Weekend in Lankeran

The Peace Corps experience includes getting away from your village and meeting up with other PCVs. AZ9s Katie and Daniel in Landeran decided months ago to host a cookout for those of us in the south of AZ. So last weekend 6 of us met up at their home. Sally and I are AZ8s still around, and we were joined by Rick in Neftchala, Liz in Shirvan, Roxann in Salyon and Samantha in Ceilalabad. Cherril and Luce are AZ10s and only Luce was unable to join us. That made a houseful for 2 nights and days.

We started arriving Friday afternoon and went shopping for snacks and beverages while Daniel made hotdog and hamburger buns for the cookout. We were joined later by 2 young women from Finland who are eco-tourism interns. Potato salad, coleslaw and s'mores made this the most American-style meal I've had in a long time. And I've become a fan of Frito-Lay cucumber-dill flavored chips even tho' I seldom eat chips in America.

Saturday morning breakfast more American food including coffee, scramble eggs with ham (purchased near the Russian border thanks to Roxann) and tandir bread. 

I survived a small mishap when I lost my balance while squatting and fell back – jamming a finger when I tried to stop my fall. It was purple and puffy but moveable, but nothing like the stupid sprain ankle I suffered Sunday evening when I got back home. (I got up from a chair not realizing that my foot was asleep. When I stepped on it I went down in a heap. Oh no. What's happening? I don't have feeling in my foot! Visions of Early Termination. Thankfully at this very moment, my left ankle is wrapped in an ace bandage so I'm laughing now.)

Saturday morning, six of us headed to Isti Su, the hot water springs high up in the hills above Lankeran. We wore our swimsuits under our clothes for an easy change when we got there. It's a 10 minute bus ride, then a 40 minute hike to the dozen brick huts with large tanks of hot water flowing through them. What is it about sitting in hot water with friends and chatting? Relaxing.

Saturday night was also fun-filled since we were also celebrating Katie's birthday. Another great meal of chicken and rice (America-style) plus beet salad. After several intense rounds of Dutch Blitz we had confetti-cake with frosting and ice cream. Sunday morning Rick treated us to crepes with either toppings or fillings depending upon your point of view. That's also when I had my first taste of carrot jam. After breakfast, we said goodbye and headed back to our sites refreshed and renewed.

I sometimes wonder if I will ever live as leisurely back in America.

The Kindness of Strangers

A trip to Baku and Sumgayit reminded me of how helpful many people are to me. It started when I flagged down a bus on the highway near my house with the word BAKU in the window. There weren't any seats available on the bus, so the driver had a man who wasn't traveling far give up his seat for me. Then the driver pulled out a stool and let the man sit in the aisle on that. Meanwhile I had a comfy seat.

After the bus stopped for tea and a restroom break, a young man seated ahead of me struck up a conversation in halting English. From there he took me under his wing helping me transfer in Baku to the Sumgayit bus, then carried my backpack as we took another bus to the Sumgayit bazar. He insisted on helping me buy some fresh fruit for my former host family, and then he got on the same bus that I was taking to visit them. Did I mention he also paid the bus fares? I got his nickname as Shaggy and he did give me his email address. Now I need to find that piece of paper for an email thank you to him.

Visiting former host family and granddaughter Aylin

Statue of Nazami on Sumgayit Plaza

The next day, I was headed to a Baku metro station but wasn't sure of the location of the entrance. So a young woman with a child guided me to the steps and down into the station. I was unsure of where to buy a pass card for the metro subway, so another young man made sure I got it, then helped me operate the machine to put money on it. Next I asked an older gentleman for directions to the Sahil metro stop. That requires a train change at one of the stations, so this stranger indicated he was traveling there too. He made sure that I changed to the train that stopped at the Sahill station. All to get to beautiful Baku to buy some English books.

