Clean and Transportation

Frank left a comment about how clean the city of Shirvan appeared. He remembered Europe as not so clean. Yes, Shirvan is very clean compared to much of Azerbaijan. However, there are parts that are not so clean (pictures with next week’s blog). The pictures in this posting are: the Heydar Aliev monument and park, a portion of the long park adjoining the monument, the mall where the Central Library is located across from the monument, a cleaning crew, and the street by our home (we are the second door on the left).
The cleaning crews are usually older women who do the backbreaking work of sweeping the malls, parks, and streets with straw brooms. Men oversee the sweeping women and do some of the work, but the women do the majority of the labor for cleaning the parks.
You will see pictures in the next posting of how people litter the streets. Shirvan does have an organized trash removal program, but there is an attitude of drop trash wherever, even if there is a trash receptacle close by.
There are many cars in Azerbaijan the most popular being the Russian Lada. The only person we have known who owns a car was the father of a university student that Linda tutored in Saray. Almost everyone uses the public transportation – buses, taxis and trains.
One of the great joys of being in Shirvan is that Linda and I can walk almost everywhere. During our training we had to use the marshrutkas every day. A Marshrutka is a van or extended van that seats 15-20 people and holds up to 25. The temperature is carefully controlled by the amount of people on board – the more people the hotter it is. On a rare occasion we would be on a marshrutka that was not at near capacity. The marshrutkas follow numbered routes and the cost was 20 cents within a city and 30-50 cents to travel to a nearby village or city.
It is difficult to explain, but some marshrutkas have fold down seats that take up the aisle. There may be five rows of seats and as the bus fills the seats are folded down from the rear. We would get on and take a seat usually in the very back. Then more people would get on board. The seats come down. We would be the first ones off meaning everyone in the middle has to stand, fold up their seat and get off (or just stand and give us 6-7 inches to work our way around them) for us to get off.
Along with the marshrutkas are very old busses that seat 20-25 and hold up to 45. There is always room for 1 more on these buses. If a marshrutka is full, they do not pick up anyone else, but not so with the buses. There is a definite etiquette once on board. There is very little talking, and a man always gives his seat to a woman who is standing, and young women give their seats to older women. Women do not sit next to a man they do not know unless absolutely necessary. Young men give their seats to older men (I did not have to stand as often as the younger volunteers). If you are carrying a package and have to stand, a seated person will offer to hold your package. If a mother or father get on board with little children, people will hold the children and shepherd them while the parent(s) handle their packages. Complete strangers are entrusted with the infants at times.
Because everyone uses the buses for shopping trips and general travel, people bring on board as much as they can carry. Often a person will get on with 4 large handled cloth or plastic sacks and find somewhere to place these. Some of the packages we have seen brought on board are: decorated cakes, 4 dozen eggs on trays not cartons, groceries, building supplies, fire wood, plastic furniture, and suitcases, but no live animals.
The fare is paid when one exits. There are designated stops, but if you want to get on, just flag a bus down. When stopping, shout Sachla (STOP!). The fare is paid to the driver unless you cannot get close to him because of the crowd. In that case one passes the money through as few or many people as necessary, and if there is change, it is passed the same way. We always tried to have the exact change.
To travel a distance of more than 15 miles to another city we can take a big bus or a marshrutka. The cost varies up to $5.00. We are going this week to Salyan which is about 40 miles away. It will cost $1.00 a piece and take an hour and a half. We will take a local marshrutka #3 to the bus station for .20 and then find a bus to Salyan. The busses generally leave on schedule, that is when they are full.
It is not all bad. Twice during training Linda got on the wrong bus. Once she realized her mistake she indicated to the drivers her problem. Neither of them spoke the same language, but they communicated. Each time the driver went out of his way to get Linda on the right bus. I once missed a stop, and was at the end of the route. I called my Language teacher who spoke to the driver. He took me back to my stop and I was the only one on the bus.
One of the highlights of training was visiting a Peace Corps Volunteer at their site. Our assigned volunteer was Jane in Lankaran. We rode a big bus from Baku to Lankaran about 6 hours with many stops. There were 9 volunteers on this particular bus of 50 people. When each volunteer would get off at their stop (ours was the last), they would stop outside the bus and wave vigorously to those remaining on the bus. It must be noted that this practice of waving was an American practice, and the Azerbaijanis do not wave like that.
On the bus we began to communicate as best we could with one man. I asked the names of villages as we passed through. That was about all the Azerbaijan I could speak, and he spoke as much English. It was determined we were from America. When he left in the bus at one of the latter stops, after seeing all the other volunteers get off, he shook my hand warmly, got off, turned and waved vigorously. It almost brought tears to my eyes as he was reaching out the best he could to communicate welcome.

