Hey

Hey all,

it's been a little while since i have posted anything. it's been business as usual here for the most part. T- minus one year! here are some pics that i thought you might like. in no particular order, we have a boxing poster from georgia, a couple pics of my village, my house, and oboy!

tim

New Email Address

Hi all,

my new email is timrcone@gmail.com

email trouble

Hey friends,

my yahoo! email account has recently been hacked by someone trying to scheme money. please disregard any email that may come your way from my account. do not reply and do not send any money! i'll keep you all posted when i get this figured out.

thanks,

tim

turkey pics

Hey all,

here are some pics from my glorious Turkey trip. Enjoy!

in no particular order, we have people washing their feet before entering the blue mosque, the bascilica sistern (twice!), whirling dervish, graffiti in istanbul, olympos beach and treehouses, boat on the Mediterranean and some turkish viagra (doesn't work) from the spice bazar.


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internet cafes still exist

Friends,

Well hey, it’s been awhile. Summer has come and gone way too fast. Here is a recap of the best stuff.

ABLE Camp: This camp (Azerbaijani Boys Leadership Experience) was last month and it was a good one. Boys from all around the country got to come together for 4 epic days of games, leadership presentations, community awareness, project ideas, and bonfires to name a few. The kids got a chance to interact with other boys their age, volunteers and Azerbaijanis who studied in America for 1 year of high school. They learned about how to be a leader in their community, how to implement projects, gender roles, and academic opportunities in America. They also learned how to throw a football and play capture the flag (they liked this one especially). The food wasn’t’ the best but the cabin style houses made up for it. It’s the first time that I have slept on a real mattress for more than two days in a long time! It left my back feeling pretty good. The boys seemed to really enjoy camp and it gave them a lot of confidence going into the new school year. Definitely one of the best things I have been apart of thus far in Azerbaijan.

Sheki Day Camp: This camp was special because the kids who attended were the best I have ever worked with. Enthusiasm, respect, gratitude, and patience are a few of the ways I can describe these kids. A stark contrast to the children at my school! The camp was 4 weeks long, but I only attended 1 of those weeks. My week was arts and crafts week, which turned out to be a lot cooler than I expected. We made kites, piñatas, soap carvings (I made a goldfish), tie-dyed t-shirts, painted a mural in the center of town and had a huge water fight. Very fun camp put on by a few dedicated volunteers. I hope we can replicate the experience for next summer.

Softball: Playing any other sport besides soccer is awesome. I like soccer, don’t get me wrong, but it’s all the kids’ play. Seriously. So when I heard there was going to be a softball meet, I jumped at the opportunity. The kids here really like it, and it’s good for them to learn something different/something about American sports. Yours truly went 3-5 with a triple and two singles. It was a lot of fun, but the amount of Cubs gear I saw out there was sickening. Go Crew.

Istanbul/Olympos: I recently visited Turkey, a place I have wanted to go for some time. I traveled there by myself, something I had never done up until this point. Travelling solo is pretty cool, I must say. Istanbul was an interesting place to travel to. It has a lot of history, but at the same time I was disappointed that there was so much development. It is definitely a place to shop, if that is what you want to do. The best things were the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya. So beautiful. The Turks are a really kind people. Interesting and helpful, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with some really great people. This was definitely one of my favorite parts about the trip. After I exhausted Istanbul, I traveled down South to Olymos, off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Here I stayed in a tree house (just like Swiss family Robinson) and went to a very pretty beach everyday. I swam a lot, and ate a lot of seafood and okra. It was all very delicious and I find myself wanting these foods all the time now. I need to stop watching ‘No Reservations’ because I get super hungry every time that I do.

