So I said the Maoist strikes are largely peaceful, but even though incidents may be few and scattered, yesterday one of my favorite bars got vandalized in front of me, while i was locked into my other favorite bar with the lights off, across the street, waiting for the Maoists to calm down. I predict things will escalate, yet the world news are largely ignoring the growing civil unrest here.

That's all.

I am now back from my second field trip, which ended 5 days early due to the Maoist strikes in the capital. The Maoists are a tricky bunch, they protest a LOT, and when they announce strikes, the city shuts down. Stores are closed, cars are not allowed to run, all the while in the center of town Maoist supporters have something of a celebration with singing, dancing, and cheering. In the past they have been known to get a little violent and burn tires, harass shop owners and beat up people who thought they'd get away with driving. This time however they say this will be a peaceful endeavor and that they'll behave . Either way, they have announced a week-long strike for this week, with an intent to put pressure on the government to make a constitution and to oust the prime minister of whom they are not a fan. To make a long story short due to this activity I had to return and miss 4 days of school visits and interviews, because had I stayed, I would have gotten stuck away from Kathmandu and missed a meeting with my supervisor and possibly my flight to Thailand.

Anyway my second field trip took me to Syangja, a beautiful mountain region near Pokhara, where we visited a number of schools in order to distribute scholarship materials, and for yours truly to conduct a number of interviews. Once the road past Pokhara was over the Syangja roads were mountain paths on which you could travel no faster than 15 km/hour and one day in particular we took 50 kilometers in almost 3 hours. Words can’t describe how much I missed long 4 lane highways and how easy it is to get speeding tickets in Europe and the US. The entire time i felt like i was sitting in a salt shaker and wax anxious for us to arrive. At one point we had to stop our huge SUV and fill a hole in the road with rocks in order to pass, and on numerous occasions we drove through streams and rivers. In the four days we spent driving on these roads we passed around 4 other vehicles total. Surprisingly, one of the mentioned mountain paths took us to Sirubari, a model village which does get tourists on occasion, where we spent the night. I was a little disappointed, because other than the cute stone paths and neat houses, there were no people out, no shops, and only one stupa to look at. Wonder what other tourists do when they go there…

Syangja was very different from Makwanpur (where I was in March), in the fact that trafficking is rare and all children are likely to be enrolled in school. Weather they attend is a different story, but in Makwanpur enrollment was also an issue since a lot of children, especially girls, don't ever get the chance to go to school. One of the schools we visited was right near the model village I mentioned, and was solely for Dalit (untouchable) children. Even though the village itself is a haven, and people have a source of income and pride, Dalit children in that community are barred from the Gurung school of the local people and have to walk further in order to attend the one school available tot them. In that sense the impact of my NGO could truly be seen in the small primary school we visited. For the short material distribution program we did there, the locals had planned a grand welcome, with flowers and presentations, and was the only time anyone expressed a gratitude like this out of all the schools we went to. I was touched.

So now I am in Kathmandu, my field visits are incomplete (which wasn’t the plan), I am 4 days away from my vacation to Thailand, and 3 weeks away from returning back to Europe. Needless to say the stress level has risen to code red.

Wednesday, April 14th marked the first day of Nepali New Year, and now we are living in 2067. It was quite nice to celebrate two new years, because the next chance I get to celebrate 2067, I will either be dead or nearing my 85th birthday. Who knows though, maybe I will be one rocking granny…Surprisingly there wasn’t a huge New Year celebration, like we do in the western world. There were a lot of parties for tourists, expats, and young Nepali men, but most of the locals I know, stayed at home, and maybe went to a temple the next day in order to mark the occasion. The most exciting of the Nepali celebrations was held near Kathmandu in Bakhtapur (Bisket Jatra) where they erect a 30 meter lingum, a sign of Shiva’s you know what. Miniature Shiva Lingums are found all over Nepal and are representative of the convergence of male and female parts. Sexy.

Other than that I have been nothing more than a tourist over the last weeks. I currently have my boyfriend here and we went to Pokhara for five days, where we explored the city and its vicinities. There, we took a short hike to the World Peace Pagoda and visited a bat cave in which I made many new sleeping friends. Turns out they sleep holding on to one leg and every 30 min they switch so they don’t cramp up. So cute! I might want to be a fruit bat in my next life. The rest of the time we ate, drank, and hung by the lake. There might have been a museum visit somewhere in there too...i don't remember.

After Pokhara, we came back to Kathmandu and have been exploring more local temples and stupas. I've also had to go back to the office, where I have been trying to get in touch with local NGOs and iNGOs for interviews and background information. Some of my field trips fell through, since I never heard from the American Himalayan Foundation representative who told me I can join her on a few trips in order to track down graduated students from the program. Bummer….I should have remembered from Azerbaijan, that such promises in developing countries are not always valid. I go on my next field trip in about a week and again will be staying in Pokhara from where I will be making day trips to the surrounding regions and conducting interviews, focus groups, etc. in order to get more feedback for my research.

That’s it, no deep insights this time.

In the days after my field visit I have had quite the life (excluding the no electricity and water fiasco, but hey at least I can drink beer…). As previously mentioned I moved to a new house which is beautiful and in a nice neighborhood. We do still shower out of buckets and do our dishes on the balcony (its the closest working tap), but regardless i am really happy with the new place. Anyway...I have met a lot of people who live in Nepal for various reasons, and have found out that the social scene is relatively small and you are bound to run into the same people wherever you go. For instance, last week I went to a cheese ‘party’ in a small farm outside of Kathmandu where my colleagues from university also ended up in. To be honest I didn’t even know it was supposed to be a party. I thought I was going to a stinky barn where a Nepali farmer would give me a the tour, let me milk a cow, and then sell me some creamy delicious cheese at a low cost. Turned out that the farm was owned by a French guy, who lives in a beautiful self-built cottage and the ‘tour’ I was imagining ended up being a party celebrating spring, with plenty of drinking, smoking, and food. The crowd included expats from prestigious organizations, local bar owners and rock stars, and people like me, who are clearly neither. It was a nice surprise and I ate and drank my heart out until my body decided to rebel and get a cold. So yes….I again spent 2 days in bed recovering from my ongoing health ailment. This is getting old, seriously!

Thats it for expat life.... I am currently taking a break from the office and enjoying a mini vacation in Pokhara for 5 days. This is the second biggest city which sits on a lake and is the beginning of the Annapurna range and all its trails. Its beautiful, quiet and relaxing in contrast to Kathmandu, and its wonerful to take a little break from the fumes. As far as work, I don’t have a field visit till the end of April, and NGOs in Kathmandu are ignoring me so I hope I have better luck tracking down people to interview after my vacation.

(In the picture you can see Bea, my Spanish roommate, enjoying the festivities)

I had seen tough times in Azerbaijan, especially in some of the IDP camps, but the way of life I saw during my first field visit is in a whole other category of poor, and to think that this is the way the majority of the world lives is truly something to take into account. So I spent 9 days in Makwanpur district which is in the south, near the Indian border and is a hill region. It’s less than a 100 kilometers from Kathmandu, but the road is a non-paved mountain path and the trip took almost 5 hours. Once there I visited 5 school and interviewed around 30 people including parents, teachers, and students. Some of the interviews took place in people’s houses, which gave me the opportunity to see first hand the dwelling and livelihood of the people. From wooden shacks, to mud houses, each having one room for 5+ people was the norm in all communities that I visited. In the villages that were off the main road, the schools were some of the only brick buildings I saw and women were the majority of those working in the fields, carrying large loads of wood on their head, and collecting water at the wells. From the interviews I did, I learned that a lot of girls repeat classes numerous times, due to the fact hey have to do household work before and after school and go in for wage labor on their days off, which would give them from 60-100 RPS (60-70 cents) per day of work. Having all this in mind, no wonder they have no time for schoolwork, and with almost all of them having illiterate parents, and no jobs other than occasional farm work available in their communities, it is easy to understand why education doesn’t always rank high as a priority. Furthermore, Makwanpur is a region heavily hit by traffickers ‘recruiting’ for the circus in India. I interviewed one girl who was a tight rope walker for 6 years since she was 9. Parents get tricked and then compensated to let their daughters go. Some of the girls get released when they grow up and become too heavy, or if they get HIV, so currently there is a high return rate for girls with girls who got either too old or too sick to work. Evidently local NGOs have been active and the trafficking cases are decreasing, but in the communities I visited the majority agreed that trafficking is a fact of life and girls are still leaving to go to India and the gulf countries for ‘work.’

