Why am I here?

“Liberation of the human heart… opens us up and leads us to the discovery of our common humanity… a journey from loneliness to a love that transforms, a love that grows in and through belonging… The discovery of our common humanity liberates us from self- centered compulsions and inner hurts... It is the process of truly becoming human.”  Jean Vanier

 

I’ve been walking around worried this past week. Yesterday we had a test to see where we are with our language skills. I’m struggling with learning Azeri. I’m definitely the slowest one in my cluster. But I’m not surprised. I’m at about the same place I was learning Sesotho after working on it for a month. In Lesotho, I worked hard, it was slow going, I had tutoring after I got to my site and I eventually got it. But for some reason, over this past week, I had forgotten that. Outside of class, I spent many hours studying. I worried about this assessment. Which led to worry about other things: What if my language never gets decent enough for me to communicate with the youth? What if I can’t communicate with my colleagues? What if I make cultural mistakes and offend people. What if I don’t connect in my community? What if… what if the kids don’t like me? I went into that spiral of worries that turned into fears that in the end was all about me. I had forgotten the reason I had come to Azerbaijan. I had forgotten who I am.

 

Then yesterday, I as I was walking home, 2 little boys who are neighbors started walking with me with greetings of “Salam Merrill, Salam Merrill.” They talked a mile a minute and would periodically pause to hear me attempt a sentence or two in Azeri, giggle and correct my pronunciation and/or words I was using and go on. When we arrived home, there were 5 more kids shouting my name. They had a plastic ball and we played soccer for about 15 minutes (with them beating me of course) When we finished (it was getting dark) we all said goodbye and the smallest boy (maybe about 5) stuck his little hand in mine and dragged me up the stairs to my apartment. He ran off with a “sagol” (goodbye) and I went inside. I realized then that no matter what, everything would be ok. I will do the best I can to learn the language and whatever else PC teaches me. I will go to my site; I will make mistakes, have failures and successes. I will swallow my pride and ask PC and my fellow PCV’s for help when needed. I have no idea really what I’m in for.  But in the end, there will be youth to work with and to love the best I can. That is a common factor around the world. There are always kids to love. And I have an abundance of love to give… mistakes and all.

 

This journey of “self-centered compulsions and inner hurts” is a common journey for me. I forget who created me and walks with me. I forget why I am here (in Azerbaijan or anywhere else). I let my worries and pride take over. I start becoming more concerned with how I am doing and how others see me and forget all that I have…and all I have become. I forget the most important thing… and what I want the most is to love others as I have been loved. It took a little boy’s hand in mine to help me to remember what’s important. I’d like to believe that I won’t forget again what’s important. But I know me. I will forget. Maybe in 6 months or next month or next week. I take comfort knowing that when it happens again, there will always be another hand in mine reminding me of our common humanity and ultimately, what’s important.

 

Ok, a shift in topics. This Thursday and Friday are holidays. It is Gurban Bayram (the feast of sacrifice.) Im going to share with you what Peace Corps told us about the holiday:

“Gurban Bayram (Festival of Sacrifice) is one of the ancient religious holidays in Islam, celebrated in honor of the prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son as a proof of his loyalty to God (Allah). According to Muslims, the tradition is based on an event where Ibrahim was ordered to sacrifice one of his two sons. As Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his own son in obedience to God, God provided a ram to sacrifice instead.  The offering of a sacrifice has become an annual celebration to commemorate the occasion and thank God.

This is a festival when sacrificial sheep or other animals are slaughtered and the meat distributed to the poor, in memory of the ram sacrificed by Ibrahim in place of his son. According to Islamic rules, every Muslim who is wealthy enough to afford must sacrifice a farm animal for God.

