Life in the Fast Lane

One month down, 26 more to go. Holy shannigans it has been a busy couple of weeks. I went on a little trip to visit a current Peace Corps Volunteer down in Beylagan, a region in south Azerbaijan. The Peace Corps has everyone visit a volunteer to see what their site is like, check out actual classes, see the community development they have been working on, whether you prefer village life or city life, and of course.. to have a little vacation from the grueling hours of PST. Then this week we have an interview to see what our preferences are for our permanent site placement, another interview to determine what our language ability is mid way through our training, and the biggest thing of all, practicum has started.
So far I have had one class go really well, one class go mediocre, and two classes completely fall on my face and bomb. Both of those were really horrific. However, I think everyone needs a couple of those to figure out what to do better and learn. It can only go up from here, right?
I forgot to add some captions for my last pictures I posted. One is a picture from "The Dove" in Sumgayit. It's a really pretty area right on the Caspian, that has a couple of restaurants where all of the trainees hang out year after year. Also, I added a picture with another volunteer, Stephanie, (the one and only other ND volunteer) and our host grandmother, and also her mom. For clarification, her mother and my father are brother and sister. Also, we are related to two other volunteers, so birthday parties are a hoot.
Everything else in between these crazy times have been fun and frustrating and busy and sad and crazy and every emotion under the sun. I am currently using another PCV's computer right now to write a quick blog and update you, so I have to keep it short. But once I can figure out a way to get my jump drive hooked up to the internet cafe computers, I'll have a lot to tell everyone. Everything in Sumgayit is in Russian, though, to cater to Foreigners, so it's hard to navigate. Hope all is well in the States!

Culture Shock

I’ve been here about two weeks now, give or take a few training days. Things have really been amazing so far. We are definitely really lucky as far as trainees and volunteers go. The weather is pretty nice. It is warmer than North Dakota for the fall, and also brings rain (and lots of mud!), but it is not exceptionally hot, nor cold, and keeps the mosquitoes at bay. Some of the other volunteers have already dipped into their long underwear though, and I think it is going to be a long winter for them.
At first I kept thinking, “I wonder when culture shock is going to hit me?”. And then it did… in more than one way. It sort of crept up on me, like a spider in your sleep, and then I got smacked right in the face with it. First it started when I realized all of the cultural things I was doing wrong, like sitting in the back row of the bus that is apparently only for men (who knew?), forgetting to put on my house shoes when I have socks on, and dropping my sugar cube into the tea instead of holding it in my mouth while I drank it. But then a couple of the people in my cluster (there are six of us per cluster, about eighteen per site) started getting sick, and for the first time since I have had my tonsils out, I got a terrible cold. Now, normally this wouldn’t be much of an issue. However, there are some odd things that go on in Azerbaijani culture related to colds. Basically, almost all things (besides germs, bacteria, and viruses) give you colds, except for the few “remedies” that make you better. For example, walking out of the house with one strand of hair wet even if it is eighty degrees out gives you a cold. Drinking cold water gives you a cold. Sitting on the floor gives you a cold. On the other side, drinking your tea with jam in it will help cure you. (While I don’t adhere to this principle, it is mighty tasty and I don’t turn it down). And then there is this odd practice of “sucking” the cold out of you with a hot jar on your back. And that’s when it hit me. This is “Culture Shock.” It’s not this big defining moment in your life when you realize you are out of America, but more of a series of events leading up to your body completely rejecting everything going on around you. So currently my body is rejecting Azerbaijan in the form of being constantly tired, coughing up some weird stuff out of my lungs, being perplexed on a daily basis, and just saying over and over and over again, “What?! Where am I?!”
But cold and all, things really have been terrific here. I love my host family and leaving for site in ten weeks is going to be really tough. I am not picking up on the language as well as I would like, but that seems to be the same phrase coming out of all of the trainees’ mouths. The people here are so patient when it comes to learning it because they are so excited a foreigner is attempting to learn Azeri and not pushing Russian upon them. Although most of us get asked if we are Russian and/or spoken Russian to when we are walking down the street. And for the next two years, I am resigning myself to being followed by a mob of children yelling “Allo! Allo! Vhat is your name?!” I think it’s going to be really good.

