Halloween in Zaqatala

"Hello. Congratulation on Halloween holiday."

This was a text I received from a friend of mine here in Zaqatala, wishing me a happy Halloween. One of the things I love about people here is that they love to congratulate you on every single holiday. Oh, Flag Day's tomorrow? MUBAREK!

Anywho so this past weekend in Zaqatala we celebrated Halloween by having a little get together at our local IREX center that my sitemate Löki organized. She cooked up a storm...she made popcorn balls, donuts, and witch fingers (sugar cookies with a sunflower seed as the nail) for everyone to nush on. Quite a few people came by, enough so that the center got a bit overcrowded. Another AZ6 who was in town, Jesse, even carved out a Jack-o-Lantern (yep, we have pumpkins in Zaq!) We had a mask-making station, a donut-on-a-string game, and the movie Hocus Pocus playing. The kids looked like they were having a blast, especially when they tried the donut game. Also, until rewatching it on Saturday I had no idea how raunchy Hocus Pocus was! Its so weird to see a movie from your childhood and realize that its almost a completely different movie now that you are watching it from an adult's perspective. All in all it was a great time; I can't wait for next year's Halloween!

Oobleck!

Science is awesome. I still remember the time that one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Fernandez (whom I called Mr. Buddy), introduced us to "oobleck," which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Mr. Buddy was quirky in the way that many science teachers are, and I assumed he had made up the word "oobleck" himself. (I just learned through wikipedia that the name actually comes from a Dr. Seuss book.) But anyway my point: Mr. Buddy and the simple hands-on experiments like "oobleck" that we would do in class really inspired/fueled my love of learning/science/nerd-dom.

Fast forward ten years to Zaqatala: my awesome sitemate Löki and I recently started a Science Club for school age kids. Each week we do fun experiments with the kids (think Bill Nye the Science Guy or Zoom), hoping to help promote creative & critical thinking. Science is kinda boring when you're just memorizing facts from a book. But when you get to see first hand the things that you are learning in school, well that's just awesome! (I really should find a synonym for the word awesome. Pardon my overuse.)

So today in Science Club we made oobleck. It's two parts starch to one part water. We used potato starch because that's what is most readily available in Azerbaijan. We put some into individual cups for each kid to poke around and play with, and then had a bigger plate of it so that everyone could see/touch it. The kids were really surprised by how weird the oobleck was and had a lot of fun playing it! As you can see, things got pretty messy. Luckily the water in the mixture evaporates off and just leaves the potato starch, which is fairly easy to remove from your hands and clothes.

All in all, it was a great time. Next week (inshallah) we'll have another cool experiment!

Toxumaq İstəyirsəəəəən?

I learned how to crochet and knit here in Azerbaijan. I would now consider it one of my hobbies. Back in PST, I saw my 11 year old host sister crocheting something for one of her dolls, and I asked her to teach me how to do what she was doing. For the rest of PST I was pretty much with my crochet needle and yarn 24/7. I even started crocheting during language classes. The first thing I ever crocheted was the beginning of a blanket, which came out exactly like one would expect your first ever project to look like: horrendous. My host sister didn't really teach me what to do at the end of a row, and so as I kept crocheting, my blanket began to look like a pyramid instead of a rectangle since I was losing a stitch after each row. Luckily a few of my fellow YD's are also crochet-ers, and they taught me a few different stitches as well as how to end a row. Its such a great feeling to finish a scarf or a hat and realize that you just made something. I will probably never buy another knit hat or scarf in my life. Why would I when I can just make one myself???

Here are a few of the things I've crocheted so far:


These are two scarves that I made for my host sisters. I tried to make them exactly the same, because if they were in any way different the girls would probably fight over whichever they liked the best.


This is the first hat I made. I know, I know, I should be designing for Dior or Gucci or some other rich ass brand.



I made this hat for another PCV here. I was going for a Storm Trooper/Gladiator look.

The other day I got some knitting items from an AZ6 PCV who was giving away some of the things she doesn't need anymore. After youtubing how to knit, I have now learned and am currently knitting my first scarf! So stay tuned for the final result in a few days.

Sharing Poems

One of the best parts of being a PCV is the sharing of ideas/culture not only with people in your host country, but especially with other volunteers. An AZ8 PCT put me on to this poem and I liked it so I'm sharing it with you! Below it I have also put two of my favorite poems. (If you're reading this and want to share a poem you like, put it in the comments because I'd like to read it!)

