Azer-by-whaty? Azerbaijan?

When I first found out Azerbaijan was where I'd be headed, my first reaction was that I knew where the Caucasus Region was, but nothing about actual Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Region includes the countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Once in the Caucasus, you'll find Russia to the North, Turkey and Iran to the South, the Caspian Sea to the East and Black Sea to the West.

The Caucasus were formerly under the Soviet Empire's sphere of influence; that is, of course, until Rocky Balboa defeated Ivan Drago in the dramatic boxing bout that single-handedly ended the Cold War. (Refer to the Cold War documentary, Rocky IV).

When the USSR crumbled and the 3 countries gained independence in the early 90's, Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war shortly after. The purpose for this war was a piece of land called the Nagorno-Karabakh Region; a heavily Armenian populated region of Azerbaijan. The fighting ended with a 1994 cease-fire, leaving Armenia occupying Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan with 600,000 internally displaced persons. My understanding is that there is still a large amount of resentment between the two populations.

below are some basic factoids I've learned about Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan Facts:
Population: 8,238,672
Language: Azeri
Religion: Muslim 93.4%, Russian Orthodox 2.5%, Armenian Orthodox 2.3%, other 1.8%
Government: Republic; elected Head of State (however, accusations of corruption are in high volume).
Agriculture - products: cotton, grain, rice, grapes, fruit, vegetables, tea, tobacco; cattle, pigs, sheep, goats.
Industries: petroleum and natural gas, petroleum products, oilfield equipment; steel, iron ore; cement; chemicals and petrochemicals; textiles.
Weather & Climate: Below freezing point in the winter, around 100F in the summer.

visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aj.html for more information.

There is Internet access in the country, but it is unclear how often I will be able to connect. The Peace Corps will provide me a cell phone, but my understanding is that it is very expensive to use and that text messaging is the main mode of cell communication. I will be staying with a host family for the first 2 months during Training. Depending on where I end up I may be housed with another host family or will be renting a place. The likely hood of renting a place and being by myself is not very likely, simply because there are not a lot of available places in the more rural areas of the country. But who knows. In the mean time, I'm excited to meet my host family. I do need gift ideas though. Any thoughts???