Other news: School started on the 15th this month. The first week was very disorganized. Confusing and complicated sum it up pretty well (sigh). Hopefully, there will be a schedule soon. The 23rd of this month is also the 1-year mark of my PC service. Quite the accomplishment! It’s hard to believe I have been here an entire year already! One down, one to go. One group of volunteers has recently left the country (AZ5’s) and the new group (AZ7’s) will be here shortly. This means that my group (AZ6) kind of has ‘veteran status’ and will be showing the new volunteers the ropes and how to navigate a squat toilet.

Some of you have wanted to send a package my way. If you are one of these super people, I promise to give you backrubs and feed you grapes/candy of your choice when I get back. My address is:

Tim Coné
Lahij Settlement
Ismayilli Region
Azerbaijan Republic

I am fond of beef jerky, tuna, chunky pb, hot sauces, spices, mouth wash, good coffee, music magazines, trail mix and other assorted nut medleys.

As you know, I don’t update my blog as much as I would like to. I tend to respond more timely to emails, so if you have questions, want updates, relationship advice, etc… email me at timrcone@yahoo.com.


trc

wifi rules

Hi bloggers,

here are some pics of softball and summer camp. happy summer!

Hey all,

Since I am still in high speed land, here are some pics from Son Zeng and championship bowling. Enjoy!

-Tim

this and that

Hi everyone,

sorry it has been so long since my last post! I tend to do better keeping up with emails, so if you want to send me a message, you can do so at timrcone@yahoo.com.

On to the blog. School wrapped last weekend and to commemorate the year, my school had Son Zeng, which means ‘final bell’ in Azerbaijani. It is the equivalent of a graduation ceremony in America. Our school was decorated with balloons and flowers and had a band playing too. It was quite festive. Son Zeng celebrates the 11th form students’ completion of secondary school. School here finishes at the 11th grade. For the final bell, two of the 11th form students hoisted 1st form children onto their shoulders and the little ones rang the final bell for their upperclassmen, which was pretty cute. The whole ceremony lasted about an hour and a half and included speeches by many of the teachers including myself. Although I couldn’t understand a majority of the speakers, it was a good experience that left me on a high note going into next school year. After the ceremony was a photo extravaganza. I was approached by students and people I have never met just so they could get a quick cell phone picture with me. It was like I had fans. Kind of surreal, but I didn’t mind doing it. I’ll probably miss this sort of thing when I am just another person living in America, so for the time that I am here, I am enjoying it.

In other news, I moved into my new house. This one is a lot better than my old one and I am pretty happy with it. It is one big room on the lower and it has a large balcony. Squat toilet of course, but the view is really great. Looking out you see mountains in all directions, a mosque, as well as a cemetery off in the distance. It is really beautiful and my favorite part of my house. I go to the well daily for water, which is a humbling experience because I am so used to simply turning a tap. There are always ducks hanging out down by the well and they will come right up to where I am standing which amazes me. Doing laundry by hand is also an interesting dynamic never having done it before. I did my laundry by hand for the first time about a month or so ago, and my wrists were sore for a week. As a bonus I felt like Hulk Hogan after about 30 minutes of ringing out my clothes. Watch out world. I have also been taking a lot of bucket baths lately (welcome to Peace Corps) because the weather has been so warm. It’s actually pretty easy and I save a ton of water because I only use one bucket. There is a public shower in town which I have used a couple of times, but I am not the biggest fan. The men are allowed to go Tuesday through Sunday and the women only get Mondays, but for now I am enjoying the luxury of showering by myself in my backyard.

Here are some pics from my village that I really like and I hope you do too.

Miss you all very much.

-Tim

skype

Dear all,

just used skype with a couple of friends and it worked ok, so if anyone is interested... For those that don't know about skype, it is a program that lets you talk anywhere in the world from computer to computer/phone. I get to Baku maybe twice a month or so and that is the best time that i can use it. Lemme know and we can work something out. It's free too.

t

Georgia pics and other stuff

Dear Friends,

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog. I recently went to Georgia with a couple volunteers and it was a great time. I included some pics of Tbilisi and Telavi. Check em out.

