Back on the Blog

I have the details of the blog worked out so that we can update more often. I know it has been over 2 months since we posted anything.
Training is going well and we appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers.
A little about our future home for the next two years. We will be in Shirvan (formerly calledAli-Bayramli), and if you want information look up the former name. The city just changed its name recently. It is a city of about 68,000. It has 3 vocational schools past secondary education, but no colleges or universities. It has 16 secondary schools. Linda will be teaching English and working with teachers at one of the 16 schools. She finds out which school on November 14.
I will be in the central library and have met once with the director. The director is interested in computer programs for the library. Outside of the library I will be conducting English Clubs and working with sports when I can. There will be 2 other PC Volunteers at the site. Jessie who is training with me now is in his early 2o's and will be working through a school. There is an AZ5 Kelsey who is also TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteer.
A little about the country. The Azerbaijan people are very kind and want to learn to speak English. The language is similiar to Turkish, and we are learning it slowly. The weather is about like Chicago or KC, but very few buildings have heating systems. The temperature outdoors has been in the 40's and in our home the 50's. We can see our breath in the "haman", that is bathroom".
The Peace Corps gives us medical kits, water filters, and sleeping bags. The sleeping bags are wonderful, and in the winter many hours are spent there. During the day Linda and I wear 3-4 layers of clothing. Usually we wear 2-3 indoors. At night we can cover up and study and read, but our hands get very cold. Our host family says it is Azerbaijan, not America.
The discomforts are really quite small, and as our country director reminds us, we are here for Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan is not here for us. Your love and support help make the discomforts easy to adjust to. It is a matter of adjustment.
I just attended a class concerning the education system in Azerbaijan. The system is very centralized and all curriculum and schedules are established in Baku then implemented throughout the country. The starting teacher is paid approximately 20 dollars per week, and teaches about 3 hours a day. With experience a teacher can make as much as 50 dollars a week.
Capitalism is quite an adjustment for a nation only 17 years old.
There are many nights I lay in bed and cannot believe we are 4000 miles from KC and family, and are living in a country which was once a member of the Soviet Union.
The computers are all in Russian, and Russian is spoken by many of the older citizens.
My own computer has not been connected to the internet for 2 months, so when I do get access with it, it will take several days to download updates and security information.
I currently access the internet through internet clubs or cafes for about a dollar an hour. The machines are very basic and met the needs. Most of the youth in the internet cafes and clubs play games and do not access the internet for information.
Linda and I attend language class during the morning, and train at other locations in the afternoons. We are mastering the public transportation system.

A promise: everyone wants pictures. I will attempt a picture or 2 on my next post to see how long it takes to up load.

We Are in Country

This will be a quick update with no pictures.
We arrived in Azerbaijan on Tuesday at 21:05. We were in our pretraining hotel by midnight. We slept very well after 13 hours in airplanes and 8 hours in airports.
We have begun our Preservice Training and are able to introduce ourselves, count to a million, and know most of the alphabet. The language will be difficult, but we will make it.
There are 61 Trainees. On Saturday we move to our host families and training communities. Linda and I will be able to stay with the same family, but I will have to travel about 10 minutes by bus each day for my language and program pratical training.
Our training hotel is right on the Caspian Sea, but we have not had time to even walk along the beach yet. The weather has been warm, but rainy and windy.
Saturday is the big event, moving to our host family.
Internet availability is on and off here at the hotel, and will probably less available in the next few weeks.

On to Azerbaijan

Our staging is complete, and we are about to leave the hotel for JFK. During our instructions last night we were told that we would not have internet or phone privileges for about 2 weeks at least.
Our feelings - we are ready and excited to become members of the Peace Corps and Azerbaijan family. We are both confident and scared. We want to be good representatives of you the citizens of the United States, the Peace Corps, and we want to both contribute and be a part of Azerbaijan.

Denney and Linda - on to our new home.

Staging begins

Linda and I have arrived safely in Philadelphia. Linda said as the plane lifted off in KC, "This is the beginning of a new era for us."
We met many wonderful people. Presently there are 63 people here for the staging. We leave Monday for Azerbaijan.

We are leaving for PA in less than 24 hours

The last of our goodbyes is tonight. We plan to have supper with Matt and Andrew, then Barry Bohlman will take us to the airport at 4:15 a.m. on Saturday 9/20.
We have had a wonderful time getting ready with our trips to Texas and up to Maine. We have had many great times renewing friendships as we prepare for our service in the Peace Corps.
This posting is to express our gratitude to all of you who have demonstrated your love, friendship and care for us. Anytime you acknowledge special people there is the danger of leaving someone out, and we deeply regret anyone we failed to mention.
First, our thanks to all our family and friends in Texas for the wonderful visits and opportunities this past summer.
A special appreciation to Edna Smith for her generous gift of allowing us to live in her home while she traveled. We gave possession of our home on 9/8 and have lived at Edna's until today.
It is wonderful how people have shown ways to participate with us in serving the Peace Corps. Lyle and LaVerna Baker will be taking care of business stateside. John and Wanda Foster have donated storage space for all our memories and special keepsakes. Words fail us in expressing appreciation.
To all the churches, Hopewell, Freeman, and Archie who have hosted us these past weeks and with your promise of prayerful support, we are thankful. To Frank and Joeann Saunders, Chuck and Linda Logue who each housed us for a few nights, you made our visits special.
Dave and Sandy Cole, Barry and Laurie Bohlman, gave us a special night of food and friendship. Linda and my fellow workers who have met us for lunch or refreshment, to say goodbye, and to reflect on our past accomplishments - that will keep us going!
We are ready to go. We are going to try and post on the blog from Philadelphia and New York, and then when we can from Azerbaijan to let you know how our trip is progressing.
Matt, Andrew, and John, it's up to you to keep me posted on our beloved Dallas Cowboys.

God bless you all.

Celebrating Christmas On Labor Day

We gathered together as a family to have Christmas before we leave for Azerbaijan.

Matthew, Andrew, Linda, and I had a "traditional" Christmas dinner at Abuelos Mexican Restaurant. Afterwards we opened presents. It was a wonderful time.

Continuing to Get Ready

We have our plane tickets to Philadelphia where our Staging will take place. We leave Kansas City at 6:00 a.m. and arrive in Philadelphia at 11:00. The staging is a time of Peace Corps orientation and team building with all of the AZ6 group. We have heard there will be 65 of us.

On 9/22 at 11:00 a.m. we load on a bus for JFK and are scheduled to fly out to Frankfurt at 9:45 p.m. The flight is 8 hours, then we will fly to Baku which is another 5 hour flight.

We went back to visit the Freeman Baptist Church on August 24. We had a wonderful time renewing friendships. It is comforting to know so many people will be praying for us, and supporting us with their concerns.

We plan to go to Hopewell on September 7 and Archie on September 14.

We have already had Thanksgiving on August 16 with Matt and Andrew. Linda fixed all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and we had a wonderful time. We plan celebrating Christmas on Labor Day. It was fun to go Christmas shopping in August.