When it comes to cuisine, I think I’m pretty adventurous. I’ll definitely try anything once and I’ll like most of those things. In this case, I’ve tried it twice, and I still don’t like it. Wait, I take that back. I despise it. I loathe it. I curse the morning I tried it. And now I’m becoming ill just thinking about it. I’m talking about Xash!
I won’t start with any “for those of you who don’t know…” lines. If you’ve not been to this area of the world, you definitely don’t know about it. It’s not some international cuisine that has made its way across cultures, varying just slightly from place to place. It’s too gross for that, too revolting. No one would ever want to bring it back to their home country. Some of my closest friends like Matt and Trey truly love it. I like them a little bit less as people because of that!
Okay, enough build up. Xash is a soup made up entirely of hooves, head, and stomach; sheep or cow is available. That’s really it, I don’t have any further explanation. Take two parts hooves, one part head, and all the chopped up pieces of stomach you want. Boil it for about a day, add a lot of oil, and it’s ready to be served! Put it in a bowl, the thick bone of the hoof as the center piece, add fresh garlic and vinegar and then go to town!
If any of you are truly interested in trying this, don’t bother writing me ever again; I’ve lost all respect for you!
Because it is the hoof, the whole concoction is very gelatinous. As you eat away at the cartilage and fat and whatever else is on the foot of a cow or sheep, a film forms in your mouth and on your lips that does not go away!
The ONLY thing good about this meal, which is consumed with friends in the winter between the hours of 6-7am (only), is that it is always served with vodka.
So, at midnight on Saturday when Matt asked me to go with the boys to “enjoy” a xash breakfast the next morning, minor inebriation and the promise of camaraderie convinced me. Matt will likely never receive another invitation to come to Balaken ever again!
On a brighter note, some of my plans for Balaken are finally starting to come to fruition. Stephanie and I arrived about 10 minutes early for club on Monday afternoon. To our surprise, most of the students had already arrived and were quietly playing games and completing puzzles that we had donated to the children’s library over the past year. It was so inspiring to see the kids all playing without supervision, without us there to facilitate. Hopefully, this continues and the library actually becomes a place for students to go and spend time reading and playing games!
Matt and Dustin walking to the restaurant early in the morning.
What a start to 2012! Seriously, in all my years (am I too young to say that?), I don’t think I’ve been as excited for a year as I am for 2012. A couple of trips, a plateful of unbelievable projects this spring and summer, and of course, the conclusion of my Peace Corps service (November 9 for those of you who still don’t know). To think that I will back in North America by this time next year is almost too strange to believe, but that’s still a ways off so we’ll stop right there!
2012 has been good to me so far! It started with a short weekend of skiing in Georgia with some of my closest PCV friends, 8 of us to be exact. We called it a guys’ weekend, despite the two female PCVs that came with us…they were good sports about it all! 4 of us were celebrating January birthdays. After a day and very long night and early morning traipsing around Tbilisi, we caught a small bus to Gudauri, a very small ski resort 4 hours or so north of the capital. It sits at about 10,000 feet, well above the tree line. It was whitewashed with nearly two meters of fresh powder the day before we got there! The road up to it was closed so we had to stop and put chains on the tires halfway up. Gudauri is said to have the best heli-skiing in the Caucasus mountains. Of course, a Peace Corps stipend does not exactly allow us to splurge on a helicopter, so we stayed grounded and stuck to the chair lifts. The weather was perfect and conditions on the mountain were magical. It is an open-faced mountain: no trees and no distinct trails. The cats groom a path down every so often depending on weather conditions, but you are not really restricted at all in terms of where you want to go. You can stick to the winding groomed trails all the way down (a 7km path from top to bottom) or brave the glades and try your luck in the ungroomed stuff. Some of us spent most of our days near the top doing this. Thankfully, we all finished the weekend safe and sound, minus some burning quads and the occasional instance where we got stuck in snow up to our neck and had to dig and hike our way out!
We rented an apartment right on the slopes and spent our nights mostly in our long underwear eating, drinking, doing karaoke, and sneaking into hotel spas for some R&R in the saunas and hot tubs. Not surprisingly, it was a wonderful group of people to travel with and we had a fantastic time together!
Despite our failure to meet anyone remotely interested in paying for our trip in a helicopter as Trey and I had dreamed of, we had an amazingly refreshing and at the same time draining weekend. Very little sleep was had and nothing but pork, wine, and cha-cha (Georgian liquor) was consumed. Yet, being outside all day on the slopes, the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, was so revitalizing that we came back to Azerbaijan and Baku for our Mid-Service Conference (MSC) all smiles!