News as of late: I have moved out of my host family's house and into a place of my own! It's a only a temporary stay though because next month I am moving to another place. My new place will be much smaller than the place I have now, but it has a huge balcony and a great view of the mountains which I am excited for. The place I live in now is big, but the only place I can get water is from a tap in my bathroom. Consequently, I do my dishes next to my toilet hunched over which I am not a big fan of. The other place I am interested in doesn't have a tap at all-I have to retrieve water from spring next to the mosque if I want it. Cooking is another issue. Since my new place will not have a kitchen, I will use a gas balloon to do all my cooking. Sounds fun, huh? This summer, living will be pretty easy though. I am looking forward to it.

Other stuff: Summer vacation is only a month or so away, and I am getting pumped about projects I want to help contribute to. Softball, environmental groups (so important), ABLE camp (Azerbaijani Boys Leadership Experience), and a photo club are some of the things I will be providing my community with/helping out other volunteer's communities with in the coming months.

Aforementioned was the environment and how it's really important that nationals in this country learn safe and sustainable practices in regards to waste management, recycling, and reducing. Some of you may have already heard that Azerbaijan doesn't use the best practices when it comes to the environment. Burning trash, dumping trash, and damming all rivers are just a couple of the things that the land base here is suffering through. The village I live in, one of the most beautiful places in the country if not the world is heavily polluted and its once awesome river is now dammed and has become a dumping site. Also, Azerbaijan only has a handful of recycling centers around the country, which equates to more dumping and burning of things. A lot needs to be done about this as you can already tell. Earth day community events are coming up next week. In about 5 or so of the different regions, there will be trash clean ups and garbage art contests which is encouraging to see. It's a start.

More stuff: Istanbul. This summer.

More to come,

trc

From long lost Tim!

Hey there everyone, Lahic got a foot of snow last week (cringe). Just when I thought winter was over... I was getting really excited to break out the sneakers after months in hibernation, but it looks like I'll be trudging around in my boots for at least another couple of weeks.

Things are moving along pretty well here in the 'baijan. School is going ok but my classrooms are freezing! No gas = minimal warmth. Being this cold makes it difficult to teach when all you are thinking about is warmth, and I know it affects how the kids learn too. When I teach class many of the kids are rubbing their sleeves together just to generate some sort of heat. As difficult as it is to teach 20 or so noisy 10th graders a foreign language, this only adds to the problem. Is it spring yet???

The road to Lahic is a very rugged terrain. It is unpaved, icy and incredibly bumpy. It is through the mountains and many of the passes drop off over a hundred feet. There is no barricade or guard rails to protect motorists from plummeting off the side of the mountain if something were to go awry. Many times buses won't run during the winter months because it is simply too dangerous. On a couple of occasions, I have gotten stuck in the neighboring city Ismayilli because buses were not running. I have had to hitch rides on the side of the Lahic road twice already. One time a man on a tractor rolled up and offered me a ride which at the time seemed ok, but after 5 minutes or so of slowing treading up the road at a mere 4 mph, I hopped off. At that rate I would have made it home at about 6 o'clock that evening (mind you it was about noon when the tractor man picked me up). Just last Sunday we had a snow storm, but the buses were still running to and from Lahic suprisingly. I was a little paranoid about the conditions and the capabilities of an old Soviet bus in the harsh weather, but reluctantly I got on. Usually it takes about an hour to get from the city of Ismayilli to Lahic but this time it took about 2 and a half hours. The bus driver had to keep stopping and reversing the bus to get up the snowy slopes and he had to stop the bus numerous times so he and the other passengers could get out and remove boulders that were blocking the road. Getting home has never been more of a team effort. On one particular pass, the bus couldn't make it up, so everyone had to get out and walk about 2 miles back up to the village. Not fun. These are the challenges I face everytime I leave home. It wasn't all that bad though, on the ride up a couple of old ladies (xanims) offered me some candy and a sip off their juice box. Now that's not so bad.

