Vaxt Uçur! (Time Flies!)

It's amazing to me how fast my service has gone. It seems like just yesterday that I was at Orientation at Aqua Park learning how to count and say "My name is Wendy" in Azeri, but here it is time for our COS (Close of Service) conference next week. No, I'm not coming home quite yet; the conference is designed to take place 3 - 4 months before we leave to prepare us for everything.

One thing that has been a normal of any PCV conversation during the past few months has been extensions. Peace Corps accepts extension applications - anywhere from a few months to a year - from Volunteers who want to stay in the country (maybe they have a big project going on, maybe the they want to stay until closer to grad school, etc.) And honestly, I thought about it. A year ago I never thought I would want to, but it's true - you really do get into your groove during your second year. I have great friends here, I love the work I'm doing, and I have a life. While some people view their lives as on "hold" while they do their service, it's hard to not notice that life goes on without you - people get married, have babies, and all those other life events. And my life has gone on here just the same - I've learned a new language, celebrated my 29th and 30th birthdays, and on and on. There are others from my group planning on extending and it's exciting to hear their plans for why they're staying, what they'll be doing here, etc.

So while the ultimate decision was that I will leave when my time is up in December, it won't make it any easier to leave. Leaving America to come here was not the easiest thing I've ever done, but I knew I would return and see all of my friends and family again (Inshallah). When I leave here I'm not sure when I'll return again.

Another Vacation...

It's been almost a month, and I haven't made time to write about my trip to Russia in June...so here's a review in pictures.

 

Starting in Moscow...St. Basil's Cathedral (interior), hundreds of

heads at a sculpture park, St. Basil's Cathedral (exterior)

On to St. Petersburg...Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood (filled with

thousands of mosaics), the drawbridges at night

The Hermitage at night, Micah and I on the drawbridge boat tour

Back to Moscow...the Circus and dinner with my cousin who lives in Moscow

Lots of nesting dolls for sale, a gigantic (apparently the largest in the world,

although it's never been operational) bell inside the Kremlin

It's just a quick tour, but if I wrote a journal of everyday, it'd be a really long entry...and I'm not up for that tonight. It was a great trip with great people, saw a long unseen family member, and places that are once in a lifetime.

A Success Even Before Beginning...

Camp was always a big part of my life in America, and it has continued to be so here. While it's a bit different, there are definitely common aspects. But I think it's the uncommon aspects that are the best (low or no cost, day camp, availability of supplies, etc.)

There are not many extracurricular activities here - chess, music school, karate (only for boys, of course). And most of these stop in the summer. But not for the teenage girls of Ujar - there's day camp (arts & sports) to come to. A week has already gone by (three days of camp) and we've had fun making suncatchers and stained glass windows out of tissue paper, playing kickball, volleyball, and all types of relays. And for the most part, these are things that they can easily replicate later with their friends or family (even if some supplies were sent from America).

But one of the best parts of camp happened before it even started. Volunteering is not something that is done a lot - at least not for people you don't know. Here it's all about your family and neighbors. But I was talking about my camp preparations with one of my local friends and she asked if she could help out with camp (not me asking, but her volunteering). While it's great to have an adult role model that's a Peace Corps Volunteer, in my view, it's even better to have a local one. She'll be around after I leave, she understands what it's like to be a teenage girl in Ujar from her past personal experience, and she's more relatable to the girls (I get a lot of leeway because I'm a foreigner).

So while camp continues, it's already a success to me!

Returning...

While vacation is great, it can be hard to return to site. The contrast between the worlds I've found myself in is striking. Turning on a tap and having the choice between hot and cold water. Being free to go anywhere I want. Having all the opportunities in the world. Air conditioning. Or the exact opposite.

But I have big plans for the summer. Next week my summer camp starts, which will be a day camp - mainly arts & sports - for local teenage girls, 3 hours/day, 3 days/week, for 3 weeks. Then for a week in August I'll be doing a photo camp with another PCV. And my PCPP grant was funded, so I'll be doing some field trips with local youth to help them learn about Azerbaijan. And lastly, I'll still have some work at my organization to fill in the spare time.

So the summer will be busy, but busy is good - it gets me back into the swing of things after a great vacation (a posting about that will come later) and will be a great start to the end of my service.