A Huge Thank You

Illustration by Arif Huseynov

This is a thank you post.  Its long because there is a story to be told with it, and aside from telling it like this it seems the only other appropriate way would be to type 'THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!' a thousand times.

A while back, unbeknownst to me, Emily and Mercedes collected a bit of money from each of you to buy me the best souvenir ever.  A couple weeks ago it was given to me.  Mercedes (especially) likes to tease me about presents and say things like 'You're gonna love it' and 'You're gonna be so excited'.  This is all pretty standard stuff and I'm game to play along, because who doesn't like presents?  But its when she said 'You might even cry' that I couldn't help getting a bit skeptical.

I'm not really liberal with shedding my tears.  Mercedes knows me pretty well, this is a bold statement to make.

So I turn towards Emily looking for a supportive eye roll.  And Emily says 'Actually...you might cry'.

Well, that does it.  I'm now officially clueless.  My mind is racing to think of any gift, let alone one that could be given to me in Azerbaijan, that could make me cry.

Alright, lemme give some background

A while back I was with my friend Glendene at an Ex-pats house who was telling us about an art event she went to.  It was for an artist who had created paintings for various Azerbaijani Fairy Tales.  In fact at this showing she had also purchased a book of the translated fairy tales and corresponding paintings.  Now, I collect fairy tales and myths from around the world (#randomfact), and even before hearing about this specific book I had been trying, with little luck, to find a book of tales from Azerbaijan, in English, as a souvenir.

But this book, this was beyond a simple souvenir.  It is probably the most beautiful book I had ever seen.  Soft leather bound, with gold embossed pages, each page ornately bordered and the illustrations for the tales were truly works of art, unlike any illustration I have ever seen.  In fact, it was so extensive in its detail work that the Azerbaijani government couldn't even find a book binder in Azerbaijan capable to do this-they had to go to Turkey.

I desperately wanted a copy, but I knew from first look I was doomed from the start.  Bookshops around Baku had never heard of this book, it was obviously limited edition, and obviously never, ever intended for mass production.  But little did I know, Glendene had spoken with Emily and Mercedes telling them that if they were looking for an idea for a 'thanks for planning this boat trip stupid!' gift she had a great one.  And apparently they collected money from each of you on the boat.  Alright. I'll now cut to Emily:

...[T]rying to get our hands on a copy, we realized we did not exactly know how to go about tracking it down. Mercedes finally got the number of a “guy” in Baku that we could call. We only knew his name, but didn’t know who he was, if he spoke English, if he sold the book or knew someone who knew someone, etc. So after arguing a bit about who would have to navigate the phone call, I gave it a shot. The conversation went something like this: 

Emily: “Hello, Is this Arif?”
Man: “Allo? Yes?”
Emily: “Hi. Do you speak English?”
Man: “Inglis? Okay.”
Emily: (In her head… “Obviously not.”) Switching to Azeri..
“Hi, I got your number from a friend who said you know that… you can find a book about…. Well I am looking for this book and it is about…. Somebody else is going to call you.” 

Luckily, Mercedes and I did this in the Peace Corps office in Baku with endless sources of the best translators I have had the pleasure of meeting in Azerbaijan. We approached our language coordinator, Afet, explained the whole situation, and she called him back for us. Listening to her end of the conversation, we already knew it wasn’t promising. It turns out, the man we called is actually the illustrator of the fairy tales himself. We figured he was just a bookseller or something. In reality, he was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to illustrate pictures for this book and has his own gallery in Baku. What he relayed to Afet Xanim was that this book was originally sold but now has been taken off the shelves completely. No one is able to buy it and the only way to obtain a copy is to be an International humanitarian aid organization and send a letter on behalf of the agency to the Ministry to request a book. They would review the letter and determine if they would send a copy or two to the organization. Afet Xanim asked maybe four or five times if there was any way at all to buy a copy from the Ministry but the answer remained ‘no.’
Hanging our heads after hearing the news, Mercedes and I had some thinking to do. The good news is that Peace Corps qualifies for the humanitarian organization. The bad news is, it wasn’t guaranteed that Ministry would grant it, and we still had all this money from Josh’s friends. If we didn’t get the book, what were we going to do with the money? Take him out on a night on the town? PayPal seven dollars back to everyone in the States? We decided to see if we could find a replacement on the internet first.  

Then the best news in the world came. While sitting at our Close-of-Service conference on the outskirts of Baku the next day, I received a call from Afet saying the illustrator had called her back. He was touched that we were so intent on getting the book for our friend that he made a few calls out to people, got his hands on the one and only copy available for sale, and would be in Baku the next day if we still wanted to buy it from him. And boy, did we. The problem was, we were at this conference and couldn’t leave, and he was only going to be in the city for one day (because he had to return to his Villa). Afet, who like almost all of our Peace Corps staff is amazingly kind, offered to use her entire lunch break the next day to go to the illustrator and buy the book for us. We sent our money along with a Peace Corps driver who brought it to Afet, who gave up her lunch hour to go on this goose chase for us. She even called to confirm with us that is was okay that we didn’t get a receipt because it was sort of an under-the-table kind of deal.  

