Other random pictures

S'mores in Sumgayit

Baku X-mas

So since my director decided to take the week off because we had no power in the office I went to Baku for x-mas. I went with some other PCVs and had x-mas dinner at a chineese restaurant (that's traditional right?) It was fun and good to see Jesse and Hannah again.

We don't need a pic with Shaxta Baba, we have eachother

Bathrooms at the pub

Not quite as good at Thanksgiving at McDonalds, but the palm tree is a nice touch.

Quba x-mas

The tree in Quba, and yes, that is a Mosque in the backround.

X-mas in Baku

So the power went out at my office on Monday and my director decided to take the week off because of this. After spending a day and I half following another PCV around I was talked into coming to Baku for Christmas.
No, they don't really celebrate Christmas in Azerbaijan, it is after all a predominantly muslim country. They do however celebrate New Years with their version on Santa and nicely decorated trees so you get the feel of Christmas without all the shopping.

Snow Hiking!

On Sunday Jake and I tried to walk down the Quidialcay (river) to the Caspian Sea. In the snow. It was pretty fun, but cold and we didn't make it to the sea. We did go through 2 villages and 2 graveyards though. After walking down the river for a little over 2 hours through plowed fields, over irrigation ditches, and mud and slush filled streets we decided to walk towards a village we saw and ask where we were. The village had a road back to Xacmaz (Jake's city) so we started walking. 45 mins. later we were back in Xacmaz, apparently the river is not the fastest way. We'll try again when it isn't snowing and we can see more than 20 yards in front of us. I got in a little bit of trouble with my host mom for having wet pants when I got back to Guba, but a lady on the bus from Xacmaz to Guba gave me pastries when I told her I was a volunteer. I love that strangers feed me in this country.

Trying to figure out how to cross the watery ditch

Very old graveyard

It's like orgegon trail! We didn't ford the river though.

I'm not taking the train in Azerbaijan.

The year of the man chicken

So I was sitting around the kitchen table with my host family last night and they wanted to know what my astrological sign was. Sagittarius is easy enough to mime out since it is currently not in my Azeri vocabulary, but then they wanted to know what year I was born in. I told the 1981 but that wasn't what they wanted. I asked if they were talking about which animal my bith year was, and then quickly told them I don't know. They responed by pulling out a book on astrology (in Russian) and told me I was the year of the xoruz. Luckily xoruz is in my Azeri vocabulary as I have in the past made attempts to get people to say rooster rather than the alternative that is is most Azeri-English dictionaries. My family wasn't quite convinced I knew what xoruz was so they asked me to describe it. How else was I supposed to describe rooster than litteraly "man chicken"? They thought it was hilarious.

So long Sumgayit!

So now I am no longer a PCT and an currently a PCV! As of yesterday I officially live in Guba too! I left one of the most polluted cities on the planet with all my stuff, hopped on what is basically a minivan and came to Guba. I start work on Monday so right now I'm tagging along with a fellow PCV to her clubs and enjoying the snow!

Where I'm at

The view from my bedroom in Quba

An old Hamam in Quba

This is how people use ATMs in Azerbaijan

My house in Quba, the big round window is my bedroom.

As I get closer to the end of trainng ( 7 days left!) this is what is going on with me: I am packing my stuff to move to Quba which includes a giant water filter I never use, a giant sleeping bag, and a full library of books curtesy of the Peace Corps. I am NOT fluent in Azerbaijani, I can do okay with simple conversations, but I am still picking out the words that I know and assuming I know what people are saying to me. I still don't know exactly what my job is. This part I kind of like because it means that I get to see what the community needs are and then create my job based on my skills and their needs. I do know that I will be having conversation clubs and cultural seminars, but beyond that it is all up in the air. Next Wednesday I swear in as a Peace Corps volunteer, all this time I have been a trainee which isn't actually in the Peace Corps. I'm excited to start work and actually feel like I can settle in and fully unpack!!

