Can you still call it a sweat shop in the freezing cold winter?this

Since my apartment is a small cement box if you want more space the only way to go is up. So Jake build me a bunk bed. Jake is a pretty handy kid to have around. I don't really want to write much right now so lets call this one a photo essay.

Jake working on the blueprints

Jake cutting the wood

Putting the frame together

Putting the new kid to work

Final product. Notice the amazing leopard print.

The great bread crisis of '09

So, this week we had no gas for 3 days. I figured this would just mean that everything would be cold unless I felt the desire to go chop me some wood. I was wrong. I was on my way to my sitemate's house and he asked me to bring him some bread. I stopped by the corner store and asked if they had bread. "There is no gas, how can we have bread?" In case you don't know, bread is a pretty big deal in Azerbaijan. It is eaten at every meal. If it gets stale or moldy you don't throw it away, that is unacceptable! You hang it from the dumpster and the "Chorek Fairy" does something with it (this may be a mystery I never solve here). So no bread. For 4 days "because it takes a while to bake. Yesterday I went to the store and people kept sticking their heads in the door asking for bread. It was a difficult time, but we made it through. I made muffins actually. And I didn't burn them. Go me!

Winter Makes You Think

So, now that it is winter I have been thinking about where I was last year. Snow evidently makes me think deeply, who knew. I've been having flashbacks to my life one year ago and it is so very different now. This time last year I was living with a host family full of awkward situations like being offered money, complained to about health ailments, walking in on my host dad purposely putting me host mom into a coma ( he was a doctor, but still, in the living room?) screaming fits of rage by my host sister, and shotguns being pulled out during friendly card games. Now I live on my own (insert sigh of relief here). Last year I was also still fighting the "I am not an English teacher" war that every Youth Development Volunteer encounters. I have sort of gotten over that at this point. I work with some of the better English speakers in town and help some people write reports in English, but that is it on the English front. I've sort of found my groove helping people with office trainings, sports, and something along the lines of therapeutic recreation planning. It rocks. I've come a long way in the last year, I've grown wiser and a bit more bitter, but I don't think that is a bad thing. Here is a gratuitous picture (of the shack across the street from my apartment), cuz you know, I like blogs with pictures and I'm only sort of a hypocrite.

I woke up to winter

So, last Saturday was a beautiful day in Quba. It was sunny and clear, I could see the mountains covered in snow, basically gorgeous. Now, Tuesday morning I woke up and the place is covered in snow. This also happened simultaneously with the gas being out all over the region. Bad timing Azerbaijan, bad timing.

Made it!

So it is now December 1st and we have made it this far with no snow in Quba yet. Score. I like snow and all but in Azerbaijan it just makes life harder. People don't want to leave their houses or villages to come to work with you, the streets suck and you fall down on them lots (hopefully not so much for me this year, my family send me boot grips!) and you never get fully warm since it is cold even inside. Last year was cold and I was living with a rich host family who used tons of electric heaters, this year I'm in my own cement box apartment. We'll see how cold it gets.

Thanksgiving

This past Saturday was “Thanksgiving” in Azerbaijan. Well it was for PCVs anyway. All PCVs were invited to the American Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission’s house for a potluck dinner and talent show. We had lots of good food and some pretty impressive talents. My fellow PCVs and I here in the first finger created a human pyramid. After the event 8 other volunteers and I went back to our host for the night and got a little bit of America. I did my laundry in a washer AND dryer! We had use of a refrigerator, freezer, microwave, blender, like 6 different showers, television, ping pong table, video games, wireless internet, free phone calls to America, and a sauna. Anyway, despite coming down with a bad cold, I still had a great faux Thanksgiving.

Skillz and Failure

Sure, joining the Peace Corps has helped me gain new skills (Like speak Azeri, go over a week without a shower, I.R.B.-ing, and drink dozens of cups of tea a day!) but I have started to notice a decline in many of my other abilities. My English-speaking skills are going in the crapper and new to the list of things I am getting worse at: Multitasking! I had t meeting at 6:00 last night, which meant that it was almost 8:00 when I got home. Still feeling motivated I decided to try and accomplish the list of things I had set out for the day. So I lit the water tank to shower, unpacked some stuff, started to make cookies for a club today, and then even got around to ironing a shirt for next week’s presentation. This is where the problem came in. The iron was heating up, the cookies were in the oven, and I was putting away some books. Then I started to iron my shirt, check to see if the shower was warm, then put on some water for coffee. I forgot about the cookies (some blame rests on the new oven with a celsius dial that I haven’t mastered yet) anyway, the cookies failed.

