As promised.... Pictures from Italy

As promised, some of the pictures from Italy. These are just a brief few from the trip.

Some of the ruins and statues around Rome.



Just walking around, exploring the city, eating good food, and drinking out of the public water fountains.








This is the hotel my parents stayed at 33 years before when they came to Italy. They celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in Rome.



The Colosseum






We went to the Borghese Museum and park. This was by far the most enjoyable site we saw in Rome (in my opinion). I loved the museum. It was the perfect size.





The Trevi fountain





A trip to the Vatican




We went to a nearby hill town, Orvieto, for the day. It had a beautiful church, little pottery stores, great wine, and a beautiful view of the countryside below. The church had a sacred cloth in it. I would try and describe more but I would probably butcher the explanation. The front of the church had the story of the Bible sculpted into it. It was amazing artwork.

Pictures from Rome

Trust me, I didn't forget the best part of my year! As life often goes here in Azerbaijan, the internet is not cooperating as I would like to be uploading pictures from Italy. Hopefully I can get some up soon, though. Stay tuned.

After a long hiatus.. I'm back.

Pomegranate Festival




Winners of the costume contest
Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin. A huge hit at the Halloween party.
It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. I think a variety of reasons contributed to my absence. It would be nice to say I was so terribly busy I just did not have time, but I think that would be stretching it. Mostly, looking back on last fall/ early winter, I realize I was pretty homesick.
We come to Peace Corps not knowing anyone from our group of sixty and they end up becoming family within forty eight hours. It is sort of a strange phenomenon but a close cohort of any kind is a scientific study in and of itself. I was really thankful when I was placed at my permanent site for two years with two of the men who were in my language training cluster. We were already extremely close and I knew I was lucky to have their support for the remainder of my service. But even better than that, we were placed in Goychay with two girls from the AZ7 (I am an AZ8) group who were wonderful. I grew really close to both Rikki and Megan and we had a blast getting to know each. But as the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. Megan ended up leaving in September and Rikki in November. And frankly, it was a really hard adjustment. Saying goodbye to people here is not as simple as it is in America. It has to be done many times, and not just a hug, but a long lasting multiple course dinner round with tea before and twice after. After about four different ‘good-bye’ dinners with Rikki and her Azerbaijani friends, I had to stop being her plus one, it was just too sad.
My homesickness was compounded by seeing my family in Rome for Christmas and it was hard knowing I was so close to seeing them, but not quite there yet. I was stressed out enough that the Peace Corps doctor had to be tough on me. The conversation went something like this:

Emily: (Calling the doc in Baku) Hi Doctor. I think I may have parasites again. Will you send me a stool sample?

PCDr.: (Sigh) Yes, Emily, I will send you a stool sample, but I think we need to have a talk. This will be the third one you have taken in the past two months, and both have come up negative for parasites. It truly seems that you are just stressed out.

Emily: Oh. I think you’re right.


She was.
Stress is not always the issue. It is how one handles it. But that is not always my strong suit. My escape and coping mechanisms for stress could be another blog post on its own. Instead, I am going to give you a crash course on what I did while I was not attending to my blog.


October: October was my most productive school month of this year. My counterpart was pretty gung ho about new ideas (Venn Diagrams!) and we did not have a single holiday to break up the weeks. The new trainees come from America and live in Sumgayit for three months soaking up knowledge before being sent to the regions. In the middle they also go and visit volunteers for a week and see what site is really like, what we do at school, how we live, and eat non-Azeri food. I had two girls come out and visit the village.
We talk the kids “The Wheels on the Bus” song and went to both of my counterparts’ houses for a lot of food. My counterpart and I threw a Halloween party for fifth through tenth form students. We had a costume contest (I was a bag of tea), food, music, card making station, and a Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin game. After that, I made my way up to the north finger of Azerbaijan to Shabran and had an American Halloween with some of the volunteers.
Our Training group was reunited! Tagiyev 19.

