environment. Eventually he walked outside and had gathered a handful of friends to join him in the café. Nearly 15 minutes passed with what some may define as heckling, I bid my family adieu and left the café after slamming 60 qəpik on the computer table as if I had enjoyed the display of immaturity I received. This experience is similar to many that I’ve encountered over nearly two years living in this strange environment. Thus my expectations of the male species no longer surprise me and I often let it fester in the natural habitat. This is maybe the decided reason why I dislike the dominate populous and choose now to avoid them at all costs. If there are some decent males out there in the community, they have yet to provide evidence of themselves to me.

On a positive note, even though what Sarah wrote is routine, i have met a number of wonderful men who never cease to surprise me:

1. My old host dad, Arif, who tells me stories of his life in Russia, would take on any disrespectful Azeri, and jumps at the opportunity to help me when in need.
2. Internet guy Shanpal, the only guy working at the cafe who would kick out anyone that is disrespectul to us and immediately give up his computer so we can get on the internet.
3. Taxi driver, Yadegar, who always feeds me at the rest stop between Barda and Baku,and finds me a nice driver if he happens to be busy.
4. Any men working for AIM, a great NGO which does a ton for the community projects, such as tree plantings, trash pick ups, and other environmental campaigns.
5. My landlord, who knows that i need to be left alone, yet when i have a problem with the house, he fixes it for free!
6. The 2 deputy directors at school, who make sure that no kid ever disrespects me.
7. The store owner, who always undercharges me by 20 qepic.
8. The neighborhood 15 year old, who always walks me places and shows me where to get the cheapest amenities.
   
9. And of course all the men working at the Peace Corps office!
   

Spring is Here

Right now I am sitting in my house while a bunch of children are running crazy around my yard and screaming like the little savages they are. The reason for that is that my landlord’s father died, and they are going through the 7 days of mourning with the whole extended family, which is here from Baku and a number of other regions. I just had to go scold the kids for trying to kick Kiwi, who is terrified and hiding out with with me in the house. Funerals here are very different than what we know to be true. I am not quite sure what happens to the body, but I believe its put in the ground almost immediately after the death, then a huge tent is built on the street where the men mourn. The women mourn too, by whaling, chanting and crying inside the house for 7 days straight. The belief is that if you are not loud enough, and you don’t show how much you miss the person, the soul will know and not go to heaven. Outside the tent and the whaling room, however, it’s like a party, kids a running around, people are chatting and smiling, and the mood is very un-funeral like.

Other than funerals and crazy kids, I've been quite contempt mostly due to the wonderful weather we've been having. Unlike last year when in May the seasons went straight from winter to summer, this year spring DID come. The trees are blooming, bugs are out, and everything is turning green. Not only did it come, but it also kind of infringed on winter, the weather has been in the 60’s and 70’s for all of March and the forecast for this week reaches the 80s every day. Last year at this time I was still running my heater and wearing winter apparel. Spring itself is quite an interesting phenomenon because even though I am already in t-shirts and sandals, the Azeris are still in boots and winter coats. I believe that there is an official date that the winter garments must come off, and until then they MUST wear them no matter how hot it is. Spring is also the season for city beautification, when buildings, streets, and parks, get fixed up and made over. And by that I mean the two streets that the president might see if he were to come to the city. I live right next to the Ex Com and Municipality buildings and everything is getting redone: the park across the street, the chess club, and even the old movie theater which will probably be turned into another man-only teahouse. Additionally all older buildings in the town center are being dressed in these gray Robocop style tiles in order to appear more modern. Its important to mention that while millions of dollars are pouring into this aesthetic city beautification, no school is being shown the same respect, specially mine which is on the verge of collapsing. These renovations are done in case the president were to come or even just drive through the city. Anywhere he goes, a magic paintbrush fixes things along the way and I am convinced that he doesn’t really realize the rundown state of his country and people. Spring is also the time for the biggest holiday in Azerbaijan, Novruz. It is a Muslim holiday which celebrates the start of the Muslim New Year, as well as the beginning of spring. Azeris cook a ton of food and basically force-feed you till you drop for a week straight. I tried so hard to avoid guesting during this time, but alas I failed and am now a fatty. The good thing about Novruz is that school is out for almost 2 weeks, letting me have solitude and giving me time to see my friends.

Other than school work, some other occurrences in my life have involved: PC Prom, which gives us a reason to go to Baku, dress up, and drink; Women's Day Celebration in Goranboy; Developing a program and art contest to teach students about Earth Day through the PC Environmental Committee, writing a PC Environmental blog, and planning an environmental camp with my site mates.

Peace Corps Prom

See? I do stuff….5 months to go!

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.