The things we eat

So many people have asked me what types of food we're eating here in Azerbaijan. With Thanksgiving just happening, I have gotten it even more. For starters, yes! we had Thanksgiving dinner atnmy house, with my cluster and my family. We made an Azerbaijani turkey, which my host family bought for us(so expensive here). We cooked ourselves, but she plucked it for us. Sme of the other clusters actually killed their own turkey, so at least it was done for us too. Not sure I could have slit the turkey's throat.

Other food...here is the breakdown.
Azeri food is not bad, with of course a few exceptions. They cook with a TON of oil. They serve incredible bread (çorek) at every meal as a cultural thing. It is sacred and must not touch the ground or go in the regular trash. It is so delicious, but of course is making us all fat lol. Çay ( like herbal tea) is served about 15 times a day, no joke and cold drinks cannot be drank at meals as Azerbaijani's believe you will have digestion problems. Candy and sweets are also everywhere.
A few traditional Azerbaijani dishes are:
Plov - a rice dish
Shorba- soup, all kinds especially cabbage
Dolma- meat and rice stuffed cabbage leaves, grape leaves, or eggplant
Kabob- lamb skewers, but with a ton of animal fat
Lavash - like a wrap filled with meat, vegetables and yogurt
Diner- same as lavash but with bread
Tushir - pickled vegetable (I especially like the cabbage)

Foods I avoid...
Xas- soup made with the (whole) head and front legs of a sheep. They are boiled in a pot. Brains are eaten separately
Xengel- flat pasta like pieces with cheesy (see own category) and onion sauce
Fish- served whole and eaten whole
Ciz Biz- fried animal (?) liver, lungs, intestine,he tart and kidney

Cheese....as many of you know, is my favourite food. Not here....it's gross. They have 2 kinds 1. Stinky, super-salty, sheepy cheese and 2. Stinkier, saltier, sheepier cheese. Disgusting.

For those of you reading this and thinking About my first post which entailed my stomach issues....I filter my water, but now in think it has just sort of toughened up.

More soon. Miss and love everyone. Ps. All the food is making the girls fat and the boys are desperately loosing weight due to lack of protein. So not air!

Biri Var Idi, Biri Yox Idi....

Once there was, Once there was not.... The Azerbaijani version of Once Upon a Time.

So things are moving right along here. Azerbaijan got it's 1st snowfall, and as someone from the NorthEast I am ashamed to say I have never felt cold like this before. At night I can see my breath, and we wear like 6 layers of clothes to school.

On This Thursday (10th) we get our permanent site placements! Cannot wait! We will continue with training until December 10th and then we will head to our new sites and new host families. I am so looking forward to this, especially as it will mean we are real Peace Corps volunteers. I am not looking forward to leaving my host family. I have grown really close with them and it will be difficult, especially right before Christmas.

Our language learning is moving along. The Azeri language is very difficult, but we're learning the best we can. Our training is broken into two language oral exams (lpi's) that we must reach certain levels on, in order to pass through to becoming a volunteer. We had our mid-lpi last week and my results were good, so I'm pleased. Some days feel like great progress, and then others feel backwards. One step forward, two steps back. Little victories they say lol.

I will update everyone soon when have my Site Placement Announcement. Miss everyone. Send letters!