GYPSY SOUL

Ireland

2011-01-25T10:40:00.002-05:00

I have been a bit bad posting as of late. I went to a whole country and didn't post about it. But, I am in Ireland now. After Morocco we went to Paris and of course loved it - again. But, we are in Ireland now and we are leaving Thursday to go home! I am so excited to come back to the US, never thought I say that, but I am excited. But, enough on that and I will say a few things about Ireland.

We are both so pleased we are ending our trip here. It is true - everything in Ireland is green, even in winter. We arrived early evening and the next day we left Dublin, so I haven't even done Dublin yet - we are doing that tomorrow. We rented a car and have been spending time traveling around the Southwest of the country. Yes you read right - we rented a car and I am the driver. Those of you who know me well will find the irony in that. I don't want to say I don't like driving, but if I have a option I would prefer not to drive - i.e. other people drive, walk, or public transportation. But, since the car is a stick shift and Amy hasn't driven those a lot, and my car in America is, by default I am the driver. Needless to say driving on the left side of the road, changing gears with my left hand, having the passenger seat as the driver seat, round-abouts, roads that can only fit 1 1/2 cars but are really 2 lane roads, no street lights - all this takes a lot of getting used too! Amy helps me out a lot by telling me when I get too close to the curb on the left (which I constantly do) and she is in charge of navigating. It is getting a bit more normal now so Amy will have to make sure I drive on the right side of the road when we get back to America! But, I am having a wonderful time here. We went to Glendalough, Killanarey National Park, Cork City, and Blarney (where the Blarney Stone is) thus far. Tomorrow we will go through the Guinness Brewery and some other fun things in Dublin. I tried to upload picture to facebook a few minutes ago but it wouldn't load for some reason. So, I will try again later and hopefully add some pictures.

Morocco

2011-01-13T17:18:00.002-05:00

I am going to start off this post with a warning - I am biased so take my views of Morocco with a grain of salt. I have always wanted to come to Morocco, actually twice the PC told me I would be placed there. So here I am finally spending a week traveling around Morocco... and I can't wait to leave. I am not having a good time here at all. I think if I was coming here at a different stage in my life I would really enjoy it more; but not now. It is way too similar to my life in Azerbaijan. And coming here after spending time in Europe is brutal. I am back to being harassed walking down the street, having guys trying to grab me, having a guy kick at soccer ball at me, tons of unwelcome attention. It is just too much my life for the past 27 months too soon. But harder here because I don't speak the language or better so I can't understand what they are saying to me - depending on your perspective. We have already been to Casablanca and tomorrow we are leaving Fez for Marrakesh. Our first night in Casablanca we watched the movie Casablanca for the first time (the first time seeing the movie for the both of us) and we actually ate lunch at Rick's Cafe the next day. Our conclusion - Casablanca during WWII was much cooler. I am just having a hard time here in general - it is hard to find food I can eat, the tea is so sweet I don't like drinking it (never did I ever think I would find tea I don't like drinking) - I feel like I am drinking liquid sugar, I am just not in a good place mentally here. But on the positive side - the weather is quite nice during the day and it is cheaper than Europe.

We leave Morocco on Monday for Paris and then to Ireland and then back to the States.

Lisbon

2011-01-09T12:03:00.002-05:00

Let me just start off saying I love Lisbon! I definitely want to come back to Portugal and spend more time, there is so much more I want to do. And this is definitely a place I wouldn't mind living in the future. I absolutely love it here. I am not sure where to begin. I love the weather, the history, the people, everything. And it has a circus school! And as I wrote previously I love the circus, I kind of want to come to Portugal and go to circus school. Amy's mom knows a Portuguese man who lives just outside of Lisbon and we spent Saturday with him as he toured us around Lisbon and surrounding cities ending the night at his house for dinner with him and his family. The other days we just wandered around on our own. Tomorrow we fly to Casablanca for more adventures!

Spain

2011-01-05T03:39:00.000-05:00

I have been asked which city do I like better: Barcelona or Madrid. To be honest I am not sure: in Barcelona I went to the circus and a Flamenco show (which I could have done in Madrid but we booked it for Barcelona). And yes I did say circus, not the typical Barnes and Bailey style circus, but a circus none the less. We were walking down the street when I saw signs for the circus and made Amy and Olga go with me to the night show. So my new desire in life is to run away and join the circus (a desire I get every time I see the circus). But, for my first meal in Madrid I had a salad with avocadoes on it. I was so excited (I have had them in 2 ½ years). Then we were walking to Renia Sofia (a very famous art museum) when I saw a street seller selling sweet potatoes. I almost peed in my pants with excitement. A little background information – the only food I have truly missed my entire time abroad has been sweet potatoes. I already told my mom to stock the house with them because that is all I want to eat for the first month after I get home. So when I saw them on the street I was overcome with excitement so much so that I couldn’t even enjoy the art museum because all I wanted to do was go outside and get sweet potatoes. Needless to say I impatiently went through the museum with Olga only thinking about sweet potatoes so tomorrow I am going to the museum again so I can actually focus on what I am seeing. (And yes I loved every precious bite of my sweet potatoes.) I also went on a walking tour of Madrid and learned some interesting things about the history of the city that I didn’t know. So, back to the original question – I still have no answer. Amy and I will be in Madrid until Jan 6 when we will take a night train to Lisbon, Portugal.

Barcelona

2011-01-02T16:25:00.003-05:00

I am spending my last night in Barcelona and tomorrow I am heading off to Madrid. I have a few observations about my trip - I like Spain but I am not in love with it; I don't foresee myself coming back anytime soon. I guess it is a good thing I never followed through with my childhood dream of becoming a bartender in Spain. I am now, however, a huge fan of Sangrias; I tried it for the first time this trip and love them. But, eating in Spain is quite difficult for a vegetarian who doesn't eat dairy; not many options. And the hot chocolate is a no go - never thought I would turn down hot chocolate but here it is quite thick, like pudding. Continuing on the food topic, which eating is my favorite past time, I like mezas (Turkish version of tapas) better than tapas. Well, I should log off so I can continue packing and go to bed. Be on the look out for pictures on facebook in the next few days.

Istanbul

2010-12-29T08:06:00.004-05:00

Today is my last full day in Istanbul. Tomorrow we are heading out to Spain. I am very excited to leave Istanbul even though we have had a good time. We haven't done tons and tons of stuff, just taking it easy and enjoying a laid back relaxing vacation. We did however go see some of the major sights. It is Amy's first time in Istanbul and she had a list of thing she wanted to do.

Below are a few pictures but I posted more on my facebook account.

The Blue Mosque

Aya Sophia

Amy and Me at Subway

No, I didn't quit my blog.

2010-12-22T11:08:00.005-05:00

Its been too long since I last updated my blog. Since my last post everything, literally everything, in my life has changed. I am no longer as PCV; I COSed (completion of service) on Dec 16th. I am now an official RPCV (Returned PCV)! I know that is a bit of a surprise for some people since I posted a while ago my decision to extend. But after much thought and soul searching I came to the conclusion the best thing for me was to finish my time in Azerbaijan and come home.

So where am I now? Currently I am sitting in a flat in Istanbul that Amy and I are renting for the duration of our stay here. We will be here until the 30^th, when we will leave for Spain. And yesterday I was in Paris, my new favorite city. After I COSed I met Sara and Laura there; I absolutely fell in love with it. I am not sure if I loved it so much because it is so different from where I have been or it is just that amazing. But I like it enough that Amy and I will make our way back there while we travel through Europe. We (Sara, Laura, and I) rented a flat near in a cute little neighborhood and had an amazing time sight seeing, eating, and relaxing. Below are pictures from my time there.

Sara and me at The Louvre

Our last supper - (I had monkfish)

Laura and me

Yes, I am drinking a bowl of amazing hot chocolate

At Notre Dame

Yummy sushi dinner

In our flat

At the Louvre

Time With Char

2010-10-13T03:17:00.003-04:00

Last week I was so fortunate to have a friend of mine from Raleigh, Char, stop by for a few days to visit me. And when I say a few days I literally mean 2 days. She was helping some friends move to Turkey and decided to stop by and see me. I am so glad she did and I had an absolutely amazing time with her. We spent the time in Baku doing some sight-seeing with my Embassy family (the family I stay with when I am in Baku who works at the US Embassy; I have adopted them, hence the possessive pronoun). It was hard to see her leave, but I loved every minute of her being here.

I have attached a few pictures from our time with descriptive captions.

Me and Char at Qobustan (a historic site with rock engravings dating back between 5,000 - 10,000 years)

Us in the House

Us at the "Burning Mountain" (a hillside where the ground is naturally on fire, constantly, from natural gas)

Me at Burning Mountain

Me climbing through a rock at Qubostan that is believed if you go through it (like in the picture) and make a wish it will come true

Changes

2010-09-25T02:49:00.002-04:00

I’ve changed. That was a given outcome I was expecting when I decided to join the Peace Corps. Some changes I think are for the best and some not so much. What brought on this discourse of thought on change? Watching a cooking podcast (which I download to get new ideas for meals and merely because I enjoy watching them). As I was watching this particular episode for vegan pancakes, the cook needed water for the recipe, so she proceeded to turn to her kitchen sink, open the faucet, get water and then put it in the batter. I watched that and thought: that is so weird; she just took water from the sink. It wasn’t until a few days later did I realize how strange it was that I thought it is strange to get cookeable, drinkable water straight from the tap. (Bit of background on my process for having drinkable water: daily gather water (between 7.45am to 8.30am – roughly) from the yard faucet, boil it, pour it in my water filter, and wait for it to be filtered (this is the longest part of the process, usually requiring several hours.)

Pondering all the ways I realize I have changed (probably have changed in ways I don’t even consider as change anymore), I wander when I go back to America if all these changes will reverse or are they permanently part of me now? Will I ever stop thinking running water is precious? When I turn a knob and instantly have hot water will I even remember having to water several hours for water to heat up, and never having hot water in the house, only the in the yard shower? Will I continue the habit of never leaving anything pluged into an outlet when it is not in use? Will I get used to not having to bring my own toilet paper everywhere? Will I continue to use my hand (for number 1 and 2) when I run out of or forget toilet paper, without giving it a second thought? Will I break the habit of automatically throwing used toilet paper into a trash can? What will replace my knowledge of exact time of day when I no longer hear the call to prayer 3 times a day? Will I continue to walk down streets with my head down, eyes to the ground, avoiding eye contact, and frankly any interactions, with men? Will I see a group of guys, young or old, in the street and instantly change my course and find an alternate route to avoid them or will I not even think twice about them? Will I walk into a room full of men for a business meeting and think it is strange that my presence is acknowledged (since here my presence is rarely acknowledged)? Will I stop becoming overwhelmed when I am in large group gatherings? What will happen when my secret language of English is understood by everyone around me or when I can fluently understand everything around me?

To be honest the thought of staying scares a me a bit to think how much more I will change and the thought of going scares me a bit because here has become the normal for me.

Party At My House

2010-09-22T06:54:00.005-04:00

I hosted a birthday party at my house last weekend for one of my youth, who was turning 16 or 17, not sure which. Birthdays are counted differently here and when I asked her how she was she said 17, but when I doubled checked for how many candles to put on the cake she said she was turning 16. I tried to get an explanation for the difference, but I didn't understand what she was talking about so I gave up and said she was 17 turning 16. None the less we had a really fun party. I spent Saturday night baking and as usual I over baked - 1 layer chocolate cake with pink icing; 1 batch sugar cookies, 1 batch butter walnut cookies, 1 9 x 13 pan of peanut butter bars with PB & chocolate icing, plus watermelon and chips. The party was Sunday and 8 youth came (8 were invited) and we played Twister and Screaming Ninja. Twister was a big hit, but being where we are and how it is here boys and girls played separately, well that is not true, I was the only hussy who played with both boys and girls. Screaming Ninja was also a big hit and I can only imagine what the women who sit the in the apartments' building communal yard thought of a group of kids yelling "hi-ya's" at each other were doing, because we could definitely be heard out of my window. The kids really like my new house a lot better, I can really tell too because they come over a lot more often now - which I like. So here was the breakdown: games, tea break, more games, cake and soda break, games, Xalid's Micheal Jackson dance and then photo session. (Photo session is the term I apply to the need for everyone in this culture to take crazy amounts of pictures - the person individually with everyone.) Then they left - the girls had to get home, they only were allowed permission from their parents to stay until 5.

Screaming Ninja in Action

Making a wish

Me and the birthday girl

Xalid doing his Micheal Jackson dance to "Smooth Criminal" for us, he is really good.

The group (minus the girl taking the picture, she doesn't like her picture to be taken)

Boys Round of Twister

Twister fun

Me rocking out Twister

What's your reason for being late to work?

2010-09-03T06:50:00.004-04:00

I have been in my new place for one week and last night I started to get worried that my water tank would run out soon - like in the middle of my shower soon. (Just in case you don't know, most houses and apartments have a tank that stores all the water for their house; which is different from drinking water - that comes from somewhere else. In my current case, the drinking water comes from a faucet in the middle of the courtyard of my building.) The water to fill tanks and the water from the faucet in the yard does are not always working at the same time (unless your source is a well, not the city.) To further complicate things water is only cut on a certain times during the day - you have to know your water schedule and be home at those times. For three days I have opened the valve I needed to fill up my water tank when the faucet (in the courtyard) was pouring water; I assumed that if one was working the other would be too. Not the case. So I was becoming increasingly worried that I would run out of water (which has happened to me before, not the end of the world but not super fun to be in the middle of a shower with no more water either). I asked my neighbor why I couldn't fill my tank in the mornings when the faucet water was turned on. She said, "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't; sometimes the water comes on around 3 or 4, but you work then." So where did that leave me - a little more stressed out. She suggested I turn open my valve in the morning before work and just leave it on until I come home at night and close it then. Great thought minus the fact that when once a tank is full it then begins to overflow. Again, not the end of the world to have a flooded yard expect my tank doesn't overflow into my yard but into a neighbor's yard. As much as I want water I also don't want to be that jerk who floods their neighbor's yard.

This brings me to this morning. When I went to shower this morning (and the faucet water was turned on) I decided to open my tank valve and just see what happened. What happened? Nothing, no water. But I left it open while I continued to get ready for work. As I was leaving for work I stopped in my yard to close the valve. But, what did I feel? Water running! (Yes, I tell if the water is running by touching the pipes to see if I can feel running water). New delima: leave for work with an unfilled tank, leave for work with tank valve open and flood the neighbor's yard, or stay until my water tank fills and be late for work. I took option 3. Now I can rest easy because I know that I have a tank full of water, until the next time that is.

Birthday Fun

2010-08-31T05:47:00.002-04:00

For my birthday this year I really felt the love. My PCV and Azerbaijani friends totally went above and beyond with visits, presents, texts, and phone calls wishing me a happy birthday. Ceyhun, for the second year in a row, brought me a birthday cake to celebrate. I have posted pictures below. However, my favorite gifts were from my amazing friends Sara and Jessica. What did they give me? Diet Coke, brought to me all the way from Baku!

Ceyhun (right) and his best friend (also my neighbor) in my kitchen

Aybaniz, me, and Ceyhun with my birthday cake

Cutting the cake

My birthday cake from Ceyhun (second year in row he has given me a cake)

Weekend to Zerdab

2010-08-30T06:32:00.002-04:00

This past weekend I went to visit my good friend Sara at her site, on Sunday my other stellar friend Jessica came down to join the fun. Sara and I had a blast cooking all sorts of amazing food and running together in the mornings. We made English muffins, which we were so proud of - they tasted amazing and looked like store bought. We made apple oatmeal pancakes, hummus, roasted veggies with pesto sauce, Thai veggies, burritos, and brownie oatmeal cookies. I was sad to leave, but the realities of work. Below are some pictures from the weekend.

Me and Sara with two of her girls she works with

Jessica and Me

Me, Jess, and Sara

Home made whole wheat English muffins Sara and I made - from scratch!

Me slicing up our amazing English muffins to toast in the oven

I Moved!

2010-08-27T01:37:00.002-04:00

Well, I did the unthinkable - I moved. I honestly thought I would never move away from my host family, but I had my reasons for wanting to move and I did, yesterday. I will try to give you a mental picture until I post pictures of it, which will not happen until I have it fixed, i.e. unpacked and decorated.

