Life Update

Hey All! So I know I haven’t been great about the whole blogging thing, but now that I am in my permanent site, I have better access to Internet.

So life in Quba…

My family is really sweet. I have a brother (11) and sisters who are (24, 22, and 20) and a host mother and father. The youngest sister is a student in Baku so I haven’t met her yet. My room is big and bright, and generally the house is really warm. Such a nice thing when you live in a mountain “city”. (City is in quotes as it’s not a city by any American or English standard). So my family is super sweet, but absolutely no English is spoken so it’s a real test of my language. As of right now I communicate like a 6 year old cavegirl. It is frustrating, but at the same time will do absolute wonders for my language abilities. They asked me what kinds of foods we eat in America and I was explaining pizza. The next day my host mother found a recipe for pizza and we made it together from scratch, dough and all. I was the nicest thing ever and turned out pretty good (See Below). The effort that they’re making to make me feel part of the family is really heartwarming and helps with the lack of actual communication. My host mother works at my organization; she is one of the Carpet Masters which is pretty cool. She showed me on the looms how to weave some of the carpet, but I was afraid I would mess it up so I didn’t try lol.

My work is really interesting; it is a Carpet Factory, with about 20 Master Weavers and a few Apprentices. The women sit in front of giant looms (See previous post for pictures) and hand weave these pieces of art. The carpets are some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and I love to sit and watch them work. I’m sure they think it’s hysterical; some random American girl likes to watch them weave when I could be doing something like watching t.v. lol.

 I am working with my Counterpart (a person in your organization, that Peace Corps pairs you with to work) to start English classes for the weavers as well. I’m not thrilled with this, as I have zero experience teaching English, but I am willing to try since they want me to. We will also be doing the classes at the Shahdaq Milli Park for the Ministry of Ecology, as my Counterpart works for them part time. We will be helping to teach useful phrases to the workers, so when tourists come through they can communicate better. I’m hoping come Spring I can assist in some of the actual tours through the park, maybe as a translator or basic tour guide if my language allows me to. The park is in the mountains and has ancient villages and waterfalls and apple orchards, definitely a tourist highlight of Azerbaijan. The Carpet Factory also works in the Springtime with a local orphanage, teaching trade skills. I will be helping with English classes there as well. As a Community Economic Development Advisor (CED), English classes are not exactly my forte but I will do what’s needed to integrate into my community and gain a level of respect and trust I will need to do other projects. Also, English classes are a great way to practice my Azerbaijani, and find out who people in the community are and what opportunities for CED projects I might find. So for now, I am a jack of all trades.

That’s it for now. Please send emails and messages! They are greatly appreciated. Love to all!

Xx Corina