My Kick-Ass Family

Perhaps you don’t know this, but I have a pretty amazing family. Sure we fought when I was growing up, but I think we all turned out better because of it. Now that I am halfway around the world, my brother and his fiancé send me bacon and my Mom Dad and Sister send me text messages; which makes my day. I love and America, it’s awesome who wouldn’t, but in the 14-ish months I have been in Azerbaijan I had never had the true sense of missing something so much I thought about going back, just for a weekend. I was sitting in my apartment when I started to realize how much I miss my Dad (it’s a lot). It occurred to me that things like Christmas, Birthdays, Thanksgiving, none of that has set off the homesickness for me. I’m really looking forward to spending my last Christmas in Azerbaijan with my friends here, but I can’t just go get bagels with my Dad on the weekends and that fact (I know it took me a long time to realize it, hey my Dad travels a lot, it isn’t totally out of the question) makes me feel very far away. Things like when my Mom can’t sleep at night so she talks to me because she knows I’m up, or going to wine sales with my Dad, those are the things I miss, and as much as I love my friends in Azerbaijan (again, a lot), that is a void you just can’t fill over here.

We never really do the family portrait thing, so in lieu of that, please accept this photo of me with a bloody nose. Enjoy!

Halloween

So, as many of you know Halloween was last weekend. And as many of you can probably guess, Halloween is not a holiday in Azerbaijan. That isn't going to stop Americans from celebrating though. I made the trek up to Zaqatala (2 hours on a bus to Baku and then 13 hours on a train) for some festivities. After making and eating some amazing food at Loki's (I couldn't find the umlats Loki, sorry) we headed over to Josh's haunted mansion of a house. By haunted I mean unfinished. After bonfire and the world premiere of Xachmaz slasher along with dancing and general PCV shenanigans it was time to head back to Loki's house, in the pouring down rain. Part way through the walk a PCV who shall remain annonymous decided it would be fun to splash around in the streets-turned-rivers instead of fording them Oregon Trail style. We were pretty mushed soaked by the time we arrived back to an apartment that was experiencing electrical failure. Good times.

Somehow I ended up with a knife safety pinned to my long johns.

Playing in the rain

New House, New Post

A few weeks back I moved into a new apartment. It is pretty sweet. Right in the middle of town, close to stores and work and only on the second floor. Here are some pictures:

My super sweet bathroom!

My hood'

I live in a cartoon

I recently moved into my very own one bedroom soviet cement box of an apartment, and it's great. I get to live completely alone with indoor plumbing. However because of the newly remodeled bathroom, there are still kinks to be worked out. Last week I had no water in the bathroom sink, but had it in the kitchen. Last night the gas stove didn't work, which has nothing to do with the bathroom but was annoying none the less. This morning I went to use the bathroom sink and the handle of the cold water came off. Water then shot across the room onto the opposite wall. I've only ever seen this on television. Add that to the colossal noise coming from my ceiling that can only be TNT going off or an anvil dropping and I am starting the think I should look out for road runner traps.

Bad day in the baijan?

I have bad days. Lots of them actually but we won't get into that. Last Friday was a particularly bad day and at about 10am I was ready to call it quits. I didn't. Instead I found a solution for those troubling times. Here is what you do:

1.) Take a shower (photo omitted but note the wet hair in coming pictures). Being clean always makes PCVs happy.

2.) Get yourself a yellow star shaped tambourine. Nuf said.

3.) Find an x-ray on the road and put it under your zip up hoodie. Hand your sunglasses to people and tell them they are x-ray specs. Once the person puts them on unzip sweatshirt. Hilarity ensues.

4.) Have awesome finger mates. The first finger people rock out loud, and they know why.

For Vikki

I have two random pictures of Jake.