November: I started November by traveling to Baku and spending a week helping with the new trainees’ English teaching practicum. I observed the classes they were teaching and provided feedback and helped our program manager with her reports for the trainees. I then came back to the best part of living in Goychay: Pomegranate Festival.
It happens every year in our region and is spectacular. There are booths from every village, town, restaurant, etc. showing off their best pomegranates, there is a Pomegranate Princess who drives up in a nice car, the ambassadors from America, Russia, and Japan came, and there is a concert at night.



November also brought “Gurban Bayrami” or the Sacrificial holiday. We sacrifice a sheep and then give a third of it to our neighbors, a third of it to the poor, and keep a third for ourselves. This was happening at the same time it was persimmon harvest. We spent about two weeks from morning until night hand picking the persimmons from the trees and lining them up nicely so the people who sell them to Russia can come and see the selection. November also brought the leaving of the AZ7’s which I celebrated in Baku and Thanksgiving which was held at the Charge d’affaires’ house (Butterball Turkeys!).



December: My Birthday! The kids at school sang me “Happy Birthday,” the teachers made a cake, and my sitemates, Alec and Matt, came out to the house for supper with the family. I got peppery perfume, underwear, and towels from the Azeris, and incense, coffee, and cards from the Americans. Then I waited for Rome. My parents had spent a long time preparing for Italy, and everything went smoothly. I met my mom, dad, sister, brother, and brother’s girlfriend in Rome for ten days for Christmas. It was glorious. It almost feels like a dream now.

January: I readjusted to Azerbaijan by spending New Year’s in Baku. I went to school for a few weeks, and then took another week long break at our Mid-Service conference in Baku. All of the volunteers from my group met together for the first time since the previous December to talk about the best practices from the year before and the sustainability of the next year of service. We also picked dates for when we will leave (November 29th!), had guest speakers from the Clean World (Temiz Dunya) organization which fights human trafficking and champions for women’s rights, and watched our fellow volunteers compete for Azerbaijan’s spot on Eurovision (they did not make it). I also quit having my English conversation clubs and started a health club in Azerbaijani for my sixth and seventh graders.

Now I am back in February. I have made some New Year’s resolutions which include me getting back into the swing of updating my blog. I am looking forward to a yacht trip off the coast of Turkey in June and am using that to start cooking for myself more at home. We’ve recently been hit with one of the coldest winters Azerbaijan has seen, but so far the brown monster (Peace Corps issued sleeping bag – It is large, brown, and so very warm) has kept me frost free.

My brother up in the tree picking away
This wove all the way upstairs as well
Getting ready for winter: Cutting up beans to can
A training in Goychay on using interactive methods with our textbooks. Josh Ehrenreich came down from Khachmaz to lead it for teachers in our region.

My sitemate Rikki's host father and his granddaughter at the Pomegranate Festival

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.”

The Profiles

Across the world, Peace Corps volunteers have many different choices for living arrangements while at their permanent sites. Some are mandatory situations, some voluntary, and a lot are a mix of both. Azerbaijan is set up with a different mix of accommodations. While going through training for the first three months in a cluster city, everybody is required to live in host families. Even our Azerbaijani language and cultural facilitators move out of their home towns across the country to come to the hub city and live with host families so they are only a few short blocks away from our never ending questions and needs. Once training is over, the bright new group of “Community Developers” make their way into the big, bad world of permanent sites. For the first four months PCV’s in Azerbaijan are required to again live with host families which are pre-selected by Peace Corps Azerbaijan. Afterwards, the volunteers can either re-negotiate their contract with their families, move to a new family, or find independent housing within their community.

Most volunteers move to their own housing at least by the time summer rolls around. But as I’ve never been one to always follow the pack, I have elected to stay with my host family. As with all things in life (except for Swedish fish in which not a bad word can be uttered), there are ups and downs that come with this.

