My Evil Eyes.

Here's the thing: I would not be able to survive being part of the Peace Corps without a social network outside of Peace Corps. Don't get me wrong, I like my Peace Corps people quite fine, but it's a small world and I do enjoy being able to step out of the Peace Corps realm every once and awhile. In this regard, I am incredibly fortunate because I have the best group of friends in Baku that a girl could ask for - the Baku Evil Eyes.

The Evil Eyes are an International group of awesomeness who get together every week to play Ultimate Frisbee. I love it. We're a close-knit group that wake up early to play on the weekends and get together and enjoy each other's company afterwards. There might even be theme parties involved. I cannot express how incredible it is to be part of this group of people. I started playing with them last June and came to plan my Baku trips around game day. It's been a staple of my time in Azerbaijan and I hold it quite dear. I will never not think of this group of people when I reflect on my times in Azerbaijan. The Evil Eyes are one of my homes and I consider them an integral part of my Azerbaijan family.

This past trip to Georgia, too, was planned around Ultimate. A couple months ago, Kent brought up Baku Evil Eyes vs (the impressive, hospitable and brilliant) Tbilisi Flying Khatchapuris and I jumped at the chance to go. I was able to arrange Writing Olympics judging for the Monday after our 2-day tournament in Tbilisi, so all my plans worked out beautifully. We all hopped on that aforementioned almost midnight train to Georgia (minus Dorje who had to fly) as an official touring team. We arrived into Tbilisi around 1:30 with a game slated for 4. So, we ate, rested, and headed out.

From our Captain, Steve: "So, to business. How did we actually get on the field of play? Well we played as an Evil Eyes Team five times in total, against a variety of different [Flying Khatchapuris] Teams. The games were to 5 and we won 4 and lost 1. After that we mixed the teams up and played for fun."

So, we did what we had to do... Go in, demolish, and then have fun.

I love being an Evil Eye.