The long road home - many to thank!

Just a quick post to say I finished my Peace Corps service in Azerbaijan on July 5th, 2013 and flew back to Minneapolis on July 6th. So many thoughts going thru my head this Monday morning July 8th but special thanks to my son Anton for greeting me Sunday morning at the Minneapolis airport and later installing a window air conditioner at my place. We walked to Common Roots together for breakfast where we ran into RPCV Jack Barden who served with his wife Jane in Turkmenistan 2004 - 2005 (I think). Also thanks to RPCVs Kjerstin and Karl who served in Ghana recently and stayed in my condo for 3 months while I finished my service. So nice to come home to a spic-and-span place!

Most of all thanks for Country Director Macie and the Peace Corps staff for allowing me the opportunity to return to Azerbaijan after sustaining a broken shoulder in a traffic accident. Frankly, I never imagined it would be so hard to say good-bye.

Re-adjustment issues started right away when Delta airlines reps. at JFK were so unhelpful after I missed my connecting flight to Mpls Saturday evening by 5 minutes and plane was sitting at gate but gate was closed! Sunday morning flight was filled with Delta customers who also missed connecting flights. Then I paid $2.49 for a pack of Trident gum. So much for Welcome Home!

I've opened up access to my blog again, and hope in the next few days to post some reflections on life back here in USA and also many wonderful memories of my service as a teacher in Azerbaijan. For now, I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios with skim milk for breakfast. Then it's time for a haircut, manicure and pedicure!

Always a photo and this one is of the guys in my Azerbaijani life who helped load my belongings for the trip to Baku: the taxi driver, Georgie and his brother Iggy, their father, and Arif, the father of Shalala Muellime, one of my English teachers.

The Man with the Golden Pen

I'm slowing down but anxious during my final week in Azerbaijan. I've had enough of English classes and activities at school as I prepare to finish my Peace Corps service. I traveled with my host family to nana#1's house in Boradigah for a few days and that is always very relaxing. A nice clean, breezy room with a comfortable bed and western toilet. (Except for filling a bucket of water to flush it.) I forgot to bring along a power adapter so my iPod ran out of power, but I did manage to finish reading Team of Rivals on my kindle.

I decided to “interview” nana to find out what foods she remembers eating 50 years ago, and it turned out to be pretty darned interesting. To her, they had more food when she was young and had better electricity, gas, refrigeration etc, under the soviet system. But the real surprise was her re-telling of saving 5 people from drowning when she was a teenager and getting a medal for it. She was working on a farm near a river and heard people crying for help. She got a branch from a tree to pull them out – earning their gratitude forever. She said they even came to her wedding when she was 18, and one of them still lives in Boradigah today.

Several of nana's sons also came to visit while I was there.  The butcher from Baku gets a sheep regularly to sell in his shop, and another son has a business in Astara, Iran – just over the border and about 30 minutes away. He always brings wonderful candy from Iran. His wife is a doctor and did some blood-letting from nana's back, scoffing when Georgie wondered if we do this in America. Unfortunately, the wife of the son from Baku suffered appendicitis when she arrived in Boradigah, and had to have surgery at the Masalli hospital. We stopped to visit her on our way home. Many mention how beautiful Azeri women are, and even this bed-ridden woman was in discomfort but looked marvelous. Their daughter Limon is 17 so I'll guess that she is 35 years old.

Tea and treats arranged on a cloth on the floor.

One other notable event took place while I was in Boradigah. Nana, host mother Valida, and I were invited to visit some relatives in the village. Valida told me ahead of time that she was taking some clothing to them because they were poor. As soon as we got to the 2-story apartment building I knew it would be a tough situation. It was one of those images forever imprinted of a tacky apartment but filled with chattering women. Of course they had laid out their best dishes and food on the floor for all to enjoy. Someone pointed to seats at the end of the narrow room for me and nana, but everyone else sat on the floor. I spent several hours listening to 14 women of varying ages and shapes talk about what women talk about the world over: recipes and health.

Returning to Masalli on Tuesday, I put 400 photos on a flash drive to be printed and put into albums as gifts. I traveled to Lankeran on Thursday to give some craft materials to PCV Cherril. I also arranged for a young man to come to Masalli school #3 Friday morning to speak about studying in the USA to 10 students.

To top off the week, I went “guesting” Friday evening at the home of an English teacher's family. I am still emotional about it because Shalala's father gave me his gold pen that he had used for 47 years. This is the man who said I should consider him like a brother. He maintains that I have helped his daughter and Digah school beyond measure. But it is really difficult to think that he would give me something so valuable to him as a remembrance of my time in Azerbaijan.

