Homeward Bound

Today I started my journey back to the States. Six months sooner than anticipated. As a member of the last group of PCVs in Azerbaijan for the foreseeable future, it was an interesting experience. I've learned almost as much about the United States as I have about Azerbaijan.

My Azerbaijan family sent me off with a glorious meal that I will remember. Good food and friends.



Goodbye Meal

 

I am currently at the Doha Airport in Qatar waiting for the second of my three leg trip. I will arrive in Philadelphia tomorrow morning heading to Michigan to spend the holidays with my Mother, my sister and her family.

Seattle is in my near future but don't have a definite timeline yet. I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

One week to go

I continue to wind down in Azerbaijan.

Last night I learned how to make red lentil soup from my host mom. It is a popular soup here in Azerbaijan and every cook has their own way of making. I like her soup because it is not smooth in texture but also not chunky. It also has a bit of a kick to it. I told her that I would be making it next week in America.

Yesterday, I also did my last load of laundry. The water was good and there were no clothes in the machine so I jumped on it. I had to leave for work before it was done, but my mother hung my clothes on the line for me. I took them down while they were slightly damp and finished drying them on the radiator. Almost smelled like they had been run through a dryer.

I have been thinking about what I will miss when I get back to the states. Here is a short list. I'm sure that it will change when I get home.

• I will miss the bus service. Not so much the crowded buses, but the fact that they all the time and usually the wait is no more than 10 minutes between buses. So if you see one passing before you get to the main road, you know that another will be along shortly. 
• Sitting in the kitchen with the women. Talking and cooking.
• The gardens with fruit trees and vegetables. Also, the chickens running around.
• The canned items from the gardens. Pickled cabbage, tomatoes, tomato and pepper sauce, pickled eggplant. And the olives that have that buttery taste.
• How you can come home and there is almost always one person there and there could be twenty. I think that I have come home about three times when there wasn't anyone there.
• How when my family occasionally fusses with each other; when they are done they are done and quickly switch back to joking with each other. I know that the discussion is pretty much over when my mom says "besti" basically telling everyone that that is enough.
• How my mom knows to start a sentence with "Patti" when she wants to talk to me. She knows that my Azerbaijan is not so good and when sitting with a group, I tune out. 
• Mostly it will be the people I have met. My family, people I've worked with, neighbors, my local market workers, the Peace Corps staff and the other volunteers.

Final Countdown

Well I have ten more days to go, so today I'm going with counts

• 4 more days of work
• 12 thank you notes to write
• 9 more nights
• 16 PCV's left (4 leave this week and 10 next week; the final 2 by the end of the month)
• 8 puppies (the street dog got pregnant again)
• 8 more walks on my muddy streets
• 2 close of service interviews
• 3 flights to get home

It has been a wonderful adventure, but I am ready to head back to the States and see what is next.

Thanksgiving

Last year I worked on Thanksgiving Day. This year I decided to take the day off and prepare a meal for my host family. The day was wonderful. My host sister and mother work at the same school. Nunu, my sister, is a first year teacher of Azerbaijan language and literature. Yesterday, she taught an open lesson that was observed by the other teachers and a curriculum specialist from the local school district. Of course, her class was marvelous. Normally, Nunu teaches in the morning and my mother teaches in the afternoon, but because of this open lesson they were both gone most of the day.

So, I had the house pretty much to myself all day. I slept in a little later than usual, then got up, prepared my coffee and began my cooking. I had decided to make sweet rolls with grated orange filling, apple crisp and a roasted turkey. I started with the cinnamon rolls and then moved on to the apple crisp. In between, I was able to take a shower and get a load of laundry done. The shower was a little odd, because the hot water heater kept turning on and off due to the water pressure changing. (In order for the gas to fire on the instant hot water heater, the water pressure has to be strong enough) I just used cold water for the laundry so no problem there.

Around three o'clock, someone started banging on the door. My room is in the back of the house so I tried to ignore it. I wasn't sure if the knocking was at the gate or the door, but who ever was out there wasn't looking for me. Finally, I got up and went to the door. It was one of the students Nunu tutors at home. I managed to tell him that she wasn't home and sent him on his way. At 3:30 to more students showed up. I sent them off and then got a call to have them come in and wait. Pretty much the only disruption to my day. My Azeri is not terribly good and I really didn't know where Nunu was, so it was a little comical. However, I am usually able to get my point across and understand based on circumstances.

