Cribs: Azerbaijan Edition from josh on Vimeo.
Friday, April 15, 2011
New Apartment
Check out my new apartment in the video below, where I show off the new digs and shed some light on the recent 'roommate' troubles of late.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Oh yeah, I'm single
If there is one thing that is known by every woman in this city about me, its that I'm a single man. This isn't a boastful claim or a creepy assessment, but merely standard info on Josh's Azerbaijani baseball card. 'Are you married?' is usually the 3rd question asked, right after 'Where are you from?' and 'Are you a teacher?'. Its such a consistent question that I've become pretty proficient at saying 'If I was married, why would I leave my life in America?'
The thing is, a single man in Azerbaijan is a boy, a helpless creature that would end up naked and starving were it not for the kindness of mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and aunts. While looking for my own apartment last month I was consistently asked how I would live alone, if I had ever cooked before, and did I know how to wash clothes. These were sincere questions, asked with a true concern for the welfare of their new teacher, who was about to show up to school dirty and emaciated.
Flash forward to April and I now have my own apartment where I have successfully cooked and cleaned for two weeks and counting. I am starting to convince my teachers at school that maybe I really did live on my own in America. But there is one person who still remains completely unconvinced-my landlady, a sweet old woman who isn't quite sure about just having rented her apartment to an American who just isn't prepared for this crazy 'ol world.
Numerous times over the past few weeks my landlady has let herself into my apartment to check things out. In America this is a pretty gross eschewal of privacy but here in Azerbaijan its just expected. How else will she learn about who I am and what I'm doing here? And its not like I speak fluent Azeri, so why bother coming when I'm here? But those of us of astute observation are able to discover little clues that indicate she's been here.
For example, the last time I came home, she had rearranged the chairs in my bedroom/living room, cleared off my coffee table and put luggage that was not yet fully unpacked in the closet. She had also moved my drying rack outside and rehung all my clothes. I just imagine her muttering to herself 'I can't believe he left them to dry this way, thats why he needs to get married'. Another time I came home to my kitchen shelves completely rearranged. Whether or not I had spent any time arranging the shelves myself (I had) was of no concern to her, the concern was that I had arranged them incorrectly and thank goodness she was checking in on me or else they would have never been fixed.
At first this drove me crazy; it really is an invasion of privacy by American standards and I wanted to assert the fact that a single male can be an independent human being. But I'm not in America, and, as an AZ7 pointed out, it looks like she's also keeping the place pretty clean. Its true; she's dusting and vacuuming, she's putting my dry dishes away, heck she's even refilling my soap tray. So over the past few days I've been cognitively switching her from 'nosey landlady' to 'free maid' and its really helped me put a positive spin on this. I've always wanted a maid, I just never expected I'd get one when I had the least amount of disposable income. Its also become something of a game, how close can I get to her standard? What correction in my lifestyle will be made this time and what will she eventually compromise on? I've gone to despising this to loving it in just a few days.
The thing is, a single man in Azerbaijan is a boy, a helpless creature that would end up naked and starving were it not for the kindness of mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and aunts. While looking for my own apartment last month I was consistently asked how I would live alone, if I had ever cooked before, and did I know how to wash clothes. These were sincere questions, asked with a true concern for the welfare of their new teacher, who was about to show up to school dirty and emaciated.
Flash forward to April and I now have my own apartment where I have successfully cooked and cleaned for two weeks and counting. I am starting to convince my teachers at school that maybe I really did live on my own in America. But there is one person who still remains completely unconvinced-my landlady, a sweet old woman who isn't quite sure about just having rented her apartment to an American who just isn't prepared for this crazy 'ol world.
Numerous times over the past few weeks my landlady has let herself into my apartment to check things out. In America this is a pretty gross eschewal of privacy but here in Azerbaijan its just expected. How else will she learn about who I am and what I'm doing here? And its not like I speak fluent Azeri, so why bother coming when I'm here? But those of us of astute observation are able to discover little clues that indicate she's been here.
For example, the last time I came home, she had rearranged the chairs in my bedroom/living room, cleared off my coffee table and put luggage that was not yet fully unpacked in the closet. She had also moved my drying rack outside and rehung all my clothes. I just imagine her muttering to herself 'I can't believe he left them to dry this way, thats why he needs to get married'. Another time I came home to my kitchen shelves completely rearranged. Whether or not I had spent any time arranging the shelves myself (I had) was of no concern to her, the concern was that I had arranged them incorrectly and thank goodness she was checking in on me or else they would have never been fixed.
At first this drove me crazy; it really is an invasion of privacy by American standards and I wanted to assert the fact that a single male can be an independent human being. But I'm not in America, and, as an AZ7 pointed out, it looks like she's also keeping the place pretty clean. Its true; she's dusting and vacuuming, she's putting my dry dishes away, heck she's even refilling my soap tray. So over the past few days I've been cognitively switching her from 'nosey landlady' to 'free maid' and its really helped me put a positive spin on this. I've always wanted a maid, I just never expected I'd get one when I had the least amount of disposable income. Its also become something of a game, how close can I get to her standard? What correction in my lifestyle will be made this time and what will she eventually compromise on? I've gone to despising this to loving it in just a few days.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Lets Make a Movie
The 8th form textbook has a unit on 'The Arts' and one of the sections is a great little oversimplification of how a movie is made. It only takes 7 steps! We did a really successful activity in one of my classes where we 'made' a movie and practiced our English at the same time; brainstorming what we would do at each of the steps-from the idea, to script writing, all the way to marketing and release. They enjoyed the activity so much, I decided to take a pic of our work.
I'm On A Boat!
