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!