I Am a Pretty Big Deal

Being in Azerbaijan has been interesting to say the least. One of the strangest things that I have had to deal with is the fact that I do NOT blend in. Diversity is something that I think I took for granted in the US. Generally speaking most people here have dark brown or black hair along with dark eyes. Anyone that breaks this rule stands out like a sore thumb. I remember seeing a couple of red headed kids after being in Azerbaijan for a few months and I could not stop staring. It was such a strange sight. What were these kids doing in an Azeri school? Where did they come from? We even tried to get the ginger (Jake you know who you are) that was part of our language group to sneak a picture with them. Being American we also stand out like a sore thumb. I am taller than most everybody in Ucar, I wear funny clothes and shoes, my eyes are green and my hair is light brown. Also the fact that I am the ONLY American in Ucar adds to my notoriety. It is strange because everyone seems to know who I am ( if only as "the American") while at the same time I know almost no one. As a result I have random people coming up to me on my way to or from work wanting various different things. One man, a taxi driver, drove up to me and wanted to show me a house that I might want to rent. Others come up asking me to teach them English. School children will walk in groups behind me practicing broken English phrases that they want to say to me and then giggling like mad before getting embarrassed and running off. Most recently on my way home from work a kid spotted me from across the street and then made a b-line straight at me. He handed me an envelope. Written on the front it was addressed "To: You" and underneath that is said, "From: Said". He tried to run off but I engaged him in conversation for a bit in azeri. Then abruptly he said, "at home read" and booked it, clearly shaken that I wanted to talk to him. Here is the content of said letter:

Hello!

How are you? What is your name? My name is Said. I'm 15. How old are you? Hither came as you much humans but you very good. What city are you from? I am from Ucar. I want to be friend. Do you to be pleased? If you to be pleased, tomorrow around of school reply letter give me. You write reply. See you tomorrow!!!

This was all written in pink sparkly ink and at the end three stars were added for emphasis. Lacking was any indication of where I would see him aside from outside of one of the six schools in the area. Of course I must reply, but what should I say? Any suggestions?

So it has been three weeks at site and I am settling into my community. Things are going pretty well but at times I do feel pretty isolated. Almost no one here speaks English so it is a constant struggle to communicate. It is good for my language though. I did get to spend the holidays with other volunteers though and that was nice. There was a small Christmas party in the nearby town of Kurdemir with about fifteen other volunteers and then last weekend most of the volunteers went into Baku for the New Year which was a lot of fun, but very strange. Going to Baku is like going to another country. It is a VERY beautiful but expensive city, especially on a Peace Coprs budget. There was an amazing firework show and lots of lights strung up. In the city center there was a HUGE Christmas tree and you could get pictures with Santa Clause (shaxta babba) and his side kick Snow Girl (qar qiz). They do some of the same things that we do for Christmas mostly just lump it all in with New Years. Also Santa Clause is not fat and sometimes wears a very creepy Santa mask.

I also ended up staying with my old host family for a few days and had the VERY strange sensation of coming home. I only lived there for three months but compared to where I am now it is the most familiar place that I have access to. The people here are so kind and it suprised me how much I had missed my old host family and how much they had missed me. I was greeted with hugs and kisses from everyone and immediately fed too much food.

Now that the Holidays are over though I have to start doing some real work. Up till now things have been pretty quite and mostly I have just been going around the city trying to meet as many people as I can, which isn't too hard as people often come up to me wanting to know why I am here and what I am doing. I hope to start some English conversation clubs over then next month and also get started on planning for a few grant proposals. My host organization wants to start a bike club which I think would be lots of fun for the spring and summer.

I went to the bazar the other day just to do some exploring and a man came up to me and said that he knew my counterpart Almusa and started chatting with me. He took me over to his jewelry store and showed me around a bit, then asked me if I was married. I told him that I was not and then he said that I should come to his store if I ever wanted to "qadin almaq" which translates directly as, "to buy a woman". I thought he was asking me to go visit a prostitute with him and immediately got a wierd look on my face said no and then walked away. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized he was saying that if I ever wanted to get married, which is what "qadin almaq" actually means, that I should come to his store to buy an engagement ring. While it is kind of funny these types of misunderstandings happen with incredible frequency and are actually pretty stressful, but I guess that is why I signed up. Lately I have been thinking a lot about why I decided to do this and this qoute by Viktor Frankel came to mind, " When we are no longer able to change a situation...we are challenged to change ourselves." To be immersed in a foreign culture is a hard thing to do but forces a person to change. Even in the short time that I have been here I have been forced to grow and adapt. It has been hard at times and isn't likely to get easier for a while, but I do believe that it is worth it.

Things I have grown to like:

Mayonaise and beet based salad

Dolma of every variety

Baklava

Twenty glasses of tea every day

The kindness of strangers

Things that I will NEVER like:

Xash AKA Boiled Cow Hoof Soup

Any and all animal organs

Squat Toilets

Showering once a week

Frequent power outages

Schister taxi/marshrutka drivers