I added the photo of the cake because you never can tell how far a bundt cake pan can travel. I suspect there've been some Norwegians in Azerbaijan who imported this pan from either America or Norway. Afterall, Norway has a big presence here due to the oil fields. So I snapped this photo of an Azeri "circle" cake and chuckled to myself about whether it came from Nordic Ware in Minneapolis! 

The Week of June 17th

I'm always anxious about whether or not children will show up on the first day. Not only did I have 8 boys come Monday morning, but half were expecting English lessons. I had changed the week from English to activities so some knew and some didn't. We began playing in the shade of the school. After 20 minutes I got a phone call from an English teacher in a classrom asking me where I was and I realized even bigger mis-communication. She was inside with more children and I was outside directing some games. Final count was 14 children for relay races and a smashing water balloon finale.

It was sunny and hot until Friday when it rained. Only 5 boys came so we spent that morning indoors. Thankfully I had paper and markers in a classroom and brought along marshmallows and spaghetti for building towers as teams. Overall, the week was not something I'm proud of because I lost my patience with the boys. Few have a sense of sportsmanship and one even threatened to kill another boy as they fought over a place in line. These boys range in age from 8 to 13 and most are 10 years old. Really!

I discovered this week that the heat can be oppressive even if you have air conditioning. Host father installed 2 air conditioners in the house but his mother believe you get colds when they are on. Even tho' it's 90 degrees, they are turned them off when nana visits. It gets funny when I'm in my room and I turn on my fan. Host mother comes in, rolls her eyes, and apologizes for her mother-in-law. Then she laughingly stands in front of my fan for a few minutes before going back to the other room. She knows it is an old wives' tale and one of those old wives is in the dining room.

It's been relaxing to return from school, turn on my computer (while America sleeps), and log in to the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) I am taking via the University of Minnesota. It is about Global Food Systems. After it was mentioned in the NYTimes over 10,000 of us signed up for it. It is interesting to e-meet other students as well as read the course content. I'll have some new contacts in MN when I return. The class started June 14 and runs for 8 weeks.

I also continue to plug away at reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I think history would have interested me more if teachers had made it come alive like this. I feel like I know Abe Lincoln and his cabinet better than I know Obama. I'd love to visit some civil war sites.

I have a lot of things I want to do for my teachers and host families before I leave here on July 3^rd. I want to make a photo album for my host family and also give some pictures to my teachers. But that means moving lots of photos onto a flash drive and taking it to a print shop. And don't ask me about forgetting my flash drive at the printers. It's been a run-around getting it back.

It's also been a trying week in my relationship with Georgie. He does a lot of bragging and even made fun of a boy with darker skin. I found some tips on sportsmanship and shared that with him. There aren't many children who speak 4 languages at age 13, but I want him to realize that he offends people with his boasting.

I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with Nana #1 in the village of Boradigah and seeing if she can remember what foods she ate 50 years ago when she was 15. I expect to find out more than about food!

A Full Week

I spent the week of June 10 – 15 trying to make English enjoyable for some secondary students. I'd planned to have mostly girls, but a teacher from another village sent 3 boys on Monday, so I couldn't very well tell them to go back home. That made for interesting dynamics between 5 giddy girls and 3 tough-talking boys. I started by having each student make a name card for their desk, and right away the oldest boy drew a heart with initials – and they were not the initials of any of the girls in the room. A subtle way for him to fend them off.

The boys were not only older but their English was much better than the girls from my school. It made me think more about the level of English teaching, and commitment to school. I found myself each evening trying to think of some challenging activities to fill 3 long hours. By Thursday, I broke down and pulled out a deck of Uno cards. Friday was our last day, and as we said good-bye I realized that I probably wouldn't see my girls again. I just couldn't tell them.

Late in the day Thursday, I found host mom and both boys outdoors furiously scrubbing a large carpet. Knowing that she was tired and would later prepare our supper, I offered to take a taxi to pick up some doner instead. She didn't resist too much, so I jumped in a taxi with the 2 boys for a ride to a take-out place, picked up 4 doner and returned. (Doner is a warm sandwich – a long bread roll filled with shaved gyro meat, chopped tomato, onion, cucumber and some greens – with a mayo/yogurt sauce.)

Friday night we were invited to supper at nana's. Here she is dishing up plov with chicken.What is it about sitting and eating outdoors? It was a very pleasant evening.

