Swearing In!

The country director.

Actually swearing in...
It's official friends!
My old host family with my new host family <3
Cluster!
So glad we're not in Turkmenistan
It is possible to have smores in AZ.

Made it on the local news!

So I’m officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. It happened on Wednesday, October 10th. It was such an exciting day and quite emotional at that. Meredith, our country director mentioned something about talking to a volunteer who said that her childhood dream had just been fulfilled. I think for the large majority of us, that was exactly what happened on Wednesday. Some people want to be doctors or singers or teachers, I wanted to be a volunteer so here I am. I have my certificate, my Peace Corps Azerbaijan pin, and my good word that I will do my best for this country and for the US. Who knew I’d be serving my country? It actually doesn’t sound right to me when it’s put in those terms but that’s what it technically is. 

The day after I left for Neftchala. I am staying with the English teacher I met last month. I am living with her, her mother (who only speaks Russian) and her younger daughter. Her older daughter is in college in Baku and her husband is in France due to medical reasons. I’ve only been here for two nights and I already feel at home. It’s a really great living situation here. It is warm, I can shower whenever I want, and I am sleeping in a full size bed. Not to mention that the food has been really yummy so far. (They eat havarti cheese everyday!) 

On Friday I went to visit the school and sat in on a couple classes. I met the director who was a personable and approachable older gentleman and gave a short little summary about myself in Azeri to the other teachers. They were all very welcoming. Then I sat in on Leyla (my host mom’s) 6th form class then two others from other teachers. Leyla’s class was good and I liked some of her teaching methods. That afternoon I met up with Jordyn, my site mate, who showed me around town. Neftchala is not a big town and is very accessible just by walking which is great because I’ve had my fill of buses. There’s a couple internet clubs, a small bazaar, a park, a library, and a few stores filled with anything that I might need. I think I will lead a happy two year life here in Neftchala and I’m very excited about that. 

However, here is where I express some of my anxieties. Now that PST is done, I am on my own! And I’ve known that and have been so excited for that and have been preparing for this moment for well, years. But now that it’s here, I’m um… how do you say? Scared shitless. (Sorry for the swearing Mother, but there was no other way to say it.) I’m scared that I won’t learn the language to the degree I want. I’m scared that I won’t be as an effective teacher as I want. I’m scared that I won’t meet all the people and network enough. I’m scared that my clubs won’t be as successful as I want. But I think that might just be putting a lot of pressure on myself but things will be fine... as they always are.