Stay warm,

trc

Dear friends, not too much to report so I decided to post some pics instead. Here we have my old language cluster when we all lived near Sumqayit, Saray school, waiting for a bus in Baku, kickball game and Ayten our LCF (language and cultural facilitator) teaching us Azeri.

Georgia On My Mind

Dear friends,

I hope all your holidays went well and were somewhat relaxing for you. I didn't get to celebrate xmas, because it is not a recognized holiday here and I wasn't around volunteers at the time, but the good news is that I got to celebrate new year's in Baku! The city was very festive this year with many decorations and lights. There were Christmas trees and skinny Azeri men dressed up as Santa (or Shaxta Baba as he is known in Azerbaijan). With Santa, there was a man dressed up like the Easter Bunny and another as Shrek for some reason. I got to spend time and speak English with many of the other volunteers which was a nice change of pace from the village life I am becoming accustomed to. Many parts of Azerbaijan had a big snow storm so I had to stay in Baku an extra two days, which I wasn't the least bit sad about. For New Year's eve I went to a bar! Real cool I know, but I haven't been to one in about 4 months so it made for a surreal experience. It made me miss bartending, but only a little. The next couple of days many of us explored the city or hung out at the hotel. One night we played Apples to Apples and Oodles (game from the eighties) which I enjoyed.

Village life is going well so far. Teaching is ok and my English conversation clubs have many interested participants which is encouraging to see. Normally a volunteer has one or two conversation clubs a week but I have five because so many people showed up! I got my hands full at the moment. My language is coming along (slowly but surely) and my body is gradually readjusting to village food. The director gave me my own office at school with a little sign above the door that says,"Tim Cone's office, peace corps volunteer" and a picture of me grinning which is great, but it's freezing in here! I have a heater, but in order to use the computer and talk to people in cyberspace, it has to be unplugged or it's electricity overload. My hands are numb as I type this... The roads are very slippery because there are no sidewalks here, only cobblestones and consequently, I have fallen many times to the amusement of old ladies (xanims in Azeri) and my students. Many volunteers suggest that I build snow shoes or skis. We'll see. My host family has a cat that I started calling 'Remedy'. I have always been a dog person, but she's cool. She finally let me pet it for the first time the other day after I gave it some hot dog. In other random news, Azerbaijan is playing Germany, Finland and one other country this spring/summer for world cup qualifying which I am excited about. International soccer is huge here and the hooligans will be definitely be out. I will not be missing this.

This spring I will eventually be moving out of my host parents home and into my own living space which should be nice. My host family is great, but I am so accustomed to living by myself. Living alone here will have it's challenges though, like chopping a ton of wood to stay warm and cooking my own meals with the limited food selection in Lahic, but I feel I am up to the challenge. After all, one of the main reasons I joined Peace Corps was to challenge myself so I won't be holding anything back. In order to help myself through this challenge, I have enquired to villagers that I am in the market for a goat this spring. Goats are around eighty manat or about one hundred US dollars (1 AZN = 1.20$) which is a bit expensive with my budget, but definitely worth it with all that a goat can produce.

In other news, I am thinking of traveling to Tiblisi, Georgia (the country) this spring for the Novruz holiday! I'm pumped because I have heard many good things about Georgia from other volunteers and I'm always itching to travel to new places. This is another big reason I joined Peace Corps and I want to take full advantage of this.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to those keeping up with the blog and sending me messages from time to time. It's good to hear from all of you. If anyone is interested, you can contact me at timrcone@yahoo.com or else im on myspace as well. Keep in touch.


Your friend,

Tim

Address

friends,

here is my new address!

Tim Coné
Lahic Settlement
Ismayilli Region
Azerbaijan Republic

if you want to send me anything, i am fond of new music and film, ernie ball guitar strings, interesting books, food and spices, coffee and tea, beef jerky, surprises!, neat socks, granola bars, and especially items that bring out your personality!

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I promise a super blog really soon!

-Tim