Georgian Vacation

These days I spend most of my time hiding from the sun. It has gotten really hot here in the Ucar with temperatures reaching 100 degrees F in the shade pretty much every day. Going out during the day has become a daunting task so I try not to as much as possible. It is especially hard in Ucar as I have just returned from a little vacation up North in Georgia. The Georgian border is only about five hours travel from where I am now but it is amazing how much things can change in such a short distance. The land turned from flat and dusty desert to rolling green hills with the Caucus mountains rising up in the background. Upon entering the country I immediately realized that no one spoke Azeri. All of the sudden I was a mute. Hand gestures and the word Tblisi were pretty much the only things my fellow travelers and I had at our disposal but it turns out that is all you need. Despite the language barrier we made it to our hostel fairly easily and had an amazing time eating delicious Georgian food, walking around the beautiful city, and getting scrubbed down and massaged in the turkish bath houses. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

First up are a few pictures the Lavra monastery which was founded in the 6th century and flourished until the invasion of the Mongols in 1265 CE. It was restored in the 14th century but again sacked and pillaged in 1615 CE by the Persians who massacred 6000 monks but then restored again in 1675 CE. Later after the USSR took control of Georgia it was used as a barracks for soldiers and wasn't inhabited again by monks until the mid-nineties.

Cool Graffiti

I won!

Friends and some guy clinging onto Jim

Cool Graffiti

A Bike Ride in Agjabedi

This weekend I had a chance to take a trip out to the town of Agjabedi and participate in a 50k bike ride with a few other Americans and about twenty Azerbaijanis. It was a whole lot of fun getting outside and doing something active for once. We had a Police escort for the whole ride and drew quite a crowd of interested people while we were riding through the city. After we got out of the city however it was pretty quite. The pace was pretty slow and leisurely with lots of breaks. We even stopped at a tea house for cookies and tea to keep up our stamina.

Break time with our friendly police escort up front. They were nice enough to occasionally blast Azeri songs over their loudspeaker so that we could have some entertainment. Also yelled at cars to slow down as they passed our group.

Relaxing in the shade and refueling with tea and cookies.

One of the shepherds that we met during our lunch stop. They were very excited to meet us and see what we were all about. They even let a few people ride their horses for a bit.

This is me right before I broke the pedal on my bike and was relegated to riding in one of the cars in our entourage.

Support Creative Writing in Azerbaijan!!!

Well, let’s pretend I am a bird. I can do anything I want. I can fly, and the whole world is mine. The Sky is mine. I love traveling by air, of course. Also I have a “Green Card” to all of the countries. Have I ever been to Egypt or Italy? Sure! I know a lot of people who is dreaming about these countries, who want to see the Pyramids and the ancient Rome. –Sabina, Age 16

Greetings Friends and Family!

The above quote is taken from one of the winning submissions from the 2011 Writing Olympics competition we just held here in Azerbaijan.

The Writing Olympics is a creative English writing competition where students are given one hour (on a selected date) to write on one of three topics (in accordance to their form or year in university). They are not permitted to use dictionaries or other resources. They are judged not on grammar, but instead on the idea, the overall “essence” of their essay. This year Azerbaijan has also created a “professionals” category, which gives individuals who may not fit into the school categories a chance to compete too (this includes moms and teen girls who aren’t in university). The goal of the event is to help cultivate creative writing and, even more importantly, creative thinking.

We need your help to make this event a success! The winning students will have their essays published in a book which they will receive, along with a certificate, at an awards ceremony. Unfortunately, publication here is expensive. Your donation, which can be made at http://tinyurl.com/WODonate, will help us ensure that our students will remember this event, and their creative selves, forever. Your donation will help to pay for the publication of the book as well as the printing of certificates, the purchase of dictionaries and the awards ceremony.

Our goal isn’t much; it’s a little under $2,000 USD. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Easter has come and gone and it looks like a brutal summer is on its way in. Already the thermometer on my porch is reading eighty-five in the shade and its only going to get hotter. The plus side is that I will be able to do Bikram Yoga without paying a hundred dollars a month to go to a studio. This last month has been an interesting one. It seems like just yesterday that I was complaining about the cold and the muddy streets. After a few weeks of rain everything is blossoming like mad. Coming from the Northwest distinct seasons are very strange.

I spent this last Easter in Baku mostly for Early Service Training which was a lot of fun. About half of us went and it was really good seeing everybody all together again. The training was for two days and then we had the weekend to ourselves. Baku is a really interesting city and a lot of fun areas to explore. This last trip we found an old Russian Orthodox Christian church that was elaborately painted and decorated. We also visited a brewery for lunch and the owner was very excited to see Americans that could speak Azerbaijani. He gave us a personal tour of his resturant and brewery and you could tell that he was very proud of his little operation. We also found this old run down theater that had been converted into a ping-pong club filled with smoke and sweaty old men competing like thier life was on the line. On Saturday night we ended up staying with a very welcoming couple that worked for BP. The next morning we all went to the Catholic Church for Easter Mass where we got to meet the American Ambassador and chat for a bit.