The festival also marks the end of the Pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca. The climax of Hajj is marked by offering a sacrifice, to celebrate the completion of the Hajj and feed the poor. It is done by Muslims, doesn’t matter whether they went to Mecca or not. On the festival day, thousands of sheep, goats, and calves will be slaughtered by Azerbaijanis celebrating Gurban Bayram. The animal should be at least one year old and healthy, you can see sheep sacrificed in all kinds of places: the garden, driveway, back yard, streets and even on balconies. The head of the family is expected to perform the sacrifice but a butcher is invited to perform the ritual on their behalf. The animal is given water and salt, its eyes are wrapped with a clean rag, and it is turned to face Mecca. Verses are recited from the Koran, and then the animal's throat is cut. The meat from the animal is then shared into at least 7 parts and given to the poor first, to the neighbors and relatives. The skin of the animal is donated.  Another tradition practiced is visiting the graves of deceased family members. That is mostly done one day prior to the festival. Therefore, the cemeteries are very crowded on that day. Friends, neighbors, and relatives visit each other celebrating the festival. Gurban Bayram is the most important religious festival of the year, it means recurring happiness or festivity, a day of peace and thanksgiving, a day of forgiveness and moral victory, a day of good harvest and remarkable achievements, and a day of festive remembrance. The general saying in Gurban Bayram when someone is given meat is “ALLAH qəbul eləsin.” (May God accept it) (I wonder if I’ll see a sacrifice of an animal?)

 

My language teacher says that this is a pretty big holiday and while some don’t participate in it, many do. (We only have half days for school. No technical training but still we have language) She reminded us that Azerbaijan has only been free of the Soviet Union for 20 years. During Soviet rule no religion of any kind was allowed. So Azerbaijan is happy to finally have the freedom to celebrate and practice Islam again. (This goes for the Orthodox and Jewish communities here as well) To all of my Azerbaijan friends, Happy Gurban Bayram. May God accept it!

 

The next post I do I think I will do about food. Let me know if you have any questions. I miss you all!!

 

 

BEGINNING WEEK 4

We call this "the dove." Its in our training city.

My room

My life for 2 years!

My host brother

My host mom cooking for us

My host grannie

My laundry drying

My host sister

One of our language instructors

The awesome PC staff in charge of PST

Kids from my apartment building

On the bus to Gorbustan

This is Stacy also from Sacramento. I must really like her because Im letting her Giants shirt touch me. I cant escape the Giant's fans. Stupid Dodgers!!!

 

This rock makes music when you hit it.

Petroglyphs. Better than I can draw!!

Tour guide showing petroglyphs

This is Jess. She's a YD in my village and we do conversation clubs together

Some of the volunteers really like the mud volcanoes!!

Im told that periodically they will erupt and shoot up flame and mud. They are just gurgling right now.

BEGINNING WEEK 4 IN AZERBAIJAN!!

 

I can’t believe I’ve only been here 3 weeks. I feel like I have been away for months. First off, I miss everyone. Second, River Rock youth, Remember how you taught me Ninja last Christmas? That has now become our favorite “break” game and we are playing it sometimes during language class and saying Azeri words each time we move. Kason, I am now unbeatable at Ninja!! My host family rocks. (Im trying to include pics of my host family) and every day when I come home, there are 4 or 5 kids who run up greeting me by name and want to talk, be hugged, give high fives…. I already want to take some of them home. I cant wait to be able to work with youth full time.

 

We have been very busy. As I’ve mentioned before, we have classes 6 days a week. In the morning we have some kind of technical training. Something about culture or safety and security or development or gender…. It’s all very interesting and good information. We’ve also been able to have a little fun. Today we went to Gobustan National Park. This was fun for a lot of reasons. First off, all of the trainees were together all day! And, a break from language class today. The language instructors are great but 4 hours a day is exhausting (but needed) so a break was helpful. (plus we got to wear jeans, baseball caps… all of the comfort clothes!) I hated it. You all know how much I love wearing skirts J

 

Golbustan is a place that has many archaeological monuments. It has more than 6000 rock engravings (petroglyphs) dating back between 5000-40,000 years old. I’ve been told that some of the first human beings lived there. Also, some more interesting trivia is that Zoroaster (founder of Zoroastrianism) came from this area. At Golbustan, there was a pretty cool rock there call Gaval Dash which makes different musical tones when you hit it with your hand or with a rock. Then we to see some mud volcanoes. Azerbaijan and the Caspian coastline are home to nearly 400 mud volcanoes, more than half the total in the world. They were gurgling and spitting mud. Some trainees got very muddy and there was a lot of laughter.

