i am switching to tumblr....

my new address is http://quirkybutohsogroovy.tumblr.com/. i'll try to keep it peppy and interesting! laaaaters!
e

Bear in a Cage.

Hello Fishbowl.  What’s up? I had heard about the fishbowl experience for volunteers but never really expected it to be as dramatic and real as it is.  Back home, diversity is prevalent even in the smallest of communities.  People have very different facial structures, hair colors, skin tone, etc etc.  We’re all very different.  Here in Azerbaijan, anyone that’s not Azeri sticks out like sore thumb.  I had the impression that since I have dark hair and darker eyes, I might be able to blend in just a bit if I dressed appropriately.  Ah…. no luck there.  Maybe it’s my neon pink chucks, maybe it’s the stunned expression, it could be my impressive shnoz (thanks genetics! Haha… just kidding… but really. My nose is very different here haha), or skin just a little different color.  I’m astounded at how quickly I am sniffed out as “different”.  Kids, even babies, can pick me out.  With that said… here’s my bear in the cage story. 

So two Saturdays ago, we had the afternoon free of training and several of us were in Heydar park (beautiful!!) just hanging out and having a great time.  People had noticed us, but no one had stopped.  Then a girl from my neighborhood that I had talked to came over and wanted to chat with us. Keep in mind that our language skills are minimal at best.  And mine go out the window when I’m caught off guard.  (If you have seen the youtube “fainting goats” – that’s me. I just fall over.  Fail.) So this lovely neighborhood girl (her name is Ilaha) brings over her fellow Azeri friends to meet these crazy looking Americans.  Mega popularity points right there for her.  Next thing we know, my friends and I are surrounded completely by at least 10 azeri youth.  (cue my deer in the headlights look to complete the effect).  There’s someone playing with my hair, girls edging closer, kids laughing at our minimal azeri, etc etc.  Traumatizing.  But one of my fellow trainees has started to say “Na var Na Yox” (What’s up) in a funny way to her family and that info has spread like wildfire.  So soon enough, we’re being asked to do the same thing.  Dance, Monkey, dance essentially.  I wish I could tell you how this ended, how we left, but I honestly don’t know.  I think a blanked that part out of my memory.  Intense.

So – we’re just the sideshow freaks in a sense.  I’m hoping that once my language skills and I can at least be a grown fainting goat that freezes but doesn’t fall over (please see hilarious video) that we’ll be seen more as individuals and fellow human beings rather than someone to ogle.  Only time will tell.

The weather has changed to a blustery and rainy fall.  So strange, one day it was roasting and we were complaining…next day jackets are busted out and I’m freezing just about everywhere.  Winter will be an experience for sure. 

I think my cultural adaptation is progressing nicely J.  I’m struggling with language, a new host families, and not being able to run or really have much time for myself.  So small moments that I can just be and breathe are cherished treasures. 

I got my first letter in the mail yesterday! (thank you SOOOO much C!).  Please write if you can! I’m having a great time here, but I miss the states and all of the wonderful people there. I think it takes 3 to 4 weeks for letters and packages to get here.  I’ll send a few letters this week after figuring out how to articulate my postage needs and we can figure out how long it takes to get things sent home. 

Wish I could curl up by the fire with a slice of grandma’s bread and some hot cocoa and chat the afternoon away. Thinking of you all!
E

internet cafe?!

whoa. well this is weird. I'm sitting in a booth with curtains just surfing the net. not too shabby haha. So while i"m here I'll go over the options for getting in touch with me:
1-snail mail. slow and painful, but the most reliable for me now.
2-email, facebook, etc. With the time difference I can check those when I get internet access and then can respond as soon as possible.
3-skype. boo ya. chatted with the madre last night (so great!)... that one's waaaay harder to pull off but for now it's still a possibility.
4-text. oh yes. you can text me. shoot me an email or something if you want my azeri digits haha.
5-telekinesis. more challenging but still a possibility.
6-smoke signals. only for emergencies.

love and miss you guys!

Attack of the Hairdryer.

(been in country for 1 whole week! Eep!)