Nunu and my mother showed up pretty much as the rolls were coming out of the oven. They were a little too soft for my mother, so I put them back in for a bit. I asked when I should have dinner ready and was told 7:30. I was also scolded because I bought onions and potatoes for dinner and of course, there are large bags of each in the cellar. I was told that "they took offense" A minor rebuke. Dinner was done at 7:30 but Nunu was still tutoring so we waited until she was done. In the end, dinner was a success. Can't really go wrong with chicken and potatoes, but you never know.

In spirit of the holiday, we said what we were thankful for. A lovely day.

30 days

As of today, I have 30 days left in Azerbaijan. This little adventure has been interesting, challenging, fun, awkward, long, short, enlightening, infuriating and I'm glad I went on it. Even though I am leaving early, due to the closing of the program, I feel that I have gotten a lot out of the experience. I am also ready to start the next stage of my life, though I have to admit I'm not sure what I am doing next.

Last week I completed my SPA grant. This is a small grant program available to Peace Corps volunteers to fund projects in the organizations and communities. My organization, a health care clinic and I created a Vision Healthcare Activity book. My office mate lead the project that resulted in 1,000 activity books being printed. We are now distributing them to patients of our clinic and mobile eye clinic. My co-workers didn't quite get what we were trying to accomplish, but now that the book is printed we are getting rave reviews. One of my co-workers gave the book to her nine year old grandson and they spent an entire evening working on the activities.

Last weekend, I visited one of my Peace Corps friend's at her site for the last time. She has the second best host family in Azerbaijan. My host family of course is the best. I have stayed at their house several times and every time have felt welcomed.

Next week, the remaining Peace Corps volunteers will gather for a Thanksgiving celebration. When I arrived there were over 100 volunteers in country. Now there are 26. After December there will be four.

On Thanksgiving day my plan is to prepare dinner for my family. I plan on preparing a roasted chicken instead of a turkey. I find it to daunting to prepare a turkey in the little red over. I am debating whether to make an apple pie or apple crisp. Nathan loves my apple crisp and I may make that in honor of him.

Soon I hope to see many of you. Inshallah

Home for the Holidays

It has been awhile since I have posted.

In June, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce decided to cancel the agreement with Peace Corps for the CED (Community and Economic Development) of which I was a volunteer. After almost four months, this was clarified to mean that we needed to leave the country by the end of the year. So, I will be ending my service six months early and will be heading to Michigan to spend the holidays with my mother, my sister and her family. Then I plan to head to Seattle.

In the meantime, I have made a couple of changes to ease/begin my transition back to the States.

First, I cut my hair. Just about a year ago, I had about three inches cut off my hair. At the time I thought that that would be my only haircut. At the end of September, I visited a friend and her family in Belgrade. I went to her stylist and got a shorter doo. The direction was to go for a more modern hair style, which I believe was accomplished.

Before

After - same lovely pajama top 

Second, I have moved back in with my host family. Story is a little to long to tell, but I asked if I could come back for the last month and a half and I was welcomed with opened arms. So, yesterday I walked my stuff back across the street and down three houses. There are many benefits, not the least spending more time with my family. An added bonus is that I now have reliable internet that is on 24/7.



However, my beautiful view of the lake is shrinking. The government has decided to fill the lake in and so it is shrinking on a daily basis. The current plan is that it will become a park with a culture center. I will not be here long enough to see. The ducks don't like the change.


Last year

Today

Wedding in three parts

I went to my first and likely only Toy (wedding) last Tuesday - here is my story

Part One - Pre-wedding activities 

My host mother, sister and aunt had appointments scheduled at a salon. I was told to be dressed and ready at 4:00 but of course at 3:20 was asked where I was. I quickly took a shower and dressed and was at their door in ten minutes. I digress for a minute, I washed my dress but before I could rinse the soap out, we lost water. I took it to my host family's house and using water from their secondary source, it was rinsed and spun in the washing machine. At 3:00 I was told it was dry and to pick it up. We piled into my uncle's car, a four door Mercedes. Two in the front and four in the back. No seat belts in the back. About 30 minutes later, we were dropped off at the salon. First up my host mother for an updo. For the next two and a half hours I watched my family members and a whole bunch of others get done up. My host mother has very curly hair and first it was blown straight and then done up. This took a considerable about of time so the other two were only able to have their hair blown straight.

