Mid-Service Conference (MSC): Abbreviations Aren’t Allowed In Scrabble

In the middle of our second winter in Azerbaijan we have our Mid-Service Conference. Which is exactly what it’s name suggests – a conference to mark the mid-way point in our service. It is conveniently scheduled during the most unpleasant part of the year, so that we have something to look forward to - and something fun to look back on during the rest of the winter.

This year’s conference was scheduled for the end of January, so it took place a little bit earlier than we were expecting. But last year’s February conference coincided with a snowstorm, so I can understand the schedule shuffle.

By and large it was your standard Peace Corps conference. It was definitely overwhelming to see every member of AZ7 gathered in one place – this was the first time we had all been together since our first week in Azerbaijan. There was lots of time spent sharing experiences and an unnecessary number of photocopies. There was a panel discussion with RPCVs about Life After Peace Corps. I can’t believe it’s already time to start worrying about that. I still have 11 months left! (Or I had 11 months at the time.) But I guess I have to join the ‘real world’ eventually. Scary!

But there were also some unique elements – a particular AZ7 flair – to proceedings.
A group decision was made that we really didn’t want to wear business casual to the conference. Instead (almost) everyone showed up wearing an Azerbaijan tracksuit. There was nothing staff could say if we were all wearing one. In fact, by Day 2 some of the staff members were wearing theirs.

I am particularly proud of my tracksuit. In true procrastinator fashion I waited until the morning before to purchase mine. But it was definitely a talking point at the conference. It is a windbreaker style – complete with hood. The colouring is more fluorescent than realistic but I’m OK with that. Originally I had planned to pass my tracksuit onto Mom – the true sportswoman in the family - after it’s weekend of use, but I don’t really want to part with it after all. Sorry Mom!

In the evenings I found myself involved in marathon games of Scrabble. Most of time it was a team effort in some form. At one point: there were four of us trying to make sense of a particularly trying set of letters. All in all: we converted a few more people to the wonders of Scrabble; came up with some pretty excellent words (ARGYLE, sadly not mine.) and had to consult an iPhone dictionary on more than one occasion.

And so by the time mid-service conference wrapped I still unconvinced that ‘zig’ and ‘zag’ could be used independently. (Can anyone shed some light on this for me?), but re-motivated to tackle Year 2.