KZ in AZ

Since I’m not aloud to say the name of my new town I will call it “Blue-River!” I love Blue-River!!! It is so very beautiful and with tree’s and a couple of nice parks! There is an art center, museum, many schools and an orphanage that I will be working with quite a bit. The town itself is not as liberal as I had heard… (fingers crossed) maybe I can make a dent in that!

My new family is fantastic… I have a great room a kitchen with a sitting area all my own a bathroom of my own with a western toilet and a dining room (that I doubt I’ll use) but is part of my setup. I am really happy with this house. My family has 2 sons but one is in the army and 1 is in the university so they are not at the house. I have 1 sister but she is getting married so she will be leaving the house. I have a mom and dad, although I have yet to meet the dad, I he was in I Baku during the week when I was visiting. My mom is great very liberal. To make money they house other people who work in my town but live in nearby towns so I have other “guests 5 days a week and then they go home for the weekend. They are very hands off but at the same time they make efforts to include me when I am around. I like having a little of both freedom and integration.

My job is AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My organization is a human rights organization that has a specialty in woman’s rights and children’s rights but is open to many new ideas. This is not directly my organization but we partner with them A LOT: Azerbaijan Human Rights Foundation URL: www.human-rights-foundation.org

So far I have met with the municipality (like local city government) president, environment director, economic director, social services director, tourism director, and communications director. I have also met with school directors, orphanage directors, doctors of local hospitals and clinics and have had tours of many of their facilities. I was only there 3 days mind you!!! I feel as if I have A LOT to do!!! Being there the projects I want to participate in and create was numerous.

So also while I was there I came across a puppy in the street with his mom… I instantly gave much love and then brought it back to its mom whom I also gave great love too. They were mutts on the street as all dogs are because there is no such thing as pet’s in Azerbaijan. I left them there happily because they had each other. The next day walking by I was eager to see my dog family but did not… I kept walking down the road only to find the mother shot! I was devastated as the puppy was only about 2-3weeks old. I found the puppy and promptly had my boss call my host family to see if it was ok to bring him home to which they agreed. Well this puppy was covered in flees and my father informed me that if you use dishwashing detergent to give him a bath it would kill the flea’s… which worked SPECTACULARLY!!! I named him “Sim-Sek” (in Azeri the S’s have a slash on the bottom and the e is upside-down.) the translation is “lightning.” He is the cutest putty and my site mate is taking care of him until I return to Blue-River! I am so excited to have a puppy and if anyone wants to send me dog toys it would be sooooo rad! As soon as I can I will post pictures of my little Sim-Sek!!!

So there are 3 more weeks of PST and then I will be sworn in and go to Blue-River, and I can’t wait! When I am there I for sure will have internet access at lease 9-5 am which is 9-5pm in PST and 12-8pm in EST… so maybe I can chat with people online free!!! I will be on gmail chat (katzigmont@gmail.com) and AOL chat!! I hope you enjoyed the first set of pictures!! The next bunch will be so much better!!!

I love you all!
Kat Zig

P.S. after I move I will have a new address if you want that mailing address or my current on email me at katzigmont@gmail.com as I can’t post it.