July 1 – July 8
Week one is over and I’m feeling fine. My body continues to adjust to new sights, tastes, sounds and attitudes. After battling sickness for a few days, I bounced back and am feeling well. The spectrum of my experience and what’s to come is sinking in. Having my phone helps, though it’s expensive to call home (I’ve made a total of four calls – each lasting one minute and used up 800 of my 1000 kontours*. Needless to say, I won’t be making very many phone calls. One the up side, it’s free for me to receive calls, though there’s been some trouble and confusion as to how to do that inexpensively.

I found the post office. It will cost about 2 manat** to mail letters, so I’ll be sending them in bulk (we get paid just over 1 manat a day for regular work days). For the past week the post office has been out of stamps, but I’m hoping they’ll get some in early next week so I can send out my first written correspondence.

On July 4th the PCT’s went guesting at Scott’s house. Scott’s lives in a villa. It’s nicer than most American homes I’ve visited.
For dinner, his Ana served us:
- Orange Juice
- Pizza (no kidding, she made pizza and it tasted just like pizza)
- Chicken kabob
- Bread
- Beef tenderloin kabob
- Roasted potatoes
- Some crepe like yumminess
And a host of other foods I can’t think of at the moment. He has a washing machine, dishwasher and indoor western toilet and bathtub (a REAL tub)! Needless to say, the other PCT’s enjoyed July 4th together. It was extra special because it’s the first time we’ve all been together outside of school (which we attend 6 days a week).

I learned how to say foods that I like and don’t like and my Ana bought LOTS of fresh fruit and vegetables: apples, plums, tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. I tried and figs, which my town is famous for (and for good reason!).
My typical day of PST is as follows:
- 7:00 am wake, stretch, listen to the roosters and contemplate the new day
- 9:00 am arrive at school for language lessons
- 1:00 pm walk home for lunch, which is always delicious. (I’m even getting used to drinking hot tea when it’s 100 degrees!)
- 2:30 pm walk back to school for Youth Development training
- 5:30 pm arrive home, have tea, supper, shower, spend time with family, talk to Adam  about life and how many times he had to call before he got through , talk to my mom about life and how many time she had to call before she got through , write letters, listen to music, etc.
- 11:30 pm fall asleep after contemplating where I am in the world and what it means to be here.

My new week will begin with my first Azerbaijani party. A friend of the family’s son is returning home from the military. We also received an invitation to a wedding (in which 300-400 people will attend!) later this month. Weddings are a pretty big deal here and my host sister “said” she wanted to style my hair for the wedding (I think they don’t like my everyday ponytail as much as I do) and I’m looking forward to my first Azeri hairstyle.

This weekend we will be traveling to the regions for a few days to visit current PCV's and get a better picture of the Peace Corps experience long term. I'll be about 6 hours away from my present site, so the bus ride should be interesting.

This week is also the beginning of our English Conversation clubs. This is our first assignment and I am looking forward to working with the community to get a better sense of where I am and what I may encounter while working with community members in the future.

We continue to be well taken care of while everyday brings a new experience in which we acculturate and communicate a little better. Even when illness strikes, we get together and talk about the most intimate of subjects with strangers who become better friends every day.



*1 kontour translates to about 1 second. There are no phone contracts, only cards with kontours
**1 manat is about as much as a euro, which is stronger than the dollar and thus does not go as far
***supper is dinner, dinner is lunch.