Clothing

The pictures are of 3 girls and a little sister from my conversation club illustrating young people's dress. 2 of the women's wear shops, men on the street talking, and a children's shop. Please note the colors and the elaborate children's clothing.

Clothing in Azerbaijan is more European than Asian. A person’s clothes and appearance is very important. If there is dust or mud on my clothing, people are very quick to tell me. Everyone wants you to look your best. I go walking around with my young friends from the Conversation Club, and they straighten my collar. It is expected clothes are to be clean and ironed.
The teachers at Linda’s school are primarily women. They all wear long dresses to work. Linda has yet to see one of her fellow teachers in pants at work. At the Central Library where I work some of the women will wear nice slacks to work. I wear a dress shirt and tie with black trousers.
Younger women are a different matter. The college students primarily wear pants and especially jeans. The jeans must be dark and have some form of design on them. Many of the jeans have embroidery, sequins, or beads.
The young men wear dark slacks, black jeans, or dark blue jeans. I have seen a very few men of age wear jeans, and those wore black. However, let it be noted that jeans are slowly taking over. Next year I am sure I will see more men in jeans, and perhaps older women.
When people go out on the streets, they dress up. Casual dress is for home. At home anything goes. Linda and I wear sweats around the house. Note in the pictures of stores the house garments for women. The are long tunic top with pants and usually velour, and of any color or design.
The work place is usually cold, so people wear several layers and usually their coats while at work. Women wear very long coats that protect their dresses from the mud and dust of the street. Many women wear scarves or knitted hats. Men wear hats like I wore in the Bible Study group picture, or Russian style round fur hats. The young men rarely wear hats, and the children wear stocking hats.
Women wear gloves in the winter, and I do. Most men do not wear dress gloves although I have seen them for sale. If a man is wearing gloves, it is usually work gloves while performing labor. I am sure the men must wear gloves in the colder climates around Azerbaijan. I want my hands warm, so I wear mine.
Shoes that are worn in the street are not worn in the home and must be removed at the door. Most people use house socks and a few slippers. Every home has several pairs of slippers to wear out in the yard or even to the local market. The slippers are rubber or plastic and cost about $2. Shoes are to be clean and shined. Dirty shoes are a sign of laziness. Dirty shoes will get looks of displeasure from the citizens. Women’s shoes generally have stiletto heals or older women become more practical. Poor older women wear a rubber almost overshoe type of shoe with heavy multicolored stripped wool socks. Men’s shoes can be quite narrow at the toe. Everyone from the PC said the shoes here are poorly made, but I may try a pair next year. There are sports shoes available, but they are poorly made.
Men wear suit coats everywhere. I have seen a man herding sheep in a suit coat and collared shirt. The pants may not match, but the coat is worn. Bus drivers and men walking the streets all have on sport or suit coats. Young men wear turtleneck sweater shirts and leather jackets more than the suit coats, but still a few do.
Athletic wear is popular, but most people do not own many clothes. People are very dressed up, but will own only 1 or 2 dress outfits. We will see teachers wear very nice clothes, but it is the same dress every day. I normally wear the same shirt to work for one week, to fit in with the staff. We did not bring a lot of clothes, but have much more than the average Azerbaijani citizen.
The best term for the women’s clothing is gaudy. Linda will spot an attractive black dress, and then on one side it has a sequined rose about the size of New Hampshire. Everything must have rhinestones, embroidery or sequins. Again, the average Azerbaijan citizen has a very limited wardrobe.
School children come to school dressed very nice. They are always clean in spite of the fact that the water is not always available and cold. Their clothes are usually uniforms of black trousers or skirts with white shirts and blouses or white turtleneck sweaters. Some of the boys wear black suits and some vests with ties. Children come to school in coats, hats, and scarves. The buildings are often cold so they keep on their hats, coats, and scarves.
When children go outside the parents dress them with multiple layers. The children and adults always dress warm even if it is warm. The children’s clothing for the street is always dressy, but play clothes for home and local streets.

