Happy Anniversary!

This week marks one year that I’ve been in Azerbaijan (along with the rest of the AZ6 group). While the experience as a whole is definitely different than my expectations, it’s still a great experience that I wouldn’t change for the world.

Here are some highlights:
- Meeting and interacting with all of the other great American PCVs who are also here to give of themselves.
- Sharing a Thanksgiving experience with a local family.
- Having our entire group of 61 Trainees survive training and swear in as Volunteers (apparently this is extremely rare).
- Trying new foods (if you know me, you understand that this is an accomplishment).
- Demonstrating how there are multiple ways of achieving the same result – I may cook differently than you, but in the end it’s still an edible meal…
- Surviving a summer where it’s above 100 degrees on a daily basis (and that’s considered mild).
- Being able to carry on full length conversations in Azeri without help (granted, some hand gestures, drawings, and synonyms are used).
- Celebrating new holidays like Women’s Day (Anyone need some perfume? I have plenty!) and Novruz (Why don’t we have a holiday in America that includes jumping over a fire?)
- Making do with what’s available – no take out, no delivery, and no pre-made meals.
- Not having to go through a summer without a camp experience.
- Appreciating inventions that I never really appreciated before – like long underwear, my -20 degree rated sleeping bag provided by PC, and water filters.
- Taking an amazing trip to nearby Tbilisi, Georgia with even more amazing friends.
- Meeting people who are challenging the norms and traditions of the local culture.
- And finally, knowing that I am truly making a difference. I know that I have touched people’s lives just as they have touched mine, and even though it may not always be in a concrete way, it’s still just (if not more) as valuable. And there’s still over a year to go…