A little bit about me...

Hi my name is Raechelle, and I lived in the secular Muslim country of Azerbaijan as a Youth Development Volunteer for the Peace Corps for three years and three months. I am now the Administrator of the official Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Friends of Azerbaijan group. As such, I am working to promote Peace Corps third goal of helping promote a better understanding of Azerbaijani people to Americans.

I created this blog as a way for future Peace Corps Volunteers, my friends and family, and Americans in general to understand what life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is like. As part of the pilot program for Youth Development in Azerbaijan, my work in Azerbaijan was diverse to say the least. I took on a role as youth educator, mentor and promoter. I helped with academic advising, established informal youth service clubs, encouraged youth to be proactive in their communities, promoted volunteer-ism and making a positive contribution to their communities.

I served as an extended volunteer, meaning that I served a third year instead of the traditional two year and three month service. During that time, I got married to my community counterpart and embraced many parts of the Azerbaijani culture. It is my hope to provide you a sense of understanding of life as a Peace Corps volunteer, life in Azerbaijan, and a bit about Azerbaijani culture through my experiences. Please feel free to comment or email me if you have any questions or suggestions for topics you'd like to hear more about.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Thanksgiving!

Last night was the celebration with the US Embassy and Peace Corps. It was a good experience seeing everyone for the first time since they moved to their sites. We all had a good time eating traditional foods, and I was finally able to cook some good foods in a really nice kitchen! We stayed the weekend with embassy employees, and used their kitchens to cook for the pot luck style thanksgiving. I brought roasted garlic mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and a cranberry peach dish.

I had a nice time finally getting to sleep in a real bed, with an actual mattress. I was more grateful for the chance to take an actual shower with real water pressure, and hot, truly hot water! I also go to call home for 20 min from an embassy phone (free call!) and talk to mom for a "thanksgiving" call. The only downer to the whole weekend was coming into Baku my bus got a flat tire... which meant I had to wait an additional 3 hours for them to change the tire. But, we made it, and the rest of the weekend was fantastic!

Things have been going good with work, the move, and integrating into my community. This weekend I was also able to find some art supplies for my community art enrichment project, that will hopefully enable me to do some crafts with the students in my club. I will also be starting a book club in December, and am hoping to help advanced level English students work on their English reading comprehension. Lots going on with work, and the season is starting to turn truly cold! Rumor has it that we may get snow in Ganja, so if that happens I will take some good pictures for you all!

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