This week I passed a milestone – 1 year at site in Oguz. For me, this is a bigger deal than 1 year in country (which happened in September), as I now reach the real half-way point of my service: a time to reflect on how I’ve spent the last year, and to lay the framework for my second and final year in Azerbaijan.
On one hand, I feel there are things I’m still just getting into–my teaching and work at school is certainly not where I expected it to be at this point, nor in many ways is my community outreach. On the other hand, however, as my friend Joe put it, I feel generally a lot more ‘comfortable’ in Azerbaijan than I did a year ago. The cultural differences, worries about crossing lines, and hesitation to break boundaries never go away, but I am quite at home with my place as an American woman living in Oguz.
I heard from many AZ7′s (members of the group before mine that have now finished their services and are on to new adventures) that the first semester at school is one of learning where you are, what you’re doing, and how you can be effective at site… for me, it turned out it was the first year. But, I now have another year in front of me, with a lot of ideas, inspiration, and a deep connection with many students, teachers, and members of my community.
In retrospect, here are some things that I believe went really well during my first year of service:
1. working with and within my community; learning about community dynamic and where my role lies
2. developing working relationships with my counterparts at school–laying framework for effective skill transfer
3. summer clubs – I was able to reach a large number of kids in developing their English abilities, and was able to see a huge improvement from the beginning to end of summer
4. Oguz summer camp – although this wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be (what is?), I consider the camp one of the biggest successes of me and my sitemates
5. fostering involvement of a couple of fantastic and promising young girls in Oguz–these are the girls who will change the status of women in Azerbaijan
Not a bad list. Here are some of my plans/goals/hopes for the upcoming year:
1. to work on more direct skill transfer with my counterparts with teaching methodologies
2. to develop a series of teacher training workshops with English teachers in Oguz and surrounding areas who are interested
3. to implement a few larger-scale projects that go beyond the scope of teaching English and gain community attention and involvement
4. to work more with pre-teen and teenage girls – especially programming focusing on education, health, and leadership
So, at the cusp of on-the-way-in and on-the-way-out, I have hope for a more effective second year of service, for implementation of my many ideas, and a big dose of motivation to get me through the upcoming winter months.
On a non-service related note:
The last two months or so have been my hardest yet in country, but the last two weeks have been really positive. I have begun running again, an endorphine-boosting cure-all for my physical, emotional, and spiritual woes. I am also practicing yoga regularly and generally trying to take better care of myself as I head into the cold winter months. Many thankyou’s to those who have supported me in this rather difficult time.
I’ve also begun studying in earnest for the GRE, with the possibility of entering graduate school in the fall of 2013.
