A New Season, A Year Down.

My favorite time of year begins today... Fall.  It's extra special this year, too, because not only is it my mom's birthday (Happy Birthday, mom!), it's my one year mark of being in Azerbaijan!  It's kind of a milestone for me marking my first year completed and knowing that there's only a bit over a year left.  Not at my half way mark yet, but it's coming...

All of this is making me think that I really need to get motivated and start up all the activities I want to do over these next 15 months.  It's about time I start to focus on a bigger project, write some grants, and come up with some fresh ideas work wise.  I'm starting to do all this by revamping what it is I do.  I'm less focused on Conversation Clubs and general activities and am approaching this year with a  mentor type of attitude.  With Lale, my go-to girl, working in Baku until December, I needed to rethink what it was I wanted to do.  So, at the moment, I'm working with younger girls with their English and Critical Thinking skills through film, essay writing, podcast listening, and more photo clubs.  I'm also toying with some other ideas, but I need to flesh them out a bit more.  I'm also actively opening my house to these girls and other older youth to come over, hang out, and have some one-on-one time to improve skills as well as attempting to provide a safe haven of sorts whenever a growing teenager needs it.  My way of being a PCV is to try to impact the people I feel close to as much as possible.

With Fall coming also brings cooler weather 

foods in season!  Pomegranates have begun popping up in the bazaar and streets, apples fill trunks and cars and are getting to be cheaper, I saw spinach for the first time not too long ago, and soon persimmons and clementines will show up!  

It's getting to be that perfect weather time where wearing long sleeve shirts, sweaters and jeans is comfortable.  It's almost that time where a steaming hot cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate is refreshing and you can feel it go down your throat and hit your stomach.  Soon it won't be unbearable to cook a meal in the kitchen because of the heat and I can snuggle up in a thick blanket without sweating profusely.  

Sadly, I know, the perfect chunk of perfect weather will pass and become freezing quicker than I I had the chance to enjoy it and I'll be wanting it to be hot again, but I'm not going to think about that quite yet.  Today I'm enjoying the mild day with my coffee under a light blanket.  

Happy one year to me and my group and Happy Birthday, mom!

Goodbye Tiny Cats.

This week marked the 11th week of me with kittens.  It was only half of them as on the 1st Andrea took Baskin and Robbins.  3 cats were a lot easier to handle than 5, but it was still a bit much.  Alexis was in line to take Runt cat and then it would have been just me, Scout, and Beast cat until I would be able to find her a home.  

Well, things change.

Monday night/Tuesday early morning, Runt cat died.  I don't know what happened, but when I went outside for the morning feeding, Runt cat didn't run up per usual.  I went searching and found him laying in his favorite sleeping spot not breathing.  I take a bit of comfort seeing he was in his spot, so he might have just slipped away peacefully. 

So, Alexis took Beast cat Wednesday night.  

I'm not going to lie; it was harder for me than I originally thought it would be.  Beast cat was my favorite and the one I got attached to most; but, by the last day, I also noticed Beast cat might have inherited her mom's needy gene as well.

Now it's down to one cat and myself.  The way it was always supposed to be.  And, now, I can be like the cool grandma that just visits and catsits for all the kittens without actually having to live with them all.  When I'm tired of the mewing, I can peace out.

It's strange to think about me having these kittens for the entirety of this summer.  A lot has went on and changed since their birth.  I've found out quite a bit about myself during this venture, too...

The most notable realization of mine during this time?  Although I love cats and the thrill of raising kittens was fun, wacky, and exciting, I will never have the patience to be a crazy cat lady when I get old... lesson learned.

Baku Goodbye Tour: Quiches and PCVs.

The next day consisted of lunch with a PCV pal, Amy, and hanging out.  For dinner, we went to Kent's and I got to spend more time with good company.  I had come up with the idea, too, to make a meal for the lovely Amy and Kim for being so gracious as to hosting me in Baku this week.  On the walk from Kent's, I asked Kim what she would want and she said something

 with eggs.  I let my mind wander for a few and thought it would be good to make a quiche.  It's easy, good, and a great brunch food that's light enough for us to all still be hungry at dinner time.  I thought about my amazing friend, Sarah, and her idea for a quiche and I ran with it tweaking where I saw fit.  I was able to spoil my friend and myself with cheddar, broccoli, and a Diet Dr. Pepper!  I'm still excited about how awesome it was.  Keep in mind, I haven't had cheddar since last September, same with Dr. Pepper.  I've only had broccoli twice since being here.  All the aforementioned products are hard to find here and, when you do, it hits your volunteer budget pretty hard.  