The next day when I saw Afet and received the book, I was in shock. It is, by far, the most beautiful book I have ever seen and touched. The illustrations are breath-taking, gorgeous. It is ineffable. It even included a CD-ROM audio recording. Once we actually had it in our own hands, Mercedes and I kept hinting to Josh about his present. We told him he’d love it and he wasn’t going to believe it, but when we told him he might cry when we gave it to him, he started to get skeptical and couldn’t handle the wait any longer. The look on his face was priceless. He didn’t cry, but I think it was the amount of air he sucked in from shock that prevented him from shedding any tears. 

What I love so much about this story is the effort.  I love that this book took effort on behalf of both American and Azeris to acquire; that really adds a layer of meaning to this gift as a souvenir of my Peace Corps Service.  A main goal of Peace Corps is to promote cross-cultural cooperation and understanding and this story of events involved in obtaining this book so perfectly embodies it.  The artist even gave me a book of his work just from that exhibition and invited us to his gallery when we were in Baku.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.  No gift was necessary, the opportunity to see each and all of you together, in the midst of a long two years, was by far the motivating factor to planning this trip.  I couldn't believe my luck that I had 15 amazing friends and family members who committed to doing this.  But I so greatly appreciate the gift you helped get for me and can't wait to show it to you all.

The cover.  The etchings are actual physical depressions in the cover. 

Page detail

Arif Huseynov's beautiful illustrations 

Illustration detail 

Illustration detail

More Pictures Of Boats

Below is a link to my friend Evan's Flickr album where you can see even more pictures of beautiful, talented, scintillating people enjoying their heads off on a boat in the Mediterranean.

Sailing on the Mediterranean

And also, don't forget to check out Adam's

Yacht Problems

Enjoy.

Let Me Tell You About A Little Vacation I Took

I've been scared to even begin writing about this trip to anyone, other than those who were on it.  If I try and move beyond three words ('Best Trip Ever!!'), I begin to falter and have difficulties describing specifically why and how this trip was just so amazing.  Obviously the people were a huge factor, but there were certain elements I never anticipated.

For example, days seemed to go much longer while on the boat, it seemed there were more hours in a day to do everything.  This led to both an incredibly social vacation at the same time as being an incredibly relaxing vacation.  Because there was no need to devote time towards getting to the restaurant, getting ready, choosing where to go, etc etc there was time for both drinking late at night with friends and napping in the sun, swimming multiple times a day and playing cards.  Monday morning I woke up and expressed amazement that it was already Wednesday, to which I was even more amazed to find out that it wasn't.

The crew was incredibly attentive and pleasant.  It went beyond the basics of preparing our delicious meals and keeping our rooms tidy.  If it happened to be the afternoon and 5 of us were talking, a crew member would suddenly appear with 5 glasses and a bottle of wine.  If we wanted to use the kayaks they would bring them back up onto the boat and put them away.  Everyday the captain would show us our anticipated route and ask if we had any requests.  Usually we didn't, but a couple times we made requests that were honored the same day.  I expected nice service but they seemed genuinely pleased to make our vacation so pleasant.

And there were little things.  The affects of drinking wine until 3am would vanish upon an 8:30am jump into the crystal waters of the Mediterranean.  Sleeping in the sun never became too hot when the sea breeze was at work.  Paying a couple extra lari for ice cream seemed an awesome exchange to for the convenience of it being delivered to your boat.

And the water-it was SO BLUE.

Early in the week, Nick and I spoke about how this vacation was exactly as perfect as we thought it would be except that the water was unbelievably blue.  It really became a metaphor for everything about this vacation.  Everything was as perfect as expected, except for one detail that made it that much more incredible.  That the fish for dinner was caught that morning, that cocktails were accompanied by some of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen, that the boat came with a bunch of different water toys.  Everything was expectedly perfect but for one extra detail that made it that much better.

And this speaks nothing of the company, which was outstanding.  It was inspiring to reconnect with friends long estranged through no fault but distance, friends who are creative, successful, and talented and who help me feel the same.  I left Turkey filled with optimism and anticipation for the future, for myself and those whom I love.

I know you're all clamoring to see pictures.  We were blessed with a lot of photographic talent on this trip and these pictures are coming soon.

How To Plan A Millionaire's Yacht Trip On A College Student's Budget

This could be you (for much cheaper than you expect...)