In anticipation of lounging on my own private yacht on June of 2011, enjoy. 8 days with 10-16 (or more) of my coolest friends sailing on the warm blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Drinking wine under the stars, docking to pick up fresh food and spices, bathing in the sun, just to get up and bathe in the jacuzzi. If you, or a really cool person you know, are interested in joining this Epic Mediterranean Yacht Adventure get in touch with me.
Softball!?!
Life has just gotten a lot better, with the move to the apartment, but that doesn't mean it has gotten any less busy. I look back on March and see a completed move, a successful teacher training roadshow, and Writing Olympics completed. April will hopefully finalize all the details of the apartment (can we get this shower working? just how long will it truly take to get internet?), reassess the teacher training roadshow and reapply to grants, and work with the Xachmaz Softball Team.
Yup, you heard me right. Softball. Some of you may know my aversion to sports with a bat. Not a fan; ranking somewhere near planning office parties, softball and baseball are amongst my least favorite things. However, last year some Peace Corps Volunteers got funding for a really cool program for Azeri youth. Cities in Azerbaijan would organize softball teams and would travel around the country for tournaments. It was a huge success and this year its expanding. So, on one cold Sunday last week, 10 Azeri kids and 6 Americans donned donated gloves and started throwing the ball around for our first softball practice.
It was cool how we just started playing, never really explaining the rules. We started tossing the ball around. Then we introduced batting. Then we introduced bases, and the idea that they would try and run the bases, then the idea of outs. Baseball is actually a really complicated game and I dig how we're keeping the focus on doing rather than rules-going over strike zones, balls, and positions. Kids don't want that, they want to hit a ball with a heavy bat. After the initial hesitation of an unfamiliar sport and unfamiliar faces everyone started to have a really good time. We were one Michael J. Fox away from a Disney movie here.
I mentioned that Writing Olympics has taken place. We had a good showing, about 20 kids from Xachmaz, and I've heard of other cities that have had similar showings, so we're hoping for a good turnout (good being 301-1 more student than last year). Surf on over to the link below to see what I whipped up in iWeb (home page: not designed by me) to showcase the event. If you're feeling so moved, there's also a link to donate to the event. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Baku to judge the essays. Lannea has already read some of them from Xachmaz and she is really excited for what they've wrote.
This will be the second time this week I'll be in Baki. I was there on Thursday and Friday for the TEFL Counterpart conference, a conference early in our service for PCVs and their main teacher they are working with. It was really good, surprisingly so. The first day PCVs and counterparts were split and the second we were together. After being in the schools long enough for it to become a grind it was really motivating to have a training full of great ideas and exchange with our teachers about how we want to work in the future. My teacher now knows I want to work on zero-preparation lessons and she wants to learn how to draw as I do, quickly and embarrassingly. We never knew!
I full encourage you sending me anything you think of. I love mail! Here are some things that would be especially cherished/tweeted about.
EmergenC-always a useful item
Coffee-ground fine, for a french press.
Any mixes (pesto, french onion, etc)
Stickers-especially of American flags
Colored construction paper
Whiskey
Socks-the socks here SUCK, and they're expensive. As much as I love whiskey, this is probably the most necessary item on the list.
Goldfish-the snack, not the vertebrate
Yup, you heard me right. Softball. Some of you may know my aversion to sports with a bat. Not a fan; ranking somewhere near planning office parties, softball and baseball are amongst my least favorite things. However, last year some Peace Corps Volunteers got funding for a really cool program for Azeri youth. Cities in Azerbaijan would organize softball teams and would travel around the country for tournaments. It was a huge success and this year its expanding. So, on one cold Sunday last week, 10 Azeri kids and 6 Americans donned donated gloves and started throwing the ball around for our first softball practice.
It was cool how we just started playing, never really explaining the rules. We started tossing the ball around. Then we introduced batting. Then we introduced bases, and the idea that they would try and run the bases, then the idea of outs. Baseball is actually a really complicated game and I dig how we're keeping the focus on doing rather than rules-going over strike zones, balls, and positions. Kids don't want that, they want to hit a ball with a heavy bat. After the initial hesitation of an unfamiliar sport and unfamiliar faces everyone started to have a really good time. We were one Michael J. Fox away from a Disney movie here.
I mentioned that Writing Olympics has taken place. We had a good showing, about 20 kids from Xachmaz, and I've heard of other cities that have had similar showings, so we're hoping for a good turnout (good being 301-1 more student than last year). Surf on over to the link below to see what I whipped up in iWeb (home page: not designed by me) to showcase the event. If you're feeling so moved, there's also a link to donate to the event. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Baku to judge the essays. Lannea has already read some of them from Xachmaz and she is really excited for what they've wrote.
This will be the second time this week I'll be in Baki. I was there on Thursday and Friday for the TEFL Counterpart conference, a conference early in our service for PCVs and their main teacher they are working with. It was really good, surprisingly so. The first day PCVs and counterparts were split and the second we were together. After being in the schools long enough for it to become a grind it was really motivating to have a training full of great ideas and exchange with our teachers about how we want to work in the future. My teacher now knows I want to work on zero-preparation lessons and she wants to learn how to draw as I do, quickly and embarrassingly. We never knew!
I full encourage you sending me anything you think of. I love mail! Here are some things that would be especially cherished/tweeted about.
EmergenC-always a useful item
Coffee-ground fine, for a french press.
Any mixes (pesto, french onion, etc)
Stickers-especially of American flags
Colored construction paper
Whiskey
Socks-the socks here SUCK, and they're expensive. As much as I love whiskey, this is probably the most necessary item on the list.
Goldfish-the snack, not the vertebrate
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