Back to "Normal"

Well, America was amazing. I had a wonderful time seeing family (even meeting family I had never met before) and friends. It was interesting to find things that I missed, but that I didn’t realize I missed until I was back in America – like good, strong water pressure.

So as promised, here is my list of things from Azerbaijan that I missed while in America:

- Walking: I walk EVERYWHERE here. It’s nice to have that time to think, see what’s changing in the community around me, say hi to people I know, etc.
- Public Transportation/Not Driving: While there are certain deficiencies in the system here, it’s not very hard to travel throughout the country for a fairly inexpensive price. Also, while I do miss driving, there’s something to be said for not doing it as well. It’s nice not to have to worry about directions and the other driver (well, at least a lesser amount of worry because it’s out of my control).
- People: I’ve met some pretty amazing people (Azerbaijani and American) during my short time here and I definitely missed my interaction with them.

So it was hard to return to Azerbaijan, but I’m back, settled into my routine again, and looking forward to a productive summer and fall!

A Reflection...

Some of you may not know, but I’m headed home to Michigan for a vacation later this month. (If you know my Grampa, don’t tell him; it’s for his 100th birthday party!) So because of that, and as it’s been over eight months that I’ve lived in Azerbaijan, I thought I’d provide a list of the things I miss from America.

- Convenience: Being able to buy everything you need at the same store, availability of pre-prepared foods (from take out at a restaurant to packaged pasta sauce to microwave meals), washing machines, fast internet, etc.
- Driving: Volunteers are not allowed to drive (although with the way some people drive here I’m okay with that rule).
- Entertainment: Having no options of things to do socially – no movie theatres, bowling alleys, concerts, malls, beaches, etc.
- Gender Issues: In America, it doesn’t matter if I’m a man or a woman when I go to a restaurant but here it’s just not socially acceptable for a woman to do everything that a man does. Even just a young woman sitting in a park can be looked upon negatively.
- Religion: It’s not absent here (I hear the call to prayer from the mosque every day) but it plays a different role in life. It’s hard to explain. And there aren’t many options for religious community outside of the mosque – maybe that’s the best explanation: in the States religion is expressed much more through community while it seems to be expressed more individually here.
- Western Plumbing: Enough said.
- And last but definitely not least, my family and friends!

Disclaimer: many of the items listed do not apply to Baku (the capital).

Later this month expect a reflection of what I miss from Azerbaijan while I’m in America…

A Quick Trip Across the Border...

A couple weeks ago I ventured to our neighbor to the northwest, the Republic of Georgia (Georgiastan), with some friends. We decided to go to Tbilisi, made a reservation at a guesthouse (where Georgia PCV’s stay when they come in for official PC business), and that’s all the preparation we did. We came from four different regions and met in Shemkir, the city where Chris and Katie live. It’s the furthest west out of our group, so it made the best starting point. We all gathered on a Saturday night so we could leave first thing Sunday morning. Getting to Tbilisi from Shemkir took three separate busses. One from Shemkir to Gazakh (a decent sized city further west), Gazakh to the Red Bridge (the border), walk across the border, and then find a new bus to go into Tbilisi. The border was interesting – definite differences between the two countries in their facilities and approaches.

After leaving Shemkir at about 8:15am, we arrived in Tbilisi at about 1pm – even with the border crossing and multiple bus changes. We made great time! That afternoon we just walked around, explored, found a restaurant, etc. Traveling can be exhausting. Monday we did even more exploring. Visited some churches, explored parks, went up to the city wall/citadel, the botanical gardens, etc. We even saw a Heydar Aliyev Park – Heydar Aliyev is the former president of Azerbaijan and you can’t travel a street in Azerbaijan without seeing a statue, billboard, quote, museum or park named after him, something we didn’t expect to see in Georgia. We also met up with a friend of mine – Natia is from Georgia and was a FLEX (exchange program) student in Jenison last year. So she showed us around a little and took us to a great Georgian restaurant. Georgian food was great – dumplings, cheese bread, etc. Tuesday we looked for some souvenirs (met a fellow American working in Azerbaijan on vacation in Tbilisi – small world, huh?), went to the sulfur baths, ate Chinese food and visited the zoo. There are currently protestors in Tbilisi – opposition to the current president/administration and how the war was handled last year – and we passed their cells (sleeping areas) and also saw a march going on across the river (we were there on a national holiday). And we played a LOT of cards every night. The night before we left the woman who runs the guesthouse came and talked to us about the news from the day – apparently the opposition had blocked some transportation. We weren’t too worried, but did talk about some of our options in case we had trouble the next day. It ended up being a waste of time – while it took us forever to find the bus that went to the border, everything seemed normal. We ended up with seven people (six of us plus the driver) squished into a little hatchback jetta – or something similar – for the 45 minute trip to the border. Little bit of conversation at the border, then the trip back to Shemkir, and the following morning back to our respective regions.

All in all: a great, memorable trip to a place that’s as close as the next state in America. There were definite differences from Azerbaijan, but it’s hard to tell how many of them would hold up if we had traveled outside Tbilisi. Azerbaijan is in the middle of everything geographically and there are certain things that seem to be more European in Georgia whereas it may be more Central Asian here in Azerbaijan. But those are just thoughts – it was only a few days. Hopefully more travels will come later in my service as there are many nearby places that would be exciting to visit.

Note: Pictures are impossible to upload with dial up, but I’ll try and add some to this entry and others later this month when I have access to faster internet.

Approval!

I found out recently that my grant request was approved! So what that means is that once I receive the grant funds (in late June/early July) I’ll be working with my organization to expand one of our computer learning branches and open a new one. It’s exciting news because the new location will be in a village outside of the city (about 25 minutes outside) that only has one bus route to the city each day (meaning they don’t have easy access to our center). And this will be the first public access that the village (population of about 1,200 people) has to computers and the internet, including even in the school. While we don’t have the money yet, things need to start soon. We’ll start training the new teacher at our center in the city and start recruiting students. That way, when we receive the money we’ll just need to make our purchases, set everything up, and start classes. Let the to do list begin!

Chickens! Cows! Sheep! Oh My!

Last weekend I was checking out my hometown newspaper online and I found the most ironic article. If I hadn’t come to Azerbaijan, it would have just been a normal article, but now that I’ve lived here it’s anything but. “Residents Want to Raise Chickens in TC” had me laughing out loud because it’s an everyday, normal occurrence here. My guess would be that about 50% of people have chickens in their yard, and most likely other animals too. My host family during training lived in an apartment so there were no animals there and my host family in Ucar did not have animals. But my landlord does. There’s a rooster, six or seven chickens, and some chicks. It’s also not uncommon to see a couple cows wandering the streets, snacking on the grass growing on the side of the road. So pets are rare (why would an animal live inside?) but barnyard animals are as common as tea (really, it’s a miracle if you can go a day without drinking it). I grew up on a farm so the being around animals isn’t all that strange, but doing it in an area where there are lots of people is; even more odd is that none of them are fenced in. They just seem to wander – for example, my landlady’s chickens usually stay on her property due to the gate/wall, and inside there’s a coop for them to sleep in but they randomly walk everywhere. Sheep are shepherded through the city, albeit in smaller herds than outside of the city, and cars are accustomed to waiting for animals to finish crossing the street. At least here people know where their food comes from!

It certainly does say something for the patience of Azerbaijan people as a whole. How do you think that’d be received in the US? I can just picture it in my last apartment complex…