Song of the Open Road
by Walt Whitman

1
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

*To read the rest of this poem click here.



This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.



La Bodega Sold Dreams
by Miguel Piñero

dreamt i was a poet
&
writin' silver sailin' songs
words
strong & powerful crashing' thru
walls of steel & concrete
erected in minds weak
&
those asleep
replacin' a hobby of paper candy
wrappin', collectin'
potent to pregnate sterile young
thoughts


i dreamt i was this poeta
words glitterin' brite & bold
strikin' a new rush for gold
in las bodegas
where our poets' words & songs
are sung
but
sunlite stealin' thru venetian
blinds
eyes hatin', workin' of time
clock
sweatin'
&
swearin'
&
slavin'
for the final dime
runnin' a maze
a token ride


perspiration insultin' poets
pride
words stoppin' on red
goin' on green
poets' dreams
endin' in a factoria as one
in a million
unseen
buyin' bodega sold dreams...

Sabado Gigante!

I tend to have a lot of down time, especially at night when the only options are to either go guesting or stay in my house. The weather has been rainy and gross these past two days so I decided tonight would be a staying in night. I heated up some leftovers for dinner and picked out a few movies I'd like to watch (Stomp Out Loud, Sugar, Precious, & Almost Famous). I started out with Stomp Out Loud, which is a taping of a performance by the dance troupe Stomp, who is known for using everyday objects to make music.

I fell asleep halfway through the movie. I woke up just in time to catch the credits, but I was still a bit tired so decided to hold off on the other movies and continue my nap a little longer, this time to the soothing sounds of Norah Jones. I woke up about 20 minutes later singing along to The Prettiest Thing (great song...if you've never heard it, GET ON THAT!). I sat up in my nap bed (yep, I have a bed for napping) and started to type out the lyrics to the song in iTunes. (You know when you click 'Get Info' for a song and you can see all the details? Well there's a Lyrics tab where you're supposed to paste in the words to the song! Awesome right? I know.) Anywho so one of my quirky (read: nerdy) hobbies is to type out the lyrics to songs while listening to them to see if I can keep up with the singer with my typing. So I started doing this for a few songs, and then I started to sing along with them as I was typing, and then I just got the urge to do some karaoke.

But how can I do karaoke if I'm just sitting alone in my room in Zaqatala? Answer: Youtube. For the next four hours I sang along, loudly, to countless songs by youtubing their karaoke version. Thank goodness my host family happened to be at a toy tonight, or else they probably would have come knocking on my door asking why it sounded like I was murdering a cat.

Here's one of the gems I covered tonight:

For whatever reason (probably because I haven't been around Spanish speakers for over a year) I only did songs in español. The best part about this whole thing is that I figured out a way to download the videos off youtube, so now I have a collection of karaoke videos on my hard drive that I can sing along to even when I don't have internet! (You're welcome, neighbors!)


*Note about the title of this post: It's supposed to be funny because my Saturday night was probably the POLAR OPPOSITE of the locura & excitement that I associate with Sabado Gigante. I literally pase la noche cantando sola en mi cuarto, por ma de cinco hora. Kind of lame, I know. Not gonna lie though, it was a lot of fun...and it prooooobably won't be the last time I do this.

PCT's, PCV's, & PST

So this past week was the AZ8 group's site visit, in which the current volunteers sign up to host one or two trainees and show them what the life of a PCV is like in the regions of Azerbaijan. I had the pleasure of hosting two AZ8's, Crystal and Gio, who spent 3.5 days here in Zaqatala. A few comments/thoughts on the visit:

1) Having people visit your site for the first time is such a good reminder of how awesome it is. Not that I forgot that Zaqatala is great, but its something about being a pseudo-tour guide that makes you re-assess all the things that have become normal and part of your routine. I truly am lucky to be living in such a great town.

2) Being a host can sometimes leave you feeling stressed out and exhausted. This is not the case when you have great guests. Qualities that make a guest great include: offering and always helping with housework such as but not limited to dish washing; giving you random gifts just for being a host (Biscolata cookies, theraflu = wonderful presents); having a sunny disposition...ain't nobody tryin' to have Debbie Downer being all depressed up in their house!; buying/contributing money for food; cooking a delicious meal for the host, complete with dessert (s'mores = YUM!).

