Summer in the Baijan

Summertime in Azerbaijan is the best time.

It's the time for road trips:

exploring nearby villages

befriending homeless puppies

and watching thunderstorms roll in.

Summertime is also the time to make Mexican feasts!

Friends often come to visit, and to indulge in a tipple of the azer-beer.

I like watching my friends fetch and carry water for me (and I think the neighbors do too.)

Best of all is my kitty, Padma. I found her stuck in a thorny bush next to my school. My landlord has no idea that he is hosting the happiest cat in Azerbaijan.

my summer english club pics...

My amazing counterparts

I'd be completely lost without my counterparts at school. They help me with everything from creating English clubs for this summer to translating confusing text messages from my landlord. At school, we teach together, brainstorm ideas for future projects, and of course, drink lots of tea.




This is Nargiz. She and I teach two 6th form classes and one 1st form class together. Her name means daffodil in Azeri. She came to a teacher's conference in the fall, while I was a still a trainee, and we've been friends ever since. She had never used the internet before I came but recently decided to buy a laptop. Now she is learning how to surf the web, (she was especially interested in what "the secret of the Mona Lisa is") sends emails to her niece in Russia and my mother in San Diego, watches DVDs and listens to mp3s I gave her, and practices her typing skills with Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard. I go to her house every Thursday afternoon just to hang out. She's amazing!

Asiyet is the youngest English teacher at my school. She and I teach two 5th form classes together - that's 30 ten-year-olds, 4 days a week! Asiyet is a lot of fun and very stylish. She always looks very sweet and innocent, but the students know not to mess with her because she can twist their ears like nobody's business.

Arzu is the English teachers' representative at my school. She is always very busy and important. Her name means "wish." Along with being an excellent teacher, Arzu is also raising a beautiful 6 year old daughter who, unsurprisingly, already has a better English vocabulary than most 11th form students. This is Arzu and her 7th form class. The letters are made of wheatgrass (for the springtime holiday, Novruz) and spell both AZETA (Azerbaijan English Teachers' Assoc.) and the dreaded iEarn logo. (Future AZ7 TEFL volunteers with sadistic tendencies, go to iearn.org and view the horror that awaits you. Azeri teachers LOVE iEarn.)

Gorgeous Georgia

Duuring my two week break from school for Novruz, Azerbaijan's springtime holiday, I went to Georgia with Tim and Kim. Georgia is a WOW! The food.... and the food.... and the FOOD... oh, and the architecture, the people, the wine, the food. Wow. We spent 5 days in the capital, Tbilisi, and 2 days in the countryside. Everyone keeps asking us how our trip went, and now all I say is - don't ask. Just go. Georgia is still on my mind as I head back to school this week. More pics below.

how to do laundry in winter...

Step 1. Take laundry and go visit a volunteer who has her own apartment

Step 2. Wash & rinse in chalky tap water

Step 3. Drape clothes over random furniture in front of the gas heater

Step 4. Fold and take back home!

my host mom & sisters

Ismailli winter wonderland

Ismailli Photo Exhibit

My sitemate, Colleen, a Youth Development Volunteer here in Ismailli, organized an exhibition of her photography class students' work (and YDV Nate's class in Mingechevir) earlier this month. It was a rare opportunity for the kids to have their work displayed to the public and lots of volunteers came out to support it.

Favorites from the photo exhibit...

AZETA Ladies

These are all the teachers who attended the first official meeting of the Ismailli chapter of AZETA (Azerbaijan English Teachers' Association.) Three of the teachers from my school were there (2 of which are my counterparts), and so were Rachel and Elaine, fellow PCVs.