Jake thought he could play Jenga upside down. He lost.

BBQ inside Chris's shed because it was raining outside.

Rain!

It has been raining quite a bit here in Quba lately. We also have a fresh new coat of snow on my mountains. I was at my sitemate's house which as luck would have it is lakeside property in the rain. Who knew! Another great feature of his home is no electricity when it rains. Peace Corps sometime is like a 2 year camping trip. Luckily I love camping!

The view from Chris' front door.

Chris' door is that rusty one on the far left. Nice lake huh?

Lounge!

We have a pretty sweet lounge here in the 'baijan. It is messy and unorganized and I love it. It has that "lived in" look about it and there is always toilet paper.Checking out the books.

Jake taking a nap on piles of AZ5 stuff

A Little Poetry For A Rainy Day

Here is an excerpt from an Azerbaijani English text book:

I Love Little Pussy

I love little pussy, Her coat is so warm, And if I don’t hurt her She’ll do me no harm. So I’ll not pull her tail, Nor drive her away, But pussy and I Very gently will play. She shall sit by my side, And I’ll give her some food; And pussy will love me Because I am good.

All spelling and punctuation is taken directly from the original.

So long summer!

It rained for 3 days straight this week, but then the weather got perfect! It was sunny but crisp (which is my favorite word to describe weather by the way) and I could wear a sweatshirt at night. I LOVE fall. LOVE it! Soon it will be mandarin season and apples will be cheap. This weekend is also AZ7's last weekend in America! By this time next week the number of Americans in Azerbaijan will have shot up. The last weekend in America is the best. Live it up guys! In a couple weeks you will be counting the days (or weeks) between showers and wondering what exactly is in the soup you are eating.

Also, I figured out what I will be for Halloween. It's gonna rock.

Clouds in Quba

Goodbye AZ5!

All of the AZ5s are now gone or staying for another year (2 AZ5s will stay). It is the start of a transition for the rest of us left here. We are going from being the rookies to the only ones in the country to being the pros when the AZ7s come. I’m going to miss some of the AZ5 since I wasn’t placed close to them in country and wish I could have spent more time with some. Having the last group leave got me to thinking about how much we have seen change since AZ6 got here. Here is a short list:
• New bus station in Baku. (it is much nicer but no longer walking distance from the Peace Corps office.
• Buses! There used to be marshutkas (think crappy little mini vans) in Baku but now they are few and far between. They have been replaced with big, normal, nice buses. The new bus routes take some getting used to though.
• The Quba road. The trip to Baku that took 3 ½ hours last November is now only 2 hours because we have a new road. Quba even has an exit. Yeah, an exit off of the road with an overpass and everything.
• Half a liter of Coke is now 40 qepik (cents) instead of 30. This is lame since 1 liter is only 50 qepik. The result is me drinking more cola since the liter is a better deal.
• Facades galore! Azerbaijan is going under total renovation or something. Aluminum and stone facades are being put up over many of the buildings in Quba.

• Cherry cola, string cheese, Etc.
One year 3 months to go. Lots can change in that time

Currently

I am sitting at a McDonalds in Baku using their free WiFi internet on my laptop. I haven't felt this American since I was in America. It RULES!!!

What was I thinking?

I love having a computer at my site. I don’t know how I survived for so long without it. I can copy news articles from the internet and put them in a word document to read later. I can download podcasts. I can pre-write blogs and e-mails and then send them when I get internet access. I love it. It’s amazing. I feel so productive. I highly recommend them.

Boys and their guns

I love nerf guns. Clearly not as much as Donny and Joe.

