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.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Ramadan Day 7

Last night was perhaps one of the most difficult yet. I was so tired and thirsty by the time dinner rolled around that I really didn't enjoy my meal as opposed to just wolfing it down as fast as I possibly could... also, not good for digestion. My stomach hurt as I fell asleep, and again, I had another night filled with trips to the bathroom from excess water. It's been a really hard week. I've been doing this for only 6 full days, and then today is the start of the 7th, and I've already lost 5 and a half pounds. I'm sure that most of that is water weight, but it surprised me as I wasn't really "dieting" or doing anything abnormal other than just changing the times I eat, and cutting out water. I'm also losing more hair than normal. This morning my hair brush revealed a larger than normal amount of hair.

Last night I was seriously close to just giving up. We had one hour to go, and I was so thirsty, that I couldn't even get excited about baked potatoes and chicken nuggets (a rare luxury item that occasionally pops up in the market.) All I could think about was water. Then, when I could drink, I felt like I couldn't get enough in my body fast enough. So of course, too much water + drinking too quickly = stomach ache.

I have one week before summer camp starts. When it does, I'm seriously questioning if I'll be able to continue. At camp we usually have a lot of physical activity from about 730 am till around 11 pm when the staff is able to finally wrestle everyone into bed, and then argue with them to go to sleep for another hour. I fear that with the already unrestful sleep, that I will be too exhausted to continue fasting at that point. There are a lot of exemptions for people to not fast for Ramadan... if you're menstruating, ill, disabled, weak, pregnant, or physically unable to fast in a way that does not add problems to your body, then you aren't supposed to fast. In addition, if you are travelling many people refrain from fasting. However, these people who start, then stop, are supposed to resume fasting and ADD the days to the end... so it would just lengthen out the whole process. I'm a little apprehensive about adding days by taking time off, so for now, I'll just keep trying as best I can.

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