On a more positive note, Makwanpur is a beautiful district, with rolling green hills and rivers running throughout it. There we stayed and ate at a guesthouse, which was quite comfortable, and I had a chance to get to know my assistant/translator, who also became a good friend of mine in the process. Each morning we would have breakfast/lunch at 9 and then return from work around 5 exhausted and sweaty. Traditional Nepali cuisine serves one meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner and its called daal bhat tarkari, meaning lentil soup, rice, and curried vegetables, and even though delicious, eating it twice a day for over a week was intense. The highlight of the trip was the fan clubs I gathered at each school I visited. Kids would stare at me, and tell me how white, tall, and blond I am, and would literally run in front of me and start walking backwards in order to get a better view. On other occasions, I would be interviewing someone in a room with an open window, and every time there would be kids on top of kids, on top of kids lined at the windows as if though they were watching a theater play. At times I felt that I must have two heads and three arms, and on better days like a Bollywood star. I don’t know how famous people do it, since its truly exhausting being started at and trying to function at the same time. Either way I came back to Kathmandu this week and unknowingly had brought some friends with me in my stomach from the dirty water I drank, so I had three miserable days of pain and fever. I went to the doctor finally and was told that my typhus vaccine is only 60% active, and there is a chance I may still have it. I find out for sure on Monday, but I doubt its that, since the antibiotics I was put on made me feel better in less than 5 hours. I also moved into my new apartment with my new roommate Bea, who is from Spain. Through her, and my other friend Roger, I am starting to have somewhat of a social life. Its weird hanging out with ex-pats, and I still have my old defense from Azerbaijan, where I try not to be too culturally inappropriate even when I am with westerners only. Our apartment is big and nice, with the only problem being that we barely have any furniture and I still have to shower out of a bucket because the electricity is too weak for the water heater to work. So that’s it for now! Namaste! Interesting facts I learned at an ex-pat party: Number one cause for death among women in Nepal is now suicide, maternal health mortalityNepal is ranked 4th in the world in terms of its capacity to produce hydro electric power, yet has 12-14 hour power cuts in the capital every dayNepal is the 14th poorest country in the world (Source: American dude, working in public health in Kathmandu)

Holi festival is here! As I had mentioned earlier kids have been preparing for this for the past 2 weeks, targeting young girls and tourists with water balloons and buckets. Today however, the game is different and EVERYONE participates, and not only with water but also with tika paints. I have spend all day hiding while local kids and even foreigners downtown have chosen to join into the water war or as I liked to call it ”get the tourists” event. I have been observing carefully the festivities from my supervisor’s house and its insane. Anyone who walks through the street gets soaked from kids prepared with balloons and full on buckets of water which they pour on people and if you are lucky, the water is bright red and leaves a nice sewer like stench. Kids, and teenagers have been storming the streets looking like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, with their faces painted in various colors, and yelling like someone is ripping out their guts. I say “NO THANK YOU,” to that and good luck to my fare faced comrades downtown who are bound to get water ballooned in the face....OH NO, have i turned into a party pooper!?

Other than that I had my first field visit this past week. It was in Nagarkort which is known for having spectacular views of the Himalayas, but I barely got to see any mountain since most of the time haze was covering the peaks. A few of the photos I took ended up ok after some photo shopping and int he end the 2 days of fresh air away from Kathmandu were much appreciated. RHEST was having their annual meeting there to talk about new policy and the successes and failures of the past fiscal year. course it was all in Nepali, and my purpose there was to get a better idea of it all it all and maybe interview some of the volunteers from the regions. relaxing right? Well, it was for about a hot second, until my supervisor sprung a surprise Focus Group Discussion and four 40 min interviews on me. My preparation was close to nil and my translator was no where to be found. Somehow it was all pulled off and I got some answers by rugged men, who were not really sure what this white little lady was doing there in the first place. I think that for the circumstances it all went down ok. During the two days I also got to experience my first Bollywood sing off and it was amazing. After dinner everyone met up in one of the hotel rooms, all the women (around 15) were sitted in a tiny bed, and all the men sat on chairs around. The crowd was split in two teams and they would start a different Bollywood song beginning with the last syllable of the previous song sang. It was confusing, and I heard about 50 Bollywood songs in the span of 15 min. It was an amazing experience, and their knowledge and skill was impressive. And let me end with the exciting news that I now have a new apartment with a cool roommate from Spain for about half the price of what I pay now. WooHooo! Also my supposed field trip starting on Tuesday might have to be pushed due to the fact I am having translator issues. However if everything stays on track I might not have Internet for the next week and a half and will be able to communicate normally around March 10th.

Ah Nepali life…still trying to get the hang of it. So immediately after my last blog, all my exploration plans were ruined due to the fact the stomach gods cursed me with some food poisoning. How I miss the days of constant stomach activity of the negative kind...NOT! So I spent my 3rd and 4th day in the country ‘cleansing’ my system from and thinking that I’ll never eat again. Luckily I recovered and now I am on the path of becoming a healthy plump woman. Ever since the forsaken illness I just can’t stop eating. I am still not brave enough to cook my own food, so I buy things from the nearby bakery and eat delicious vegetarian dishes in the nearby ‘trusted’ fast food restaurant. I get fed at my office as well, and curried vegetables, rice, and flat bread will never get old. I hope the Azeri 20 kilos doesn’t catch up to me, because I do not miss the days when I had only 1 pair of pants that fit. So this past week I started going to the office, where I got to meet everyone and figure out how the next 3 months will go. The rest of the time I spend fighting with internet and hang ing out with my coworkers. My field visit schedule was set this week, and it looks like I’ll be taking two 10 day trips in 2 and half districts. The districts completely changed from what I was originally anticipating, but I wasn’t in anyway expecting that thing’s won’t change. So on march 2nd I head out to Makawanpur which is a hilly region near the Terai (plains) known for human trafficking. The program has existed there for only 4 years, which is not that much, but they insist I should go there since a lot of girls get sold to Indian circuses from the local villages. Then I will go to Syangja and Kaski which are in the mountains and have had the scholarship program active for 12 years. I’ll go there at the end of April for 2 weeks. In the middle I am on my own, doing background research, teaching myself Nepali, and hopefully not getting fat. The week ended in hanging out with Brian, Giulietta, and Su from my program in Utrecht, and a new friend we met here, who is doing research on the expat community of Nepal. I feel grateful that I can have some sort of social life, because I know how dreary it can be without, and my hat goes off to those friends who are doing their internships alone in non-tourist centers. In other news, my supervisor keeps hinting that I have to move out of her parents place and since I have started looking I am realizing that where I am at now and what I am paying for it is not actually a good deal at all. I have paid up for a month and looking to move out in the second week of March. Wish me luck! Current observations on life in Kathmandu: There are dogs everywhere! Some look happy and fat, living next to butcher shops, other are the most miserable sites ever, and break my heart; The pollution leaves black gunk in my nose; Text messaging to the USA works, but not to India; Kids throw bags full of water at you because a 'festival' is coming – I guess water is an improvement over rocks, which is what boys used to throw at us in Azerbaijan; and finally, brushing your teeth with Sprite is better than using the water from the tap.

"Inuu make sure you lock the terrace door so the monkeys don't come in...."

Going on day two in Kathmandu. I have been bad at blogging while in Holland, but I promise that with this adventure I will do better. For those of you who haven’t kept up with me, I am in Nepal as a part of my master’s degree and am doing an internship for a small NGO which assists poor girls in rural areas to go to school. My job will be to do an impact study of their program, which will take me to two districts in the mountains where I will conduct interviews, focus groups, and investigative work with local stakeholders. When all is done at the end of May, I will leave a report for my org and go back to Europe where I will write my master thesis based on my findings. Unlike with the Peace Corps where everything in the beginning was nicely organized, this is solely on me and at this point I am still without a local number or any friends, (hmmm maybe i should have taken notes on how they did things...). I am currently living in the upstairs apartment of my supervisor’s parents. They live on the East side of the city (which is consiered to be part of hte Old Kathmandu) in a big compound above a small department shop. Its really nice, with the only problem being that it’s kind of far from the center. Kathmandu is unlike any place I have been to. First off, there are more people and cars than anywhere else, and honking twice per minute while driving is the norm. The fumes and pollution are bad due to the amounts of cars, motorbikes, and mopeds and I am seriously considereing joining the many Nepalis that wear face masks. Currently, the city has 11-16 hour power cuts per day (load shedding), with the exception for today, because evidently the Gods are cooperating. My apartment has a light in my bedroom which works during power outages and one plug which is connected to a generator. The water situation is ok , because it runs all the time, unlike many other places who don’t have water or even plumbing. I have to take bucket baths, because the pressure is not strong enough for the shower to run, but I don’t mind since Azerbaijan prepared me well (Thank you, Peace Corps!). I may move to somewhere else if opportunity permits and if I find something nicer and closer to the center, but at this point I think i will stay here, plus the family downstairs is really nice and let me use their computer and internet which are connected to the generator.

I went out exploring yesterday and took it easy today, with the plan to go out again tomorrow. The city is really interesting and impressive from what I have seen and am excited to check out some more places tomorrow. Yesterday, I went to Durbar square, which is full of beautiful Buddhist and Hindu temples that date back to the 17th century. There you can see people praying, cows running around, pigeons pooping, animals being sacrificed, and many interesting people (a bit of a sensory overload). Following, I went to ‘monkey’ temple or Swayambhunath, which is an incredibly beautiful Buddhist monastery overlooking central Kathmandu. I found some scammer tour guide, or actually he found me, but in the end I didn’t mind paying him REALLY well, because I was alone, on my first day, and needed someone to show me around. I ended up in the Thamel (tourist district) where most the tourist hotels, shopping and restaurants are and walked around aimlessly for 2 more hours until I finally made it back. There are so many first impressions that I don’t know where to start….Hindus, Buddhists, hippies, traffic, military, three wheelers, holy men, oh my! I will get through them all since I plan to be a good little blogger. I start work with my NGO on Monday, so I have until the end of the week to explore and do some shopping. There are amazing things to buy here, and additionally I have to get some traditional Nepali wear for my site visits in rural villages. Locals are really friendly, the city is so exciting, and am sure that the rest of the country will be amazing as well! I will end on the note that after feeling like a midget living in the Netherlands, I now feel quite tall, which for me is always amazing!

I have been in The Netherlands for 2 weeks now and I have to say I am really enjoying it. I live in Utrecht (which is a 25 min. from Amsterdam) and doing a master in International Development Studies at Utrecht University. My next year will prove to be quite busy since I’m doing an internship abroad starting in February, and then coming back and working hard-core on my thesis in the summer and fall. This coming internship will send me back to the developing world where I will have to do a project for an NGO based on which I will eventually write my thesis. I still don’t know where I am going and what I want to focus on, but will have a bit more clarity in about a month when we get the list of countries and research topics.