When you walk in the front door you are standing in the corridor - there is a coat rack, small table with a mirror, where I fix my hair and for the first time since I have been in the country have access to a full length mirror to actually check out my outfits! To the right is a room that will serve as my kitchen - it is very spacious, guess lack of furniture will do that, and has a big window giving it lots of light. In that room is a kitchen sink and a fridge. Back in the corridor again, to the left is my bedroom. It has my bed and place for my clothes (can only think of the word in Azerbaijani, can't find the English word right now). But this clothes holder thing has a place where I can hang my dresses, amazing! Haven't had that before either. At the far end of my bedroom is a door which accesses my enclosed balcony. On the balcony is my gas stove - with 3 working burners! I am pumped about that, the gas is a lot stronger than at my old place. So that is the rundown of my apartment. Anything missing!?! You're probably wandering where my toilet and shower are? Well, they are in my own little enclosed yard - outside of my apartment building. I can't get indoor plumbing for the life of my in this country! But, I am okay with it, it is just a short walk to my yard. It is mine alone, I am the only one with the key (I bought a new lock) - there was some dispute on how many keys there were to the old lock so I solved that problem by buying a new one. I still have a squatty potty, but I actually like them so I don't mind. My shower is absolutely fabulous - the water doesn't just drip on my head, but comes out of all the holes on the shower head - its amazing. The shower alone was worth the move to me. However, I do have to heat the water up via burning wood. Didn't try that this morning, little apprehensive, not going to lie - but I will get the hang of it eventually, hopefully before winter comes.

Lessons learning: how to heat my water and the water schedule (i.e. when the water comes so I can fill my water tank). Also, where to put my garbage - still a mystery.

Lesson learned: Just because I am the only one with a key to my yard doesn't mean I should shower or using the bathroom with the doors open (which I love, not a fan of doors) and shouldn't walk around my yard naked either, which I also like. Why? As I learned this morning, people on the second floor can see down into my yard - opps! lol.

Soap box for the day

2010-08-20T02:50:00.002-04:00

I can't remember if I have announced this or not but I am going vegan. I have already cut out eggs and cheese and recently I cut out milk. All that is left for me to eliminate is yogurt and ice cream (every time I go to Baku I buy a soft serve cone from McDonald's). I won't be able to completely go vegan while I am here because not going to lie, I really like the fresh from the village yogurt. A staple guesting food for me is a aryan, yogurt drink and dovga, a yogurt soup, since I don't eat meat. That and there is no such thing a soy products here so it makes it a bit more difficult.

But, back to the point of this post. When I search online for vegan recipes it drives me absolutely insane when the search results say the are vegan and then I go to the site, but in reality they are just vegetarian. For someone with very limited Internet access it is super annoying.

This is my life.

2010-08-16T05:41:00.003-04:00

One indication I need to find friends closer to my own age: After lunch today we checked our blood pressures and discussed it over tea.

Pictures as promised

2010-08-10T03:19:00.003-04:00

Yagud cooking vegetable Kabobs

Me and Yagud at a small waterfall at a resturant

Isti Su (Hot Water)

Me with my hair wrapped, wearing a wool jacket and pants

Xəyələ and Me outside a dead prophet's tomb we visited

Me and Yagud in Lerik

Everyone (minus the person taking the picture) drinking tea in Lerik

Azeri Vacations

2010-08-02T11:01:00.001-04:00

I am on vacation with Yagud and Fizuli in a village of Lankeron. The day I am writing this, Sunday, is day 5 of our vacation and I am having a good time and enjoying it. However, there are definitely some marked differences form an American vacation, I should not generalize, so more specifically there are definitely marked differences between my version of a vacation than their idea. But, that is to be expected. Some examples. We left Imisli Wednesday, and when I say we I mean me, Yagud, Fizuli, and their neighbors who have a family of 3. So we drove the 6 hours in the afternoon heat with me and 3 other people in the back seat of a small 4 door car. We arrive to the village and start looking for a place to stay. The other family is renting a room out of person’s house, but Yagud didn’t like it there so we (Yagud, Fizuli, and me) went to another house. She didn’t like it here either so we went yet to a 3rd house. By this point we are all tired, hungry, and hot. She finally agreed to stay there a night and then decide if we will continue staying there (which we are, guess it grew on her). And we went to a neighboring region yesterday called Lerik. What did we do to mark our time in Lerik? See the highlights of the city? Drive or walk around? No, we went to a tea house, took pictures of us drinking tea, then left.

The village we are staying in is known for having naturally heated water springs that people visit for healing and health reasons. So every night we go to this place to sit in the ‘isti su’ (i.e. hot water). Well, there are two types of this hot water you can sit in: for one person it is a bathtub and for families or groups of same sex people (if a man and a woman go they have to be married to go in the same room) it is more of a pool type setting. Maybe a carved out of the ground hot tub is the best description. It is a large hot tub size, but rocks and earth are the ground – if that makes sense. So I went into the single room the first night. The second day Yagud decided I should see the ‘pool’ one (I said pool because the Azeri word used translated is pool).

On the second night we went to the hot water place and told the women in charge of collecting the money we wanted a ‘pool’ room. An hour later we were still on the benches sitting outside waiting for a room to open up, this is a crowded place. Yagud is getting impatient, I am getting hungry (it doesn’t open until 6 and we got there around 7). We go wait outside of the door of the room Yagud wants. For another 30 minutes we stand outside the door while Yagud impatiently knocks on the door telling the people in there to hurry up. Another 30 minutes passes and we are still waiting; the original plan was for me and Yagud to go together and then I would leave and then Fizuli would go in with Yagud. By this time we have been waiting so long that Yagud thought we all 3 (me, Yagud, and Fizuli) should go together, but I squashed that (because you do this naked). Then Yagud is fed up so she walks in there and talks to the people in there, who are all women. Next thing I know Yagud is telling me to come with her (this is about two hours after we arrived at the hot waters). So I walk in the room with the ‘pool’ and small area for changing. What do I see? Four naked women in the room going back and forth between sitting in the pool and sitting on the bench and one woman fully clothed waiting for the others. What do I do? Get naked and get in the pool. So here I am with 5 complete strangers, naked, and floating in the ‘healing power’ waters. (From the first night in the bath tub room the un-sanitariness of this gets suppressed from my mind, like I do often during my service.) Not sure what this says about me, but I don’t think twice about the situation. So next thing I know some says my shoe, i.e. my right chaco is in the canal. (The right shoe only being significant because I just happened to pee on that one by accident when I went to the bathroom while waiting for the pool room to be free.) I immediately jump out of the pool asking ‘what do you mean it is in the canal?’ Evidently, leaving your shoes in the middle of the room is a big mistake because the overflow from the pool flows out of the room into some inaccessible canal outside. A woman looks through the hole in the back of the room where the water is draining and says she sees my show. I look and don’t see it. Next thing I know Yagud, butt naked, gets down on all fours and starts reaching her hand through this hole trying to salvage my shoe. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my chacos. It didn’t start out that way, last summer I killed my rainbows and after mold starting to grow on them I decided it was time to face reality and throw them out. So this summer I had no choice but to start wearing my chacos. Well, I thought (and still do think) they are some of the ugliest shoes I own. But they have grown on me: they are comfortable, durable, easy to take on and off (no shoes in the house here), don’t mold when they get wet; they do leave a nasty tan line on my feet, but hey who is perfect? So, I daily wear my chacos and don’t want to wear any other shoes. All that being said, I don’t love them near enough to get on my hands and knees, butt naked, on the floor of this public bath house stick my arm through a drain where I can’t see what I am touching (huge phobia of mine – reaching my hands in things where I can’t see what I am touching). So, I resigned to losing my chaocs and having to buy a pair of sandals for the rest of the summer. But, not Yagud. She stuck her arm up to her shoulder through that hole (which was not much bigger than her arm) and that paired with a stick was able to save my chaco. Now, all the women in the room are mad at me because I am younger and smaller than Yagud and think I should be the one of the floor. But, I just look at them like they are out of their minds because I would never do that. So after my shoe is saved from its little bath (guess I shouldn’t pee on my shoes anymore) I wash my hair and body, rinse off and decide I have had enough of this pool experience. (Now, on the showering note – the only shower I have here is at this hot water place which is why I daily go).

But don’t worry, the story only gets better. Now, take into account it is the middle of summer, ridiculously hot, I just got out of basically a sauna, all my body water has been sweated out, feel de-hydrated and am continuously sweating – what would you do next? Let me tell you what I have to do, and I mean ‘have to’ as in forced to do. Put on pants, wear socks, wear a wool jacket over my tank top, and wrap my wet hair with a towel and stay that way for hours. Am allowed to drink water? Nope. I have to wait for everyone (Yagud, Fizuli and the other family we came with) to finish then we will all go drink boiling hot tea. I kid you not. If I don’t completely cover myself from head to toe and drink hot tea I will get sick. Yagud seriously told me the first night I couldn’t go into the hot waters because I refused not to drink water for the 7 week we will be here. So we compromised, I said I wouldn’t drink water after the hot waters, but during the day all bets were off. So, the second night I got out of my naked stranger experience, pee shoe in toe, sweating my life away dying of thirst. Oh Azeri vacations!

ps. pictures to come when I don’t have dial up internet

An update at last

2010-07-18T09:02:00.002-04:00

It has been way too long since I posted last. I actually started to write a post a few weeks ago, just now realizing that I never posted it. My bad. I am alive and well and I will attempt to give an update on my life. In Imishli it is still really not and we still have no gas (since May). I officially put my extension request in to Peace Corps and now I'm just waiting to hear for their decision.

I do have a few funny guesting experiences. A little cultural side note: the majority of Azerbaijani people, especially older people, do not like to sit in direct contact with a fan or air conditioning in the summer. They believe that the cool air will make them sick. That being said, my host grandmother has been coming to our compound daily to hang out in the yard with my host family. My host family went inside to sit in their room with a wall unit and then my host dad had friends come over to drink tea and play backgammon. Therefore my host grandmom came over to my house and asked if she could sit in my house for a while because the men were in the yard (women leave the area/room when men guests come and only serve food and tea for them) and couldn't go in the big house (my host family's house) because the wall unit was on. I said sure. She said 'I'm going to go wash and be right back.' So about 5 minutes later my host grandmom comes to my door naked from the waist up - no shirt, no bra. She then proceeds to sit in my one and only arm chair spread eagle with a skirt and no top until the men left. I had to turn my fan away from her so the air wouldn't hit her. I just sat there thinking - wow and laughing in my head.

Another time I went guesting at an aunt's house of one of my youth. They live in a village of Imishli. That guesting experience was a mere 7 hours, but it wasn't so bad. We went fishing, milked cows (which I have lost my touch), played cards and chess. Ceyhun, my youth, asked me to play chess with him. I told him I learned how to play chess in 1st grade but hadn't played since then. He then proceeded to say ' Oh, so you learned how to play 20 years ago.' My initial reaction was 'No way, I'm not that old' until I realized, yes I am that old and he was completely right. That was a shocker! I guess to all my youth I am old. It made me realize all my friends at site are either 20 plus years older than me or 10 plus years younger than me.

I think thats all I have for now.

Decisions

2010-06-25T02:42:00.001-04:00

I have been asked a lot lately 'when are you coming home?' The question for me was a lot harder and complicated than 'my time in PC ends in December.' For work reasons I have been considering extending my service in the PC. I wavered back and forth for at least a month on what I should do. For me, the real question was 'What do I want to do with my life?' If I could answer that question then I could decide if it would be smarter for me to leave or stay in PC.

So, why have I even been considering extending? I originally said to myself that I would never even consider extending unless I had full time work, not as it is now: periods of a lot work and periods of very little work. Well, turns out that I do have full time work in my future. I have been and continue to be very busy with preparing project proposals. I am working with Fizuli's organization to design and prepare two projects dealing with building the capacity of 8 municipalities in 4 regions to be more democratic, transparent and citizen-orientated. There are two separate projects, one focusing on the 8 municipalities and youth and one focusing on the 8 municipalities and women. For the donor organization these projects will be a pilot program to possibly implement in other regions. Each of the projects will be 12 months and will probably start in August. After have been repeatedly asked, by both Fizuli and the donor organization, to extend my service in the PC to continue to work on these projects, I actually started to consider extending.

So back to the question of what to do with my life. After much prayer and seeking the opinion and advice of professionals in the various career fields I am considering I have finally come to a decision. I have decided to extend my time in PC for an additional 6 months, as of right now I am planning to leave in either May or June of next summer. (I have until December to give my exact date of leaving the PC and I am figuring out the best date for me to leave in regards to my plans for after PC.) I chose to stay for career purposes as I have decided to pursue the field of International Development. The reason I am leaving next summer is to give myself 2 months (1 month for personal travel in Europe and 1 month to spend with family and friends in the US) before I start graduate school, inshallah, next Fall. I will be taking the GRE in December and applying in January for 5 graduate programs to receive my MA in International Development or Public Policy (the program name varies from school to school). The schools I am considering are all on the East Coast, the majority in Washington, D.C.

So, that is where I am now - one year before I will be coming home. But, the positive side I will soon have access to video skype whenever I want to use it so I will be able to see and talk to you all for free, if you have skype! We will be getting DSL in Fizuli's office for the projects and Fizuli is going to buy a webcam and headset for me to use - so let me know if you want to set up skype dates!

Update at Last

2010-06-11T02:03:00.004-04:00

As I was encouraging my youth to create blogs I realized how I have not updated my in a really long time. So, this is me trying to practice what I preach. I am slammed with work, which is nice. I am developing two project proposals that will work in municipal development and civic engagement. I spend most of my time working on the proposals, traveling back and forth to Baku for meetings (who would ever thought driving 4 hours for a 2 hour meeting and then back 4 hours in one day would become routine), talking through the project with Fizuli and staying up late revising and editing the proposals. I also have 3 clubs a week for my youth: sport night, movie night, and English lesson night (my least favorite). I have learned anything here it is that I do not like teaching English. But, I love my youth so I guess it balances it self out.

Other updates: It has been 19 days and counting with no gas, ie no hot water and no way to cook food. The gas pipes that serve Imishli are covered with water from the horrible flooding here (as Imishli, Saatli, and Sabairabad regions). But, it could be worse - it could be winter or my house could have been flooded. I have electricity most of the time, last week it was off until around 8 - 10 pm, but this week has been much more steady. I had a end of school party at my house last weekend for my youth. I made too much pizza and cookies, but I think they had fun none the less. I had an amazing time with my mom (she has all the pictures though so you will have to get them from her), her time with me went way too fast.

My youth at my house

My mom at a HIV/AIDS awareness training in Fizuli Region (a project I did, it as nowbeen completed)

Me, a shot from one of my youth

New Pictures

2010-04-23T01:52:00.002-04:00

My host family wanted to chop down a lot of unfruitful trees (literally, the trees that were fruit trees that were not providing fruit) from my yard. When I heard what was going down I decided to go help them; and when I say help them I mean watch. As my host parents were getting tired my host mom asked me to help cut down one of the trees. I thought, how hard can this really be right? Well, it is a little harder than it looks. I like to blame the dull saw and ax for my absolute failure, but in reality I just couldn't make the cut! My host mom, when she found her breath from all the laughter of watching my horrible attempts, asked me "Didn't your father teach how to do this?" Which got me laughing and I said no. (So mom, for the first time you are not to blame for my failure of knowledge!)

My failed attempts to cut down the tree.

The pros at work.

I realized that you all may have never seen a picture of Yaqut and Fizuli (my second family here.) These are the people that I consider my closest friends, next to my host mom, and at whose house I can be found if I am not at home or at work.

Novruz

2010-04-06T04:50:00.002-04:00

Novruz, the biggest holiday in Azerbaijan, just ended. For my 9 nine days of work being closed I decided to go traveling. I went to Sheki, Baku, and Xachmas. Here are some pictures of my Sheki leg of the trip.

Albanian Church in the village of Kish outside of Sheki.

Stopping for tea with fellow PCVs on our day hike.

I promise I do do more than just guest

2010-03-05T03:04:00.004-05:00

A friend of a friend (i.e. a PCV's, in another region, Azeri friend serving his army service in that PCV's region) is from a village of Imishi. My friend suggested I go visit his friend's family. So last Sunday was the day I arranged, through my friend's friend, to go visit his family. I had been talking to the mother on the phone several times through out the week finalizing the arrangements. We decided on a time and that the father, who has a friend with a car, would come get me in instead of me taking a taxi. (Let me just preference I had never heard of this village before so I had no idea where it was. I asked around and got a general idea of the location I was going.) I was looking forward to the visit, I felt like I had everything set up. Time, ride, informed the mother I don't eat meat (even more awkward than telling a complete stranger I am coming to visit and listing off food I can and can't eat is showing up to their house with a huge meal prepared in your honor that you can't eat because everything is meat) - all checked off my mental list. I thought I was ready until Saturday night. I had borderline anxiety about going and that's when I realized I really don't like meeting new people and I have become borderline antisocial. The thought of me being the center of attention for minimum 5 hours of guesting, trying to plan how to politely get out of spending the night (normal for guesting), making small talk, trying to avoid being forced to eat so much I explode, figuring out how I will get a ride back to Imishli... had me thinking I am too old for this and wandering why in the world I agreed to guest at complete strangers' house.