Waiting in a touristy carpet shop in Baku

On Sunday morning, I met up with friend Amil and he also took care of getting me on the right bus, and even bought paklava for me to take back to Digah for my host family. On my return ride to Digah, a woman on the marsrutka made sure I knew where the restroom was at the rest stop, and then finagled a better seat for me for the rest of the trip. These many kindnesses made up for the cool and rainy day.

I think it's a combination of my age, gender, and being a foreigner. There are times however, when I simply wish they would extend these kindnesses to their countrymen.

Changes in Teaching English

When I first arrived at Digah school in January 2011, I had a hard time getting and deciphering the schedules of the English teachers. But on day two of my recent return, I got schedules from 4 of the 5 teachers. Progress. Next, they argued over which classes I would co-teach. I had to tell them that I would primarily be observing and coaching them for the remainder of the school year.

I am pleased with what I observe. Even without the weather chart I created last year, the teachers all begin each English class with 3 routine questions: What is the date today? What is the weather today? What was your home task? A student comes to the blackboard and writes the date in a standard format. Another student quickly sketches a cloud or the sun or rain plus the word. That's followed by another student answering the homework question. Ahh, classroom routines help students settle down and get ready to learn.

I'm not sure who instituted English at the primary level, but 4 of the 5 teachers now have one or two classes each week for the youngest grades. These have been fun for me, since I brought classroom decorations of colors, numbers and the alphabet that are most appropriate for them. And everyone in school will soon be able to sing, “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”

My teachers understand and use pair work so that all students now practice speaking quietly with a partner instead of 2 students coming to the front of the classroom while others listen. Oh what a good feeling to have the teachers use this when I suggest a dialog from their textbook.

For myself, I feel more comfortable introducing different ideas during classes. I've brought music to class, wrote a short skit for 10th form boys about a car crash, and next I'm preparing individual classes to sing a song for an English assembly day in May sometime. I've yet to figure out how to introduce square dancing, but I think that it is something I can get the 7th form students to do.

All of this is to say, I'm feeling more confident in my own skills as a teacher and leader – and I believe that the students and teachers are enjoying these last few month together.

Changes at my school

It's not yet a month since I returned to Peace Corps service Teaching English as a Foreign Language. I've noticed changes at my Digah village school since my unexpected departure from Azerbaijan due to a car accident in July 2012.

In April 2012 the woman director of my school was replaced by another woman director, Ulviyya. She appears to be making progress instituting changes in teacher and student attendance.

There are some physical changes to the school grounds. Little trash is around the school yard and I've noticed school boys picking up trash under the supervision of male teachers. The soccer field is smooth instead of lumpy with dirt, and weeds have been cut down in the playing area. Many more plantings of bushes and flowers enhance the school which was built in 2010.

Compare above photo from 2011 with school photo below taken April, 2013.

One noticeable change is an earlier school start time at 8:30 AM instead of 9. This also means that children with a last class are more likely to stay at school than go home because they're hungry. Another change is the entry door being watched by the director as well as by her deputies. Teachers and students are not allowed to leave the building during class time. Between some classes, students are sent outside to run off their energy instead of running in the halls and stairs. Unheard of last year!

Many upper grade students continue to go to tutors also known as “repeaters”, and few attend classes. But it is noticeable to me that there are more children staying for classes, and deputies regularly stick their heads into classrooms for attendance checks. Deputies routinely go to the teachers' room to send teachers to their classrooms so that students can't use the excuse that their teachers weren't in class.

The new director also uses one power tool I've learned over my years of work. She conducts teachers' meetings in her office instead of in the teachers' room. That is, she has the teachers come to her rather than her going to the teachers room. I'm encouraged by her changes.  

Internet technology here

There's a device I use here to get the internet that I'd never seen in America. (Maybe Comcast has me believing that it's the only source of internet. I don't know.) Here I use a data card, a small device like a flash drive that I simply put into a USB port on my computer and just like that I have an internet connection without needing a connection to a modem. There is a sim card inside of it which periodically needs to be “loaded” with money to pay for my internet usage.

