Like Christmas, but in March, in a Muslim country

I feel like I've been waiting for Christmas for 6 months and it finally has happened. And the bike I was hoping for, plus the Moonshoes, plus the walking, talking robot were all under the tree. Sunday I moved into my apartment and have been basking in the glow of adulthood with a stupid grin on my face during the entirety of my seven minute walk to school. Already, living on my own nets me an extra 1.5 hours each day, where previously i was be walking.

I moved into my apartment Sunday and spent the day unpacking, which is nothing compared to a US move. The apartment is furnished, and after substantial rearrangement of the furniture and moving the fridge into the kitchen from the hallway quite comfortable. It has electricity and indoor plumbing which means an indoor toilet and shower/tub. Admittedly I'm still figuring out how the shower/tub works. That sentence probably reads a little weird in the US, but Azeri plumbing is not so straight forward as a pipe to a faucet.

A fellow PCV, Lannea, and I went to a mini bazaar to pick up some vegetables for my first cooked dinner in this apartment. I'm asking a million different questions to her while standing in front of all the fresh produce. She suddenly exclaims 'Wait, you've never shopped for food here have you?' As a guy, I haven't even been allowed in the kitchen let alone shopped for any food. The variety in a single green grocer's stall is equal to most farmers markets. I suddenly have a new found desire to talk with shopkeepers around me or speak with the little kids playing soccer. This is now my community, it is these people I will be seeing everyday for the next two years. There was such a resistance to community integration when I was temporarily living in a distant suburb outside the city. That 180s immediately, now that I'm actually living in Xachmaz, in my own apartment. I feel part of a community now that I have a space of my own to occupy in it.

Cooking my first meal was literally, a thrill. Lannea and I ate the healthiest meal we've had in Azerbaijan (no exaggeration) with foods purchased minutes before: onions, spinach, tomatoes, pasta, olive oil. Oh olive oil, how I've missed you, never will the horrible pee colored sunflower oil be allowed in this house. Each step of cooking added another item to my kitchen inventory and to my shopping list; skillet: check, strainer: need, cutting board: check, forks: need. Control over diet and food is a huge step in normalizing my time here and having a kitchen is a huge step towards that. The fact that there is coffee on my counter, that there is beer in the fridge, that my sister's 'save the date' card is taped to the fridge door-all just like America.

Last week our housing coordinator came up to Xachmaz to give the final approval on mine and another volunteers house. My landlady gave him the tour and he ensured that I actually good did know what was being talked about; did I actually know how to light the petch, could I really light a glass stove, etc. As he was dropping me back off at my host family's house, he congratulated me and then articulated exactly how I feel now: 'and now your service really begins.'

The Weeknd - House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls

Now this just isn't fair. Anyone else planning on releasing an album this year, just wait until 2012 because The Weeknd is going to run circles around you. Last week they released a (free) mixtape that is better than any other albums I've heard so far this year. Sorry Cut Copy, sorry James Blake, sorry Radiohead-The Weeknd is where its at.

download it (again, for free!) here: http://the-weeknd.com/

Instant Conversation Club - Just Add Humans

I didn't rate having site mates as being too great a necessity for me when my Program Managers conducted my site interview. But since I do have them, I am incredibly glad for it. They are able to keep me sane in this foreign land and we provide an automatic layer of support in whatever we endeavor to do during our service.

Before even getting to site Lannea and I decided that we would work together in some of our conversation clubs. We had both heard that clubs were much easier when you had the luxury of two American's running it and you automatically halve the work you need to do.

We organize two clubs together. The one at her organization is a beginners conversation club and the one at my organization, School 8, is a conversation club for advanced students. This way we work with a variety of levels and get exposure to a greater community of kids.

A couple weeks ago we completed our first beginners convo club with a fun party. We finally got around to reviewing and editing our lesson plans and thought it might make sense to share what we've done with other PCVs/the world to help others get their conversation clubs going.

Below is a file that contains all the materials you would need for a beginner level conversation club. Its not language specific, so no matter what language your host country is you can adapt it to your needs as the club is mostly conducted in English. It contains 16 lessons, convo club rules, some materials, and a list of supplies you will need. Feel free to use and adapt to your own needs.

Download HERE

Video: First Novruz in Azerbaijan

Here's a vid of my first Novruz in Azerbaijan (entirely shot and edited on an iPod Touch-thanks Apple!)

First Novruz in Azerbaijan from josh on Vimeo.

The Fires You Always Wanted to Make

In Azerbaijan, this is their version of 'Happy Holidays,' and I wish you all a Happy Holidays from across the ocean. You see, right now in Azerbaijan is Novruz, the biggest national holiday. Children (and teachers-woot woot) are off from school and go Novruzing-which is throwing their hat or bag onto doorsteps so people can fill it with candy and sweets. Each town and village throws a big festival, with singers and clowns and cockfights (which was unexpected) and speakers. The national dishes and sweets are prepared, like plov-a rice dish topped with apricots, pumpkin, raisins, and meat, or shorab-a pastry with a mild spice inside. And each and every household lights massive bonfires.

