House/Living Arrangement Number ? Since Arriving In Azerbaijan (Another Move)....

#1 A hotel just outside Baku for the first few days after arrival in country.
#2 PST (Pre-Service Training) host family until swearing in in mid-December.
#3 Permanent Site host family for the first four months of living in Ujar.
#4 Finally able to live independently; so I moved to what I thought would be independent housing.
#5 Due to unrealized expectations in #4, moved to another house last Saturday.

Housing can be a challenge (an understatement) in this country. Once we move to our permanent site the only involvement that the Peace Corps plays in this is working with our counterpart to determine our host family and approval of independent housing should we choose to live on our own (some Volunteers stay with a host family for the entire two years). And living independently is not as easy as you might think – there’s no rent.com or classified ads. There’s the old saying of “it’s all who you know,” and that pretty much sums it up. Both of my “independent” housing arrangements have been found by my Director/counterpart (partly because he’s wonderful, partly because it’s very helpful because it’s a male dominated society). The first was supposed to be great. The landlord was going to be moving to Moscow within a month of me moving in, so it would be exactly what I wanted, which was to live alone. Well, that month came and went. I heard a few excuses and delays and then it was time for me to go to America on vacation. I tried to have my landlord teach me about the house because she would probably be gone when I returned (the gas, the water, etc.) – every house in this country works just a little bit differently – but she said she would still be around when I returned. So I went on vacation and tried not to think about it. But when I returned she finally gave me the definitive no, she wouldn’t be going to Russia. Very frustrating, since that was why I moved there in the first place. I thought I’d try it out and see how it was with her still there, but that didn’t last too long. Once I found evidence of her going into my room when I was gone (amongst other things that I’ll leave out of this) I was ready to find a new place. So my Director and I went looking (and he went talking to his friends). Found a great place and had it approved, it just took awhile to finally move in. And last Saturday was finally the day. One of my co-workers came with a friend and his car, helped me pack it all up, cart it to the other side of town, and drop it in my new doorway. I am now on the first floor of an AMAZING house and eventually there will be someone in the second floor, but right now it’s empty. And even though it’s a house, there are separate kitchens on each floor, which was my main goal – a kitchen of my own. Yay! So I have a kitchen, bedroom, living room (with a tv my landlord left that even has an English channel!) and bathroom facilities. I’m at least settled in the kitchen, and slowly getting unpacked in my bedroom. Let’s just hope this is my last move…