On my weekly phone call with the Flegal family, they asked what my average day is like. The answer to that question seemed like a good idea for a blog post. So, here you go!
I get up at about 7:30 every morning. Actually, I wake up when the neighborhood rooster starts chattering, well before the time I actually get out of bed. Side note – the suburban girl in me fully believed that roosters crow just once in the morning, when the sun rises. For the other suburbanites out there, that is a myth. The reality is that roosters crow ALL day, and sometimes in the middle of the night. The one who hangs out in my neighborhood is particularly chatty, starting well before the sun rises and going all day long. Anyway, back to the story. So, I get out of bed. I spend sometime in the peace of my room before I head out into the apartment. I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth and wash my face and go to the kitchen for breakfast.
I am lucky in my food – my host family asked me what I liked and got it for me. Other trainees are not so lucky. The only thing I really have to complain about food-wise is the monotony. It is very routine. My breakfast consists of a cup of instant coffee (which is highly coveted among my peers. Most of my fellow trainees only get tea.), a hard boiled egg, bread, and fruit salad. The fruit salad is another thing that makes most of the Americans super-jealous.
After breakfast, I head off to school. My walk takes about 10 minutes, maybe a little less. There are 2 little girls who join me along the way. Every morning, they run up and say, “Hello Jane! What is your name?” Every once in a while, there is a “how are you” thrown in, but they don’t have much more English than that. It is pretty exciting for me, because as my Azeri skills are slowly increasing, I can understand more of what they say. Today I was able to ask how old they are – and understand when the told me they were 10 and 11.
Language lessons go from 9 to 1, with a dondurma (ice cream) break in the middle. Our classes are fun and intense at the same time. It is like a high school or college language class in high speed. In one week we covered present, past and future tenses. There are days that I feel super confident about it, and then there are those other days… Luckily, right now, there are more of the confident days than the ones where I am certain I won’t ever get it.
So, after language class, I go home for lunch. Lunch includes bread, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, some other kind of salad, and some kind of meat – this week it has been sausages. Azeri sausages are not like American sausages. I had dreams of kilbasa or smoked sausage links or even a hot day. Nope. Think giant Vienna sausages – you know, those ones that come in a can – and you are pretty close. My host mom knows I love fruit, so there is always a selection of fruit with lunch. And tea. There is tea at every meal and tea breaks in the morning and afternoon. Again, I am lucky, because my family doesn’t force me to drink tea at every meal. Usually, I skip the tea at lunch.
My afternoons are varied. Often, we have Peace Corps training sessions called TDLAs. Side note – Peace Corps has an acronym for everything. TDLA stands for Trainee Directed Learning Activity. After 4 hours of language and a big lunch, they can be hard to sit through. The information is certainly important and valid, but those days just get really long.
Other days we have our afternoons somewhat free. Naptime is often a part of those days. Afternoon naps are a big part of Azeri culture – finally a cultural adjustment that is easy for me! Other things include trips to the bazaar for some shopping and the internet café. We’ve gone and hung out at the beach – which can be quite surreal when you realize that you are walking along the Caspian Sea. I mean, really, what American social studies kid thinks they are going to spend a summer hanging out by the Caspian?
Dinner is basically a repeat of lunch. Sometimes lunch is the leftovers from the night before, sometimes dinner is the leftovers from lunch. A lot of the meat here kinda freaks me out, so I don’t eat much of it. There is something about walking through the outdoor bazaar and seeing slabs of meat and hunks of animals – there was a lovely selection of sheep heads one day – sitting out in the hot sun, flies flitting to and fro, that just kind of turns me off the idea of a big slice of beef or mutton or chicken for supper.
After dinner, there are a variety of activities I do. Most nights include some intensive studying. I have heard my host family laugh as they walk by my room and hear me saying random words over and over again. When I think about it, if I heard someone saying egg, egg, egg, egg over and over again, I would have to laugh too.
I try to spend some time with my host family every night. The point of living with a host family is to experience that part of the culture, so I’m making an effort. Some nights I sit in the “garden” with my host sister, Aysel. We played some tennis-like game. One night Aysel, Elshad (one of my host brothers) and I played checkers. Azeri rules are different than American rules, though, so I lost. Big time. Last night we went down to the sea.
My favorite nights are Friday and Saturday nights. That is when Aska Sogun is on. Aska Sogun is a Turkish soap opera/miniseries. The Azeris are absolutely crazy about it. Kids wear t-shirts and almost everyone watches it. Friday and Saturday, my host mother, nana, Aysel and I sit around the TV and watch it. Sometimes Elton (the other host brother) comes and watches. They all “tsk tsk” when a character does something to disapprove of. It is definitely watered down compared to American soaps – it’s no Days of Our Lives – but it is still a good dose of drama. And the best thing about it is that even though I have NO idea what they are saying, I completely understand the plot line.
At some point in the evening I take my bucket bath – I am getting quite adept at it! After that, I head into my room for some quiet time to myself. That is my favorite time of day. This culture doesn’t really have “alone time”, but for me it is a much needed part of my day. Often I will study more, but most nights, I write in my journal and read something that has nothing to do with Azerbaijan or Peace Corps.
By bedtime, my room is a cool 80 degrees – practically a refrigerator, really. So, I settle in, turn off the light and head to sleep, knowing that in a few hours the rooster will greet me with a new day.
of laundry detergent is called Barf. For real. I took a picture. Anyway - laundry. You start with your whites and work your way up to the darkest colors. The detergent is very strong, so if you don’t, all of you light colors will turn grey or blue. And then you scrub. The Azeri women have this process of scrubbing their knuckles against each other, with the fabric in between. It is really rough on your hands. There is a separate bucket filled with cold water that you throw the clothes in to rinse. You rinse then out, and when you are done, you head off to dry them.
Peace Corp staff and current volunteers met us at the airport – after about 25 hours of travel time. We immediately got on a bus to go north for Orientation. What was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride turned into a much longer bus ride. The scenic view as we drove up was astounding. It is a completely different world. Cliché, but true. Driving through the towns, there are little herds of sheep, cows crossing the road, and lots of people. We drove through some of the oil fields… spectacular in its their own way.
The days that followed were orientation – more meetings. Health, security, culture, host families, gender roles, PC policies, and language. We had lots of time at night to hang out and look around the complex and play. One night Flora – the Language Coordinator – and the LCFs – language and culture facilitators (Areri’s who stay with us for the next 3 months and show and teach us everything) – taught us Aerbaijani dancing. It was hysterical and fabulous and lovely. The Azeris looked awesome dancing, the Americans, not so much.
