It has already been a full month plus some since I have been back from Turkey. It feels like just last week I got home. It has been a good and busy month, though, and it is nice to get back into the groove of things. I re-read an email I had sent to my friend at the beginning of July, and it was not very upbeat in reference to Azerbaijan. Coming back from vacation is difficult, especially one as amazing as our yacht trip. As hard as it was, however, I’m back into my routine.
Immediately I attended an Azeri wedding of our mutual friends with a few other volunteers, I celebrated the fourth of July with a barbeque, potato salad, beer, and watermelon, and helped my sitemate put on an Open Mic concert in our city for the youth.
Two weeks ago I finally made my first trip down to the southern part of the Baijan. My friend, Sally, was putting on an arts camp in Masalli for seventh and eighth graders. We made edible color wheels, recreated cave paintings, and attempted Andy Warhol-esque art. After the nine to one art camp, we had the rest of the day to relax, eat, and watch Woody Allen movies. One day we went down to Lankeran (right on the Caspian Sea) and ate chicken stuffed with walnuts, went to the beach, and per usual, got scammed out of a taxi ride on our way home. We also went to the Isti Su, Hot Water, area near Masalli. It is famed for its hot mineral springs and has beautiful restaurants and camping spots for vacation. Fun informative fact: The forest near the Isti Su area is one of the only areas in the world ( Southern Azerbaijan and northern Iran) which contains “Iron trees.” Now maybe there is a true name for them, but this is a direct translation from Azeri. The trees are so dense that they sink in water, and are too difficult to chop down, making it resistant to any deforestation attempts.
I also just got back from a few days of vacationing with Azerbaijanis. This is quite a trip in its own right. We loaded up one mini bus (marshrutka) and two small cars full of 19 people, food, pop, bread, dishes, cups, blankets, pillows, rugs, soccer balls, and clothes for two full days and one night in the mountains. It took us about two hours from Goychay to finally get to the spot, but it was really beautiful. It reminded me a lot of going to the Lakes in Minnesota with my family as a kid. We would be in these remote backwoods resorts and it makes one wonder how you ever heard of something so far removed in the first place. But it is tradition and everyone has a good time so families keep returning. We made kabob and ate watermelon and cake and drank a lot of tea and mountain spring water. Even though it was only knee deep, we all sat and laid in the river and climbed up the mountains to take beautiful pictures.
When I am not tramping from region to region, I have been tutoring kids at my house every day. So far it seems to be one week on, one week off. I have a sixth grade girl that comes in the morning for two hours, and then two older girls that come after her for another two hours. When I am in the city, I try to tag along to my sitemate’s clubs and see the university kids that are home for summer break. I’m supposed to be training for a half marathon as well, but considering I have only run once in the past three weeks, it is not looking promising.
As much as I always think things are going to slow down and I will be bored, it never seems to be the case (I wonder if my mind will ever adjust to this?). Come August, I will tutor for two weeks, and then (if approved) go to Georgia for a few days to hike up a mountain and see a glacier, return for a few days, and then leave to see my friends in the North, go to a Close of Service Conference for Peace Corps, and head to the region where the half marathon will be taking place. Two weeks after that school starts. I now have a little less than four months before I board a plane out of here and I have a feeling it will be the fastest passing four months of my life.
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