Unrelated Matters

Living in the pomegranate capital of Azerbaijan was amazing last year at the end of the season and it is phenomenal right now. They are just becoming ripe and we eat them like candy. I asked Gunay (my sister-in-law) if we had any trees in our garden and she brought me down to a back row of trees where we sat for about a half hour breaking open multiple dark, gorgeous pomegranates. At night we eat them with onion slices, people put them in their mayonnaise based salads, and they make beautiful centerpiece displays. There are regions in AZ that are known for their apples, others are known for peaches, or hazelnuts, or fish. I am so glad to be part of the pomegranate region. In fact, there is a festival at the beginning of November, which I am hoping will be an awesome time.
This October new trainees will be coming out to the regions for one week to witness current volunteers work situations, get to know the bus system a little, get out of busy Pre-Service Training for a few days, and eat food prepared by other Americans. (Last year I went down to Beylegan-Not as pretty as Goychay.) I volunteered to host two women at my house for a week. I was happy today when my program manager called me in regards to hosting the trainees. It is not for sure yet, but I may host an African-American volunteer at the house. My PM called asking if my host family house would be a “comfortable” environment for this trainee. Peace Corps enquires about it because Azerbaijani’s sometimes say what we consider to be rude comments to people that look different than the norm. My program manager wanted to make sure that if this new trainee came to stay with me, she wouldn’t have to field unwanted questions or hear bad words directed at her while she is on her mini-vacation from Sumqayit. More specifically, Azerbaijani’s are taught the “N” word in school as the proper word for a black person. And to top it off, anyone with darker skin than themselves is considered black. Trying to explain that a word that is completely harmless and considered textbook politically correct in their country is in fact one of the most offensive words to Americans is difficult. People will nod along as if they understand, but still drop it when the situation arises. But it is conversation I have had with my family more than once before, and I know this will be a safe place for any American to come visit.
We live in a social media world whether one likes that or not. Being in the Peace Corps during this new age is interesting. I am not speaking for volunteers all over as some parts of the world do not have the luxuries that living in Azerbaijan provides. However, I know from personal experience that where I live blogs are more common than not, every single person has a cell phone (initially for safety reasons, but let’s face it, it’s more of a personal luxury than anything), and Wi-Fi is becoming the norm, not the exception. Azerbaijan just received a new country director (the “CD” is a Peace Corps country’s head hauncho) back in July. Volunteers were happy to note that Macie was a recent Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (2010) and therefore, were hoping she would be more understanding of the computer age volunteer. There are some grumblings heard from PCV’s who volunteered years ago about the inability to book a ticket online and fly home for Christmas, waiting months and months for letters and packages, and not having contact with fellow volunteers. Essentially, we’ve got it easy. Now, I’m not here to say that isn’t true. In most ways, it is in fact an easier way of life. But there are the occasional downfalls. Within the world of blogging comes the knowledge of what one does and when, all the time. This instigates a lot of worry on the part of loved ones back home. There are things I choose to leave out of posts. More specifically, anything that would terribly frighten my mother. But that doesn’t mean other volunteers edit their blogs (nor should they have to) in the same manner that I do.
Also, in the world of social media, the front runner is facebook. And in regards to facebook, there is just one thing I cannot understand and that is posting Too Much Information (TMI). Now, I feel this way a bit about blogs too, but there is definitely more writer’s freedom than on a social networking site. This soapbox all comes about because of the sudden and unfortunate death of a member of our Peace Corps Azerbaijan Staff. But how did I learn about this? Through a phone call from a friend who saw it on facebook. I’m sure that was not exactly how PC AZ was looking to diplomatically handle the shocking news of their friend and colleague. Unfortunately, the already might small grapevine that is Peace Corps gossip travels even faster these days through use of cell phones and internet.
Sometimes when we are at trainings, I joke with my friends that I should be in charge of filtering questions other volunteers have at the end of sessions. I really feel I could bring a lot to the table on editing inquiries that are irrelevant, personal, or time-consuming. Well, in a perfect world, I would edit facebook posts. And there are certain posts that would not get past my controls: Announcement of a death (unless it is famous – ex: OBL), ultrasound pictures, anything relating to the future/present/aftermath of a break up, and intricacies of someone’s honeymoon. Now, I realize not everyone would agree with me and ache for new ultrasound pictures put up by the friends and relatives. But this is the beauty of my own blog, and I’m here to say, “The new 3D imagery of what a child really looks like beyond the average black and white ultrasound picture is downright creepy.”