3) I am so happy with the relationships I have developed here with my community members. I say hello to people on the street, and they seem genuinely happy to be greeting me! Even something as simple as observing some of the girls I work with have conversations with the trainees and asking them tons of questions is such a WIN in my book. Not only is it clear to see that their English has greatly improved since I first met them, but these women also used to be a lot more timid and shy before. Makes me so proud!


4) If you're going to hike 1500 meters up a mountain in October, you should probably start before 1:00pm since it starts getting dark around 7:00pm.



5) I'm so glad I got the chance to spend some quality time with Crystal and Gio. They're awesome and I'm sure wherever they end up for their permanent site they will be wonderful volunteers. Inshallah they'll come back up to Zaqatala for a visit once in a while!

Hiking: It's a Thing.

My first time ever 'hiking' was a few months ago here in Azerbaijan. I may have gone to college in New Hampshire, but hiking was just not one of those things that I was ever interested in doing. I associated hiking with tree huggers and those 'granola' people.

Having been on hikes several times now here in Zaqatala, I have begun to reevaluate my perception of hiking. A few things I've come to realize:

1) Hiking is just walking, but in nature. I walk all the time in the US. In New York there really is no other choice, you HAVE to walk from your apartment to the train station or the bus stop. And walking in the Heights and the Bronx does sometimes require mad skills and agility. How else do you avoid the broken glass shards and various other questionable trash remnants that are found on NYC streets?

2) It's a great workout. I'm mad lazy, and I've never been one to "workout" per se. However hiking is something I could definitely be into. You don't have to do it everyday, and when you do its still just walking. I do that anyway. And at the end of the hike you get to see something awesome, like a gorgeous view of the Greater Caucasus mountains.

3) Dominicans hike. It's called being a campesino. Which my pops, who is from Padre Las Casas, definitely is. Chequea:

Eso monte se parecen a lo de Zaqatala! So hiking is kiiiiinda in my blood I guess.

4) It's a great way to bond with people. I went on a hike that took 8 hours total up and down the mountain with my sitemates and two AZ8 PCT's who came up to Zaq for a site visit. I feel like I know them a lot better now than I did before the hike... something about the hardships involved in climbing a huge mountain that brings people closer together. That and pain. Best quote of the trip: "Pain is just weakness leaving the body."

My conclusion about hiking: it's kind of awesome, and its something that I may continue doing when I get back to the states.

Just another Sunday in the 'baijan

9:00am - Woke up in the morning feelin' like P. Diddy. Hopped up out the bed, turned my swag on, took a look in the mirror and said "whats up?," yeaaaaaaaa...not yet. Reset the alarm for 9:30am. Just a few more minutes in bed.

9:23am - Woke up before the alarm. Turned it off. Got up and immediately walked to my computer to check how the Yankees did in Game 2. They lost 7-2. So whack.

9:30am - Brushed my teeth, used the baño. Turned on the stove to heat up water for tea.

9:37am - No tea left in the çaydan. Went with Plan B, instant hot chocolate. Had a cup of it with some Miel Pops cereal.

9:55am - Put some clothes on. Got my bookbag ready to leave.

10:20am - Left the house. Walked to the post office.

10:40am - Met up with my sitemate Löki. Took out money from the ATM. Walked down to the bazar.

11:10am - Wandered around the bazar. Saw Lori, another PCV, and had a quick chat in the street. Eventually found the produce section of the bazar. Helped Löki carry 15 kilos of apples. Also purchased two bunches of basil, a bunch of cilantro, and two liter-size glass jars.

11:37am - Took a marshrutka from the bazar up to where Löki lives. Dropped off the goods at her place and walked to the nearby school for a conversation club at 12.

11:55am - Arrived at the school, found out from the former Flex student who organized it that the guy who has the key only opened the front gate to the school, not the classroom. Some of the boys had arrived. Made one of them run to that guy's house and ask for the key.

12:10pm - After some running around and some more phone calls, finally got the classroom opened. This is the first time this club meets, and there were about 17 kids who showed up for it. They were all super motivated and seemed happy to be there. Great start for a club!

1:30pm - Convo club over. Went to the store nearby to pick up some pasta and bread for lunch.

1:50pm - Back at Löki's. Started preparing lunch which included: cracking open some hazelnuts and washing the greens (I'm the sous chef). Löki makes a delicious pesto.

2:45pm - Ate a plate of pasta with some bread while watching the Music Man for the first time.

3:10pm - Löki brings the apples into the room. Started peeling.