Well, Sunday morning I woke up, I ate as little as possible to prepare myself for what was to come, made a coffee cake as a gift, packed up my photo album (pictures and family videos come out for every guesting experience and bringing my own is a great time filler), packed my box of chocolates for a gift, packed my tp (third to keys and phone on my check list when I leave my house, don't like using my hands) and decided it would be easier for me to wait on the main street for the father to come get me (I gave them my address but considering the roads nor houses are marked I decided to wait outside).

So I am waiting on the street for a someone to come up to me, who has never met or talked to me nor I have ever met or talked to him, and ask me "Are you Hannah?" I am banking on him being able to find me easily, since I completely stand out every where I go. After this man comes up to me, then the plan was to get in the car with the two random men and drive 40 minutes or so to a village I have ever heard of and spend the rest of the day at their house. It was not until I was already in the car and well on my way did the thought occur to me that this might not be the smartest plan in the world. It seemed completely normal to me, completely legit for here, and then I started to laugh because I thought this would freak my mom out.

But, as I knew I it would be, I was completely safe, everything was fine. The family is very nice and I enjoyed spending time with them. It was a bit awkward at times, but that is to be expected. I only stayed for a little over 5 hours and left with a parting gifts of some of my favorite foods. (They were at a complete loss of what to do with me. They wanted to give me eggs, but I don't eat eggs. Then wanted to kill a chicken for me and give me that, but I don't eat meat.)

What I took away from this experience: coffee cake is a huge success and I will now bake it for all my guesting adventures.

Guesting Fun

2010-02-26T04:30:00.002-05:00

So I went guesting to Yagut's the other day. Yes, the same Yagut where I had all my facial hair removed and became a dress up doll for her middle aged women wardrobe and wig. So what happened in this latest adventure? Lets just say a picture is worth a thousand words. And I would be lying if I didn't actually want to do it myself. What can I say, I am a girl after all.

Below are some kids who came to my house last Sunday for pizza. The very first time they have ever eaten pizza. Sometimes I forget that I am the only 'piece of America' they have known or ever will know. Kind of a scary thought. After we ate we played outside a bit with a Frisbee and volleyball and then came inside for a game of Skipbo.

How I've Changed

2010-02-24T07:24:00.003-05:00

A few things that don't phase me anymore:

1. Having to pay extra at a store because you asked for a receipt

2. A store not having the coins you need for change so instead you are given matches, candy, or a pen

3. Having guests come to your house and stay from 11am - 4pm and thinking once they leave that they only stayed for a short period of time

4. Not remembering the last time I changed my outfit and yet continuing to wear it daily

5. Using a broom to sweep my carpets and thinking it is perfectly normal

6. Not knowing anymore if what I do and don't do is normal by Azerbaijani or American standards

All I can say, is watch out America. Every time I come back from overseas I always have new habits that disgust and drives my family crazy. I can't even imagine what you all will think of me now!

Gaining permission

2010-02-22T03:01:00.003-05:00

Last week Fizuli (the director of an organization I work with and Yagut's husband, if you remember her), Anar (the trainer for Fizuli's organization), and I went to Fizuli Region, a bit confusing I know. We went to gain permission from the Ex-Comm (if we were given his permission then everything would fall into place) and the Minister of Education to receive permission from them to do an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) schools there. So the interesting thing from this is that we (and when I say we I mean Fizuli because I didn't do any of the talking for two reasons: 1. my language ability and 2. I am a woman (even if I knew all the Azerbaijani words needed to talk about HIV/AIDS I wouldn't say anything because I would not have been taken seriously and then we would not have been given permission for the project). So back to trying to convince them. After we went through all the proper channels, i.e. meeting with 6 people first, then we were finally able to meet with the Ex-Comm. In his office, which was bigger than my entire house, no lie, Fizuli and Anar had to repeat over and over that we were going to focus on transmission through needles (a serious problem here) and not focus on sexual transmission in our project. The Ex-Comm (and therefore the Minister of Education) finally agreed that we could do the project, but we have to be very careful that we don't talk a lot about sexual transmission, just mention in passing so to speak. The other condition is that they may not allow girls to attend the trainings because the topic may be too inappropriate for them.

Side note, in the meeting with the Ex-Comm at one point he asked Fizuli if I understood what he was saying. Fizuli said no and then the Ex-Comm proceeded to talk a really long time about very inappropriate topics (lets just say prostitutes was the start of this conversation). So while the Ex-Comm was going on this tangent, for a lack of a better word, I sat there and pretended that I didn't understand what he was talking about, since Fizuli said I didn't understand. Afterwards I asked Fizuli why he said I didn't understand and he just laughed. He said he knew I understood but could tell the Ex-Comm really wanted to "get this stuff off his chest" and knew it would help our chances of getting permission and if he knew I understood he would never had talked about it. I just laughed. Oh the politics of getting stuff done.

Snowed In

2010-02-08T23:17:00.001-05:00

Last week I went to Baku for Az6's Mid Service Conference. Well, on the day we were suppose to leave, we got snowed in the hotel! So we stayed a day extra and finally were able to leave the hotel on Saturday, but not allowed to leave Baku because of the road conditions. So, Amy, Jessica, and I headed over to stay with the Riders (American family working in Baku who Jessica and I often stay with) for a few days. We went sledding, played games, drank hot chocolate, and ate awesome food. Once we were finally able to leave Baku I was very excited to see the snow disappear as I headed back down to my region. But, I woke up today and it is snowing here! No love for me, I can't escape it. I am just hoping our pipes don't freeze again; they did a few weeks ago and it made me really understand how much I value running water. I will have to say that I have almost mastered the art of cold weather dressing. Today I am wearing: hiking boots, two pairs of socks (one is wool), leggings, thermal long johns, pair of pants, thermal shirt, long sleeve shirt, hoodie, two jackets (one North Face and one Patagonia), scarf, and gloves. Yes, I am a wimp, I know.

Amy (another PCV), me, Aaliyah, and Elisabeth

me and Jayden getting ready

Hannah, the Invisible Woman

2010-01-22T06:11:00.004-05:00

I was walking home from work the other day with one of my kids. I said kids but in reality he is 16. I called the youth that come to my clubs, around 15-18 years old, kids because that is how I think of them. They are just so much more innocent that any 15-18 I know in the US. But, back on track. So Ceyhun and I are walking home, we live in the same general direction, when some man calls out to Ceyhun to stop. We stop and here is the conversation that follows (take into the fact that this entire conversation takes places in Azerbaijani):

Man (to Ceyhun): Does she speak Azerbaijani?
Me: Yes, I speak Azerbaijani.
Man (to Ceyhun): Is she English or American?
Me: I'm American.
Man (to Ceyhun): Very good. I'm a music teacher and I want a Pink Floyd CD. I can buy one here, but the quality is bad. Tell her to give me one.
Me: I don't have a Pink Floyd CD.
Man (to Ceyhun): Why doesn't she have one?
Me: I don't listen to Pink Floyd.
Man (to Ceyhun): Okay. Thanks. Good Bye.

So this is just a typical event for me if I am ever with any guy, yes, including guys way younger than me. I am invisible! After a year of this one would think I would be used to it by now. It still irks me a bit, but not nearly as much as it did before. Now, I just laugh when it happens.

Same old same old

2010-01-18T03:50:00.004-05:00

So my goal this year is to be a bit better about updating my blog. But, I have absolutely nothing to say. My life is very mundane. As I was walking to work today I tried to think of something, anything you all would find interesting to write about and all I could come up with is food. Pretty sad. So, at this point in the season the cheapest vegetables are carrots and cabbage. And the cheapest fruits are apples and mandarins (and mom when I say mandarins I really mean clementines). I try to think of different foods revolving around those vegetables, in addition to onions, which are pretty cheap year round. Thus far I have made curried carrot dip; cabbage and lentil soup; peanut butter noodles with carrots; and cabbage, carrot, onion, and mandarin salad. My life actually evolves around food. I love thinking of what I want to make and seeking out recipes for new food ideas and then cooking them. On that topic I now realize that last summer I did not make enough jams for myself (for when I drink tea which is non-stop in the winter). I have already gone though my ultimate favorite of yellow cherries with lemon and now I am onto my red cherry jam. I have others in storage: strawberry, fig (not the kind I made which I devoured in like a week, but a different kind I don't like as much), some kind of sour berry, and eggplant (yes I did say eggplant, it was gift and it is absolutely disgusting.) But, I will come up with something I am sure.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

2010-01-08T02:50:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone. I thought I would write a post to let everyone know that I did make it back from my Christmas vacation to the US. I arrived Sunday back in Imishli after spending a few days in Baku with an American family. I spend New Year's with them and ate tons of amazing food. I also bought fireworks (a first) and set them off (also a first) for the kids - that was a lot of fun.

Back to Imishli; like I said I got back Sunday late afternoon to Imishli. My new site mate, Joe, came over for a bit. That was the third time I met him (he arrived to Imishli the day before I left for vacation). We hung out for a bit and then I spent a while unpacking, reorganizing, and cleaning my house - a lot of little bugs and spiders had taken over my space while I was gone. Monday: My host mom left for Baku early in the morning (still haven't had a chance to catch up with her yet). Joe came over again and we made miso soup and sushi together. Then we played Phase 10 (a card game I love and bought in the US because I knew I would have a site mate.) Tuesday: Joe came over to drop a few things off and tell me he was ETing (early termination - i.e. he was leaving the Peace Corps). I went around town and said my hellos to everyone I needed to. Wednesday: Joe left Imishli in the morning. I went to work and got back to life as normal for me here. Thursday: Work. Friday: Again, I am at work and hope to catch up with my host mom tonight.

So, I am back to being the only American in Imishli. lol. I am okay with it, I did enjoy my site mate for the two and half days though!

Guesting Gone Wild

2009-12-07T06:18:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday was the one of the funniest days I have had in a while, the kind that just leave you laughing just thinking about it. All in a sphere of about 4 hours I became a dress up doll for one my good friends here. Let me give a brief background on my friend. Her name is Yaqut, she is around 49ish years old, not exactly sure (and no she doesn't speak English for those who you who were wondering. Next to my host mom she is my closest friend here.) She is the wife of my old and new site mate's director. She adored Amber, my old site mate, and now her complete focus is on me. It is kind of funny because half of the time she calls me Amber (but gets very upset if someone else does the same thing!) At times I feel very uncomfortable being the sole preoccupation of someone, but nonetheless I go guesting to her house about once a week.

So back to last Thursday. I went over there for lunch and we started talking about clothes. I had a big event coming up where I needed to dress up, so we were talking about what I would wear. Now since she had never seen me anything she considers "fancy clothes" she just assumed I don't have any (as does the rest of Imishli - business casual just doesn't make the grade here). So after lunch she brought me into her room and said "Look Hannah I have plenty of clothes, you can borrow mine." Then she proceeded to tell me to undress and had me try on the clothes! So imagine for a minute, me - 27, who likes to dress my age (or not really I like usually look younger than I am), but nevertheless, she had me rocking out middle age women long skirts with matching blazer - wait for it .... with shoulder pads! And to top it off she is bigger than me so all the clothes were literally falling off of me. It was so funny and Yaqut kept saying "Hannah, you look so beautiful!" It was so funny. Then, the icing on the cake came, I got a wig put on me. Yes a wig! I so wish I had my camera there. Well, after the playing doll session was over I was talking about how I wanted my eyebrows cleaned up. She said no problem and then we proceeded (have my own cloths on by now) to go to the shop she owns and then a girl comes in and starts plucking my eyebrows. So, they are a little bit skinnier than I would normally do them, but not bad. (Okay, don't forget I am in a shop, with 5 women in there all staring at me intensively and giving their opinions on how I should look.) Then out came the white sewing thread. Yes, I had my first and last experience of threading. That junk hurt! A lot. For those of you who aren't familiar with this process it is when regular sewing thread gets turned into a tool used to pull out hair through a crazy twisting of the thread, pinching of skin, and pulling it out. Well, I knew people threaded their eyebrows so that wasn't a big surprise. The big surprise came when areas of my face no where near my eyebrows starting hurting. Next thing I know she was threading my entire face! And when I say entire face I mean my face has no hair on it expect for my eyebrows. I am sure you are thinking, why the heck didn't you say anything. But, by then my face would have been half hairless and half with hair - so I just suck it up and let the pain keep coming. But, I am no done yet! Then after the de-hairing process was completed the women said to the girl that she needed to refix my hair. And of course, if my hair is going to get redone (which they said needed to be done better than the mere ponytail I had it in) might as well put makeup all over my face! (Which I don't wear here and it drives every Azerbaijani woman absolutely crazy.) So by then end of my guesting experience I was totally been beautified by Azerbaijani standards, but ruined it with my jeans and t-shirt. It was absolutely hilarious!

My Work: Formal Edition

2009-10-27T04:14:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone! It has been a long time since I posted anything about work on my blog. So I want to tell you all what is going on with me. Well, I am crazy busy. This past week I started implementing, not one by two, grant projects and turned in two new grants applications I wrote – all in one weekend! (I am calling this the formal edition because I have just written the bone facts of what I am doing. However, in a few days the informal post, i.e. not just the facts, but my experiences, is to come. So stay tuned.)

So first my project I am working on is an Environmental Project, it is a 6 month long project. For six weekends, for 7 hours every Saturday and Sunday, we are training 21 youth, from 7 different schools – 3 in Imishli city and from 4 villages, about Environmental issues. Part of their trainings include creating art projects with recycled materials and creating a power point presentation. After the trainings, the youth are supposed to create a kind of environment club at their respective schools with their class mates. Each youth is supposed to give a presentation we help them create (based on the information they learned during the trainings) to their classmates and come up with an environmental clean up project idea. Within each school the youth with the best idea will be given a budget of 300 USD to implement their project (we would be helping them implement their project.)

The other project is United Nations club. This project actually started last spring but was shut down by the Minister of Education this summer. So we are basically restarting with the final conference set for 12 December 2009. For this project I am working with university students from Baku who studied abroad for 1 year in America in high school. They come down every Sunday to work with the Imishli youth in meeting our project goals. This club is based off the UN’s millennium goals, instead of creating a mock United Nation’s General Assembly meeting as are the aim of most United Nations clubs. Both projects I have faced and facing several challenges, but there are successes, too. The projects are very challenging in their own ways, but I am excited about what we are teaching the youth. Needless to say my weekends are full for a while, in addition to my other weekly clubs (which meet on Saturdays and Mondays). Below I have posted some pictures from each project.

Working on a collage project - Environmental Project

Environmental Project

Collage I made as an example of the project they did with the theme: Environment & Me

Environmental Project

Environmental Project (I am on the far left)

Environmental Project

United Nations Project

UN Project

For you Hadley!

2009-10-26T04:54:00.002-04:00

A wall decoration I created which I love - thanks Hadley for sending me pictures of my beautiful niece and nephew (and you and Gilbert)!

Viewer discretion advised: subject matter might not be suitable for all audiences

2009-09-28T05:42:00.000-04:00

So, what do you do when your only toilet is being remodeled? Well, if you live in Azerbaijan you do the most obvious choice of course. You poop and pee in the yard! Yes, my toilet is being remodeled. The toilet room is being tiled and we are moving up in the world because now we will have a squatty potty that flushes! And wait there is more. We now will have a little hose thing that we can clean ourselves with; and when I say we I mean my host family. I am an old fashioned girl and will stick to the toilet paper. But, on that note now that we will have a tiled room and new squatty potty my good old plastic bag isn’t going to cut it for holding my dirty toilet paper (we don’t flush those here). So now I get to go to the bazaar and go shopping for a super rad trash can for my dirty toilet paper. However, my host mom has her heart set on me becoming completely Azerbaijani and doing away with the unclean toilet paper (she believes it does not clean very well). So she has promised to teach me how to clean myself with the water hose. I insisted that I would come out of the bathroom with my clothes completely soaked in water as I try to maneuver that thing which in turn caused my host mom to roll over with laughter and further secured promises that she would teach me to properly use it and not get any of my clothes wet. So until our little renovation project is finished I will be fighting the chickens for the most private places in my yard. Does make me wonder though what I will be doing when are shower room gets remodeled with tile.

On a completely unrelated side note – geese are really creepy. I was walking on Friday to visit someone and a pack (maybe flock is the right word here) of geese were congregated outside her gate. I don’t think I have ever seen or heard geese cry out (again the proper bird terminology evads me). But all these geese had their necks strained and lowered with their heads tilted up as they cried out for whatever reason. That in itself was pretty creepy because the sound they make is not a pleasant one and they looked weird in that position, but add to it that when I walked next to them to enter the gate they all turned their strained necks and shrieking heads toward me and started moving in on me. That was creepy. I think I will add geese to my bird hate list. Right now I have roosters and geese; in the next 15 months I wonder how many more birds I can add to it?