So you are probably wondering what made me want to start blogging again? I honestly thought this was done for a while, but a week and a half ago I attended the orientation for international students a German undergrad explained what we were to expect while settling here. All of her cultural descriptions sounded really funny and unbelievable, but alas… That same night a friend and I decided to go have a beer in town. Walking into the bar we immediately noticed that we were two of six girls among a sea of identical Dutch men. They all had long side swept hair (with lots of hair product in it), collared shirts, tight jeans, brown belts, and fancy shoes. They ignored our presence and hugged, touched and talked into each other’s ear. Naturally we realized that we had found our first gay bar in Utrecht. What a joy, I thought! I get to make some gay friends which subsequently end up being great girlfriends. As the night went on, one of the gay guys came to our table and invited us to go to the bar next-door with them, since this one was closing. We joined them happily to dance club next door and all of sudden things started changing. We slowly started to realize that these guys were not gay at all! They looked stoic and waited for girls to go up to them and then engaged in totally heterosexual activities with them. The AW! Then one of them came to us, and asked if we matched our purses to our shirts on purpose…I mean what would you think? He was straight. Laura and I quickly escaped this skewed world of metro sexual straight men, and told ourselves to beware for these strange bars. On the walk back, I realized what a culture shock this had been, and hence the blog writing started again.

Since that experience I have learned that there are plenty of places with men that are more of what I am used to, but still giggle when I pass a group of pretty boys, who obviously spend more time getting ready than I do.

(A tribute to Donnie Darko perhaps?)

The decision has been made to continue this blog, due to the fact I am yet again in a new place. Even though this time i am in the quite developed world, I have already made quite a few interesting observations which differ from anything i have experienced before, and may be able to entertain a soul or two with my skewed views. So the first real post is soon to come. And for those who read my Peace Corps posts, let me just tell you that one year later, I miss Azerbaijan more than any place I have ever been.

My service is slowly coming to an end and there are only 2 weeks left till I must go to Baku and to close out my Azeri life. Who would have thought that through all of the anticipation to finally finish I would actually become nostalgic? It happened and I am realizing how many small things have mattered a lot to me, and how leaving them won’t be a piece of cake. At the top of the list for that is Kiwi (my dog) who with the help of my friend Meredith, I will try to bring America next summer. I have become so attached to her, and I miss her even when I travel within Azerbaijan. Too bad she can’t drink beers with me in the summer heat…Some other things that have mattered to me and I will miss are:

My two favorite students Fidan and Shabnam.My house, since who knows when I can afford to live on my own again.Famile, my counterpart, who has always stood behind my decisions and has helped me through my problems.My Peace Corps friends.Making my own work schedule and not working a 9-5 job.Not worrying about money (too much) and having hassle free health care.

There are probably more aspects of my life that I will realize I’ll miss as my time here diminishes. Needless to say I am also looking forward to plenty when I come home, such as: a social life, supermarkets, sit down toilets, sushi, and washing machines among others.

Two things that I am most definitely happy to be leaving behind are Azeri men and being a teacher. I take my hat off to all of my current colleagues because teaching is not as effortless as it may and in fact is pretty hard! Maybe it’s a bit different teaching here, but still, I can’t picture ever being able to handle the job with the little amount of patience I possess.

So you probably wonder what I have been doing for the past 2 months? The answer is: not much! Once school ended and the heat cranked up to 90-100 degrees everyday, it is not only I who wanted to hide out with a fan in my face. All summer I have had one conversation club which would meet bi-weekly for 2 hours and that’s about it. I left Barda a few times to go help out friends with their clubs and camps, and finally took a trip to go see the mountains with my friends from Baku. Other than that I have been sitting at home in front of the Internet, cuddling a frozen water bottle and waiting for the sun to go down so I can function. Don’t ever take your air conditioning for granted people!!!

So everyone has been asking about my return. As previously mentioned I arrive on September 21st at Dulles, at 8:53 pm. Its taking me a little longer to get home because I'm taking a week to go to Berlin and re-civilize myself. When I come back home base will be my mom’s house in Alexandria for about one month, and around October 19th I’m heading out to Breckenridge, CO to live for the winter. I will email ways to reach me as soon as I get a cell phone and then the reunions shall begin. I can’t wait!!!

Pictures: 1) At Ilisu in Gax 2) Fidan and I 3) Museum in Sheki 4) In Sheki with Bulgarians 5) The Kiwi

My official return to America is:

September 21st!

Stop 1: DC

Stop 2: Breckenridge

Stop 3: San Francisco

(Inshallah, as the Azeris would say)

It always surprises me how time flies when you have things to do. June began with my long anticipated vacation to Riga which was exactly what I needed in order to remind myself what I have been missing out on. My friend and I stayed in a hostel in Old Town Riga where we met a ton of cool people, partied, ate amazing food, and did a number of touristy activities which I didn’t dread as much as I had imagined. Each day was more fun than the last, and once we came back to Azerbaijan we both went through a 2 week long nostalgia for Latvia. Immediately after our vacation we headed to our Close of Service Conference (COS), where our group reunited one last time before heading our separate ways on September

13th. We had sessions ranging from health to career advice, and even though helpful, what I got out of it was a good dose of stress, since I am still confused about my future. Why can’t my perfect job just hit me in the face so I won’t have to get wrinkles over it? If anyone has any future opportunities for me that involve skiing, traveling and not sitting behind a desk now is the time to speak up!! After COS, I came back to Barda for the environmental camp my site mate, Mare, and I had planned. We did environmental activities, every morning with a group of kids and we ended up enjoying it so much that we are going to gather with them two times a week, every week, until I’m done.

So logistically this is what my life had consisted of. Now I want to share a story about my foot…In late May after running daily on a crappy sprinter’s track I injured my left foot. The pain was gradual and I ignored it for about a week until one day I took my shoe off and I could barely step on it. The Peace Corps doctor sent me to the local hospital to get an X-Ray since I could get that over with right away and possibly skip the trip to Baku. I went to the scary hospital and did the deed, following which I had to talk to the orthopedist and get the diagnosis for my condition. After examining my foot, which was already de-swelled, and looking at the X-ray upside down, he told me that I have a serious condition called aseptic necrosis, which a lot of young women get due to the fact they wear high heels a lot. He told me I’ll be fine after serious physiotherapy and about 10 prescriptions. Our PC doctor freaked out and immediately summoned me to Baku for a second opinion. Meanwhile I researched this condition that I apparently had just to find out that it usually occurs in older people at the hip bone or the knee, rarely at the ankle and possibly never in the foot…Hmmm. Additionally I haven’t worn high heels in over 2 years which was the doctor’s main argument for me having this softening of the bone he diagnosed. So I went to Baku and Irina, my doctor straight out laughed at the diagnosis after looking at my seemingly perfect X-Ray. At the end it turned out I had just pulled a ligament and as long as I took it easy for a while it would heal. Should I believe that? I don’t know... What freaks me out is that this Barda doctor gives these sorts of diagnosis on a regular basis, sending people to surgery, and prescribing them unnecessary drugs. Once again this incident made me feel so damn lucky that I wasn’t born here.

And here is a snippet of important information:

I have decided to travel for a week after I’m done so my official return has been postponed till September 21st. The plane tickets are bought so its all set. Mark your calendars!

Today was graduation and school is officially over. I’m never ever EVER teaching again and couldn’t be happier about it. I know this means I am one step closer to coming home, but 103 days still sounds like an eternity away. At least I won’t be too bored while counting down till September 12th. I am barely going to be at site in June due to my Riga vacation and the Close of Service Conference, and then in July I’m planning and participating in a number of summer camps which will keep me busy and whining for at least a few more weeks. In addition I have decided to take the Foreign Service Exam, which also fits in that time period of crazy.

Other than that the Peace Corps has been quite the love mixer lately. We are on our way to marry off our second PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) couple in June and are wondering who is next. The first two got hitched back in January and moved in together right after. They are both in my group and are preparing to go home, meet each other’s families, and plan the American wedding with all the perks they didn’t get here. The second couple is a mix between my group and the new group, and is tying the knot in the next week or so. The wife to be, Mariko is extending her service one year and switching her site so she can be with her man. None of this of course can happen in Azerbaijan, so both couples have had to go to Georgia in order to legalize their union. They come back with the papers and PC handles all the rest. Love love love. BLAH! Speaking of this, just this week I realized that I have forgotten what to do with myself around normal, interesting and attractive men. My local interactions with the opposite sex are either accompanied with anger and annoyance (at local Azeris), or the sisterly nudge nudge (with PC guys). How did I figure this out? It happened three days ago, when a Spanish cyclist contacted me via Couch Surfers, asking if he could stay with me since he was to pass by on his way to Iran. He is taking on the world with his bike and at the age of 40 has been on the road for 4 years and has gone through South America and Africa already. He left his job as a lawyer in Spain, and while on the road entertains the poorest of the poor as a clown, for which he actually has training. If you speak Spanish and would like to check out his videos you can go to his website at www.biciclown.com. Needless to say he was just as amazing in person as he is on paper, and yours truly wanted to hide under the table not knowing what to do with herself around him. Quite sad, I hope my flirting skills come back to me once I return to civilization because this is totally UNACCEPTABLE!

And now back to my Peace Corps life. I have been quite busy in the past two months planning an Earth Day event and an end of the school year assembly with my 5th formers. For Earth Day I planned an awareness campaign for my classes, which ended up with a school clean-up on the weekend. Around 25 students showed up, and we had a grand time picking up syringes, beer bottles, and cigarette butts. At the end I gave all of them hand sanitizer and candy for their hard work. The end of the school year event was a bit more complicated since I had to teach 26 students a number of poems and songs. It sounds easy, but I tell you getting those kids into gear and controlling 26 little torpedoes is a tough job. It took 3 months to have them learn 4 songs, a poem, and create a letter from cardboard. Any less, and the program wouldn’t have been a success. The theme was the alphabet so each student had to make their own letter, say a poem about it and learn 4 songs with the accompanying dances. On May 16th we had an assembly inviting parents and teachers and it was an utter success. I was very proud of the little ones and almost cried when they presented me with gifts and speeches about what a great teacher I am. Now I know that there is something I will miss once I go from here.

