magda's travels

After a year at home in San Diego I picked up and moved to Tanzania, so I thought I would dust off the old blog again so I could keep people up-dated on my life. But as always its content is not a reflection of the U.S. government, Peace Corps or anything else.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

a busy little PCV






Hey Kids

So what have I been up to, well let’s see. Ash turned 30, we went camping in a gorgeous place in the mountains in Oguz, the neighboring region. We saw waterfalls, hiked up a river, got wet falling in the river. Slept out under the stars, had a bone-fire, made grilled cheese sandwiches over it, and had an over-all amazing time. I love camping, it’s just great. And to all of you wondering why PCVs go camping (the aren’t you roughing it enough argument) I’d say, precisely because we already used to sleeping in awkward places (read 6 hour marshrukta rides) already used to having to treat our water, used to being a little dirty and sweating, and not being able to shower exactly when you want to- so no, it’s no big deal, plus it’s beautiful. A few of us were talking about it and camping next to a river this weekend was the first time I’ve had running water on demand in months, yes nature offers more amenities that my apartment!

After camping we came back to civilization, showered napped, and headed out to 5-star class. We chowed down at the Sheki Saray (the big swanky hotel in town) cheeseburgers, sandwiches, salads, cheese platers, and pasta were consumed with gusto. The evening then moved on to Charlie’s where card games turned into a sing-a-long, no not kumbayah, we’re PCVs but not that hard-core mostly sublime and pearl jam songs- and no not one round of wonderwall.

The next day Charlie and I went to my office picnic. Fan-freaking-tastic. The weather was great, the location, a field of wild flowers bordered by a river trees and mountains. I don’t know how to explain it but to say it was the best most normal Magda day in Azerbaijan. I love my office staff, it’s like an extended family, or like the San Diego church, where they aren’t your family but they might as well be. There were two kids to play with, volley ball, chess, and pool. The food was great and overly plentiful. We stayed there from 11-7:30pm. What a great day.

As soon as I got home, Adam was arriving in Sheki, we went to dinner at my favorite outdoor café and then passed out from exhaustion, he from his trip and me from the weekend. Tuesday we got up and WORKED. He had come to help me with my website and we did just that from 10- 4:30, then ran an errand or two and went to softball played with the kids till 9-or so and came back to my place with josh and Charlie and made chicken fajitas- delicious!

Wednesday- at the office at 8:30 and from then till 1:00 worked on that website, then I scarfed down some soup and headed off to the interviews with Charlie (we interviewed kids for camp- more on that later)
I was there till 3, it ended early, then I made everything for dinner and some iced tea and cleaned. After that I crashed for a half hour from the heat and the week. Around 8:30 Charlie came over I ate tacos and we drank iced tea while he schooled my butt in dominoes. It has been possibly the best week in Peace Corps, and definitely one of the busiest! I am especially grateful to Adam who not only made the 10 hour trip to help me, also spent an hour throwing out all the trash in my apartment! What a friend.

Monday, May 21, 2007

I mean it’s beautiful here!



It’s gone all sorts of pretty here. It’s warm, not too hot yet and everything is green!

How do I explain what I’ve been up to. Well, hmm… There’s two weekends ago where we had our first Softball tournament, where Sheki did pretty good and I only accidentally hit Ash with a bat twice! I think our team will be strong (if I can stop breaking people) and starting a softball league in Azerbaijan is really quite cool! From Berda I went to Baku, for Gender in Development training. Any of you who know me, probably know that this stuff is right up my alley. I found it to be the best training since “right to play,” and it is hard to beat training that is just teaching you how to play and teach games! After three long days of training I finally came back to Sheki, Charlie and I had a chance to hang out before guests arrived for the weekend. These guests happened to be some of the more sarcastic boys of AZ3. I had a good time hanging out with them and I think that we made one of the all time best life decisions to take the camping. Once safely atop a mountain, the boys were free to be as loud and as boisterous as they pleased- which is good, because loud and boisterous is just what they were. We built a huge fire and roasted kebabs and hot dogs. The guys went through the meat like frenzied wolves it was hysterical to watch. I have to get the pictures from Charlie, because they are great. Sunday morning we awoke before the sun and headed on down the mountain to make some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Monday I wrote up an email to a future PCV who ask what my typical day was like, I explained that there are no typical days here. I told her what my plans were for the day, and by the time I sent the email, it was all wrong because I ended up volunteering to be the point person for the logistics of a 40,000lbs book donation that requires and the requests to be in tomorrow. I told that to Charlie and he laughed and said, yeah, “I was going to go check my email but (two guys we teach) called and asked me to have a beer with them in the park and they ended up teaching me to break dance!” I think that is just about the perfect way to describe what life is like here. It’s busy, the weather is beautiful, and just we you think you know what you are going to do that day something changes and all of the sudden you are managing a new project or doing hand stands in the park! God I love Peace Corps.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

letting the cat out of the bag


Well I thought since, as of late I have been accused of keeping secrets I thought I would let you all know the big news that I have been keeping under wraps. The reason that we've been celebrating so much this month and why I baked the cake for Charlie is, that he has decided to extend his service! For all of you that are still unclear who Charlie is, he is my site-mate. Meaning that he is another PCV that is placed in Sheki. He is from the group a year ahead of me, AZ3. Most of AZ3 is going home this summer, but Charlie will stay here with me and Josh, our other site-mate until next summer. Hip Hip Hooray! This will allow us to work on more projects together and continue cooking and hanging out for another whole year. I for one could not be happier. He is a great and positive influence here. So there you go mama, that's the big secret, that was only kept secret until it was official.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Return of the Blog!

