Flu season is about to begin. We went to Baku on Friday for a daytrip to get our flu shots and buy tuna at a market near the Peace Corps office. To get to Baku we loaded onto the minivan with 18 other people and driver. Half of the those riding were sleeping – the other half coughing. There has been a bug going around with mild fever and body ache. We have been healthy except for the usual digestive issues every now and then.
There have been 2 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in Baku and no deaths. However, the Peace Corps is always monitoring any national health issues, and this year the flu shot became mandatory. Linda and I both elected to have a flu shot last year. When we were living with our host family, Hafiz had a horrendous case of the flu lasting almost one week. I would come in from the library and Hafiz was on the sofa, looking up at me with dark circled eyes and saying “I’m dying”. I contacted our health officer and he confirmed Hafiz diagnosis, and reminded us to take the usual precautions in dealing with the flu – hand washing, covering sneezing and coughing, eat well, get plenty of rest. I tried to think if communal salt and pepper containers where everyone retrieved salt and pepper with their fingers or forks (after having licked it for the spice to adhere) was part of the avoiding the flu plan.
Long story short – we never came down with the flu. We are exposed to many viruses at the school and library, but have been healthy so far.
Back to my point, the Peace Corps does everything it can to keep us healthy. We are provided vitamins and calcium supplements when we request them, and consequently we take each day. The doctors remind the volunteers to practice healthy habits. I have recounted our water treatment, and Linda and I wash our dishes in hot water (some volunteers are a little more lax in water treatment and dish washing).
The pictures are of Linda and I receiving our injections from Sevinj. After staying at the Peace Corps offices for the required 30 minutes in case there was a quick reaction, we did our shopping. It was still early since we had taken the first bus out of Shirvan that morning. We ventured to a store that we had heard about – Citimart Supermarket. We heard it had almost everything you could want for a price. We found it, and there was the first celery we had seen in Azerbaijan and for only $6.50 a stalk. We looked around the store and the primary purpose of the trip was that we had learned that maybe there would be a Diet Dr. Pepper there. Sure enough, there was 1 can and several cans of regular Dr. Pepper. We had to splurge and purchase the 1 can for Linda. The price - $2.40, and to put this into perspective – percentage wise from Linda’s take home from Park Hill and our Peace Corps allotment – this was a $30.00 can of pop. But, at this very moment Linda is sitting at the table eating peanut butter (from our friends in the U.S.), Club Crackers (from our friends in the U.S.), and a Diet Dr. Pepper and saying “Life just doesn’t get any better than this.”
On Thursday Linda was invited to the 15th birthday party of Aliya. The picture is of Aliya, grandmother, and father. Linda enjoyed the afternoon. She and grandmother were exchanging viewing of family pictures until the grandmother brought out the second volume and out trumped Linda’s 15 or so pictures. Linda ate, danced, talked, viewed pictures, danced, taught American dancing, and ate some more. It was a good afternoon for Linda while I worked diligently helping 2 nine year old children with their English vocabulary (any sympathy garnered here).
One last word, the Peace Corps lost a volunteer in Tanzania in a rock climbing accident. Henry Chow was 23 and taught science in Tanzania. He began his service in Kenya, but when political circumstances caused Peace Corps Kenya to be suspended, he volunteered to be reassigned to Tanzania. Please remember his family, friends, and those students with whom he worked in your thoughts and prayers.
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