Sunday, November 29, 2009
November Blog Roll: Week 4
Peace Corps Flu
Last week I came down with the Peace Corps flu, and spent three days asleep on the couch in the living room.
This is noteworthy because I just find it extremely entertaining that I communicated with the Peace Corps doctor via text message for the better part of three days.
It is less entertaining that I missed 3 days of language classes and Ata had the Peace Corps flu over Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving
For most of my recent memory, Thanksgiving has been celebrated in a foreign country, on the last weekend in November with my closest friends in attendance. And a turkey ordered in advance. Therefore, there was an element of the familiar in the festivities this year: a foreign country, no relatives and an ingredient gathering scavenger hunt. It was extremely comforting.
My language cluster had class on Thursday morning (Peace Corps rules), and then we headed over to my house to start cooking. Everyone brought the ingredients for one dish. There was turkey breast (provided by Ata since it just happened to be in the freezer!), mushroom risotto, green beans, garlic mash potatoes and a delicious pumpkin soup. For desert we made an oatmeal apple crisp.
Three hours later we sat down for our first Thanksgiving in Azerbaijan, and the meal was deemed a success. Even if the Azeris in attendance were a little confused about the buffet-style concept. (And I am still a little freaked out by the whole celebrating on a Thursday part.)
I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.
The November Blog Roll: Week 2 - Week 3
Skills Transfer
One of the primary goals of Peace Corps is the transfer of skills between volunteers and host country nationals: the things we teach each other.
Some of the fun things that I have learned to do in the last few weeks are:
- to peel an apple with a knife
- to light a gas stove with a match
- to make tea without using a teabag
- to shell nuts
I am particularly proud of the first two, mostly because I still have all my fingers and my eyebrows. ☺
Some of the fun things I have taught the people around me in the last few weeks are:
- Ana asked if she could learn to type as fast as I do. Melissa Teaches Typing 101.
- Ata’s new favorite expression for any positive emotion is shouting Wikipedia. ☺
- My host sister wanted help setting up an email address.
- Oatmeal can be used to make a pie. And it tastes good. (See Thanksgiving).
A Conversation with the Country Director (Site Placement)
On November 18th all the TEFL volunteers gathered in a room with all the top Peace Corps officials and a large map of Azerbaijan. The day that every trainee looks forward to with equal parts dread and expectation had arrived. In less than an hour we would all know where we would be spending our two years of service. It was Site Announcement Day.
As we were standing around waiting for everyone to trickle in from the bus station, a friend and I struck up a conversation with the Country Director. In a condensed form, it went something like this:
CD: Hi girls. What are you hoping for?
T: I would really like the South. I wanted to serve in the Middle East or North Africa; so being closer to Iran than to Russia would be great.
M: I would really like the North. I have a background in Russian and I’ve done a lot of work with refugees, so I’d like to be in a border town.
CD: Those are some very solid reasons. I hope we got it right. Good luck.
Twenty minutes later, my friend was headed to a city so far north it is closer to Tbilisi than it is to Baku, and I was headed to a village two hours south of Baku. Oops.
The Country Director came up to me afterwards, and I had to ask her if she had a really good poker face, she assured me she had had no idea. We had a laugh about the whole situation. And it makes Site Announcement Day just that little bit more memorable. ☺
Karimbeli will be getting its own post (since I’ll be living there for two years and all.)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
A Warm Welcome To Danvers High School
As some of you may know I have decided to take part in the Peace Corps World Wise Schools correspondence match program.
This is a program that was set up to help volunteers achieve the third goal of the Peace Corps mission. This third goal is aimed at increasing awareness of life in other countries back home in America. For all intents and purposes, it is a cross-cultural pen-pal program with a purpose. Fortunately, I have a very good friend who is a high school teacher, so I didn't have to wait for a match. Last week, we received clearance from Peace Corps to begin our correspondence. :)
But given the state of the postal service (on either side of the ocean), it would be silly for me to rely on old-fashioned pen and paper alone. So I would just like to take a moment to welcome the students of Danvers High School to my blog.
Welcome!
This is a program that was set up to help volunteers achieve the third goal of the Peace Corps mission. This third goal is aimed at increasing awareness of life in other countries back home in America. For all intents and purposes, it is a cross-cultural pen-pal program with a purpose. Fortunately, I have a very good friend who is a high school teacher, so I didn't have to wait for a match. Last week, we received clearance from Peace Corps to begin our correspondence. :)
But given the state of the postal service (on either side of the ocean), it would be silly for me to rely on old-fashioned pen and paper alone. So I would just like to take a moment to welcome the students of Danvers High School to my blog.
