Interested in Helping?

One of the things that I've enjoyed the most during my service here is the time I've spent with teenagers. While there are definitely cultural differences between Azerbaijan and the US, there are also things that don't vary between countries - the desire to spend time with their friends, travel, listen to music and talk about celebrities, etc.

Last year I did a summer camp with my sitemate and it was a great experience. From a one day trip we took with the girls to another region of the country I had the idea to expand it this year. For a country that's the size of the state of Maine, it's amazing how little these teens have traveled. So I wrote what's called a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant - this is a grant that gets posted on the Peace Corps website and people back in the US can make a tax deductible donation.

Some basic information: there will be five trips (four day trips and one overnight trip), the funds from this grant will cover some of the following costs: travel, one hotel stay, various admission fees, and a few meals. The girls themselves (approximately 15 of them) will be paying a participation fee and providing sack lunches for four of the five trips. They will be visiting a UNESCO world heritage site, a city on the silk road, and a city embracing their history of metalworking, among others. The textbooks they use in school will be coming to life for them, and they will return to their homes and families with an experience they will be sure to share with many others - from stories about the cities to something as simple as eating in a restaurant, which is something that most of them haven't done before.

So how can you help, you say? Any donation, from $1 to $100 (or whatever your heart desires), would be greatly appreciated. Below is the link to the site where donations can be made. And feel free to share this information with your friends!

Click here for information about the project and how to donate...

If you have any questions about my project feel free to email me at wendysuewalter@gmail.com.

My Biggest Lingering Cultural Challenge...

I'm comfortable in my life here. I know my way around town. While I'm not fluent I can communicate in my daily life. I have some work to do. I have local friends who, while they may not know me as well as my American friends do, they are definitely friends and not just acquantainces.

But one challenge lingers. America is a very scheduled, ask permission type of environment, and it has been ingrained in me from a young age. You should ask before you just stop by someone's house. You should be cognizant of the time before you call someone on the phone in case they might be asleep. And on and on.

Those thoughts don't exist here. It's completely normal to just drop by someone's house and end up staying for a few hours - chatting, drinking tea, or even staying for a full meal. Or for the phone to ring at 1:00am. And that's been hard - I have to push myself to stop by people's houses "uninvited." Because to them, I'm not uninvited. When I see someone in town that I know, they'll ask me: "Why haven't you come by?" It's not a proper response to ask when I should come, because the invitation has always been open. I could go anytime.

Cultural acclimation is not instantaneous. I'm still working on it, but I think I'm happier being in a continuous state of learning and growing instead of being fully conformed to Azerbaijani culture. I'm still me, still an American, and that cultural exchange and learning is part of what makes the Peace Corps experience a valuable one.

Another Year Older...

Last week was my birthday. My 30th birthday. It was quite nice to spend it here - it's definitely not as big of a deal here as it is in the States. Although I don't know which birthdays are big deals here. But I'm beyond it - the majority of people my age already have kids and have had kids for quite awhile.

So I've been to a number of birthday parties during the past year for the girls that I work with. They wanted to return the gesture, so last week we had a birthday party for me. Now I don't have a fully functioning Azeri kitchen (no meat grinder, no supply of grape leaves, no accessories to make sure the table looks presentable, etc.), so reinforcements were called in. The day before the event we had a meeting and everyone left with their assignments: bring your own plates and glasses (I only have a set of 4, 12 girls were anticipated), one person was assigned the mixer, one the fruit bowls, another the grape leaves, and on and on. They determined who lived closest so they could just run over there and use the meat grinder and not have to bring it over. And I had my shopping list and the assignment to get a couple chairs from work for the day.

So the day came and I had a full kitchen. We had bowls of fruit, paytaq salad, dolma, cutlet, veggies, and finally, cake, complete with candles and sparklers. 

It was a full day that started with preparations at about 11am, eating around 3pm, then clean up and some games, with everyone heading out about 6pm. It makes me tired just thinking about it - both because it was such a long day and and because it was an overwhelming amount of activity in my normally quiet house. When we were eating cake I was even surprised with a present of a stuffed bear.

It was a great day and I'm so happy that I have girls that love to celebrate and have a fun time together...

The actual day of (the day with the girls was earlier in the week because of their school vacation) I had some PCV friends over for enchiladas and cards. Perfect way to bring in the next decade!

Novruz...2010 Version!

The Novruz 2010 experience was different than the 2009 experience. Last year, during the holiday, I was still living with a host family. This year I'm living on my own and I chose who to spend the holiday with and how much time to spend there.

During the week(s) leading up to the holiday the women of the household are busy baking up a storm. Now not being a typical Azeri woman I didn't have all this preparation to do on my own. But they are some tasty treats, and I wanted to learn how to make them! So I spent three afternoons at my tutor's (and friend's) house baking with her and her mother.
     Day 1: şor cörəyi (sweet bread with sugar & nuts inside)
     Day 2: şəkərbura (pastry with sugar & nuts inside)

     Day 3: paxlava (baklava)

For those days, I was her substitute daughter. My friend is in her early 20's, but she doesn't really like to bake (or cook, for that matter) and hasn't learned. So I was the Azeri daughter, learning to cook from her mother - for preparation of having a family of my own, of course! Here are a couple pictures of our days.

Now I just have to try these recipes on my own before I leave the country. But first I have to translate a couple spices that I couldn't find in the dictionary...

The actual day of the holiday I spent with the family of a couple of teenage girls that came to camp last summer, are in my cooking club and are my neighbors since I moved a couple of months ago. While I could have gone many places, I chose to go one place and spend the entire day there. I received instructions on how to cook our meal, looked at tons of pictures, played catch with the kids, helped one of the girls write a letter in English, ate a ton, and much more.

Like last year, there was a fire. And fire jumping. And dancing around the fire. But this celebration had the added excitement of fireworks! And I remembered just how jumpy I am to loud noises. After dusk, when we had the fire festivities, we headed inside for our gigantic meal - plov, dolma, compot, and more sweets. Then the kids and I went out for papaq atmaq - literally, to throw hats. We knocked on neighbors' doors, left our hats, and then ran away before they came to the door. Then the neighbor would fill our hats with candy and fruit. While these are traditional ways of celebrating Novruz, it can vary a little from family to family just depending on the ages of the kids, etc. - for example, with my host family the two girls were older, so they didn't throw hats. But the meal was mostly the same - just like how most Americans have turkey as the main dish for Thanksgiving, plov is the main dish for Novruz.

It was a great day, with a wonderfully welcoming family, and I'm glad that they invited me into their life and shared their holiday with me.

Want Another Point of View?

Maybe you're reading this because you know me. Or maybe because you're interested in Azerbaijan. Or the Peace Corps in general. Or living in any foreign country. Or you just randomly stumbled on to this blog and really have no reason to read this except that you already started and don't want to waste the time you already spent getting this far...

Well, if any of those are true, here's a link to some other opinions you might be interested in - you can read other Volunteers' blogs who are anywhere from Albania to Zambia, including other Volunteers serving with me here in Azerbaijan.

Note: the link above will take you to the Azerbaijan page. If you want to explore other countries, just click on the "country" tab and select the country of your choosing.