October update

just cuz I'm lazy & it's concise. ten list time!

1. AZ6 has arrived. They're still under lock and key as they're in the midst of their training. I came in for their first all sector training days and tethered between awkwardness over new Americans and talking to the point of exhaustion. I like their energy and curious how their presence will play out in the social dynamics with current volunteers. I hosted an AZ6 visitor for a few days. Lots of good conversation, laughs and food. Word to fellow Palin dismayer from Alaska, Loki.

2. FLEX. I started a study group that met everyday for the 2-3 weeks before the test date October 18 in Baku. Talk about nerve wracking. FLEX is a program administered by IREX (paid for by the American government) that is a leadership study abroad for former Soviet republic HS students. Highly competitive, and with good reason. It's a rare opportunity to many kids who couldn't otherwise manage a study abroad to understand a world bigger than where they call home. I've met some FLEX alumni and they really are changed after a year of living in America. They're hopeful, optimistic, empowered and confident in themselves. Now that our study period is done, I've used the relationships I've built with the kids to segue into a computer class and other community development ideas which I explained they ought to volunteer to do to make Siyezen a better place, since Siyezen is their home after all and me, being a foreigner should not be doing more for a place that belongs to them.

3. Will "Zilla" Karrow, my beloved sitemate is returning to the States for good for family reasons. I'm super supportive, but also very sad to be losing someone I'm so close to. It will be a cold winter indeed without his marvelous gas heater and ability to draw me out of my darker moods and laugh at his ridiculousness.

4. My hair. Cut short. I've been wanting short hair for years, just never had the gumption to do it. Add a few glasses of Jim Beam during our holiday week and a pair of scissors, a girl is bold enough to do anything. Well I only got as far as my bangs before being intervened by fellow AZ5 buddy Matt. The rest was done by good friend Kelly Van Leeuwan's host mom/aunt from PST. My hair makes me feel something between a Vietnamese Velma from Scooby Doo & Katie Holmes (only without the scientologist husband)

5. COLD. It's noticeably colder this year than it was this time last year. It was already trying to snow in Siyezen the other day. Which means I am going to be freezing all winter with no heat in my room! gah!

6. Classes. I'm working with all new teachers this year since my Azeri is better and I found I'd rather work with young kids and raise their level of enthusiasm for learning, which is easier than re-engaging students who have been disengaged for years. There's a tendency of teachers to teach only to the strong students, something I've been trying to change by example and explaining that the class belongs to all the students - not just the ones who actually do their homework.

7. Skype! oh my god. Why I didn't sign up for it sooner, I have no idea. Free way to chat for hours with my best friends at home? Priceless. I hold it as one of the reasons responsible for my lightened demeanor of late. Less scowling=win.

8. Scrabble cannot be beaten with a stick.

9. Colorado. I decided this time last year that this time next year I'll be continuing to follow my dreams and be living on a mountain at some resort for the winter season. Ski bum, well snowboard bum really. Should be glorious. I've been looking at resorts with employee housing options, etc. Think I got a home mountain in mind.

10. Life. 2nd year thusfar is interesting. Although I've become less social and more surly & hermit-like, I can see how it's the easier year that passes even faster than the first one. People shouldn't be fooled by my moods or blunt way of phrasing things, but the fact of the matter is I'm still here despite my reluctance to admit that Azerbaijan is quite possibly the best place for me to be at this current moment in my life even though there are things that "challenge" and frustrate me with what is now a finite amount of patience. The number of months left for my service is falling to single digits which feels strange considering how much the notion of a 2 year commitment scared/s me.