Is there anything that screams 'luxury' louder than a private yacht?  Its a fantasy people dream of having after making their first (or second) million and right before the purchase of their private jet.

But this trip of a lifetime isn't limited to the very wealthy.  Its not even limited to the realm of the very middle class.  You can easily book a week long trip on your favorite seven sea for less than a few raucous weekends out.

Oh yeah, and you can do it surrounded only by the people you love.

I just spent a week on board a yacht with 15 friends and a private 4 person crew.  Our delicious food has been cooked for us, our rooms have been cleaned for us, and they've handled all the sailing and route logistics.  They did everything to free us up to sun, drink, and swim.

Million dollar treatment, right?

Except this experience cost us each 660 dollars which translates to less than 100 bucks a day, less than what you would pay for hotel and dining in most international cities.

Chartering your own yacht with your friends is not just possible-its easily doable.  To plan an amazing trip that all your friends who were foolish enough not to commit to will be jealous of, follow these steps.

1) Use the Google.  Finding a company to host your trip is as simple as searching 'yacht (or gullet) rental in _______'  Choose where you want to go and find a little about costs before you write your initial email.  This will give you some reasonable estimates to share and some spectacular photos to include to entice commitment.

2) Start early.  Although it's not that expensive to plan this trip, we are talking about international travel here.  Put the call out to your friends a year or so in advance.  You want a lot of people to commit-more people means a smaller per person cost and bigger party.  Additionally, though the yacht part of the trip will be inexpensive, air fare is always a bit of money.  Give people time to start saving and get rabidly excited.  I promise-it will be a conversation topic that will never get old.

3) Charge a little extra.  When figuring out what everyone will need to pay, keep in mind that you will most likely be dealing with currency conversion, and currencies fluctuate.  Make each per person buy-in 5-10% more to account for a potential decrease in the value of the dollar and any credit card fees that the company may add on.

4) Use a credit card.  Credit card companies will offer outstanding bonuses if you meet a minimum spend requirement, sometimes the bonus can even be redeemed for the airline ticket you will be purchasing.  Be smart and take advantage of this chunk of change you're about to spend.  Also keep a look out for cards with no foreign transaction fees.  Check out [the points guy] for the best promotions going on now (I got Chase Sapphire Preferred, which I love).  You'll be putting a lot of money on your card for at least the deposit, so be smart and make that money work for you,

5) Combine this with other trips.  The trip will seem more expensive if your paying for airfare just for a yacht trip.  Make this a portion of your vacation.  Some friends are coming to Turkey amidst their summer in Europe.  Others are spending a couple weeks in Turkey, in addition to the yacht trip.  Make this spectacular event a part of a spectacular trip, not the entire trip itself, and get more value out of your airline ticket.

6) Keep constant communication.  I set a few different dates early on for people to pay for portions of the trip by.  When it comes time for people to pay money, some people will eventually drop out, but if you keep the enthusiasm up by sending out excited emails with beautiful photos you'll keep most people and easily find others.  I had 4 people bail on this trip, and almost instantly found 4 people to fill their places.  Also, its fun to watch friends who missed the boat (*ahem*) get more and more jealous of the trip you will soon be embarking on.

It takes a bit of email work, but planning a yacht trip for you and your friends and family is really not that hard.  And I promise-it is completely worth it.

If you have any questions-leave them in the comments.  I'll respond to each one so that you can plan the trip of a lifetime on the budget of the everyday.

Check back for photos and updates of this awesome trip.

Where In The World is Josh?

Right now I'm on a 4 star boat, off the coast of Western Turkey, in the Mediterranean Sea.  You should be very excited to see photos.  Also, possibly frightened-because we are having such a good time it is frightening.

People really do have this much fun.  Its not just for Apple Store iPhoto Demos and American Eagle advertisements.

Check back Sunday for a post on 'How To Plan Your Own Yacht Trip'.  In the meantime, listen to the outstanding 10th Anniversary Summer Mix HERE

Ultralight Traveling in Azerbaijan

Just this for a week.  And if you can pack for a week, you can pack for a month

Once you accept it, traveling light is extremely easy to do.  No matter if you're in the US, or backpacking around the world, or hopping on and off mushrutkas in Azerbaijan-if you accept the ultralight traveling mentality you can do it anywhere.  The basic assumption of this style of travel travel is that you will enjoy your journey more by having less stuff to weigh you down, both literally and mentally.

So, for my trip south, I experimented with some ultralight travel, choosing to limit myself to a gym bag that normally is used to hold a pair of shoes and a workout shirt and shorts.  It was liberating to have a bag smaller than Glendene's purse, let alone her backpack.  Hurriedly hopping on and off mushrutkas and buses was a breeze, and I was able to easily traipse through the various cities we visited unencumbered by a heavy load.