FOOD

The pictures are: The Bible Study Group which met during training, The older volunteers at the Swearing In, Our Welcome Salad, Bill and Dorothy Colcord with the Country Director Zoltan, and finally Kelsey (one of our site mates) and Linda during our first visit.

Now FOOD:

Every Azerbaijan citizen that we meet who can converse with us asks, "How do you like
Azerbaijani food?" We always respond that it is very delicious.For us it has been a tale of two cities. While we were in Saray at the first home, the
family had troubles budgeting their money. When we gave the rent every 2 weeks, the family
would buy something expensive for the house or new clothes for the children and the food
was okay for a few days, but rarely any meat or eggs. There were many days when all we ate
were starches, bread, and oil. The PC helped us relate the issue to the family and we began
paying weekly. The food improved and we had variety. We also lost about 5% of our body
weight and especially muscle mass. That was when we were begging and you responded with
protein bars, hot chocolate mix, oatmeal, and all the other wonderful things which were
shipped to us. We supplimented our diet with your gifts and our weight loss decreased.
The Peace Corps provides vitamins and calcium suppliments.We also experienced many new tastes such as sheep stomach, cow intestine, pure fat, some
mutton. Much of the diet was tomatoes, bread, butter, a white cheese which is salty and
with little flavor, potatoes, pasta, and rice. The soups contain an extraordinary amount
of oil. Oil and butter is added to everything. Oil is sometimes replaced with mayonaise
in salads.The best dish in Saray was the cabbage leaf dolmas. This dish consists of cabbage leaves
stuffed with a meat, rice and spices. The dolmas were Linda's favorite. (Side note: in
language class when we were asked our favorite foods in Azeri, everyone responded with
Dolma. Not that everyone liked them that much, but it is easy to pronounce.)Then we moved to Shirvan and thought we had hit the mother lode. Our first meal here was
extraordinary. Note the picture of the salad with "WELCOME" in pickles. The salad is
called Rachel's salad after one of the PCV's in Shirvan. It is a potato salad with shreded
beats on top. It is delicious and beautiful. There was also chicken salad, fruit, nuts,
bread, and we worried about weight gain.Our meals in Shirvan are good. What we lack is variety and balance. At our first home we
had good dolmas every week. Here in Shirvan the children do not like dolmas, so we have
had them once on New Year's Eve. I try to explain we need high in fiber and potasium, but
somehow my Azerbaijan language skills don't seem to get the point across. Again, thank you
for all those care packages, we do so appreciate them. We are overwhelmed by your
kindness.It is like everywhere in the world. The dishes are best prepared by the best cooks.
Everyone prepares dolmas, but some are good and some are great. Our weekly diet now
consists of the following:Breakfast is almost always bread, butter, cheese, and hard boiled eggs. We purchased some
jam, and the family now provides jam at every meal. The home prepared strawberry, fig,
mulberry, grape, and cherry are quite tasty. We also have any leftovers from the day
before such as salad.Lunch and supper consists of some basics repeated throughout the week. One of the following
dishes would comprise a typical meal along with bread.Pasta served with butter. Sometimes a bit of meat is added, ketchup may be served on the
side, but it is expensive and not put out often. Linda and I are going to experiment in
trying to prepare an alfredo sauce when provided the opportunity.Fried potatoes with a lot of oil, some onion, and sometimes a little mutton.Sausage which is like a bologna with a little more fat. It is sometimes fried with eggs.A potato salad with some chicken added about half of the time.A soup of oil, onions, potatoes, with chicken or mutton parts.A soup of oil, rice, potatoes, and onion.Potato or chicken salad is a main dish and if left overs are available the salads are
served with the next meals until gone.
A general discussion of Azeri food. Fruits and vegetables are abundant during the harvest
season. We are most fortunate and live in a city where at our bazar we can purchase any
fruit year round. The bananas are expensive, 75 cents a piece. Lemons in season are
reasonable, but oranges are always expensive. Apples are plentiful and reasonable, and
during the fall quite cheap. There is a fruit called quince (hava in Azeri) which is like
an ugly apple and is not sweet, sour, or juicy. Pears are quite good, and lots of grapes
and raisins. Almost every home with a yard has grape vines. Pomagranites are the most
plentiful and a national treasure. We are very fond of the manderines, very tasty
tangerines that seem to be available year round.There are dairy products. Yogurt and a white cheese are stables along with butter. People
buy butter by the 5 kilo (10 pound) blocks. The white cheese is salty and with some
flavor. What we miss are the cheddars, jacks, and smoked cheeses. Crackers are hard to
find. There are many cracker like products, but generally are sweet crackers or not very
sweet cookies.
We have had a couple of dishes occassionally, borscht and kabab. The borscht was quite
tasty once and so so the other times. We have had kabab in a restaurant in Sumqayit that
was fantastic chunks of chicken grilled. We had home made kabab the one time in Saray -
not so hot. The food was grilled not over charcoal briquets, lumber. Not logs, but lumber
with nails, old paint, I'm talking the scrapiest scrap lumber.
In homes salt and pepper are not served in shakers, but little soufle sized dishes.
Everyone takes a bit with their fingers (some children lick their fingers first to help the
grip). Linda and I are getting better. We first had large clumps of salt and pepper in
our food, and now we have medium sized clumps.
Meat is generally mutton, then chicken and then beef. In the evenings I go by the small
meat shop and there is a small steer tied to a post. The next morning he is killed,
skinned, divided and there is fresh meat (taza eti) for sale. The throat of the animal is
always cut while the animal is alive and faces toward the east. The meat is divided by
hand. I have heard that cow's head soup is served, but fortunately have not had the
opportunity to observe first hand. One volunteer was served this "treat" at 7:00 a.m., and
almost lost it when he got a hair caught in his teeth. (So much for the gross commentary)
This morning I jogged and returned home and fixed a cup of hot tea. I looked at it and
said, "Lord, at the wedding in Gana of Galilee you turned the water into wine, might I ask
for a mircle of tea into a cup of Starbucks Italian Roast?"
All in all we are far better off than many volunteers in other countries. If you have any
questions about any area of life in Azerbaijan, email us or leave a comment. Future
discussion will include more about our work, automobiles, and life in general. Remember
the brave young people who serve all over the world in over 80 countries as representatives
of you through the Peace Corps.