Oh the bonfires. One of the best parts of living in a developing country is the lack of fire safety and regulations, so the fires you create are exactly as large as you've always wanted to create. Got some old clothes? Throw them in the fire. Is that backpack broken? We need more fuel for the fire. And every house (literally, every single house you walk by) has a massive bonfire. The columns of flame easily reach 7, 8, 10 feet high. Azerbaijan translates to Land of Fire, and many many years ago it was inhabited by the Zoroastrians, fire worshippers, who heralded the coming of spring with these massive bonfires. Walking last night the entire street was illuminated by a campfire glow with bursts of glowing flame spaced every house-distance apart.

Once these bonfires are lit, the tradition is that you jump over them. In jumping over the fire you wish for all the bad that has been staying within you to drop into the fire and to be consumed. You do this three times to ensure you're being thorough. Afterwards you go inside and eat yourself silly.

In other news I finally found an apartment which is a huge weight off my shoulders. It was worth the effort and, dare I say, stress because it is pretty much exactly what I wanted. Its the center or town and everything I ever go-close to work, my host brother's office, and a couple other organizations I work at. Its an apartment, which means it has indoor plumbing. It is extremely clean-cleaner than my first apartment in Denver and has a nice kitchen and good furniture. Finally, it already has a phone line running into it, so I should (and it is always in Azerbaijan a big 'should') be able to get internet.

Expand the Story, Expand the Learning

Too frequently we look at our successes and accomplishments, however seemingly small, as isolated incidents. We will practice and prepare, work towards something for weeks, months, maybe even years. But when success comes, we tend to look at it as a unique event in our timeline. The narrative we construct begins with our first steps towards our goal and ends with the accomplishment. We do not view it as part of our learning continuum but as something different.

We limit ourselves greatly when we construct our narratives this way, isolating each incident from one another. An alternate approach is to expand our narratives to a greater timeline, such as one's professional life, or even greater, to help us view successes as connected points on a continuum. Situations may be unique, but it is more helpful to view the learning we obtain from them as connected and evolving.

Frequently when we are engaged in mentoring, community development, people management, even parenting, we have opportunity to discuss with others about successes they've just experienced. Below are very useful questions, cribbed from Luckner & Nadler (1997) to help us do that. Keep in mind that these can be easily adapted to speak about change or problem analysis, to work with kids or adults. For Peace Corps Volunteers, all of these questions would be considered appreciative.

Responsibility for Owning the Success-the goal of these questions is to encourage ownership of the success, to allow one to inventory what resources they used, what actions they took, and what mindset they had.

-How do you account for this success?

-How did you get this to happen?

-What support or resources did you use to have this success?

-When were you first aware of your decision to take this risk/make this happen?

Expand the Temporal Plan-the goal of these questions is to situate this success in a timeline of events; to show how past events have led to it and how it will lead to future events.

-What sort of training did you do to prepare yourself for this kind of endeavor?

-How do you see this success fitting in with your hopes and aspirations?

-What in your past would let us predict that you are the sort of person who could do such a thing/success?

-What will be the first road sign that you will see that will tell you that you are still on track?

-What other possibilities are closer to you now with this success?

Increasing Descriptions from the Audience-here we use questions to open up the learners perspective to alternative narrative by incorporating others' viewpoints (these may be solicited or hypothesized).

-How did others see '____' prepare for this success?

-What do you think this tells me about you?

-What do you think '_____' sees as the highlight of your accomplishment?

Meaning and Difference-the goal here is to help the learner become critically aware of the learning and understand how they can keep it for and apply it to future areas.

-What does this say about you now that you have accomplished this?

-How do you see yourself now after completing this task?

-What difference will it make to you knowing that you have written a new chapter about yourself?

So What's Getting Me Through? Part II

So What's Getting Me Through? Part II:

This final stretch of host family is rough. The good news is its March and almost 6 months in Azerbaijan, which is pretty crazy to think about. The bad news is its March and almost 6 months living with a host family. I don't have an apartment yet, but I'm excited to so I can stop holing myself in my room. Here's what's getting me through.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Have you read these as an adult? Each chapter is a deliciously entertaining frantic page-turner racing to understand the case before Holmes himself. Its amazing how the solution is so opaque when reading but so logical upon its unveiling. It is the opposite of bedtime reading and I highly recommend it.

Algoriddem's djay software. This is a very clear djay software laying out two turntables a full function mixer and other desirable features such as effects, cue points, looping, and sampling. You also have access, in program, to your entire iTunes library. This also serves the poor Peace Corps Volunteer well in a culture so focused on gift giving as it will now serve as the basis for all birthday presents given to friends here.