Keep in mind the following when preparing for an Ultralight Trip:

1) You will do laundry.  I did laundry twice, once by hand and once in a machine.

2) To get rid of weight: buy and borrow.  I purchased 2 mini-soaps (total: 80 gepik) and borrowed shampoo and telephone chargers.

Here's my list for a week of travel that included hiking in the Talyish mountains, swimming in hot springs, and partying till 4 in the morning in Baku.  We were in very conservative areas and more progressive areas, and we hung out with Azeris and Americans.

Gotta Stay Fly:
Jeans
3 shirts
1 undershirt
3 pairs of underwear
2 pairs of socks
1 pair of shorts, for swimming and working out
sunglasses
sneakers

Of these items, I wore my jeans, a shirt, a pair of socks and underwear, and my sneakers on departure (so I only had 2 shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, etc in my packed bag)

So Fresh, So Clean:
toothbrush/toothpaste
floss
razor/blades
deodorant
travel sized lotion from a hotel
travel towel
mosquito repellant that plugs into the wall
earplugs
lip balm

Bring Da Ruckus:
iPod touch/charge/headphones
camera/extra battery
notebook (with two ripped out crossword puzzles-great idea!)
pen
kindle
2 phones (one for psn)
wallet
keys

Bag:
Nike gym bag

This worked out very very well for the week and will probably serve as the skeleton for my sojourn through SE Asia in 2013-though with some different clothes.  I'm glad I brought the iPod Touch instead of the iPad, I didn't need the screen real estate of the iPad-the iPod served me fine for my internet needs.  The mosquito repellant was a little bulky but a godsend.  I hardly had any bites throughout this trip, and Glendene would wake up covered if we weren't sleeping in the same room.

Traveling in-country is nice, people are cool with sharing toiletries and everyone has extra bedding.  The next time I won't even bring my kindle, I picked up a book at the first stop and didn't open the kindle once.  I also won't bring my razor.  I usually shave about once a week in country, maybe twice, and it would be simpler to just buy a disposable for about 50 gepik.  I do need to add a scrubby cloth to this list, which I ended up purchasing midway through and really is a necessary item.

I purchased water throughout the way, and would fill empty water bottles at volunteers' houses.  In the very beginning I also purchased a manat worth of almonds, which gave me a much needed something to munch on throughout the trip while waiting on mushrutkas.

My upcoming trip to Turkey will be decidedly much less minimal, but more glamorous.

Lets Take A Trip Down South

Martyrs Lane and Flame Towers as seen from the Boulevard

From family, from email, from school-I've been a bit MIA this week.  School is coming to a close and I've got a pretty bomb vacation coming up.  Yet even still I found I couldn't get that far without taking a break or losing my mind.  So Glendene and I decided to pack our bags and take a mental health vacation to the south for the week.

Traveling through my own Peace Corps country shows me everything good about Azerbaijan.  Its incredibly easy to travel around the regions-even when we ended up taking the wrong way when trying to get to the out-of-the-way Saatli we were able to eventually flag down a mushrutka headed in that direction.  Travel costs can add up when tripping around, but its costs like 4 or 6 manat-not like the 30 or 40 dollars that can easily get into a tank of gas.

Additionally, traveling in country really shows how much of an understanding of the culture and language I actually have.  Thinking of my first trip during PST, I was afraid I would either a) not get there, b) be unable to use a bathroom in a time of need, or c) get on the wrong bus.  None of those things happened, and none of those things ever happen.  The same language level that frustrates me in my community is the level that allows me travel with ease and make friends along the way.  Its great.

No region city really has a week's worth of sights and activities to do, but when visiting PCVs you get a nice highlights tour.  Its great to see the best of a city or village, whether its their friends, parks, or surrounding nature, with the American living there.  In Bilasuvar we visited the PCVs beautiful magnet school where he works and saw the Talysh mountains in Iran.  We hiked in the mountains and enjoyed the mineral hot springs before feasting on a southern speciality-levengie chicken in Lenkeran.  We traveled off road for about 3 hours to visit Saatli and saw some of the most extensive rose gardens in Azerbaijan.

And we got to see Baku in all its Eurovision glory on a beautiful weekend.  As winners of last year's Eurovision, Baku will be hosting Eurovision this week and it has spent millions, and possibly billions, preparing a week-long coming of age ball as it unveils itself to the rest of Europe.  They've expanded their boulevard, invested heavily in public art, built new entertainment centers and museums, and renovated hundreds of buildings.  At night we saw fireworks over the Caspian, animated displays on the LED filled flame towers, which tower over the city, and reinterpretations of Baku's Maiden Tower from artists all over the world projected onto the 1200 year old Maiden Tower itself.