I have also been working with my Jehovah’s Witness counterpart, who along with her group have been harassed and persecutes since they started their activities here. She has written a letter to mail out to different NGO’s and International organizations and I have been helping her revise it and make it more professional. The letter entails all of the discriminatory acts against Jehovah’s Witnesses by town people, the police and the Ex Com and is quite lengthy. Her English is not that good so it hasn’t been an easy task to arrange and re-write it. I have uploaded the letter in case you want to read or give it to anyone who may help. You can download it HERE.

And finally, I have been an essential part of the Barda Bandits, and had to say goodbye to a friend who recently quit due to the fact he got a job in Iraq. 3 more blog entries till the end!!!

Here is what my site mate Sarah wrote on the topic of local men. This is what we deal with on a daily basis, and why i chose to spend a chunk of my own money to get internet at home. Enjoy:

Observation On The Male Species

by Sarah Choy

Whether it be standing on street corners practicing their staring skills, following me from one end of town to the other grunting, trying to run me over with their speeding Ladas, throwing me random crude comments while I pass on the opposite side of the street, demanding for what I’m selling whilst grabbing at my pack, or sitting at the popular man made habitat/internet cafe for hours on end looking at porn for free because they are the buddy of the guy that works there, I have developed a strong dislike towards the male species in this country—maybe even borderline hate.

Side Note: Yes, I’ve had my share of negative experiences with the dominate populous here, but I’ve also met a few good men. For example, I have enormous amounts of respect for everyone at PCHQ and a good 2 in my surrounding environment.

The following are my observational notes…

Entry 612 [sometime last week in the year 2008]: The other day I ventured into the popular man made habitat with an intention of emailing my family after avoiding the outside world farther than the distance from my house to my work. At the internet café in Barda there are three “boys” that work there at varying hours in the day, if they aren’t at the çay xanas giggling and gawking. Usually I chose to pay a visit to the net in the morning hours when the environment is calmer and less dense with the male species. I would normally call or message Sean Paul, the morning worker and the most predictable of the three, to make sure he’s there because I hate standing on the street at the door to the net while people start drifting closer and closer to me as I wait. It was late afternoon by the time I decided to go the net. The guy working at that hour looks like he’s 12, but observation proves him to be older. All three computers were occupied, and one of them by the guy working there. I waited about an hour along the walls reading a book and occasionally glancing up to check on any movement from the boys. Finally the internet guy got up from his dwellings and calls me towards the computer signalling he was finished. I pack my book away and cautiously made my way over. I sit down and his hand is still on the mouse looking at me. I look onto the screen and there is a video of a girl on her knees giving a blow job to a headless body. I roll my eyes and open my bag to dig out my USB. I think to myself if he was done why did he not close the window? One of the many why questions I wonder about the species. I see his face curl into a seedy smirk and it hits me that he wanted to see my reaction to the video. After what seemed like an eternity as he waited for a reaction from me, he finally closed the window, put in the password for me to access the internet and went on his way. But this was only the beginning. Shortly afterwards he sits with another customer/friend/non-paying boy and they start giggling trying to get my attention. From being in the Peace Corps I’ve been working on my ignoring and jading skills. Being American that wasn’t really that difficult because I have the ability to focus on the tasks at hand. Then he strikes up a cigarette and blows a few puffs into my face as he gets up walking towards me. My peripheral vision indicated him throwing another smirk my way. I thought it best to not acknowledging anything around me and experiment what the species may do next and hoping he will loose interest in me and leave me alone. I probably seemed like an empty shell, or as a person living in my own bubble to him. And as I observed him I saw a freak in a glass box and noted his many attempts at annoying the foreigner who ventured into his environment. Eventually he walked outside and had gathered a handful of friends to join him in the café. Nearly 15 minutes passed with what some may define as heckling, I bid my family adieu and left the café after slamming 60 qəpik on the computer table as if I had enjoyed the display of immaturity I received. This experience is similar to many that I’ve encountered over nearly two years living in this strange environment. Thus my expectations of the male species no longer surprise me and I often let it fester in the natural habitat. This is maybe the decided reason why I dislike the dominate populous and choose now to avoid them at all costs. If there are some decent males out there in the community, they have yet to provide evidence of themselves to me.

On a positive note, even though what Sarah wrote is routine, i have met a number of wonderful men who never cease to surprise me:

My old host dad, Arif, who tells me stories of his life in Russia, would take on any disrespectful Azeri, and jumps at the opportunity to help me when in need.Internet guy Shanpal, the only guy working at the cafe who would kick out anyone that is disrespectul to us and immediately give up his computer so we can get on the internet. Taxi driver, Yadegar, who always feeds me at the rest stop between Barda and Baku,and finds me a nice driver if he happens to be busy.Any men working for AIM, a great NGO which does a ton for the community projects, such as tree plantings, trash pick ups, and other environmental campaigns.My landlord, who knows that i need to be left alone, yet when i have a problem with the house, he fixes it for free!The 2 deputy directors at school, who make sure that no kid ever disrespects me.The store owner, who always undercharges me by 20 qepic.The neighborhood 15 year old, who always walks me places and shows me where to get the cheapest amenities.

And of course all the men working at the Peace Corps office!

Right now I am sitting in my house while a bunch of children are running crazy around my yard and screaming like the little savages they are. The reason for that is that my landlord’s father died, and they are going through the 7 days of mourning with the whole extended family, which is here from Baku and a number of other regions. I just had to go scold the kids for trying to kick Kiwi, who is terrified and hiding out with with me in the house. Funerals here are very different than what we know to be true. I am not quite sure what happens to the body, but I believe its put in the ground almost immediately after the death, then a huge tent is built on the street where the men mourn. The women mourn too, by whaling, chanting and crying inside the house for 7 days straight. The belief is that if you are not loud enough, and you don’t show how much you miss the person, the soul will know and not go to heaven. Outside the tent and the whaling room, however, it’s like a party, kids a running around, people are chatting and smiling, and the mood is very un-funeral like.

Other than funerals and crazy kids, I've been quite contempt mostly due to the wonderful weather we've been having. Unlike last year when in May the seasons went straight from winter to summer, this year spring DID come. The trees are blooming, bugs are out, and everything is turning green. Not only did it come, but it also kind of infringed on winter, the weather has been in the 60’s and 70’s for all of March and the forecast for this week reaches the 80s every day. Last year at this time I was still running my heater and wearing winter apparel. Spring itself is quite an interesting phenomenon because even though I am already in t-shirts and sandals, the Azeris are still in boots and winter coats. I believe that there is an official date that the winter garments must come off, and until then they MUST wear them no matter how hot it is. Spring is also the season for city beautification, when buildings, streets, and parks, get fixed up and made over. And by that I mean the two streets that the president might see if he were to come to the city. I live right next to the Ex Com and Municipality buildings and everything is getting redone: the park across the street, the chess club, and even the old movie theater which will probably be turned into another man-only teahouse. Additionally all older buildings in the town center are being dressed in these gray Robocop style tiles in order to appear more modern. Its important to mention that while millions of dollars are pouring into this aesthetic city beautification, no school is being shown the same respect, specially mine which is on the verge of collapsing. These renovations are done in case the president were to come or even just drive through the city. Anywhere he goes, a magic paintbrush fixes things along the way and I am convinced that he doesn’t really realize the rundown state of his country and people. Spring is also the time for the biggest holiday in Azerbaijan, Novruz. It is a Muslim holiday which celebrates the start of the Muslim New Year, as well as the beginning of spring. Azeris cook a ton of food and basically force-feed you till you drop for a week straight. I tried so hard to avoid guesting during this time, but alas I failed and am now a fatty. The good thing about Novruz is that school is out for almost 2 weeks, letting me have solitude and giving me time to see my friends.

Other than school work, some other occurrences in my life have involved: PC Prom, which gives us a reason to go to Baku, dress up, and drink; Women's Day Celebration in Goranboy; Developing a program and art contest to teach students about Earth Day through the PC Environmental Committee, writing a PC Environmental blog, and planning an environmental camp with my site mates.

Peace Corps Prom

See? I do stuff….5 months to go!

Here I am, at the 21st month of my Peace Corps Experience, still not sure how I'll make it to the end. It is currently cold and wet outside and its not helping me kick my ‘internet’ addiction. That’s right…Internet! I decided that in order to survive one more miserable Azeri winter, I’d have to take drastic actions which resulted in me buying a phone line so I can surf at home. Buying the phone line itself was a mess which is quite blog worthy. In the period of 7 days which it took for me to get a working phone, I ended up going to the post office around 8 times. That’s twice a day on certain occasions, running up and down like a chicken without a head around the 5 floors of the building, arguing and complaining. First of all the subscription guy tried to overcharge me immensely, so I went straight to the Post's director and complained which brought the price down to almost what it should have been. Then the mechanic came to run the cable through and attempted to charge me 60 manat (roughly 70$), for his lunch and tea. In Azerbaijan it is customary to pay people for their food and drink while on the job. I was outraged because in any restaurant a meal plus drinks is never more than 4-5 manat per person. Eventually he brought the price down to 40 and my landlord helped me by paying half. Ultimately all was done and set, except that the post office wouldn’t give me my actual phone number or turn on the damn thing. It took another 3 days of me running around the place complaining to whoever would listen that the phone eventually started working. I found a gray hair that week and I blame this fiasco for it…So anyway, I got internet at the exact moment I ran out of books to read, movies to watch, and yarn to crochet, so now I sit and surf 4-5 hours a day. That’s what a lack of a social life will do; I guess I am lucky I don’t have a TV.