Alright. So Azeris are potentially unnaturally afraid of the cold. Hot tea, hot beverages all the time, sweaters even when it’s warm… and perpetually dry hair.  Lately I’ve been a big fan of air drying my hair and haven’t really thought about it much since I got here.  The other night, I was sitting and eating dinner at Dan’s host family post shower (story behind that below), and his host dad, Abgul, sets up the hairdryer, pulls me over and makes me dry my hair so I won’t get sick.  No biggie… just had to stop eating to dry my hair.  He’s a winner J  A similar story happened at orientation just a few days ago.  There were a bunch of us in the conference room probably being way too loud and just having a great time playing games, etc, and a member of the hotel staff came in looking so worried.  We all thought that we were in trouble for being loud, but post translation from one of the fabulous AZ7s that was there to welcome us, it turns out that he was worried about all of the girls with wet hair in the air conditioned room.  So considerate and wonderful!

Anywho.  Host family report. It’s been an interesting ride for sure these past few days.  Turns out that my host mom’s mom fell off a ladder and broke her leg pretty badly and has been in the hospital.  So my mom and dad have to drive to the city to visit and take care of her.  Needless to say, their focus is on their immediate family and not this strange American who just showed up on their doorstep.  There are 3 other PCTs (peace corps trainees) literally right next door and for the first 2 days I took all my meals at their houses and really only slept at my house.  For expecting some sort of family emotional attachment, this was Really hard for me.  I felt just a bit Azer-bandoned. Tragic.  But here in Azerbaijan, neighbors are family.  Actually, all the families that the PCTs are staying with are related, so literally, we’re all family.  But they take hosting an American very seriously.  Through my LCF (language and culture facilitator) I found out that my Host mom feels TERRIBLE for not being able to be there for me.  I was really upset yesterday (oops… had to let it out sometime haha) and couldn’t explain my combination of exhaustion, anxiety, need for a family here, missing my family and friends, etc etc and it really worried my mom who I’d only seen for about 5 mins total before then.  But my Hmom just wants to take care of me, give a bit of love and welcome me to this culture and her life, but has to take care of her mom.  No one plans on breaking their leg! So me eating and such at my fellow PCTs houses is a-OK and when I felt like I was mooching on their family time, turns out was family time for me too!   So my feelings of isolation and lack of family connection were apparently a bit on the silly side, but there regardless. 

After talking to Khayal (in azeri, it’s spelled Xayal – the X makes a hkh sound) who is our training director and absolutely hilarious and Farana the host family coordinator, all my worries are starting to go away.  My family loves me and wishes they could be at home with me, but need to take care of Nana (grandmother).  I think things will be in this same pattern for a few more days before she is released from the hospital.  I’m not sure though.  But moral of the story is – I have 3 other families right next door that think I’m the bees knees, I am unbelievably supported here and I’m really really happy. 

The language is difficult but I’m starting to make progress.  Tonight I had my first dinner with my host family (YESSSSSS!!!!) and my Hdad pulled out a neighborhood kids English text book and was quizzing me on my Azeri and I would correct his English.  It’s amazing what charades, a lot of laughing and not being afraid to try either language will accomplish.  Every Azeri I have met has been so kind and wonderful.  I was so worried about breaking cultural taboos, being offensive in some unknown way or being mocked for my miserable Azerbaijani…. Nope! Love it. 

I’m living in Khirdalan (Xirdalan), just north of Baku.  It’s a beautiful area!  There are pomegranates (nar) and grapes (uzum) literally growing outside my window that we pick and eat.  Delicious! There is a lot of garbage around the cities, but apparently there just isn’t the infrastructure to really deal with it.  It’s a bit sad to see since we’re so used to having trash cans and not having to be around our garbage.  On saunday, our day off from language classes, some riends and I are going up to Sumgayit (another large city nearby) to get a flavor of the city, hagn out and see what Azerbaijan has to offer.  Should be really fun!

I’m hoping to get mail soon so I can write back!!! I have my stationery all ready to go and I know where the post office is.  Win.  I put some pictures on facebook to start with... I'll work on figuring out how to do it on here haha.  

