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.

Hip-Hop from the Land of Fire: PRoMete - Sus

PRoMete is a producer who works a lot with the H.O.S.T. alliance.  He tends to emphasize softer production on his own tracks, which compliments his light and smooth voice well.  There is an annoying aspect of his production that he generally splits most of his tracks in two, with there being two distinct feels to each half of the track.  Sometimes it works (such as in the track below, Sus), other times your left feeling a worthwhile idea was left incomplete.

PRoMete - Sus (which, as best as I can determine, is an onomatopoeia like our 'shh')

 PRoMete - Sus by joshehr

Landlady Update: Part 4

About a month or so ago I was making small talk with my landlady (because that's pretty much the only type of talk I can make with her) and casually mentioned I was probably going to move my bed away from the windows in the winter.  She didn't think it was a good idea, but I told her that if its too cold, I'm going to move it, so deal.

So, every visit since, she has remarked that I haven't moved the bed.  This isn't just an observation, its an inquisition, an accusation.  'Why haven't you moved the bed;' as if this was something I had promised her long ago and never followed through on: 'I've been waiting on this moved bed for years!'  Finally today, after a substantial bed-moving conversation, I laid it out straight for her.  'I haven't moved the bed yet because it isn't cold yet' I told her.  Then I mentioned 'Maybe I will move it and maybe I won't, I will decide in winter.'  Then to hammer in the point again I mentioned 'I have a friend who will help me move the bed, but I don't want to move it right now'.

At this point I kept talking saying that I absolutely have to go because I am now late for lesson.  I was literally telling her this as I shut the door so she couldn't bring up the darned bed again.

Well, I came home from school that day and find my room completely rearranged.  Not only was the bed moved from the windows, but the couch, the chairs, the buffet, all of my furniture had been moved in the room.  I was stunned and I still don't really have a clue how she did this.  These are heavy pieces of wood furniture, it takes a lot of strain to push and pull and grunt something into position, and she is certainly no spring chick.  There are two options: either she did this all herself, which is ridiculous, or she called in support, which is just as ridiculous since I adamantly told her I would do it myself.

On one level, I do appreciate this, I mean, I really was going to move the bed.  But its been a long time since I've had such a dramatic 'you're a single man, therefore you have no clue how to live in a house' experience.  Thank goodness my landlady is around to make sure I get through another month.

Time To Get Back To Work

Two weeks ago I was out of commission, sleeping and silencing phone calls and generally ignoring the outside world.  Last week I was healthy and was able to return to Azerbaijan life, which means catching up with everyone I hadn't seen the past week.  Azeris are very caring and concerned for their guests' health and well-being; coming back to school I was surrounded by concerned Xanims and students wondering if I was healthy and if there was anything they could do.  So much attention lavished upon your return is a really nice aspect of this culture.

So, the week was busy.  Just like in American life, missing a week of work means having a lot to catch up on, though thankfully no massive email inbox to return to.  Monday I was able to have a meeting with Saida Muellima (which means teacher) and begin writing our Primary School Teacher Training.  Unlike the other trainings I've delivered that have been presented to Azeris but planned and facilitated by Americans, this training is being developed with an Azeri so there is very much a teaching the teacher element in the lesson planning that makes one feel more productive.

I also was able to hammer down the first two dates of this training with the Methodist, once I got about 4 shots of vodka in him.  Planning projects here is like pouring concrete over a house of cards.  Once the concrete is set the house is firm and the project will be pretty stable, but until that concrete is poured the slightest misaligned movement can collapse the entire thing.  From an American perspective, it all feels very tentative because dates aren't set until a couple weeks before.  So there is always this feeling that everything could be canceled at any moment.

There are a few other new projects at various stages of initializing.  My former host brother, Fargani, and I are in the process of developing a very ambitious project scheduling numerous workshops and classes centered around community leadership and involvement.  And my site-mate Glendene and I are having our first Azerbaijani yoga class this weekend, which hopefully should be really fun.

What's cool about my service now is the fact that I'm more than halfway through, which means I get to not only look forward to what will be coming, but also look back on what has been done.  Yesterday we finished our first season of softball with an exhibition game between North Finger Americans playing against the Khachmaz Maximum, a great way to close out our season.  The Traveling Teacher Training Roadshow is finishing its first year (phew!).  Even better, Kelly and I have finally identified a sustainable model that will not require massive amounts of cross country traveling for us and begins to incorporate Azerbaijani involvement in the teaching.

But I also look back and feel accomplished when I experience guesting situations like this past week.  I went over to my counterparts house where I could catch up with her family and meet some new friends, laugh and drink with the men, tease the children, and generally feel pretty at ease instead of on display.  And conducting this night completely in Azerbaijani.  Finally being able to speak this language is a huge feeling of accomplishment regardless of in what situation it may be.

Hip-Hop from the Land of Fire: Timon ft. GoGo DISS - Time to End the Ghetto

Time to End the Ghetto is actually a Russian translation, but I don't know if this blog is ready to handle the Cyrillic Alphabet all up in its business.  Timon is an Azeri rapper currently in France, whereas GoGo DISS is just one of the millions of rappers who has chosen an unfortunate name.  There are a few moments in this song I really dig, such as the 'mama' about 52 seconds in. Give it a listen below.

Timon ft. GoGo DISS - Time to End the Ghetto

 Timon ft. GoGo DISS - Time to End the Ghetto by joshehr