Answers to Your Questions-Part 2

A lot of you had questions about teenagers and what life is like for a kid in Azerbaijan.  Instead of answering specific questions, I'll try and give a general description of life for a teenager.  There are a few substantial factors that dictate what their life is like here-whether they're a girl or boy, in a village or a city.  I mostly have an idea of what life is like for a city boy in and my answers paint that picture.

Teenage boys in the city have a lot of freedom, certainly way more freedom than a girl.  Boys are the royalty in the household, girls are just girls.  This isn't to say girls are unloved, but there is an obvious gender bias towards boys.

A typical day for a teenager in Azerbaijan during school is wake up, go to school and come home for lunch.  Most children, especially those who are approaching the end of their school years, will study an almost equal amount of hours with tutors on subjects that they will be tested on for college admittance.  So they might take tutoring in english, history, and azerbaijani, but not in math or physics.  Girls are also expected to help with housework, though this load is lessened in their intense after-school tutoring years.  Boys have very little responsibility in housework.

Most children I speak with in the city plan on going to college.  The college entrance here is very different and very centralized.  You must decide very early on, maybe around 8th grade, what 'faculty' you are studying for.  Faculty is similar to a major but it also refers to their section of exams they will take.  The test you take upon completing school (11th grade) is determined by your chosen faculty.  And that test will focus on certain subjects over others.

Based on your test results (and only your test results) the government (not the student) will determine what school you will go to, what faculty you will attend, and whether or not you will be receiving money towards your education.  So, its a pretty big test and the ambitious students usually spend years of extra tutoring to prepare.

Aside from studying, teenage boys do many different things.  Frequently they'll go to an internet club or be online at home.  Facebook is huge here and if you want to be cool you need to be on it.  1st person shooter games are also really popular here and its more common to see people playing those at internet clubs (also called playstation clubs) than anything else.  Many teenage boys do sports or some form of physical activity, wrestling and judo are very common extracurriculars and of course soccer is ubiquitous.

Azerbaijan has a rich and still vibrant folk tradition and music lessons, such as for their national instrument-the tar, are quite common.  Chess is also a common after school activity
and its been more than once that a little kid has beat my ass pretty hard in chess.

There are very few hangouts, in the sense that Americans think of them, in the regions-no movies, malls, restaurants, coffee shops where youth can get together.  Teahouses (serving tea or beer) are quite common, but it is very much an adult male location, not for youth.  There are many beautiful parks and strolling through them back and forth, again and again, is a very popular pastime.  Its also a way that women can be out in the public and not bring on 'the shame'.

Every boy wants a girlfriend, and with the rise of Facebook (and internet access in general) and the ever-presence of cell phones, this is becoming easier and easier to do.  However, dating is very different from the United States.  Boys and girls may be dating and never actually be with each other, instead acting out all the comedy and drama of a relationship through phone calls, text messages, and Facebook wall updates.  Its common to see boys and girls interacting when school is somehow involved (walking home together, talking outside together) but it always gets us PCVs giggling like school girls when we see a coed group on the weekends.

Wow, this ended up being a lot longer than I was anticipating and at some point I have to put an end to a post that is trying to express 12 months of observations.  I'll return to this idea in the future, but do you have any questions that this post brings up that you would like clarified?

First Summer-Finished

Summer is coming to a close and fall is beginning to show itself.  The oppressive sunshine and humidity is giving way to cooler and cloudier days.  Slowly, but surely, the leaves are beginning to turn.  The seasons change here as they do in America, but are signaled differently.  Microseasons are brought on by harvests rather than holiday sales.  Discussion is turning from the seashore and watermelon to new school uniforms and hazelnuts.

In my own corner of Azerbaijan, this means an end to my wonderfully idle days of summer and a return to the routine of school. Actually, looking back, my summer was anything but 'idle;' different clubs and traveling, weeks of camp, and numerous trainings in Baku have kept me busy this summer (not to mention an awesome respite in Americastan).  But its time to get ready for my first full school year.

Preparing to begin this year of school, I'm reminded how awesome the timeline is for a volunteer in Azerbaijan.  We arrive in nice weather, as fall is beginning.  Our first few months at site was the same as our first winter, two extremely difficult times that got compressed into one, and if thats the case, you might as well be living in a host family's warm house.  By the time an AZ PCV moves out, there are only a couple months left of the school term before the ultimate relief: summer.

