Ushering in the New Generation

It's hard to believe that I have been in Azerbaijan for 1 whole year. September 24th marked the anniversary of arrival for the AZ9's (my group). In some ways the year absolutely flew by, and then in others it felt like it would never come. Even though we knew the date was approaching, it was the arrival of the new group (AZ10s) that really brought the message home.

It is tradition that 4 volunteers are chosen to go to the airport and receive the new group of trainees. This group is known as the Welcome Group and the application process can sometimes be a fiercely competitive one. This is mainly because after a whole year of staring at the same 100 or so faces, we finally get some new blood in country. (Our social lives kind of depend on this turnover). This new group will be our future friends, sitemates and work colleagues and we really look forward to helping them enter the life that is PC AZ.

The group chosen greets the new trainees at the airport and then ushers them to a 2-3 day orientation weekend, where all manner of sessions are held from PCV Q&A's to Host Family Survival Skills and Development Work. It's a great time of reflection for us, as we finally realize that we have the answers to many of the questions we ourselves were asking only 1 year ago. This year I was lucky to be chosen as part of this group...

AZ10 Welcome Group (l to r.. Josh, Kelsey, Me, & Sam)

It is also tradition, as seen above, for the Welcome Group to arrive at the airport sporting Azerbaijani tracksuits. We are clearly the coolest of the cool (?). Ha

This year, the 50 new PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) were greeted not only by the Welcome Group, but also by the Mentor Program. This program is a group of PCVs that were selected to help the trainees with their questions, before arrival to Azerbaijan. They accompanied us to the airport for the arrival and naturally, we all donned the amazing tracksuits...

Badass PCVs

Needless to say, we caused quite the commotion at the airport.

With the arrival of the AZ10s there also comes a sadder element. The goodbye of the AZ8's. For many of us, these volunteers have been the ones we've turned to with questions and tough days. For me, all 3 of my sitemates are AZ8's and I will miss them greatly. It's the PCV circle or life as you will. For a year we've been looking to these volunteers for advice, friendship and knowledge. It's weird to think it's our turn to be those people for the new group but as the November COS dates fast approach (Close of Service) the reality is beginning to set in.

Even though my service is only at the half-way mark, we've turned a corner. We're no longer the Freshman and come January there will be a COS lottery in which we find out our dates of departure. The question of "What will you do after" has started to crop up and the end doesn't seem all that far away. They say the 2nd year is the best, as it is a time when your cultural and language knowledge is advanced and your projects finally start to take off. It's a really exciting time, but it's also limited. I guess we can only enjoy it while it lasts and make the most of it. I mean, we do have tracksuits now...so anything is possible. Right?