Aqua Parks and Lezgi Dance

Inner City and Flame Towers

Apologies for the long bit between entries but this month seems to have gone by in a hurry. I have been traveling a lot more this month than any other time in my service. A lot of this change of pace has to do with participation in my friend, Catherine’s grant entitled “Teaching Through Travel.” The grant is meant to increase students’ awareness and understanding of their own country through experiential learning. In a place where most students learn almost exclusively through information retention, this idea is a relatively brilliant one. Our travels have taken us to Sheki, Baku, and Gusar.

Catherine and "the girls" on the way to Sheki

"The Boys" at Martyr's Lane

In many ways, I feel happy to be involved with a project like this as I have been able to do a lot of really fantastic things. For example, in Baku, I was able to lead a training on the subject of racism and stereotyping that culminated in a “field trip” of sorts to the Great Wall Restaurant in Baku. I think this was one of the most rewarding experiences of the month for me because there was not one racial slur or gesture from any of the ten teenage boys who came—apparently the food was actually a big success too! In Gusar, we spent time with a mixed gender group, splitting them into teams for meal preparation and clean up—quite the success! The students learned about Lezgi culture and people (a minority group living in Azerbaijan). In Sheki, we spent time with a fantastic group of girls who were able to experience restaurants and life sans parents—some for the first time.

Learning Lezgi dance in Gusar

In other ways, such trips have reinforced my belief that I am ready to come home. In Sheki, the bus driver got into an argument with Oruj and told him that he had “sold out his country” for marrying a foreigner. On several occasions, we passed through regions that were engaged in “renovation”—that is, putting on grandiose facades to otherwise unaltered “rabbit house” apartment buildings. In Ganja, the streets have been torn up for weeks, whole clusters of buildings housing small business are being taken down because owners are told that they do not have the “correct documents.” Other business are putting up new facades made of a material in which the new mayor is rumored to have a financial investment. In a matter of days, whole portions of the local economy are gone or severely curtailed at the very least.

Smoking the antique pipe in the Sheki Museum

"Facade Renovations"

In an almost serendipitous turn of events, the month ended with attending my COS (Close of Service) Conference. It was the last time that the whole of us AZ 7s will be together before we finish this fall/winter. During the conference, I took in a lot of information about career resources, health insurance, and “life after Peace Corps.” As with most things Peace Corps, I think that it will take a while to process all of this—at the time it was a little difficult given that my room at the Aqua Park was across the street from a rather loud disco that was not conducive to any immediate Zen moments. However, during a particularly informative session on reintegrating into American culture, I had the revelation that I want to buy an I-Phone, will actively reject this new “Cloud” phenomenon and am pleased to hear that the “mountain man beard” is no longer “in.”   I am now back in Ganja for the last few months of service. My plans? Keep working at some final clubs and finish graduate school applications (thanks to those who have taken the time to read my statement of purpose). There will be a few more trips and projects to write about but for now the biggest news is that George does NOT need a passport to leave Azerbaijan!