WORK

Forgive the format, I copy and paste from a txt document to save time on the internet, and I have not got the paragraphs to come out yet.

Work
My work at the Central Library is in the Internet Access and Training Program. The IATP
was funded by the United States Agency for International Development. There are 10
computers with 1 being the server for the internet. 6 of the 9 are connected to the
internet and one of those is used by the director, Alma. Students come in and sign up for
independent study of Word, Excel, and the Internet. Alma uses structured lesson plans for
basic use of the programs.The IATP also then provides free internet access for the community when the computers are open, first come first served basis. The center is open 7 days a week from 9 - 1 and 2 - 6. In actuality take a half hour off of each of those times for actual use. The students are very slow with the keyboard. Computers and basic office programs are not going to be productive until there is a keyboard skills class begun at the earliest possible age as in
the United States. I am looking for keyboard teaching programs. If anyone can help me,
please email or comment. If I was at Wal-Mart I could purchase a basic keyboard tutoring
for children for about $20 I think. There is probably even shareware available if I have a
chance to find and download.When the students do work in the Office Suite of programs, there are no case studies or assignments. They learn about the functions, but when I ask how they would use such programs, there is the deer in the headlights look. Alma says to me "teach" and I say "how will they use the programs, what should I teach". This is the area I will work on in the next year. My language skills must vastly improve for me to be effective. The students
and Alma have limited English skills.A most interesting person who uses the IATP almost every day is Lily. I would estimate her age at 55. Her English is the best I've heard here. She comes in and uses the computer and internet almost every day. Linda and I hope to get to know her better when we have an apartment of our own to which we can invite her. In this culture she is certainly worth getting to know.

