My Life in Azerbaijan - Serving the less Privileged

November 28, 2009
Vivian and I were invited to my host sister’s relative dinner last night. The family went out of their way to cook us a fabulous dinner. Compare to my host family, this family is quite poor. They live in a very small apartment, but I felt comfortable instantly by their friendliness, hospitability and generosity. They prepared lots of foods for us, and they even made us the American Pizza to please us. The mother was very kind to me, and her older daughter was running around all night to serve me and Vivian. It was a warm and touching gathering. I just wish that I had something to give them as a return for their cordiality.

The mother works part-time as a cook for restaurant and wedding party. Her younger daughter is a dress maker and her older daughter is single and currently unemployed. They are struggling to support each other. They probably can not afford to buy meats for dinner but they were willing to spend it on us. I am truly touched by their hospitability.

I like people who are down to earth, especially those who are poor but work very hard to strive for what they want. They maybe poor physically, but they are rich in spirit. I admire them. That night, it made it clear to me that I was much more suited to serve the less privileged, and not to work for the wealthy.

My Life in Azerbaijan - Help around the House

November 29, 2009

I wish I had read the Peace Corps Surviving tips early so I would not have to get myself in this situation. I have been volunteering to do dishes for the family after supper. Lately, I notice that ana keeps asking me to do other household things. The request sometimes is an “order” which makes me feel very uncomfortable. This past Sunday, she even asked my other American friends to do things for her. What got us all upset was: her three daughters were all standing there and supervising us. They did not even offer to help.

By accident, I read the Peace Corps surviving tips that night, and here is what Peace Corps points out: “Don’t clean your plate or your host will just give you another helping” Well, I guess it is too late now. I am going to stay with this family four more months and I will try to help out as much as I can, but if it gets to a point that I become a maid, then I will get very angry and have to kill somebody. That will be “J” 

My Life in Azerbaijan - Visit Baku

November 28, 2009
Baku, the “forbidden city” for all Peace Corps Trainees, today, finally we received a permission to visit this biggest city in Azerbaijan, of course with the supervision of our teacher. We walked around the downtown area and visited many culture centers and government buildings. We also visited the Peace Corps Office.

I am not too impressed about Baku; however, I do like the ancient Europe buildings where most of the government buildings are located. Some of the luxury apartments facing the Caspian Sea are very nice. I can understand why so many Europeans are willing to invest their capitals here in Baku. If you have money, Baku is a nice place to live. Maybe because I grew up and live in a big city all my life, Baku does not appeal to me as a charming place. I maybe a little bias, Hong Kong; by far is the prettiest city I know. Nevertheless, I am pleased to see how proud the Azerbaijani is when they talk about their country’s history and culture. My future work place is only about 30 minutes from Baku; certainly I will be spending a lot of time exploring this ancient city.

My Life in Azerbaijan - Who is "J"

November 27, 2009
Few people read my blog and e-mailed me, asking me the identification of “J”. Most of my friend in CMCNY never heard of “J”, some even suspected it is one of the members in CMCNY. I made a mistake once dating a guy in CMCNY, after that I learnt my lesson. I will never ever do it again. There are just too many gossips in CMCNY.

I know “J” more than seventeen years. “J” is a special friend who has given me lots of pain, but lots of joy and sweet memories as well. During these past seventeen years, we did not see each other as often as I wanted, but we have a special bond. We know each other well and we feel absolutely comfortable with each other. I can say anything to “J” and “J” can do the same to me. I know I will be there for “J” and “J” will be there for me. I am very fond of “J” and that is all I am going to say about “J”. :)

My Life in Azerbaijan - Thanksgiving in Azerbaijan

November 26, 2009
Well, today is Thanksgiving Day but we still have language class in the morning. However, we decide to cut the class short and have a nice Thanksgiving lunch in Carol’s place. Vivian is in charge of cooking the two chickens we brought from the Bazaar yesterday. On top of that, she will also make some biscuits and vegetables. Carol’s host mother prepares the Azerbaijan national meal – Dolma for us. As for desert, we request Mahira, our teacher to make us her sweet cookies which we all love to death.