MSC was another exciting event. It is the final conference for the AZ8 group before our Close of Service meeting in August. The two-day conference is spent reflecting on our first year of service, sharing stories, feelings, ideas, plans, etc. As much as most of us role our eyes as staff encourage us to share our feelings, it was a useful couple days to find inspiration for the final 9 months of service. Even better, it was capped off by being assigned the 3rd earliest COS date of November 9. No plans are set in stone yet. I hope to travel a bit in Southeast Asia before returning to North America before the holiday season. I’m looking at going to Nepal, India, Thailand, and Malaysia. If anyone has travelled in these countries or any other ones nearby, I would love your input!
This 2 week whirlwind of ridiculousness and reflection was capped off by the first conference of my gender training project that I am doing with the WID/GAD committee and our counterpart organization, the World of Women Public Union. This conference was not an actual training, but a training of trainers as we like to call it.With that, I believe this conference became the longest acronym that Peace Corps has (WID/GAD WoW ToT), and that’s saying something because there are A LOT of them, believe me! Despite a massive dumping of snow, WoW came to Peace Corps headquarters on a Saturday and presented their material to the WID/GAD committee and a number of local PC staff. After presenting their material, we critiqued them, providing feedback in an attempt to prepare them for the six presentations that they will make to students and community leaders throughout Azerbaijan in the coming months. They did a wonderful job and I am so anxious to begin the trainings! For more information on the ToT and to see pictures, please click here: http://widgadaz.com/
Of course, as much as I hate to say it, all good times must come to an end. I have fallen back to reality pretty hard. To say the least, Azeris can be quite averse to snow and cold weather. Generally, their first reaction is to cancel everything and stay at home, no matter how little has actually fallen. A couple of “monster” snow storms this week, no more than six inches mind you, have put a halt to absolutely EVERYTHING. Schools are cancelled, interregional buses have stopped going, and all meetings and activities I had hoped to have were immediately assumed to be called off. There’s no telling how long this hibernation will last. I hope not long; I cannot wait for spring to come!
Peace Corps Azerbaijan (8th Group)...I'm the "A"
The Top
Just 3 Guys, Having a Good Time
Avalanche Zone?!
Ya, let's do it!
And we're the 3 best friends that anyone could have...
The biggest downside of MSC...having to take an intestinal parasites detection test. Yes, it is exactly what you think it is! I will be sending my own poop in the mail! How many people can say they've done that before?
Here's the latest in video production from northern Azerbaijan!
Steph, Trey, and I produced this video on Saturday in hopes of spreading the word of our national softball project. The league started a number of years ago with only 4 teams. It is now made up of 15 teams and involves hundreds of students from all over Azerbaijan. Equipment has been accumulated over the years. The field space and the time spent organizing and coaching is donated by local ministries and community leaders. We are trying to raise the money for transportations costs. $9,616 would pay for 5-6 tournaments per team for 15 teams over the course of a 6-month season. Any little bit helps!
At the very least, please share the video with friends and family! Thank you!
I’m not going to get into this too deep because, quite frankly, I don’t know what I’m talking about! iPhones, iPads, iMovie, iRobot, Garage Band, Google Voice, and any other “i’s “ out there: They’re simply amazing. I’m sure everything I just listed is already out of date. Do excuse me, I live in Azerbaijan. That last point, my current location, is actually the topic of the post: Azerbaijan and technology.
I’m not talking about the products themselves, I’m talking about the productions they make possible. I can create songs in which even my voice sounds like an angel, albeit and angel with strep throat. I can shoot and edit movies like James Cameron, okay fine not that good, and I can call my best friends back home like I was down the street from them. To many of you back home, this may be old news, and you may have already stopped reading this post. But, to people here in Azerbaijan, this new self-expression, be-your-own producer, anything’s possible with a little electricity craze is blowing up, and the reception it’s getting here is fantastic!
We all know where it starts. We talk about Facebook as this weapon, this mega world of its own with infinite wealth, power, and possibility. The crazy thing is, it’s not just semantics. Facebook’s role in the Arab Spring says it all.I’m not going to delve into that specific topic any further though; you all know what I’m talking about. The real inspiration for this post is this video.
I’ve posted it before. Two of my friends, Brad and Tim, made a music video,a spoof of “New York State of Mind”. They replaced Jay-Z’s love for NYC with their own shout out to Baku. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Serbian news article about the video.