Hush Hush, I will survive

So, I'm back in Azerbaijan. I'm not gonna lie, staying in London was a serious thought for me as I ate my last meal including bacon for a while. However, the draw of my friends back here in good old AZ won over delicious crispy bacon. I was excited to see my friend Jake who was supposed to fly in the same night as me and head back up to our finger and see the PCVs I have missed and the Quba in general. But after about 30 minutes post touch down in Baku I had a bit of London regret. Turns out Jake flew in the night before, which is fine but it means a full price taxi for both of us. Then one of my bags was lost. That blows. That blows goats. The airline said it would probably be on the next flight in 24 hours but at that point I will have left Baku for the first finger. Lame. I was bummed. Then came the inevitable taxi driver fight.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Inglab street, near 20 Yanvar"
"40 manat"
"I only have 20"
"Okay, 30"
"But I only have 20"
"25"
"Nope, still only have 20"
"Okay"
Why do they do that? If they know they can take you for less why do they make you fight about it? So as I am sitting in a taxi pissed at the world (a.k.a. Azerbaijan) the familiar smell of burning trash comes wafting through the windows. Coincidentally a re-mix of the Pussycat Dolls and Gloria Gaynor is on the radio. So now I'm back, from what might as well be outer space, and I did have a sad look on my face. But I realized that I also don't regret coming back, actually I was pretty excited. It's hard to explain why but I think it is because America and Azerbaijan are so different my brain can't process the fact that they co-exist. When I was in California the thought of traveling so far and going back to living in a country where everything doesn't come easy sucked. Especially as I was sitting with my family getting hugs from my Mom and Niece. But over here none of that seems quite feasible. Here my reality is different. Not better, not worse, just different. I was surprised how easy it was to settle back into PCV life as I lug my suitcase (notice the singular form) across busy streets. I will miss friends and family (again) but I will survive. Quite well actually (once I get my other suitcase with the beef jerky in it).

I'm not special...

And I LOVE IT!!! I get lots of attention in Azerbaijan. Not a day goes by without someone yelling "Hell-llo" or "What's your name" at me when I am in Azerbaijan. However, in America it hasn't happened once. Okay, I've only been here for like 3 days but still. Nobody has proposed to me, nobody has asked me what national meals I like, nobody has said "Hello Baby" to me on the street, I don't get stared at, I don't get followed, I don't get unsolicited touching by old ladies and strangers, and nobody has asked me to take them to America (strangely enough). I can pretty much go all day without interacting with people on the street. Gotta love America!

24 hours of food and travel

Including lay overs it took me 24 hours to get from Baku to San Francisco. Here is what I ate during that time:

Sour cream and onion pretzels

Orange Juice

Chicken and pasta with mushrooms (didn't eat the mushrooms)

Dinner Roll

Chocolate cake

Coffee

Beet Salad

Turkey and spinach sandwich

Coke zero

Starbucks vanilla late

Cheddar and red onion potato chips

Salad with dijon dressing

Heineken (2)

Chicken pasta primavera

Red wine (2)

Dinner roll (again)

Salsa pretzels

Chocolate mouse cake with mandarin sauce

Turkey and dijon mustard sandwich

Cheese spinach and herb sandwich

Cranberry and macadamia nut granola bar

Chocolate and rice crisp bar

It was awesome!

Hi Mom!

Just thought I would throw that out there in case you are still awake. Weather is great this morning here. Overcast and a little windy. I'm not wearing a jacket, it's great! See you in a week! Love You!!!!

A little advice

So about this time last year I was trolling the internet for information on Azerbaijan since I was getting excited to go halfway across the world. I found some PCV blogs and figured for those out there looking like I was last year I would offer some advice you won't find elsewhere.

1.) When you first get to Azerbaijan during orientation your picture will be taken, probably in fornt of an Azeri flag. That picture will follow you for the next 27 months. It will be on your I.D. card, it will be up in every staff members office, it will be on a giant map in the office, basically you can't escape it. So make yourself look pretty (or ridiculous) and get ready to see it and have it be seen for a long time!

2.) When you first get here and find a public bathroom but can't decide which door to go into, dudes you are K and ladies you are Q.

3.) Start practicing telling people that you "feel ill" because sick is a bad word in Azeri.

4.) So is polk.

5.) Bring a roll of toilet paper or a travel pack of kleenex. You will have t.p. in staging and orientation but once you get dropped off with your host family all bets are off. Technically the host fam is supposed to provide you with toilet paper but it doesn't always happen and once that bus pulls away leaving you with all your stuff and no language ability it might be a couple days before you can hit up a store. Be prepared.