To be honest, I was skeptical of Baku's ability to pull off an event like Eurovision in a way that would leave people inspired and impressed with the city, but they've done an excellent job.  Azerbaijan has a lot to be proud of in the way they are presenting themselves and Baku is frantic and beautiful right now.  I hope they maintain some of this creativity as Eurovision ends and I look forward to enjoying the city even more.

Photos coming soon.

Peace Corps: Boot Camp for Long Term Travel?

Now that I've entered my senior year of Peace Corps, I've begun to allow myself the escapist pleasure of daydreaming about an upcoming trip to South East Asia in early 2013.  Actually, let me be more specific-I've begun daydreaming about the ultralight backpacking I'll be doing around the region.

I'll admit it, I love packing.  I love thinking about what to take on a trip.  I love the idea of fitting your life into a limited amount of liters.  Even more so, I love the challenge of achieving a perfect balance of minimalism and utility.  10 months out and I've already written a potential ultralight packing list for this trip.  I've been reading posted packing list and blog posts on the philosophy of ultralight backpacking.  Its dorky, I get it. Shut up-its great!

For those of you who don't troll for blog posts on long term packing lists, you should know that they all begin with the exect same introduction: Its super difficult to do and you might think I'm crazy for suggesting to leave so much stuff behind, but trust me-its worth it! or some variation on the theme.

I agree with the fact that the lightness in load is totally worth the potential need to spend an extra couple bucks to pick up an unpacked item, but I can't help smugly smiling to myself muttering "Big deal, welcome to my life".  The difficulties listed aren't very difficult when you've already been living this way for a couple years.

Take the hassle of doing laundry every day, a principle of ultralight travel.  Because you take fewer clothes you must handwash what you're not wearing that day in the sink to dry overnight.  This would be a major adjustment coming from America, but traveling in the summer in Azerbaijan, this is a necessity.  But really, its not just summer, most of my life here is dominated by the exact same outfit for an entire week.

Or the weather.  Yes, South East Asia is very hot and very humid.  I get this.  (fyi: Khachmaz also gets pretty damn humid-though nothing equatorial about it).  But one huge advantage I'll have in this tropical region is the way in which I'm allowed to respond to the weather.  In the the height of summer here, in 100 degree weather, men will still be working in their orchards wearing suit jackets!  Its absurd, but thats the uniform.  This 'community ambassador' looks forward to wearing flip-flops, enjoying a cold beer outside, and wearing shorts.

Concerns over intermittent showering is also understandable.  It does take some time to get used to, the first couple weeks of not showering daily feels pretty gross.  But after a while you get used to it.  And, hostels on any backpackers' circuit can be relied upon to have showers.

So yeah, after 2 years of first-hand experience in resourcefulness and minimalism I think I'm ready for an ultralight jaunt in South East Asia for a few months.  Can't wait to post a list of my own!

Prague Is Beautiful, Here's Some Proof

St. Vitus Cathedral 

The Gang

Seeing Mom, Dad, and Grandpa this past week was absolutely outstanding; I saw the family after 7 long months, I left the country and was back in the developed world, I stuffed myself silly with bacon everyday (no exaggeration-this happened).  The joke of this trip was that I was basically a 5 year old who could drink, I had no money and no opinion-just happy to be in the company of those I love.  The fact that we got to tour around two of the most awe-inspiring old European cities was a bonus.

A very very large bonus.

Prague and Vienna are, expectedly, beautiful.  It's easy to get overwhelmed as you crane your neck from one side of the horizon to the other because you are surrounded by majestic, palatial, structures.  Kings and queens have seated themselves in these cities, people who's existence was supported by the economic activity of entire nations.  And they built churches and palaces and castles to say just that.

We saw a lot of sights and went on a lot of tours (which, actually, was really nice.  I've never been on an official tour before, but it was cool to have a guide give context to everything you see).  Prague was my favorite, so much of the city feels like a living museum and its great to see how the city stays modern while still staying true to its UNESCO World Heritage site certified roots.

In Prague, two of my favorite sites were the St. Vitus Cathedral, which is a breathtaking work of architecture who's completion spans hundreds of years, and the memorial to Prague area Jews who were killed in the holocaust, a haunting list of names, dates of birth, and death clearly written on the whitewashed walls of a former synagogue.  And, of course, beginning each morning with a warm cup of honey wine.

From Prague we took a train down to Vienna which was a pleasure, both to get the morning off from walking and to see the fairy-tale countryside.  Though not my favorite of the two, Vienna was still a great time.  The highlight was taking the elevator up the south tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral, casually you step out of the elevator only to look through the metal grate floor to you see you are standing 60 feet (at least) in the air with a view commanding the entire city.  I also recommend the Belvedere Museum, which is dedicated to artists who were based in Vienna.  The building itself is a former palace and it wonderfully showcases Vienna's rich artistic heritage.