From the moment it was uploaded on YouTube, the promotional video "Baku, state of mind - ESC 2012", was viewed over 10,000 times in just a few hours. In other words several million people saw the video offering a cover of the famous Alicia Keys song Empire State of Mind. "Baku, state of mind - ESC 2012" is regarded by many as the best promotion yet for the upcoming 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan with an almost equal number of YouTube visits as the duo Eli and Niki - this year's winners in Düsseldorf.
Despite the slight numerical inaccuracies, it’s out there in a big way, with 146,158 views to date. Azeris have eaten it up, and they’re looking for more. Brad has passed the first round of try outs to represent Azerbaijan at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, one of the most watched and longest running programs in the world! Since this video was put up, they have been on national television (I was on the set for that), been on stage with last year’s Eurovision winners, been in national and international press (including The Economist), been called by directors and producers and the like, and been offered money to make more videos about Azerbaijan.
Why all the hype? Yes, of course, it’s a great video! I would never take anything away from the two of them. They deserve all the credit in the world. On the other hand, it’s a simple parody video with quirky rhymes and an artificial beat. It’s nothing new. Yet even though it’s been done a million times before, it’s ignited heated debates and comments – 1,224 in all! As we PCVs try and figure out our surroundings and the best way to get through to people, I think we can learn a valuable lesson here. Actually, many of us already have. Volunteers throughout the country, including myself, have started making videos with their kids. The interest level is through the roof and the lessons are invaluable.
Azerbaijan, and maybe this whole part of the world, is going through something very special right now. They may be a little behind the times through our perspective, but they’re catching up very quickly! We all went crazy when Andy Samberg and SNL came out with “The Chronicles of Narnia”. We ate it up. But why? Why did it capture our attention with such force? Just like “Baku State of Mind” has spread through Azerbaijan like a wildfire, this SNL skit did something we had never really seen before: two normal guys, albeit talented guys, making a catchy song about absolutely nothing consequential. No special effects, no yachts, no Go-go dancers in the background, just two funny guys making jokes on camera. The fact is, it was self expression and creativity at its very best, and it opened the flood gates. That shock wave continues to influence our culture everyday. Now, Azerbaijanis are catching on and making a wave of their own.
I think this new trend can be partially attributed to an awakening of creativity and self-expression following decades of Soviet oppression. I also believe that the recent technology boom is giving more and more people access to the simple technologies needed to produce big things. However, problems still arise. In America, when we buy a Mac, it comes with every program we could ever want, free. If we have problems with our PC, or want new software upgrades, we take it to Best Buy and have the Geek Squad works their magic. Here, Chinese knockoffs and pirated, virus laden versions of our favorite programs poison the system; it can be very frustrating. It takes a special, determined individual to succeed and come out with the best projects. Many volunteers see these problems as very teachable moments, trying to bridge the gap in our access to technology and teach responsibility.
Whatever the cause(s), it making a monstrous impact. Get ready, Azerbaijan’s coming! Whether it’s Baku’s state of mind or zombies attacking, you better watch out! (You get the pun?!)
Below, I am proud to present the newest creation from the students of Balaken. This video is part of a contest that is happening across the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia). The students had to make a move under 5 minutes in length about their home. Please watch it and then ‘Like’ it on Youtube. The video with the most ‘Likes’ by January 23 will win a camera! They worked very hard on this project!
It is now 2012 and my service in Azerbaijan has spanned 3 different years. As I think about my time thus far, and on my life prior to this adventure, the differences are so distinct. Today, I’ll look at some of the most striking changes I have encountered and reflect upon the fact that this unfamiliar journey I am on has actually become the closest thing to normal that I know.
1.Time
To most, 27 months is a longgggggg time, long enough that I added a few extra g’s. I have about 11 months left in my service. To most back home, this is an eternity. My friends laugh at me and I can sense their confusion over Skype when I mention plans for when I return. 16 months ago I would have thought the same thing. Not anymore. Service has flown by! It seemed like only yesterday that I helplessly stared at the lady in the post office as she berated me for not picking up my mail sooner. I had no idea what she was saying, and she’s usually in a pretty pissy mood. Now, whenever she gives me some lip, I give it right back to her! That’s a good feeling!
