Assisting with AZ7 Training

Last week was another unique time in the lives of Denney and Linda. On Saturday, October 24, we made our way to Baku. We try to get to Baku every 6-8 weeks so that Linda can get a great haircut. The timing was right, Andrea, a Community Economic Development Volunteer, was in Baku for training with Access Bank, her site organization. While in Baku, she had access to a 3-room apartment and invited all the Volunteers who had been in a Bible study group during training to come and go to church together on Sunday. Wendy, Micah, Linda and I accepted her invitation.
The picture above is of the Baku International School auditorium (lower half) where the Baku International Fellowship meets for worship. This was about 20 minutes before the service began. There were approximately 300 in attendance with about 50 of those children under the age of 12. The congregation is made up of expatriates working or studying. The offering was received by four men of different ethnic origin; Indian, African, Asian, and European.
After the service we also met a gentleman involved with the Azerbaijan Baptists. We had a very meaningful, but far too brief of a conversation. We hope to meet with him again in the future when we are in Baku. He asked that I not use his name because of circumstances we understand. He is a very brave man.
We had a good evening Saturday visiting with our friends and fellow Volunteers, then separated after worship. I headed back to Shirvan, Linda headed to McDonalds with the others and then on to Sumqayit. Linda met Connie, an AZ7 with whom she stayed while in the village of Saray. The meeting place for all Volunteers and Trainees in Sumqayit is “The Dove.” The statue pictured above is very near the Caspian, and is known by everyone.
Pictured above at the host family in Saray are (left to right) Vafa the daughter, a relative, Ilhama the host mother, and Connie. Ilhama is a widow with a large extended family. Her husband died of cancer at the age of 46 and was 1 of 11 children. Ilhama would say he came from 11 children and is the only one who has died. There were many relatives in and out of the house always checking on her. Ilhama works as a secretary at the music school in Saray. The house was very clean, and the family as all Azerbaijanis hospitable.
Linda was asked to be a mentor this year. She went to a language cluster (5 Trainees) and observed them teaching 3 different lessons. She evaluated and gave feedback to each Trainee. Linda was quite impressed with 3 of the five teachers. The fourth has potential, but has never had teaching experience, and given the right counterpart will do a good job. The fifth needs to go home.
Linda returned to Shirvan on Saturday, October 31, around noon to Denney’s open arms, peanut butter, soup, and hot cinnamon tea.

I had my usual conversation clubs on Monday. I also went to a wedding Monday evening. The wedding was for a library worker’s husband. There can be 2 weddings. One wedding is for the girl, and she may wear any color dress. The second is the boy’s and the bride wears white. In this wedding, the couple signed the legal documents and it was very western with a woman asking the couple to repeat vows before the customary food and dancing.
On Tuesday I traveled to the village of Tegiyev. The village is right on the Caspian, and about 4 hours from Shirvan. I was there to assist in a session on teaching basic computer skills on Wednesday. Because we are not allowed to travel at night, I traveled to Tegiyev on Tuesday, presented on Wednesday afternoon, and returned to Shirvan on Thursday. Pictured above is a view of school number 32 in Tegiyev. It is the Caspian in the background. However, it was raining, cold, and I fell down on my way to the school.
Pictured above are 2 more of the AZ7 Trainees. They are very talented, and I was equally impressed with the group of AZ7 in the Youth Development Program. In between the 2 Trainees is a relative of the host mother where I stayed.
My conditions were much different from Linda’s. There was a large compound with at least 4 houses, and I’m not sure how many families in each house. I saw so many different people. We all share a toilet. I always had to wait in line, no matter the time of night or day!
I was anxious to return back to Shirvan.
Note of explanation: There is an Azerbaijan proverb, “East or west home is best.” The meaning is wherever you travel it is always best to return home and die at home.
A tender moment for me was during the Friday 10:00 conversation club. The group wanted to know what I was doing in Tegiyev and about what was asked. The host family in Tegiyev wanted to know if I liked Azerbaijan. I used my limited language skills to say I loved the Azerbaijani people, and “Azerbaijan menim ichinji evimdir.” Translated Azerbaijan is my second home. Then a couple of the students asked if I wanted to live longer in Azerbaijan. I explained that we missed our sons, family, and multitude of friends, and as much as I love Azerbaijan, I love them more. One girl responded, “East or west home is best.”

