Almost Time to Go

Today is my last day at my home school before going to Azerbaijan. Tomorrow through Saturday I will be chaperoning my students to a state journalism convention in Orlando. Then on Monday I leave for Azerbaijan! Hectic day today!

My Home School

It's less than two weeks until I take my trip. I'm excited to see what Halima's school will look like. I'm guessing that it will be much smaller than the high school where I teach. We have about 4,100 students at Cypress Bay High this year. Here are a couple of images of what it looks like at dismissal on a typical day. The school was built in 2002, and the architecture suits the subtropical climate

Three Weeks from Today

I just got an email from the visa expediter that my visa arrived and they are sending it along to me. This was a new process for me as I have never traveled to a country that requires a visa. Putting my passport in a FedEx envelope and sending it off without me was a bit disconcerting. ("Goodbye, passport! Promise you'll be back soon!") But it's on its way back. This is another indicator that the trip is getting closer -- just three weeks from today!

Getting There

It will take three flights to get me to Azerbaijan. I will fly from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, from Newark to Frankfurt, and from Frankfurt to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. There my host teacher Halima will meet me at the airport along with her sister who is a radio journalist in Baku. What must it be like to be a radio journalist in Baku? I can't wait to ask her all about it. At that point, however, my travels are still not quite done. Halima and I will take either a train or bus overnight to Ganja, the second largest city in Azerbaijan and my final destination. Ganja is where Halima lives and teaches, and that is where I will be spending my two weeks in Azerbaijan.

Little Pieces of Culture

The program is not a literal exchange in that Halima will not be coming to my school even though I am going to hers. All international teachers spend six weeks hosted by a U.S. university before becoming hosts themselves. Halima visited Nebraska, Indiana, and Washington, D.C. when she spent her time here. When I first heard that those were the places she had visited, my reaction was that she had not seen a true representation of the United States. What about New York? What about California? What about Texas? It all goes back to that unanswerable question of what the "real America" is. And, of course, what about Florida, the state in which I reside? How can I as one individual properly represent the whole diverse state of (often wacky) Florida, not to mention the whole extraordinarily diverse United States? It's clearly not going to be possible. There is no easy way to sum up American culture. I will just have to use as a starting point a couple of the (somewhat wacky) gifts I plan on bringing: an "Art Deco of South Beach" calendar and a canvas alligator-and-flamingo print tote bag.

So, what's the dress code?

I first saw a picture of my host teacher Halima on Facebook. In her profile picture she is wearing jeans and a T-shirt that says in English, "Rock on." That taught me something right away, but I still didn't know what typical dress in Azerbaijan is. Halima has since told me that I can wear whatever I want. (Even so, it is probably a good thing that I do not want to dress like Lady Gaga.) We have also Skyped a couple of times, and Halima was dressed the way any U.S. teacher would be. I am now confident that my usual Florida teacher garb of cotton pants and a polo shirt is fine.

Preparing and Planning

My trip is just one month away! My visa is in progress. I've organized and reorganized my lesson plans, handouts and Powerpoints. Halima, my host teacher, and Elaine, her American friend from the Peace Corps who has been in Azerbaijan for six months, have given me information and tips. I am thinking about what and how to pack. Elaine, without knowing me, said it is best to not be too rigid in planning as Azerbaijanis tend to be flexible in their schedules. I must work on turning off my Type A-ness! (This is an ongoing life goal.)