I watched two women in evening gowns and a variety of others get hair, makeup, facial hair removed and at least one facial. At least one person had three people working on her at one time. Salon hygiene is slightly different in Azerbaijan. Implements are not cleaned in between clients. Towels are reused after drying only. The combs and brushes are "rat tailed" and stuck in the stylists hair when not in use. If hair is cut, it is swept up whenever.

About halfway through this experience a woman came into the salon with a bag of new bras and panties. I didn't know that bra and panty sets were packaged in shoe boxes. At one point almost every worker in the salon came and removed items from the bag and/or packaging and held up the items and checked out their stretchiness. Quite a lot of business was transacted. It certainly was a more comfortable environment then the underwear on a table in the bazaar where the vendor is male. Another woman came in later and was selling toothbrushes, hair dye and lotion. Amazing to watch.

Hair was finally done around 6:30 and off to an aunt's house to change.

Part Two - The wedding

Weddings start at 6:00. We arrived at 7:00. The bride is picked up at her parents' house by the groom and his family members. After certain rituals are performed, the bride and groom are driven to the Wedding Palace. The car with the bride and groom has flowers on the hood and/or door handles and the rest of the cars have red ribbons. Honking is involved in the procession. Since we arrived late, I don't know what happened when the bride and groom arrived. The bride and groom sit on a raised platform by themselves for the entire party. There may be food on their table, but the don't eat. They watch the party and guests come up to give them good wishes and have their pictures taken with the couple.

Happy Couple

Guests are seated at tables with much food; 3-4 kinds of salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced meats, cheeses, chicken, mushrooms, potatoes, meat and nuts. Later kabob comes out, fresh fruit and a special plov (rice dish). There are many beverage choices, including wine, vodka, champagne and beer. But only for men. The women drink water, lemonade or juice. Tea of course is also available. There were about five hundred people at this wedding. There was also a band with two singers who played Mugan music (Azerbaijan's contribution to the music world) at an incredible loud volume. In between the music a master of ceremonies invited guests to voice congratulations to the couple and families. After the toasts, different groups would be invited to get up an dance. According to my host sister, you don't get up to dance until you are invited. At one point the couple danced and then retreated back to their seats. There was also a slow dance that couples danced. This is supposedly an import of a Turkish tradition. It was more awkward than kids at a high school dance, back in my day. All this is captured on video. There was at least one hand held camera and one on a boom. All project live on at least four big screens mounted on the walls and in the lobby.

Boom camera and screens

This particular couple had known each other for four years. They had met in University. They talked to each other throughout the wedding and even smiled at each other. Many couples don't know each other, the marriages being arranged by family members. The bride wears white with a red ribbon around her waist signifying purity.

I enjoyed my wedding experience but can see why they can be boring. Basically all weddings are pretty much the same. I did dance a couple of times. Once I danced more like the men and provided amusement for the other guests. The men's dancing is much more fun. The women's dancing is fairly simple and not necessarily done to the music.

My host mom

Part Three - After the event

We left as the cake was being cut at about 11pm. Another imported tradition. My host mother had hurt her ankle, so the decision was to take her to a doctor. First we had to drop something off to someone. This involved going behind some apartment buildings while talking on the phone to whoever was getting whatever. A little odd. Then we went to see the doctor at another apartment complex. My host mother's hair was also giving her a headache so we picked up a knife someplace to cut the rubber band that was causing the pain. This apartment complex was close to a relatives, so a chat also took place. Then on to another apartment complex to pick up a cousin. More chatting. Then on to home. Host mom was prescribed a lotion made of honey, an acid (lemon?) and a specific type of sea salt and then wrapped in a bandage. Since it was so late, I slept on the fold out sofa.

Another adventure successfully completed.