All Moved In!

Hello everyone! We are co-authoring this post to ensure accuracy and professionalism. Things are great here in Azerbaijan. We arrived and were immediately wisked away to Guba, where we stayed in an Olympic training center. The days were jam packed with information that we need to survive in (and not get kicked out of) the Peace Corps. The accommodations were nice, we each had our own bathroom with a shower and hot water and western toilet. We also had air conditioning, wahoo! There was a pool at the center, however you are required to buy a swimming cap prior to entering, which was a bit steep for our new Peace Corps budget (5 Manat). The food was really good, nothing too scary :) Breakfasts consisted of bread, hard-boiled eggs, bread, honey, pendir (cheese), bread and chay (tea). The bread/honey combination was fantastic. Lunches and dinners were similar, starting with tomatoes, cucumbers, bread and a few other various salads and moved on to bread and soup followed by the meat, bread, pasta and/or potato dishes. In case you haven’t guessed it yet, the only thing Azeris like more than tea is bread. It is served with every meal and is thought to be a sacred element in the culture. There are even rules for handling bread: never throw bread away, either eaten by people or animals, if it falls on the floor you are required to kiss it before putting it back and never place your bread upside down.

After a few days at Guba (Northern Azerbaijan), we moved out to our host-families in communities around Sumgayit (near Baku on the Caspian). Much to our amazement, Carolyn and I were placed together in the same host family! Carolyn studies in the same town where we live and I have a short 30 minute walk everyday to my group in a neighboring village. Our host family has been very friendly and large (along with being very patient!). From what we can tell there are 15 people who live in our compound, there are always people coming and going so it’s a little hard to keep track. There are 5 houses that are connected yet separate, so there is no shortage of someone to talk to at any given time. In our house we have Nana, grandmother, her son Sahib, his wife Asmar and their son Rovshan. In the next house is Nabat, daughter of Nana and her 16 year old daughter Maleyka. Behind us is Sahib’s brother Mais and his wife Sedaget and their sons Elshan and Elman. To our left is Mustafa and Nami, brothers who are seemingly unrelated to the family. Also in our house is Nubar, who is Sahib’s other sister’s daughter – the rest of her family lives up north.

Most of our time at home is spent with Nana (while eating or sweltering in the garden) and Maleyka, who patiently works with us on our language. The heat is incredible here, however there is almost a constant breeze which makes it quite pleasant most of the time. From what I can tell my little REI thermometer that I’ve brought is either broken or it hasn’t dropped below 85 the whole time we’ve lived here. My morning walks are usually between 90-95 and my afternoon walk today topped 100.

Our overall living conditions are pretty darn nice. We have our own huge room to ourselves with a window and a fan to keep us cool. We have running water, which is constantly on in a sink in the garden. We have hot showers in the morning (although we prefer to take cooler ones due to the heat). Our toilet is interesting. It is a squat-style toilet about two feet long and eight inches wide with a constant stream of water flowing through it (due to the sink draining to it). We have electricity when we need it and are able to charge our electronics with a borrowed voltage regulator. The food has been really good. Lots of cucumbers and tomatoes and bread, yum!!!!

On the 7th we threw a Fourth of July party (a little late, I know) with both of our training groups. We each brought a few people from our host families and had a nice little shin-dig, complete with hot dogs, potato salad and all! I had to give a little demonstration (see picture) on how to assemble the hot dogs, but I think they were a success. We played Frisbee, duck-duck-goose, the Hokey-Pokey and the Azeri version of Red Rover. Lots of fun (and sugar) was had by all!

We hope everyone is doing well, we hear it’s hot in Oregon, but just remember these two little letters when it gets too hot: A C. Sag ol!

Pictures from top to bottom: 1. Everything we brought for the next two years in our hotel room in Philly. 2. Everyone packing up to move into host families at Guba. 3. Jesse and Carolyn on the Caspian Sea at Sumgayit. 4. Carolyn's language group on the Caspian. 5. The whole gang at our '4th' of July party (Jesse taking picture). 6. Jesse demonstrating how to assemble hot dog. 7. Carolyn and Nubar.