As far as my life here is concerned, most of you got my email about my Jehovah’s Witness counterpart who got harassed by the police and almost lost her job at school just for the fact she is of a different religion. The rumor is that the mullah at the mosque complained about her going door-to-door and preaching, and with the addition of a new Barda police chief things got ugly. We still don’t know what will happen to her, since the police follow her around and her phone is tapped. She has filed a report with the Political Officer at the US embassy, and is talking to some lawyer here in Barda. Apparently a few men of the congregation got thrown into jail for various reasons, so she is talking to the lawyer on their behalf too. Either way it is an unpleasant story, and I want to thank all of you who forwarded my email to friends and colleagues.A lot of you have been asking me about my dog so here is a little Kiwi update. She is the happiest most energetic little dog in Azerbaijan. She still lives outside and has a little doghouse which the landlord built for her from an old crate. The thing is insulated and keeps her warm at night. She gets fed meat and bones everyday and when she is a good pup she even gets a doggy treat. I feel safer with her around because at night she barks at things that move and have come to the conclusion that when I go she will be what I miss most.

I haven’t written in a while mostly because nothing has been happening and it seems that I have run out of things to complain about. Who would have thought! I am currently enjoying the last day of my winter vacation, which flew by way too fast. It was an eventful one and it started with me running a session at AZ5’s in-service training. Those of you who know me well, know that public speaking is not one of my strengths and in fact I hate it more than greasy men staring at me! I had to talk about environmental issues in Azerbaijan, what’s been done in the past, and give general tips on how to implement environmental projects. I was there as a representative of the Environmental Committee, and the least scared member of talking in public. What a great bunch we are! Even though over prepared, I was dreading speaking to the group. About fifteen people signed up for the session and as soon as my time to speak came my voice started trembling, my hands started to shake and I wanted to run away and cry. There were moments where my voice would literally shut off, and I would have to take a deep breath and continue with my mumbling. Needless to say my face was tingling meaning that I was bright red for everyone to see how terrified I was and the one thing that made me feel better was the fact that I had forewarned everyone about my inability to public speak. Eventually the session turned into a discussion on why Azeris choose to disregard their communities’ cleanliness, and I even had to cut it short in order to cover everything I wanted to. That’s the last time I ever speak in public, EVER!

Immediately following that disaster, I left the country for Bulgaria where I was to spend three days. As I had imagined the time was barely enough to say hello to family and friends before I had to return to Azer land. My time was spent running around here and there, attempting to do some shopping, spend time with loved ones, and devour everything in site. I ate something delicious about every 2 hours which resulted in me barely being able to button my jeans. I couldn’t help it; there are just so many tasty things there! I am mostly bummed about the fact that I didn’t get to go skiing. The weather was cold and snowy and I can only imagine how perfect the powder in the mountains was. Looks like I’m going to skip this season, and hope that my career as a ski bum takes off next year.

So I left snowy Bulgaria and came back to Azerbaijan, where the weather turned into what I had just come back from. As soon as I got back to Barda it started snowing and the temperature dropped significantly. For the first time my stove was unable to heat my house and I was cold in my -20 degree sleeping bag. Yesterday I woke up to frozen pipes in my kitchen, and a burst pipe in my hamam (bathroom). Thankfully now that I share the hamam the pipe will be taken care of, but there is really nothing I can do about my kitchen and have to work with the one running faucet in the bathroom. Fortunately I had showered the day before, which makes me way luckier than my site mates who were all looking forward to a hot shower that day (they had pipe troubles as well). My situation is still not that bad since there are volunteers who are in higher regions and have been snowed in and without water for days. This is it for now. Hooray for 2008; the year in which Ina gets liberated!

From 48 volunteers in June 2006 to 33 in October 2007

The cold came back and I am starting to believe the rumor that your 2nd winter is worst because you know exactly what to expect. Its only November and I am already running my 100 year old gas pech (heater). Thankfully the thing is powerful and heats up the room enough for me to be comfortable in. We’ll see how I feel about that, come March, the most miserable month in Peace Corps.

School is going all right, relatively speaking. I don’t go as much as last year, but I know what I am doing and my teaching has significantly improved. Plus, I just organized a huge event which turned out to be really fun for kids and teachers. The event was called the “Halloween Extravaganza” and I set up a carnival type celebration with different booths and activities. To help, I invited twenty volunteers to run the activities and help me lead groups of students around. The stations included: Bobbing for Apples, Mask Making, Fortune Telling, Candy Trivia, Learn-A-New Game, and a Haunted House. I originally estimated for about 60-80 students to show up and was a little overwhelmed when the final count was around 130. The five group leaders (including myself) ended up being a bit overpowered. Since I am not a huge child fan (especially screaming ones) by the time we were done I literally wanted to pull my hair out. 5th to 9th graders are out of control everywhere but in Azerbaijan they don’t even know how to form a line! Students would get upset if they weren’t the first ones picked for an activity, not understanding that everybody will get a turn. At one point some of the IDP children started fighting and that’s when I almost lost it and was about to let the rage loose. Either way the event ended up being an utter success, and the Haunted House, which we made, blew everyone away. We bought black fabric to black out the windows and create compartments within the room. Then we had students walk in by two’s and go touch some “intestines” and “eye balls,” to get them grossed out. Following they ran through a compartment where a skeleton holding a severed head would chase them out, and finally they would walk through the haunted domain where a ghost jumped out at them spraying them with silly string. The room was complete with a creepy soundtrack cycling through the themes of The Exorcist, Halloween, and Psycho. Some kids were really afraid and some 5th grade girls refused to go in. Here is where I get to throw a special shout out to my college best friends who all sent decorations, candy, and costumes for this event. It couldn’t have happened without you!! After the event we all gathered in the dark, and had drinks to congratulate ourselves. It was dark because when its windy the town shuts the power off, needless to say there was a windstorm that night and electricity came around noon the next day.

Socially, my Peace Corps life has been quite eventful this past month. We had our Mid Service Conference, two softball tournaments, a Halloween Party, a pig roast, and next week I am off to Baku for a Thanksgiving feast. Additionally I have never been as ill in my life as I have in October. I had 4 different conditions which ends up equaling to a new one every week. Ah the joys of PC life. On a brighter note, come December I have only 9 months left. SINGLE DIGITS BABY!

Jason, Sarah and I (site mates!) the Lenkaran Halloween Party.

The school year started, the kids are back at school, and Ina Teacher is yet again going to attempt getting through to them. I am teaching 5th and 6th grade again with the hope to set up a strong base for when I leave and they go back to soviet system memorizations and dictations. Teaching is definitely not my calling and I am looking forward to ending this year and never doing it again! GAH!! I am being useful though. Really! I am currently in the process of planning a Halloween event which will take place on November 3. We are setting up a number of activity stations, will have a play, ghost story readings, trick or treating, and a costume contest. I never realized how much planning goes into a 3-hour event, especially when resources are scarce. Wish me luck!

When it comes to my personal life I recently received a legitimate marriage proposal. I was at the post office, where I go often to receive my mail, packages, and to send faxes. I was there on my biweekly visit when a man from the fax window called me over. So I went, thinking they may let me use the fax for free, and he proceeded to invite me into the booth with him and a bunch of old women. When I got in there he pointed to one of them, presumably his mother, who is my fax lady and started explaining to me how she has another young, muscular son who is ready to get married. I immediately regretted going back there and went into my usual spiel that I don’t want to get married, too young, going back to America and so on. He was like “That’s ok! You don’t have to get married, just get engaged! We’ll get you a ring and then both of you can go to America!!” His mom was just sitting and occasionally responding to my digressions with “But why???” I just figured that at my age I must look quite desperate and that no, actually means yes to them! At that point I did a U-Turn and straight ran out of there. All I have to say is that sending faxes will never be the same! They will never learn…

I had another adventure (not a good one unfortunately) the past few days with Kiwi, my puppy. Towards the end of last week she started getting sick, she wouldn’t eat or drink and at first I assumed she just ate something bad. However she proceeded to get worse and worse, and finally put her in box and took her to Genja (which is the 2nd biggest city and a little over and hour away). There through the volunteers we ended up finding a veterinarian in a scary dog training facility who told me she had a 50% chance to make it, and put her on an iv for 4 days. I just found out today that she is going to make it and I can go pick her up in 2 days. Apparently she picked up some sort of stomach infection which severely dehydrated her and had I brought her in any later she wouldn’t have made it. I am so happy that I get my puppy.

So this is it for now. This month I head into Baku for my Mid-Service Conference and am officially starting to count down the days till the end. Keep writing those emails!

My long awaited vacation to New Zealand is over and I am now back to my little town in Azerbaijan. It was quite a shock to come back from winter to a scorching summer. Surprisingly the other way around didn’t seem to bother me as much. My trip went great and I got to do everything that I had my mind set to do: skiing, glacier hiking, bungy jumping, drinking beer, etc. It was a great time and I secretly hoped I would break something on the last day so I get to stay a little longer. Nonetheless the three weeks flew by and now I am a week into being back, still trying to get over how great civilization is.

I have been keeping myself busy the past two weeks in attempt to get over the civilization blues. Coming back did bring me one surprise in the fact that when I walked through my door I found a puppy in my yard. It was tiny, skinny, and balding due to malnutrition. Turns out my landlord picked it up from the street and would feed it with a few pieces of bread every morning which the poor thing wouldn’t eat. Of course Azeris hate dogs, so they never paid enough attention to notice that it was actually the chickens who took care of the few dried up pieces of bread. So now it is me who takes care of it, and am proud to report that little Kiwi (in commemoration of NZ) is growing new fur and in size. I wish I could say something to my landlord about the food situation, but I wouldn’t put it past them to throw her out on the street when they find out she is not eating. Doesn’t make sense I know, but in reality that’s all it would take. So now she keeps me company and hopefully soon enough will learn how to take care of the hoodlums bothering me on the streets. Here is a picture:

I also got the chance to go to training last week and meet the new group, all 52 of them. It looked like so many people, especially in comparison to us who have only 33 left (we were 47 when we started). They seemed like a nice bunch of kids, yet so inexperienced…”said grandma Ina, with all those skills under her belt.” It will be interesting how long it will take them to discover the reality of the situation. That sounds mean, and truth is if I can do it then anyone can. Either way it was nice to meet them and see who my new friends will be, especially since I had to delete half my phone numbers with the departure of the previous group. So this is it. I don’t have much energy to write more or make this witty and exciting due to the fact it is 95 degrees and I can’t think straight due to extreme sweating.