Work Pictures

2009-09-17T03:11:00.004-04:00

Playing spoons at my host family's house

Mark (PC Admin officer), Joyce, Andrea, Bonnie, Me, and Meredith (PC country director) at conference in Imishli for a project of Amber's

playing games at my office

Going away party at my house for Amber

making smores in my yard

playing cards at my house

another going away party at my organization for Amber

me preparing the room at my office

Pictures of my house

2009-09-17T02:13:00.003-04:00

So I am in Baku and I am finally able to upload pictures to my blog. Mom this is for you!

Walk way to my house. My host family's garden is on the left and their house on the right.

Our shower room.

The area where my toliet and shower are located. The outside sink is where I wash my clothes.

My toliet

My house

Tried and failed - still no pictures

2009-09-04T05:52:00.004-04:00

Once again I am trying to upload pictures to my blog as we speak, but again it is not working. I think it is the Internet connection here, it is really slow and not reliable. So, I am trying my best, but sorry. And here I thought having a new camera would solve everything! lol. If it is not one thing it is another, the story of my life here. :)

Well, my site mate is leaving on Monday - leaving and never coming back. Her 2 year period is up and she is heading home. I am really going to miss her because we have gotten quite close in the past few months.

Other random things going on here. So, I woke up one morning, went to the pit toilet outside and my host mom was said "Hannah, we got 20 new chickens!" So we went from having 5 chickens to 25 chickens. I asked if she had any man chickens (that is the literal translation of what I say in Azerbaijani, and yes there is a word for rooster but I prefer to say man chicken - much to the bemusement of my family). This is a big deal for me because I am afraid of roosters. Sometimes one of the roosters from our neighbor's yard gets in lose in my yard and he really is a vicious little thing. So I have developed a fear of them. My host mom said they bought about 10 or so roosters, but not to worry because by the end of winter they will have killed them all and eaten them. With the coming of new chickens I wondered if the old chickens would be territorial towards the new ones, like dogs and cats can be. And the answer? Yes, they are. My host family has to separate the old chickens from the new. The old ones stay in my yard and the new ones stay in the my host family's yard.

Another random story. One of our neighbors got a cow. How do I know this? Because for about 3 nights in a row I heard that stupid thing mooing in the middle of the night. It drove me crazy. I would lie in bedding thinking 'man, will they hurry up and kill that thing!' Which I have decided either makes me the coolest or the absolute worst vegetarian ever; I guess it depends on how you look at it! But, last night - no mooing. So I guess they finally did kill it. I don't think I was at home when it happened because I would have heard it. It is not a very pleasant sound to hear a cow being butchered, FYI. It makes some of the loudest screams, a bit human like too actually (sheep are the same). Now I'm sure I have you all loving me right about now, so I think I will change subjects.

I have said this before, but I am going to say it again. I still get so amazed and excited when I can walk in my yard and find fresh eggs and pick grapes, figs, berries, hot red and green peppers, and regular green peppers for eating (the fruits and veggies in season right now). I love it! I don't know what I will do when I come back home. I guess I will have to start a garden (with my mom's green finger of course; I have a knack for neglecting and then killing plants.)

Still no pictures, even though I have been trying to upload 5 pictures onto my blog for the past hour. So once again, I give up. Sorry friends!

Pictures!

2009-08-31T07:39:00.002-04:00

Well, I hope these work. I had more pictures I wanted to upload, but it was taking way to long, so I gave up. Enjoy!

Here is a link to my trip to Sheki:
http://www5.snapfish.com/share/p=220311251715383587/l=3749534008/g=42056374/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Here is a link to view pictures from Georgia and Turkey:
http://www5.snapfish.com/share/p=733311251718012478/l=3749825008/g=42056374/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Not sure what to say

2009-08-24T07:12:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone. I realized that I have become a complete slacker on updating my blog. So, I thought to myself I really need to write something today, but for the life of me I am not sure what I should say. I am not sure if it is because I feel like I have to have something funny or expectational or out of the norm to warrant an update or if I am just lazy. lol. Well, I don't have anything funny, expectational, or out of the norm to update.

My life here is no longer exotic and different (at least for me). The things that I thought were unusual when I first got here seem completely normal to me. I guess that is a good sign: I am settling into a life here.

My sitemate will be leaving for the US (for good) in about two weeks and then I will be the lone American in Imishli. There is a possibility that I may get a new sitemate in December, but right now I would say it could go either way.

The weather is starting to change, finally! Slowly but surely the heat is becoming more and more bearable, next thing I know I will be freezing to death wishing for the unbearable heat of summer!

I am trying to upload some pictures from my Georgia/Turkey trip. But, I have been trying to upload the same 41 pictures for the past 2 1/2 hours and I am still waiting. Needless to say that is going to be a multiple Internet trip project. So hopefully by the end of this week I will have a small album upload to snapfish.

Right now is Ramadan and school starts back on September 15th. That is it for me!

First of Many to Come

2009-08-04T23:14:00.002-04:00

Hey Everyone! I made it back safe and sound from my travels to Georgia and Turkey. This morning I saw Joy off to the airport and in a few hours I will go back to reality, i.e. travel back to site. Here are some pictures that Joy and I took while we were in Imishli. I have tons of pictures to post, but I need to sort through them first and then I will post them online.

Enjoy! Here is the snapfish link: http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=456271248710105244/l=3016217008/g=42056374/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Why I like Georgia better than Azerbaijan

2009-07-21T07:40:00.002-04:00

1. I can wear whatever I want here (i.e. tank tops)

2. Cold diet coke everywhere

3. I can afford to eat a banana daily

4. Goodwill supermarket (a mix of super target and Ikea - never been so overwhelmed in my life)

5. The police are friendly and helpful (it is no problem for me to approach them to ask for help)

6. It is not as hot (thanks to my Imishli desert heat preparing me for anywhere else in the world)

7. Everything is cheaper!

8. The road are amazing (they are actually paved and have a highway system - travel here is quite comfortable)

9. There is scenery - mountians, trees, parks, clean streets, statutes (besides Heydar Aliev)

We spent the day touring Mtsketa, the old captial, visiting some of the most beautiful churches ever. Tomorrow we will take a two day trip to Telavi, wine land, and then finish our stay back in Tbilisi. Saturday we head off to Turkey, which I am told is even better than Georiga, so I do not know if I can ever go back to Azerbaijan!

Joy's first impression of the good old Az

2009-07-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

So Joy successfully made it through customs, got her visa, and found me in the airport! I was so excited to see her! We had a good day today walking around Baku and tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will be traveling down to Imishli.

Well, what does Joy think of Azerbaijan? On the ride home from the airport she first of all was exposed to the craziness of drivers here as they drive anywhere on the road the please (lane markers mean nothing). Then she saw a car driving down the street with its trunk open. No big deal, right? Right, unless it was a trunk overflowing with decapitated bull's heads in it (horns and all!).

And today on our walking tour? Well, using my handy guide book to pick out interesting sites only led us to everything we really wanted to see being closed down for repairs!

So, all I can say is - Joy welcome to life in Azerbaijan!

PS. I now have a camera and pictures will be uploaded soon! Thanks mom!

What do you do after work?

2009-06-25T03:41:00.002-04:00

Okay, I have said this before but everyday I start to believe it more and more. I am country! Tuesday I got home from work around 6.30ish pm. My host family was enjoying a tea picnic outside. So I changed from my work clothes (skirt and t-shirt) to my house clothes (shorts and tank top) and joined them for a nice steaming hot cup of tea while sitting in the steaming hot weather! (Weird I know, but they think I am weird because I like to drink cold water when it is hot.) Anyway, after our leisurely tea break with pastries, jam, and chocolate and talking about various things my host mom asked me to help her out. So, what was my task? To climb a latter and pick cherries from our cherry trees! She wanted to make compote (a drink that consists of fruit, sugar, and water- I particularly don't like it because I think it is too sweet, but it is a favorite drink here). So after I picked cherries (which is a little harder than it sounds. My host mom was busting out with her skills filling her bucket way faster than mine. She said it is because I am a city girl and she is a village woman, but everything she does she makes it look so easy and takes me twice as long to do!) I then preceded to start a composting pile in my yard. Then I took a cold shower to cool off (my new nightly routine: Jump in the shower with cold water, rinse off, put my clothes on (without drying off) and then go in my house - it makes all the difference in the world). After that I roasted some veggies to eat with my home made hummus and had dinner while watching The Wire (one of my new favorite TV shows).

PS. Thanks to everyone who wrote me emails and left comments on my blog to make me feel better about being outrun by a cow!

I am so out of shape

2009-06-23T05:36:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning I went for a jog. I leave my house between 6.30 and 7.00 am for my jogs because there are less people and cars; i.e. less stares and less likely one of the crazy drivers will hit me! So, I follow the same jogging rules I did in the States: stay on the side of the road and run toward traffic. Very rarely do I see other people running in Imishli, I think only on 2 other occasions have I actually seen people running. Well, this past Sunday morning there was another early riser using my path. I, wanting to be the polite runner, ran to the other side of the road and was going to pass my fellow morning companion (who was walking) and then cross back across the road. However, as I got beside the walker (but on the other side of the street), the walker started to jog as so I couldn’t pass. I thought, okay, no problem, I have a little push left in me, I can run faster so I can pass you! Apparently a race was on his mind because the faster I ran, the faster he ran. For the life of me I couldn’t pass him! He was just faster than me; I couldn’t believe it. I for sure thought I could out run him. Now, mind you, I am on the return portion of my jog so I was getting a bit winded, speeding up and all. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on at this pace, and still make it home without stopping. I was too prideful to admit defeat; I mean homeboy was packing on the weight; I should be the faster one! But here we were racing, with the road in between us, me struggling to hang on and him looking like he was good to go for miles. Well, thank goodness he finally veered off the road onto another path; so I could slow my pace and not keel over and die. So, who was my fellow companion who could out run me? None other than a cow! Can you believe it? I can’t outrun a cow! How sad is that? Every jog I try to dogde the sheep, cows, and dogs, but never has a cow actually started to race with me, and won!

Summer in Imishli!

2009-06-17T03:31:00.000-04:00

Well, here in Imishli summer is coming full swing, i.e. it is super hot! I am thinking that I am might die for my first summer her. Just kidding. But it will be a hot one because it is so hot now and it is only June. I am told that the end of July and August are the hottest times. So how do people here stay cool, in the land of heat and no air conditioning? All windows and doors stay open at all times, fans, and take multiple cold showers a day. Within the walls of my yard it is not so much because I can wear tank tops and shorts, but outside of my house and yard that is not permissible, dresses, skirts, and t-shirts are what women here wear.

My 25 minute walk to work gets me nice and sweaty, but I wouldn’t move away from my host family for the world. Last Friday and Saturday my host mom and I made my favorite jam for me to have with my tea. (People drink tea with pastries, sugar cubes, chocolate or jam. My favorite thing to have with my tea is jam.) We made red and yellow cherry jam for me. We started by de-seeding all the cherries (and with the yellow cherries we put small pieces of cut up lemon inside each one) and then added sugar and bit of water, cooked into jam and then canned it. I have them in my storage room waiting for me to open and use for the next year. As my favorite fruits for jams come into season I will continue making 1 kilo of jam at a time.

Also, one cool thing happened yesterday (Sunday) that I want to tell you all about. So the family structure here is quite different. Families are super close, brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc… And it is definitely a male dominated society. What the brothers and fathers say goes – no matter if the brother is younger or not. The males don’t want the females to being doing things that could compromise themselves. For example, my host brother gets angry at my host mom for going to the bazaar (the market) (it is not a place for women; men should be the ones going). My host uncle got upset with my host sister because he went to visit her two times in Baku (where she goes to university) and she wasn’t at home either time. He wanted to know where she was and what she was doing that would take her away from home. To us these things are no big deal, but here the women’s place is at home. Anyway, so yesterday I went to work and then after work I went to Amber’s house for a bit. I cam home about 4ish. Well, my host brother was upset and asked my host mom where I was and why was I out so long (he is home from university). He was thinking I was at a guy’s house or something (big no go here); he said is not okay for me to be out that long, that I need to be at home. Okay, so I am thinking you are 7 years younger than me; I don’t care what you think I am doing, I will do what I want (my host mom told him, it is okay because she is an American. Her answer for all the seemingly weird things I do.) However, I was very touched because I know that he accepts me as family if he is upset about where I am. So that was pretty cool. Of course, I am still going to do what I want, but it was special for me to know that he is caring for my reputation and welfare like he would for his sisters and mom.

Realites of Work in Imishli

2009-06-08T06:12:00.001-04:00

Okay. So many people respond to my blog and ask me "But Hannah, what about work?" So here is the some of what goes on here in Azerbaijan. I am working on a Model Union Nations Project. I, along with university students in Baku who studied abroad in the US in high school, started a MUN club here in Imishli. We meet every week with the goal of having a mock conference in July. We wanted 20 kids to participate, doesn't sound hard to get 20 kids from the 8 schools in Imishli right? Wrong. Getting kids to commit to stuff here is like pulling teeth, very difficult and painful. We have about 10 kids (and have been working on this for several months now). So Friday I went to the Minister of Education to get his permission for the project. In reality, we need more kids to come and in order to get more kids I first have to go the Minister. With the minister's permission of the project I can then go to the schools and talk to the directors (principals) and then in turn be given access to the youth and recruit for my project; without his permission I can not get help from the school directors.

So, a bit complicated but easy enough. Or so it seems. The Minister did not give me permission for the project because the final conference would be in the summer, specifically July 12-13. Because his three month vacation starts July 7th and because he said kids would be on vacation during the summer he would not give me permission for the project. Granted I have been working with youth now for several months on this project and completely disagree with his logic. The Minister did say, however, that if the final conference was in September or October he would guarantee me that I would have 20 talented and hard-working youth in my club and the project could proceed. So, I have no choice but to follow the say of the Minister. Despite the frustration of Azerbaijan politics and inter workings, it is actually a blessing in disguise because it will give us the much needed time to make this project meet the potential that it has (it is struggling right now).

So lessons learned: Always go to the Minister first! (I didn't before because the project is not in the schools. It was my understanding that anything I want to do literally inside the schools I need permission from him for, but I have now revamped that to anything I want to do with youth I need his permission for.)

Random Happenings

2009-05-29T01:27:00.003-04:00

Well since I have been neglecting updating my blog this month, I thought it was about high time I did. Nothing super amazing or out of the ordinary has happened to me, but I will relate some random stories.

Last Friday night, I was making strawberry jam with my host mom. We were sitting outside at the picnic table in our yard underneath a berry tree (our yard is full of various fruit trees, I can not wait for them to come into season, probably in another month or so, so I can pick fruit from our yard). It was really windy out and the wind was knocking all the blackberries down on top of us. I don't know why I found it so funny, but I couldn't stop laughing - it was raining berries!

This past week I bought and put up screens on all my windows. Now I can open my windows and enjoy the fresh air without my house getting full of bugs! I still have bugs, but before I didn't open my windows at all. Now I only close them when I leave. It has made a big difference in the temperature of my house.

Yesterday Greta came over to my house for a bit just to hang out. We were sitting in my living room when we heard a chicken. (My family has 5 chickens and they prefer my yard over my host family's yard, so they are usually always around.) It was a loud noise and kind of unexpected. Greta was like what was that. I replied, without thinking, oh, no worries it is just a chicken laying an egg. After I said it I thought - oh my gosh, I am officially country! I can tell the difference in chicken noises!

This next week one of my site mates, Greta, leaves for good to head back to America. After that it will be just me and Amber holding it down in Imsihli until September - and then she leaves and it will be just me! Should be interesting.

Work wise - things are coming. I have started working with a NGO in Baku to help them write and edit grants. I have also started helping out another NGO is Imishli with a project and editing grants. So, at least now I have a bit more stuff on my plate. My house is starting to feel more like home and I am settling into a routine. So, life here has been pretty good as of late.

I am just anxiously awaiting July 6th when my friend Joy is coming to visit for a month! I am super excited and can not wait. We are going to travel in and out of Azerbaijan - so that is what I am counting down until.