Adding money is in itself a rather complicated process. First I need to buy a specific telephone company kontur card at a nearby store. Kontur is a unit of usage and these credit card-size cards have specific monetary value. That is, I can buy cards of different value such as 1 manat worth of kontur or 5 or 10 or even 20 manat. The higher the value, the cheaper the kontur rate.

Then I take the tiny sim cards out of both my phone and the data device, and put the sim card from the data device into the phone. Using the kontur card I bought, I scratch off the numbers unique to that card and enter those numbers into my phone (which now has the data device sim card inside of it.) If I've entered the numbers correctly, I get a message that I've added, ie, loaded 5 manat of kontur, for example.

Next, I need to take the device sim card out of my phone and put it back into the data device – and of course, put the sim card for the phone back into it. This really doesn't take much time, and it does get me 3G internet without using a modem.

The first time I needed to add kontur to the device was last night, so I asked Georgie to go with me to the nearby store. I thought it would be a simple transaction and I really could have done this myself. But it's nice to have Georgie with me and he wants to be sure I can manage.

Well, I should have known that the shopkeepers and customers would start questioning him about me. In fact, they think I am the reason he speaks English so well. The truth is Georgie began learning English when he was in a good school in Moscow and he is a very motivated language learner.

According to Georgie, one of the men offered to build me a house in Masalli so that I would stay and teach his children English. Apparently they thought I was a private tutor and didn't realize that I teach at Digah school. (Also a surprise to them because the school does not have a good scholastic reputation.) Georgie kept telling them that I was living with his family for only a few months. But several of the men were persistent and kept offering to build me a house if I was ever unhappy living with Georgie's family. When we got home we had a good laugh about their offer.

Later that night, we were visited by women relatives from Baku who had never seen an American in person. I'll add a photo showing how tea and nuts and sweets are served for company. This time they didn't bring out the pillow cushions, so everyone and everything is on the floor. And yeegads they stayed until after midnight – way past my bedtime!

Another night, another party.

This time it was the 69^th birthday celebration of the father of my English teacher Shalala last Saturday night. He speaks several languages including Russian, Turkish, and English, and worked at the border crossing with Iran for a number of years. He is out-going and has offered me numerous rides in the past years when he's seen me about town. I'll never forget his generosity last year saying I should consider him like a brother.

The gathering was a family occasion and I felt honored to be invited to his home. A huge meal was prepared and the table set by his wife, 2 daughters, and 3 teenage granddaughters. Beside 2 sons-in-law, he had also invited half a dozen men and of course 2 school-age grandsons. A third daughter and her husband live in Russia. I think there were about 20 people for dinner and dare I mention all the food. I'll just add a couple photos.

At some point there were 8-9 men seated at the table, so I was rescued from the table by daughter Shalala. As we headed to the kitchen, a man came in bearing a bottle of scotch that resembled Chivas Regal. I was offered some, but I decided to decline. It just wouldn't be worth the possible harm to my reputation. So I retreated to the kitchen where I proceeded to teach the Hokey-Pokey to the women and 2 little grandsons. We laughed making fun of the men talking so much.

We finally signaled that we would bring out the cake and candles. Of course everyone could sing Happy Birthday. More tea and a beautiful homemade cake.

This following photo shows me next to English teacher Shalala; her father and mother are seated.

When the men left, the women and children took over the dining room, put on some Azeri music, and danced. It was great spontaneous fun and the guest of honor enjoyed it the most. It was a great ending to the party. Of course I got a ride home – this time in a son-in-law's Mercedes.

I've created a photo album from the evening in Google+ but I'll be darned if I can figure out the link!

So how's my shoulder?

A few times I've noticed pain in my right shoulder but it's never more than a 3 on a pain scale of 1 – 10, and there's never a need for a pain pill. I do try to figure out what might have brought it on. Then again I remember my physical therapist Linsey mentioning that sometimes pain simply means I've been doing ordinary moves instead of protecting it – and that's a good thing.

