Happy Holidays!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, and I do apologize for the delay. Yes, I’m alive and thriving in Ganja. I’ve been very busy lately with new projects as the fall season always brings fresh students to work with. So I’m going to warn you now, this blog will be a long one.

I was recently interviewed by local television for the World AIDS Day project my counterpart and I conducted. We presented a two hour Youth Health Education Workshop that helped to inform local youth about HIV and AIDS. It was a great chance for youth to talk about an issue that is rarely ever discussed in an open forum setting. We gave two presentations in both Azeri and English, the first of which was a basic introduction to HIV and AIDS. Since many local youth have never heard of HIV or AIDS, we started from the very beginning. Focus was placed in three topics: What are HIV and AIDS, How do you get HIV/AIDS, and How can you protect yourself from HIV/AIDS. All information was very basic elementary school level information, without a lot of scientific language to confuse or exclude students from understanding. Students were surprisingly more comfortable answering questions about risky behavior than I had originally thought. This just goes to show that I can always be surprised by the youth I work with. I do however need to say that two of my counterparts helped make this project possible. Although my language level is decent, it’s not up to the caliber necessary to teach this difficult of a topic. Both Tural and Gultekin have enabled me to be successful with this project. So thanks guys!

Prior to the World AIDS Day Health Workshop, I had a nice quiet thanksgiving. This year we were once again invited to spend the weekend before Thanksgiving with embassy employees, but with the change in the schedule of training, it was only my group (Az 5) that took part in the festivity. Az 6 celebrated at their training sites with their own clusters. Although much smaller this year, the food was still amazingly good, and I managed to make several turns to the buffet table. On the actual day of Thanksgiving, two of my site mates, and two counterparts joined us in a Thanksgiving dinner. It was small, but nice to spend time with good company.

Going further back, before Thanksgiving, my office hosted the annual International Education Week in Ganja. It was great, as this year I got to plan the entire event. With some confusion, I only got 4 days notice, but the events were still educational and fun. Each day of the week had different activities. The first of which included a guest speaker from AEGEE the European Student Union group. Students talked about leadership, being active in their communities, and about the importance of education. Day two was a celebration of world cultures, featuring activities from around the world. Students learned how to write their name in the Greek alphabet, how to say hello in 30 languages, made Chinese paper lanterns, played children’s games from around the world, and did a picture quiz game for the wonders of the world (both natural and man made.) Day three was an American Culture workshop, where students got to learn about wedding, funeral, holiday, and other American traditions and customs. The workshop was followed by an American speaker’s panel which included me, two of my site mates, and two guests who were traveling around Azerbaijan. Day four was the American Film Festival with an emphasis on cross cultural interaction. We watched “Coming to America” (minus a few fast forwarded parts to keep it culturally appropriate for viewing with youth) and “The Other Side of Heaven.” Both movies provoked dialogue about travel around the world. Day five was hosted by IREX, an international education exchange organization. The regional director came and spoke about opportunities for study abroad in America through the UGRAD program (undergraduate study exchange for one year) and about the application process. The final day of the International Education Workshop was a Study Abroad Alumni roundtable. Alumni from several different study abroad programs including UGRAD, FLEX, MUSKIE and TEA participated in the event. The week was incredibly successful and I was happy with the overall results.

Going even further back, I hosted a Halloween party at the Ganja Education Information Center. I tried to focus more on cultural activities this year as opposed to just telling them about our traditions. I was grateful for a small grant from IREX to purchase supplies and decorations to make the party more authentic for them. This year we had pumpkin carving, mask making, a ghost story, Halloween themed riddles, a pumpkin shaped piñata (made by yours truly), and a costume contest, bobbing for apples, dancing, pot luck and tons of candy. The party was a bit larger than I had hoped for with close to 60 students in attendance. It was a great way to share some cultural traditions with the students I work with.

On top of all of those, I’ve also been conducting three conversation clubs a week (one for beginners, one for women, and one for university level English speakers.) I conducted an 8 week cooking class, where students learned how to make some traditional American foods such as potato salad, macaroni salad, Cole slaw, potato chowder, French onion soup, beef stew, spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, tacos, and a spicy pumpkin soup. (Yes, I know not all of them are originally American, but they want to know what we eat, and learned some basic cooking techniques.) My movie club is still meeting about twice a month as well. I also conducted workshops for essay writing, preparation for the FLEX exam, and information sessions about TEA and Muskie study abroad programs.

Needless to say, this fall I’m able to do much more than my limited language allowed for last year. I’m glad that this year I’ve been able to really get into projects that both the students and I enjoy. Staying busy helps me to forget about the slow decline in temperature that means winter is surely on its way. In the coming weeks, I will be showing traditional Christmas movies to my movie club, and hosting a Christmas party with all the trimmings! With that, I hope you haven’t quite forgotten me yet, and I wish all of you Happy Holidays!