Saturday night Masalli hosted the 2nd annual International Folklore Festival and I did a lot of juggling to get to it. I had planned to visit my first host mother Konul that evening and walk with her and her daughter Aydan to the park where it would be held. But when I was at her house I got a text message from my young friend Capt. Amil saying that he would stop in Masalli about 7pm on his way from Baku to visit his parents for the weekend. Could we meet up?

In America, I could simply turn to Konul and ask her if it was all right for Capt. Amil to join us. But this is Masalli, Azerbaijan and she could not have a strange man in her home without her husband's permission. What to do? I talked with her about it and decided to go meet Capt. Amil for a little while, then return to her house when he continued on his way.

Thanks to the wonders of texting, it was easy to find Capt Amil at the new park where the festival was being held. Before it began, we had a chance to chat over tea thanks to his maneuvering a restaurateur into placing a table and chairs for us under a tree. But too much tea and I soon needed to use a restroom. Again he asked the proprietor to unlock a men's room for me and guard it while I was inside. Later, when we left our table there was no charge. I asked him how did he manage all that and he claimed it's all about how you approach someone – just like he learned to approach an IED. What an analogy! But I still chuckle about the men's room.

As I walked back with Capt Amil to catch another bus, we spotted Georgie and Igbal who had been at a wedding nearby. I was so glad that he met both of them and encouraged them to study and love their country. I got out my camera for a photo, then went to Konul's home for supper. Finally, after a meal with my first host family, we all walked together to the Folklore Festival set up on the concert stage of the recently renovated Heydar Aliyev Park. 

It was a beautiful event with performances by singers, dancers and musicians from Iran, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. 

I'm guessing that there were at least a thousand in attendance, and the evening culminated in fireworks! My one regret: that I didn't seek out the Iranian performers and say Hello and Best Wishes to them from an American.

Thinking about leaving in a month

I'm starting to worry about everything I need to do for the Peace Corps as part of finishing my service. It's all about the paperwork! There is a 2 page checklist ranging from turning in teaching resource books, water filter and mosquito netting, to a medical exam, language test, and an exit interview with the Country Director. Most of those things are done at the PC office in Baku and need initialing by the appropriate staff person.

The 1^st obstacle is simply getting that checklist printed here in Masalli. Because I don't have my own printer, I rely on a local shop next to the police station. But when I went there the other day with the PC document on a flash drive, they couldn't open the pdf file. Arrggghhhhh. So I need to find another place that prints documents and that also means spending half a day traveling to and from the shop. Just a reminder that things aren't as simple as they seem.

Another concern is the timing of my departure. Because the 4^th of July is a Thursday, I need to be sure that appropriate staff will be in the office on Friday the 5th, my official Close of Service day. I know that Peace Corps will pay for my stay at a hotel in Baku for both Thursday and Friday night, but will it pay for Wednesday night if I leave Masalli that day?

Thursday June 6^th was Sally's last day at site so I was at her last goodbye. My former host mother Konul invited Sally and me for lunch, and then we walked over to Sally's apartment and waited for the taxi to take her and her luggage to Baku. Konul, her daughter Aydan, Sally, and I shed quite a few tears. I know that Sally and I have been a great source of encouragement and comfort for Konul.

I am not familiar with this tradition of throwing water after someone leaves, but here is reminder.

Sally's goodbye has me thinking about all the things I need to do before leaving. I still have 2 weeks of English and a summer camp (non-English fun). That means continuing to prepare English materials for students who are beyond learning vocabulary words, and organizing some activities and games for another week. I also need to spend time with my teachers going over the materials I am leaving for them.

At least I won't have furniture to sell, an apartment to clean, clothes to pack, food to dispose of, etc. But I want to print some photos as gifts to give to the many people I've met here. And that means blocking out time to get to the printers.

And just as a reminder about the many things I will miss, here is a photo of Igbal with a bowl of cherries, and another of Georgie playing horsey with his little cousins. Isn't there a song that goes Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries?

First week of Summer English classes

Sunday night June 2nd, I spent a few hours getting content and materials prepared for this week. I also mentally prepared myself to have only a few children show up. Monday morning my fears were assuaged when I spotted 2 sisters walking to the school, and then 6 more showed up within minutes. I had them start by making simple name cards and writing a few sentences about themselves in notebooks I provided.

Suddenly an English teacher I'd never met showed up at the classroom door with 4 primary kids plus her son in tow. I'm sure my face showed my displeasure to mix these younger students with 8 secondary students. But she said they had come from another village and wanted to learn English. I spent the next few hours reminding myself to be more flexible, but I kept thinking about how unchallenged the older students were. I resorted to colors and numbers to see if the primary students could manage that. Then it was Bingo with English words, and a few Raffi songs.