Feeling Inspired

2009-05-01T03:11:00.000-04:00

Well it is Thursday night and I just showered and am enjoying a steaming hot cup of tea (new for me because I never liked tea before I came here; now it is becoming a daily necessity for me) when the sudden urge to write a blog entry hit me. I figured I should jump on this as the inspiration has not found its way to me recently. Actually, I have not had much inspiration to do much of anything as of late. I have been having a bit of a hard time of it; it as in life in Azerbaijan. But, I was thinking over this I realized I totally called it before I left the states. I remember telling people that I thought at the about seven month stage that the honeymoon would have warred off and reality would hit me. And the 23rd marked seven months down and 20 to go. Anyway, I have been prying for a change in attitude and perspective and slowly I am seeing that answered!

But, I did want to write a bit about my life. I am settling into my new house; I know I promised pictures, but my camera is on the fritz again so you will have to settle for words instead – for now. (The pictures I posted yesterday were from Amy’s visit to Imishli the other week.) Slowly, it is turning into my home, not just a place I live. Last night I stayed up way too late making a wall decoration arrangement. I made five collages now hanging on my living room wall from magazines, cardboard, ribbon (thanks mom!), modge podge, glue, tissue paper, and cards. Working on that last night really had a calming effect on me. Now, I can’t wait to start my next project: a mural on one of my bedroom walls. I am calling this my ADD wall and all that will make complete sense when you see my design. My bedrooms are an amazing shade of princess pink and my mural will be in all black. I can not wait for the hours of tedious thoughtless drawing and painting. (I am not being sarcastic, but completely serious – when I do art my OCD comes out in all its glorious fury, all which has a very relaxing and calming effect on me. No worries mom, I will not be asking anyone for help, I don’t want everyone to hate me!) I am heading to Baku tomorrow for some Peace Corps meetings and can’t wait to come back so I can start muraling (yes, I did just make a new verb; it is amazing how my English language skills keep digressing).

What else, so Hadley and mom this is for you. I am embarrassed to admit but I came really close to getting a cat – like 80% there. The last thing holding me out was that I would have to ghetto rig a litter box and make my own cat food. But, the litter of kittens didn’t survive, so my decision was made for me. So I have two reasons why I almost went back on my claim that I would never own a pet: one, I wanted someone to talk to. How sad is that? I can only laugh at myself. I get kind of lonely here at times; I spend my time mostly by myself. My office is completely isolated from people and I live a ways from my site mates. My spirits are always lifted when I spend time with my host mom, but I can’t fully express myself in Azerbaijani so I spend a lot of time listening (I can understand a lot more than I can speak. And side note to that if I am not careful I think my host mom is going to marry me off. I am afraid I am going to wake up one day married and not know it! Maybe she is just in the wedding arranging mood since she is in the negotiation stage of finding a husband for my host sister, but lately whenever we talk she always bring up the subject of finding me a husband and me staying and working in Azerbaijan. She is even trying to bribe me; she said if I got married she would give me a new bed for me and my husband – a much nicer and more comfortable one than I have now. No lie, she really told me that! I almost died laughing. (Side note, I have what we PCVs call an orphanage bed because it looks like a bed you would find in an orphanage. Actually, I have two twin orphanage beds which I pushed together to make a double bed. Not that like it really matters because the body slumps are so deep that there is no possibility of moving out of the giant pit in the center of each bed once you get in.)) (So mom, just another thing to add to the list of why you are inadequate! Lol. If I was any younger I think my host mom would call child services to take me away. I mean really, you haven’t married me off, you didn’t teach me the proper way to hand wash clothes, you didn’t teach how to make home made jam… should I go on!?!J Second reason, I want something to kill all the stinking insects in my house. (Mom and Joy, where are you when I need you?) Due to Azerbaijan construction (aka holes and cracks in all my walls and windows) my new roommates are flies, moths, spiders, ants, some bug that looks a gray lady bug on steroids and creepy antennas, and something I pretty sure are baby roaches. However, due to my complete fear and anxiety from roaches I am telling myself they are some other type of bug, some unknown foreign species of bugs only found in Azerbaijan to give me the strength to kill them and not run away screaming. Anyway, I am glad that I am going to stay cat-free otherwise I would completely turn into that spinster with the cats! I can not turn into that lady yet; I don’t want to be the crazy cat lady until I am at least in my 80’s and completely senile. Granted I am not a spinster by American standards, but here I am considered one. So, I will just go back to my books and dvds. I knock a book out in anywhere from 1 – 3 days, depending on how good it is, and am catching up on dvd watching. My new favorite thing is to watch tv series – I don’t think I will ever watch tv shows again, I will just wait for the series to come on dvd, it is great not having to watch commercials or wait a week for the next episode.

What else? Food – I am so enjoying being able to eat or not eat food of my choosing! My new favorite thing to make? Applesauce with oatmeal. But, apples are going out of season and getting expensive so I will have to find something else to get addicted to until next fall. Actually all fruit is a bit expensive right now, but I am told that in about 1 month prices of grapes, plums, watermelons, and cherries will get very cheap. Cheap like a 3 kilo watermelon for under a $1 cheap. I can’t wait! Okay, it is getting a bit late and I need to go to sleep so I can get up early to catch the bus to Baku. If you made all the way to this point – mad props for reading my diarrhea of the mouth!

Random Pictures of Imishli

2009-04-29T05:55:00.004-04:00

Our wonderful Heydar Aliyev monument in our Heydar Park. (He is considered the father of Azerbaijan and every city has a park, museum, statue, street named after him, his quotes plastered everywhere, as well as giant pictures of him all over. His son is now the president.)

An absolutely amazing poster I saw in a school classroom. Yes, I did say school. What else would you want your kids to learn about?

Me trying to get gum off my shoe.

Some random apartments with their toilets in the yard. It is common for apartment buildings not to have indoor bathrooms. Glad I don't live in an apartment, oh wait my toilet and shower are in the yard too - about 50 ft from my front door!

One of the amazing sites I see at the plethora of butcher shops. Sometimes the legs are tee-peed together on the road, or there are buckets of blood, piles of skin, intestines laying around, not to mention the hanging meat or the tied up animals waiting to be slaughtered. Makes me happy I am a vegetarian.

Its the small things

2009-04-08T05:21:00.002-04:00

Amazingly enough I finally found a drink in Imishli I like! I am pretty pumped. My three favorite drinks are water, skim milk, and diet coke. Diet coke is a no go in my dear city (it was even hard to find in Baku last time I went much to my utter disappointment), but I can find milk. It is not skim milk, the lowest percentage I can find is 3.5% and it tastes a bit different. However, I water it down and enjoy the special treat of milk. Normally I only drink tea and water. But, a few days ago one of my site mates introduced me to Aquinafina carbonated flavor water, a drink I would definitely turn my nose to in the states, but I tried it and am instantly addicted. It kind of tastes like a water downed 7-up, but I will take what I can. So the point of this - none, I am just really happy I found something I like in Imishli!

Unrelated, I did not go to work this morning so that I could help my host mother clean and prepare my new house. We did a little cleaning, but I did learn how to make my favorite meal - meatless grape leave dolma. I am super excited about this! The coolest part of it was that all I had to do was walk outside and pick the grape leaves off our grape vines and gather the greens I wanted from our garden. I am not sure why, but that was really fun for me - going into our yard for the ingredients needed!

As soon as I am all moved into my new house, hopefully in the next few days, and it is fixed up the way I like, I will take pictures and post them for everyone to see.

Novruz Pictures

2009-03-30T01:13:00.002-04:00

Me and the host family visiting one of my host sisters and her husband in Tartar (village outside of Ganja)

from right to left: host dad, host sis (her apartment), me, friend of host sis, host sis, host mom
On the trip to Tartar we stopped to climb a mini mountain. This is my host sis's friend, me, and host sis battling the wind

Host mom and me inside our house

Host mom just finished jumping the fire

Filling the hats with goodies to give back to the kids who threw them in the house

Me and host parents in our house (host bro is taking the picture)

Our fire

Latest in the AZ

2009-03-19T02:54:00.002-04:00

So, I have been a bit slack lately about bloging - sorry about that. But there is some exciting stuff happening in Azerbaijan right now. One thing is that it is Novruz! What is Novruz and why should we care, right? Probably what I would be thinking, too. Novruz is, from what I understand, the biggest holiday in Azerbaijan. It is a symbol of the revival of nature as well as spring, according to my nifty Azerbaijan Culture book! It is throughout the entire month of March, marking the last month of winter. Each Tuesday of the month represents a different thing: water, fire, air, and earth. It is a fun time and a lot of guesting (definitely a verb here - going to go visit family and friends). So back to Novruz traditions, firstly, the house gets a hard core cleaning. Secondly, tons of food. Pakhlava, shekerbura, qogal, ploff, and dolma are definitely staples and tons of over stuff is cooked, too. You probably don't know what some of the food are - just know they are amazingly delicious and I am learning how to cook them. Hopefully, after two years I will be able to do it on my own and cook them in the States! Each Tuesday has different traditions that take place. Last Tuesday kids went around to different houses and throw their hats in the house. Why might you ask? Because each house then fills the hats with pastries they made, candy, and fruit. Tons of fun! However my absolute favorite thing is the fire jumping! Yes, you heard right. Each Tuesday everyone builds a bonfire in their yard and everyone jumps it 3 times. I don't know the exact roots of why people jump the fire or why we do it three times, but I was told by one person to think of wish while jumping. There is also a phrase you say while you are jumping, but not sure what it means in English, so I will just leave that out. So for the past two Tuesdays I have been fire jumping! No burnt clothes or shoes yet! I do have pictures, but I will have to post them later because I forgot to bring them with me to the computer. Another neat thing about Norvuz is that everything is shut down for 9 days of holiday - i.e. no work. That is always fun, so starting tomorrow my days will be filled with guesting! Something interesting about the nine days, in order to have nine days in a row off (since the main Norvuz calender day is the 21st - a weekend) the government changed the work schedule so that Sunday the 29th is a normal workday instead of going back to work on the 27th. That has no standing on anything to me(because I have clubs on Saturdays and Sundays anyway), I just thought it was interesting.

Speaking of interesting things the government in Azerbaijan does - yesterday was a big day here politically. I am not in America while the excitement of Obama is happening, I just read about it, but I can say I was living in Azerbaijan when it became a dictatorship. That is pretty exciting! (being sarcastic). Okay, not an exact dictatorship. March 18th was referendum day, where the country voted to on 41 constitutional referendums; the main one being to allow no term limits for the presidency. (Who by the way term's would in 2013, but not anymore since he successfully got the referendum passed.) Another one of the referendums that passed are stricter media restrictions. All very interesting things happening here.

Anyway, I am doing well and healthy. Once I come back to work - starting the last week of March, I will add pictures and more updates of everything going on.

Latest Trip

2009-03-04T01:14:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I finally finished a grant I was working on and sent in it! Exciting for that. It has been a very frustrating process due to the time frame and lack of support I was given. But, regardless it is finished and I will know in 3 months or so if we got it. I am not sure if we will though because my organization did not do some of the things I asked them to do for the grant (which were required in the application). However, it is all over and done with.

Saturday I am going to Baku for two days for Peace Corps stuff and then headed to Sumqayit to visit my old host family. Actually my entire cluster is all going to Sumqayit at the exact time so it will be just like PST! I am really looking forward to that trip.

The last weekend in February I went to Quba to visit my friend Amy. Below are some pictures from my trip.

So, what do you have in your neighborhood? If you are Amy the answer is an archaeological site full of human remains! Of course we totally went there to check it out.

Day 1 of the trip. Beautiful weather and gorgeous views.

Day 2. We went to Xachmaz (about 30 minutes by bus) to visit Jake. This picture is from this crazy park they have full of plastic animals all over the place. It was like a fake zoo.

Day 2. We went for a walk down the railroad tracks. (Some of you make think this is unwise recreational activity, however, I visit them in Imishili, too because it is the one place, besides home, I can go and not be the center of attention, i.e. constantly stared at, yelled at, etc...) We stopped to hang out on the bridge where we were almost run over! Okay, I am exaggerating just a bit. But we were on the bridge we suddenly Jake yells to get off the tracks because a train was coming. One would think you could hear it or even feel it coming from far away, but no way. That bad boy was coming fast and it just appeared.

Day 4. (Day 3 I spend inside because it was snowing literally all day). Woke up to over 1 foot of snow. If you notice I am wearing pink boots that came up to my mid-calf. I was standing in the snow and you can barely even seem them. This was my travel day back to Imishli, and thankfully my bus didn't get into any accidents. However, it was a rocky start as a tractor had to tow us out of the snow so the driver could actually start driving.

No Hannah, like this

2009-02-16T03:17:00.006-05:00

So about a couple of weeks ago, all I heard was "No Hannah, like this..." I think I might have mentioned before that Azerbaijani people already think something is wrong with me because I am older than 25 and am not married. (Lets not even bring in the fact when asked if I do want to get married I say in like 4 or 5 years- that puts me in my early 30s and they just can't imagine that. Then I put the icing on the cake when I say I am not sure if I want to have children - this in a culture where husbands can divorce their wives if they do have a child within the first year of marriage.) So needless to say they already think I am completely inadequate as a woman. Well, now my new host family (who I absolutely love!) thinks I am completely helpless, too.

It all started when I wanted to wash my clothes. I went outside with my host mom to start washing my clothes (no washing machine). Well, evidently I do not know the proper technique of hand washing. My host mom couldn't fathom that I didn't know how to hand wash well. Then, my five year neighbor came over and she said "No Hannah, like this..." and then proceeded to demonstrate the proper hand washing technique. I almost peed on myself I was laughing so hard, so was everyone else for that matter! You would think that is it right? But no, my incompetence keeps coming! I don't know how to hang clothes properly on the line either! My host mom was shocked and asked how do I dry my clothes in America - I responded we have machines to do it for us! Again, I could not stop dying laughing.

Then a few days later I was in the kitchen and my host mom and some neighbors were baking some traditional Azerbaijani sweets. I thought I would help out, I mean how hard can it be to put filling inside dough, close it and decorate it to make it look pretty. Evidently harder that it looks! I got the "No Hannah, like this..." But the like this part obviously didn't click so I got regulated to only putting the filling in and passing it on to someone to close and decorate. Then the next day my host mom again was cooking with friends, this time they were making grape leave dolma. I again offered to help and I started putting the meat in the grape leaves and wrapping it up and putting it in the pot. Evidently, I am not fit for that task either! I didn't wrap it up correctly, so again I got the "No Hannah, like this..." But it didn't click either. So this time I was regulated to pulling apart the grape leaves that were stuck together.

It may sound like they are being mean, but they aren't. A woman my age is supposed to know how to do stuff like this - the proper way! It is really quite funny and they and I find it very amusing! Being considered helpless does work in my favor though. My host mom had a big party at our house, about 20 people came over for dinner. After everyone left there was a giant pile of dishes. Of course I wanted to help clean up. I told my host mom that I could wash the dishes if she wanted. She turned and looked at me and said very seriously "Do you know how to wash dishes?" I held in the laughter, I didn't want to offend her, and seriously thought about saying no, I mean there were tons of dishes. But I couldn't in good conscience lie, so I said yes I do know how - I am not sure if she really believed me though!

My host mom keeps saying after two years I will be a really good Azerbaijani woman! That is after she teaches me how to cook, clean, and wash clothes properly! I mean she is shocked that my mother didn't teach me how to make home made jam or pickled vegetables or the proper technique for hand washing clothes! I told her we buy stuff like that or have machines to do it for us. My host mom here does not like to buy anything pre-made, everything - from drinks to jams - is home made. So I have my work cut out for me!

Work Pictures

2009-02-09T06:26:00.004-05:00

Boys Conversation Club

Girls Conversation Club

FINCA Teaching English Club (Greta & and I teach it)

FINCA English Club

Information Meeting for Conversation Clubs

New Address!!!

2009-02-02T04:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I have a new address. Yesterday I moved to a new family for my next two and half months of required host family living. I was having a bit of problems with my last host family so the Peace Corps found me a new family. So I am back to the awkward adjustment stage, but the family seems nice enough. So if you send me anything please use my new address - I have posted on the right of my blog.

Yes I actually work!

2009-01-26T07:13:00.003-05:00

Well, I have decided that I have done a poor job talking about my city and work. I am pretty sure many of you probably think I don't do anything! Sometimes that is true. :) But, I am actually starting to do work! This week I will start my first English conversation clubs. I went to several schools to advertise for an informational meeting for a youth group (I advertised it as youth group because if I said English conversation club everyone would think I was teaching English - several people did anyway though). I had about 30 people or so turn up for the info meeting. Then I spent four afternoons doing one on one interviews with the kids to gauge their English speaking and comprehension abilities. From that I choose 10 girls and 3 boys to be in my groups. I am going to have the groups separated by gender, I think that for what I want to accomplish this will be best. My dreams are for each group to pick a topic, whether it be leadership, history, environment, holiday/traditions, etc... and we will spend 4 weekly meeting learning and discussing the topic in English. Then we will have either have a party, volunteer service event, or whatever relates to the particular topic on a Saturday. My goal is to do this each month: new topic followed by service learning component. However, that being said none of this may happen. I will have a better gauge after my first meetings this week. Regardless, at least I am getting to know youth (the kids range from age 14 - 21) in Imishli. I have to give the kids props, it takes a lot of courage do come meet with me one on one and talk in English. It has been really hard to turn people away. However, I am not an English teacher and have can not accomplish what I want with these groups if there english is not high enough.