That night, we had the final goodbye dinners for Kim and Rob.  Rob left from the restaurant and Kim left early the next morning.  Sad face.  We saw Kim off at 5 am and I'm still coming to the realization I won't be seeing her next time I'm in Baku.  I already miss her a lot.  Goodbye Kim and Rob!

This was also the night of the big hoorah for the AZ5s leaving.  After dinner, dessert, and some lingering about, I headed to the party.  I ducked out early that night because of Kim's impending departure.  I got back and woke up at 4:30ish to say goodbye again and we all helped with taking her stuff down 6 flights of stairs.

I moved from Amy's after Kim's departure and headed over to a friend's to hang out.  It was a quiet day that consisted of a good lunch.  We made our way over to Finnegins for happy hour

 and met up with other volunteers.  Me and Laura snuck out to get apple pie where Bev and Natalie met us and I ran into new friend Evan and Pam!  Baku's a small place, apparently.  This was the majority of the AZ5's last night in town, so we said goodbyes and moved on. 

Sitemate Alexis' birthday was Thursday as was Philosopher's Lunch with Amber!  We trekked over to the Baku Roasting Company, a slice of America in Baku, hung out, chatted, and enjoyed coffee and American music.  I also got to see new friends Kent, Josh, and Evan!  Told you, small place!  I liked it!  I got jacked up on coffee, but was still, somehow, incredibly tired at Bev (and Alexis') dinner at Adams.  Indian food was yummy, but I was dead tired so me, Agsu Rachel, and sitemate Laura peaced out for soft serve at McDonalds.  It was a nice, quiet night and we watched the Bourne Ultimatum.  Or, more accurately, they watched it and I fell asleep a few times.

The rest of Baku was calm and lovely.  I spent quality time with Agsu Rachel and Jacksta, enjoyed sushi, salads, and sandwiches, saw new friend Evan (again!), worked (a little), had a softball meeting, said goodbye to the best 5 ever (Bev), and took the mental health break I needed away from Mingechevir and the 5 cats.  

Baku Goodbye Tour: Rooftop Movies and Metkarting.

I came into Baku on Friday to begin the rounds of saying goodbye to people I've come close while in this country.  There's a lot of goodbyes going on, some see you laters, and a very few (for me) definite plans on actually making those see you laters into realities.  I was in Baku so early, primarily, to spend time with Kim, my Fulbright friend who's a pretty cool cat.  She used to live with Irina, the friend who gave me the pregnant cat.

My first night in town, I had dinner with Kim and some of her friends.  I got to meet new people, enjoy a new group of company, and, probably the most surreal part of the night, I ended up at a rooftop movie overlooking a lit up Old City and the Caspian.  It was probably the most picturesque sight I have seen here, but I didn't take a picture.  I simply took it all in and watched Rushmore on the roof amongst new personalities.

Next on the agenda was Kim's goodbye party, which was the major reason I planned this trip in.  Kim made a delicious cake, we ordered pizza, hung around the house until we left for metkarting.  I don't think I can express how strange and awesome this metkarting really was, but I'm going to try.  We go down a creepy little hall to arrive at a huge open air area.  We cross a bridge and there's a pool next to us.  We look to the right and see 3 large white canopy beds.  In front of us was a bunch of tables and several lounge areas as well as a dance floor, a couple more bridges, and a DJ's area.  That's not even the best of it... all of this was inside a go-kart track!  What!?

This was the pool.  There are 2 shower heads at the end, too.

This was, to put it lightly, the most random thing I could've imagined for this country.  But, as we found out, random is awesome.  In true Peace Corps fashion, my Nalgene kept me and several others company and it's contents was strong.  So, what else do you do at a wild club with a ton of expats?  You have a dance party and you metkart.  Sweet.  We stayed there for the majority of the night and left too early, we realized upon arrival of somewhere else.  C'est la vie.

Kent and Kim's amazing Matrix moves.

Rob rounding the track.

That was my first 2 nights on this trip of goodbyes.  They were incredibly surreal and pretty much completely awesome.