Land of Fire

I made it to Azerbaijan! I am here, and loving it. Things are really going fantastic, and it just feels so surreal being here. I'm in the Peace Corps... what?! My host family is awesome in so many ways. I have a dad, mom, 17 year old sister, 14 year old sister, and 12 year old brother. I think my host dad is a mechanic, but that might be one of those "lost in translation" things. My host mom teaches piano lessons, and my oldest sister speaks some English. So I am definitely one of the lucky volunteers because my basic needs are easier to be communicated. Everything is a process though, and patience is more than a virtue.
We live in Taghiyev, which is a suburb of Sumgayit. It is a really neat place in many respects. The man who founded it, Tagiyev, started the first school for all girls in Azerbaijan, and also commited the town to clean water. So I am drinking out of the tap, and have not been sick at all since I have been here. So much of the country has influences of the USSR, but it also has such a rich history of its own. I'll be corrected on a word that I have learned in school to use the Azerbaijani form, and not Russian.
Every single day I go to school just two blocks from my apartment complex. We do four hours of language training and then four more hours of technical/professional training. And then on to home for another approximately four hours of family time before bed. I am exhausted! The language is hard, but as with so many things, it will come in time. I heard a volunteer talking the other day about how the "Idealist" doesn't survive in the Peace Corps. The people that come thinking they will change the world, completely transform the country, or even bring about massive change in their community. It is really about the small accomplishments, and if you can get those down, you are doing well. So I'm doing one small thing at a time. Yesterday, I said a full sentence without hand gestures or my host sister interpreting. It felt really awesome.
I think the best part so far is that I have only been here less than a week (it feels like two years already), but I feel so much apart of the family. I am telling you, this culture could rival Italians any day for how much they eat, talk loudly, and laugh. The amount of food they eat is outrageous. And the women are absolutely stunning and thin. I need their secret. Although, we were at my host mother's brother's house the other day and one of the women told me I was fat because I eat too much fast food. That's another thing I appreciate. Everybody says what they think here. There is no beating around the bush. It is more fact, and less judgement. And I appreciate that. She also told me, 'You would be prettier if you wore your hair down.' Well that's true. It wasn't mean, it wasn't judgemental, but just simply stated. Fair enough.
So far, I really like it here. Some of the other trainees are having a tougher time. So maybe when the culture shock and homesickness kicks in, it will be really hard for me. But until then, I joined the Peace Corps and love it.

It's finally real

I made it! After some long, gruelling hours on the plane, we finally made it to Azerbaijan late last night. It was approximately eighteen or so hours of traveling by bus and plane, but it spanned thirty two hours if you were adjusting your watch through all of the time zones. We are now staying at a hotel in Sumgayit for the next couple days before we are taken to our host families. I like to think of it as a nice little transitioning point because after trying to practice my new highly intelligent "Thank You" to the staff serving us supper (after which he smiled and made me repeat after him two more times), I feel glad this won't be my first impression on my host family. So far things are going well though. We had our staging event in Philadelphia, where I checked out the Liberty Bell.
Then we had a day long staging to get to know each other, talk about logistics of departure, and go over some final rules and regulations. Then 60 of us boarded a bus to NYC, took a plane to Frankfurt, took another plane to Baku, and then a bus to Sumgayit. Now we are finally here. I don't think that thought has quite hit me yet, but then again, I might be too tired to comprehend much of anything.

And so it begins...