Being without pain doesn't mean I haven't got limitations. My shoulder will never be the same and I doubt I'll be able to move it up above my head. There have been 2 noticeable times when I have problems. When I get in and out of a van (marsrutka), and when I try to reach high to erase a blackboard. I can open the door to the van with my right hand, but then I'm unable to reach with my right arm into the van to pull myself up and into it. So I accept a hand-up to get in and just decide that I need to take my time. After all, drivers and people here are not in a rush like in America.

Oops. I just went to use the toilet and was reminded of a third noticeable time when my arm doesn't function well. Imagine squatting and then trying to reach to the right for the water hose located on the wall about 2 feet away. Toilet paper is not used here, so I have to stretch my right arm to reach the faucet and hose. (Is that too much information for you? This is a personal blog, isn't it?) Anyhow, that's when my shoulder aches a bit. (At least the bathroom is new and clean).

In spite of all the personal adjustments of the past few weeks, I've made it a point to continue my daily shoulder exercises. Well, all except the one that requires a cane or broom handle. It seems ludicrous to spend money for that since I'm not about to use the house broom.

So here's a photo from a class at school last week. I'm so proud of Teacher Shalala who is the only one of my English teachers to draw the pictures on the blackboard to help students visualize words.

Family life and good news!

Last week I realized that due to my current housing arrangement, I am experiencing something I hadn't before in my previous time in Azerbaijan: living in a family enclave with homebound women. Specifically sisters-in-law and their families plus their 85 year old, widowed mother-in-law. This woman had 4 sons, so by tradition the bride moves in with the groom's family. That makes 4 sisters-in-law and their children living in 4 houses near each other in Digah village. These women spend lots of time at each other's houses – daytime and night time. Almost a perpetual “hen party.”

Saturday night I was invited to dinner in the house of the youngest sister-in-law. I was told that the house was the oldest of the houses and had been built by the mother-in-law's husband who died 25 years ago. The four sons and their brides all lived in that house when they first married. In fact, Georgie was born in this house 13 years ago. Now the youngest son and his wife live in this house with their 3 young children.

The mother-in-law (also called nana or grandma) is the person who came to my house last year to inspect it before Georgie (her grandson) could take English lessons from me. She is quite sharp and often says she wants to come to America with me. Of course, the 4 daughters-in-law have become quite close because they are married to the 4 brothers and all have children. All marriages were arranged and it appears to me that the husbands are all about 10 years older than the wives.

The families seem to compete to have me come to their homes as a guest in the evening for tea. Twice this past week, I've walked with host mother Valentine and Georgie and his brother Igbal to visit, then we walk home together in the dark about 10 pm. Women generally do not go out after dark, so the 2 young boys escort us to and from the houses.

There are always children running around while the women talk, talk, talk, and we eat, eat, eat. Many foods laid out on the table for me, their guest. Candy, bakery (paklava, goygul, shakabura), popcorn, raisins, jams, fresh fruit (apples, pears, kiwi, bananas), and nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, roasted chickpeas). They look at me and wonder why I am comparatively skinny.

It is almost a proscribed ritual – the sequence of eating. First we sit down to the table with all those foods on it and then tea is poured. Someone will put food on my small plate and encourage me to eat with my hands. If there will be dinner, the table is cleared after an hour or so of noshing, and re-set for dinner with forks and large spoons (no knives), glasses for juice, small plates of pickled tomatoes, etc. Then the hostess comes from the kitchen carrying plates laden with plov (basmati rice) covered with a golden rice crust, several cooked chicken parts on top of that, and perhaps raisins with a few dates.

Thankfully Georgie helps translate for me, but he tells me that his relatives don't think he speaks English very well. How do they know? Perhaps they are expecting to hear lyrics of American songs that so many Azeris sing as a way of learning English. 

I hope his relatives are convinced how good he is when they hear his recent good news. Georgie won first place (among 6th form students) in a creative writing competition conducted by the Peace Corps in March. He will go to Baku in August for an award ceremony, and his family is invited to attend it with him. His story will also be entered into the international Write On! competition.