6.)During orientation the Peace Corps gives you: a medical kit with everything from pepto to condoms to avian flu medication, a water filter that is rather large and cumbersome but effective, and a smoke detector. During PST you will also get a sleeping bag that is warm but huge and heavy and a fire extingusher. To this add a bucnh of books and training manuals all of which you get to lug to your permanent site on your own.  Pack accordingly.

7.) Speaking of packing, Azerbaijan gets cold EVERYWHERE and hot EVERYWHERE. You have to pack for both. Enjoy.

Georgia, Day 1

I made it into Georgia with Hannah and her friend Joy yesterday. We met an Azeri guy at the border who lives in a village just across the border and he helped us find a bus into Tbilisi. After we checked into the guest house we went to the Peace Corps Georgia office and got some help getting info, directions, and suggestions from their amazing safety and security officer Nino. Then went to a restaurant with another PCV from Azerbaijan, and a German Volunteer. Dinner was great and not because of the food. The owners were a family and their grandpa gave us some of his homemade wine and "chacha" which is like Georgian grappa. It was interesting to hear a mix or Russian, Georgian, English, German, and Azerbaijani being spoken at one table but I loved it. Then this morning I talked with one of the Peace Corps Trainees who was in town about how their program is. The differences and similarities were really interesting and I gotta say although Georgia is great and seems like a place I could be happy I have realized that I have settled in in Azerbaijan and come to terms with it. Oddly enough it feels like home. Not my only home by any means but I have gotten pretty comfortable there. Can't wait for the next few days here in Georgia though!

So much to update

I went over to Devechi awhile ago to hike up to Gala Alti, an old run down castle type thing. You have to go through the sanitorium to get there but it was pretty fun.

Then to Sheki. I went up to the day camp a couple weeks ago for sports and games week and had a blast! I got to run around with kids all day playing frisbee, volleyball, softball, and some bad ass relay races. I had an amazing time and the kids were pretty awesome as well. Didn't get a chance to see much of Sheki itself but I don't really mind, it just means I will have to go back sometime.Judo day


A few of the girls with Lucy and I. I have since broke those sunglasses.

After Sheki I went over to Ganja for the day to check out Mingechevir vs. Ganja softball. It was crazy hot out that day but was worth it for the first game. Not gonna lie, left during the second in search of shade and cold beverages.

On to G.L.O.W.! Last week we had our Girls Leading Our World camp and it was great. We had 49 girls and 8 Azerbaijani women come and help with the camp that covered topics such as leadership, gender, self-discoverym, and community development. We also made tie dye shirts and s'mores. The girls were great and I think they had a good time despite all the teaching we tried to do. "Boom chicka AIDS"

Finally, FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!
Basically we enjoyed the fact that we were American at Jake's house. It was great!

Nothing goes as planned

Lately anything that I have been planning doesn't go according to plan. I have thus deduced that I should just stop planning. Things come up if I tryto plan anything more than 3 days in advance. Case in point, I have been trying to register with the local police to get my I.D. card and went to the office on Tuesday. Tuesday the guy said come Friday. I went today and now he says to come Monday. Unfortunately this means not getting up to a camp I was going to on Sunday. However I take solice in the fact tht I don't have as bad a wedgie as this kid: That makes me feel better.

That life doesn't work

Gender roles in Azerbaijan are difficult to explain,so I'm not gonna try. Lets just say they are different from America. I was riding on a bus the other day and the guy next to me obviously is not aware that I do not abide by his definition of gender roles as he proceeded to grope me with his elbow for about an hour. After I shoved a book and sweatshirt between us he then resorted to new tactics. He would try and sit with his legs apart so his leg would brush mine. This got him what I now call my "look of impending fury" and he would stop. After the bus stopped for a break and we were back on the road he aquired a piece of paper and wrote his phone number on it. He then ever so casually tossed it onto my lap. I promptly brushed it off on to the floor with a look of disgust. In his final attempt he grabbed another person's cll phone with a larger screen than his and typed in his number to show me. At this point I wanted to tell him "Dude, life doesn't work like that! You can't just assume any girl on a bus is interested in you, you have no right to be such an ass." unfortunately my language skills do not allow for such on the fly translations in my head and the previous sentence came out simply "That life doesn't work (in Azeri) Asshole (in English)"

Summer is here!!!