Whether it’s a coping mechanism or a result of experiencing something new nearly everyday, time is flying by. It’s almost too hard to keep up. At this point, everything I am doing is for the last time. That is a fact that is both exciting to think about and hard to swallow. Sometimes, I cannot imagine leaving this place. I still feel like I have so much to do. Yes, 11 months is quite a bit of time, but I know that one morning I will wake up and it will be time to book my flight home. That moment is creeping up on me ever so quickly.
2.Animals
Garbage-eating cows, noisy chickens, mangy horses, wild dogs, fat cats, and scavenging rats – they’re all part of my daily routine here. It’s laughable that I no longer blink an eye when I have to shoo a cow away from they well outside when I need to rinse my laundry. Rooster crows, dog barks, and cat screeches when they’re in heat no longer keep me awake when I try to sleep in. I accept sheep in the middle of the road as a normal form of traffic, and I now know that when driving straight at a stationary cow in the middle of the road, you better slow down; I promise you that it will not move!
3.Distance
Maine to New York City for a weekend? That’s a minimum 5 hour trip each way (if my mom’s driving)! Isn’t that a little crazy for just a weekend? Not anymore! Once you’ve taken a Soviet-era night train that gets stuck in the snow for 16 hours, squished into a van with all of the windows closed (actually they didn’t work) in the middle of summer for 6 hours while the driver chain smokes the whole trip, or sat on a bus next to a mother and child who, in between bouts of car sickness (ya, throwing up), eat moldy cheese and spit sunflower seed shells on the ground, well, travel back home just really is not so bad! So, once I return, invite me to come visit, I’m sure it will be a lovely trip!
4.Clothing
What do you call a person with one pair of jeans, a couple pairs of slacks for work, and one pair of athletic pants for sports? I bet you thought I’d say a Peace Corps volunteer! Wrong! The punch line is: a normal person! Sure, cleanliness is sometimes questionable, but in general America, you’re a little over the top when it comes to clothing. In the winter it’s pretty normal for me to have the same long underwear on for days on end before changing. What, it’s cold here?! This may be a little over the top, but my general rule of thumb is, if it’s not smelly, wear it again!
5.How things work
Were you ever curious where your water came from, or how it was heated? Ever get frustrated by a power outage, and wanted to just go outside and fix the lines yourself, even though you had no idea where to start? Ever question how internet was supplied to your house, or how phone lines worked? Okay, not the most interesting of things, I know. Quite honestly, I never really cared. These things just came, I paid for them, and everyone was happy. Not anymore! The antiquated and rudimentary nature of construction here means that I now know how EVERYTHING works! Some of it I can fix, some of it is hopeless. Either way, it’s quite enlightening to understand how daily utilities actually function…well, sometimes function.
6.Loneliness
This is not loneliness in the sad face (L) ‘send me a card to make me feel better’ way. I actually mean just physically being alone, alone and far away from your past. Like most people, hanging with friends, making plans for the weekend, and going to social events like the gym, the mall, or parties was the norm. Now, it’s the opposite. A trip to the local restaurant is a big deal. A cooking night with friends is marked on the calendar well in advanced and remembered fondly. A weekend trip or party – well those are few and far between. Being alone is not so weird anymore. Sure, I spend a lot of time with Azeri friends and families, but to them I am still an outsider, still a guest. I’ve grown accustomed to and actually rather fond of quiet nights and weekends reading, writing, and watching alone.
Muham music about love and finding me a wife!
Elvin and I on New Year's Eve
Great way to end 2011
Thank you to my friend's and family back home for the wonderful messages I have received. Your support means everything! Also, thank you to my not-so-new-anymore friends here in Azerbaijan. Yesterday was such a wonderful day and a perfect way to close out 2011. I got to sit and hold my niece, Elvin's daughter Nuray, all evening. Then, Farid and his family welcomed me over. We ate, drank, and danced. Then, we went to his cousin's house where we ate more, drank more, and sang Muham music about love and finding me a wife! Farid, his brother Samid, and I brought in the new year watching the fireworks on TV back at his house.
