I am in the country of Azerbaijan which is about the size of Maine and just North of Iran on the Caspian Sea. My official title is Youth Development Facilitator and I am very excited for the work I will be doing. Over the next three months I will be in the town of Khirdilan for my Pre-Service Training mostly learning Azerbajani and different development strategies. After I successfully complete my PST I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and serve for the next two years.
For a lot of you who may not really know about the Peace Corps and why I would want to spend two years and three months in the remote country of Azerbaijan it is nicely summed up in their mission statement and consists of three separate parts:
1) To help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women.
2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3) To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans
Aside from keeping my family and friends updated on what is happening in my life over here the main reason for this blog pertains to part three of Peace Corps mission statement. I am very excited to be serving in a country that is mainly made up of people that are of the Muslim religion. I am extremely ignorant of what it means to be a Muslim. I am excited to learn about Muslim culture and convey what I learn to the people back home. I hope that I may provide an interesting window into a foreign culture and share the things that I learn. Anyway thats all for now,
Salam
For a lot of you who may not really know about the Peace Corps and why I would want to spend two years and three months in the remote country of Azerbaijan it is nicely summed up in their mission statement and consists of three separate parts:
1) To help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women.
2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3) To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans
Aside from keeping my family and friends updated on what is happening in my life over here the main reason for this blog pertains to part three of Peace Corps mission statement. I am very excited to be serving in a country that is mainly made up of people that are of the Muslim religion. I am extremely ignorant of what it means to be a Muslim. I am excited to learn about Muslim culture and convey what I learn to the people back home. I hope that I may provide an interesting window into a foreign culture and share the things that I learn. Anyway thats all for now,
Salam
Glad you traveled safely! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI am really excited for this adventure, Dan. I have always wanted to join the Peace Corps. It's been a dream of mine. Maybe one day when I am done raising babies. We'll see... Anyway, I will be following your blog and am really rooting for you back here is little old U.S of A.
ReplyDeleteYeah! I'm so excited that you made it there safely and that you're blogging about your adventures! I'm also glad we got the chance to see you before you headed out. We're putting together a family block for Ella's class today and seeing the family picture makes me miss you already. :0)
ReplyDeleteDan: Thank you for sharing your post with us and I am excited to be able to learn from you and in an adhoc way be there with you a little. You are awesome and good luck in this awesome adventure.
ReplyDelete