From Country Director to Trainees

Last week was a busy one for us. On Wednesday the 18th our Country Director Meredith Dalton visited us. She is a very caring person who has committed much of her life to the Peace Corps. Her father is a surgeon in Oklahoma City. Meredith’s goal is to visit every Volunteer at least once a year.
Linda does not teach on Wednesdays and was able to prepare fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans for lunch. That knocked the socks off of her! We deeply appreciate her concern for every Volunteer, but shared with her that we have a wonderful support system in the United States. Both Linda and I are fortunate to have excellent counterparts who work with us.
The counterpart can be the most important person in regards to a successful and rewarding Peace Corps experience. Linda has described Matanat, and I have shared a little about Alma in the past. Alma helped us get our apartment, works to get students for conversation clubs, and spends a lot of time with me talking about Azerbaijan culture and traditions.
Basically, we shared with Meredith, don’t worry about us, and thank you for all your support, and the support of the staff. Pictured with Meredith and Linda is one of the Peace Corps Drivers. These men are responsible for the safe transportation of the staff. They also inspect potential housing for Volunteers, and act in behalf of the Volunteers with landlords. They must speak Azerbaijani and English, and are quite educated. They must be able to navigate the roads between and within each city and village. It is a very difficult job.

On Sunday afternoon two AZ7 Trainees came to spend 2 full days with us. Connie Hayes who is about 50 and Sarah Ferguson a recent university graduate arrived about 1:00 p.m. We settled them into our apartment and had lunch at a local Turkish café where men and women are accepted to eat together. Another Trainee, Derek, stayed with Jesse, our site-mate, and we all got together for supper at our home Sunday night.
On Monday, Connie went with Linda to school to observe an Azerbaijani classroom firsthand and observe what a Teaching English as a Foreign Language volunteer does. Sarah went to the Library with me to observe and interact. Unfortunately, halfway through the first conversation club the Library Director invited us to a ceremony for the “Picture Gallery”. We locked up the library and everyone went to see local artwork.
In the afternoon Connie and Sarah went to the library with me for a couple of conversation clubs. Linda again prepared a wonderful supper, and we spent the evening answering questions about life in Azerbaijan.
On Tuesday Sarah went with Linda, and Connie went with me. In the afternoon Connie, Sarah, and Linda went shopping and Linda answered practical living questions.
Sarah and Connie made very good impressions on us. Connie will be a valued member of the “Mature Women Volunteers Fellowship.” Connie is especially enthusiastic. Connie was an editor at a local newspaper in Arizona. As the paper needed to downsize she applied for the Peace Corps. She had wanted to serve in the Peace Corps since college days. Now was a good time for her to serve, then she will return and seek another career until retirement.
Sarah has a degree in Business Management and wants to do consulting work. She went to school in Rhode Island and her family is from the Boston area. I am sure she will be an asset for the Youth Development Program.
Early Wednesday morning they left to return to training. The last two pictures are of how PCVs travel and the taxi drivers discussing who will take them to Baku.

On Saturday we are going to Baku to meet with Volunteers with whom we shared a Bible study. Then on Sunday we will all go to church at the Baku International Fellowship. After church Linda will travel to the village of Saray where she will spend five days observing Trainees teaching. She will be mentoring them in preparation for their service. I will return to Shirvan and conduct conversation clubs on Monday.
On Tuesday I will travel to the village of Teqiyev. Wednesday I will assist my Program Manager in a presentation about teaching computer skills in Azerbaijan. Thursday I travel back to Shirvan and await Linda’s Friday or Saturday arrival. I am not sure which day Linda will return. This Sunday is the end of Daylight Savings Time, and we are not allowed to travel after dark between cities. The roads are very dangerous after dark due to animals potentially on the road, and poor lighting in cars and trucks.
Hopefully we will have much to share after the experiences.

Engagement Party and etc.

I have mentioned in past blogs about asking conversation club members to take our camera and take interesting photos. The photos above were taken by Gunay. She went to her family’s home village for an engagement party. When a couple becomes engaged there is a party. The photos show the future bride, the future groom arriving at his intended’s home, the couple together, seated at their place of honor and a photo with friends and family is always desired.

This from our language and culture coordinator about the cultural rituals involved to engagement:

Prior to Courtship
Under the custom the first to come to the girl's house are two women - the groom's mother and one of his close relatives. As soon as the women come to agreement about the marriage, it is time for the heads of the families to meet. The groom's father comes to the bride's house with three respected people; who can be relatives or friends of the family. Together the group tries to communicate their intentions. The girl's father does not give his consent at first. He should talk this over with his daughter. When the girl is asked she keeps silent. It is the sign of her consent. If she should not consent, she will usually talk to her mother, rather than speaking directly to her father. However, the final consent is not yet given. It is given only after a brief courtship.

Courtship
The father of the groom invites his close relatives to his house. Together they come to common decision on the engagement. Then the female relatives of the groom meet the future bride and find out about decision. Then they inform her mother on the engagement date. The bride and her family have a meeting. The matchmakers (relatives, friends and/or neighbors) come together on the appointed day. If the girl is against this marriage they get a refusal. If she isn't, they take some time to consider it.

After a while the relatives of the groom come to the girl's home again. This time the girl's family gives their consent. On day of the decision the matchmakers come to the bride's house. They are invited to sit on the best seats at the table. The girl's relatives are present too, but the bride and her mother are not - on this day the bride has to stay away. The father of the groom asks one more time for the girl's family’s answer. "Let Allah bless them", - they answer. Everyone sitting at the table then says, "Amen." Then the new relatives congratulate each other. The sister of the girl brings in tea. Sometime dinner is served. After the matchmakers have left the sisters of the bride go to the bride congratulate her and take her back home.

