Salam from Sumgayit/the 21st Microregion!!!

I think it's country code 0994-51-8705972

I'll let you know more later. I'll be out of touch, I don't know about internet. I'm at a cafe at the moment.

Call me if you can sometime. Phone cards should be decent compared to me. When I find out more about the situation here, I'll figure it out more. It costs a fortune for me to call out. I get free incoming calls. Texts are cheap for me.

Moved in with host family. Very overwhelming! It's so hard and difficult not being able to communicate. It finally hit me that, I, in fact, was in Azerbajan and I felt the gravity of it all.

Share this with people you think to share it with.

Love and miss you all,

Kim

Hello from the Caspian Sea!

In Azerbaijan!  Crazy!  

The past 4 days have been a huge rush of wild madness!  

From Philadelphia, we went to JFK in NY and waiting forever, it felt.  Eventually we flew off to Frankfurt and hung out.  That flight was so long!  I had wine spilled on me twice as well as a sprinkle from an open water bottle above head.  It was all right, though.  I didn't sleep at all, so by the end of that flight, I was hallucinating and that was hilarious.  In Frankfurt, nothing too much happened.  We took a flight from there to Baku and got in later last night.  We all came to the hotel where elevators don't exist, so it was insane watching, helping, and being part of a group of 61 take their luggage for 27 months up stairs!

Today was the first day of in country training.  I've learned basic language, need to work on remembering it.  I can say who I am, what I do, where I'm from - all in the most basic terms.  A few other things like "i don't know," "thank you," "okay," and "not good."  It'll come.  These next 12 weeks are going to be intense.

All right, I'm done with being a computer nerd and head down to spend time with my people.  I miss you all!

Oh yeah, if any of you are planning on sending me a letter or package, can you please put in an armband or thick bracelet so that I can cover my wrists?  I would greatly appreciate it.  And then I can think of you when I wear it.  :)

Staging with a side of Brotherly Love

In Philadelphia for staging right now.  It's been a long day of becoming oriented.  

I flew in this afternoon.  I said goodbye to my family and had my last Bojangles breakfast before I flew away.  It still hasn't really hit me yet, I don't know when it's going to.  I did get quite flustered and anxious for a little bit at RDU.  Flight was fine and I arrive safely.  Carrying my baggage around proved to be quite a workout though, whew.  This day feels as if it's been at least 3 days jam packed into one; I really don't know what to say about it yet - I haven't processed it.

I can say, though, that I think this is the right decision for me.  I'm part of something here and it's good.  I've met some neat people and have had a ton of fun talking to them, so I'm happy with day one of the experience.  These people will be my primary network for the next 27 months and that is wild!  24 hours ago, I didn't know any of them.

All right, quick update, off to bed.  More staging at 8:30 in the morning.  We get out at 6, so it'll be a fun night of last minute US partying and hanging out around the city.  

I miss you all!

Mail, Mail, Snail Mail.

For the first 3 months (9/23-12/8):

Kim Joyce, PCT

AZ 1000

Main PO Box 77

Peace Corps

Baku, AZERBAIJAN

For anyone who would like to send me things or whatever from home (you all know I'm a sentimental person), here's some really great information (thanks to other volunteers for information and ideas):

-Mail generally takes around 10 days, I hear, but could take up to weeks.  Good to know if there's any special timing to anything.

-The Peace Corps suggests that writers number the forms of communication.  So, if I'm in my place and I receive a letter marked 1 and 3, I know something's up with number 2 and I lost some valuable words and communication.  I think it's a good idea.

-The first 3 months, think small.  I'll have to repack and take my things to my site after training... after packing here, I don't think I'll be able to fit much more in bags.  

-I will most likely not be the first person to see what you're sending me.  So, camouflage (I heard tampon boxes work fabulously) and please don't send really valuable things that we would be completely heartbroken to lose.

-This link is everything you need to know about shipping & mailing to Azerbaijan from the US. Here are the basics: First Class Letter or Postcard will be about $0.94, Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelope will be about $11.95 and Priority Mail International Flat Rate Boxes will be about $38.95 (regular size) and $49.95 (large size).

There you go, mailing 101.  :)

My country.

I've been referring to each Azerbaijan and the U.S. as my country as of late.  Right now, when I say "my country," I'm typically referring to Azerbaijan as the audience are my counterparts in the U.S.  Natalie asked me what I was going to say when I am finally in Azerbaijan and I easily spouted that, then, I would refer to the U.S. as my country.  With this thought, it made me think about what it was I am going to claim the U.S. for, and, the thing I've realized most is that it's not the country in itself, it's the people within the area.  And, for the country itself, the freedoms I'm afraid I'll be forced to forget about and let go for a bit.

The most pertinent question I've been on the receiving end of is how I am going to cope with gender roles and difference while away.  I honestly don't know how it is in reality there, so I've been putting that issue in the back of my mind as I cannot know how it will be until I am living it.  Speculation is well and good, I enjoy looking at every angle, but the truth at the moment is is I'm ignorant to how it will really be.  Yes, I know I will have to push aside my anti-authority, establishment, and systematic notions, but I can see that in that case, I will be forced to expand my mind.  So, perhaps it's farewell to my individualistic attitude for now (but I really kind of doubt it).

So, getting back to the original issue on my mind on what I will associate with "my U.S." as these are the thoughts that will motivate me are my memories.  Aside from that, I will definitely miss:

Freedom to be

Sitting on a porch talking the days and nights away

Mixed media backgrounds in the company of a friend

DC excursions

Accessibility for communication

Driving aimlessly listening to whatever mix or nothing at all

Summer drunken downtown nights

Wine nights and Bottega

Having the option to have a cup of Java Dog coffee while going through a Bojangles drive-thru

I doubt I'll be able to have or do any of this a week from now for a while.

Finally, the most important aspect I will genuinely miss that I hit on earlier are the people that I spent time with.  I have truly amazing friends and acquaintances in Wilmington.  That was proved to me pretty overwhelmingly this past weekend on my final visit.  Thank you for all who came out to my goodbye party Friday, I had a blast and it was incredible to see everyone all jam packed in one night.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity to spend one more night with you all.  And, everyone else I saw this past weekend, thanks for making my last visit memorable and exciting.  Please do keep in touch as you are all in my thoughts; you and the interactions I've had with all of you are what I'll claim as my U.S. when speaking of my experiences in my new country.

P.S.  I wish I had more pictures to share from my goodbye party, but those there know that I was more into Polaroids than digital pictures.  

Missed Connections.

The phones were hung up and 2 people separated by the physical distance of 99 miles felt as if they were already a world away.

She looked down and saw the ink splats on her body recollecting the prior day’s events.  A tease of a routine Saturday afternoon in the presence of a best friend .  The thought then turned to the girl who saw her as that friend and the missed opportunity she had because of inevitable and predictable choice.  The guilt had got her and all she wanted to do in that moment was to call back the best friend she hung up with and unleash her guilt-ridden mind, but she knew she shouldn’t, that it would be better for the both of them to not continue on with the farce.

It’s strange how love manifests and who it is we choose to be near when the “final” clocks are ticking away at what we know to be real.