For this vacation, I packed like an idiot.  I had absolutely forgotten how to pack for a vacation with normal people, who have normal standards of living and eating.  Numerous items ended up getting packed for an unknown (and unencountered need) whereas others (like my camera charger!) were left behind as I was still in the mental mindset of 'regular' Peace Corps Volunteer travel.  Luckily I was able to fully capture our trip to Prague, and I think there are some good ones.

Click HERE to see pictures.  More coming.

Really, I Should Just Be Looking Forward to June

Yesterday something shocking happened.  Returning from Ganja yesterday, after 8 hours of traveling, I actually had a moment where I looked forward to February.  Because in February I could foresee life being a little calmer.

This is obviously a myth.  February is just far enough out that I can't actually see what will specifically be going on, but I can guarantee by the time it gets here there will be numerous things on my plate to keep me busy and bounce me around Khachmaz city, region, and the country.  If Peace Corps is preparing me for anything (and it damn well better be) its probably a job that requires travel.  Almost every other week I'm packing my bag and boarding a bus for some training or meeting or event.

This is fun in the sense that I get to see a lot of the country and visit with people I may not have otherwise, but it can be draining, especially over the long term.  You don't eat as well when traveling; routines you carefully protect at home are immediately disrupted; and frequently when crashing at a friends place there are others crashing there as well, such as the four other guys who happened to be in Ganja when I was.

The nice thing with Volunteers is that we're really low maintenance and we're really easy to share our house's with.  Much of our jobs boil down to simply being inclusive and we all know fun group games to play while being completely understanding and accepting of those times each of us might need a little escapism.  Easily we can prepare meals that have multiple courses and take hours or be happy eating just bread and cheese, using napkins instead of plates.  Bed, couch, or floor, we can sleep wherever, we hardly expect western luxuries such as showers and flush toilets (though thrilled and enthusiastic when we're offered), and we're very used to weird house-specific rules to ensure things like gas, electricity, or water keep running.

So prepare yourself, in a year, for when I start making my rounds to all of you back in America.  You may find yourself playing host to one seriously easily pleased Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who may forget that we are now in a country where toilet paper is flushed down the toilet.

Photos from My Trip to Tbilisi

I've been going through the pictures from Tbilisi and haves selected and edited an album.  Below are some previews, but check out my Flickr to see more.

Cat lady in the streets.  I gave her a lari and asked if i could take her picture

Night shot of Tbilisi

Tbilisi badass crew-Jane, Sanyo, and some stud muffin

Incidentally, if anyone would like to know more about the shadowy personalities I spent my time in Tbilisi with check out Sanyo's (great) cooking blog here and Jane's PC blog here

My Fall Break: A Trans-Caucus Tour

(more photos coming soon)

I've seen a lot of Azerbaijan.  I've done my share of visiting friends around the country, but this has especially been the case with my work as a teacher trainer.  That aspect of my service has taken me to many many parts I might not have visited otherwise.  However, beyond Azerbaijan I haven't done too much.  Sure I traveled back to America in the summer, but I've been there before and wouldn't call it 'traveling' as much as 'returning home'.

This past week though I went up to Tbilisi in Georgia and got to satisfy my wanderlust for international travel.  Me and a couple friends traveled by bus, which has a few difference from traveling by air.  First of all, the bus stopped at the Azerbaijani boarder and all of us had to get out and walk on foot over the actual boarder.  We checked out with the suspicious Azerbaijani boarder guards and were practically waved in by the welcoming Georgian guards.  From there we caught another bus that took us to Tbilisi.

Tbilisi is an enchanting city.  It sits on the Mtkvari river which cuts the valley between two mountains, causing the city to rise in elevation on both sides rapidly.  One meanders the streets on the cobblestone roads, passing wine shop after cafe after restaurant after bakery.  The city planners have found harmony in the integration of the very old and the refreshingly modern.  Silent highways are supported by reinforced old-city aqueducts, a massive fortress looking cathedral looks over an entire section of downtown where the shops and restaurants evoke strolling through the ritzier parts of Vail.  In a place where there is a historically preserved building on every street, whimsical bronze and iron statues are found to be riding bicycles with flowers, peering into a wineshop, or jumping from the roof.  Unlike some cities where I am instantly captivated, with Tbilisi I was slowly cradled into falling in love with it.

