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