Khachmaz-Home Sweet Home

Since coming home from America 3 weeks ago I've had two weeks of camp, two separate trips to Baku for two different trainings, and one food processing party.  Its been a busy time and at the end of this last training, on Program Design and Management, I was excited to get home to my apartment in Xachmaz and fight for one relaxing week before school starts on the 15th.  Which was a nice feeling, to feel excited to go home.

There's a lot of conversations volunteers have when we get together (such as, about our poops), but currently one of the more common one's is a subdued shock that we're actually doing what we're doing.  Just last week, while making dinner for some friends we talked about the amazement that we were actually casually making dinner in Azerbaijan, an activity that seemed as if it would never become routine whether due to stuttering through a market interchange, struggling with the host family, or finding a place to meet collectively.  Now it is hardly thought of.  We all have a handle on the language enough to navigate a purchase, we all live on our own, we all have our own apartments or houses.  In just 11 months (11...long...months...) life has become normal.

We used to speak out loud weird fantasies of Peace Corps Azerbaijan being evacuated.  Discuss how long would we have to serve as a volunteer before we would get Returned Peace Corps Volunteer status in that situation.  Talk about whether or not we would reapply for service.  Debate the best things to do first upon returning home.  These conversations aren't as frequent now.  We've acclimated to the culture and discovered our workarounds.  Those foods we miss are largely recreatable here; leaving service so suddenly wouldn't be the same type of visceral pleasure, it would be a frustration to not be able to finish what was started.

I spent a lot of this past summer with my friends who will be leaving in just a few months.  They are at the end of their service-the legacy that they will leave has largely already been created and they only have weeks left in finishing up and handing off projects.  For my class, the 8s, there was a lot of wistful projection, thinking about how great it will feel to be in their position.  Not to be leaving the country, but to be leaving  the country after completing two years of service.

It will be great to return home after 2 years of separation, but it will also be great to have that sense of accomplishment accompanying me.  To have successfully executed those projects that I have only just begun.  That will be a great feeling and a great way to return to another home.