Both Jane and Sanyo had already been to Tbilisi and everyone who goes to Tbilisi describe it as a magical land of milk and honey.  Where good whiskey can be purchased in the same place as good coffee; where men and women hold hands and laugh with each other on the street; where people look for waste bins rather than toss it on the ground.  The differences between Tbilisi and Baku were so striking (and preferable) that I was like a slack-jawed child in disbelief pointing to each and every change that had occurred over the 570 kilometers.  One of the most important differences is the cost, Tbilisi is extremely inexpensive and the conversion rate weighs heavily in our favor (the Georgian Lari is worth about .6 USD and .5 AZN).  For a Peace Corps volunteer with a taste for luxury and Western comfort this was a joyful surprise.  Excellent Georgian wine: 12 Lari a bottle, champagne with breakfast: 28 Lari a bottle, multi-course Georgian feasts: 15 Lari a person.  The weekend was spent eating outstanding food and drinking outstanding refreshment.  Its a walking city with easy going traffic and we would roll through the city investigating whatever caught our eye.

But we couldn't stay in Georgia forever (yet) and eventually we all had to go our separate ways to continue with our Peace Corps lives.  Fortunately for me this didn't take me to work.  I spent a night in Ganja working on an exciting project with Kelly, the other current teacher trainer in Azerbaijan (more on this later) and the next day was off to Baku to say goodbye to some great friends who had officially finished their service.  We celebrated in style with lots of dancing and cheersing and splurging on good food but it was bittersweet to see some of my closest friends leave.  With close friends, I'm pretty good with goodbyes, I have no concern that I won't see them again-it just sucks that it won't be in the next month.

Also in Baku some friends and I were lucky enough to be staying in two of the nicest hotels in Baku.  Through a combination of networking and an accumulated free night we stayed one night in the centrally located, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Hali Kai and another night in an executive suite in the Hyatt Regency.  This was luck a bit above anything else we've experienced in Azerbaijan and some volunteers might sneer at it hardly being volunteer lifestyle.  But I'll take a room at the Hyatt over a sneer any day, their robes have anti-sneer shields.

The Flight (Search) You've Been Looking For

Thank heavens for the internet; from banking, to music discovery, to news, its made so many aspects of our lives easier.  Perhaps chief amongst these is air travel.  Though still an incredibly obtuse system, sites like Travelocity and Expedia made searching for tickets and planning an itinerary simple, by searching across numerous different airlines.

And then new sites (and features) began to crop up.  Sites like Kayak and Hipmunk increased usability with price sliders and nearby location searching.  I still have no clue how airline pricing works, but at least it was easier to get a cheaper fare.

Now Google has jumped into the game with Flight Search and this looks very enticing indeed.  It uses a familiar layout of google maps with some nifty little features, like allowing you to search based on time from city or price limits.  It has some slick graphics to easily see price changes by date, or to narrow your search through a combination of trip duration and price.  Its pretty snazzy and, once they get international flights built in, I see it becoming a first stop for me

(thanks lifehacker for this tipoff)

Hard questions

Goal number 1 of the Peace Corps is to promote cross cultural exchange. Usually this is of the 'smile and nod politely' kind, like when you are being served your 15th cup of tea. Other times it is of the 'I am learning' kind, like when someone opens up to you about why they liked the Soviet Union better. And once in a while it is of the 'holy crap, what the hell is happening here' kind. This week I had one of those experiences.

This story largely centers on my friend who is also my site mate. She was at our favorite doner shop getting lunch, when a gypsy girl came in to beg for money. Now, the gypsies are annoying, they get in your face, pull at your hand, and follow you for blocks, usually only leaving you alone when you forcefully tell them (Men pul yoxdur!) (tangentially, they surprisingly have good teeth). The man who prepared the doner yelled at her and grabbed her by the hair and aggressively shook her, yelling at her to get out. Pretty shocking stuff.

And in less time than it took you to read that paragraph my friend jumped up from the table and started shouting at the man to let go. She shouted at him in front of everyone in the store, in English, saying things like 'you can never do that' and 'she is only a child'. Apparently it got really intense and each was getting in each other's face. Quickly she went and got the owner to bring him there and explain what happened. It was at this moment that I cluelessly walked in (which has become an all too frequent script annotation in my life). Everyone was shaken, each for different reasons.

It are these moments that really challenge my values and perspectives. It's been extremely easy for me to maintain my middle class values of equality and tolerance and justice in the United States because they rarely are challenged beyond the abstract. Just like the Ivory Tower dilemma thrown at academia, there is a gulf of difference between theory and action.

After lots of though, I agree that my friend took the right action; regardless of cultural perspective or upbringing that was unacceptable behavior, and I admire her for taking immediate action to bluntly communicate that. Every Azeri woman she told this to also agreed with her actions. What freaks me out is the unknown if I would have reacted the same way.

This event slapped me in the face with the big difference between saying and doing and the really messy grey in between. I'm a pacifist but can I recognize, and do I have the courage to rise above, the line that separates this from compliance. I consider myself a cultural relativist but I certainly wouldn't want to become a nihilist through laziness of thought and action.

