Goodbyes.

With all these lasts of things, I think I'm continuing the gradual 'goodbye' to this blog. It's funny to look back on when I first got here. One big reason it's a bit weird to look at my blog is because a new group, AZ8, has just arrived and are beginning their adventures in Azerbaijan while mine is completely winding down. It's not a bad thing, but it sure makes me realize how long 2 years have and haven't been. And, furthermore, it's making me understand how much I've grown (maybe) and changed (definitely).

Anyways, you might've noticed blogs are becoming less and less frequent. The novelties of life for me here have faded a bit, I don't write about the possible touchy subjects I'm fascinated with and, you know, it's no longer really my turn. AZ7 has stories and AZ8 will. I'm like the old lady in the rocking chair reminiscing about the old days or just talking out to no one in particular. I'm okay in that role, but I'm officially calling this as my route to the way out.

My Fulbright.

Fulbright researchers and teachers have been a vital part of my time in Azerbaijan. I've now met members of 3 groups in country and have had to say goodbyes to 2. Last year I got a taste of saying goodbye to my Fulbrights, Kim and Irina, but this year's goodbye was a little different.

This past year's group, I met Evan pretty much right upon his arrival into country. Kim introduced me and I was then passed over to him. It was an awkward exchange on a rooftop in Old City. From that time onward, I became his Peace Corps Volunteer and he my Fulbright. . Over the past year he became a constant figure in my life and, with that, a good friend. We spent loads of time, shared fantastic food, celebrated Novruz, paddle-boated against a current going nowhere, traveled to Georgia and played some fun Ultimate together.

At the beginning of August, it was time to say goodbye to my Fulbright. At his final Ultimate game, a homemade Slip N' Slide was made and a BBQ out of a Lada was had. It was an amazingly fun day and Evan scored the final point of the game in a, perhaps, overly dramatic fashion. After the game, the (other) fun began. The day continued on till the next events (with a brief pause of naps and rest for some and work for me) which ended up in karaoke until 4am without him. It was a truly memorable day in Baku.

The rest of the non-organized goodbyes was productive in the making of the Legendary Lada video, relaxing and general hanging out, and final in that we went to the Korean restaurant one last time together before having to part ways.

It's always weird to say goodbye, but it's not, too. I've kept in pretty good contact with my old Fulbrights and I know I'll see my new old Fulbright soon back in the US.

Goodbyes are easy when you know they're not.

So It's Begun (Part 2)

It's happened. The event I surely knew was coming, but was successfully able to keep myself in denial about. My sitemate, Andrea, is currently on her plane ride back to America. Peace Corps has sent her back to the States (where she was on medical hold for 2 months December - February) to resolve her injured foot.

What?! I know. Trust me, I know.

Coming to Mingechevir last last December, I barely knew Andrea and wasn't sure how and/or if we would even get along. Luckily, my fears were based on pure ignorance and turned out to be not even remotely true. Andrea became a source of sanity for me. She became my go-to person. More so, she became what I would, in any world (Peace Corps or "normal"), call a genuine friend.

A big part of my Mingechevir has left, but I truly am fortunate to have had the sitemates I've had for as long as I have. It's going to be strange not finishing out my service with her and, in the short term, that aforementioned Environmental Project. All I can hope for is that she gets what she needs done to get her as fixed as possible. Well, that plus constant Skype dates.

So It Ends.

Mingechevir has been saying goodbye to loved volunteers slowly.  June marked Cindy's departure.  September was blue as Bev made her way back to the West Coast.  And, now, we've said our 'so longs' and 'heleliks' to Nate and Mariko.  Last week, Nate and Mariko hosted their final Hub Night and it was a bittersweet event.  We ate good food, played fun games, cleared out their apartment of stuff and took our final Ming pictures.  

It's just beginning to hit me that we're down to the final four for the moment until the 7s come over in December.  While we will have some new faces popping in in the next couple weeks with the 7s coming to visit, we won't have new 'staples' for a bit of time.

So it ends.  This chapter being the newbies in a city where American volunteers have already grown accustomed to the way of life is over.  Now we're the ones who have routines, ideas, and contacts who get to treat the new volunteers as wonderfully as ours treated us.  

Chapter 2 - Year 2 has begun.

Welcome new volunteers!  And, goodbye old friends.  Inshallah I will see you all back stateside.

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.  

So It's Begun.

Wednesday morning, Mingechevir said goodbye to our first leaving AZ5, Cindy.

For those of you that don't know, I'm in the AZ6 group of volunteers.  That means that I am in the 6th group of volunteers sent to Azerbaijan.  So, when we came, the 5s were here.  I am not very attached to many of the 5s, but as previously mentioned, I completely lucked out with the 5s in Mingechevir and am very attached to them, so it was a sad morning when were forced to say goodbye to our first one leaving.  Most of the 5s left are slated to leave in September, but some have chosen to leave early.  

Me, Laura and Alexis woke up early Wednesday morning to help Cindy clear out whatever remaining in her apartment and to say our final goodbyes since most of us cannot get into Baku and see her off the right way.  I'm not going to lie, I shed some tears.  

Within these next few months, there will be more goodbyes, hub nights, pot lucks, TV marathons, and much more quality time with those I'll soon miss.   As excited as I am for my friends to get to go back to America, I do not look forward to the day when they will no longer have a daily presence in my life.