That being said I am teaching English, with Greta, for my director's employees as a favor. (My director is also the branch regional director of a micro-lending organization called FINCA.) We had our first lesson Saturday and will continue to meet weekly. Greta is a TEFL (English teacher) volunteer and that is why I recruited her to help. I agreed to do this, despite how much I dislike teaching English, because I feel selfish. I came to Azerbaijan to help people and ironically enough I possess the one thing that will truly help Azerbaijani people: I speak English. Speaking English is the one thing that will help people the most. It will allow them to get better jobs, study abroad, aqcuire more buisness projects, etc... it truly opens up a new world to them. I feel it is completely selfish that I can truly help people improve and change their lives but won't just because I don't like teaching English. So long story short, I decided to teach the FINCA employees English. Surprisingly enough, it was actually kind of fun. They are all really nice (I see them daily as I go over there often to use the bathroom, my organization's building does not have one) and I was shocked to learn the majority of them are all younger than me! I couldn't believe it when I found out their ages. Again, I am really impressed with their courage to come to the class and try to learn another language. I guess since I am struggling to learn Azerbaijani I relate a lot with people here who are trying to speak English.

Well, to end out this post which I have made impossibly long - sorry - I thought I would give a few updates. I wanted to clarify something about my city: the population. When I first learned that I would be moving to Imishli I was given a sheet of paper with facts about it. It stated that the population was 200,000ish people. Well, that is the population of the Imishli region (kind of like a county) which includes cities and villages. However, the population of Imishli city, where I live, is closer to 40,000 people. What else? Oh, many of you may know I was a vegetarian before I left for the PC. Well, I thought it would be easier to eat meat only if my host families served it to me. Well, the answer to that is yes, it is easier; being a vegetarian here is unheard of and people just don't get it. However, I stopped eating meat here. Unfortunately means I am on a all carb diet (no lie, I can go days before I get something besides bread, pasta, or potatoes). I thought the meat over here would be fresher and better than the meat in the US because of the way cattle and poultry are farmed. Yet, after seeing what animals eat here I am just as grossed out by what animals in the US eat. Here they eat out of the trash piles and pit toilets - really gross. So, once again I am a vegetarian. I am contemplating being a vegan, because the knowledge of what chickens and cows eat (both in the states and here) really disgusts me, but I also really like cheese, milk, and eggs. So far now I am trying not to think about it. Being a vegan is a huge commitment I am not sure I am ready to make. Wow, don't really know how I digressed that much. But that is it for now!

PS. Vicki - if you want to email me at hannahtstark@hotmail.com I would be happy to send you all the pictures I have of him. I have more that what I post on my blog. I will also post that picture you asked for later this week.

Ganja and Back

2009-01-22T06:04:00.003-05:00

I made it back to Imishli safe and sound after my weekend away. My cluster from PST and I made the trip to Ganja to be there for our LCF's, Sabina, 21st birthday. I really enjoyed seeing everyone again and we had a lot of fun goofing off together. Jake, Amy, and I decided to take the night train together out to Ganja. So we meet up in Baku and enjoyed a meal at a pub called Tequila Junction, a frequent stop for most PCVs whenever they are in Baku. I have come a fan of the Azerbaijan Mexican food served there. I usually order the nachos with refried beans, and when I say refried beans I really mean baked beans as that is what Azerbaijan believes refried beans to be! Despite the interesting combination, it is not half bad.

After dinner we set out on the night train for Ganja. The train was terribly hot, miserably hot, and we were all uncomfortable. I felt kind of bad for Amy and Jake because it was there first time on the night train and they were really pumped for the expereince. Jake chickened out and didn't take the night train with us back to Baku on Monday night because it was so uncomfortable going there, which was unfortunate because the return trip was a much nicer temperature - quite pleasant actually. We bought tickets for the 4 person cabin and we were curious to see who our 4th roommate would be. Kind of funny story because the guy came running in the cabin out of breath. He must have been running to catch the train (I know that feeling all to well!) and got there just in time. Well, the three of us were in a pretty complaining mood as it was hot and stinky and were all uncomfortable. In comes this fourth guy who smelt pretty bad. The three of us were carrying on conversations in English, saying how hot is was, that this guy must of run to catch the train, etc... Luckily none of said anything bad about the 4th guy (like how stinky he was and how the entire cabin smelt even worse after he took his shoes off) because out of nowhere he says in perfect accentless English "Hey guys, do you mind if I shut the door?" It was so incredibly funny - everyone knows the saying about assuming!?! Well, totally true. Good thing we bit our tongue a bit. I have to remember that in big cities I am more likely to run into people who speak and understand English! The train ride back was less eventful as Amy and I were in a cabin with two other ladies and slept the entire time.

I am posting a link to a Snapfish album I just recreated. Some of the pictures are from during PST, but most of them are from this weekend. Here is the link: http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=242221232624407123/l=469709779/g=42056374/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Pictures!

2009-01-15T00:23:00.004-05:00

Dec. 11th, Swearing in Day. This is me with my Sumqayit host sis as an official volunteer!

Christmas Eve at a pub enjoying a beer with friends. (I can never drink in my site, so when we head to Baku it is a special treat to have a beer or wine.)

Me and Amy Christmas Day at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We don't have a Christmas tree, but the palm tree is close enough! (Funny story here, right after we finished eating a roach fell from the ceiling on the table. I thought is was super funny. None of us, including the waitress, was phased by it- don't know if that is sad or good!?!

Amber, Jesse, Amy, and myself posing in front of New Year's trees (The sign says Happy New's Year 2009)

Amber got kicked out of her apartment so here is Greta and myself helping her pack. Sadly enough I do really wear all those layers inside - sometimes I even sleep with them all on!

Thought is was funny. These are the bathrooms at a pub in Baku.

What I have been up to

2009-01-13T00:45:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone. Sorry that I have been so slack and have updated my blog in a while. A lot has happened and nothing at all has happened. I will try to explain! I am still not doing much at work, this week I started going to schools to advertise for my youth club. Next week I will hold an interest meeting so I can guage the english ability to determine what I can actually accomplish with the kids. Last week I started meeting with a tutor to help me learn Azerbaijani. She is an english teacher at one of the schools - I really like her a lot. I am still struggling with the language, but hopefully I will start to improve.

I spent Christmas in Baku with friends, it was a nice little vacation. New Years I spent with my site mates at Amber's apartment. We had a low key New Year's, but a lot of fun. Last week I had a doctor's appointment in Baku and I was able to meet my friends Amy and Jake there to hang out for the day. So, mainly what I have been up to is traveling! Friday I am hitting the road again and headed to Ganja. My cluster from Sumgayit and I are going there to celebrate Sabina's, our LCF, 21st birthday. So this weekend I have a fun trip planned. I will not come back until Tuesday because Monday and Tuesday are holidays here.

I do have some pictures to post, but I will not be able to post them until Thursday. Amy let me borrow her camera this week so I am going to take some pictures of Imishli to post.

Different kind of life

2008-12-19T01:14:00.004-05:00

So my first full week of work is coming to an end today. Well, maybe it is better to say full week of work as in 5 days straight! I am not the busiest yet, but I am pretty confident things will pick up after the new year. Right now, there is not much point trying to start new activities and what not when everything will be closed within a week for new years holiday. So I will wait until the beginning of January before I attempt to start conversation clubs and what not.

Another first week, yesterday marked my first full week living in Imishli and I find myself worrying about things that I have never even phased me before. Like, when the pipes freeze how will I get water to drink? (Not to shower - least of my worries is if I am going to miss my weekly shower!) Or will I be able to force myself to use a pit toilet that is full and overflowing? (No lie, pit toilets do fill up! Who knew? I alwyas thought they had bottomless pits that just went on forever! Thankfully for me though just two days ago my host family got someone to come suck it out (while I was actually using it - let me just say nasty!)) Or when the power goes out what am I going to do to pass my time? Or did I wear enough layers to sit in a room for 3 hours without heat when it snowing outside? (Oddly enough, I have decided in situations like that it is actually warmer outside than in!) Or am I going to be home before dark, if not do I have an escort to walk me home? However, despite the new concerns I face I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing! I am very happy here and I look forward to all that is to come!

On a lighter note, I am officially that girl stops traffic! Like the girls on TV who walk down the street and everyone stops and stares! Who know I could have the affect on people? I was walking around the city the other day and due to my outstanding looks (actually due to looking completely different) a car just stopped in the middle of the intersection, leaving angry drivers behind him, and stared at me has I passed. The cow walking down the road even stopped and stared! hahaha. It was pretty funny. Speaking of which, you all might find it interesting to hear what I see as I walk to work. Mind you it takes me maybe 13 minutes, more like 7 min for a normal walker but as so many people like to tell me I walk slow, to walk to work. One day walking to work, pretty much through city center, I saw all this on one trip: trash fires burning (the preferred method of disposing of trash), a cow just wandering around alone eating trash of the street, a man walking carrying a turkey by the legs (fully feathered) with its neck broken, cow entrails chillin on the street outside a butcher shop, the cow head (detached from the body) with the brain exposed sitting on the ground, the cow skin over in another area, and the actual cow cut up in to sections hanging the awning outside the butcher shop. Quite different than my 15 - 20 minute drive through down Six Forks to get to my work in the States!

New Address!

2008-12-16T03:18:00.002-05:00

Finally, I have my new address! I have posted on the right of my blog. I am currently at work so I don't have a lot of time this second to write an update, but I will write more later this week.

Few quick things of interest though. It is snowing here. Unbelievable! As many of you know I don't like the snow so I can't believe that is snowing here! (Just light snow, but sticking to the ground.) Today was the second day since I got here that I woke up to no water - frozen pipes. I don't think that is a good sign of what is to come! :) Everyday the power goes out, usually only for a couple of hours though. What else? I think that is it for now. I am doing well and have Internet at work so hopefully I will be much better about updating everyone and quicker to respond to emails!

My first days as a Volunteer

2008-12-12T03:06:00.004-05:00

Well, I did it! I am officially a PC Volunteer! How exciting. Wednesday we had a two hour long ceremony with speakers and all the works. After we took the oath to swear in as PCVs I felt like I should change the side of my tassel or throw my cap in the air (neither of which I had!). It was really exciting though. Sorry for the lack of pictures, my camera is broken, but as soon as I get pictures from other people I will post them (which will be a while because we are all not scattered over Azerbaijan!) Afterwards the majority of us went to the local favorite hangout for the "after party." In complete un-Azerbaijani fashion my host mom, who came to the ceremony, said I could stay out as late as I wanted. So, being the wild child that I am, I came home at 7.30 - way after dark (which now is getting dark a little before 6.00)! I spent my last night hanging out with my host family and trying to figure out the impossible task of fitting all of my stuff in one suitcase. Which, FYI, didn't happen so I had to leave some stuff at my host family's house and I will go back in a month or so to get it. (This is after already having 2 suitcases in Imishli at my site mates' houses full of my stuff.) In my defense, I have been given so much stuff (sleeping bag, water filter, fire extinguisher, carbon monoxide detector, medical kit, mosquito net, and not to mention the massive amount of books from the PC - so I am not a complete pack rat!)

Thursday morning, I gathered all my stuff and walked from my house to meet up with two other people to catch taxi to Baku - in the rain. Yesterday it really started to feel like winter, dreary, cold, wet, cold, damp, did I mention cold! :) I am a wimp anyway when it comes to cold weather, but I am usually cold here all the time. I have decided that I am usually cold because I am going from cold weather outside to cold places inside. I have not been anywhere in Azerbaijan yet with central heat. That means that whatever electric heater or gas stove the house or building has is where the heat comes from - not always heating up the entire room. Anyway, back on to my traveling. I made it to Baku and found the bus going to Imishli. I got there early enough to get a good seat (i.e. for women the middle of the bus) and get my suitcase in the back (i.e. not having to pay for two seats because there is no room for my suitcase). I waited on the bus for about 45 minutes until it filled up. (The buses leave once they are full - not at scheduled times). We took the Iran way to Imishli meaning that we drove right (literally about 10 feet) from the Iranian boarder for part of the way. Surprisingly the border was not as exciting as I had made it out to be. Just a 4 or 5 ft fence with barb wire on the top - not super impressive. I didn't see guards or anything, I was told later that is because we are not near any cities in Iran. But, I made it to Imishli and went I got to the Cultural Palace (where I was going to meet my director) I told the bus driver to stop and I got off. I then called my director and was standing on the sidewalk with my book bag on, purse, and holding a massive suitcase with a sleeping bag on top - needless to say I looked out of place. Which is probably why I drew a crowd of people. It started with just two boys and then several men came up to me as well. Well, in my wonderful Azerbaijani skills I evidently did not clearly communicate that I was not trying to sell my stuff because they kept trying to buy it from me! It was quite funny, but as soon as my director came everyone cleared out and then I was taken to my new host family's house. My host mother made plov and grape leave dolma for me - quite delicious. Last night was uneventful, we lost the power for a while, but it came back on and I went to bed early because I was exhausted. I am getting a little sick - sore throat, coughing, runny nose - the usual winter cold. But, there are of a number of reasons (if you ask my host mother in Sumgayit) why I am sick - I drink cold water, I walk around a lot, I come and go often (to and from school 2 times a day!), I don't wear enough clothes, etc... - just to name a few! :)

But, I am safe in Imishli and I am suppose to meet with my director tomorrow at 11.00 am to figure out exactly what I will be doing for my job. I am looking forward to that conversation and I am hoping that a translator will be present. I know several people have asked for my address and as soon as I get it I will let you all know. I have to get the help of one my site mates to go the Post Office and figure it out (I don't believe my mail can be sent directly to my house - it comes to the post office and then they call me and I come and get it - I think). Regardless, I need a translator to go to the post office with me to let me them know I am now living here!

Almost offical!

2008-12-06T07:56:00.003-05:00

Well, PST is closing to an end and in just a matter of days I will be an offical PC Volunteer! Quite exciting. Wednesday is the big day and at 2.00pm our Swearing In Ceremony begins and soon after I will be offical! It has been a long, but quite short road to get here. Yesterday I had my final PST language test, I feel like I completely bombed it! Yikes! I am supposed to find out my scores tonight, so hopefully I didn't do as bad as I think. Well, just as I was typing I recieved my score - intermediate mid! That is the required language level for a YD volunteer for the end of PST! I am pretty pumped!

I am going to type up a blog at home to post, but I just haven't had time yet. But I will and hopefully Wednesday morning I can make it to the interent cafe and upload pictures and a new post. (These will probably be the last pictures I am able to upload for a while because my camera is busted! So once I leave PST I will not have any friends to bum pictures off of - sad day. I am not sure what happened, but one day I went to take a picture and it won't work. So I guess until I can get it fixed or buy a new camera, no pictures, but I will just try to do better descriptions I guess!) I have been spending a lot of time with my friends, I am really going to miss them once we move to the regions. On a side note, once I move to Imishli even though I won't have pictures, I will have just daily access to internet at work! So at least I will be able to update my blog a ton more!

Random Pictures

2008-11-21T01:40:00.006-05:00

Here is the link to an ablum I created on snapfish! Hope you enjoy

http://www2.snapfish.co.uk/share/p=689201227252003954/l=451019827/g=42056374/cobrandOid=1007/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Where do all Americans go overseas? Micky D's of course! (which by the way the only time I ever go McDonalds is when I am overseas)

All 61 of Az6 (when we first arrived at Aqua Park)

I am going to Imishli and Amy is going to Guba

Imishli it is!

2008-11-21T01:21:00.002-05:00

Well, who knew that in that in just 8 short weeks that I could come so attached to a rountie and place. I have been living in Sumgayit for just 2 months and I did not think that I had grown so attached to my surrounding, daily routnie, etc.. there. But, when I came to Imishli I releazied that was not the case. However, I think after just getting used to a new house, new people, new rountie, new city, and in general just a slower pace of life I will be really happy here!

