Shaki

khayel starting off the process

everyone who is going to shaki from my group

pcts putting together our expectations

my counterpart 

my room

my family's dog jack

my host mom

co workers

great students

does anyone know what this says?

Shaki at night

I just returned from my 3 day site visit. It started out with a counterpart conference in Baku. We all met our counterparts and each group shared our expectations, obstacles and how we would get past the obstacles with each other. It was great to hear their expectations. A good/ interesting note is that both groups had similar expectations.. We went on Wednesday with our counterparts by public transport to our sites. For me, it was a 6 hour bus trip in a surprisingly comfortable greyhound style bus. As we left Baku and got further away, the urban sprawl turned into country side with some farming. Shaki is a beautiful old city surrounded by the mountains, which already have a little snow on them. On the other side of the mountains is Russia. It doesnt really feel like a city. It feels more like a small town. It has that old European feeling with everything paved and the side walks in cobblestone. Its old, but also has modern conveniences I really like my host family. My host mother is Russian and doesnt speak English but is trying. She is delightful. One host sister is in baku studying at university and other one is home and very friendly. I havent met my host father yet as he was working. They have a dog, cat, some chickens. My host mother loves animals and treats them as pets, which is great.. I will post more later on. If you have any questions. I miss you guys. Happy Thanksgiving.