Yesterday my neighbor stopped me as I ran out to the grocery store. "You are always coming and going, I never see you!" she scolded. It occurred to me that you might also feel the same way.It's been hard to write because the summer is for traveling and on the road I often don't have Internet access. And what have I been doing you might ask? Camps! With school out and nothing for kids to do, volunteers organize day camps in their towns and invite other volunteers to help run them. It's a fun way to introduce American culture and give the kids something to do. On the exchange side, it allows volunteers to see different parts of the country and Azerbaijani's to meet a more diverse group of Americans than just their own PCV's. So here's where I've been:
Agjabedi Sports Camp-Highlights included playing Frisbee and egg toss!
Zagatala Art Camp-Löki's fully-funded brainchild involved a training of trainers where Americans worked as support staff for Azerbaijani counterparts who were learning how to lead and run their own camp. And I learned how to screen print!
Activity Week in Shamaxi-I took a week to make sure my kids had something to do. Not brave enough to call it a camp, the students and I spent two hours every day doing such things as acting, collage pasting and volcano building. In the afternoon I had a laid-back conversation club with ladies my own age who want to practice their English.
ABLE-Mathias took four of our boys this year to ABLE, the prestigious, well-funded, PCV led boys leadership camp. This one actually is overnight for a week and the boys meet other outstanding students from other regions.
COS Conference-Not a camp but our "Close of Service" conference where we learn thrilling things like: how to apply for post-pc health insurance and fill out lots of official paperwork. There was also reflection on the last to years and some thoughts about the future-we're going to have to get jobs! Highlights include waterslides as conference was at a waterpark/hotel.
Bilasuvar Camp-Mostly indoor activities now that Ramazan has begun. Highlights included playing "ninja" and making picture frames.
Tomorrow I'm leaving for yet another town I've never been to and then soon after I'm going to be doing WWOOF in Georgia in an attempt to use up my vacation days. I look forward to lots of time to think there so hopefully there will be some good thoughtful posts when I get back!
~Emma