 

I want to take a minute here to talk about Peace Corps staff. As in Lesotho, I’ve been very impressed with how hard they work to make this PST (pre service training) happen. The logistics of planning the trainings, most days different trainings at different places for the different sectors (youth, business and TEFL) is impressive. But more than that, they do everything possible to make sure we are ok. I had a small problem which I figured Id need to solve on my own and the person in charge of PST called me to see if he could help. Its hard to really get across how appreciative I was of this. You come into Peace Corps with an attitude of needing to be tough and adapt… which there is a certain amount of truth to that. But the act of extending emotional support to 1 trainee when there are so many other important things to worry about means so much. Thanks PC!!

I don’t have internet at my home… some of the PCT’s do. But that’s ok. Once I swear in and go to wherever my permanent placement is, Im planning to invest in either a modem or data card… whichever works best. Then, I will have more of an opportunity to communicate. I can’t wait to Skype with some of you!!!

 

Im trying to include some pictures. They are of Sumqayit (training city) my host family, my room, laundry hanging on the line, our awesome PC guy who’s in charge of PST and todays trip of Gorbustan.

 

If anyone has any questions, let me know in the comments and I will blog about it.

 

Know that I am praying for all of you. I miss you guys. Take care!!

 

I survived!!

So I survived my first week in Azerbaijan!!!

 

Its been a busy first week. We moved in with our host families, (lots of time spent looking up words in Azeri one painful word at a time) Eating the local foods (delicious, Ill devote a blog to that later) learning how to use public transport and beginning to learn the local language. Salam!

We even had a short tutorial about using a squat toilet. Yes, there is more to it than just squatting. The advice is to roll your pants up or tuck up your skirt, the correct squatting position was shown, (its important to use the correct position to make sure that you don’t miss and don’t urinate on yourself… and Im told everyone urinates on themselves at least once, use the water (water can looking item) to clean yourself or if you are a picky American (like me) carry TP and hand sanitizer everywhere, and don’t throw the TP in the toilet. You laugh, but all of this is very important to success as a Peace Corps Volunteer!

 

Seriously (actually, that was serious) Its been a good first week with a lot of frustrations. Mostly the stuff you would expect. How will I ever figure out the bus system on my own, will I ever speak better than a 4 year old, will I be an effective PCV and what if I cant squat long enough…. (When I’m having digestive problems)

 

I do know from past experience, if I work hard, listen to PC and ask for help, all will work out.

 

“Some see the glass as half empty and ask, why? Others see the glass as half full and say “I can take a bath in that.” PCV

 

Ok, now Im answering a random question that I was asked many times before I left America:

Is Azerbaijan in the Middle East, Asia or E. Europe?

Azerbaijan occupies the southeastern part of the Caucasus, descending to the Caspian Sea, between Iran and the Russian Federation (Dagestan). If you consider the Caucasus Mountains as the conventional ‘border’ between the continents of Europe and Asia, this means that Azerbaijan falls halfway in Europe and half in Asia.  Books, newspapers, and airlines classify Azerbaijan in different locations, including as part of the Middle East.  Azerbaijan is truly at the intersection of East and West; its origin spans hundreds of years beginning when the early caravan trade route Silk Way crisscrossed the region linking Europe and Asia.

 

And, Here are just a couple of cultural tips that PC has given us to read in our cultural manual:

 

·         Yawning and stretching – If you are stretching in public (i.e., when you yawn and stretch your arms), you should cover the yawn with one hand, and with the other, gently tap your chest a few times (with the palm open and flat against your chest).  This chest tapping is to ‘prevent’ you from passing your hardships on to others. For any reason if you are stretching your arms and aren’t doing sports or aerobics, do the chest tapping.   

 

It is believed that for women and children, sitting on cement are bad for your health (bad for reproductive health.

 

Yawn…..

Ok, until next time. And, here is the PC mailing address for me while I am in training until Dec 6^th:

 

RR youth, be good, have fun, talk to your parents and don’t play chubby bunny. You know who you are!

 

I miss all of you.

 

You aren't in Kansas anymore...

Hi everyone,
Ok, first things first. My number is: 0513791964. Country code 994. I would put it on the side of my blog, but when I pulled up the blog, all of the directions are in Azeri, so I'll have to get someone to figure it out with me next time (I got lucky finding the post) We have an address for mailing for training, but Im not sure what it is. I will get it from PC when I see them tomorrow and put it on this blog next time... and this address will change when I get to my permanant site.