It is always strange returing to Ucar after being in Baku with a bunch of Americans. It is like I was back home for a bit and able to hang out with friends and do what I want but then I come back to the real world and I am in Ucar where no one speaks English and I am back in the fish bowl. It is getting easier though as I learn the language and make more friends. Overall I really like where I am at and wouldn't change it for the world.

Novrus and Growing Up

So Novrus has come and gone. The rain and miserable snow has stopped leaving the streets free of the mud that sticks to my shoes.Now when the wind blows the air is filled with dust, but the sun is shining and it is warm. Not hot yet, but warm. I think that the lack of any sort of central heating or air conditioning has made me much more aware of the changing seasons. After a winter of continually being cold, at work and at home, this warm weather is wonderful. To mark the coming of spring here in Azerbaijan the people celebrate a holiday called Novrus. Novrus is kind of wierd mix of Easter and Hollloween with some other random traditions thrown in. The kids go around to all the houses and collect candy in thier hats. There is decorating of eggs but instead of hiding the eggs they "fight" them. The eggs are hard-boiled and each person holds the one egg then they hit them against eachother. The egg that shows a crack first loses and the winner gets to keep that egg. The other fun thing they do is jump over bonfires and as they jump over leaving all thier bad luck in the fire.

Work has been going pretty well lately, still mostly English tutoring and conversation which is fine, but I also just submitted a grant to purchase twenty bikes for my organization to start a bike club. If it gets approved I should be getting the money in late June and have the bike club up and running this summer which will be a lot of fun. It is really hard to believe that I am already a quarter of the way through my service. Even though I miss home a lot sometimes, I am really enjoying my time here and it is going fast. The more I get to know the people here the more I like them. I think many of them are shocked that I would go so far away from my family and home so they like to take care of me and watching out for me.

Following Novrus I was able to move out on my own and now live in a two bedroom house by myself. After nearly six months of living with a host family I can cook what I want to eat when I want to eat and only eat as much as I want. Living like a grown up again is very refreshing. It does come with its own set of new challenges though. I have to do my own laundry which is interesting.

Here are some pictures from the Novrus celebration and also of my new house.

My Kitchen Sink

Porch and Garden

Hammock

Novrus Celebration At the Culture House

I remember when I was little and my family moved from Utah to Washington. I must have been about six years old and the move was a pretty big deal for me at the time though I don't remember much of it. I remember going to the train station and vague impressions of baggage carts and a spacious building, people hurrying about. Then later on the train being lulled to sleep by the rythm of the train tracks clacking away. Once we were in the new house I had a dream that I was back in Utah and when I woke up I hurried to the window to see if it was true only to be disappointed when I saw that i was still in Washington. Over the past few months I have often found myself having the same experience, only instead of walking to the window I will try and go back to sleep to try and recapture the faded dream. Mainly I think these dreams stem from a longing for the familar. As I become more accustomed to life here in Ucar however this desire for the familiar is fading and slowly being replaced by the strange fact that life here is starting to be familar. I have a routine and the language is every so slowly starting to make sense. I am even making friends and getting involved in the lives of the people that I live and work with.

There are still a lot of suprises though, for instance my host family frequently makes what is kind of like chicken soup with potatoes and onions and pieces of chicken. The chicken is usually still on the bone along with the skin. I know that some people like to eat the skin but that is one things that I am not a fan of and my host family thinks that it is wierd that I peel the skin off before eating the chicken. The other day I was eating this chicken soup and there was a particularly large piece of meat that I was working on. I had peeled the skin off and was picking it up to take a bite of what I thought was meat but as my teeth made contact I realized was bone. A little confused I turned it around searching for a tasty morsel when instead I saw an eye staring up at me then I saw the little waddle of skin that chickens have just above thier beak. I put the chicken head back in the soup but the eye was still staring right at me so I covered it up with a loose piece of chicken skin and pushed the bowl away. I think Azerbaijan is making me want to be a vegetarian.

Anyway here are some pictures of the places where I spend most of my time in Ucar;

Some of the students that I tutor

Computer Room at Akinchi

My orginization Akinchi

My room

...

Alright, sorry that it is coming a bit late but here is an update on where things stand with me an my new buddy Said. Here are the contents of the letter that I wrote him back and gave to him the other day;

Hello Said,

I am well, how are you? My name is Daniel Farmer it is nice to meet you. I am twenty-seven years old. I am from Seattle, WA but now I live in Ucar. Thank you for the very nice letter and I would be very pleased to be friends with you.

Dan

P.S. All your free base are belong to us.

His response came the next day. Inside was another letter and a floral print card. The card said, "You very good human!" and was scented with a nice perfume. The letter goes;

Dear Daniel,

Thank you for the nice letter. Letter is very good. When is your birthday? What is your phone number? May I call you? What is you job? Do you speak Azerbaijan? What is your Ucar address? May I see you again? See you soon!

Said

It has been about a week since this last letter and I haven't seen him since.