Down Hill Side

The big news this week was that on Friday we celebrated our anniversary of being Peace Corps Volunteers and moving to Shirvan. The pictures illustrate how we celebrated. First was a toast to the past year and to the countdown of returning to the United States to family and friends. Our dinner consisted of a chicken grill (it looks a lot like our Thanksgiving turkey) and fully loaded mashed potatoes from an instant mix from Betty Woollums.
Next was dessert, Oreo Double Stuffs and cold milk via Nancy Erlich in New York. Finally an evening of watching House and Monk episodes by playing DVDs with Windows Media Player and external speakers. To complete the enjoyment of the viewing Linda had a Diet Dr. Pepper compliments of my cousin Melissa Williamson in Georgetown, Texas. Melissa had sent 2 plastic bottles in a care package, and Linda saved them for this special occasion. We were amazed they made the journey through the mail just fine, and you can see by the expression on Linda’s face – she enjoyed the first, and is saving the second – maybe for Christmas or New Year’s.

The last picture is of our Christmas tree which went up this week. We were inspired by Betty Woollums who sent us some Christmas decorations, and a few holiday cards. The tree was purchased in the local bazaar as was lights for the 220 current. Linda made the decorations from old Christmas cards that Betty Matheney had sent us from John Knox Village last year.
On the television are 3 gifts from Azerbaijanis that we received last year. The angel on the left lights up. The angel and the 2 figures on the right are interesting because we have no idea of their significance. The Santa Claus (Shaxta Baba – grandfather frost) sings Frosty the Snowman.
The heater is very good, and we are fortunate to have it provided by our landlord. It is the type recommended by the Peace Corps as the safest. It is an electric radiator type that heats oil inside. We can also use it to heat or finish drying clothes.
Other Peace Corps Volunteers may heat with wood or gas. The gas can be dangerous and at times in short supply. An example is that in Barda the natural gas is turned off at 11 at night and resumes at 7:00 a.m. The danger is obvious. There can also be extreme variances in pressure. In our apartment there are days where we have no natural gas (usually not consecutive days) or low pressure. There is no notice – we just try to light the stove and most of the time it lights. We have a butane gas burner we can use in emergencies for cooking.
In the villages the Volunteers heat with wood. Wood is very expensive and the Peace Corps provides each volunteer 23 AZN per month for 6 months for heating supplement. One Volunteer, Tim, ordered a season of wood for 150 AZN. It was to be delivered between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. It arrived on the truck at 9:00 p.m. Tim and 2 fellow Volunteers unloaded the truck, then piled in the courtyard, then piled in an orderly fashion around Tim’s humble abode. The process was over 3 hours, and each Volunteer was extremely sore the next few days.

Beside the heater, notice our feet. Because of the dirt and dust no one wears their shoes past the entry way. During the winter it is important to have some warm slippers to wear around the house.

It is quite a psychological lift to realize we are only a year away from returning