And that means 2 things: heat and camps! I live in quba, one of the northern regions of Azerbaijan and it was freezing in the winter. Seriously. Frozen pipes, feet upon feet of snow, hell I can still see snow in the mountains of Quba. And yet now that it is halfway through June I am sweating my ass off. It is profoundly hot. It was 102 degrees F in Quba on Friday. I don't care what they say about Azerbaijan having 9 climatic zones or whatever, it is hot everywhere. But yay for camps! I am hoping to help out with 4 camp this summer plus a camp like schedule of events at our local orphanage in Quba. Should be fun!

Addendum

As I was on the phone with Hannah last night I thought I heard a kitten so I opened up my door. Just as I did so a kitten came runnning into my room. Apparently the family upstairs aquired a new pet. I call her Bitey because she bites my toes. So now the list of sounds coming into my room includes:

People yelling in Azeri

People talking in Azeri

People whispering in Azeri

Tolets flushing

Water running

Refrigerator running

Dog barking

Dog whining

Chickens dying (being slaughtered)

Cars coming in and out of the hospital

Kitten meowing

Hammering in the garage

Children knocking on my door

And coming in roughly 2 months by my estimation... screaming newborn.

I need a new place to live.

Azeri wildlife... sort of

This is Huey, the puppy that lives in the backyard of the house where I am staying.

This is robot head, my sitemate Chris' new kitten.

And this is one of the hedgehogs that lives in Jake's yard.

Mmmmm....

This is water directly out of my faucet. An no, that is not a brown container. My water filter has been getting a workout lately.

The foreigner stare

As a foregner living in Azerbaijan I get stared at, a lot, everyday, blatantly, by everyone. I've gotten used to it somewhat and wearing sunglasses helps because then I stare back no problem. I have noticed though that in my integration into this culture I have bgun t stare at foreigners too. Mostly I just wonder "what the hell are you doing in Azerbaijan?" because it isn't like I'm living in a top resort destination over here. As I write this I am sitting in the office of an intenational organization and there are a buch of Americans here that I don't know and I can't help but sare at them as they have their meeting. Why oh why are you in Quba? I'm prett sure they are wondering the exact same thing about me.

Dragon Attack!

Quba has dragons!

Ispik yolu

Yeaterday since the weather was nice my sitemate Chris and I went walking up my road to the village of Ispik. It was a really nice walk despite some extremely sunny hills. On the way we were stopped by a group of older men in the woods who fed us kababs and juice. By the time we got to Ispik there were storm clouds looming so we took a bus back. I'm pretty excited about the weather being nice enough for day hikes into the villages, summer is going to be great!

Moments

So as I was sitting in the Quba Olympic Complex typing up a press report for the International Women's Volleyball Federation after hanging out with the Ukranian embassador to Azerbaijan and cheering on team Israel I had another "how did I get here?" moment. These moments come every so often but this one was one of the more interesting ones.

In Quba...

We punch bulls!

Because I can

To the sea!!!

So, back in winter Jake and I tried to walk from his town of Xachmaz to the Caspian sea ( I don't know how far that is, look it up) sadly despite our enthusiasm and determination the snow storm got the best of us and we were forced to turn around. Flashforward toMonday. We decided in honor of Heydar's birthday we would attempt the walk again by in honor I mean we had the day off work). This time the weather was perfect. It was cloudy but not cold, no sunburns or frostbite. It was a really nice walk. We followed the Quydial river (sort of) and ran into turtles, frogs, lizards, donkeies, rabbits, horses, and people. We got invited to tea three times on the way out to the sea but we were on a mission and had to decline.

Pretty right? Lots of flowers and nature, all that business. Unfortunately we ran into another smaller river that flows into the Quydial and had to cross it. Our first option was this pipe that goes over the gorge to the river:
We decided instead to go to the smaller river, cross the log that was only about 3 feet above the water. Unfortunatly the other side was covered in throny bushes. Whatever, we walked through them.
So the walk was really nice, very pretty and totally fun. However when we got to the sea it was a bit of a disappointment. Welcome to beautiful Azerbaijan!