Das Racist - Sit Down Man. Das Racist first started creating waves last year, but I only got into this mixtape earlier this year. They're two dudes, too clever to describe in a paragraph, But they have the most ridiculous lyrics and puns. They cause me to giggle like a school girl on my walks to school.

Das Racist - Hahahahajk?

Das Racist - Amazing

Traveling Teaching Roadshow

This past weekend was one of my best times yet in Azerbaijan. For the past four days I've been traveling with three other volunteers on something of a teaching tour, conducting workshops in three different cities in northwest Azerbaijan (Tovuz, Gazak, and Gǝncǝ). It was the first gorgeous spring weekend in the country and we got to spend the sunny weather in the shadow of the lovely Lower Caucuses, working with Azeri English teachers and hanging out with volunteers afterwards.

The purpose of these workshops is to help teachers with Interactive Methods that can be used today. The phrase 'Interactive Methods' is a buzz word in Azerbaijani education. Teachers are ordered by the ministry to utilize them and even held accountable for using these methods, but little (or, no) training has been given to these teachers to help them understand what interactive methods are or how to integrate them into their classroom.

So, last year two AZ7s, Jenny and Shira, wrote a grant to conduct a training session in 10 cities around the country on several different interactive methods. To one educated in the American school system these are extremely basic-using symbols for new vocabulary words or associating a physical movement every time a certain phonetic sound is read. All of these methods require zero preparation and zero supplies, just a knowledge of the method and a willingness to use it. The grant was received and, lo and behold, we now can travel for free.

The trainings have been well received and could definitely be described as successful, but there's pressure from a few different organizations to make it bigger than a couple of PCVs traveling around Azerbaijan. So Jenny and Shira asked myself and Kelly to join them for this round, observing and preparing to take over and revise the reach of the program. A project might be a great idea, but its not sustainable if it requires PCVs to keep it going. Kelly's and my goal will be discovering ways we can turn this from a training program to a train the trainer program-something that prepares teachers to teach other teachers on these methods so, if and when Peace Corps is no longer here, they can maintain this development.

The good news is this is where most funders want this project to go as well. Although Shira and Jenny eventually got funding, they received feedback from other sources that its scope was too small, and they would like to see this greater reach. As the new volunteers to lead this, this is direction Kelly and I will be charged with. Immediately I see potential in developing this into a training for PCVs in how to train their counterparts. Additionally, there is AzETA-the Azerbaijan English Teachers Association-which could be a great partner in this.

I really enjoy Train the Trainer style workshops and I'm pretty excited for this one. This aligns much closer to the type of teaching I was hoping to do in Peace Corps than classroom teaching does. Plus, its always nice when the cost of travel is already paid for.

And Finally, February is over

I didn't have a terribly descriptive email last week because the main descriptor ('sucky') wasn't terribly positive. It was a week of wading through 2 inches of slush over the entire city. It was a week of conducting hours of interviews each day for a new, advanced level, conversation club. It was a week begun with the emotional hangover that follows a Baki weekend, all the worse (better?) because it was spent in the comfort of a wealthy Bakuvian's house.

As if a metaphor for the month of March itself, this past week carried over all that stress but as the week wore on, more and more problems were solved and loose ends were tied up. And, I even got to see the sun (literally) a couple times this week as well.

The interviews that were an absolute killer last week resulted in an incredible group of about 13 15-17yo students who all speak English quite well and truly have an actual shot of achieving their stated goals, ranging from becoming a doctor to studying in the US to working to help poor countries. Our first meeting left Lannea and elated, this was why we joined the Peace Corps, this was who we wanted to work with.

Another building stressor is an English Party that the English Teachers at my school have gotten very excited over. Now office party planning is pretty much the bane of my existence (queue knowing head nods from my former team at Aspen Grove); I have no passion for it. But I do have a passion for helping people achieve what they want to achieve and was enthusiastic to help them execute idea, despite my hesitations, stated numerous times, in giving ourselves only a month to prepare it and to have it on the day before one of the biggest holidays in Azerbaijan-Novruz. I found myself growing in frustration as the teachers both complained to me that there wasn't enough time and wouldn't consider the obvious solution of moving the date.

But more frustrating was the fact that I had no clue how to express my frustration in a way that was culturally appropriate and proactive. While complaining to an Azeri friend (who was laughing because he said he has heard this exact same bitch session at the exact same time of service from no less than 4 volunteers) I finally struck upon it. The next day I told my counterpart "Tamilla, I know how to plan well with Americans, but I don't know how to plan well with Azeris. I need your help to learn this." Suddenly, the weight of the party was off my shoulders, it was moved back a couple months, and all the last minute requirements of my time were gone.

And there were little things. My Program Manager visited this week and confirmed my suspicions by calling my walk from home to school, 'unnecessarily excessive and unacceptable'. I found out this week that we have about 8 days off from school this month. And, as its now March and the last month of host family living, thank god, I could officially begin my search for apartments. So far nothing that works, but it feels good to be working towards a solution.