        (seems to be the theme this summer…)

PS. I tried to put up a lot more pictures but with each attempt the electricity went out...So this is all you get!

Daily Routine:

10:00 - Wake up sweating or with the intense urge to urinate.

11:00 – 12:00 - Clean and laundry (yes everyday, I count it as my work out!)

14:30 – 17:00 - Nap, DVDs or read, but in most cases I just stare at the ceiling, sweating.

17:00 – 18:00 - Shower (rarely after Tae Bo) to wash of that day’s sweat.

18:00 – 20:00 - Internet CafÈ where I sweat some more.

20:30 - Dinner

21:00 – 23:00 - Stare at the ceiling for a little while longer, happy that the sun is gone.

23:30 – 1:00 - Lay aimlessly in bed trying to fall asleep.

Yep, I am saving the world….by sweating!!! Seriously though, everyday this past week has been in the 90s with no AC and I am melting away.

In reality, I haven’t been quite as useless as it sounds. After GLOW camp I had about a week long break and then I went to Ali Bayramli, an oil town in the middle of the desert, to help out two volunteers with their English camp. Everyday we went to their mosquito infested school where got eaten alive for 2+ hours. Only 8 kids showed up, due to the fact it was scorching outside, but the ones that did really seemed to have fun. Right after the camp I went to Baku to pick up a group of 8 new trainees and bring them to Barda for a few days where they were suppose to learn through observation. I was surprised at how fresh and clean they were. The girls still wore make-up and did their hair, while the one boy was showered and smelled nice. They were exuding positively and excitement which I knew would slowly drain out of them as the months pass. Is that what I was like last year!? I tried my best to be positive and constructive which proved really difficult and took a lot out of me. After they left I had to call a friend and hate a little bit in order to feel better. Don’t get me wrong, I am not evil or anything, but this country has its shortcomings which I don’t think I’ll ever learn to handle. Can’t ruin the newbies though, according to Peace Corps they must reach their own conclusions, which soon enough would match up with mine! It did feel good to be an all knowing mentor, and talking about what I have done made me feel that I am being a productive volunteer. We didn’t do anything Azerbaijani those few days. Amongst others, we played softball, made burritos, had a cook-out, drank beers and went to the internet. It was a good time and exactly what they needed after 2 weeks of Azeri host family life. Additionally, I have been working with one of my counterparts to develop a conversational program for her tutoring sessions. It’s a kind of knowledge exchange where I correct her grammar while learning the principles that guide it. So these have been my official Peace Corps activities in addition to the sweating I previously described.

Look at them, they are so happy!

Either way this summer of boredom is slowly passing and I have almost reached the long awaited August when I get to get out of here for 3 weeks. I am eager to leave the 90 degree weather and go to ski, jump off things, and hike in the cold. I fear the possibility that I may like it way too much and never come back to my life of solitude. I say that because lately I never leave my house, which I have turned into little America, in order to avoid the judgmental stares of greasy men.

6 more days till New Zealand…WOOO HOOO!!

Summer camp, an American phenomenon I had only observed on TV…Well I did it, in Azerbaijan, and surprisingly it worked quite well. I went into it thinking how I am going to be running after and babysitting 14 year olds that have never been out of the house before. It wasn’t far from the truth except that it turned out I didn’t mind it quite as much as originally predicted. We had all the usual camp activities including: bonfire, smores, dance, talent show, journaling, games, etc. We had the girls divided into groups and I happen to be the counselor of one of those. My girls were precious with the exception of one…The kid was bright but had a severe case of ADD, which of course is not recognized in this country. She never listened, couldn’t concentrate on anything, ran off without asking permission, and was involved in all aspects of my camp life. At night I literally had to tuck her in and turn off the light. During the day I had to constantly watch her so she doesn’t run off and further our group ended up being last in points, because she was always late and non-cooperative top it off, on my birthday, which was also the last day of camp, she head butted me in the eye during a water balloon fight. Ugh! Other than that, GLOW was amazing, we could see the girls break out of their shells and really experience something new and exciting. For most of them this was their first time away from their families and the friendships they made are ones they will never forget. The camp ended with snot and tears and lots of wet kisses which I didn’t quite enjoy, but I pretended…

So camp ended and now I am back in hot and steamy Barda. Sweatiness is in full force once again. When I came back I was naturally worried that I got robbed but instead I found an egg on my doorstep. I was quite excited thinking how nice of my landlord to give me a fresh egg for my return. The next day me and my dear friend, who joined me at site for a few days, woke up and started with our morning routine of doing nothing. At one point, while lying in bed, I heard a piercing scream coming from the kitchen, sheer terror… I ran to the door where Jenny googly eyed was looking through the glass at a strange phenomenon occurring in my kitchen…. A chicken had wandered in; it was huge and black, and looked even bigger in my tiny kitchen area. It was squacking and quacking and couldn’t get out due to the fact the door to the outside had closed. We screamed for help but nothing happened, it was stuck! Eventually I managed, through screams and fear, to release the poor thing. And then the strangest thing happened…I looked down to the floor and what do I see? A perfectly shaped beige egg sitting on my flip-flops. I looked at it once, and then twice, and pushed it slightly with my finger…It was warm! The chicken had given me a present, and it had done so the day before too. I know exactly who she is because there are 6 chickens running in my yard and she is the only black one. To commemorate the moment we named her Phyllis and we are good friends now. Even today I found an egg on my doorstep.

Its not even June yet and the temperatures are in the high 80s, and to think it will only get worse! So here I am again, school is finished and I have a ton of free time on my hands! So far I have napped a lot, sweated a lot, and managed to get a nasty stomach flu which is not desirable when the WC is a jog away. I am not completely worthless though, I actually have an agenda for this summer: I am hosting an all girl conversation club at my house, teaching adults at the municipality, participating in a number of English camps and hopefully getting involved with the Pre-Service Training for the new group which arrives in less than a month. Other than filled with mosquitoes and sweat, May was also quite a productive month. I participated in America Day in Lenkaran (a region in the south), where we taught teenagers about American culture through fun and games. There, we also celebrated Cinco De Mayo like real Mexicans thanks to the generous parents of the volunteers down there. The weekend after that we hosted the first ever softball tournament in Azerbaijan. Teams consisting of Americans and Azeris came from 3 regions and competed against each other the 1st day, while the 2nd we had an all American game. I don’t know how it was possible but I did not play on a winning team that whole weekend! Additionally not only did my team come in 4th on Saturday because our Azeris didn’t get that running after the ball is a necessity, but also because our captain, insisted I pitch. Regardless it was one of the best weekends in country so far. Our next tournament is in 2 weeks, and I am getting ready for another Barda bashing tournament.

So there, that first paragraph was aimed at proving that I am not actually worthless. I have realized that none of my other entries deal with what I actually do, and thought it was about time I show you that I do more than feel sorry for myself. Even though greasy boys haven’t stopped harassing me, and it doesn’t seem like they ever will, the fact that I am finally on my own has made me a much happier person. I haven’t eaten Azeri food in over a month and am definitely not missing the 10 cups of hot tea I was force fed last summer. So it is due to this major improvement that I have decided to NOT quit early. I was definitely considering it when I lived in the waterless apartment and who knows what would have happened had I stayed there. I definitely lucked out with my house, while my poor site mate Sarah got kicked out of “the palace” for no reason what so ever. That, however, is a whole story on its own….

Pics: 1) Me looking surprised at my school 2) At the Peace Corps Lounge in Baku 3) How we travel around in 90 degree weather!

You can't imagine whats its like until you see it!

April is almost over and I am I couldn’t be happier. It was an adventure with a bad start but a good enough ending (knock on wood). Here is what happened…I moved into my new apartment, located in the scary “bazaar” neighborhood. I was excited because it was decent, with a western style toilet and a decent looking bathroom in addition to the fact that it was newly painted and clean looking. I was positive and looking forward to my new Azerbaijani existence. The day after I moved out my water stopped. Apartment buildings in Azerbaijan are usually not the best when it comes to water supply. Usually each apartment has its own 50-liter tank which gets filled when the water does come. In most cases this happens 2 to 3 times a week so I figured I’d have to wait a day or 2. On the 3rd day, however, I figured out that the water hadn’t been coming to the building for over a month, and was lied to by my landlords who I asked 2+ times about why the hell people kept coming in the building lugging buckets of water. I continued to live like this for the next 3 weeks, showering and doing laundry at other people’s places, and buying food day to day. I chose not to buy the necessities I needed such as a mop, cooking utensils, a fridge, pots and pans, etc until this issue got resolved. I got in touch with the ex-com, police, and everyone in power I knew in order to get the government on the ball of getting the water fixed. To top it off, I could barely sleep in this apartment due to the fact the street dogs would have a barking contest outside my window from 1 till 6 am….and I thought the roosters during training were bad. Basically I had had enough. Meanwhile my counterpart, who helped me look for houses for 3 months, found my site mate Sarah a GREAT house in just one week. Not only does she have running water, but also her house is fully furnished, renovated, and with all the housing utensils she needs, that and she has a swimming pool/tub in her yard. Being pissed was understatement. So then that was topped off by the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech. Being so far away from it did not make it any easier on me, having in mind that I have walked the halls, have friends there, and had always considered the place home. Nothing was going right, until just a few days ago when the Peace Corps housing coordinator actually did his job, and found me a house! I moved today and am ecstatic. I have a huge yard which will have tons of fruit in the summer. It also has furniture, a fridge, and all the basic necessities that were lacking before. The only negative to my little house is the scary outdoor toilet that I am trying to get used to. Its basically a concrete slab with a hole, under which there is a poop well. Lets just say that it DOES NOT smell like roses and the scorching summer heat will only make it worse.