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm leaving, on a jet plane, to start my Peace Corps journey. I checked (and re-checked) every list, ticket, email, letter, and handbook I have been sent. And heck, on paper, I look ready. In real life, I feel extremely unprepared. Although, as my wise father has said once before, when exactly would I be prepared? Certainly not any more than I am right now. In fact, if I would be leaving any later, I would probably be less prepared because I would have for sure procrastinated multiple things. So tomorrow is the big day. I'll be in Philadelphia for a couple days and then off on my first trip overseas. I should arrive in Baku sometime Friday and then we'll be in Sumqayit for training. According to letters and previous/current volunteers, I should probably have internet approximately once a week to once every other week. So here I go. I'll keep this full of information whenever I can. Thanks for the support everyone!

Bittersweet.

Part of my whole journey of going into the Peace Corps is made possible (by viewers like you) because of the other adventures that are coming to an end in my life. For example, this August was the first time that I didn't start a new year of school since I was about six years old. I will be starting a whole different type of school when I start teaching English in Azerbaijan, but until then, hearing all of my friends and co-workers talk about classes, quizzes, massive accruing debt, and activities, I feel a little sad over missing out on it all. Another big thing in my life coming to an end is my career as a Barista at Starbucks. Like the P.C., getting a job at Sbux was my sister's idea because her friend was the manager. After the first two weeks I probably would have told I wasn't going to last. Three years later, it's going to be one of the hardest things for me to say good bye to. What keeps me coming back to the smell of old syrup, stale coffee, and moldy milk?
1.) The customers. Some are awesome. Some provide me with entertainment on continuous basis. Some make me so made I want to scream (Instead I smile and "politely" tell them I would be happy to do whatever I can to make their visit better).
2.) My co-workers. Laughter, Tears, Getting accepted into college, getting rejected from college, deaths in the family, births, moving away, daily jokes.. really, I feel like I've been through it all.
3.)Applicable life skills. Being able to adequately wash a window (because coffee filters work waaaay better than paper towels). Making a dang good cup of coffee. Not having pizza burn my mouth anymore because I've worn it away with too much hot espresso. Being able to take apart a grinder, coffee machine, dishwasher, receipt machines, fridges, floor drains, freezers, etc (and most importantly, putting htem back together.)
4.) Making really awesome, but only funny to coffee shop workers, jokes. Like Raw Sugar being the popular kid school.
As you can, it is like one big, wonderful dysfunctional family. And while saying good bye is good because I am starting on such a great adventure, it is going to be really difficult.

One Month

I leave town in exactly one month from today. I received an email from the P.C. regarding preferences for living with my host family. The email confirmed that I will for sure be at my staging event on the 23 of September in Philadelphia. One month from today is not all that much time. In fact, it feels like very little. The problem is, the more I check off my multiple to-do lists, the more I can think to add on to them. Along with still trying to make some moola at work, making the most of hanging out with friends and family, and fulfilling prior commitments, my one month fast approaching deadline to get stuff done includes some of the following:
-Get appropriate gear and clothes such as luggage, wool underwear and socks, a headlamp, a good kitchen knife and other various odds and ends (I have to remember I can only have two suitcases, and one carry on, but I also have to be able to haul it all over).
-Make my mother Power of Attorney on my bank accounts
-Set up a time to check out of my apartment. Also, pack, clean, and move out of my apartment.
-Make Travel arrangements to get to Philadelphia
-Close out contracts with my phone, satellite radio, Wells Fargo, and tie up loose ends regarding my student loans
-Change my address and contact information
-Get important documents ready for my parents in case anything should happen while I am gone
-Get life insurance and personal property insurance for traveling
-Upload my Nook with lots of books, take many pictures to have and to show my host family, update my Ipod, and if I can figure it out, burn some movies to my computer.
-Most importantly, Learn some of the language!!! The PC gives 23 lessons online of various key phrases to try and get a grasp on so you can at least say, "Hi, my name is Emily." to your host family. So far I have gotten, "Salam" (Hello) conquered. Eek!***

Also, I have already sent in an updated resume in specific PC format, written an 'aspiration statement' that gets sent to my host country, sent in an application for a passport and visa, and notified work and my apartment of my dates of termination.

Thankfully I take after my mother and am good at making lists...

***This list is not exhaustive