dorothyandbill's weblog

Pictures of Barda finally uploaded

dorothyandbill — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:35:54 +0000

Pictures of Berde

dorothyandbill — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:22:34 +0000

Hope I have uploaded pics to this posting. But I doubt it.

a picture is worth…

dorothyandbill — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:18:09 +0000

I’m just learning how to add pictures. Apparently my last blog didn’t include pictures. Here’s another try

Rovshen, our host father’s– small store. Our house is behind the store–you can see the roof.

Our Language Clusters in our backyard or on our balcony.

Dorothy, Mariko, and Suzanne,

Bill, Todd, Suzanne, and Todd, Margaret and Bonnie. We are, of course, studying.

A picture is

dorothyandbill — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:32:09 +0000

we’re here

dorothyandbill — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:54:35 +0000

I can’t believe we have arrived. Everything has been very well organized except they haven’t allowed us much time to get connected to the internet. There are internet cafes around, but women don’t generally go to them. There is not inter net at our host family’s house. We have been very busy. I AM learning Azeri, slowly. I’m sure i don’t look or sound very intelligent. Our family has a three year old little boy who calls bill grandpa (Baba) and me grandma (nene). He talks to us and we have no idea what he says. He cries when we leave, so we figure he’s liking us. The father at our house has a small store. He works there all day long. The mother is a teacher, I think part time. Our room is large and we have a sitting room, too. We bath in the bathroom. No shower or bathtub. A big tub. No sink. The water is heated. I don’[t think the room is so it will be chilly there in winter. Things here are different. We’re meeting lots of nice people and getting lots of info. We’re tired, but happy to have this chance to do this work.

Another Adventure

dorothyandbill — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:53:24 +0000

This Saturday Bill and I will be boarding a train to Qazax for a site visit. This is clear across the country and quite an adventure for us. It’s called the night train–leaving Sumqait in the evening and arriv ing in Qazax early in the morning. We will stay in a kupe which is a sleeping bunk. We are looking forward to seeing what activities our host volunteer actually participates in. I’ve been told the city is lovely. How exciting!

Staging

dorothyandbill — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:56:03 +0000

We’ve started! After getting the best hugs from the finest friends and family anyone could ask for, we’ve arrived in Philly for staging. Two days in which we’ve been given much info about the PC (Peace Corps) operation, met the 61 other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) who are also part of the AZ6 (6th group to go to Azerbaijan.) We are a diverse group of people from all over the U.S. who share many of the same aspirations and anxieties as we embark on this adventure. We’ll each be working in one of three programs: CED (Community Economic Development); YDF (Youth Development Facilitator); or TEFL(Teaching English as Foreign Language.) There are 4 married couples and two former PCV (volunteers.) The average age of a volunteer is around 27, however there is a good contingent of over 50′s in our group.

We have a long travel day beginning today in Philly by bus and ending tomorrow night in Baku airport. So far, everything and everyone has been fantastic and our excitment continues to mount.

Oh what a wedding!

dorothyandbill — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:22:44 +0000

Well Katie and Juan (and unpaid staff) put together an absolutely lovely wedding. No hurricane threats could put a damper on the big event. Everyone looked so beautiful, it was my golden opportunity to take lots of family pics to Azerbaijan. Alas, the battery went dead after 5 shots, so I won’t be able to show our new Azeri friends pictures of my family (unless I get some through mail…hint) It was good to see everyone there.

Madness

dorothyandbill — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:51:38 +0000

Bill and I are finishing up chores, filling out paperwork, and trying to figure out what to pack for our 27 month stint in the peace corps. Can this really be happenin????