Home Sweet Home!!!

Well I officially moved into my new house on Wednesday morning! Thankfully a PC staff was in town that day, so he could drive all of my junk to my new pad. I only came over here with 3 big bags (not that big of a deal really), but since then I have received 3 big boxes of books from the family as well as some American food treats I got a huge sleeping bag, water filter, med kit, and tons of other papers and things from the PC. Oddly enough, I will probably not bring much if any of this stuff back to the US when I head home (I plan on burning all of my clothes before I take off).

My house is small and includes the following: bedroom with 3 twin beds, a china cabinet and a decent sized table, a hallway type area that has a couch, small table, book shelf, armoire, and sink (this is the room you walk into when you come in the front door), then a kitchen with a counter/table, cabinet, sink, and small gas balloon for cooking. My house does not have gas but has pretty good electricity since it is right next to the main park and mayor’s office. I have a big yard area, but it is mostly cement. I have about 10 or so little fruit trees, my own water well, and a small porch. My bathroom is outside about 20 steps from my front door and has a squatter toilet. Next to it is a small room with a huge bucket under a faucet next to a wood burning furnace deal. I will be taking bucket baths for the next few months (although my land lady mentioned she may put in a shower type apparatus at some point if I pay her each month). There is an “electrical prong” deal that I can plug in and put in the bucket of water to heat it up. I’ll be attempting my first shower sometime Tuesday, so I’ll let you all know how it goes.

My land lady is in the other side of the house (which is completely blocked off from my side) currently, but will be going back to live in Baku later this week. I pay $100 AZN a month (about $115 US), and this is the cheapest decent place I could find. Tom and I shared a “freedom beer” the night I moved in and it tasted FANTASTIC! It is going to take some adjusting and trial and error as far as shopping and cooking for myself. I have a refrigerator but haven’t plugged it in yet to see how well it works. My diet will probably consist mostly of pasta, rice, eggs, bread, cheese, fruits and veggies and some occasional meat. I’m still unpacking my stuff and it is just starting to hit me how life on my own is going to be, but I’m really excited. I’ll have to go to the bazaar a ton to buy my food and deal with the people there and shop owners on a very consistent basis, so I’m excited about that local interaction. Having to plan what I’m going to eat and having to go to the bazaar and buy stuff every couple of days will be annoying probably, but it will be good for me.

I have only stayed in my house two nights so far because we had out second “America Day” in Aghjabedi this weekend. About 10 Volunteers came to Rikki George, Kasey, Ressa, and Candice’s home town on Friday and Saturday to talk to some kids about living in the States. We had a Valentine’s Day room where we talked about this history of it the holiday and then we all made Valentines Cards. After some tea and cookies we had a St. Patrick’s Day room where some Volunteers acted out the story of St. Patrick and then had the kids do a scavenger hunt to get the “pot of gold” at the end. Everything went really well and it seemed like the kids had a good time. Candice and some other guys made some really good chicken chili Friday night which was worth the trip in and of itself.

This week in AZ is “Novruz” which marks the beginning of spring as well as what they consider the unofficial beginning of the year. There will be a lot of good food to eat and some fun traditions such as: jumping over fire which symbolizes letting go of your bad experiences of the past year/starting fresh for the new year, going down to the river and getting some water to splash around your yard and wash your hands and face with (this is a Lenkeran thing), they grow plates of grass (actually sprout type deals) in their houses and then plant them in their yards, the kids toss their hats at houses and get them filled with candy (kinda like Halloween), and most importantly everyone has entire week off!!! I’m heading to my boss’ house for the first time for the main nights feast, so I’m excited about that.

This week I will be getting adjusted to my new surroundings (I have to buy a few items for my house but not much), participating in Novruz as much as possible, going to a training given by Right To Play in Baku on Friday which is also when the Kniolas (Tom’s parents) are getting to AZ! We are going to hang out with them in Baku for the weekend and then bring them back to Lenkeran on Sunday just in time for Nene’s 70^th b’day celebration. Rumor has it that Tom and I are going to get to slaughter the goat for Nene’s party, so there is a hint of excitement in the air…