These are hard questions, especially for the post-structuralist volunteer who has difficulty believing in absolute truth. Finding an appropriate balance between cultural sensitivity and cultural assertiveness is difficult enough when you're trying to think of a way to refuse the third helping of dolma. What about when the situation actually matters? I want to think that with this case study situation under my belt I would now act in the same way, but I also hope I won't have to find out.

The Dirty Dirty South

One of the greatest blessings of being placed in a country like Azerbaijan is the public transportation infrastructure. Though the roads aren't incredible there is a massive and pervasive bus system that can help you get from any part of Azerbaijan to another. Its one of the many things PCVs here take for granted that really is something exceptional. This isn't common amongst PC countries, or even many states in the US for that matter.

So, with school done I decided to get out of dodge, and explore South Azerbaijan for a week. Already in Baki for the softball tournament, I hopped on the other team's bus heading south and stayed with a friend in Bilasavar. Bilasavar is quite close to Iran, we actually took a walk to the stadium there which has a beautiful view of the Iranian mountains in the distance.

Also in the distance we saw a massive rain cloud that only grew darker, larger, and closer. By the time that we were walking home sheep were silent, dogs were hiding their heads, and birds were nowhere to be seen. Ignoring all the signs, we idiotically decline a ride and soon found ourselves caught in monsoon. It was the type of rain where when you get hit by one drop you get soaked and by the time we ran to a construction site for shelter we already were waterlogged. The workers took pity on the unworldly Americans and tried to hail a cab for us. Finally one made its way to us, weaving through a newly created river carrying trash and tree branches.

He stopped for us a block away from my friend's house, telling us he could go no further. So the three of us took off our shoes and glasses to make dash for it. It was like running through a water park at night and we all kept an even 20 feet behind the other, should our nearsightedness prank us. I can only imagine what was going through the heads of the 50 or so Azeri men who gawked and pointed at us from the crowded comfort of their overhang. "And he doesn't want to get married! He doesn't even realize its raining!"

But the rain had stopped by the next day and I went west to Neftchala to deliver a teacher training and help out with a summer camp. Summer camp was really fun, we played kickball (which is about as frustratingly difficult to explain as softball) made potato stamps, and played elbow tag. I learned a couple really good ideas for camp, like a new icebreaker, a craft idea of team flags, and instituting a 'no-football' rule.

I retraced my steps east to visit a former cluster mate. It turned out that I was arriving on the day of a wedding so naturally my presence was expected at that. Weddings in Azerbaijan are massive affairs, but they're not as formal as in America. Friend of the grooms high school teacher? No problem! American friend of the friend's landlady? Welcome! This might not be the case for Azeris so much, but American's are always welcome, especially if they will dance and give a speech.

So after a day of festivities and a morning of sleeping in, my friend and I headed back up North for another friend's birthday party and finally I made my way back up to Khachmaz. I'm lucky in that I really like my site and have still found no city yet in Azerbaijan I'd rather be placed. I'm also lucky in that I have my own apartment and there was a true sense of relief in getting back to my home, locking the door, and settling in. Now, I just have to motivate myself for work this upcoming week.

Thoughts on Packing the Carry Ons

(303 represent!)

As most who know me will attest to-I'm a little crazy when it comes to packing. I'm a minimalist and love chances to compress life into as small a quantity as possible and down to the bare necessities. Packing for the Peace Corps presented a challenge since I don't really know what the bare necessities of a developing country are, let alone when staying for two years, and I plan on jotting down any efficiencies or key things for me to remember over the course of these 2 years.

On my flight over here, I took a computer bag that had a ton of stuff in it, all stuff that I figured would be useful for the full day of flights and layovers. But when it came down to it, all I really used were the Kindle, my journal/pen, the Board Game Book, and iPod/iPhone/Headphones. I could have just as easily used my Nike satchel rather than a full backpack.

My second carry on was packed perfectly for arrival. I basically packed two suitcases, one that I could live out of for at least five days and a second, massive one with everything else, that I've hardly yet gone into and if it was lost, would not have missed it until it was found. The only regret I have is that I know I am already going to need a bigger backpack for traveling purposes and I wish I got it in the states rather then being forced to order it online. I have a feeling I'll be utilizing the expertise of my stateside sister and resident Ehrenreich wilderness expert to help with this.

Carry On Contents:

2 pairs of pants (wearing 1 pair of jeans)

2 short sleeve collars (wearing 1 collar)

2 long sleeve shirts

1 sweater

1 suit jacket

1 light jacket

5 undershirts

5 pairs of briefs

3 pairs of socks

1 pair of shoes (wearing loafers)

1 pair of athletic shorts

toiletries

yoga block

suspenders/belt