A Few Little Glimpses Into My Life

Ok I'm too lazy to write a coherent post, so here are just a few little bits to update you on what's going on:

1. Yesterday was the last day of school for the year (woo hoo!) and today is Republic Day.  On Monday we will have "son zəng" which means "last bell" and is when the 11th form students graduate (they only have 11 grades here).

2.  A few days ago I was guesting (which just means going to someone's house to be their guest) at this house where the father keeps bees and is obsessed with them.  He wanted to show me the bees, so I got all suited up in the bee suit and went out to see them.  One of the stupid little jerks stung me through my sock right on the tip of my big toe.  I was really pissed.  And then since then, I somehow got like 3 other bug bites on the same toe.  It really sucks.  I think this country hates my left foot because when some other bug stung/bit me a few months ago and my whole foot swelled up, that was also my left foot.

3. I have watched a Rocky movie a night for the last three nights and plan to continue one a day until I finish all of them (can you tell that I'm avoiding planning for my summer activities?).  I'd never watched any of them before, so at least they are new for me and I'm not wasting my time watching things I've already seen (that's a lie, I've also watched a few episodes of Sex and the City and we know I've seen all of those before).  Anyway, because my dad loves to quote Rocky constantly and now I actually know what he is talking about, I have to throw out an international "Yo, Adrian!" to him.

4. I got to videochat with Dan Minot tonight, a very special treat.  I should be getting to the internet earlier in the day now that school is out, so maybe I'll get to talk to more of you!  Miss you!

Potentially My Best Day Yet...And Then I Got Sick

This weekend, my friend Connie who lives in a nearby region asked if she could come down to Tovuz and go for a walk/hike with me.  I’d told her many times how Beth and I walk out towards the river and it’s absolutely stunning, so she had been vowing to come down for a while.  We decided that the three of us would pack some food and try to make it all the way to the river on Saturday, something so far we had only done in a car.  We set off at about noon through the now dried but previously ridiculously muddy roads.  They were difficult to walk on as the road had been so destroyed by cars and sheep when it was muddy, but once we got out of town and more into the rolling hills, there were no problems.  Besides a few cars that went by bearing people to their “country homes” by the river and the stray shepherd, we were totally and wonderfully alone.  The weather was fantastically sunny but not too hot (yes Dad, I wore my sunscreen, and yes I still got a sunburn, but not too bad...).  We seemed to hit a snag when we were finally making our descent towards the river about 2 hours later, because we found that our road really only led to some homesteads instead of to a place to picnic on the banks (the other times when we had gone by cars we took more real roads, but this way was more fun for a walk).  At first we had dogs starting to come at us barking menacingly from the closest house and we began to think crap, we have to go back..and probably fast.  But then we noticed a nice man on horseback in the yard calling off the dogs (literally) and motioning for us to come.  It was a very nice little house where an extended family from my village had come out for the day to make “yuxa” (think a gigantic tortilla-ish bread...like 2 or 3 feet in diameter, I have put in a picture from watching my aunts make it in the village).  It was so strange to have walked for two hours and then to have people just be like “oh, it’s Jess!” and have them introduce me to one of my student’s fathers and ask me how my co-teacher is doing (I impressed them by saying it was her son’s birthday and they were all like oh my gosh, she knows better than we do!  As they had forgotten and they are even related).  They helped us climb through their paddock, after giving us çay and trying to feed us, but settling for giving us a ton of cheese and yuxa to carry with us to the river.  We made our way down to the banks, having to jump over a little stream that I inevitably stepped in while jumping across (who’s surprised?).  We picnicked by the river and Beth nearly gave me a heart attack pushing away clumps of dirt where the bank is eroding and could potentially drop off at any time (in fact we were even sitting on a sort of bench like area where a lot of land had fallen away so as to create a lower level leading closer to the water).  On our way back, a man from the next homestead who was visiting his neighbor at the house where we had had çay, helped us up to his house to protect us from dogs.  He even gave Connie his horse and walked her along on with it (that horse was booking it, let me tell you, Beth and I were trotting behind panting).  When we got to his house, we again had çay and were offered another meal and a ride home, which we declined and set out for our walk back, making it home at about 6:30.  It was just such a nice afternoon of Azerbaijani kindness.  Here we were, the crazy Americans just appearing out of the hills, and trust me, everyone in this area thinks we are absolutely insane for walking that whole way on foot, but they didn’t even lecture us on how we were doing things we shouldn’t be doing and we were going to die or be eaten by dogs (yes, I do usually have these conversations when people from the village see me walking).  They were so sincere and sweet and happy to see us and gave us some good joking conversation too.