Welcome!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
November, Part 1: In Brief
I am too lazy to compose a lengthy blog post about each of these events at the moment.
But the intent is there and I will catch up with myself at some point.
Anyway, here's a bullet point list of life in November so far:
- I plan to do a sort of day in the life series about the things I do everyday as well as the major highlights of the things Ata and Ana do.
- I have an ongoing list about how Ata is trying to make me into Suzy Homemaker: past lessons have included shelling nar, fixing the hole in my sweater, and this week's event: learning to peel an apple the old-fashioned way.
- Avtobus On-Iki. (Bus 12). This is the bus I have to take the nearest large city, and it is a rather dismal state of disrepair. However, in my house it has become a by-word for all that is falling apart, stressful or otherwise counter to happiness.
- Photos. I am not my father's daughter, in the sense that I have taken one picture since I have been in Azerbaijan. So I will try to get on that as soon as possible. My first target: a visual of Avtobus On-Iki.
- Also, fairly importantly, on this coming Wednesday I will be told where I will be spending the rest of my service. Which means I will also have a new mailing address, which because of the postal service, will be effective immediately.
That's all for now.
But the intent is there and I will catch up with myself at some point.
Anyway, here's a bullet point list of life in November so far:
- I plan to do a sort of day in the life series about the things I do everyday as well as the major highlights of the things Ata and Ana do.
- I have an ongoing list about how Ata is trying to make me into Suzy Homemaker: past lessons have included shelling nar, fixing the hole in my sweater, and this week's event: learning to peel an apple the old-fashioned way.
- Avtobus On-Iki. (Bus 12). This is the bus I have to take the nearest large city, and it is a rather dismal state of disrepair. However, in my house it has become a by-word for all that is falling apart, stressful or otherwise counter to happiness.
- Photos. I am not my father's daughter, in the sense that I have taken one picture since I have been in Azerbaijan. So I will try to get on that as soon as possible. My first target: a visual of Avtobus On-Iki.
- Also, fairly importantly, on this coming Wednesday I will be told where I will be spending the rest of my service. Which means I will also have a new mailing address, which because of the postal service, will be effective immediately.
That's all for now.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Nar Var
I like the rhyme in this post's title. I'm pretty sure that the sentence is missing a subject, but I am going to blame my keyboard's lack of an upside down 'e' for the lack of a subject. The title roughly translates as: '(You) Have Pomegranates?' And the answer is a resounding 'YES'!
I am very fond of the mini orchard we have in our backyard. There are walnuts and hazelnuts. There are also a couple of fruits that I am currently lacking a translation for. But right now it is the pomegranates that in overwhelming supply.
In the US, pomegranates were an exotic fruit that provided some sort of expensive juice. Here, they are everywhere. When you crack them open, they have lots of little pod-like fruit pieces. It has a sweet-sour taste. Each little bead-like piece has a very satisfying crunch.
The reason 'nar' (because 'nar' is much easier to type than pomegranates) warrants its own blog post is because shelling 'nar' has become a quite common way to spend my evenings. I find it soothing. Although the juice is super lethal in the stain department.
The tradition of 'nar' shelling began the night that Ata appeared with a large bucket of 'nar', two bowls and a steel tray. We sat on opposite sides of the table with a bowl each. The 'nar' and steel tray for debris in between us. Peter Jackson's King Kong dubbed in Russian was on TV. And so the first nightly 'nar' race commenced. Ata filled his bowl first, but his shirt was a mess. I came through with a clean shirt. So in my mind, "slow and steady wins the race"
Thus, this has become quite a common activity in this house. Mostly it is because I keep eating Ata's bowl of 'nar' as well as my own, and am therefore, obliged to replenish his supply, like a good daughter. But I don't mind it because it is quite soothing. Besides, it's a fun way to get vitamins.
I am very fond of the mini orchard we have in our backyard. There are walnuts and hazelnuts. There are also a couple of fruits that I am currently lacking a translation for. But right now it is the pomegranates that in overwhelming supply.
In the US, pomegranates were an exotic fruit that provided some sort of expensive juice. Here, they are everywhere. When you crack them open, they have lots of little pod-like fruit pieces. It has a sweet-sour taste. Each little bead-like piece has a very satisfying crunch.
The reason 'nar' (because 'nar' is much easier to type than pomegranates) warrants its own blog post is because shelling 'nar' has become a quite common way to spend my evenings. I find it soothing. Although the juice is super lethal in the stain department.
