Post #20: Quick recap of April, May & June

(Pictures: Hannah & me in Baku, Softball Program, Travel Club BBQ, Volunteer Group)

Beginning of April: I moved into my new apartment which is on the top floor of a 5 floor apartment building. It’s actually a pretty nice place; running water & electricity. It’s also very close to the center of town. I’m very pleased

April-early May: Hannah visited Azerbaijan for 25 days! It was a great trip. We traveled and saw a lot of different parts of the country. Another big part of the visit was that she got a chance to meet most of the volunteers in the country, at least almost all of the AZ7’s; the group of volunteers I belong to. She met all of my close friends & actually got a chance to meet a good number of my Azerbaijani friends and youth who I work with.

It was a blessing getting an opportunity to spend a month with her and for her to be able to see what my life is like over here. It was a wonderful time, and it is a memory that will last forever.

May-June: New work and developing some projects:

1) New Conversation Clubs: If I were to divide up my service chronologically, the first part of my service (the first 4 months as a volunteer –not a trainee- was my introduction) was all about community integration and learning about my community. Conversation Clubs were not exactly something I was looking forward to, but honestly they gave me an amazing foundation to build off of. All of my current friends were originally my students in conversation clubs. People I have worked with on other projects came from these groups too. They were so fruitful for me at the beginning that I’ve decided to continue new ones. Plus, they give people an opportunity to speak and practice English & interact with each other outside of normal social settings.

2) Softball: The Azerbaijan Peace Corps Spring Softball Program ended with Mingecevir as the champions! It was a wonderful season. There are about 6 official teams this year, and it was a lot of fun. It was a great opportunity for boys and girls to spend time together as equal teammates and to learn about sportsmanship as well. The new season starts in the fall.

3) Travel Club: I’ve been here for 9 months now, and I can honestly say that I’ve seen more of this country than most Azerbaijani’s have or ever will. Traveling is not a big part of the culture here; it can be expensive, especially if you need to stay in a hotel. Luckly there are PCV’s all over the country so I stay places for free

Anyway, this is a group of youth (boys & girls!) who really wanted to see a beautiful part of the country in the North. Long story short, we put a lot of planning together and finally got a trip together and went last week. It felt like an American BBQ, and everyone had a lot of fun experiencing something they never really thought they ever do.

4) Volunteer Group!: Context: Volunteerism is almost non-existent in this culture. It’s actually very very difficult to explain why any of us are here & why we don’t work for money. I hope to blog more about Volunteer Group in the future but I’ll tell you these facts:

a) It’s made up of all Azerbaijani’s between the ages of 15 and 30

b) It’s a group that told me THEY WANTED to start the club; it wasn’t any idea that started with me!

c) We just completed our first project at an Internally Displaced People (IDP) school, and it was very successful

Current Hobbies I’m working on:

-Brewing: I have some Ginger Beer that I started in June. We’ll see how it turns out in a week or so.

-Guitar: I finally picked up the guitar and have been doing my best to teach myself. I’m that that good, but I can strum out a few songs. I bought a guitar off a member of AZ6.

-International 5K Club: between June 14 & August 9 I am part of a group that has vowed to complete 5,000 pushups during the 8 week period. You can check us out on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=127061160658625&ref=ts

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

Heather: Didn’t mean to be Debby Downer for ya, pal. How is summer going anyway???

Fill me in when you get a chance. I don’t get a chance to read your blog on a regular basis, but when I get the chance to I love keeping track of what you’re doing.

Brad:

For the record, I’ve never seen/heard anyone else pull of sarcasm with as much class as you do. It’s actually marvelous, and quite unique too. Now that you’re finished with the regular school year, how is summer treating you? Are you finished with summer school? What are the plans for next year?

Julie: Thanks Julie, hahaha. How are you these days? Are you still working and living in PV?

Barry: I don’t plan to write a letter to SSP Counselors until I am privileged enough to join their ranks. Congratulations on 5 year! I think/hope you know how thankful I am & how fortunate I feel that I got a chance to get to know Barry Goodballet. Yet another thing I can thank SSP for. Truly though, you were a wonderful counselor in 2006 and have been a great friend ever since then.

Breea: That’s awesome; thanks for that. It started as just a letter I wrote so that I could simply focus all the thousands of thoughts I was having about SSP and all of you guys; sort of a mediation technique and relaxation exercise. Then I just decided to post it so whoever wanted to see it could.

Congratulations to you and your staff on the completion of week 1!!! I hope to see pictures next time I get the internet. As I write this you’re probably doing supply runs in town and starting on the prep necessary to get week 2 off on a good note. Best of luck to you and the team Breea!