Well this was an unexciting blog entry so let me try and change that.

Everybody has pet peeves. The big ones I had before moving to this country included slow drivers, prick customers, talking with your mouth full, and people waking me up for no good reason. Reasonable right? Well let me tell you about the new ones I have developed in my 10 month Azerbaijani life:

1. Waiting in line - Making a line does not exist in Azerbaijan. Weather you are at the bank, post office, train station, or market instead of a line one usually encounters a semi circle. When you get in the semi circle it is all a battle of who will get to the cashier first. Now personally I enjoy my personal space and when there are only 2-3 people waiting I stay behind like a good little girl waiting my turn. And that’s usually when the assholes come. They will literally wedge themselves between me and the person in front and ignore the fact that anyone else exists. When this happen I fuuuuuume. Lately I have started to literally push the kids out of the way, but the old people just don’t get it! Ah! I get frustrated just writing about it.

2. Catcalls - If you are a girl, I am sure you have experienced the occasional whistle or catcall. Sometimes you ignore them, sometimes you retaliate by a certain hand gesture we are all familiar of. Well in Azerbaijan this is a daily occurrence. I have been asked to get married, live together, kissy sounds, “I love you” calls, as well as the occasional walking into me on purpose thing. The problem is that yelling and cursing in English or Azeri doesn’t help, and neither does just ignoring them. Lately my iPod has been helping, but seriously will they ever learn? Surprising for a conservative Muslim culture, but fact.

3. Money talk - We have been taught that asking about salaries and similar money issues is not polite. I have always avoided the subject and felt uncomfortable when it was brought up. Well in Azerbaijan they have been brought up exactly the opposite. Even though I keep telling them “Konolluyam, konolluyam (I’m a volunteer, I’m a volunteer),” they just do not get it! And this is not just my school colleagues, this is cab drivers, shopkeepers, old ladies, and anyone I ever meet! What’s your salary? How much do you pay for this? How much do you pay for that? How much money did you make in America? Lately I just tell them I don’t like to talk about money and they drop the subject for about 5 min.

4. VIZIFs – Peace Corps Azerbaijan requires all volunteers to have cell phones. The cell phone system is probably the most developed thing Azerbaijan has and there is great service everywhere. Peace Corps provided us with the phones and it was our job to get a sim cards and a pay as you go plan. The credit we get on our phone is fine for text messaging people and checking your email, but actually calling costs a lot and therefore we never do it. This is speaking for us volunteers, because Azeris rarely text. They make 1 min phone calls to each other and the infamous vizif. That is when someone calls you and hangs up, meaning they have no credit on their phone and want you to call them back. This annoys me, because I never have any either and if you want to talk to me then use your own money! (PS. If you have a Cingular or a TMobile phone, I can text you for the same price as anyone in Azerbaijan, so let me know!)

5. The “Bush” talk – I don’t like President Bush just like most of the world at this point. I trash talk him all the time and enjoy the occasional discussion on why he keeps digging his hole deeper. Half of the time when a local finds out I came from America, they start talking shit about Bushy to me, and surprisingly that really pisses me off. They don’t know me, or my beliefs so they are being disrespectful to my home and purpose. If I ever was to talk bad about their president, I would be hated by everyone and I know not to do it because its clearly insolent. So yes I can talk shit about Bush, but you better not say anything until you get to know me!

Don’t misunderstand though, there are lovely people here who understand what my mission is, and have been nothing but helpful to me. Uneducated, disrespectful, and rude folk exist everywhere and this is what the ones in this country do. Other than that the school year is almost over and there are only 4 more weeks of classes left. Let me tell you teaching in a 3rd world country is exhausting and I am looking forward to having little to do. This is it for now!

A new chapter has begun in my Azerbaijani and overall existence. For the 1st time in my life I am living on my own. After 3 months of searching and seeing one overpriced dump after another I have finally found a new home and am currently the proud renter of a 3 bedroom decent apartment that has been recently repainted and slightly renovated. Of course it is not without problems in the sense that I don’t have a fridge and frankly I can’t afford one since they cost more than my living allowance. That should be interesting since the weather is already starting to get warmer and storing food will become an issue. Through this fridge experience I also learned another interesting fact about Azeris. They tell you what you think you might want to hear, even though five minuets later you will figure out that they were lying. For instance I had found an old fridge to buy from my counterparts relative. Even though I had not seen it I felt I could trust her since she is the Azeri I am closest to. When my 80 dollar “barely used, small, working fridge arrived,” I came to discover that the thing is at least 30 years old, is huge, rusty, and with 20 year old muck on it. When I turned it on, it not only sounded like a tractor but it vibrated the floor so bad that one could mistake not only the kitchen for a vibrator factory but also the whole floor! At least now I know…Furthermore, my neighborhood is not the friendliest looking and at night it is quite scary. I live next to the bazaar which is empty and dark at night and also right next to another refugee school which is almost as creepy looking as mine. I have to restart doing my pushups in case I have to fend the hoodlums off with my mighty fists. They won’t know what hit them!! Secret parties are already in the plans in order to break in the crib.

Other than that my first vacation passed. I went back to Bulgaria where I enjoyed a week of much deserved fun and civilization. I realized that I have changed, in the sense that I appreciated everything so much more. I couldn’t sleep the first two nights because my room was ‘too warm’ and got stomach problems eating my favorite foods. I have also never found clean toilets as exciting as I did then! Coming back to Azerbaijan was a whole different story. I had a panic attack on the airplane and made myself sick having to miss school for a week. Apparently most of us go through similar emotions when coming back from vacation and I have now begun the countdown for my next out of country experience.

In other news, winter is finally over (even though it is still freezing at night!), there are 8 more weeks of school, and I initiated the start of a new Peace Corps committee! Things are actually looking better, even though I feel there will be a future blog entry about the scorching heat that is about to befall me. Summers in Barda are hot and dry and with no air conditioning I will be a sweaty mess. At least showers will not be a problem…or will they (my apartment building hasn’t had water for 2+ weeks, but more about that issue next time)?

I am sitting here trying to figure out what to write and I really can’t think of an exciting topic so I’ll just tell you about the logistics of my recent life. Work is trotting along, the weather is tolerable, and my Baku visits have been frequent due to work necessities. The one thing that has changed are the prices which has made me enjoy host family life less and caused me to spend my living allowance half way through each month. With the New Year and Russia flexing its gas muscle, Azerbaijan retaliated by raising the prices for everything (water, gas, transportation) including that of electricity which went up by 3 times! I never realized how much my life relied on power until now and this situation is really frustrating me. First, my bathing capability has worsened; if I want more than one shower a week I have to heat up buckets of water and bathe 17th century style because heating up the boiler uses a ton of power. Second, I am restricted on running my electric heater and spend cold nights dressed like a cabbage in my sleeping bag killing any desire to be productive. And finally the few rooms in the school that were heated are now the same temperature as outside making my life in Barda uncomfortable EVERYWHER. Additionally I can’t use my water distiller as much and have to pay 25% more when I travel to Baku and the regions. So yes, life has changed a bit and when I said, “I am pretty” before, post price increase Ina is even more fun to look at!! I hope that once I move out, things will get better, but finding a place is proving impossible, mostly because people are trying to sabotage me. It is rare, if at all existent, for women my age to live alone and the fact that I don’t get a salary also doesn’t help. To top it off I just found out host dad lost his job as a truck driver, which means even more restrictions in my weird existence

My work here is not really exciting and maddening at times. I have approximately 4 classes every day, where I co-teach with my older counterparts. Its tougher than it sounds, because all the ‘new methodology’ I am trying to show is just NOT sinking in. They basically teach to the 4 students that get it, and assign memorization of obscenely long texts for homework. If I had to learn the way these kids do I would definitely not speak English either. I also have conversation clubs, where I struggle trying to trying to make the kids think on their own, because children here have never been made to use their imagination. If you show them something on paper they get it and can translate it into their language perfectly, but if I ask “Why?” or make them play pretend NOTHING comes out. That is what takes up most of my time and since I don’t really like teaching I struggle with it more than others. Some other activities I am involved in are trying to start a Peace Corps Environmental Committee, renovate the school gym (which is a whole challenge on its own), and working on logistics for a summer camp for girls with other Peace Corps volunteers.

The picture describes my current state of mind and the blog is a bit on the depressing side mostly because I am cold right now. Other than that I am going to Bulgaria in a month and am going to come back in higher spirits. WOO HOO!

Happy New Year!! The holidays have passed and, unfortunately, were barely felt by me. Christmas was pretty non-existent and New Years was like any other dinner party except the annoying popping fireworks going off all night. Even though I had planned to go to Baku and celebrate with the right amount of alcohol, I decided to save my vacation days for when I actually get to leave the country. As a result I sucked it up and stayed at site where I spent the big night with the host family, watching Az TV. The night consisted of Ina being stuffed with food from 6 pm on and being made to drink sweet Azeri wine. I have probably told the host dad 10 times that I like dry wine, but according to him the desert wine he had gotten was sour and was even squinting when sipping it. I did let that one slide because “Dorothy ain’t in Kansas no more,” and good wine is scarce if at all existent. So 2007 began with a glass of equally sweet, tasteless champagne, tons of greasy food, and with a resolution to definitely leave the country for 2008.