Imishli the city is so much prettier that Sumgayit, from what I can tell is looks like it was planned on a grid system and there are a lot of trees on all the streets (not the case in Sumgayit). The grid system will be great for me since I get lost everywhere I go! I was really foruntate I was able to meet up with Amber, one of the two Az5 serving in Imishli, Tuesday morning in Baku and we took the 4ish hour bus ride down together. Tuesday afternoon I toured my organization, ARAZ, and then headed to my new home. So, I was a little off on the details of my new family. My host mom is a widow, house wife, and she has 3 children. The oldest daugheter is either 21 or 22 (she works full time), the second oldest daughter is 19 (she does not work or go to school, she is engaged and the wedding is in March (quick side note-I will still be living with them through this entire process – I am really excited about it!), and the youngest is a boy who is 17 (he is in school but when he gradauates he will go and serve his mandatory 1 ½ years in the army). So far I have really enjoyed my family and I think is will be a great fit! They don’t speak any english nor does anyone at ARAZ! So guess who needs to step up their game on language studying!?! Yep.

So ARAZ, honestly I still have no idea exactly what I will be doing here. Actually, I might be more confused now that I am in Imishli than I was before! However, Wednesday afternoon two women from the ARAZ headquarters office in Baku came down and translated so that my director and I could have a meeting. He told me some of the projects ARAZ has done in the past and what they hope to do in the future. I told him some of my intersts and he said that when I come in December we will iron out my work plan. (My director also works in another organization, FINCA – I don’t know his exact postion but I do know he is very important, i.e. he is very busy all the time.) I do know that ARAZ is a NGO which is motivated to improve the quailty of life for women and low income families. They are a humanitarin organization and everything their goals aline exactly with my interests – so I think it will be a great fit. But, as my director said through translators – we just have a langauge problem! Hahaha. To put it mildly!

Thursday I was able to meet up with the two PCVs who are currently living here, Amber and Greta. Amber is also YD and Greta is TEFL. They are both really nice and I am looking foward to having them as my sitemates. I told my PM that I didn’t care if I had sight mates or not, but now that I am here I am really glad that I have them. But as I have told many people in emails – I am so happy to be here. Joining the PC has definitely been one of the best decisions I have made in awhile! In just 20 short days, on December 11th, I will move permenantly to my new home! I am looking forward to moving and I am looking foward to going back to Sumgayit tomorrow to spend those last few weeks with my friends before we scatter all over the country! Oh. I almost forgot some exciting news – so in ARAZ I have a great big office with a computer and everything – I mean I got hooked up! And here is the greatest part of it all – my director said that in December he is putting internet in my office! So when I move here I will be able to stay in touch better! Well, at least through email; the post office here does not send mail to America. I can recieve mail and packages from America here, however I have to hold all my mail until I make a trip to Baku and mail it there. So, my mail to America will be slower, but small price to pay!

Same old same old

2008-11-04T05:56:00.004-05:00

Hello to all! I can’t remember when my last post was so I have no idea where to start with what has been happening here. Time seems to just run together for me. My life has been pretty uneventful as of late so I don’t really have much of anything to say! I have been having some serious stomach issues, which has been the main events in my life for the past two weeks. Not to go into too much detail (which I would love to, but for your all’s sake I won’t) I will just say I have had some hardcore constipation and leave it at that. So if you think of it please add stomach issues to your prayers for me, in addition to language learning.

It is Monday night for me (I will be posting this Tuesday afternoon when I go to the internet club) so that means that in just two days I will know my permanent site! I am fighting anxiousness and anxiety. I am really excited for numerous reasons, but mainly because it will make the PC seem more real. Right now I can say that I will be living somewhere for 2 years working with some organization; but after Wednesday afternoon I can say where I will be living and with what organization I will be working. I also pretty confident I will have at least 1 site mite, whether an Az5 or Az6. It is pretty hard to be that far from someone with 100 volunteers living in a country roughly the size of Maine! So, I am anxious to know who I will be possibly sharing a community with – so many variables that I will find the answers to on Wednesday afternoon! But unfortunately for you all I will not be able to return to the internet café until probably Nov. 11th, which means if you want to know before then you will just have to call me! (If you do have the burning urge to talk to me in person please do not forget about the 9 hour time difference!) I will try to go before, but no promises; it isn’t always easy for me to get to an internet club. Other exciting things happening for me on Wednesday – I will learn our new president elect! That is exciting. My cluster and I are going to try to go to a friend’s house Wednesday evening to watch satellite tv, aka English speaking channels like CNN, to watch election coverage. If all goes according to plans after our site announcement meeting we will head to her place and make pizza and brownies and watch CNN. I hope it all works out as planned because it will be really fun, but you never know.

What else, I haven’t taken any pictures lately, however I snagged some random photos from Amy. Both of these pictures were taken during our morning language classes. (Yes I am wearing the same outfit, but no the pictures were not taken on the same day. I wear the same outfits for a week before I change them. I also shower weekly, but this past weekend I missed shower day so I am going to try to get one tomorrow night or I will just have to wait until next weekend!) Both of these pictures require a bit of explanation. The first one is a game we where playing to learn office words and titles. It was really funny, but it was one of those instances you really had to be there to find it funny; regardless I am going to post the picture anyway. The second picture is very Peace Corps in my opinion. What I mean is that yes I am sitting in class having blood drawn by one of the PC doctors! Since I have joined the PC I have had shots and blood drawn in hotel rooms and school classrooms. It really makes me laugh and sometimes I feel like I should be in a movie. Just imagine walking into a hotel room with flies buzzing around the room, you sit on the bed and roll up your selves and get several shots from a doctor with all their equipment and medicine neatly spread out on the bed and counter. I mean really – it sounds like a scene from a movie and it always seems a little surreal to me! But, no worries the doctors are great and everything is really sanitary and sterile. (The reason it is done in random places is the medical office is in Baku and all of Az6 is in Sumgayit – it is just so much easier for them to come to us instead of visa versa.)

I can’t think of anything else to say at the moment. If there is anything in particular you want me to talk about on my blog either just email me or post a comment and I will try my best to discuss it in my next post!

Me getting my blood drawn in class

Amy, Alison, Me, Sabina, Kim, & Jake

I am alive!

2008-10-24T03:07:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone! Once again I have another marathon blog update (as my sister called my last one) for everyone. I just realized that I messed up the order when I posted my updates. I was trying to go for chronological order, but instead I have the newest first event first and the oldest last - sorry about that. Also, I am so sorry for the long absence without updates. I came last Sunday to update my blog, however the internet was not working well and I could not get the blog site to work Today, Friday, is the first day I have been able to come back to the internet club. I am trying my best to update it regularly, so please be patient with me!

Just to give a brief update of this past week – nothing super exciting. Expect that I found out my sister had her baby boy! I was really excited about that and I was able to talk to her and my mom on Wednesday, definitely the highlight of my week. Yesterday I had my site placement interview with the Youth Development Program Manager. November 5th is the big deal – the day of my permanent site placement announcements. This morning I had my first language assessment test, I am glad it is over with for now. I will find out my language level by Monday (by the end of PST I am supposed to be at Intermediate Mid). That has been my week – Sunday my cluster and I were invited to “guest” (i.e. visit) at the house of one of the math teachers at the school where we have our language lessons and to a wedding that night by another teacher. Then we, as a group, are going to have our first weekly Office (as in the tv show) Night. I have never seen the Office before, but I no many people who absolutely love it – so my expectations are high! I will update my blog again as soon as I am able!

Gobustan & Mud Volcanoes

2008-10-24T02:59:00.001-04:00

So today, the 18th, was a PC cultural day. They rented two giant tour buses and hauled all the trainees and staff on a field trip. I actually had a lot of fun, the weather was great today and we got to see a lot of really neat sites, and it was fun to see everyone all at once. Our first stop was Gobustan, “ravine/canyon land”. According to our PC handout “Gobustan, settle since the 8th millennium BC, contains thousands of rock engravings spread over 100 square km depicting hunting scenes, people, ships, constellations, animals, etc… The oldest petroglyphs date from the 12th century BC and traces of Mesolithic period occupation can be seen, with numerous burial mounds and graves.” Well, I didn’t see all that, just some really fascinating petroglyhphs. But, I did get to climb a lot of rocks, which was completely worth the two hour drive to get there. The PC staff corralled us all back on the buses to take us to the mud volcanoes. Now, I was so excited about this because the PCVs in Ganja really talked this place up and said it is a must see. Once again, I had in my head what I imagined mud volcanoes were going to look like – and I am not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed. They were a lot smaller than I expected and not supper active. But as one my friends said “It is like the earth is farting!” What more can I ask for, I mean seriously! I had fun there as well and amazingly enough left relatively clean. I did have to turn down the offer to paint ‘war paint,’ aka mud, on my face. As tempting as it was I just had my weekly shower last night and I am definitely not ruining it on day 2 of being clean! I am posting some pictures from both sites. (I usually don’t like to be in pictures, just taking them, but I have been taking special effort to be in these pictures for you all – so please feel loved!)

Me, Sabina, Amy, & Jordan (another AZ6)

Mud Volcanoes

Some what normal life…

2008-10-24T02:55:00.001-04:00

One afternoon this past week, for the life of me I can’t remember – all the days just seem to blur together here, I have no sense of time – we had the afternoon off from YD school. Oh, I think I do remember – it was Wednesday the 15th because that was the Presidential Election Day here. So no YD school – what are we to do with our free afternoon? Go find a robot sculpture of course! No lie, that is what we did, set out of on a robot hunt. Amy, one of my cluster mates, saw a picture of on the internet (in the US) of this robot sculpture somewhere in Sumgayut. Our LCF was finally able to find out how to get there from asking several different people for directions. Everyone laughed at us when we said that is where we were going, but us Americans did not care. (However, Sabina, our LCF, who is Azerbaijani does care, but we love to embarrass her so it made it that much more fun!) So we head off that afternoon to find this robot. Well, we took a couple of buses, but finally ended up in the middle of nowhere at some type of factory/plant building. But what did we see!?! An empty plot where the robot used to be! Not even lying, the robot was gone; a small piece of information people forgot to tell us when we asked for directions! We decided to be very Peace Corps-y and said ‘it was the journey, not the destination that is important’ (completely laughing at the entire situation). So as you can see from the picture below we decided to make our own robots on home of the once robot.

As I mentioned earlier my cluster likes to push the nerves of our LCF, and we went a little too far on Thursday during class. So to show her that we really do love her we decided to bake her cookies. Amy had her mom send her the recipe for chocolate chip cookies as well as the recipe for peanut butter cookies. We got out of YD class a lot later than usual on Thursday, but no problem; Amy and I were going to go the market and buy the supplies and Allison was going to come over the Amy’s house after she ate dinner. I got help from an Azerbaijani PC staff to have grammatically correct sentence in Azerbaijani saying I what I was going to do. So I called my host family and told them my plans. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then, Amy and I successfully got all the ingredients from the market – still feeling pretty good about ourselves. Now, that was a bit of a task, minus the obvious language barrier Amy and I had to try and guess the amounts of our recipe, which was in cups, in kilograms to tell the people at the market how much we needed (One does not buy a box of sugar, flour, etc…, instead you say how much you want and they measure it out for you there). Not as easy as it sounds – but we did it. We go back to Amy’s house and continue to guestimate everything as we have no measuring tools. It is a miracle the cookies turned out edible, much less decent tasting! (We were told there were very delicious, maybe people just being polite! J No, they were not half bad, not the same as in the States, but not bad.) So we are baking away when my phone rings. It is my host family asking me when I will be home. I told them again when I would be home. We were having a lot of fun baking and doing some homework when I looked outside and all of a sudden it was dusk. You are probably thinking – so what. But, the PC strongly advises not to go out alone after dark. So I decided to go ahead home turning down the offer of walking home with Alison and her host dad (he was coming to get her later to walk her home). I turned down that offer simply because I had no idea how to tell my host family that. And it is a good thing I did! I headed off to get home before dark and as I turned down my street what did I see? Definitely my host sister and aunt pacing outside our gate looking for me. So it turns out that my ‘perfect sentence’ was not that perfect because they had no idea where I was! They just knew that I was a lot later than I normally was and they were worried. I have decided that I am the ‘special’ child they never had! I am sure they think I am a complete idiot as I can’t do anything alone! (I am laughing out loud as I type this; I think it is completely hysterical. But, I know my family really likes me and I really like my family – so it is all good!)

Me, Amy, Kim, & Alison being robots

Ganja

2008-10-24T02:41:00.003-04:00

I made it to and back from my PCV visit to Ganja. I left October 11 at night and left Ganja October 13 at night – the trip was short, but fun. The PC arranged for us to take the night train there and when I found out that the night train had real sleeper cars I was so excited! I just thought that it was train that I would sleep in a chair. So I imagined what I thought this amazing night train would be like – the James Bond night trains of course! I completely imagined this amazingly cool room with a giant bed and a descent about of space to maneuver. Well, needless to say that my sleeper room did not live up to my expectations – my sleeper car looked nothing like James Bond’s – nonetheless I enjoyed the experience. Five AZ6ers went to Ganja to visit the 4 PCVs already there, so it was like one big party! The PCVs went all out and made tons of American food for us (biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, tacos, brownies, beef straw-ga-noff (which I obviously don’t know how to spell (ironic because when I was little it was my favorite meal, always mine birthday meal request) so I am writing it phonetically to the best of my ability). Monday afternoon we were given the official ‘Tour de Tor’ of some Ganja highlights by the PCV named Tor. Then we went to one of Rae’s English conversation clubs for some University Students (Ganja is home to 5 universities). I enjoyed meeting and talking with the students; I was really impressed with their level of English – very high. So what story of mine would be complete without some random event happening? So, all was well and Monday night we left to catch a bus to take us to the train station to catch our 9.20 pm train. Well, the bus did not come when expected. Actually we were told that the bus did not run that late. So we went to another spot to catch a different bus. Our PCV put us on the bus and told us to run when we got to the platform to catch our train. Run we did! The train was pulling out as when got on the platform. So, here are five Americans running after a train. Chris, a fellow AZ6, got to the train first when the ‘stewardess type’ lady told us we could not get on the train. So, we ran to the next car and Chris jumped/threw himself on the train – definitely crawling through the legs of a couple of stewardesses. Pretty positive that is a cultural no-no! So, I am next as I begin to climb on a moving train. I am half on half off when the train stops! They let us on and told us not to be late next time. All is well that ends well and we made it back safe and sound to our homes.

bottle house in Ganja

from left to right: Todd (AZ6), Chris (AZ6), Tom (AZ5), Brian (AZ5), Tor (AZ5), Suzanne (AZ6), Rae (AZ5), Tony (AZ6)

Our night train room (I slept on one of the top bunks)

Email troubles

2008-10-05T05:21:00.001-04:00

So, I just posted my blog and went to check and send emails. I was able to read all my emails from everyone, but I am not able to send any. So please don't stop sending them, I got recieved all your emails. I will come back to the internet cafe as soon as I can and try again to send emails. Probably one afternoon this week.

Where to begin!

2008-10-05T05:05:00.000-04:00

Okay everyone. I finally am able post on my blog what has been going on in my life. I am still working on my Azeri and I am doing a lot better than I was when I left (which was zero Azeri language skills so I don’t know what that says about me! J I am not picking it up as fast as I would like, but I have to remember that language learning takes time. So language learning is still a top prayer request for me! I thank you in advance for everyone who is praying for me, I can really see God’s grace and provision in the short time I have been here.

I have decided that the best way for me to do this is to divide everything up into different posts so that you will not be overwhelmed with one extremely long post. If I post it correctly then the oldest thing will come first and then work its way down to the more recent. I hope you enjoy!

First few days…

2008-10-05T04:56:00.004-04:00

Well, I must say that my arrival to Azerbaijan was a whirlwind. We left Philadelphia and departed for Frankfurt and then to Baku. The first leg of the flight was around 8 hours; I slept most of the way thus causing the flight to seem quite short. However, the shorter leg (Frankfurt to Baku) of the flight only totaled about 4 hours but I thought it would never end. But finally we arrived in Baku late Tuesday night. We walked out of customs and were greeted by cheering Peace Corps staff and current volunteers. (They are called AZ5 and I am an AZ6 because I am the 6th group of volunteers to serve in Azerbaijan.) They helped us load the luggage of all 61 of us on two giant tourist type buses and we immediately left for Aqua Park Hotel located in Sumgayit. We received our room assignments and headed off to bed because the next morning we officially started our PST (pre-service training). Being at Aqua Park was a bit surreal because it was very nice and we were a bit isolated. However, I enjoyed being beach front to the Caspian Sea, which I fully took advantage of with daily walks on the beach. We left Aqua Park on Saturday to head to our host families.