5:30pm - Music Man is over. Realized that musical number from that episode of Family Guy where Peter is on the Pats and he sings that song "Sha-boo-pee" is actually from this movie and not originally a Fam Guy thing. That joke makes a lot more sense now. About 2 kilos of apples still left to peel, but the giant bucket is full. About 29 pounds of apples were peeled.

5:35pm - Washed my hands and got my stuff ready to go back home.

5:55pm - Took the trash with me as I left Löki's.

6:00pm - Dropped the trash in the pile, realized I still had my house slippers on, and walked back up to Löki's.

6:05pm - Left her house for real this time. Put my iPod on. Music makes me happy.

6:20pm - Said Salam to a woman walking by me on the street. She crossed over to talk to me. And she switched to speaking in English! Very nice lady, she's apparently an English teacher in one of the schools in town. She told me I am welcome in her home any time and that I am a very nice girl. How friendly!

6:25pm - Arrived back at my house. Changed into my house clothes (aka hoodie and sweat pants - fall is here, its chilly again).

6:45pm - Went on the computer. Started writing this blog post. Chatted with people online.

7:30pm - Internet died. Watched a few episodes of Community (btdubs its a hilarious show, if you've never seen it, get on that!).

9:00pm - Food time again. Heated up leftovers in the microwave (yep, I have a microwave.) Ate while watching more Community.

10:30pm - Internet is working again! Checked emails. Read some blogs. Skimmed through the news.

12:00am- Finished writing this blog post. 'Twas a great day!

Bluegrass in Azerbaijan

So last week Eli, one of my fellow AZ7 YD's, came up to Zaqatala with his mom and her husband, who are bluegrass musicians. They came with their instruments, and luckily they got to play in one of the villages here in Zaqatala.


First a disclaimer: I've never been a fan of bluegrass. Actually I didn't know what bluegrass really was until about two weeks ago. I always thought it was just another term for country music. A quick googling and wikipedia-ing told me that bluegrass is a "form of American roots music...typically played on a small set of acoustic stringed instruments."

After hearing it live, I must say I'm definitely more of a fan of bluegrass than I was two weeks ago. Eli's mom, Coney, and her husband Carrol are awesome musicians. And they're even nicer people! While staying at my house they played a little for my host family, who really enjoyed it too. I think bluegrass could definitely have a following here in Azerbaijan....

Below is a short video of Coney and Carrol playing at the Cultural House in the village of Danachi.

Friendo y Comiendo: Issue 01

381: the number of days I have gone without eating un plato de comida criolla. This is the longest I've ever gone without eating food from home. It is a problem I have chosen to start solving: by exploring the Azerbaijani bazars and trying to adapt the recipes from home to the foods available here.

When I am at home most of my meals consist of la bandera Dominicana: arroz blanco, algun tipo de carne guisada, y habichuelas. (Although at home I never ate the beans.) For whatever reason lately I have been craving some of this. So for dinner today I made a modified version of this dish. I can't really afford to buy meat as a PCV so I omitted that part altogether, and instead of using dried beans (because I'm lazy and didn't want to spend the extra time so they could get soft) I used lobya, which are the green beans that they sell here in Azerbaijan.

For the white rice:
2 stekans (cups) rice (I'm on a budget, I bought the cheapest kilo-bag they had in the store)
salt
oil
water
- I washed the rice, then added about 1.75 times the amount of water (in this case like 3.5 cups)
- Added salt to taste (I like my rice to be flavorful enough that it can stand alone as a dish.)
- Poured in some oil, maybe a tablespoon's worth? I don't know, I eyeballed it. Who has measuring utensils anyway??
- So you let this cook on high heat until most of the water boils off, stirring frequently. Then you lower the flame to a simmer, put the lid on and let it hang out for like 20 minutes.

For the beans:
250 grams lobya
2 small onions
2 cloves garlic
1/4 chicken bouillon cube
tomato paste
spices: salt, pepper, adobo
water, oil
- Heated up some oil in a pan (on medium heat), once it was hot I added the onions that I chopped. Once they got translucent I added the garlic (that I chopped as small as I could).
- After a minute or two I added some tomato paste (I only had a bit left in the jar so I used the rest of it, maybe like 2-3 tablespoons worth?) and the bouillon, with a little bit of water so that the paste and bouillon can dissolve.
- After chopping the lobya into small pieces (maybe a quarter inch wide), I added these to the pan, along with about 2 cups of water.
- Seasoning time! I threw in mad salt and pepper, and some adobo (I had it sent from home... I can't really call myself Dominican and NOT have a kitchen with adobo). At this point I tasted it and added more spices as I saw fit.
- I let about half the liquid boil off before I put a lid on it and let the lobya get softer, leaving it for another few minutes.

