Local staff - We had some great people working for Peace Corps. My language teacher was amazing. The stuff she put up with from me alone is enough for an award. She was great and is one of my best friend in Azerbaijan. Our training manager was awesome, my un-offical program manager, the drivers, the assistants, pretty much Peace Corps found stellar folks to work there.
Safety - Maybe it was because of the city I was in. Maybe it was because I'm so tall and intimidating. Maybe it is because I had a badass named Jeyhun on my team. Who knows, but I never felt like I wasn't safe in Azerbaijan. For all the harassment I got it was mostly harmless. I felt comfortable walking home alone at night, even in Baku.
Convenience - Yeah, that's right. I'm mostly talking about stores though. There were markets everywhere and if one didn't have what you needed you just walk half a block, or even next door.
Travel - As much as I hated those tiny cramped buses and horrible roads, at least there were roads, and travel was cheap and frequent where I lived. Plus the Azerbaijan Peace Corps travel policy was super lenient so I could see all my friends.
Other Volunteers - We all know it but I'm going to say it. AZ5, AZ6, and AZ7 are a good looking, funny, intelligent, fun spirited bunch of folks. We're awesome (most of us, you know who you are)!
So basically it took me seeing other options before I could really appreciate what I had. Go figure. But mandarins don't taste as good outside of the baijan.