Holiday is particular hard for some of our PCTs. Vivian was crying when I met her this morning at the school. She saw some turkeys on the road, which remained her of her family back in Taxes. But as soon as she starts cooking at Carol’s kitchen, she is happy again.

The lunch turns out to be wonderful. Although the chicken meat is a bit tough, the vegetables are absolutely delicious. I miss my vegetables and I keep eating and eating. I think I gain back all the weight I lost a month ago. The Dolma is very tasty too. It is the cabbage rapped with meat inside. I am not crazy about the Azerbaijani foods, but there are a few dishes that I like. Dolma is one of them.

Two more weeks, we will all go on our separate way. Maybe this is our last meal together. I will definitely miss Mahira, our teacher. She is really a nice lady. We give her our group picture which I took in the class as a gift to her. I also give her the Statue of Liberty Lady magnet so she can remember this little “Ci” student from New York. I am going to do well in the final examination so she can be proud of me.

My Life in Azerbaijan - My friends back home

November 24, 2009
Many of my friends in US read my blog and they gave me back lots of feedback and supports. I really appreciate you all being there for me. Every time when I received your e-mails or read your comments from my blog, I know I am not alone here. As I said in my blog, my life is getting more and more routine and structure. That means life here is passing very fast each day. On December 10, I will officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The US ambassador in Azerbaijan will come to our ceremony and gives us our Peace Corps Volunteer pin. I am looking forward to that day to come. It will be my other accomplishment.

Friends, to continue supporting me, I hope all of you will visit Peace Corps website and make your donation. Your money will be used to help projects we are doing here in Azerbaijan or projects that are needed in other part of the world where Peace Corps is served. Can I depend on you all?

My life in Azerbaijan - Another Famous Sitemate

November 24, 2009
I just found out yesterday that the lady who sits next to me in the class everyday is another famous lady in the US. Carol was a classmate of Mrs. Hillary Clinton. They both went to the same law school and Carol was only a year behind Mrs. Clinton. Carol told me that she supported Mrs. Clinton during her campaign and she would have been working in the White House if she was elected. Wow, I am impressed.

Before I came to Azerbaijan, I knew that I would be meeting a lot of interesting people and I am right. Most of my elderly Peace Corps friends have achieved many things in their lives. Vivian, a famous cook mentioned in the New York Times twice, Julie, a rich lady once ran a robotic company; Judy owned an art gallery, Anwar, a hotel owner, and now Carol, classmate of Mrs. Clinton. There are ten of us over 40 years old and one thing we all have in common is: we want to give something back to the world, either with our experience, knowledge or wisdom.

Back home, we all have a relatively comfortable life, some even have a very luxury life, but we are willing to give it up for two years. Some of our families and friends are still struggling to accept our decisions to join the Peace Corps. Even the people whom we are helping in Azerbaijan do not understand why we can work for no salary.

I think the concept of volunteering is a high level of human esteem or motivation. We do the volunteer work become it makes us feel good; make us feel we have accomplished another goal in our lives, or maybe more. I guess each of us will figure it out by the end of my two years service here in Azerbaijan.

My Life in Azerbaijan - Our common problems

November 18, 2009

Right now I am in bed, wearing many layers of clothing in order to keep warm. My host family has a heater on the 2nd floor apartment. I usually keep my door closed to have some privacy, so my room is not warm enough. However, I am not complaining. Compare to Vivian, I am so much luckier than she is. Few weeks ago, her host family left Vivian alone in the house without any heat and gas. For four days, she did not take a shower, no hot water and she only had apples and cold breads for dinner. Vivian has lost lots of weight!

Vivian is happy that she lost some weight but I am just afraid that if she continues to lose more weight, she will eventually get very weak and then sick. “Two more weeks, Chi, I am getting out of here, so I am not going to complain, only two more weeks!” Vivian has a positive altitude, but who knows what her next host family situation will be when she gets to her permanent site.