My short list of ups of being with my host family:
*It is NEVER boring
*There is always food if I don’t want to cook for myself
*There is always (running) water to cook and clean with and fresh drinking water
*Somebody else burns my garbage
*We have a huge (clean) bathroom and western toilet

My short list of downs of being with my host family:
*I live with seven adults and two children
*NO privacy (see aforementioned bullet)
*I cannot wear what I’d like to ideally be wearing when I want (ex: It is 115 degrees and you are sweating every ounce of water out of you. Ideal outfit: tank top and shorts)
*Seven different comments on what you cook, wear, eat, and clean every day
*Being a live-in nanny in a world that only disciplines children by slapping them in the face but for the most part has a give-in at all times child rearing approach.

No matter what though, I love my host family. Sometimes they annoy me until I want to scream. But usually a few hours later I am really bored in my room and go hang out in the kitchen with them. Which is exactly what I think of as a family unit anyway. So who does this rockstar group consist of?

The Isganderovs:
Niman Dayi (Dayi actually means ‘Uncle’ but it is a title of respect – I’ve never once just called him Niman)

From the multiple times I have asked, the most I have gotten out of what my host father used to do is that he worked in an office. Now, he is a pensioner, meaning he collects 85 manat each month from the government. He is approximately 58, give or take a few years, and spends most of his days helping around the house, going to the city to do the bazaar shopping (even though only women cook in AZ, almost always, only the men do the food shopping), and watching a lot of Azerbaijani news.

Yagana Xala (Again, Xala means ‘Aunt’ – When I first came and didn’t know what to call my host parents – I tried out “Mama” once and knew it was way too weird)

My host mother is a village raised woman. She spends most of her days helping with the manual labor in the yard and her sons’ gardens. I have seen her lift things I wouldn’t not have been able to budge, cut the heads off of a lot of animals, and out eat my host dad. She is also approximately 58 years old, is a retired book keeper (now collects pension), has no upper teeth, and makes the best darn Plov (the Azerbaijan National Meal) this side of the Kur River.

Nariman

Nariman is a 31 year old worker. He is employed down the road at the village doctor’s house to do grounds upkeep. He also has about ten to 15 sheep and a huge garden with a tomato greenhouse, pumpkins, cherry plum trees, watermelon, potatoes, and persimmon trees. I’m not sure why exactly the garden/field is “his” since Yagana Xala works there every day and my other host brother and dad help out, but that is what everyone calls it. He recently just got married, and him and his new wife are currently living at our house until they build their own in a few years.



Ibrahim
Ibram is my 27 year old host brother.
He is unemployed, but seems to keep busy enough around the house. He has two cows and two horses and helps out with Nariman’s sheep. He is married with two children, and as the youngest son of the family, is required culturally to live with his parents in their house and take care of them until their eventual passing. In the winter he makes money by cutting down trees in the village and selling the wood to neighbors. In the summer he is gone a lot for what I think is gathering hay and oats for the animals.





Gunay
Gunay is Ibram’s 27 year old wife and my best Azerbaijani friend. She is a history teacher at the our village school, and a proud mother of a three year old and one and a half year old. I am not sure I have ever met someone who works harder than this lady. If she isn’t at her 12-15 hours a week at school, she is cleaning up after all of us at the house, or cooking for the mass amounts of people always milling about. I thought perhaps with Nariman’s new wife in the house, Gunay would get a break and work a little less, but she doesn’t like to sit around. So she works just as hard, and cleans even more.




Ilahe
Ilahe is Nariman’s 26 year old wife. She used to be a hair dresser at a salon in Goychay, but has not worked since the wedding in June. She comes from a family of five in the city, and I think the big family here added to living in the village is a big overwhelming at times for her. Technically the lowest on the totem pole (except for me – and sometimes I’m still considered a guest and get bumped up), she gets bossed around quite a bit. But, it is the life of a new bride in Azerbaijan. And both her and Gunay have told me on many separate occasions that my host dad and mom are the nicest in-laws they have every known and have never had a problem with them.