Baku and a haircut

My group finally got a chance to go to Baku and check out the capital on the 17th, so here are some pictures. It was nice to have a day off and be a tourist for a bit. Baku is pretty typical big city, but the old part of the city was really cool. I also never expected to be so happy to get a happy meal.

Last week I also cut my hair. It was getting to be too much of a hassle to wash it in the sink between my once a week showers. After a call from my LCF who was upset because she though I cut it really really short ( She actually asked me why I would do that, I'm a girl) my host family thought it was hilarious that I cut my own hair. They said I should go to Quba and be a hairdresser, which is actually easier to explain than youth development work, so I think I'm just going to go with that. Pictures from Quba are coming.

Flying carpet store

I'm pretty good and getting in the way of pictures

Maiden's Tower

Baku

Of course I'm not paying attention.

Best cluster ever!

In AZ

Some of the things I still haven't gotten tird of:
Walking past sheep on the road to school in the morning
Seeing guys do road construction in suits
Takis, restaurants, busses and random people on the street changing the radio to English music when I am around
Drinking tea and eating candy.

Speaking of candy, my first box from America finally arrived and it contained a giant bag of Skittles from my family, which was awesome. As I was sitting on the roof of the chicken coop eating said skittles a group of neighborhood kids came over to say hi and ask me again why I am sitting on the roof. I decided to come down from my hideout and offer them some skittles. They loved the skittles and we ended up playing volleyball in the street (with a soccer ball). This is what I had pictured life in the Peace Corps to be like when I was still in America, and it was sort of awesome. I really like the kids on my street and they don't seem to care that I can barely talk to them (which was clearly evident when I called the red skittles dirty flavored before I remembered the word for strawberry, Chirkli vs. Ciyelek, anyone could have made that mistake).

Pictures

I probaly should have posted these sooner but here is a picture of my street in Sumgayit, the Caspian Sea in Sumqayit, and the Kur River in Salyan.

I don't speak Russian

But more importantly I don't read Russian. When I found out I would be coming to Azerbaijan I was really excited that I could not only learn Azerbaijani but also Russian. My thoughts have since changed. I don't know if you have ever seen the Russian alphabet, but it is pretty intimidating. IT IS A WHOLE NEW ALPHABET. Not just slightly new like the Azeri alpabet with an upside down e or an i with not dot, but totally new with things that look more like pictures than letters. So I don't think I will be learning much Russian. The problem is that many products in Azerbaijan are Russian brands, with Russian writing which I don't read. And that is how I ended up with menthol toilet paper.

Here is a picture ( I stole it from Loki) of the super awesome Youth Development crew crammed into a marshukta.

And the winner is...

Okay, I realize it is pretty egotistical to call the city I will live in the winner,when really I think I'm the one who won, but I'm moving to QUBA!!!!!!

The Peace Corps announced our permanent sites and I will be spending the next 2 years in Quba,a city in the North East of Azerbaijan. I'm pretty excited about it,it is in the mountains and they are supposed to have some pretty awesome apples, so send me your recipies for cider and pie!

Here is another picture of me getting my blood drawn in language class.

My Day

A typical day for me during Pre-service training:

7:45am - Wake up because it is too bright in my room to sleep anymore

8:00am-Go downstairs for breakfast. I usually eat bread with butter and jam but the host Mom recently got a box of oatmeal for me, which is really good with the jam. Or course I also drink tea.

8:30am-Get my stuff together and go to school. As of yesterday though my language class does not start until 10:30am, but I still leave at the same time and go to Hannah's house and refer to that as "school" as well.

9:00am - 1:00pm - Azerbaijani Language class!!!!!

1:00pm- Go home for lunch

2:30pm or 3:00pm - Youth Development Program sessions. We go over how to do our jobs once we go to our permanant site. We don't have these sessions every day though, so on days off (like today) I'll go into the main part of Sumgait and use the internet, go shopping, or just wander around, Yesterday Hannah, Alison and I walked down the beach and ended up at the Hotel we stayed at when we first got here.

