Dogs Bark a LOT
The rock video is on youtube.com for absolute certain this time. Just go to youtube and search amongst the videos for “Azerbaijan Bon Jovi.” It’s awesome. At least in my experience.
So this week should be a short update. I had a nice trip to Baku and we sent the AZ3 volunteers home in style. Plus I got to eat nachos, McDonald’s (stuffed into the chicken sandwich of course), and see everyone who I haven’t seen in a long time. We even got to meet some of the AZ5 volunteers and show them around Baku. Then it was back to Lankaran and the real world. Which, of course, means spaghetti and ketchup. Yum…
Since Ashley is gone to Budapest, I am in charge of watching the dog, and so far the first two nights have been interesting. The first night, Sunday, I was exhausted from the weekend in Baku and the hot journey on the bus back to Lankaran. First thing when I got back was picking up Lyka from Ashley’s house and collecting all the food and toys that I needed to bring over to my house. Second on the agenda was finding a taxi to save myself the 40 minute walk to my house. This proved to be more interesting than I had originally planned.
While waiting on the side of the road, the sight of an American with a dog on a leash attracted some attention. One kid in particular was completely fascinated with the dog and me. The highlight of this
exchange, though, wasn’t the 79 questions he asked in a four minute period, but maybe the last question he asked. At the end of our conversation, he tells me to wait there for a second. I do, since I really don’t want to walk home and up to this point I couldn’t find a taxi driver that would let Lyka sit in the back seat with me, but rather wanted to put her in the trunk. This seemed like it would be uncomfortable for her, so I decided to wait it out. I mean, I’ve seen goats back there and they always look miserable. Anyways, the kid returns with a cat in his hands. I immediately start telling him no, this isn’t the way to behave and is inappropriate. Even after saying this, he asks me if he can throw the cat at the dog and see what happens. I couldn’t help but laugh, and despite my dislike for cats, could not allow this to happen. Hence, I decided it would be best to start walking. Finally I find a taxi in front of a tea house with, of course, more spectators. This time, they were able to laugh at the taxi driver enough to get him to take me. It was amusing when, as I was telling him that the dog was nice and there’s no reason to be afraid, Lyka jumped halfway through the passenger side window. He couldn’t stop laughing the entire ride, as Lyka would not sit still, and kept licking the seat. Finally, we made it to my house where Lyka
could finally spend her days and nights barking at my neighbors on their porch. If only they would stop staring at her, I think she would shut up, but who knows. She spent the first night in my house and that is the last time that will be happening, for now at least. I do believe my yard is Lyka proof, as much as I could make it anyways. I had to find some wooden boards to cover the bottom of my gate because last time she was there she managed to sneak her way under it and I think you all know how little I want to chase her around the neighborhood. She has been getting better with each day that she’s been here and I’m hoping that trend continues. Enough about her.
On Monday, I had my first Athletic Club meeting and had 12 kids show up. We played volleyball, which you would think would be very difficult with no real volleyball net. Turns out, you can play many games like volleyball, but not quite volleyball. We even played an Azeri version of dodgeball which gave me an idea. We could play
real dodgeball!! This should be fun, but I think we will wait until we can use the gymnasium at the school. Next week we will play wiffle ball. A lot of the kids want to play American football as well, which I’m really looking forward to teaching. On Wednesday, I will have conversation club again, which is getting more and more difficult since it’s hard to keep coming up with games to play that will keep the kids interested. I am planning on bringing my guitar and hoping that we can write a song, so we will see how that goes. There are a few pics of Lyka and one of the barricade, and if I catch her doing anything stupid, I’ll put that up as well.
So this week should be a short update. I had a nice trip to Baku and we sent the AZ3 volunteers home in style. Plus I got to eat nachos, McDonald’s (stuffed into the chicken sandwich of course), and see everyone who I haven’t seen in a long time. We even got to meet some of the AZ5 volunteers and show them around Baku. Then it was back to Lankaran and the real world. Which, of course, means spaghetti and ketchup. Yum…
Since Ashley is gone to Budapest, I am in charge of watching the dog, and so far the first two nights have been interesting. The first night, Sunday, I was exhausted from the weekend in Baku and the hot journey on the bus back to Lankaran. First thing when I got back was picking up Lyka from Ashley’s house and collecting all the food and toys that I needed to bring over to my house. Second on the agenda was finding a taxi to save myself the 40 minute walk to my house. This proved to be more interesting than I had originally planned.
While waiting on the side of the road, the sight of an American with a dog on a leash attracted some attention. One kid in particular was completely fascinated with the dog and me. The highlight of this
exchange, though, wasn’t the 79 questions he asked in a four minute period, but maybe the last question he asked. At the end of our conversation, he tells me to wait there for a second. I do, since I really don’t want to walk home and up to this point I couldn’t find a taxi driver that would let Lyka sit in the back seat with me, but rather wanted to put her in the trunk. This seemed like it would be uncomfortable for her, so I decided to wait it out. I mean, I’ve seen goats back there and they always look miserable. Anyways, the kid returns with a cat in his hands. I immediately start telling him no, this isn’t the way to behave and is inappropriate. Even after saying this, he asks me if he can throw the cat at the dog and see what happens. I couldn’t help but laugh, and despite my dislike for cats, could not allow this to happen. Hence, I decided it would be best to start walking. Finally I find a taxi in front of a tea house with, of course, more spectators. This time, they were able to laugh at the taxi driver enough to get him to take me. It was amusing when, as I was telling him that the dog was nice and there’s no reason to be afraid, Lyka jumped halfway through the passenger side window. He couldn’t stop laughing the entire ride, as Lyka would not sit still, and kept licking the seat. Finally, we made it to my house where Lyka
could finally spend her days and nights barking at my neighbors on their porch. If only they would stop staring at her, I think she would shut up, but who knows. She spent the first night in my house and that is the last time that will be happening, for now at least. I do believe my yard is Lyka proof, as much as I could make it anyways. I had to find some wooden boards to cover the bottom of my gate because last time she was there she managed to sneak her way under it and I think you all know how little I want to chase her around the neighborhood. She has been getting better with each day that she’s been here and I’m hoping that trend continues. Enough about her.On Monday, I had my first Athletic Club meeting and had 12 kids show up. We played volleyball, which you would think would be very difficult with no real volleyball net. Turns out, you can play many games like volleyball, but not quite volleyball. We even played an Azeri version of dodgeball which gave me an idea. We could play
real dodgeball!! This should be fun, but I think we will wait until we can use the gymnasium at the school. Next week we will play wiffle ball. A lot of the kids want to play American football as well, which I’m really looking forward to teaching. On Wednesday, I will have conversation club again, which is getting more and more difficult since it’s hard to keep coming up with games to play that will keep the kids interested. I am planning on bringing my guitar and hoping that we can write a song, so we will see how that goes. There are a few pics of Lyka and one of the barricade, and if I catch her doing anything stupid, I’ll put that up as well.
posted by Tom at 9:24 AM
1 Comments:
Ha. I'll get to work on sending some football gear your way.
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