June 27-June 29
Salam! I made it! After about 30 hours of travel we finally arrived at the Quba Olympic Complex in Quba. We were spoiled. I shared a room with two other girls, had access to 24-hour running water and 24-hour electricity. The toilets are “regular” toilets, not squat-style. The scenery is beautiful, rolling hills and lots of green and though it is hot, the air is dry so it is not so bad – and there is air-conditioning!!!
The food is amazing: Breakfast = bread, honey, butter, some sort of cream, tea, juice, and goat cheese.
Lunch = bread, goat cheese, soup, tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries, sour green crab apples, soup, two types of salad (beat, potato, bean, slaw), juice and meat.
Dinner = bread, goat cheese, two types of salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, juice and meat.
There is no snacking generally and no one drinks water and no one uses ice (but it is supplied for Americans).
What did the countryside look like on the way to Quba? Bare, brown and full of oil pumping stations (I don’t know the proper word for them). There were also half-built walls that appeared out of nowhere and a few huge new housing developments. Cows, goats, donkeys, chickens wandering about. There were lots of people standing about – I should say lots of men because I didn’t see hardly any women except a few here and there. And I don’t want to make value judgments, but the driving is NOT AT ALL like in the states.
On the way we stopped at a kabob stand where I had my first experience with a squat toilet. Not bad. Like some places in Europe – we paid to use the bathroom. Besides smelling strongly of urine and being dimly lit, it wasn’t bad at all. There was even toilet paper (Azeri’s don’t typically use toilet paper, but it’s available for purchase).
One exciting thing that happened was we got our host-family placements! I will be living in a town of 14,000 that has a history dating back to the 9th century!!! One of the trainers used to live there and she said they have regular electricity and the water is not so bad, though it will have to be boiled. We haven’t begun malaria medication, so I’m assuming there’s not malaria there – though I will still be using my mosquito net and OFF.
I’ve heard some sites have Internet access, which mine does not – but I figure I didn’t join the Peace Corps to be totally connected. There’s always letters I keep hearing cows moo which I always seem to mistake for my cell phone vibrating. Funny, I don’t have a cell phone yet.
My family will have a father, a mother who is an English grammar teacher, two sisters (16 and 17) and one brother (11). I’ll be moving there Saturday afternoon.
June 30
Salam! Today I arrived at my destination for the next three months. I can finally unpack! I am close to the Caspian Sea, where my host Ana (mother) tells me we will soon go. She says she will take me everywhere! Weddings, Parties, “Guesting”. My elation and excitement are difficult to describe. Her English is good and she is more than happy to translate and help me with grammar, which will help considerably in the coming months.
My room is larger than I imagined. My bed is comfortable. There is a “shower” but because of a water shortage in the summer, we are not using it. Instead it is like a sponge bath without concern of getting the floor wet. The bathrooms are like the true meaning of the word “washroom” Everything gets wet. The toilet is not “pit-style” but it does not have a lid and there is no toilet paper (I brought my own. No toilet paper is a custom it will be difficult to get used to.) The bathroom is on the outside of the house, down a corridor and in a separate concrete building.
My first evening was spent with grape leaves, bread, cherries, tea, tomatoes, cucumbers and beef (not in that order). I then took a bath, which I turned cold and though it felt great, after I turned off the water I immediately began to sweat. Now that it’s night it’s cooled down considerably and is comfortable. My host Ana warned me to be careful not to get in front of the fan while wet because I might catch cold. It’s over 100 degrees here.
The bus ride was long and hot but it was exciting to see each group get off, all dazed and anxious to see what comes next. I was in the third of six groups to get off and the first of my group to leave. When it was my turn I thought, “well, here goes nothin’” I waved to my fellow PCV’s, whom I will see again tomorrow morning, and took a deep breath. Like jumping off a diving board in the dark into the ocean – you don’t know idea what’s down there, but you know you can swim.
My Ana told me I could either rest or come out with the family, which was nice because it is strange for Azeris to grasp the notion of “alone time”, but she totally got it and encouraged me to take the time and space I needed. She even stocked the fridge full of cold water! Consequently, I got bored in my room, found my photographs and gave my gifts of UNO cards, a Michigan Cookbook and a Michigan post-card. My sixteen-year-old Becı (sister) was really interested in the pictures of my friends and family and said Aunt Janet had beautiful eyes. Blue eyes are an extreme rarity here; though it amazed me she could see them in the photo. Then she showed me photos of her family and told me she was fat. She is not fat. I guess there are some things you just can’t get rid of. Perhaps it’s because she spends time watching American music videos. Ugh.
On the bus ride I thought about all of the people who have told me that Peace Corps is their dream and wish they would have or could do it. To those people I say, “DO IT!” It’s scary and crazy and exciting, but once you’re in, you’re in and there is every kind of person here – there is no “Peace Corps type of person” We are all who we allow ourselves to become.