I went home trying to think of the ways I could teach a multilevel class and what a challenge the rest of the week would be. I looked at my vocabulary lists, drawings, songs, anything that I could make work for 2 different levels. I ended up deciding to focus on Tuesday on house and furniture – drawing on the board and writing furniture vocabulary. I drew furniture on index cards with English word on one side and the Azeri word on the other. I also made some color cards as busy work for the primary students. And then I translated the song 5 Little Ducks just for good measure. How could I make this class interesting and memorable for both levels?

Tuesday morning arrived and students were in the room before I could turn around. I just decided they could wait while I prepared the blackboard. I busied the 5 primary students while I engaged the older students with drawing a house in their notebooks. I slowed things down by asking students to come to the front of the classroom to speak. I discovered the primary students had quickly figured out word Bingo, so the time went fast. For an hour and a half, all 16 students seemed engaged.

After the 10 minute break, I allowed time to sing songs, and gave in to the girls who wanted to play “Down by the banks of the Hanky Panky.” I think the primary students especially liked 5 Little Ducks – it was a new song for everyone; repetitive phrases, noisy quacking plus a happy ending. But I surprised all students by asking them first to draw an animal. I put a couple drawings on the board and they quickly copied them. But I fooled them when I asked them to come to the front, say what animal they drew in English and Azeri, and then they had to make the sound of each animal. Lots of laughter – that's the kind of stuff that makes learning fun!

So now I'll need to top that with something fun for Wednesday.

The Day After Son Zeng

Why should I write about the day of Son Zeng itself (May 31) when the time has flown so quickly. Every family with children seems to relish the end of the school year, and my host family is no exception. They have been talking about living in Boradigah with Nana #1 for the Summer, so on June 1st, the day after Son Zeng, I packed my pajamas for an overnight at her house.

I found myself thinking about what a luxury this place is for me: a comfortable bed in a bright and breezy room with an attached bathroom with western toilet. No need to prepare meals. Time to myself for reading. No need to entertain the family. A Mercedes parked in the yard. Peace and quiet after the final week of school.

If only I wasn't worried about writing Peace Corps reports for my Close Of Service, or thinking about what I will do for a week of English lessons for 12 year old girls. It's no fun to think up things to occupy 3 hours each morning for the next week, i.e., 15 hours of teaching English. Okay I do have a few ideas, but mostly I want them to feel more confident about speaking English at the end of the week. Speaking a new language seems to be the biggest obstacle in language learning – and I'll attest to that.

Meanwhile, I'm basking in the hospitality of Nana #1. There is not a moment that she does not devote to eating or preparing to eat. She is overweight and has diabetes, but doesn't seem to care about either. When I first visited, she did check her blood sugar at the end of the day, but since then I haven't seen any of the medical items she brought back from her stay in Moscow. Georgie will give her a massage later, and wrap her legs in ace bandages.

When we arrived at 1pm Saturday (after another harrowing ride with a relative), she was seated on the floor chopping and grinding mutton for boz bash. This daily fare consists of a bowl of broth with a couple chunks of potato plus either a ground meat ball or a bony piece of meat. At her house, we get both. Often chopped greens are sprinkled on top of the oil that floats on the broth. I will say that I've taken to sopping up pieces of bread in the broth just the way the rest of the family does.

We had lunch about 2pm and talked about what foods to buy at the bazar on Sunday. My host mother brought along a large bag of loquats from a tree in our yard. I hadn't eaten these before altho' Sally says they do grow in California. It is a yellow fleshy fruit a bit smaller than a plum with 2 large seeds inside. We peeled the skin before we ate it. Not quite as juicy as a peach, but definitely fun watching nana eat dozens of them.

 That is one big pile of garlic bulbs. I wish I could remember the price - about a dollar for a pound!

A typical pan filled with an assortment of greens - dill, cilantro, basil, and ??? These are also inexpensive and an essential part of most meals.

For this weekend, I remembered my essentials: camera with battery charged and lots of memory, my iPod loaded with podcasts for listening, and my Kindle for reading time. I was excited to go to the Boradigah bazar on Sunday morning to take some photos and video of this colorful event.

The only snafu in the weekend was the unexpected arrival of Sunday afternoon guests. I had specifically told my host family that I needed to return to Masalli in the afternoon to prepare for a week of English classes. When the guests arrived I felt obligated to stay for a meal with them. So instead of getting back about 3pm, I was given a ride about 7pm. It was such a toss-up to risk offending the family by leaving or to rush them into serving dinner earlier so that I could leave. A nice ride home in a Mercedes helped calm me down.