Having just one semester of school and then summer is a real blessing.  We get a feel for our school and teachers before beginning the bulk that is a full year.  Last semester I tried to work with 4 different teachers and there wasn't a single class that I met with each time they met.  That ended up being a crazy idea and it would have broken me to suffer that mistake for a full year.  But with a clean break from a school year so early on, I get a chance to recover.

Last semester, the bulk of my extra time was going to beginner conversation clubs and tutoring sessions.  That was helpful, and certainly helped me integrate, but there was little enjoyment received on my part.  More than conversation clubs, I'm excited to develop teachers' ability using interactive teaching methods and more and more of the meetings and activities I've been doing have been working towards this goal.  For youth, I'll definitely keep my Advanced Conversation Club going and probably be coerced into a beginner-ish one at my school, but I'm more excited about the plans for a blogging club going in Xachmaz.

All of these are things that I wouldn't have been able to figure out those first few weeks at site as I jumped head first into the school year, but now, after a semester's worth of Azeri school madness and 9 months of lessons learned from successful and failed clubs I feel a bit more confident in my step.  Don't overextend myself while hunting for the projects I can become as passionate about as I want the members to be.

Where Do I Live?

I know, I know.  I haven't really posted many (any) photos of my actual site while in Azerbaijan.  It sort of feels weird to be walking around your own town with a camera taking pictures of the stuff that everyone, including yourself, sees everyday.  But I also recognize how ridiculous that is, so starting today I'll be posting about 4-5 new photos a week of my digs, going on till whenever.

Xachmaz is nice.  Its a pretty city and its apparent that the Executive Committee (think city council, but with more grifting) truly does invest in their city.  In the coming weeks you'll see some really cool and weird things Xachmaz has that is unlike other cities in Azerbaijan.  Thus, volunteers will refer to it as the Las Vegas of Azerbaijan-a little bit larger than life (...of the country you happen to be in).  The photos will represent it well, but keep in mind that it also has those parts that don't photograph so well and therefore haven't been.

Anyway check out the initial set here.  I'll keep you updated as more post.

Answers to Your Questions: Part 1

Based on last weeks email, many of you asked some follow up questions about Azerbaijan.  I'll answer the first half of them this week and the second half of them next week.

1) Q: Picture of the desk?
A: I'm still really pumped about this desk.  For as much time I spend at my computer writing and working it was hazardous to my health not to have a desk that would allow me to sit in a non-painful fashion.  Previously I was working at my coffee table on my couch, which meant hunching my back.  Anyway, here's a picture of my very standard height, proper posture encouraging desk.

2) Q: Is 'azeri' a proper adjective, or is 'azerbaijani' the only correct form?
A: Azeri is a noun that refers to the Azerbaijani language, so you would say 'I speak Azeri'. In this case it is interchangeable with Azerbaijani.  Azeri also refers to a person's ethnicity, such as in the statement 'There are more Azeri people in Iran than Azerbaijan.'  Informally you can refer to the citizens of Azerbaijan under this term, but technically citizens of Azerbaijan are 'Azerbaijani'.

3) Q: Say I wanted to help an impoverished nation like Azerbaijan-what would be the best thing I could do? Any particularly good charities or nonprofits?
A: Not a bad question.  In general, Azerbaijan is not nearly as well organized as the United States and there is such a culture of corruption pervading this society that it is good to look on with a skeptical eye towards organizations soliciting donation in this country.

Many worthwhile international charities operate within Azerbaijan, such as Red Crescent and Amnesty International, and these are both be excellent organizations.  This is especially the case with Amnesty International due to the increased silencing of those brave individuals who are choosing to voice their opposition to the current government.  However, there is no guarantee that the funds you donate will actually benefit parties in Azerbaijan.

I also have recommendations for those who would like to see your dollars go to Azerbaijan peoples.  First is the Burnaby Blue Foundation, which provides safe and sanitary infrastructure for orphanages in need in Azerbaijan (and Kenya and Lesotho).  They focus on long-term effects and work on projects that are not so easily taken away (such buildings rather than toys).  Check them out here.

Additionally, I certainly want to recommend the Peace Corps Partnership Projects (or PCPP).  Basically, a volunteer submits an application for a small grant and, upon approval, the grant is publicized on the Peace Corps website, soliciting funds from the American Community.  I have observed immediate effects of these grants and currently participate in two (Azerbaijani Softball League and the Writing Olympics).  I highly recommend checking out open projects in Azerbaijan here.

Thanks for your questions and keep asking them.  I'll answer the rest next week.

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.