Zagatala, aka Beautiful! Also: AZ7+

Well friends, the site visit to Zagatala is over. I came back to Tagiyev on Wednesday night, absolutely exhausted after a 9 hour bus ride! But the trip itself was wonderful.

We began with a train ride that started from Baku, the capital, at 10pm. 12 hours later we were in the clean, green region of Zagatala. The Caucus Mountains did not have snow on them just yet, so after meeting up with our host volunteers in the area, some of us went on a hike. The difference in the air quality was incredible; Zagatala was cool and crisps and filled my lungs without any problem.

In all, there were 5 of us trainees. 2 of us were Youth Development, and the other 3 were English Teachers. Between the 5 of us, we had 3 volunteer hosts.

Here is the list of things I did on the Site Visit:

1) A great Hike in the Caucus Mountains.

2) I lead an English Language Conversation session for some local community members.

3) Ate fresh nuts and berries; Zagatala is known for them this time of year.

4) Did mock-interviews for teens who were applying to join a program that would send them to the States for a Year; sort of a cultural exchange program for ex-soviet countries.

5) Went shopping in a bazaar.



I would really love to end up in Zagatala for the next two year, but it looks like the Peace Corps will only be sending 2 new volunteers; probably not even a Youth Development Facilitator.



With that said however, I've had a chance to hear a little bit more about the rest of the country after talking to everyone after all the site visits. AZ7 had our 2nd Hub Day this past Friday, and it was great to see everyone. OH, and a few new faces too...



...The same exact day that we left the States for Azerbaijan, a Peace Corps group going to Turkmenistan was told they were no longer being sent there and that their service was being canceled! Something about the Turkmenistan government rejecting Visas. Anyway, some of that group was split up and have been sent to some other group who are going through training right now. A small number went to the Ukraine, another group might be going to Africa, and we picked up 7 of the Turkmenistan folks. This now brings the AZ7 team to a total number of 65. They've been given an incredibly fast orientation and have been thrown into the language classes. It was wonderful getting a chance to meet some of these folks. One of them is actually a former Sudanese refugee who is now a US citizen! He came to the states during Sudan's civil war after spending years bouncing around refugee camps as an orphan. If anyone has heard of "The Lost Boys of Sudan," this guy is one of them. He's one of thousands of these kids who were orphaned by the war who made their way to the States. It's been great getting to know him. the rest of AZ7+ and even AZ7 originals that I had not had an opportunity to meet yet.



This next week will be busy. We have our mid-training language competency test and our site placement interviews. They aren't as intimidating as they sound. The language test is simply used to help the Peace Corps see how we're doing on an individual level, and hopefully address specific needs for the remainder of training. The site placement interview is just a conversation where they take our personal needs and desires into account as they make their final decisions on where they will send us.

Here are a couple ideas for up coming blogs:
1) The people of AZ7 (there are some really interesting individuals here: ex-military, a Lost Boy of Sudan, a former NFL kicker, etc.).
2) Specifics of living with a host family and how the host family relationship has progressed over a month. It's kind of cool; my host family now calls me "My Sean."

Any other ideas?


--------------------------------Comments From Last Time-----------------------------------


Hannah: hahaha, I know that I should have probably asked if it's okay to quote you but as you know, time is money in these Internet cafes. And despite what You, Nate and Rob think, you're not a nimrod to me.

Nate: Dude I almost get destroyed on some of these buses. The only thing that has given me some relief is a bottle of bubbly water. But I don't even want to think about what it will be like during the summer.

Rob: I'll post some pictures of what I'm talking about in regards to pollution. I guaranty that even people from Riverside and LA who see the pictures will say something like "Oh, that's a shame."

-Miss you guys. Love you big-