And the final result...



My taste buds were very happy tonight.

Oh, one more note: this meal could probably feed like four people, so if you're not a fan of leftovers and are trying to make this I would suggest at least halving the recipe.

Ay Sağ Ol and other phrases I overuse

I've been here mad long now, so its not surprising that I have adopted a few Azerbaijani phrases into my own everyday vocabulary. Sometimes when I'm talking to my homies in the states I throw in an "inshallah" or two, which is usually met with confusion and WTF?-ness. I'm pretty sure when I go back to NY I'll be speaking a weird combination of English, Spanish, and Azerbaijani, which will probably be annoying to those around me (my apologies in advance).

Below is a quick tutorial of my favorite words to use in Azerbaijani:
(friends: if you learn them now, when we meet again in a year you won't think I'm a total weirdo!)

Ay sağ ol! - Means thank you...except a very excited thank you. Like if you were looking for your glasses that have been lost for a week and your host mom finds them on top of the fridge and hands them to you and you respond: AY SAĞ OL!

Nuş Olsun! - Probably my favorite phrase ever. This is what you say to someone who is about to eat/have a meal, similar to Bon Apetit. We don't really have a saying like this in English, which is probably one of the reasons I love this phrase so much. It's like nuş has filled a lifelong void in my lexicon. How did I ever enjoy eating before I nuş'ed? (Ed. Note: Stay tuned for a future post concerning my coinage of the term 'douche olsun')

İnshallah - God willing; us PCV's usually translate it as 'hopefully'. Azerbaijanis use it similar to how we (in this case we = dominicans and other spanish speaking peoples) use "Si Dios quiere," soooo it is pretty much said in any/all circumstance(s). Example: Random woman you have just met on the street asks if you're married. You respond no. She asks why not. You respond that you will get married maybe 5 years from now. Her response: İNSHALLAH!

Hə - Informal 'yes'. It's like saying yea. I say hə so much I don't even remember what the formal word for yes is anymore. Oh well.

Olmaz - This doesn't really have a good one-word English equivalent. It means "not allowed" or "prohibited," but its so much more than that. Parents say this to children whenever they are doing something wrong, but this is just one of its many, MANY uses. Examples: Skeevy dude tries to discreetly graze some boobage on the marshrutka. OLMAZ! Your host mom hears you whistling inside the house. OLMAZ! You forget to take your muddy sneakers off at the front door. OLMAZ! You are drinking cold water in the winter. OLMAZ!

Bu nədir? - What is this? I've never been a fan of 'studying' so of course my knowledge of Azerbaijani is probably a bit far behind most other PCV's. That said, I use this question A LOT. Example: I see a carrot at the bazar. I hold it up and look at the salesguy, "Bu nədir?" Man replies: Markof. I think to myself, I probably should've known that given that I've been here for over 12 months. Whoops.

Nə olub? - My fav thing to say to staring, non-smiling children. It means what happened, but I'd like to think of it as more of a "What you lookin' at? You lookin' at me? What, I look weird to you or something?? YOU WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT?!?"

Nə isteyirsən? - Means 'what do you want', but its kind of rude to ask this. I use it as a synonym for Nə olub. When I say this it is usually accompanied by furrowed eyebrows, a frown, a shake of my head, and a quick "What?!?" head jerk/shoulder shrug forward. (You know I'm talking about? That thing that people sometimes do to scare children like they're gonna start running after them or hitting them but you don't actually move you just jerk forward a little? No? Maybe its a New York thing then. Or an only-in-my-family thing. Nevermind then, I was just kidding, I never do that! *laughs uncomfortably and backs away from the computer*)

Things I've Found in AZ: Joel Doppelganger Edition

I'm starting a new series of posts entitled "Things I've Found in AZ." What's it going to be about? All the awesome shit I come across in Azerbaijan umm, DUH! So today's inaugural edition begins with a person I found: a Joel doppelganger. Joel is the name of my younger brother. We look a lot alike, except he's a dude. If I had to pick two words to physically describe Joel they'd be nerd and palillo. (btdubs I'm going to be using Spanish/Spanglish pretty frequently, and not translating. Soooo yea, this would be a good time to start brushing up on that spanish you took for four years in high school!)
And now I'm rambling so back to the point...