Today I am in Sumqayit. We arrived in Azerbaijan on Saturday, stayed there until Tuesday in our very plush rooms and had orientation. We moved in with our host families yesterday. They gave us about 2 hours worth of language before going. All I could say without reading from my notes was: Salam, (hello) Necesiniz (How are you) Yax Siyam (I am fine) Manim adim Merrilldir (my name is Merrill ) Sizin adiniz nadiz What is your name, Cox sadam (Im pleased to meet you) Otherwise, I had to read my notes, look in the dictionary , point etc.. (on a side note, pc azerbaijan has a couple of good english-azerbaijan dictionaries... which is a great change from Lesotho)
My host family is great. A grannie who is 77, host mom, 48 and 2 kids both in university. One boy and girl. They have both just started working on English and try to help with the language. My host mom works in the metro in the city and is on vacation. I have a big room (all of the family has moved into 1 room, which I feel sort of bad about) a real flush toilet (picture me wanting really bad to start dancing when I saw it) and hot/ cold shower. I know, just delaying the inevitable.... which happened today as I used my first squat toilet in Sumqayit. It was fine. Doable... no relaxing in the bathroom though. My PST (pre service training ) host family is great. They have had 2 other pcv's before me (one from New York and one from Texas) and are very patient with me, teaching me new words, letting me know how happy they are to have me. It was great to finally unpack (only have to move the mountain of luggage again one more time... when pst is over in 10 weeks) I fell asleep to the sound of prayer in the local Muslim Mosque which was haunting and beautiful... and very different. You aren't in Kansas anymore Toto!

My LCF (language cultual facilitator) is very nice. Her name is Zuleha (spelled phonetically, I dont know the Azeri alphabet yet) and she is the one facillitator wearing a Hajib and covered with clothing from head to toe. I have a lot of respect, because it is hot (mid 80's) and very, very humid. So knowing the sweat is pouring off of all of us, I respect that she stays so calm and patient... cause she has to be hot. She is our mother, brother, father and sister for the next 10 weeks. If we need someone, she's the one we call.

We start training full on tomorrow. 4 hours a day of language and 4 hours a day of technical training. Bring it on!! (although, Im already exhausted!)

I miss all of you. Next time I post I will be prepared with pictures. RR youth, be good, have fun, do well is school and know that I miss you! (but not necessarily in that order)

sagol helolix (good bye)
Merrill

PST

We just finished the first full day of PST. (pre service training). Which is good, because a combination of jet lag and sitting in a very humid room shoulder to shoulder with 49 other people was making me very sleepy!

From the time we left the hotel to the time we walked out of the airport in Baku, about 22 hours had elapsed. We were met by cheering Peace Corps Volunteers. It was pretty funny (in a good way) We were standing around the baggage claim waiting for over 100 bags and everytime a person came in or out of the sliding glass door about 50 feet away I heard a loud cheer. There were alot of smiles from a lot of tired PCT's (Peace Corps Trainee)

Peace Corps staff took all of our luggage, put us on busses and gave us dinner which consisted of a vegetarian sandwich, an apple, water and a snicker's bar to make us feel at home. It took about 45 minutes to get to the hotel. There are 2 to a room (which are very nice, running water, toilets, plenty of room) and the only difficult part was having to lug the luggage of a lot of stairs. And, if you were with me at the airport, you know I have a lot of weight in my luggage... as do many others. So, its 11:30 pm by now and everyone is lugging baggage. But the cool thing was a lot of people were helping each other. The team thing is already very present.

They let us sleep in a bit. Breakfast was between 8-10 and then sessions all day. Today was mostly an overview day... everything that we will be learning and some specifics about how certain things will work (like moving to our site families on tues.) When we move Tues, we will all be going to 3 different areas. We are divided up by sectors. Everyone from TEFL in one area, CED in another and Youth Development (YD, mine) in the third. Within those sectors groups are divided into cluster groups. These are the people we will do language with 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. The other 4 hours a day, we learn about culture, our jobs, how to live etc. Sometimes we will get together with everyone else from our sector. Once a week, we have a HUB day. The entire group will get together to learn about things not specific to our individual sectors... like safety and security.