Caspian Sea

Traiditional Dance performed for us at the hotel

AZ6 dancing (in traditional Azeri way)

My Host Family

2008-10-05T04:29:00.010-04:00

As I mentioned before my host family is great. And yes, I do have electricity and run water! The electricity goes out occasionally, but it usually comes back on relatively quick. I have two host siblings, a 15 year old sister and an 11 year old brother. My sister loves the English language and wants to constantly speak to me in English. However, she is always willing to help me study my Azeri when I ask. Monday the 29th was the last day of Ramadan and my host mother cooked a big feast of traditional food for the end of fasting. (My host father fasted, however my mother and siblings did not. We ate Monday night dinner after dark as a family.) We had plov (a rice pilaf type dish) as the main course. Tuesday was the national holiday of Ramadan (which meant no school for me, but Azerbaijani students had Monday – Wednesday off) and my host mother made another traditional dish called firni. (I watched her make it and the ingredients are milk, rice flower, and sugar. She stirred it continually on the stove until it was thickened and then placed it in dishes to cool. Each plate is sprinkled with cinnamon in either the first initial of your name or a decorative pattern. Each family member gets their initial on a plate, including me!)

A bit of information about my host family: my host mother is a house wife and my host father is a chief at restaurant in Sumgayit (which is where all of us AZ6 will be living during PST). The houses here are best described as family compounds. Our house has two levels: my family lives in the top house and underneath us live two of my host father’s sisters and his mother. Some of our cousins leave next door (I have only met them a few times, so I don’t know exact details of that family).

So, the bathroom. Firstly, let me just start off with the most devastating thing that has happened to me (I also think it is safe to say it will be the most devastating thing all of my time here!): bathroom talk is strictly taboo! Those of you who know me well know that this is by far my favorite subject (you can ask any of my Y business office ladies this!) Needless to say I am distraught that I will not be able to discuss this with any Azerbaijani people. All this does have a point, so just bear with me. The bathroom at my host family’s house is really nice. We have a western toilet (but the flushing does not work, we pour water in a bucket and dump it down the bowl to flush. I learned after a few days that is the force of the pouring, not the quantity of water that ensures proper flushing). The shower is the sink – let me explain. The entire bathroom is the shower (meaning the floor has a drain in it and I just stand in the room to wash.) I had my first (and only shower thus far) on Wednesday. The bathroom sink is a shower head that a lot of kitchen sinks have in America. You can pull the head out and press the top to make it a spray or just one flow of water. I had plenty of water and warm water so I have no complaints. (I think the hot water has to be turned on first and then it takes a while for it to heat up. I am pretty sure my family has a shower day once a week, but I haven’t exactly figured that out yet.) Okay, back to the toilet. The first day I was here I went to use the toilet and immediately came back out and asked ‘where was the toilet paper?’ My host sister told me ‘No, toilet paper, water’ and pointed to a container that looks like a watering container for plants. Well, I can’t lie, I was warned about this. A lot of Azerbaijani people don’t use toilet paper, instead they clean themselves with water – kind of like a be-day (I have no idea how to spell this so I am writing the phonetic spelling) toilet. Azeri people will have either a hose or water can type thing in the bathroom for cleaning. I understand the concept of the hose, but not the watering can. And since bathroom subjects are taboo, I have no one to ask to explain it to me, much less ask for a demonstration. I am all up for trying new things, but I have no idea how to go about this one so the next day when I got my cell phone I picked up two packages of toilet paper. I brought it home and my host mom asked why I bought it, I tried to explain that I don’t know how to use the toilet without it, I am not sure if she understood. But, I do have a spot for keeping my TP in the bathroom, so all is well!

Okay so the pictures got out of order – sorry!

Firni

Plov

The living room

Standing in the back of the living room and the 3 bedroom doors (mine is the farthest on the left)

My room

My host family

My Street (looking to the right out of our gate)

The entrance to our house

I live in the top house (the brown door in the upper right)

Our Kitchen and eating area (to right as I walk in)

The bathroom and entrance to the other part of the house (to the left as we walk in)

My daily routine

2008-10-05T04:23:00.004-04:00

Okay before I can explain my daily schedule let me give you a bit of background info. The 61 trainees were divided up into subgroups based on their job for the PC (either Youth Development (YD), Community Economic Development (CED), or Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Then those groups were further divided into clusters of 4 – 6 people. Each cluster group lives in the same neighborhood and goes to language classes together in the morning. Then each job group all comes to one school for afternoon trainings. Each language class is taught by a Language Cultural Facilitator (LCF). (If you haven’t been able to tell yet, the PC loves acronyms – I think that is the right word.) Most LCFs, with the exception of maybe 1 or 2, are university students. They request the semester off from university to come and live with a host family in their cluster neighborhood and spend 3 months teaching AZ6 language, cultural norms, etc… Most days Monday through Saturday I language classes from 9.00am – 1.00pm. Then I come home for lunch and have to return to school at either 2.30 or 3.00pm for YD training which finishes between 5.00 – 5.30 pm. I am lucky because my cluster school is the same as my YD training school. (Therefore I get a longer break for lunch because I just have to walk to and from school (around 10 minutes or so) instead of taking a bus.) I say most days because some days we have a HUB day (when all 61 trainees come together to the same school) or a cultural event scheduled. Next week we start teaching English language conversation clubs and will continue doing that 2 days a week until the end of PST. Each cluster will teach the clubs at their individual schools, so on the days we have the clubs, we will not have YD trainings. I am really excited because this coming weekend, October 11th – 14th, we have a PCV site visit scheduled (translation: each trainee (AZ6 until we are sworn in as volunteers at the end of our training) gets assigned an AZ5 to go visit for the weekend to observe and participate in their daily lives.) I have been assigned to Ganja (the second largest city in Azerbaijan), which will take me roughly 7 hours on a bus for travel. The PCV I was assigned to stay with is also someone I emailed a few times before I left, so that is really exciting that I kind of know her! She was actually the host sister of my LCF (my LCF is from Ganja), and my LCF loves her. She, Rae, called me last night and was super nice and telling me how excited she was for me to come. I am really looking forward to this trip! Okay, back to my schedule. Azerbaijani women, and therefore I, do not usually go out of the home alone, unless for school or work. So my daily routine consists of going to and from school and that is it. Nothing like being 26 and escorted to school by either your two teenage siblings or host mom! (I am able to go to and from school alone now!) So, I spend a lot of time at home with my host mother and siblings. I have come to the conclusion that there is a tv channel completely dedicated to playing 24/7 one of 2 Turkish soaps! I kid you not every time the tv is turned on, which is quite often, one of these 2 turkish soaps are always on. (Azerbaijani and Turkish are quite similar and if you can speak one of those languages you can understand the other fine – exciting note for me when I finally grasp Azeri.) Living with my host family is fine. I really like them and they are very respectful of my privacy and stuff. Most Azerbaijanis don’t understand the concept of Americans wanting to be alone at times, but I don’t have that problem, which I am very thankful. Bread is served at every meal, I think it is safe to say that bread is borderline sacred in Azerbaijan. One never throws bread away, throws it on the ground, or takes more that what you will eat (and Azerbaijani people can throw back(eat) some bread). Usually sliced tomatoes and cumbers are served at lunch and dinner. Hot tea is served at every meal and in between meals. The typical breakfast is bread, butter, cheese, and tea (I don’t eat the butter, but everything else I have every morning). The food is cooked in tons of oil and butter, so it is a lot greasier than food I am used to eating. I don’t eat a lot of fruit and bananas are really expensive (sad note for me because I used to eat one everyday) I am sure some of you are dying to know – yes I have had meat since I have been here. I have gotten a few stomach pains most days, but nothing too serious.

This is a picture of my cluster group leaving Aqua Park with all our luggage stuffed in the bus!

Jacob, Amy, Kim, Allison, and Sabina

I won’t get lost….

2008-10-05T04:13:00.000-04:00

So as I just mentioned women do not do many things alone outside of the house, including exercise. However, I feel very lethargic and want to get some exercise. So I decided that Tuesday (my day off) I would go running. I made sure it was okay with my host mom and asked her when I could go. Again, I can’t reiterate the fact that it is very very uncommon to see people running, espeically women. She said I needed to go at first light – which is 7 am right now. She was worried that I would get lost but I reassured her that I would not get lost, that it would be fine. I was really excited because at that point it was the first thing I was allowed to do alone. I didn’t want to blow it because I wanted them to trust me to do other things by myself. So I woke up at 6.50 am changed clothes and quietly left the house to go running (everyone was still asleep). I went outside, feeling pretty good about myself, and got to the compound gate and couldn’t get it open! I was like man, ‘what am I going to do, how am I going to get out?’ Well, I guess I made enough noise trying to open it that my host aunt came out to open it for me. I tried to explain to her in my very limited Azeri what I was about to do. She said ‘No, no, I should run in the yard.’ I said ‘no, no I want to run outside.’ So she opened the gate for me and said that she would leave it cracked for me. I was like no need, I won’t get lost. So I ran to my school and back, went down a bunch of random streets (which one street lead me next to a grave yard and to the Caspian Sea – I hit that street right as the sun was rising, it was beautiful), and then I decided I should head back home. I had only been running for 30 minutes, but I didn’t want to push my luck on my first time. So I made my way back down the winding streets and ended up at my market (there is a market on almost every street corner) and then I ran down the street looking for my house. Honestly, I was feeling pretty good about myself and that I didn’t get lost. I was cruising down the street looking for my green gate that was cracked thinking that ‘It can’t be that hard to find.’ Right, again this is me who was confident that I wouldn’t get lost – what was I thinking. I went up and down that street, turned on side streets and couldn’t find my green gate to save my life. By this time it was after 8.00 am and I know I needed to get home, but I had no idea how to get there. I knew I near my house because of the market and I saw the owner outside his shop (women also do not speak to men (or look them in the eyes), so I had never spoken to him, but I knew he knew who I was). It was getting late, I didn’t want my family to worry, and I was starting to get a bit panicked. But to top if all off this was one chance to prove to my family that I could do things on my own and I didn’t want to blow it. I really didn’t want to ask for help, but I didn’t know what else to do. So I finally worked up the courage (after repeating “Where’s my family?” (the closest thing in Azeri I knew to I am lost and need directions) to talk to the shop owner. So I start walking towards him now and then all of sudden, by God’s grace, I saw my green gate cracked open a hair – but only it was grey not green!

But wait, it gets better. So I go in the house (everyone is still asleep and I am so thankful that I didn’t go to the shop owner because he probably would have called my family and woken them up) and go to get some water. So the situation with water is that it has to be boiled for 3 minutes (and in some cities filtered) before I can drink it. So I realize that I don’t have any boiled water, so I need to boil some – can’t be that hard right? Well, this is me we are talking about! I go to the stove and turn on the gas – nothing. No big deal I just have to find the matches and then light the pilot light. So I found the matches above the stove and get the gas going no problem. I then try to open the lid of the tea kettle, but I can’t get it open – it is stuck. Well, I am like okay there is a little water in there so I will just use was is in the kettle to boil. So I boil the water and try to listen to hear when the water is boiling (I lifted the spout so it wouldn’t whistle because my family was sleeping). So I did and then poured the boiling hot water into my nalgene and poured the rest in the pitcher for water on the table. Now the kettle was empty so I wanted to refill it with water, but as I was trying to figure out how to put the water in the kettle I finally got the lid off. I refilled the kettle and decided to boil more water to completely fill the table pitcher. So I refill the water and start to boil it again. However, as I am boiling the water with the lid off I realize that I wasn’t actually boiling the water before! So I had to pour out all that water and start all over again! So about 30 minutes after I arrived home I had a nalgene full of boiling hot water (which was really boiled for 3 minutes.) Then about 2 hours later I was able to enjoy drinking not scolding hot water after my run! I laughed so hard at myself for my run, but as much as I blotched everything up I was able to do it myself! Tomorrow (I am typing my posts at home on Saturday to take to the internet club on Sunday) morning I am going to go run again, but hopefully this will not be such an ordeal! In fact, I am going to go boil my water right now so that tomorrow morning it will be luke warm!

Really!?!

2008-10-05T04:04:00.002-04:00

Okay. So once again I attempted to boil water last night in preparation for my run this morning. So I boiled the some water (and learned that I don't have to light the gas stove with a match, just press a button - go figure!) again. I poured the boiling water in my nalgene so it could cool down for this morning and then I poured some water in the glass pitcher on the table. Let's just say not smart. So I learned not to pour hot water in glass because the entire bottom just fell off! And all the water fell to the floor and on my feet. I felt horrible, but my host mom said not to worry about it. She said they had plenty of pitchers and that I didn't need to replace it. I am not going to lie - the fact that she and my host sister broke three cups the same day by pouring hot tea in them did make me feel a little bit better! But, my host mother did tell me that 10 years ago she did the exact samething when she was working. Her co-worker told her that that it meant that she would be married within the year, and guess what? She met her husband and got married! Go figure! :) So, then my host mom told me it was fate and that I would marry an Azerbaijani guy. I am over 25 and thus considered a spinster in this culture. Maybe my lack of common sense will help me out after all! (I am totally joking for anyone who is considered that I am being serious.) One day I really might have a normal day! But at least I found my door after my run!

I am here!

2008-09-28T03:33:00.002-04:00

Hello all friends and family! I just want to let everyone know that I made it safe and sound to Azerbaijan. We arrived Tuesday evening to Azerbaijan around 10.00 pm ish. We immediately went to a hotel called Aqau Park, which was really nice. I will write more about it when I have more time. We stayed there until Saturday afternoon which was when we were taken to our host families. I spent last night in my new home for the next 11 weeks of training. My family is very nice. They have two children, one 15 year old girl and 11 year old boy. The girl loves the English language and has been studying it for 2 years. She speaks a little English so that helped with communicating with everyone.

I have much more to tell everyone, however, I do not have time right now. My first free day will be next Sunday so I will be able to write much more next weekend!

My last day!

2008-09-21T18:21:00.003-04:00

So I just finished my pre-departure training - basically Peace Corps 101. That means tonight is my last night in the US, which is completely unbelievable to me. However, tonight I will again hang out with my friends from TUJ (Temple University Japan) from when I lived in Tokyo. I had a lot of fun seeing them last night and look forward to my last dinner in the US - Korean!

I do have a few updates on my next week. We arrive in Baku Tuesday night around 9.05 pm. We (all 61 volunteers headed to Azerbaijan) will be staying in a hotel until Saturday. Then the big day happens - Saturday I will meet my host family for the next 11 weeks while we have pre-service training. I know I will not have any Internet access until Sunday at the earliest - so no news is good news. There is a quite large group of headed to Azerbaijan and also quite diverse in ages. We have several 50 + volunteers, 4 married couples, a large group of recent college grads, and then mid twenties to early thirties group. So, I will update my blog as soon as I am able!

This is it

2008-09-18T23:29:00.001-04:00

Well, I can’t believe it. My departure day is less than 48 hours away. It blows my mind that I will be leaving on Saturday for the Peace Corps! It is still very surreal to me – the reality hasn’t yet sunk in that I am really leaving for 27 months. So how will I spend my final day in Raleigh you may ask? Packing! Yes, it is true… I still have not packed my bags. I do have everything laid out that I want to take and it will be a miracle if I can fit in all in my weight requirements (two bags at 50 lbs each). Not knowing exactly where I will be living or the specifics of my job makes packing for 2 years a bit difficult. Other than packed bags I am all ready to leave. I am so far behind on packing because I have been spending as much time as I can with friends and family. I have said my good-byes and I am ready to start the next step on my journey.

What exactly is my next step? Well, the Peace Corps arranged all my flights and below is the schedule I was sent:
Saturday – 8.34 am flight to Philadelphia
Saturday afternoon through Sunday pm – Orientation
Monday – 9.35 pm leave JFK to Frankfurt
Tuesday – 11.30 am Frankfurt to Baku

So in just one week time my life will be drastically different – in what exact ways I am not completely sure. But I am excited to see what is to come.

Next stop is...

2008-09-07T09:30:00.002-04:00

Well, I have never blogged before, but since my life is about to dramatically change in a few weeks I was told it is time to start. Several weeks ago I accepted an invitation to serve in the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan. My official job title will be “Youth Development Facilitator.” What that means, to quote the Peace Corps, is that I will be working with a partner organization in Azerbaijan in order to “help youth be more successful and responsible adults in the future, in their own lives, future families and with their communities and the country.” I will not know the specifics of what I will be doing on a daily basis until I start working.

I have been asked a lot of questions about my time in the Peace Corps, so I will try to field those questions by giving a bit more information. I will be leaving Raleigh on September 20th for Philadelphia. Once in Philly I will have a brief orientation with all the other volunteers going to Azerbaijan. We leave Philly for our new home on September 22nd. Once in Azerbaijan I will be living with a host family for 3 months while I and all the other volunteers attend training (language training, job training, and cultural training). After those three months are up I will move to my site (I will find out the location sometime during my training) where I will live with a new host family for at least 6 months.