I’m just going to come out and say it, call a spade a spade: Azeri construction is a joke. I mean no disrespect, but it’s true. Most people know it. The only people who would argue this statement are the know-it-all “masters”, the bricklayers, the carpenters, the people who actually construct things around here. It borders on sheer ignorance. Tinkertoys are more stable than the things constructed in this country! I know that you could come up with any number of excuses to defend their feeble attempts at construction, but given my occasional suffering (especially in winter) and their refusal to take any sort of advice, I lack any sympathy on the matter. Houses are built completely misshaped, with tiny, unusable spaces, windows that don’t fully shut, and door frames that are completely off center. Gaping holes in the brick laying let in stinging cold air during the winter months. These men use cement like a six year old uses wet sand at the beach when making a sand castle. The main street in town, under construction for the past 6 months, was built without any sort of shoulder for parking, despite the numerous shops that line it. So, the new four lane road immediately became a two lane road. That’s funny, it was a two lane road before they went through all of the trouble! Cobblestone sidewalks were built as well. I trip over the bricks and inadvertently kick them out of their places on a daily basis. They also planted palm trees (don’t even get me started on that one) in the middle of the sidewalk. Between those and the lamp posts strategically placed on the sidewalk as well, your only choice is to walk on the street. Too bad there’s no shoulder!
The point of this post, other than to rant a little bit (it’s my blog, I can do what I want), is to share with you a joke my close friend Farid told me tonight over tea and nard. It’s an Azeri joke making fun of the very thing I was talking about above! It has been adapted for English. I hope you enjoy it!
An unfinished building falls down suddenly, leaving a huge mess. The building inspector must find out who’s culpable, so he calls everyone into his office one by one. First, he calls in the bricks.
“What happened yesterday? You were supposed to stand firm, give the building it’s shape.”
The bricks passionately reply, “We weren’t doing anything, promise. We were just all stacked there quietly, and the next thing you knew, BOOM!, we all come tumbling down.”
Next, the steel beams are called in. “What happened yesterday? You guys were supposed to really strengthen that place up. How could you have let it fall?”
The steels beams also fervently reply, “We had nothing to do with that, honest. We were in our places, keeping nice and firm, when, all of the sudden, we collapsed.”
The building inspector, clearly frustrated that no one was taking responsibility for the accident, calls in the cement in hopes of getting some answers.
“What happened yesterday? You’re the foundation of the entire building. How could you let it fall?”
The cement, very confused, innocently replies, “Sir, we had nothing to do with that accident, we weren’t even there!”
Happy New Year everyone!
Our homemade presents Christmas morning
Christmas dinner
Thai curry pumpkin soup
Our Christmas tree (Yolka in Azeri)
Happy Holidays from my region (the middle finger)!
This year was supposed to be my biggest yet, not to be outdone by anything before it. For the rest of my life, it was to stand out as one of the best. I was on the journey of a lifetime, living out my dream, going where no one (literally) had gone before. Yet after everything that has happened in our world this year, my own adventure doesn’t seem so significant anymore. From royalty and retribution to toppled despots and empowered masses. We’ve seen wars ended and icons lost. We’ve wrestled with fiscal uncertainty and privacy, as well as with the power of Mother Nature. It’s been a year like no other! It will certainly be remembered, but not in the way I, nor anyone else for that mattered, had envisioned it.
Looking over all of it made me feel so small, so inconsequential. Admittedly, this stung a little bit. I guess I figured my service would be headline news!
However, when I actually sit back and try to recap 2011, other than making my head spin, I realize that I never did expect this to be a big deal to anyone but myself. The fact that it wasn’t is exactly how it should be. Sure, we PCVs try to do as much good as possible while we’re here, but in a strange place with limited funding, how much can we actually accomplish? The truth is, more than changing the world, the Peace Corps changes us.
Reviewing the year that was, I begin to appreciate what I’ve done, just as much as everything else that has happened in our crazy world! It’s not these great events of 2011 that impress me most; it’s the little things that remind me why I’m here, that remind me that we’re all in this together.
MY highlights for 2011:
One of the highlights of my service has actually been my family and friends back home. I have a support group at home larger and kinder than I ever knew. My family and friends have sent me packages and written me letters. They have sung to me over the internet, called me on my birthday, donated to my projects, visited me, and continued to include me in their wonderful lives. To those of you reading this, you know who you are. I am eternally grateful. Thank you.
Not including Azerbaijan, I have travelled to three new countries. I have made so many new, lifelong friends.
I have seen many of my students blossom into wonderful young adults. And I have seen parents so in awe of their child’s ability and passion that they ignore cultural norms and accept change, encouraging their children to strive for things they themselves never could have imagined.
I’ve seen my little brother, albeit through Skype video, transform into a great man (although don’t tell him I said that or his head will grow bigger than it already is). I even saw my parents sell my childhood home.
The changes have be too many to count, but as I settle in and prepare for my final 11 months of service, I am grateful for what was and excited for what will be.
