I’ve been trying to think of a word that best describes my Peace Corps experience now that I’ve been here for a year.

Amazing, trying, rewarding, complicated, fascinating, challenging, surprising, unique and interesting are all descriptors. They all describe my impression of being in Azerbaijan over the past year, but I don’t think any one of those words alone paints the whole picture. It’s been the most dynamic year of my life. There have been pleasant highs and frustrating lows.

Being in a different culture every day, all day, I’ve felt completely uncomfortable sometimes yet there are periods when I strangely feel at home. It sounds contradictory, but sometimes that’s how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Here are just a few of the moments that have shaped my experience while serving in the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan.

The first days

One of the earliest, and most vivid memories of the past year was arriving at my host family’s house for the first time during pre-service training. I had been in Azerbaijan for about three days, but had been holed up in a cushy compound with the other new trainees while we got a breakdown of what Peace Corps was all about, and what we could expect when we moved into the real Azerbaijan.

Volunteers who arrived in the previous summers gave us advice through discussions and demonstrations, including how to use a squat toilet (which we practiced by putting a pen, which was hanging behind us on a string that was tied around our waists, into a jar on the ground). While I knew that the wisdom being passed down to me and my fellows trainees was valuable, I couldn’t help but feel eager to move on to really being in Azerbaijan, which for us, meant living with a host family.

My new host mother greeted me as I got off a bus at the Shirvan settlement, where I would live for the next three months of training. She took me to the family’s apartment, which I was initiated into by walking up five flights of stairs in an old Soviet-style apartment building. I put down my things and was guided into the kitchen, where we were joined by my host dad. That evening we started the first of many conversations with tea and a dictionary.

The communication barrier led to some simple conversations that involved a lot of hand gestures. It was frustrating at times. I remember one particular morning when I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before my Azerbaijani class. I tried my best to relay the idea of not having enough time, but realized I hadn’t done a good enough job conveying the idea, because my host mom briefly left the room only to return and hand me a clock. I could have thrown it across the room.

Things steadily improved, though, and I finished up my three-month language class and moved on to my real Peace Corps service.

A new town

After I left Shirvan, I moved to Ujar, which is my assigned community for two years. My primary assignment in Ujar is to teach English at a local school, which I have done for the past year. Because I have spent such a large part of my time working at this school, it has been a huge part of my experience. The first month of the school year was completely sobering.

In Azerbaijan, teaching schedules don’t settle down until about four weeks into the year. I discovered at times the classroom where I went the previous day would be empty the next. Students would be sitting in their classroom waiting for their teacher who decided not to show up that day. Other times, there was a schedule conflict and the assistant director decided to give me three-hour breaks between my classes. That first part of the school year was a huge lesson in the differences between the American and Azerbaijani school systems.

Next week: Great moments.