It is really not easy to be a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Azerbaijan. So far, everyone has suffered in various degrees. Sometimes, we have no electricity, some PCVs do not have enough food to eat, many of us do not have hot water for shower, and the heating system is not reliable or just not available at all. We are constantly feeling cold both indoor and outdoor. On top of that, we still have to worry about doing our laundries, catching up with our language lessons, preparing our CED homework, and last but not least, how to survive with our meager allowances from the Peace Corps.

Vivian and I try to save money, so neither one of us is willing to spend money. Simple things like, soda, cookies and snacks which cost more than 1 manat (US$0.82) seem like such a luxury items for us that we refuse to buy them. Some of the cheap cookies which I would never consider eating them in the States are now look so yummy. When I received the allowance, I would buy ten cookies and ate one a day until the next allowance came. Its sounds so horrible, I hope my family in HongKong will never read this journal, or my sister will come to Azerbaijan and take me home immediately.

I am not upset about the situation. I was expecting the worse. The life I am living now in Azerbaijan will only make me appreciate things more. I am experiencing how other people live. What I am seeing now may not be so pretty but it is the reality outside of the United States. When I return home, I will have a new altitude, new prospective, and definitely I will be a new person. Finally, I am proud to write my name as:

Chi S. Chan, CPA,
RPCV *
Azerbaijan 2009-2011

* RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

My Life in Azerbaijan - Site Announceent

November 10, 2009

Finally, my real Peace Corps life for the next 2 years has been determined. I will be working for the RabitaBank of Azerbaijan. According to Peace Corps, it is the head office in Baku that requests my service, but since no Peace Corps Volunteer is allowed to work in Baku, so I will be placed in the Sumgayit branch. Sumgayit is the town I am living now, and it is the third biggest city in Azerbaijan. It only takes about 20-minute bus ride to get to Baku. Baku is very modern. It is the “Dubai” of Azerbaijan.

The population in Sumgayit is about 290,000. With the American standard, Sumgayit without any doubt is an unattractive city. Most buildings are old and ugly. The villages around the city are even worst. The only fine-looking buildings in the downtown area are the Palace of Culture and Trade Centre by the Caspian Sea. The highest apartment building is only 12 stories.

When I found out my placement, I was very disappointed. Some of my site mates also felt very bad for me. No one wanted to stay in Sumgayit. After the training, we are all looking forwards to leaving this place for good. I wanted to live in the mountain region so I can do some hiking, but now I will be staying here for two years. But I am an optimist person; I would like to look at the arrangement as the glass “half full”. There are many advantages for me to stay here working for the bank.

First, I do not have to move again! Most of the PCVs are still struggling to live with their host family here. When December comes, they have to do it all over again. They might find their situation is worst than what they are having now. I like and I am beginning to feel comfortable living with my host family. They are very kind to me. The family has accepted me as one of their own.

Second, working for the Bank will only add more credential to my resume. According to my job description, I will be working closely with the branch director, helping him to train staffs, improve their professional skill, do presentations on relevant topics at the head office and branch office, promote a better understanding of how US banking system operates. Most importantly, I will be reporting directly to the head office in Baku about the branch’s daily operation. All these responsibilities will only improve my professional skill, hopefully when I return to the US, I can find a job in the bank or even work for the US Treasury Department.

I still remember why I join the Peace Corps. I come here to help the people of Azerbaijan. If my skill has any value to them, I should be grateful that I can assist them. Flexibility, patience and a sense of humor are what I need to deal with any unexpected situation. I have faith in God, and so far he has been guiding me each step of the way. When times that I had reservation about my being here, God helped me to get through those moments, and of course, “J”, a life time friend being there to share my pain.

I am planning to visit Julie in Samaxi, do some hiking with her in the Spring. I will visit Vivian in Genja, she will show me all the cute babies in the orphanage. Two years will fly by so fast before I even have a chance to catch my breath…… I know it..