You’d think my day would be complete when I got home, but no.  I had been planning to cook ratatouille all week for myself and my family, and the timing couldn’t have been better as it ended up that both Beth and Connie were there to enjoy the “American” (read really just non-Azerbaijani) food.  We wolfed it down, laughing as we saw my sisters’ disgusted faces (they weren’t big fans…).  And then the day was rounded out with a little guesting adventure to my counterpart’s house to say happy birthday to her son…and to try to be fed a whole other meal.  We were able to get away with pretty much just the cake, but not by any fault of my teacher’s to food-push her hardest!

It’s days like this that I like the best.  I get to remember that where I live is beautiful and not always muddy and disgusting.  I get to enjoy Azerbaijani hospitality when I actually need it and not when I’m having to wrench my arm away from a well-meaning xanɩm (woman) who is dragging me to eat dolma at her house and making me late for class.  And I get to find a good balance between fun with my American friends and sharing them with my family/village so they can enjoy their company too.

 Connie and Beth

Beth and me at our happiest!

Connie and Me

Connie getting a ride to protect her from dogs...taken while Beth and I ran to keep up

Notice the thistle that is literally is tall as that man!

So that was Saturday.  On Sunday I started to feel a little bit sick and by Monday I felt like complete crap.  Now it is Wednesday and I feel much better (thankfully we had Monday off from school because it is our beloved former president - and current president's father - Heydar Baba's birthday...which meant I got to sleep a lot), but in the time I was sick I got a lot of reminders of the interesting ideas Azerbaijanis have about illness...

Reasons I was Told I Got Sick:
1. I took a shower on Sunday
2. I walked all the way to the river
3. My new jacket for spring suits me too well and everyone is looking at me with jealousy
4. I wore sandals outside without socks
5. I drank cold water

Ways to Get Better:
1. Drink tea with one/all of the following fruit jams - blackberry, raspberry, cherry, and other fruits I can't translate
2. Don't stop drinking tea until you are sweating out the illness
3. Wear a safety pin under your clothes to protect you from other people's jealous/evil thoughts 

Rain, Rain Go Away

We have had a very depressing few weeks of rain here in Azerbaijan.  It has been so wet and muddy that I've had to start walking a different way to school because the field I usually cross I now refer to as a sea (you can see it in the picture for proof).  I'm lucky though because many parts of Azerbaijan have had a lot of flooding and landslides.  Even here in Tovuz one village had a landslide that killed a family, but it wasn't where I am, no worries.  We've just had inconvenient mud, which is especially inconvenient when being muddy is apparently a sign of being a "bad girl" (and here I just thought it was a sign that I had walked to school!).  I just say I'll clean my shoes when they won't get covered again the second I step out of my house's entryway.  The rain seems to be finally going away a bit though, so keep your fingers crossed!

Along with the rain, spring has brought many very adorable baby animals to the village.  At my house we have like 10 little baby chicks who have been living in a box in the kitchen with their mother because the rain has made it too cold outside.  They smell a bit when they are let out of the box to eat, but I think it's forgivable because their just cheeping balls of fluff and don't mean to make our dinner table smell like a chicken coop.  I am not as forgiving of the geese though.  I already didn't like geese before, but with their babies they are really spiteful creatures!  Give them the biggest berth possible when you are passing them on the road and they will still come at you hissing and menacingly elongating their neck as they charge.  I'm just glad we don't have any at my house because I've heard stories of other volunteers having to viciously fight their way to be allowed into the bathroom because of a territorial goose.  Spiteful, I'm telling you.