Dear bloggers,
Salam! So after 3 days in Philadelphia, a drive to NYC, and a flight to
Frankfurt, I have finally arrived in Azerbaijan. We were greeted at the
airport by very excited LCF's (language and cultural facilitators which
are Azeri's working with volunteers through the Peace Corps) and current
volunteers in Azerbaijan. The last four days we have been having orientation in a hotel in Baku that has waterslides! I'm not kidding. The last night we got to see traditional Azeri dancing which was interesting. So there are sixty other volunteers both young and old besides myself. The other day I met my host family. They are really nice and fed me a ton. Just the other day I was fed six hot dogs, which is the amount I might eat in a year, but I know food is expensive (as it is everywhere)and ate it anyway. Besides the hot dogs, the food is really good.
We drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of bread. Since bread is older than
religion in Azeri culture, it is a staple at every meal. The language
is coming ok, but it is hard to communicate with my family. We use a
lot of gestures to understand each other. My host brother speaks a
little English which is nice. He likes cars a lot and studies business
at the university. My family's house is huge! Not what I was expecting
at all. I am very lucky to live in such a nice place. It is more
Western than I thought it would be. No squat style toilet (but those
are to come im sure), it has a shower, modern appliances, a flat screen
tv and a dryer! Just today, it was raining and I was driven to school
in my host father's very nice Mercedes (!!!) I was blown away. Plus my room is
almost twice the size of my studio apartment I lived in meer weeks ago. I went
am very happy to be living with such a hospitable people. Today we went
to the bazaar to buy a cell phone and other things. Little children like to stare and laugh at me and the other volunteers. Some know english and ask our names. There are farm animals everywhere. The other day on the way to school, I saw a herd of sheep crossing the road and a boy no more than five riding a horse. No goats yet though. Next week I will visit current volunteers that have been here a year and see what a 'real' volunteer's life is like. In other news, I heard the Brewer's made the post season!!! That is way awesome and I wish I could see the games, although I hear we are down 0-2. Internet is infrequent and I don't have a lot of time to update this blog right now with everything going on. More to come. (soon hopefully) Stay tuned.
Halalik,
trc
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This blog in no way represents the opinions of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government.
11 comments:
sounds like you should trade in your host family for your real one. P.s. all of the brewers' and cubs' games were ugly. This will not turn out well for the NL central
glad everything is going smoothly! it's awesome you get those western amenities while adjusting to everything new. looking forward to the next installment when you conquer 12 hot dogs in a day. (good thing you're not vegan) :) -dana
my dear timmy,
Waterslides! everything sounds like it's going really well and that is wonderful. I hope the rest of your time goes as smoothly- keep an eye out for those goats.
on a sadder note the brewers are not going to world series:( But neither are the cubs! So that's nice. I wished you were here when I was yelling at the tv for the past couple days, but I knew you were here in spirit.
hi buddy - so nice to read your entry has been smooth so far. Lis and i have wondered about you and will look forward to getting your permanent address for care packages. g
s.
Timoteo, glad to hear things are workin out for you and I hope they continue to do so. Don't be afraid to show those little kids some heshin' aggression!
cone! so glad to hear that you are enjoying your stay already. how lucky you are to be able to eat so many hotdogs and not have people think you're gross. sounds like a pretty sweet deal. what are your host family's names and how many children do they have - and how old?
did you bring the alcatraz picture with you?
can't wait to read some more bloggage...
ps. thanks for the sparks
Yea Tim! I'm so happy your travels are going well so far. Whooo hoo way to luck out and score a sweet crib! Holla keep writing homie
xxx Natalie
You may have just set a terrible precedent!
now, this family may try to feed you plates and plates of hot dogs while they whisper in azari about how strangely American you are, what with loving hot dogs and being able to eat so much.... :)
whats the weather like there?
also, are there lots of stray dogs and cats?
miss you. hope everything is wonderful!
barbiedollhey tim- mom here.glad to hear things are going well so far. Is the azeri language as easy to learn as everyone has said? packers are 3-3, they beat seattle. bucks have not won a preseason game yet-NOT good. going to lunch with brian this sunday. weather has been spectacular here warm and sunny. trees are beautiful- went to holy hill and hiked with the dogs- great. hope to hear from you soon---luv M
Hello sir
I'm so glad to hear that everything is going great so far! Thats great that your house is all nice and so is your host family. Hope to hear from you soon son!
Pads
P.S. I'm totally digging the cds, thanks!
turbo, call me. this is my second attempt at posting a comment. hope it works.
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