Stay tuned!! So far it’s Azerbai-Awesome. Sorry for the scattered post… there’s so much to take in it’s hard to focus it!! Lotta love, E

Azerbai-Awesome

After staging in phili, hanging out in JFK for 5 hours, traveling for what felt like forever (really it was about 12 hours of flying... could be worse), I'm in Azerbaijan!  We just finished the first day of training and so far I love it!  The people in my group (~60 trainees) are amazing.  I'm lucky to be around them! So great!
We're restricted to the hotel for these first few days to get used to life here, let our bodies adjust and get some basic language down for a few days.  Then we go to live with our first host family.  Very exciting!

I'll work on a longer post in a word document and then update in a bit.  Just know that everything is going great! I'm tired as all hoo ha.. but awesome. Once I figure out the postal system, look for letters back to the states.

and an interesting tid bit? I just had my first decent cultural interaction. Cleaning staff at the hotel. nice. :-)

packing - my least favorite thing

So you know the song in The Sound of Music where Maria is singing about a few of her favorite things? And she mentions some horrible things to show a nice contrast (bee stings, etc etc)... this is SO much worse. Trying to pack for 2 years to a place you've never been to is super tricky. I had this beautiful vision of only having one checked suitcase, which would allow me to check my guitar. No such luck.  After successfully packing one suitcase (win!)... i was still left with a rather daunting pile on my bed.  There was no way it would all fit into my delightful backpacking pack with that bag being carry on size at the end of it.
So. Guitar is staying at home :-(. But!!! There's hope! I think I can get one in country at a bazaar hopefully early in training.  Moral of this story - i. hate. packing.  so overrated.

On a lighter note - here's some trivia.  one of my favorite things in a day is how my feet feel when i just get out of bed.  try to remember to notice it sometime... pretty dang awesome :-)

Last day in CO tomorrow... staging here I come!

T-1 week!

So I leave CO in one week from today! Holy. Moly. So... this is actually happening? k. cool. Just checking.
I'm really excited to meet my fellow volunteers and get this adventure going, etc etc.  I'm stoked to figure out just what "youth development" means and do some quality work. win.  See ya, unemployment-ville!
Here's what's left on the preparation agenda:
-Take the dang GRE tomorrow (vom? vom... but it needs to be done.. dang it)
-Scrapbook college to take with me. After all, it was a fabulous 4 year adventure!
-Finish getting the last minute goodies to pack
-Actually pack. (daunting task, really..)
-See the friends that are still in CO... WA kids... mega missies.
-Make a cake. (necessary? probably not. inevitable? oh yeah)

preparation nerves!

I got back home from a fabulous vacation in Cabo last night and the preparation has already begun.  I'm a bit nervous about how close I had to cut the visa and passport paperwork, but I'm working to stay positive on that note.  Last night my parents and I were talking about the kinds of thing I'll need to get before I go.  One of the big things for me is an entirely new wardrobe.  In Azerbaijan, women must keep their shoulders and back covered and their dresses or skirts must go down to mid calf.  Essentially, I'm due for a makeover apparently!!
I'm planning on hitting up some sweet consignment stores and finding some gems.  I'll do my best to keep my personal style while adapting to their culture.  Thank goodness I have some contacts that are currently serving in Azerbaijan or that have done other work there.  Hopefully they'll be able to guide me in the right direction of what to bring and what not to.  What Not to Wear: Azerbaijan.
Right now I'm just 150% thankful for all of the fabulous people in my life.  Everyone has been so supportive and accepting of this choice for me. While going away for 2 years is hard, it certainly doesn't mean that anything is over.  Plus! Coming to Azerbaijan (or any of the beautiful nearby countries: Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, etc) could be the vacation of a lifetime! :-)

PC Volunteer service in Azerbaijan!

I'll be leaving for Azerbaijan in late September!
Project: youth development
The description of what I'll actually be doing is a bit on the vague side still.  I know I'll get the opportunity to work with youth, helping them be more successful and responsible adults within their communities and country.  We'll work on building internal strengths such as self-confidence, a sense of purpose, and self-esteem, as well as to develop life skills and knowledge to enhance future opportunities.
Should be lots of fun!

So far I'm a bit worried about:
-learning the language
-being away from the fam and friends
-not being able to go running
-making new friends
-holidays away from home
-how awkward my new non-smiling passport/visa looks
-missing big events for fam and friends


I'm STOKED about:
-adventure time!!
-learning the language
-having family and friends come and visit
-making new friends
-being able to learn about a whole new area of the world!

Should be quite the adventure :-)