We received our cluster groups today and were told about our host families.  In my host family, I have a 48 year old mother, 74 year old grannie and 2 older teenagers. (one boy and one girl) There are 4 people total in my cluster group. I like the other 3 very much and will try and post a picture of all of us.

Ok, thats it for now. Im going to dinner and then I have one more meeting for my sector at 8:30. I will have internet for a couple of more days and try and post once more. When I move to my host family, it sounds like I will have internet access around once a week.

I miss you all!!!!

In Love!!!

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship.

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Today in Washington D.C. we had staging... finally:) Staging covers a lot of ground. Safety and security, the history of Peace Corps, what will happen in the next few days and a reminder/ prod to all of us trainees ( Im a Peace Corps Trainee again) to carefully consider what we are getting into and decide if we want to make that commitment. We also talked about the Peace Corps mission/ goals and I fell in love again with the idea of being part of something bigger than myself. With working on something that's "sustainable."

And yes, several questions come to mind for me. Will I  be able to learn the language or will I spend 2 plus years talking like a 4 year old? Will I be able to deal with a squat latrine? Will I be able to build the meaningful and lasting relationships which will help me work with these people. When I start to worry, then I remember that I will be working with youth. I will get to play with them, teach them, pour into them, love them and hope I can help prepare them for the future. I GET TO WORK WITH KIDS." And when I remember this, the other worries get a lot smaller. I am blessed!!

My room mate in DC is Sarah from Montana who is also assigned to Youth Development (I have her permission to talk about her) She is excited and full of energy and energizes me. The entire team is like that (at least for now) and I cant wait to get to know them better in the upcoming months.

I had my last dinner in America....bittersweet... but more sweet then bitter. Tommorrow we check out of our rooms by 12, leave at 12:30 to go to Dulles and the journey begins.

Thanks everyone for the tremendous love and support you have all given to me. Please know that as much as I want to go, I already miss you and grieve the absence of your company for 2 years. (but not forever)

Next I post will be in Azerbaijan.
Merrill

Almost Time!!

“And the danger is that in this move toward new horizons and far directions, that I may lose what I have now, and not find anything except loneliness”

I leave on Monday. 95 % of me is thrilled and excited. The other 5% has that stomach that's turning over feeling,  and I'm asking myself: "What do you think you're doing?" I feel confident that joining the Peace Corps again is a great thing. I believe in what Peace Corps stands for. I want to be part of something bigger than myself. And, I cant wait....I CANT WAIT to work with kids again as my primary job. Im so excited. And yet....

As I take time to say goodbye, I come to fully realize what I have here. People who love me and who let me love them. People who have helped me in so many different ways. I guess I am just a little afraid "that I may lose what I have now..."  But as before, I will trust that this is just my fears and not substantial. This is not true. I will go out, work with kids and hopefully make at least a little difference by loving and believing in someone  in Azerbaijan who needs it. Just as so many have loved and believed in me when I needed it. I'm going to miss you guys. Thanks for loving me. It has made all of the difference.

Ok, to a less mushy, emotional telling to something a little more practical. Im leaving California Monday and spending time in DC with the Grays (who took such great care of me when I was medivaced in DC) and with Oscar who I served with in Lesotho. That will be wonderful. Staging is on Thursday in DC and then off to Azerbaijan on Friday. Ive inclused some info that PC just sent me, telling me a little about the Azerbaijan staff and about my beginnings in Peace Corps. I will blog more once I get to DC.

 Love ya man!!!