Its not like nothing came out of this joyful time though. The Barda populace’s desire to marry me off was reignited. My previous excuse of “I can’t cook, I don’t like cleaning, and I don’t wash other people’s clothes” had ceased to work. I believe it is because I am reaching the “hag” age of 25 and no one will want me afterwards. The ladies as well as some older gentlemen are sure that I will learn to love these tasks I so strongly hate. Some ladies have even offered me their own sons (to whom I look like a great green card I’m sure). Due to all of this I had started to be more blunt and my current excuse for why I don’t want to marry here is “I DON'T WANT TO GET MARRIED!” How else am I suppose to convince them that it is OK to be single at my age! You’d think that would work, but noooo, according to the ladies smart and modern minded men exist in Azerbiajan and I should stick around! I don't deny that these men are here, but for 1 reason or another I still would never marry one…Now let me describe what the candidates actually do represent. The style is: a shiny striped polyester suit, brown sweater underneath, shiny pointy elf shoes, greasy side swiped hair, and at least one gold tooth. These are at least the specimens that stand on the street corners with nothing better to do than bother bypassing foreigners like myself. My irritation speaks for itself...

It is December, Christmas is nearing, and the weather is nippy. I have turned into a cabbage in the sense that I always have at least 3 layers of clothes on. Those layers rarely come off in order to reflect my showering schedule which in turn has become quite empty. Having the bathroom outside the house really is no fun when the temperature is in the 30s and you have to get naked and wet. Mornings are also tough and almost as unpleasant as showering. I sleep inside a humungous Slumber Jack bag which PC provided and is perfect for here. Getting out of the bag is the problem due to the fact that not only is it freezing inside my room, but I have to literally jump up and down while I dress so I don’t freeze my buns off. As you might have guessed the long underwear I sleep in NEVER comes off in order to minimize the amount of clothes I have to put on. I am so pretty right now!

Azerbaijani fashion in the winter is really amusing due to the choices of winter coats that are in. There area two styles: “ The Dark Ages” one and “The Matrix” one. The Dark Ages coats are tan, light green, brown, or sometimes all of these in 1 and have a large fur around the neck. They come to the ground, are bulky, and smell a little like a wet dog. A Kate Moss type woman may pull off a coat like this, but since most Azeri women are heavy set and short the coat along with some other features pop out like no other. “The Matrix” coat is just as unflattering and scary looking as the “Dark Ages” one. It is usually made of dark brown or black leather and is quite shiny. A long leather coat doesn’t sound that bad you say…Well, please stop imagining the coats in Benetton and picture this coat with a waistline, leather patches and sometimes so long that you can’t see the woman’s pointy high heels. Women that wear this style look like a mix between a Renaissance woman (with the bulky skirts) and Neo. I say that because the waistline comes right underneath the boobs and the skirt part of the coat usually covers a quite large behind. Azeri fashion in general is quite ‘different’, but since I find the coats especially amusing I thought I’d share.

Speaking of cold and winter, Christmas is completely non-existent in Barda. In accordance with Soviet Union tradition though, fake Christmas trees are put up for New Years and presents are exchanged. I managed to buy myself one that comes up to my knee along with some mini ornaments and have it propped up in my room. I also got my hands on some Christmas music and truth is my attempts to get into the sprit have done nothing more than depress me! I have to go to work on Christmas and am planning to have my students sing carols to me in order to have some sort of observance. New Years will be spent in Baku where I will have a real celebration in order to make up for Santa Clause forgetting me!

It is currently fall break which has given me a lot more time to reflect on my recent experiences in good old Azerbaijan. Today I will be telling you about my first wedding experience combined with all I have heard from other volunteers…So as most of you have already guessed most couples are set up by their parents and even though the bride can say no, the marriage is pretty much arranged. Traditionally there are two weddings: a bride’s, after which the bride goes back home, and the groom’s, which is the official one and the bride goes with her new husband. In smaller towns and villages the “Japanese flag” tradition is still practiced. For those who haven’t guessed it, that involves a family member checking the post marital sheets and in some cases hanging them from the window to prove the marriage has been consummated. If for some reason there is no blood the girl is returned to her family and is screwed for the rest of her life (figuratively and literally). Most know that us women don’t always bleed during our 1st time, but in Azerbaijan trying to explain that phenomena will get you just laughs and eye rolls. It is also not unheard of for mommy or daddy to listen at the door or actually sit in on the sacred act in order to spot fakery. Apparently this doesn’t happen so much to the more liberated Azeri’s in Baku, but in the regions such practices are quite common.

A wedding is essentially a big party where the bride and groom sit on a pedestal and look miserable. They are not supposed to smile in order to signify their sadness for having to leave their families. The wedding hall is divided into a women’s section where the women sit and gossip, and a men’s section where the vodka flows and the more interesting conversations occur. After the plov and dolma are served and the eating ceases, the dancing begins. Azeri music is like nothing I have heard before… It is super fast and dancing to it consists of men and women doing the step accompanied by some hand twirls and waves. I like electronic music, its fast and I can dance quite well to it. It is due to that I always thought I could handle fast…Boy was I wrong…my attempts to do something on the dance floor resulted in me looking like an octopus or a tree on a windy day. Sometimes you can get away with not dancing by blending in with the crowd, but as a foreign object I was not that lucky. Grandma spotted me from across the hall and literally dragged me to the ‘dance floor.’ I remember holding on to the tablecloth until there was danger of pulling everything of it resulting in me having to give in to the awful music. I could have at least had a laugh at this had I managed to slip some vodka in my coke but that was a doomed mission from the start. Throughout all of this sober dancing random people go and take pictures with the happy, or should I say ‘unhappy’ looking couple. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether the couple knows you or not, whether dressed or underdressed, you must go to the pedestal and take a picture in order to be cool. I have contributed one of mine for the purpose of this blog entry. This experiences lasted from noon till five…longest 5 hours of my life…

A lot of my friends seem to be curious about the food here so I thought it is time to share the art of “guesting" with all of you. I feel that I have finally gotten down the Azeri eating habits and now you can see why it is so hard to stay slim in this country. As I have mentioned before “the show off your American” is pretty big in the regions of Azerbaijan. All of my friends and I are constantly on the move guesting at either a relative’s or a colleague’s house and the routine for all seems the same. This is the menu: for an appetizer, you are served tea with cake and chocolates which you cannot refuse in fear of being disrespectful, following are the salads, which include a tomato/cucumber one, and at least 2 mayonnaise based ones, for the main course come the dolma, that’s meat stuffed vegetables for those of you that haven’t experienced them. You have to have at least two servings of each course in order to satisfy grandma who looks in your plate every two seconds to assess your progress. The dolma are cooked in about a pound of sunflower oil and if you ignore the fact you may get a heart attack at any minute they are quite delicious. After that comes the 2nd maine course, the plov which is a rice dish with fruits and chicken and is quite delicious the first few times you have it. During the main part of the course your eating speed must be super slow because if god forbid your plate starts getting empty grandma will fill you right back up...After you are done with all that most Americans tend to want to explode, but right when that feeling sets in the tea and cake come out again! Here being skinny is looked down upon and everyone, including my family wants to make you look like a sausage.

Other than that, work is OK. I have come to the conclusion that being a teacher is just like being a middle school student but a little worse because you don’t have the socializing aspect of it to look forward to. It is also difficult because I have not one but three counterparts. I cannot get sufficient time with either and am afraid that what I am doing will not sink in. To top it off the textbooks are written poorly with a ton of grammar and spelling mistakes and the lessons don’t flow in any logical order…As you can probably see, I am getting quite frustrated At this point I am starting to put more focus on secondary projects which eventually should become the more fulfilling part of my Peace Corps experience. This is it for now! Expect another installment of my exciting new life in about 3.5 weeks!

So I have been at site for almost a month now. I know the town inside out and am starting to get bored of walking and seeing the same things over and over. Things seem to be moving in the right direction at this point. I am teaching, and the students are actually learning. I don't feel like I suck anymore which is a relief. Between Azeri and Russian I can express every need I have, on their own though I am worthless in each. I am getting tutoring for Azeri starting next week and hopefully for Russian in another month and will hopefully pick them both up. This language thing is so annoying, imagine trying to explain to people why you are so 'weird' without being able to speak. It gets old.

I just survived my first sickness in Azerbaijan. I managed to pick up a stomach virus last weekend in Baku and had to miss four days of school. The interaction between me and my family was comic now that I look back at it, but at the time I wanted to kill them. As you all know a stomach virus involves constant trips to the bathroom after every bite of food or sip of water. Well, in Azerbaijan food is the solution to all problems and my family would not stop forcing me to eat pomegranates and greasy potatoes (both 'great' for an upset stomach). Apparently to them those are the cure for everything, and my refusals were pure insanity. Then they tried to convince me to get cupped (the hot cups on your back thing they did in the 1800s). Everyday they would talk about it for at least 30 min and swear by it, calling my PC doctore stupid. Then they tried to convince me to go to their doctor and get on a blood iv because clean blood will just clear whatever I had up....To top it all off my family had 2 parties during my 5 day illness (the only 2 they have ever had in my presence), and during all of them they had a "Show the American" session. So they would force me to get out of bed, all greasy and in PJs and go to their party, sit, be stared at, and forced to eat greasy nastiness which of course caused me further pain and bathroom problems. It was 'lovely', but i survived!! I went to school 1 day this week and now we have a 4 day weekend. Lie is tough. ;)

Back to the logistics now. As I said school is going well. Some teachers are easier to work with than others and I seem to be having a farley OK time in comparison to other volunteers who are either totally ignored or don't even have a school schedule yet. My living situation seems to be OK too, especially compared to people who have warm water once a week or have to go to the river to do laundry. I don't think I'll ever complain about my long walk to the bathroom/toilet or the constant blackouts after i heard those stories. So yeah relatively speaking everything is OK. I do miss home a lot and with nothing to do most nights I tend to look back a lot. A little cry now and then helps and I deal with it mainly by talking to other people in my group going through the same thing. Emails always help too *hint hint.* I'll post soon again, I promise`