Engagement
Within a month the relatives of the groom should come to the girl's house for engagement ceremony. On this day 25-30 people gather together: the bride's friends, her peers. They all sit down around the bride. Then the relatives of the groom come bringing a ring, a kerchief and sweets. The sister of the groom, her brother, sister-in-law or the father put a ring on the bride's finger, cover her shoulders with the kerchief, then they treat the bride with one half of the sweets; the other half they give to the groom. Then the feast begins. As soon as the groom's family has left then it is time for the hen-party. The bride then in turn puts her right hand on the head of each of her unmarried friends, letting them try on her ring. It is said that the girl who is the first to try the ring will be the next one to get married. Then the bride's friends leave, carrying away the sweets.

A couple can be engaged for any period of time, and if a death occurs in a family, then a wedding will not take place during the year following the death.

Our Life Last Week
Last Saturday Linda and I were invited to a home where friends gather and sing choruses, share concerns, pray, and study the Bible. We arrived at 7:00 and others around 8:00, and we left at 10:00 p.m. There were two other couples, one couple’s son, his aunt and ourselves. The aunt played the guitar, provided words to choruses, selected the music, and lead in the study. Their concerns are much like any family in the world, jobs, health, well-being of family and friends. We asked them to remember our family and friends in the United States and especially our sons. It is comforting and inspiring to spend time with these dear brothers and sisters of faith.
The aunt shared that some people come only after dark in order to avoid attention from neighbors. In fact by coincidence when we left the meeting to go home, we stepped into the street and a young man had the headlights of a truck turned on so we could see. The young man we had met before and asked what we were doing there? We responded, “visiting friends” – to avoid any difficulties for the family.
Religious freedom is promoted officially, but organizations require registration. In my conversations at the library we often speak about religious cultures and beliefs.

This week Linda has been ill, but is recovering in time for us to host 2 Peace Corps future volunteers who have begun training. They arrived in Azerbaijan about 2 weeks ago. We are to answer any questions and share with them what Peace Corps life and work in Azerbaijan is like. We will share more about them next week.

Pictures and Gonshurlar

First an explanation and caption for the pictures, then a little information about our gonshurlar (neighbors).
We brought a couple of digital cameras with us to Azerbaijan. One has a broken LCD display, but fortunately has a view finder also. For the advanced conversation club members I offer the camera for their use. I only ask that they take interesting pictures. They take pictures, I download to my laptop, and then we discuss.
These are 5 of Rovshan’s photos. He has an excellent eye, intelligence and a great sense of humor. The first photo is of a monument to a device for preparing tea. The monument is located in the old park near a chaykhana (teahouse). The inside of the cylindrical container would be hollow and used for a wood fueled fire. Surrounding the fire area contains water which is heated by the fire, then when tea is made the teapot is placed on top of the fire. It is especially useful on picnics, courtyard dinners, funeral meals, and family occasions.
The second picture is of a wood carving of an oriental man. It is a wonderful piece of art that has deteriorated due to the weather and lack of maintenance of sealers. The third is a new complex of wood houses being built for foreign workers who will come to work on the construction of a new power plant. The information I receive is that the workers will be from China. A Chinese company has the contract to build the new power plant which will take 3-5 years. The housing is very unique for this area. The houses will have a better R-factor and more efficient for heating and cooling. Very good windows have been installed, and there is a common building which will be used for meals. Fourth photo is a bridge that you may either want to avoid or run very quickly across. Finally a shop owners poster. Can you tell which shop owner only accepts cash and which extends credit?

The Azerbaijan word for neighbor is gonshur, and the plural gonshular. We live on the second floor of an old soviet era apartment building. The building has 5 entrances and each entrance leads to 5 floors, and each floor except the first has 3 apartments. The neighbors directly across from our apartment is a family consisting of the father who works away much of the time, the mother who is a housewife, the elder daughter age 10, younger daughter, age 3, and son almost 2 years old. None of them speak English but the 10 year-old daughter came to Linda’s English Club this summer and learned some English. She then taught this to her mother and siblings. The neighbors next door is a family consisting of the mother and college-age-daughter. The father died and an older brother lives in Baku. It seems that a male relative lives with them also. I tutor English with the college-aged daughter, Sherebani. Both of these neighbors have been very friendly and regularly they bring over plates of baked goods, candy and jam. I once had to borrow a little gas cooking device (like a camping stove) when the gas went out while guest were here. I feel fortune to have such good neighbors.

After Linda completed her courtyard classes she gave her visual aids to the 10 year-old daughter and said, “You are now the teacher for your family.”

Drop by drop a lake is made.

Peace Corps Wants Us Healthy

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.