Some Pictures...

the Caspian Sea


our training group (AZ6)


traditional Azerbaijani dancing

the view from my host family's kitchen

the sheep herded across my road yesterday

language lessons

Yes, I Have Arrived...

Step 1:
Sorry for the long absence! I arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday,September 20th and was there until Monday, September 22nd. During that time I met the rest of my training group (there are 61 of us) and went through Peace Corps "Staging," which is essentially new employee orientation. None of the information was specific to Azerbaijan, but to the Peace Corps as a whole: policies, procedures, get to know each other exercises, etc. There's a variety of people in our group – just graduated from college, mid career, retired, single, married, etc. Monday we traveled by bus to New York City and flew from there to Frankfurt,Germany and then on to Baku, Azerbaijan. Let me tell you, it is not a quick process for 61 people to check in at the airport.

Step 2:
We were greeted at the Baku airport by some of the Peace Corps Azerbaijan staff as well as a few current volunteers. Right now there are about 45 volunteers in Azerbaijan that arrived in June 2007. We traveled to a hotel just outside of Baku and stayed there until Saturday afternoon. During that time we covered things that are specific to Azerbaijan – host family requirements, schedules for the next three months, etc. We also started our language training. The first language lesson was in random groups, but after that we met in our assigned clusters, which are the training groups that we are in for PST (Pre Service Training). PST will last until the middle of December or so, and the 61 of us are divided into groups of 5 – 6 trainees. These are also the people that we will live near during training. During the rest of these few days at the hotel we spent more time getting to know each other, the Peace Corps staff in Azerbaijan, culture and other information. Ramadan was on September 30th, so we had a session on that too. On our last night at the hotel we had a cultural event that was traditional Azerbaijani dancing– it was beautiful. I'll try to post some pictures when I have a chance. And lastly, we recovered from our jet lag. Azerbaijan is nine hours ahead of home (Eastern Standard Time); we left New York City Monday evening and arrived in Baku Tuesday evening, but it was really only 13 – 14 hours of travelling. One nice thing during this time was that the Peace Corps (PC) arranged to have 5 – 6 current volunteers at the hotel with us to be available for questions and to hear about their experiences as a volunteer. That was definitely an added bonus.

Step 3:
Saturday afternoon we were transported to our host families. I am in a community near Sumgayit, which is north of Baku. In my host family there is a mother, father and three children, although the eldest son is married and lives in the next apartment building. The remaining kids at home are a 17 year old daughter and a 26 year old son, and so far they've been really helpful in learning the language. It was definitely overwhelming on Saturday, but I'm becoming accustomed to not knowing everything I hear, yet being able to pick out words that I do know, and I'm picking up more vocabulary and knowledge each day. The food is wonderful – fresh and varied (lots of fruits, veggies, bread and potatoes), and I now have a new favorite fruit (the pomegranate). On Monday our normal schedule started. I have language class every morning Monday thru Saturday (except this past Tuesday, which was Ramadan) from 9am – 1pm and then in the afternoon we either have time set aside to work on our sector assignments (I'm in the Community Economic Development (CED) sector) or we meet as a group in our sectors. There are 18 of us in the CED program and there's a variety of experience – banking, HR, accounting, non-profits, real estate, insurance, IT, etc. We've had a busy first week with different events – getting our local cell phones (a Peace Corps requirement), learning our way around, how to take a local bus, and on and on. Each training group is assigned a Language & Cultural Facilitator (LCF) who is both our language teacher and who we go to for everything else we need or have questions on. We also learned in more detail about what some of the potential permanent site assignments are, but nothing will be determined/assigned until early November. I don't have internet access at my site but am able to check it at least once a week, so there will hopefully be another update soon. A lot has happened in the past two weeks!

A Long Day of Traveling...

So today we're headed to Azerbaijan. I've spent the past two days in Philadelphia with the rest of my training group for "staging," which is essentially orientation to the Peace Corps. Now it's time to leave the USA and really begin this journey.

Please don't worry if you don't hear from me right away. No news is good news. When we first arrive in Azerbaijan we'll be in an area without internet access and we won't have our cell phones yet. We'll spend the first few days at a hotel and then be moved to our host families over the weekend. After that we'll have more frequent access to communication via cell phones and internet cafes.

Not too much more right now, but just a recap of the past couple days to say that our training group is amazing! We have 61 people in our group, including 4 married couples and a huge variety of ages. It's definitely nice to have someone (60 other someones) to share those anxieties with and realize that I'm not the only one who has things that are making them nervous...

Check back next week, I'm sure there'll be more by then; after all, I will have traveled halfway around the world, been there for a week, moved in with a local family, and much, much more!

Mailing to Azerbaijan...

For those (and I hope there are a few) who are interested in mailing me anything, please read the following information (thanks to the fellow volunteer who helped with this information):

1. Number mailed items in an easy to find spot. This will make it easier to determine what is and what is not reaching it's final destination.

2. Note: I have to pay any fees levied on packages, so bigger is not always better. Then I have to carry it around with me (this is especially applicable during training since I'm only in the training city for about 3 months).

3. Please don't send expensive stuff. It's very common that I will not be the first person to see the mail (i.e., the mail might be gone through), and there's always the possibility that things might go missing...

4. Mail can take anywhere from 10 days to 6 weeks, perhaps even more, so if you need to get something to me right away, this isn't the way to do it. There are options for getting things to me quickly, but they are quite expensive.

5. Think about what you're sending and consider insuring your package. Compared to what it's costing you to actually send the package, the insurance doesn't cost much.

6. This link is everything you need to know about shipping & mailing to Azerbaijan from the US. Here are the basics: First Class Letter or Postcard will be about $0.94, Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope will be about $11.95 and Priority Mail International Flat Rate Boxes will be about $38.95 (regular size) and $49.95 (large size).

My address for the first three months (through early/mid December) is:

Wendy Walter, PCT
AZ 1000
Main P.O. Box 77
Peace Corps
Baku, Azerbaijan

Thoughts, prayers and love are plenty, but if you're interested in sending anything else I'll try to update this posting with a "Wish List" once I arrive and have a better idea of the environment I'm in...

Moving Day...

So tomorrow's moving day! I'll be moving back to my parent's house for the last two weeks before my Peace Corps departure. There are boxes all over the apartment and I still have lots of packing to do before tomorrow morning when the trailer arrives.

Then I'll spend the next two weeks perfecting my packing, working on language lessons and saying goodbye to family & friends.