The journey has begun

Itinerary: depart Daytona Beach @ 7:30, layover in Atlanta, arrive in Philly at 1. Head to Peace Corps staging: a 5-hour-long orientation that introduces us to our fellow Az9's, looks at the main goals of the PC, outlines their core expectations of us, and includes annoying yet effective group activities such as "read the scenario, discuss what the person should do, then make up a skit to act it out". Meeting my fellow PC trainees (PCTs) was a pleasure that I had overlooked amongst my anticipations. They are people like me in basic aspects, such as culture, educaion, and values, but also unlike me (and each other) in other aspects, such as where they're from, race, and tastes. But we all clicked immediately, and I am seeing yet another very valuable part of Peace Corps service: that the PC community is extremely strong, and we make friends for life.

After staging, a number of us took the complimentary shuttle from the hotel to the nearby (huge) mall, to get some supper. I got Chinese from the Food Court, cause that is what I was fantasizing about all day. Then I hit the hay as soon as I could to wake up for the day of travel tomorrow.

Itinerary: load ourselves (all 44 of us), and our 1oolbs of luggage--each--onto 2 commercial buses. Drive about 2 1/2 hours to JFK airport, through the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, cause apparently the driver is a local. (That was pretty cool.) Wait in a deathly long and tedious Delta Boarding Pass line. Hastily remove a thing from large suitcase which is 5 lbs over, and proceed to the equally deathly and tedious security line. Wait around and get on the flight to Istanbul at 5:00. Arrive in Istanbul, have a 3-hour layover. (The Istanbul airport was really cool. They get a lot of international flights coming through, so there is a vast Duty-free shopping center, selling mainly perfume and liquor, and other tourist-y shops. I stopped in one and tried some samples of Turkish Delights and Pomegranate iced tea [tasted like Crystal Lite]. I then went to the Food Court and got a Turkish yogurt soup; it was very minty and very yummy.) Hop on the final flight to Baku. (Got fed more yummy airline food and passed out inadvertantly.) Arrive around 8-ish in Baku, wait in a deathly customs line, collect baggage and pass it through more security. Get an enthusiastic welcome from a few Az8's. Force the welcome entourage to Tetris our copious amounts of luggage onto 2 small buses. Ride through Baku to our hotel. Grab our luggage, find our rooms, and crash.

First funny thing that happened in Azerbaijan: Upon descending the steps off the airplane, we were directed towards a bus which seemed full, but proved to have a greater capacity when we Tetris'd ourselves and our bags inside. So the bus waited for every single passanger from the plane to cram inside,then made its way about a hundred yards, slowly backed up about 20 yards, opened its doors, and let us out. Everybody laughed.


Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday are our Orientation days. They are chock-filled with language lessons; sessions on various topics such as safety & security, safe food & water preparation & diarrhea, cross-cultural perspectives, etc.; and of course breaks for chay and sweets.

Kristina, our director of programming and training (who is American), served in the Slovac Republic in 97-99, and married an Azerbaijani man. She is so cute cause you can tell she's so in love. she says "It goes to show that you can meet some really great people while you're here," and as an aside, "(but I found the best one".

I sleep well and eat well here at the hotel. The hotel provides us with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea & cookies, and dinner. It is a nice mix of Azerbaijani and American foods; for lunch today there french fries among the spread. I enjoy the Azerbaijani food, and there is always bread on the table. For some unknown reason, the hotel, called The Bavarius Hotel, is German-themed. The lobby has dark wood in those zig-zag patterns, and paintings of back-in-the-day German scenes of people drinking beer, tending the wheat fields, and more drinking beer accompanied my merriment. Then when you step into the eatery, it looks kinda Turkish/Russian (this mix describes Azerbaijan in general) in decor. It's a pretty cute place, and since it has hot running water and toilets, it's paradise in my book. The only negetive is not having reliable internet.

I read my Beatles book on my second night here. For those of you who don't know what exactly my Beatles book is, my bff Meggie (who started her PC service in Zambia in July) gave me a blank journal (with the Beatles on it) in which I had everyone at my going-away party sign and write me a message. Also, pretty much everybody was drunk when they did so, so their words were extra special. It made me laugh, and of course, made me tear up a bit. I love my friends so much. I will miss them, but am positive that when I get back, we will be as close as we were when I left in no time at all. Besides, Lynnsey, Joyce, and I will have to start the consolidation and editing process of the novel we're writing together. Writing my portion is one of my goals while in Azerbaijan.

With that lofty ambition in mind, I'm done with my mediocre diary  journal  blog entry.