Alright, this one is for you and all the Peace Corps Parents that make our lives here better. Also I think I forgot to mention on here how much meeting the Kniola’s rocked- you guys are great. And in a few weeks here I will get the opportunity to meet the Hunziker’s, which I am really looking forward to, since I had to bail on Egypt for my sister’s wedding.

Ok so the last two entries were about my apartment, and you have to understand that moving out is a big step in the life of a PCV. It grants you more control over where you go and what you eat, and how warm or cold you would like to be. But mostly, for me it has meant eating and cooking the way I like! And thanks to Momi, Popi and Stephanie, Kazia, Matt, and Suzie (all the people who have sent me food related packages) I have been eating, and eating well.

I have made Indian, Thai, tons of Mexican, corn bread, pizzas and tuna melts, but, in April there was one dish that took longer to make and more planning than anything I have ever made. In April I made Pecan Pies! And they rocked! The pies, like getting my own apartment, were a bit of a saga in that the idea of it started way back in PST.

In PST, I would often walk around Saray or Sumgayit with the crew dreaming of things we’d make someday. I decided that one thing I would learn to make in Peace Corps would be pies. I kind of started talking about it a lot- just ask Tom or Ben. I don’t know why, but that is how it began. I texted a request to my oldest friend Suzie, and within two weeks I had pie tins!

Then there was the Sheki America Day, where I was going to make apple pie for the kids, that week however, the electricity was too sketchy to try for pies, so we made cookies.

Then some time around March, I started thinking about the pies again, and there was the perfect occasion, Ben’s birthday. So as soon as I had my own place, all the planning began. Knowing Ben I knew that a surprise Pecan Pie would be perfect, it is something we’ve talked about often. But there were no pecans, in fact there are no pecans in Azerbaijan. I went to all the expat stores in Baku and there were no pecans so I made a call home. I requested pecans from Stephanie, my lovely step mother. I also sought the advice of practically all the American Staff in the Peace Corps office of where to get the rest of the ingredients, one even gave me a ride to the store! Finally April 10th I got the package from home with the nuts. From then it was fairly easy, I made a practice pie to test the recipe and my oven.
The 20th a bunch of us would be going in to Genca to see Ben, the night before I made the pies. I traveled the three hours to Genca in a mini bus the pies in a box in the trunk. When we got there the driver trying to help me, as it looked like I had too much to carry. I had plastic bag with a French Press on top of the box of pies, the driver took the plastic bag and tried to shake the box of pies into the bag and I freaked out. I told him it was ok I could carry it all, then he handed me the pies and accidentally dropped the bag with the French Press. I picked it up and walked into the city. It took me 20 minutes to build up the courage to check to see if everything was ok. It was! Nothing broke and the pies were great. After that the weekend was a huge success, I picked Ben up at his office, where his staff wished him every happiness and many sons. We went to his new fancy apartment I gave him the pies and French Press and we sat on his couch and drank coffee and ate pie for hours, it was awesome!


I was sick for a week where nothing interesting happened except I slept a lot and read! I also went in to Baku so that the med staff could make sure everything was ok, it was and I got a hot shower or two and I went to the dollar store in Baku and got some mac and cheese and cake mix. I made the Cake for Charlie because we have both decided things of late that warranted celebration, and we decided to celebrate things more often. He also made a huge thing of beef stew and brought it to me cause I was sick, what a good site mate.

This weekend was amazing. I saw Lenkeran for the first time, America Day was highly successful by all measurements and we had a cinco de mayo fest! It was amazing! Really, I had tons of decorations from a package from Kazia, my sister who knows how I love all things Mexican. Tom and Ash’s families sent over TONS of stuff too. All in all it was a party I will always remember and since I am going into Baku for a Gender in Development training next week I will post up pics from Lenkeran then. I will also put up pics of my apartment and quite probably the softball tournament in Berda!

apologies

ok again I have been a poor blogger- I know. And since Mrs. Wulf has requested I do better, I will try. I got behind. In April, it was partially because I was trying to keep something a surprise for a friend, and so I could not mention it on here, and after that I was slightly sick for a week. It was not a big deal, just enough to keep me from the internet. But I am back now and next week I will be in Baku all week, with faster internet so, I will be uploading pictures for old posts and updating you all on what I have been doing for the last month or so.
Again I'm sorry.