6:00pm - go home and sit around the house, studying, eating, drinking tea, etc.

10:00pm - Go to my room and read or watch a movie, then to sleep!

That is pretty typical but sometimes my cluster gets together to hang out, cook, watch T.V., or other variuous shenanigans.

The picture is of me getting my blood drawn in the corner of our language class.

Gobustan

Some pictures from our trip to Gobustan and the mud volcanoes. I got to climb on rocks all day, which was amazing!

Things I miss from the U.S. already,

-Family & Friends
-Pumpkin Spice Lattes
-Skittles
-Bacon
-Recycling
-Target

Finally Pictures!

Welcome to Azerbaijan! Have some shots!
The view of the Caspian from my orientation hotel balcony.
A dog on th ebeach of the Caspian.
Scary clown shower by the pool.

That is a lot of luggage

In a round about way I have one picture. It is of my language cluster and one other that lives near by right before we got dropped off at our respective host families. We packed ourselves in there pretty good.

Sumguyit

I can't spell the name of the city I'm in, but I'm finally at my training site with my host family. They are EXTREMELY nice. They keep feeding me and giving me tea. On of the sisters is studying to be an english translator so the language isn't as big of a problem, plus she has already started to help me study my Azeri lessons. We are in the main part of the city today getting cell phones (yes cell phone sin the Peace Corps) and running other errands. Tomorrow we start out training at the schools (mine is pink!).

From the other side of the world!

We made it to Azerbaijan on Tuesday night. It was dark when we drove out of Baku to the hotel, so I didn't get to see much of the city. Right now all the trainees are staying in a resort hotel/waterpark but Saturday we move in with our host families. I'll try and upload pictures soon but some of the highlights of this hotel include: Bread and cucumbers at every meal (awesome), the creepiest clown statue known to man, a Napoleon statue, no elevator (not awesome when hauling 2 years of luggage up to the second floor), coke served in one of those juice machines (often seen in america filled with ice tea or lemonade, the kind that is constantly being stirred), and a room with a view of the Caspian Sea (also awesome).

Leaving

We all leave for Baku tonight. I'll get in around 9:00am Tuesday, California time. We were told that we won't be able to make phone calls or send e-mails for about a week and a half once we get there, so just assume everything is going great unless otherwise informed. Hopefully I'll sleep across the Atlantic, then I can just watch Three Sheets and listen to music over to Baku.
I can't wait to see how 61 adults go about getting 2 years worth of luggage on to 2 busses, drive to NY and then all check in to the same flight. It promises to be an amazing mess even though the AZ6 group is pretty awesome.

Staging

Made it to Philadelphia for a few days of training. I hate the Philadelhpia airport ground transportation system, just in case anyone needs to know that. At least the hotel is nice as has a computer in the room, and I found a 7-11 so I bought a sandwich for dinner.

10 days left

It seems to be quite the trend among Peace Corps Volunteers to start a blog before leaving the U.S. in order to keep people posted on their lives, so I'm joining the bandwagon for those of you who aren't MySpace of Facebook types.

I leave California in about 10 days and head out to Philadelphia. So far my itinerary looks like this:

9/19 - Fly out of San Jose to L.A. ridiculously early in the morning, Fly from L.A. to Philly with another Peace Corps Volunteer, lug two years worth of stuff from the airport to the hotel, figure out what to do in Philly for a night.

9/20 - Find something to do in the morning, start Peace Corps training in the afternoon

9/21 - Peace Corps Training

9/22 - Leave Philly and take bus to JFK airport, get on late flight to Frankfurt

9/23 - Flight from Frankfurt to Baku, arrive in Azerbaijan!!!!

Azerbaijan is 12 hours away from the west coast which makes it easy for you to know what time it is over there, just change the a.m. to a p.m. or vice verse and there you have it. This also means that I will be just about exactly halfway around the world, as far away as I could get (which is awesome).