Third Goal

Second Form

This is my second grade English class, pictured with my Azeri counterpart, Mahire muellime.  Adorable kids.

A PCV Christmas

One of the volunteers had a birthday a few days before Christmas, and a bunch of his HCN friends threw him a party at a local restaurant, complete with a Christmas tree! We gathered in front of the tree with the local Şaxta Baba (Azerbaijan's version of Santa Claus) for a PCV family photo. (Please Note that Santa Claus is smoking hookah, haha.)

Azerbaijani Meal

In Azerbaijan us PCV's use the word 'guest' as a verb, and 'going guesting' usually involves visiting an HCN's house, bringing them a small gift, having many cups of tea, and being greeted with a LOT of delicious food! Pictured here are: fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, an assortment of pickled items, stoliçni (an Azerbaijan potato salad), uç bacı dolması (three sister dolma, which is stuffed eggplant, tomato, and pepper), and a fresh pasta & chicken dish whose name I forget.

Azerbaijani Bride

During my traditional Azerbaijani wedding my husband and I broke the rules and smiled American style! Traditionally, no one smiles in wedding photos in this post soviet country, but we couldn't help but just combine our styles!

Moments of awareness

One of the most difficult parts of becoming a volunteer is the Pre-Service Training prior to swearing into the US Peace Corps. This photo was taken in our training community, and seeing this type of thing every day helped us to become more aware of just how different life was going to be for us.

Spring time in Azerbaijan

This photo was taken during the Novrus holiday in Naxchivan, Azerbaijan. The beginning of spring was warm causing all the trees to bloom early before a quick freeze just in time for the holiday.

Mountains in Naxchivan

This photo was taken during the 2010 Novrus holiday on our way to visit a holy place in the mountains.

Magical Azerbaijan

In a village just outside of Sheki, Azerbaijan lies this beautiful 13th century church set against a backdrop of the Greater Caucasus mountain range.  To get here, my two good friends and I took an old, rickety marshrutka (think Soviet-era cargo bus complete with side benches and holes in the floor) up the hill from Sheki to Kish. As we got off the bus to pay our nominal 25 cent fare, the driver smiled, politely refused our payment, welcomed us as his guests, and then continued rolling down ...

Watching the Novruz Bonfires

My neighbor watching the Novruz bonfires with wonder. Jump over these three times and say a little prayer to burn your bad karma from last year away to start the year fresh. 

Ashura

A Muslim day of mourning which remembers the martyr Husayn Ibn Ali (prophet Muhammad’s grandson) and 72 of his companions who were killed fighting for justice in 680 AD.  

Looking at her new home

After the wedding ceremony, the bride is driven in a line of honking cards where she views her new home for the first time. The furniture and decorations are provided by the bride's family as dowry.

Looking at her new home

After the wedding ceremony, the bride is driven in a line of honking cards where she views her new home for the first time. The furniture and decorations are provided by the bride's family as dowry.

Thanksgiving Prep

Together with another volunteer, we clean the turkey we just bought to eat for our thanksgiving meal.

Lahic

Old town, old tools

Ana

Beautiful woman in my southeast village who treasured a late afternoon stroll as i did

Novruz at school, celebration of spring

My students endulging in the few times they can play around in school

Cheese, etc.

All locally produced, all the time

International Women's Day

Flowers for teachers

Fish for sale

The big bazaar, 3 hours north of my village

Fruits and nuts!

The bazaar, one of my last visits

Flowers for sale!

The bazaar, trying to lure suspecting guests to buy

Hat maker

The bazaar, popular local old man (and Volunteer!) winter hats

Grandma and great grandbaby

My lovely neighbors, four generations down

Class coloring

Students coloring their family tree in class

Man on horseback

A popular means of transportation in mountain towns

Chillin'

There for the tourists, but it's their home

Socks and scarves

Lahic staples

Shish kebabs

Father and son frontyard bar-b-q. My favorite family

Engagement party

Streamers for the bride, groom and bridesmaid

Gone

Derilict orthodox Georgian church, in a town almost boarding Russia

Ouch!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw this.  The person in the picture was my host mother who had a cold or something (I was to new to the country too understand what the deal what), but this was one remedy for it. 

Novrus Celebration

Students at Sheki Pedagogical Technicum celebrate the new growing season by dancing in traditional costumes around a bonfire. Zoroastrian traditions concerning fire, wind, water and earth govern this holiday.

Wide-Eyed

The students in this elementary classroom were shocked to have an older PC volunteer and two of his Azeri college students help teach an English class. You gotta love these faces.

Keeping Up

Hired helpers were trying to keep up at an Azeri village wedding.

Besh Barmaq Dagh

Besh Barmaq Dagh, literally five-finger mountain, is one of the holiest places in the Caucasus range. A side view has five pinnacles that rise over a thousand feet above sea level. The front view shows the mosque and the trail to the top used by Muslim pilgrims who visit the dark rocks to pray.

The Long Wait

I enjoyed greeting this gentleman as I passed his favorite resting place on a side street in Sheki.

Waiting for the bus to leave.

A Sheki Pedagogical Technicum (college) student looks over the town square (reflected in the bus window) while waiting for the bus to depart on the last big class event (a field trip/picnic) before graduation. .

You're it!

A lively game of tag at a PCV-organized summer camp in Neftchala, Azerbaijan.

Sign Language Club

I taught simple American Sign Language at the Family Support Center (formerly Save the Children). I was inspired because I had a student who was deaf in my second grade class last year. Her teacher would always take her out of my class because she said she didn't need to be there. I learned that she was deaf. I asked if she was learning how to speak sign language and was told that her parents did not want her to speak with her hands. Her parent's plan was to have her go to school until she wa...

Sign Language Club

I taught simple American Sign Language at a Family Support Center in my city. I was inspired because I had a student who was deaf in my second grade class last year. Her teacher would always take her out of my class because she said she didn't need to be there. I learned that she was deaf. I asked if she was learning how to speak sign language and was told that her parents did not want her to speak with her hands. Her parent's plan was to have her go to school until she was in 4th form, and t...

"Helping Promote a Better Understanding"

I left the U.S. during a time when Americans were struggling with their perceptions of an entire religion, that of the Muslim faith.  I didn’t understand the messages of hate which were being expressed by my fellow Americans and I thought (and I still think) it came from a lack of understanding and a fear of the unknown.  Serving here in Azerbaijan with the Peace Corps has confirmed just how wrong so many of my American compatriots are on this topic. For the first time in my life, I atte...

A Tale of Two Countries: Father and Son in the Peace Corps

A Tale of Two Countries Father and Son in the Peace Corps By Mason Robbins, RPCV, Haiti 1999-2001, and Joel Robbins, RPCV, Azerbaijan, 2007-2009 Mason--We like to be able to boast to others, “Been there, done that.” Saying it makes us feel older, more experienced, wiser, more proud and condescending, maybe, when we are young. Saying it to my 63-year-old father makes me proud. Not proud of me, proud of him. My father served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Azerbaijan from 2007 ...

Azerbyegone

Goranboy Youth Service Day

  Peace Corps volunteers Amy King, of Merrimack, N.H., and Kate Knisley, of Columbus, Ohio, organized a community environmental service project in Azerbaijan on April 17, 2011 for Global Youth Service Day (April 15-17). Seventy students collected more than 70 lbs. of trash around a local school and built 20 birdhouses to foster biodiversity and help with pest control. Students also planted flowers and created re-usable grocery bags to encourage recycling and conservation.