The other aspect of my work, and more successful so far, is conducting conversation clubs. I began with 2 clubs for an hour five days a week. That was too much. I now have the 2 clubs meet on Mon., Wed., Fri. One meets at 10:00 and the other at 4:00. The morning is primarily students from the college, and the afternoon is a complete mix. The conversation clubs are a way to integrate us into the community and give us credibility.The conversation clubs are to have the students practice their English speaking. I tell everyone that I am not an English teacher, I am an English speaker. I have activities that help with vocabulary such as body parts bingo. The students fold a piece of paper into 16 squares, then write down 16 of the 30 or so words I have on the board randomly. Then I call out the word in Azeri, then English until someone gets 4 in a row, then they get a piece of candy. The words are called until everyone has blacked out their cards and everyone has candy. Then we play again using only English and play for a blackout card.The clubs choose topics to discuss in English. They love the subjects of holidays,
cultural differences, and music. I had a great experience when the morning club wanted to
change the meeting time from 11:00 to 10:00. We voted, and the vote was 6 to 6. The club
wanted me to decide, and I refused. In a democracy you must negotiate, and they did. I
offered compromise to 10:30, but they turned that down. They discussed and finally decided
on 10:00 with a vote of 10 - 2. It was great!There is a white board I use every session, and the markers were pretty dim. I had not
figured out where I could purchase the markers. One of the students came in late to
conversation club, and I commented on her being late. She replied she was late because she
stopped to buy a new marker for the board, saying so with the saddest big brown eyes. It
both broke my heart and gave me such a boost.We sing songs such as "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes", "If You're Happy and You Know
It" for breaks during the discussions. So far the biggest hits are the songs and the
bingo. I will share more in the future about attempting to use the conversation clubs for learning life skills and healthy choices.Below Linda writes about the schools.
Azerbaijani SchoolsAZ schools are grades (forms) 1-11. There is no kindergarten or 12th form. School is in two shifts; usually from 8-1:00 and 1:00 to 6:00. September 15 is the start date for all schools in the country and May 30 is the end date. There is no summer school. Most
instruction is from the old Soviet period with lecture, memorizing and repeating back
information the primary means of learning. The Dept. of Edu. is trying to change
instructional methods but change appears slow. Teachers can hit, slap and yell at students
at will. I have observed only yelling, screaming and pounding on the desk. The same state
issued textbooks are used throughout the country. Teachers are encouraged to teach to the
final state test instead to teaching to mastery. AZ students are behind their American
counterparts because of the shorter daily instruction time, shorter school year and poor
instructional methods. There is no special help for slow learners or struggling students.
Only one curriculum at one pace and with one method of instruction is available to students
in AZ schools. The struggling students sit in the back the are ignored by the teachers.
They day dream or play with items. They are expected to be quite so the others can learn.
AZ teachers are poorly paid. A beginning teacher makes only 60-80 manat(dollars) a month.
These teachers usually live with thier parents if not married because they can't afford a
place of their own. Parents who want their children to pass tests for university entrance
usually have their children tutored outside of school at their own expense. Teachers can
make as much money tutoring as teaching and have better students. Most AZ schools have
poor heating so students and teachers wear their coats, hats gloves and boots during the
school day. The schools that I have been in range from clean, new buildings to dirty, run
-down buildings. Education in AZ is very top down. The Dept of Edu decides on the
textbooks to be used and curriculum to be followed for all forms. In each individual
school, the director (principal) makes decisions and there is little teacher input. There
are both men and women at the administrative level. In a typical AZ classroom there are
sutdent desks and a blackboard. No teacher's desk, bare walls, no pencil sharpener, no
equipment, no books. Each student purchases they textbook and pens - none are supplied by
the school. The teacher comes in with a textbook and her purse. Students when asked to go
to the board to write, must provide their own chalk.I am to select two counterparts to work with for the next two years. We are to co-teach with me showing new instructional methods and how to use visual aides. I will be available to all the 9 English teachers in my building to help learn new methods and will conduct teacher workshops. The director seems to want his teachers to learn more interactive instructional methods. Hopefully the teachers will want to learn also. Currently, I am observing in the classes of the 9 English teachers to see who I will co-teach with and what kind of schedule I can work out. I hope to work out a schedule of teaching in the morning session and conversation clubs in the afternoons. The conversation clubs are not graded but will be an opportunity for students to speak English. Often they read some English
sentences but can not carry on a conversation. Their English is really not useful to them.
The older students seem very interested to learning and speaking English because they know
that the best jobs in the country are with western companies and government jobs that
require English. I will keep you updated on how all this develops. The teachers at School 9 have welcomed me with open arms. They are helpful and friendly.
The director has been very nice to me too. All of them seem to be glad to have me. This
was their third application to get a Peace Corps Volunteer to help with English language
teaching. They seem excited to finally have a PCV. Most of the teachers to about early
30's to 64. Several have told me that they are glad to have an experienced teacher.

