more from the exciting world of PST

Sites: TEFL has finally gotten their sites!! That is, we now know where us Teaching English as a Foreign Language folks will be. I am going to a place called Siazen, 100 km north of Baku along the Caspian. It is a progressive town that is bounded by the mountains and the Caspian (duh) Sea. I hear that there is a discotech and DSL internet in town....my future host family seems neat. The mother is a Direktor (prinicpal) of a primary school which is really exciting for me in a country where the occupation of a majority of women is "housewife." (And often not entirely their choice) The weather should be a bit cooler and I believe that I am the closest to Baku of all the rayons (regions) that volunteers have been assigned to

PCV vs. English Teacher: well I'm not really a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) yet! as I'm only a lowly PC Trainee (PCT) but I've been thinking more and more about the weight of the differences in being a PCV and an English teacher. More than a few times I've made the statement about what some people have said that, if you wanted something more specific or comfortable and to be teaching English, you shouldn't have signed up for Peace Corps. The PC sees all of us as more "international development worker/volunteers" and we have a lot of sessions about how crucial it is to integrate into communities via langauge, traditions, food, etc. Each week that passes by during PST (pre-service training) deepens our commitments to the PC and the school that have been applying for almost a year to host an American teacher in their schools/communities.

After being here for almost 2 months, my eyes are definitely seeing the amount of development and the work that can be done in this country. Can you imagine restoring hope to mostly apathetic youth of a community? Think of how hard it is to do in America. Now imagine doing it in a place where you have a bare comprehension of the community and culture. Or another thing is that Azeri teachers hope for us to raise and expand Azeri student's worldview. Marriages here are still mostly arranged. Can you imagine introducing the topic of family planning? Development work vs. English teacher. What a world of difference and indescribable feeling.

and now some light hearted tidbits: I learned how to make dolma, one of the most popular (and tastiest) dishes here in Azerbaijan. I'm enjoying teaching the PST language/cultural teachers slang. I even taught one some Vietnamese today and he just got really flustered and realized...this is how you guys feel when you started learning Azeri!! It all sounds the same!! Life without toilet paper really isn't as bad as you imagine. I'm reverting to my traditional Catholic girl in many ways but the mischief banditry is starting to reveal itself...IF you're lucky ;) oh, and care packages from my uncles made me feel extra loved from 12 time zones away. Really folks, this is a very non-subtle hint that any form of mail for us loved ones serving our country and serving a developing country really goes a long way on those rough days when we get sudden stomach cramps that don't always take us to a good place.