Az10 Staging Page 1 of 5 Azerbaijan
Peace Corps Azerbaijan
Bridge to Pre-Service Training
Welcome and Introduction

Xoş gəlmisiniz! Welcome to Peace Corps Azerbaijan! The PC/Azerbaijan team of staff and current Volunteers are eagerly awaiting your arrival, and we look forward to welcoming you to the country where “the East meets the West”.
We know you have a lot of questions about what‟s ahead, and most of these we will be able to answer in the first days of the Orientation Week. For now, we will explain what will happen from the time that you arrive at the airport through Orientation Week. Attached is the schedule for the Orientation Week so you have a better idea of what is planned for your first days in country.
Arrival in Azerbaijan
Suggested Dress Upon Arrival
Please dress comfortably for the plane ride. You will be arriving in the evening and welcomed by a group of Peace Corps staff and Volunteers. We do ask that you be neat and appropriately dressed for Azerbaijani culture (no torn jeans, any tee-shirts should be neat, nothing revealing for women, no bare midriffs, etc.)
Logistics
After landing in Baku you will proceed to Immigration (just follow the line of people from the plane). Please have your Peace Corps passports in hand. It may go slowly, so please be patient. From Immigration you will wait to pick up your luggage in baggage claim. Please have your baggage claim tickets in hand in order to speed up the process. Please exit the baggage area as soon as you collect your luggage so that we can all load the busses as quickly and effectively as possible.
We will have a meeting place just outside the baggage area for Peace Corps trainees and we will help you load onto the busses. We will depart the airport for our conference site for Orientation Week, which will be at the Bavarius Hotel, a 30-45 minute drive from the airport. We will have vegetarian sandwiches, fruit and water for you on the buses.

Luggage Tags
Please use the following address for your luggage tags (but not for your mail):
Peace Corps Azerbaijan
2c Hasan Aliyev St.
Baku, Azerbaijan
(994) 12 596 1720

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Emergency Contact Info
Peace Corps Office, Baku (994) 12 596 1720
Duty Cell Phone, Baku (994) 50 203 3255
Peace Corps Duty Officer, Washington 202-638-2574
Airport Welcome
Some Peace Corps staff members and a few Az9 PCVs will meet you at the airport.
The country director, Macie Whittington, will actually be on the same flight as you into Baku, as she happens to be in the US this time of year.

Orientation Week
Accommodations
The busses will bring you to the Astoria Hotel just outside Baku. You will stay at the hotel through Tuesday Sept. 25th. You will be assigned to double rooms (married couples will be together, and everyone else will be paired with a trainee of the same gender). Bedding and towels will be provided during your stay.
No-alcohol policy
PC-Azerbaijan policy does not allow drinking alcohol in hotels for PC trainings and other PC funded activities. In other words, if PC is paying for your hotel room, you may not drink on the hotel grounds. It is important that PC maintain good relationships with hotel management, so that we can use the facilities year after year. We appreciate your understanding.
Vaccinations
You will be getting several vaccinations during Orientation. Be sure to have your Proof of Vaccination Card. If you do not have your card with you, you will be vaccinated again!
Communication Options: During your first three days in Azerbaijan you will be lodged at a hotel with wireless access. If you have a computer you‟ll be able to communicate with friends/family. If not, please tell your relatives and friends not to worry and that they‟ll hear from you as soon as you do get to an internet café.
On Wednesday September 26th, after your first night with your host family, you and your language trainer (in small groups of trainees) will travel from your training community to the nearby city of Sumqayit. At that time, you will purchase a sim card (funds will be provided) for the mobile phone that Peace Corps will distribute to you on the 26th and you will also be able to visit an Internet café. You may not have time to write lengthy emails, as you will be with a group, but you will be able to contact family and friends.
Throughout the remainder of PST, you will be able to access email periodically at Internet cafes in the area (once every other week, or perhaps a bit more frequently) and you will be accessible on your mobile phone. Although it‟s expensive, you may call the US from your cell phones, using “kontour cards” which are sold everywhere