Joel has an Azerbaijani doppelganger. The other day I was hangin' out at the Music School here in Zaqatala, chattin' it up with some teachers, when I saw one of my students from last year. He is around 12 or 13 (I think), and I hadn't seem him since May so I noticed he had grown taller over the summer. He also now has glasses. Basically, over the past three months this kid has turned into Joel. Ideally this would be the point in which I post a side-by-side comparison of Joel and his AZ doppelganger, but given that he (the doppelganger) is a minor, posting a picture of him would probably not be appropriate. A picture of just Joel will have to suffice.

Joel and my student both look like this (pretty much):




P.S. So I showed this picture to my student (I have all my pictures on my iPod precisely for moments like these), and he started laughing. Then he said something about qara almaqing. Basically this kid said that it does look like him, except if he were more tanned. (The verb 'to tan' in Azerbaijani is qara almaq, which directly translated means "to buy black.")

The Brief Wondrous Texts to Jessica A.

Text messaging may be the number one method of communication within the PCV community here in Azerbaijan. It's cheap, we're on a budget, and we like to sum up our lives in less than 150 characters. I was never much of a texter back in the US, but having been here for a little over a year now, I must say I now know why everyone is always texting on their phone. BECAUSE ITS AWESOME!

Okay enough jibber jabber, the point of this post is to say (and show you) how much joy I get from texting here in Azerbaijan. People here are really good at being hilarious within a character limit. So below are the funniest/weirdest text messages I've received in-country. All of them except for one were written by other PCVs.

In no particular order (and written exactly as they were texted to me):

- Good evenin lady Alcantara.how r u?

- Ummm, i was just showering in the outside hamam room w/ some mellow light coming from the pecht. It was very nice &pleasant. But then... Creepy brother pops his head in through the WINDOW & switches the light on for me & leaves. What the hell is that!?

- How long could it possibly rain 4? I just made a pantymobile and put it in front of the fan.

- Oh God oh God, im in the back of a packed marshutka w/ 2 hrs left & the kid next to me just puked all over herself & her mom...Lord God Almighty...it smells...

- Im about to lite a huge ass 21 on fire on a mountain side w/ a bunch of strangers. Jesus Christ, a gun was just fired as i write this. Its gettin crazy up here

- Ive discovered the best option 4 some type of aircondition'n: shower'n, not dry'n off & walk'n aimlessly around my apt naked occationally go'n back for more H20

- Was invited fish'n by a guy i met a while back. @ the H20, turnd round for 5 sec, turnd back round & dude's down 2 his underwear throw'n the fish'n pole. Now surrounded by half dozen, 1/2 nude fishermen

- I woke up w drool down my face all the way down to my shirt. Im so classy.

- Ever see 1 of those videos where a gorrilla cares 4,holds&coddles a HumanChild who fell N the cage@theZoo? A VERY largeAzeriMan has just turnd me N2 that child

The Worst Blogger Ever

I forgot I had this blog. Whoops.

How did I remember over a year after I first created it? So I was looking at my sitemate's awesome blog, (check it out Far From Nome) and I made a comment on one of her blog posts about the awesome pictures she put up. My name was highlighted, I clicked on it, and it said I had two blogs. WORD, google?? So apparently this thing still exists so I guess I should update it, right? Okay here goes:

1) I've been in Azerbaijan for a little over a year now (got here October 1, 2009). I've grown accustomed to enough of the culture to not really be surprised by much anymore. Acculturation WIN!

2) I'm sitting in the 'living room' of my 'house' in my permanent site of Zaqatala. This region is located at the base of the Greater Caucausus mountains, in the northern part of the country. Many Azerbaijanis will tell you it is one of the most 'gozel' (read: beautiful) rayons in the country. They are correct in their assertion. Don't believe me? Photographic evidence:



BOOYAH! I mean look at that beautifully clean street and that mountain just peekin' out behind the mural! Thomas Kinkade WISH he could paint some ish like this.

3) When I started numbering these points I thought I'd have more than two. Nope. But list making isn't really justified when there are only two items on that list sooooo... yea. I like dolma. Moving on...

Inshallah I will actually start updating this thing more frequently than once a year, but we'll see. My apologies in advance if the next post isn't until 2011.