Everyday activity

In This posting I am concentrating on living conditions. First, the toilet is pictured
above. This is the Asian toilet we have at home. It is really first class because it
flushes, so the odor is slight (the brown stains are rust be assured). The method of
approach is to squat, so it is just as well that I do not have a newspaper because my knees
would give out before I finished the Sports section.The quality of the toilets vary. The public toilets you do not want me to describe or
discuss. At the public toilet there is a person who collects a small fee of 25 cents for
it use. This person does not clean, just collects. The lowest level of toilet has no
paper or water for cleaning. Next there is water available at a sink and sometimes there
is a kind of pitcher called an Aftafa. The aftafa is filled with water and somehow is used
to clean oneself, but Linda and I have not figured that one out yet. In many homes and
restaurants there is the European style of cleaning, a flexible water hose with a sprayer
much like the kitchen sprayers in America. The water pressure is tricky and basically you
can be fairly clean and damp, clean and wet, or very clean but water comes out the nose.
You can always spot the PCV because they have little stashes of TP, tissues, napkins, old
language papers, and anything of use in their pockets, purses, and backpacks.In the first class restaurants in the major cities there are hand dryers, but if there is
anything to dry one'shands it is usually a common towel (always damp), and if there is soap
it is a common bar of soap. Hand sanitizer is treasured by all Volunteers.There are
European style toilets in nicer homes and Soviet era apartments. Most of the time these
flush, but some do not have tanks so we add pitchers of water to flush. The trick with the
Asian is developing a sense of aim. With no newpapers to pass the time I have made up
little games for the toilet. As a bombadeer I have practically won WWII all by myself.One last note, paper is available and the quality varies with price. Our prioritized
budget allows for this luxury (necessity).Washing machines are available and are in a few homes. The quality of the washing machine
is nothing like the automatic washers in the USA. The machines basically fill with water
and agitate. The clothes are then hand wrung, water is drained, items are replaced in the
machine for rinsing, and then and hand wrung, and hung out to dry.In our home, like the vast majority of homes in Azerbaijan, the laundry system is the sink
pictured above. Linda hand washes all our clothes and I help with the wringing out. In
Azerbaijan the women do all of the laundry, and I have yet to see a male assist.We are very fortunate and have access to hot water, but have to plan ahead. The hot water
heater is a metal tank heated by gas jets below. The jets are either on or off. We light
the heater about an hour and a half before hot water is needed. Everyone then baths and
clothes are washed, and finally the gas jets are turned off. There are no insulated hot
water tanks. We shower 3 times a week while the family showers on Sunday.Most of the volunteers host homes have some heat, but the volunteers who rent their own
apartments or houses are usually pretty cold. The PC gives $23 a month extra during the
winter months to help with the extra expense of heat. Heaters can be anything from a
radiator system, space heater (wood or gas), to a small hotplate. We are quite warm
because we are in a more moderate climate with only 2 days below freezing so far. We have
had much milder weather than Missouri has had this winter so far, but everyone warns us
that it is coming.There is also a picture of the living room decorated for New Year's eve which they call
Christmas or xmas holiday. The main character is Shafta Baba (Frosty Grandfather) and
there are also trees. There are trees still going up around the city. On the morning of
12/31 the children will arose and opened their presents. The presents are many times
figurines or toy Santas that sing Frosty the Snowman. This year the children in our home
received a doll and a toy helicopter as the big gifts, and then a gift bag with a few small
toys and lots of candy. For the holiday season we were given an angel whose feather wings
light up with different colors, one of the Santas, and a tree ornament of a small stuffed
cow (I'm not making this up), very nice Azerbaijan souveniers. There wass a lot of food
and at midnight people go outside and shot fireworks. The school is out for 1 week and this past week have been several school parties. Linda
and I attended 2 at her school. There was entertainment, music, speeches, and dancing.
Linda and I were big hits just because we attempted dancing along with the students. We
will demonstrate in 2 years when we return, "Enshallah" which means God willing.Coming Attractions: Food, automobiles, and buses.