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here. In order for you to call the US, you dial 001-area code-US number. Your relatives and friends may also call you. They need to dial: 011-994 50- your Azercell number. Text messages are more convenient and less expensive at only 11 kontours. You may send about 30 text messages with a 2AZN contour card. The only difficulty might be that some telephone companies‟ lines in the US don‟t accept messages from Azerbaijan mobile operators.
Local Currency/Money Matters
Before you depart from the hotel you will have a briefing by our Administrative staff during which you will receive your first installment of what we call “walk-around” allowance. This is a small amount of cash in the local currency known as the new Azerbaijani manat (AZN), or “manat”. Thereafter, you will receive a fixed amount of weekly installments of manats to cover incidentals and personal hygiene items during the pre-service training period. After the first two weeks, you will receive an ATM card, and your allowances will be transferred into your bank account.
Local Conditions
Fall in Sumqayit and surrounding areas is cool, and it gets colder in winter with some snow and rain.
While a quiet city, Sumqayit is located close to the capital of Baku. Locals have likely seen foreigners walking around town, but nonetheless you will attract attention and stares on the streets.
This behavior can be reduced if you dress conservatively, avoid eye contact, and do not respond. It is also advisable to keep money out of sight - use an undergarment money pouch. Do not keep money in outside pockets of backpacks, in shirt pockets or in fanny packs.
You should always walk with a companion at night. Americans tend to talk much more loudly than Azerbaijanis in the street, and traveling in large groups of Americans will attract unwanted attention. We recommend that you be aware of your behavior and surroundings. We will be doing a more comprehensive session covering the topic of safety during Orientation Week.
Agenda
Orientation Week is a 2.5 day event designed to provide you with an overview of Peace Corps/Azerbaijan and our Training program. Orientation will cover a great deal of information that will help prepare you for your upcoming training. We will be giving each of you an electronic copy of the Pre-service Training Handbook which has detailed information about the Training program and that will guide you through the process.

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Pre-Service Training (PT)
PST Site
The PST Site includes Sumqayit City (“Hub Site”) and several communities around Sumqayit.
On Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 25th) you will depart the Astoria Hotel for one of the training communities to begin your Host Family stay. In your training community, you will be assigned to a “cluster” of 5-6 trainees for Language and Community Skills training. Peace Corps staff will accompany you to meet your new family, to make introductions and assure that everything is fine.
Though training activities will differ each week of PST, generally your training days will be a combination of Language/Community Skills training along with „work preparation‟ training. Evenings are often times to spend with your host family.
Several times during the PST, all trainees will come together for “Hub Days” to cover topics relevant for everyone, including Health, Safety and Security, Peace Corps policies, and general cultural adjustment issues.
Vegetarians
While Azerbaijani cooking includes lots of starch, vegetables, and fruits, vegetarianism is not at all common in Azerbaijan. For those of you who are vegetarian, we have spoken with your PST Host Families about modifying their menus. We expect that you will be active in communicating your diet preferences to your Host Family (the Training staff can help!) in a culturally sensitive way, and ask that you be understanding of the adaptation that they are making to accommodate your diet.
Overview of Training Schedule
On Thursday Sept. 27th, your Community-Based Training (CBT) will begin. You will stay with one family for the duration of PST. Your Language and Cultural Facilitator (LCF) will reside in your training community with you. Other PST staff will work in the Xirdalan PST office, and Baku staff will visit the PST site on a regular basis.
Basic Methodology and Assessment Criteria for PST
Peace Corps/Azerbaijan uses the Community Based Training model. This is a decentralized training model that utilizes local community resources as a basis for experiential learning. Most training activities take place in the community where you will be living during training. This type of immersion has been found to be more successful in preparing Volunteers-to-be for the realities of service and accelerates language learning and cultural adaptation.
Much of the training is competency-based, and you will be regularly evaluated on your personal maturity and your ability to acquire and demonstrate the language, technical, cultural, personal health and safety skills needed to be a Volunteer.
Overview of Training Components
You will spend the next 11 weeks going through an intensive program that includes training in Azerbaijani, Community Development skills, Personal Health and Safety,
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and professional skills related to your work as English teachers, Youth Development workers and Community Economic Development workers.
Sample Day’s Schedule
With the exception of “Hub Day” you will attend language classes Monday through Saturday in your training site. You will also carry out practical and cross-cultural tasks in your community during the week. TEFL trainees will teach English at schools for two weeks; Youth Development trainees will facilitate English conversation clubs with youth; and CED trainees will visit local organizations to complete practicum experiences.
Swearing-In Date
At the end of the PST, on Thursday December 6th, if you have successfully completed all of the training requirements, you will be sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Azerbaijan!
Good luck!
The training staff looks forward to working with all of you throughout the entire training process. Host families are very excited about your arrival in country and are anxious to meet you. On behalf of the PC/Azerbaijan staff, again, let us extend to you a most sincere welcome in anticipation of your arrival.
Xoş Gəlmisiniz!