The tradition of 'nar' shelling began the night that Ata appeared with a large bucket of 'nar', two bowls and a steel tray. We sat on opposite sides of the table with a bowl each. The 'nar' and steel tray for debris in between us. Peter Jackson's King Kong dubbed in Russian was on TV. And so the first nightly 'nar' race commenced. Ata filled his bowl first, but his shirt was a mess. I came through with a clean shirt. So in my mind, "slow and steady wins the race"
Thus, this has become quite a common activity in this house. Mostly it is because I keep eating Ata's bowl of 'nar' as well as my own, and am therefore, obliged to replenish his supply, like a good daughter. But I don't mind it because it is quite soothing. Besides, it's a fun way to get vitamins.
Trick Or Treat At The Toy
I spent Halloween at a family wedding. (Toy in Azerbaijani, hence blog title).
Ata chose me as his date of choice because I have the distinction of being his 'new' daughter. So we set off together into the evening towards this wedding of some relative, whose relationship to Ata I didn't quite catch.
When we arrived the festivities had still not started, much to Ata's distress. But he was quite taken with the carved fruit in the waiting room. I have a picture of us standing next to it.
When the doors did open, we made a beeline for a table and sat down together. Ata was clearly everyone's favorite uncle because everyone was coming up to us to say Hello. I was more like the random circus sideshow. But I was very good at what appeared to be the main activity of toy: 'eating'. I ate far too much. Ata kept laughing at me because I was trying to be polite and use my knife and fork at all times. Apparently, in Azerbaijan, it is also appropriate to eat chicken wings with your fingers, whatever the occasion. I consumed mass quantities of peach juice. I will miss that when I am back in America.
The other main activity of dancing - not so much. But anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this fact. In Azerbaijan it is not appropriate for men and women to dance together, so I was momentarily kidnapped by some female relative. A young host cousin or niece who lives in the apartment around the corner took it upon herself to try and teach me the way Azerbaijani women are expected to dance. But soon gave up. I just couldn't seem to hold my hands just so. As my Dad put it: "Did you tell them you can't dance the American way either?"
At some point a photographer whirled by, I was in the midst of eating some sort of appetizer. I hastily started to run my tongue over my teeth, only to stop mid-task because I realised slightly belatedly that it didn't actually matter whether or not I had green stuff in my teeth. In general, people do not smile in photos here. I am not 100% clear on why not at this particular time. But it was helpful at the time because I could have the moment postponed for posterity then continue eating my cheese puff undisturbed.
Ata put in a token 'dancing' appearance. He CAN dance. I took a bathroom break. And then we took our leave.
But it was definitely an interesting and unique way to spend Halloween.
Ata chose me as his date of choice because I have the distinction of being his 'new' daughter. So we set off together into the evening towards this wedding of some relative, whose relationship to Ata I didn't quite catch.
When we arrived the festivities had still not started, much to Ata's distress. But he was quite taken with the carved fruit in the waiting room. I have a picture of us standing next to it.
When the doors did open, we made a beeline for a table and sat down together. Ata was clearly everyone's favorite uncle because everyone was coming up to us to say Hello. I was more like the random circus sideshow. But I was very good at what appeared to be the main activity of toy: 'eating'. I ate far too much. Ata kept laughing at me because I was trying to be polite and use my knife and fork at all times. Apparently, in Azerbaijan, it is also appropriate to eat chicken wings with your fingers, whatever the occasion. I consumed mass quantities of peach juice. I will miss that when I am back in America.
The other main activity of dancing - not so much. But anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this fact. In Azerbaijan it is not appropriate for men and women to dance together, so I was momentarily kidnapped by some female relative. A young host cousin or niece who lives in the apartment around the corner took it upon herself to try and teach me the way Azerbaijani women are expected to dance. But soon gave up. I just couldn't seem to hold my hands just so. As my Dad put it: "Did you tell them you can't dance the American way either?"
At some point a photographer whirled by, I was in the midst of eating some sort of appetizer. I hastily started to run my tongue over my teeth, only to stop mid-task because I realised slightly belatedly that it didn't actually matter whether or not I had green stuff in my teeth. In general, people do not smile in photos here. I am not 100% clear on why not at this particular time. But it was helpful at the time because I could have the moment postponed for posterity then continue eating my cheese puff undisturbed.
Ata put in a token 'dancing' appearance. He CAN dance. I took a bathroom break. And then we took our leave.
But it was definitely an interesting and unique way to spend Halloween.
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