Corruption Makes the World Go Round...Or At Least the Schools

We started practicum this week, which means that those of us who are going to be teachers have been trying to co-teach English classes with Azerbaijani teachers. Unfortunately, the school schedule in Ceyranbatan (where I live) is switching around and so we frequently show up to teach only to find that our class has been canceled or is at a different time. It's been a confusing couple of days to say the least. And when our schedule changes, we tend to lose our time to go home for lunch (which we usually do every day), so instead we eat lots of chocolate and junk food at school. While I love chocolate so it makes me quite happy, my host family has been in a bit of a panic that I'm not eating anything. I do my best to tell them in my broken Azeri that I am eating plenty and I am constantly "doydum" (full), but the message doesn't seem to be getting through haha.

A view of my school and the surrounding area from by the reservoir

Winter suddenly arrived this week too. It has been cold and rainy, which isn't so much fun when the streets aren't always paved and you have to walk by lots of trash piles, but today it warmed up again, so we'll see if the roads dry out! The cold has also meant that I busted out a heavier jacket and started wearing scarves. Unfortunately, while in the states I can wear my sweaters and scarves around the house and my mom just laughs at me because I'm always cold, here my host family gets paranoid that I don't know how to turn on my heater, haha. I'm sure soon they will figure out that I just really like wearing lots of layers.

We have our mid-training language test this weekend, so we are all studying constantly. My 2 host sisters have been quizzing me on the typical questions that I might be asked and I am getting really good at explaining who is in my family, what fruits I like, how to get to Sumqayit, what things I have in my bedroom, etc haha. Don't try to have a real conversation with me, but if you want to know all about my kitchen, bring it on!

I miss all of you and I hope you are doing well!

A Pomegranate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Hello from Lənkəran!

If you want to know where that is and you're looking at a map of the big AZ, look down towards Iran and right on the coast of the Caspian and you'll find it! I'm here for our site visit which is when all of us lowly trainees get to go visit the super cool volunteers and see what their lives are like. Four other trainees came with me down here to Lənkəran and we are staying at 2 different houses but visiting with 3 volunteers...that means there are 8 of us hanging out. We're all girls, so it's been one big slumber party for the past few days, complete with many pomegranates, chocolate bars, and cooking food.

I should say that it hasn't been all fun and games, though so you don't think that I'm just here for a vacation! I am staying with Rachel (an AZ6, which means she was in the group of volunteers that came last year) who is also a teacher so those of us who are TEFLs have been shadowing her classes. It's been our first exposure to a real Azerbaijani class taught by a volunteer and their counterpart (the special Peace Corps term for the Azeri teacher you team-teach with). It's nice to see and get a better sense of what our classes will be like!

Tomorrow we'll be taking the bus back to Sumgayıt, which means back to language classes (I have been ignoring my Azerbaijani all weekend, I hate to admit).

Send me lots of emails, I love hearing about things back in the states!!! And the prize goes to Heather for being the first person to successfully get a letter to me!

Mənim adım Cesdir. (My name is Jess...see, I am learning Azerbaijani!)

Hi from Sumgayıt! It's our first day off here in Azerbaijan, so a bunch of us trainees are getting together to hang out for a few hours. We have been staying with host families for almost one week now, so we don't see the whole group very often, just our small language cluster (mine is 6 people) and people in our sector (so I see other soon-to-be teachers like me).

My host family is great. I have my mom, my dad, 2 sisters (ages 12 and 11), and one brother (age 4). I think one of my favorite moments in Azerbaijan so far was the first day I moved into their house and I was walking with my 11-year old sister in our garden. She walked right over to a pomegranate (nar in Azerbaijani) tree and pulled one down and we walked around the garden sharing it. Another highlight was the first day I came home from school for lunch and my brother and I played "bu nədir?" ("What is it?") around the table so I could learn words. He is a very patient teacher because he really just likes to hang out with me (I mean who doesn't right? haha) and he always wants to talk to me, even if I stare at him dumfounded and have to say "Başa düşmürəm" ("I don't understand" - which is quickly becoming one of my best sayings b/c I use it so often!). My sisters are really helpful because they study English in school, but we still have to mime and use my Azerbaijani-English dictionary a lot!

I'm trying to learn how to walk down the street here, which unfortunately is another thing that is very different. Whereas in the US I walk down the street and can look people in the face, give them a little hello smile, here that is totally inappropriate. We all have to learn how to turn off our smile reflex and be way more somber. Plus, if I catch a guy looking at me (and everyone stares at all of us Americans constantly), I have to give him a death stare because culturally, they are not supposed to check out women and try to hit on us. My death stare is not perfected yet, but I'm working on it. You all will have to remind me to smile again when I get back to the states so I don't look like the rudest most hateful person glaring at everyone all the time! haha

Alright, I'm going to go now and let someone else use the computer (of course all of the PC trainees come to the same internet cafe so there aren't enough computers haha, smart), but I miss you all and would love to hear from you!

Life in the Land of Tea and Bread

So I had to make that the title of my post just to make my sister jealous, but that really is what it feels like here. I have tea (çay) at least 3 times a day and bread is the most important part of every Azerbaijani meal. I'm in my host family now (and I love them, they are wonderful) and at dinner the first night my host mother got scared that I didn't like bread because I didn't grab a piece fast enough apparently haha. But, to make my sister feel better, I have to mention that they use a lot of cilantro in their cooking, which is not my favorite. But I'm finding ways to deal haha.

Sorry to post and run, but I do have to catch my group to go home!
Miss you all! I'll try to post again soon!

Now We See the Real Azerbaijan

After several days in the Neapol Hotel, literally not leaving the premises, we will be moving into our host family houses tomorrow! We've been having meetings and language lessons all day, every day we've been here to prepare us, so we'll see how it goes. I mean, if my host family wants to hear me count to 10 (or maybe even 100 if I'm really on my game at that moment...but they are pressing their luck past 29), then I'm all set. If they want to actually speak to me, we may have some issues, haha. I don't know anything about my family except their address and the name of the father of the house, but if you want to know approximately where I am to get a sense, I am near Sumqayit. It's a fairly big city near the capital, Baku.

I'm really excited to move beyond the hotel and actually see what Azerbaijan is like. All I have been doing is hearing stories and learning about things I haven't seen. Even when we arrived, it was already dark, so the drive to the hotel was very uninformative. Although, I did get to see my first car crash in the country. It was interesting to notice that there was a huge crowd in and around the crash scene (and I do mean in, because there was nobody keeping people out), but there were no women. As a female, I shouldn't be out at night (among many other things I apparently shouldn't do). It's certainly going to be a change for me.

Alright, bedtime so I don't fall asleep the minute I meet my host family! I don't think that's really the first impression I want to leave...although let's be honest, sleep is about all I've wanted to do for the past few days (especially when a really important lecture about something like Safety and Security is happening...don't worry, I try to wake up and pay attention).