Rahim
Rahim is three years old and runs the show at our house. I thought my Azerbaijani was really bad last winter (it was) , but it really has been this summer where both of our language abilities have sky rocketed. When he doesn’t get what he wants, and sometimes even when he does, Rahim can be an ill-behaved child. He can scream really loud, throw, kick, bite, and hit until the sun goes down. But, he loves hearing and telling stories about wolves, giggles and giggles and giggles, can count to five in English, and him and I brush our teeth every night. This September he started attending pre-school, which keeps him busy from about nine in the morning until four in the afternoon.

Gulay
Gulay and I are besties. She will turn two at the end of January. When I first got here, she couldn’t walk, didn’t have teeth, couldn’t point or wave or blow a kiss, or say any words at all. Now she says mom, dad, look, come, and a garbled form of “I want”, is walking, albeit with bowlegs, and is developing quite the personality. If I am at home, usually I am watching Gulay. Even if her mother is at home, Gulay is usually trying to make a break for the neighbors or leaning far enough off the porch to fall off.

Our schedules have become pretty routine now. My host dad, mom, and two brothers eat their usual bowl of bread with hot milk and sugar over it in the morning, then leave to meander in and out throughout the entire day to drink tea between working in the garden, walking the sheep and cows to different pastures, collecting hay and wood for winter, collecting, selling, or canning vegetables, and cleaning up our yard. Gunay milks the cows in the morning, gets breakfast ready for everyone, goes to school, comes home and cleans up lunch, cleans the house in the afternoon, washes and irons everybody’s clothes, and takes care of Gulay in the afternoon. Ilahe makes lunch and supper for the family and helps out with the children if I am at school when Gunay is.
While people work really hard in Azerbaijan, lounging time is appreciated as well. Most nights when the sun is down, everyone watches television together until they go to bed. During the summer when the heat was unbearable and no one could move from one p.m. until four or five, we would just lay around on the porch, reading books and taking naps. It is starting to get dark a lot sooner now, which means soon enough it’ll be too cold to be outside. That means a lot more family time huddled around the wood burning stove in the one warm room in the winter. Maybe my perspective will be less upbeat when that time comes upon us. But I’ll venture to guess that I’m still going to like it a lot anyway.

What Keeps Me Happy Every Day?

The Yoga Deck: A hand me down from a PCV who headed back to America. I still haven’t found a yoga video I liked, but this little deck is handy. I pick out about eight different poses each day at random and have my own little session.


“Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease” by John Heidenry. The true crime novel sent from America (thanks Dad!) which I can’t seem to put down.

Chewable Pepto Bismals : Is there much more to say about this? I hear these are as equally vital upon returning to America and trying to readjust to processed food.

Contacts: Peace Corps suggests not bringing contact lenses when going to countries you serve in. Some Peace Corps countries, however, are considered less of a hazard and you are given more of a “bring at your own risk” warning. Azerbaijan is a “BAYOR” country. My advice: BRING YOUR CONTACTS. It is dusty here, and I have had times where I wished I was wearing my glasses, but overall, these were one of the best items I brought with me to AZ. Solution can only be bought in Baku and is really expensive, but it is worth it.

Single Serve Packets: Anytime other PCV’s are giving away packets, I swarm the area. Instant coffee, Crystal Lite, and Benefibers are gold mines. I also try and scoop up Taco Seasonings, Chili powder, and ranch mixes to spice up my usual lentil/rice dinners.

Lip Balm: Burts Bees and Chapstick, ‘nuff said.

Coffee: I grew up in a coffee drinking family. I worked at Starbucks for three years. I think my blood needs it to be healthy. For sure my sanity does. And I am happier person when I have coffee in the morning. So to my suppliers in America: Thank you. You are making the world a better place by sending me coffee.