My Life in Azerbaijan - Test Results

November 2, 2009

Well, our language test result is in. I received “Low - medium” and Vivian got “Low - low”. I am a little disappointed. I was hoping to get a “Low - high”. I have no problem remember words, just find it difficult to put together a grammatically correct sentence. Azerbaijani does not have proposition, instead it has suffixes, which is my main problem. Each personal pronoun receives a different suffix based on a vow harmony, location, direct object or tenses. Not only it sounds complicated, it is actually complicated. I need time to understand the grammar and the sentence structure better. Once I learn that, I will be able to put the sentence together logically, but my problem is time. All the Peace Corps Trainees agree, we just simply do not have enough time everyday.

From Monday to Saturday, we have class from 9:00am until 5:30pm. On top of that, we have projects, presentations, site visits and other home work to do. We only have Sunday off and most of us use that day to send e-mails home. Peace Corps put a lot of pressure on us to learn the local language. We are here only one month, it is a very short time period for anyone to learn and master the language. For the elderly trainees, language is their main hurdle. Some of them refuse to learn the language. Personally I think their attitude is wrong, nevertheless, I understand their frustration.

I like my language teacher. She is a very nice Azerbaijan lady and she tried very hard to help me and Vivian. She even spent extra time to tutor Vivian and me. I am going to try harder this time. I am not a quitter. I know I can learn, I just need to try a little harder. I want to and I have to God please helps me!

My Life in Azerbaijan - My Exercise

October 31, 2009

The town I am living in is very flat. There are no mountains, not even a little hill for me to climb. I am lacking exercise. Once I feel better, I want to do some daily route exercise. The weather is getting cold and walking along the Caspian Sea is out of the question. If I go running around the neighborhood, the qonso (neighbors) will definitely think that I am crazy. I will get a lot of attention or maybe the police will come and take me to the mental hospital.

I need my exercise which is the only way to keep me healthy. Everyday, I spend 10 hours at school learning the language and culture lessons. When I return home, it is already 6:00pm. After dinner, my study hours last until 11:00pm. I am not active at all. Recently I figure out a way to keep myself fit. I use the stairs! My host family’s house has two levels. There is a little stairway leading up to the second floor. For the past few weeks, I have been using it as my exercise tool. I climb the stair every morning about 20-30 times until my heart starts beating fast.

At the beginning, my host mother and sisters all stared at me and they said something about my silly action. I could not use too many Azerbaijani words to explain what I was doing, so I just let them stared. After a week or so, they all got used to my daily routine. When the neighbor (they have lots of neighbors) comes to the house in the morning, my host family would say a few words to depend me. I just smiled to their neighbors and climbed my stair.

I am going to increase my climbing exercise from 30 times to maybe 50 times. That should keep me fit and healthy.

My Life in Azerbaijan - Mid Term Examination

October 30, 2009

Time does go by so fast here. I have been here in Azerbaijan more than a month now. Tomorrow is our mid term language examination. I am very nervous about the test tomorrow. Each PCT is required to have fifteen minutes Azerbaijani conversation with our teachers. We will be graded based on our ability to interact with them, and depends on how well the conversation is carried out, we then will receive a grade as high, intermediate, or low.

Vivian and I are the “weakest link” in the class. The other young PCVs are doing much better than two of us. Compare to Vivian, however, I am doing a little better than she is. Vivian always has a sense of humor. She told me that tomorrow she would just sit in front of the LCF, freeze, cry, and then plead for mercy. I know she did not mean it, so I told her, whatever she was planning to do, just try not to wet her pants and keep up with her grace. We both had a good laugh. Both of us study very hard and our teacher realizes that too. Our language teacher told us not too worries; just relax and try to have a casual conversation.

I was a straight A student in collage, but I did study very hard to get those good grades. Maybe I am getting older now. Trying to be the head of the class is no longer that important to me. I just want to learn some basis Azerbaijani so I can get by with my daily life here. I will relax, smile, then cry and beg for mercy tomorrow. J Vivian and I will receive the low for sure, just do not how low it will get, but who cares, we come here to help people with our heart, not our month.