October 16, 2010 – Yaxşı Yol ! (Safe Journey Home!)
The AZ8s are here, and the AZ6s are leaving, while my group the AZ7s still has another year to go. All the comings and goings really make Autumn the busiest time for Peace Corps staffs in Baku office.
As for the AZ
6s, some will depart on November; some will be off on December. All of them I talked to are excited to go home. When I asked about their fulfillment of serving the Peace Corps, most of them just gave me a smile and said “don’t hold up your expectation too high”, which I already knew, but none of them has any regret. They are glad that they have finished the full two years term. Some of them have accomplished their missions, some may not have. No matter what the final outcome is, they represent a small group of America who can endure the hardship of daily life surviving on a foreign land. Here are only some of those hardships: (contributed by an unknown writer from us)
In winter, you have to walk outside to the toilet in the cold
You have to build up your thigh muscles to survive the squat toilets and
where the heck is the toilet paper?
Every day, you have to walk through fields of mud, trash, and other things
Your hands hurt from wringing out your clothes in freezing cold water
You have to wait a week for your clothes to dry
You have to set aside valuable time to boil water and set up filter because you have seen what is in the water
You have suffered from diarrhea and the effects of HA’s revenge due to too much oil in the foods and stress
You have lived with swarms of flies and mosquitoes and might be one of the lucky PCVs that get to live with the side effects of malaria pills.
Having the experience living outside of the US, we become conscious that how lucky we are as American. The freedom, the right, and the opportunity, which we used to take for granted, are now genuinely appreciated by us. Being a PCV, we know that there is no country in the world we will love more.
When the AZ6s return home, they may have to re-adjust themselves to deal with the “luxury” life in America, but slowly and surely they will put those challenging living conditions behind. Nevertheless, one thing they should never forget. They have given up two years of their life to serve the unprivileged, the world, and their own country. They will forever be remembered and identified as “Returned Peace Corps Volunteer” (RPCV) for the rest of their life; a designation only a small handful of American has the privilege to be given.
For all the AZ6s who have completed their service, I wish you all a safe journey home!
Chi S. Chan, CPA
US Peace Corps Volunteer
Azerbaijan 2009-2011
Umm, I like how it looks
The AZ8s are here, and the AZ6s are leaving, while my group the AZ7s still has another year to go. All the comings and goings really make Autumn the busiest time for Peace Corps staffs in Baku office.
As for the AZ
6s, some will depart on November; some will be off on December. All of them I talked to are excited to go home. When I asked about their fulfillment of serving the Peace Corps, most of them just gave me a smile and said “don’t hold up your expectation too high”, which I already knew, but none of them has any regret. They are glad that they have finished the full two years term. Some of them have accomplished their missions, some may not have. No matter what the final outcome is, they represent a small group of America who can endure the hardship of daily life surviving on a foreign land. Here are only some of those hardships: (contributed by an unknown writer from us)In winter, you have to walk outside to the toilet in the cold
You have to build up your thigh muscles to survive the squat toilets and
where the heck is the toilet paper?
Every day, you have to walk through fields of mud, trash, and other things
Your hands hurt from wringing out your clothes in freezing cold water
You have to wait a week for your clothes to dry
You have to set aside valuable time to boil water and set up filter because you have seen what is in the water
You have suffered from diarrhea and the effects of HA’s revenge due to too much oil in the foods and stress
You have lived with swarms of flies and mosquitoes and might be one of the lucky PCVs that get to live with the side effects of malaria pills.
Having the experience living outside of the US, we become conscious that how lucky we are as American. The freedom, the right, and the opportunity, which we used to take for granted, are now genuinely appreciated by us. Being a PCV, we know that there is no country in the world we will love more.
When the AZ6s return home, they may have to re-adjust themselves to deal with the “luxury” life in America, but slowly and surely they will put those challenging living conditions behind. Nevertheless, one thing they should never forget. They have given up two years of their life to serve the unprivileged, the world, and their own country. They will forever be remembered and identified as “Returned Peace Corps Volunteer” (RPCV) for the rest of their life; a designation only a small handful of American has the privilege to be given.
For all the AZ6s who have completed their service, I wish you all a safe journey home!
Chi S. Chan, CPA
US Peace Corps Volunteer
Azerbaijan 2009-2011
Umm, I like how it looks
1 comment:
Thank you Chi, we appreciated your words. We want to add that we have come to love and appreciate many people here in Azerbaijan and only wish for them a brighter future.
Denney and Linda Rives
soon to be RPCV Azerbaijan 2008-2010.
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