Dental Hygiene: Dental Hygiene is virtually non-existent here. It is also popular to get gold teeth, so even if you have only lost a tooth or two to decay, it is really noticeable. So many of the young children have golden teeth, or missing teeth, or black, rotten teeth by the time they graduate high school. It makes me appreciate our education system and my parents for instilling good habits when we were young.

Blogs: I recently added links to a couple blogs that I like to browse when online. I think blogs are really interesting media outlets. The world of blogs reminds me a giant store where are the clothes are in boxes you have to sift through. Usually it is a large task and completely overwhelming, but when you find something good, it is always worth it. When I really have a lot of time on my hands I like to shamelessly look through other Peace Corps volunteer blogs at Peace Corps Journals. I think this organization is starting to be addicting. Usually, though, I check out Janae and Josh's blogs before I log off. Josh recently added a new tab (sub blog?) called Teaching for Leaders. It has good tips for individuals or groups about improving leadership skills and abilities. Check it out.

Back to School

With school starting in less than a fortnight, I am trying to wrap my head around work mode again. I have been keeping busy being on the Program and Advisory Training Committee as the TEFL sector representative for my group. I also have been floating a hundred ideas around in my head to see which ones I can try and work out for this upcoming school year. Next week I am going to pop into school and track down my two counterparts and see if I can meet with them about what this next semester will look like. School starts the 15th of September in Azerbaijan for every primary, secondary, and almost every higher education institute in the country every single year.
The teachers start going approximately two weeks early to sign papers and get the books ready for the year. I asked my host sister-in-law what they exactly did, and she said they really do nothing, but the ministry requires them to go. Interesting. Although, absolutely nothing is computerized in the school systems, so every grade book, register, schedule, attendance record, and so forth is written in blue or black ink in large, leather bound books. Officials from the Ministry make surprise check-ups throughout the year to ensure they are being filled out correctly, and at the end of the year, they are sent in (I think) to be checked. Nevertheless, this is an extremely time consuming process. The actual schedule of hours and classes will be re-written in pencil multiple times before being complete sometime in late October or November. Until then, I most likely will not know which classes I actually have each day until then.
I am excited to get back into school mode again (like most Americans, I like routines and schedules). I will start clubs again after a week or so. This year I am trying to focus less on English and more on life skills. I was asked to guest write for my high school newspaper again, and am hoping to contact the teacher from Nebraska with whom I am paired up with in the World Wise School program to promote exchange between school students from America and Peace Corps volunteers across the world. I am still planning on throwing a raging Halloween party at school dependent on if my new school director likes my projects-or me. I am sure I will continue to tutor one of my host cousins in English. Lately, we have just been playing cards (Crazy 8’s, Spoons, Go Fish, and B.S. which I have renamed “I don’t believe you”) and drawing pictures. I also need to start tutoring my host sister-in-law after realizing this summer that while I can understand her broken English from living with her, no one else can. I have started getting back into running at night since it has slightly cooled down after seven p.m. and doing yoga in the mornings.
One of my goals for this semester is to be better at updating my blog. I think sometimes it is easy to get into routines here and feel that a lot of what I am doing is just normal day to day uninteresting stuff. The 23rd will mark my first year of being in-country and I know I have glossed over a lot of what has happened these past twelve months. I am going to try remembering the strange differences between the Azerbaijani and American school systems (no set schedule until November!), the cultural faux pas I continue to make (I never remember to only set the bread upright), and what goes on in the long days of the village. I am asking for a little help though. Is there anything particular you would like to hear about? Any questions about PCV life, the country, culture, schools, language, family, my recent obsessions (Rufus Wainwright, fig jam, Mad Men), language blunders (apparently the word “fool” which my host mom calls everything is actually a really bad word and I should not have said it when trying to translate the name of a card game to a ten year old guest), book recommendations, or whatever else tickles your fancy? Send me an email or leave a comment.