AZ8s, we look forward to meeting you! Not that long ago, I was in your shoes. Freaking out over what to pack and what to put everything in, spending as much time as possible with my friends and family, and searching high and low for PC/AZ advice. Here’s my two cents.
Note that this perspective comes from a 37-year-old, female, university TEFL volunteer. I live in Sheki, a relatively liberal city (compared to the villages and most places in the south) with a decent amount of English speakers.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please send them!
- Pack 2 kinds of clothing: stuff for work and stuff that makes you happy.
- Work clothing: it’s difficult to overdress around Azeris. Clean, ironed (or polyester), sparkly, dark clothing and heels are the norm. If you’ll be teaching at the schools, bring skirts. Teachers don’t wear pants. Skirts should be knee-length or longer. Full skirts are very unpopular; pencil skirts or A-line skirts are the style. Femininity is key. Tight clothing is the norm. Showing skin is not okay. Guys: shorts are never okay.
- Stuff that makes you happy: having said the above, wear what makes you happy. You’ll be scrutinized and judged for everything you do and wear on a daily basis so don’t stress about finding clothes to fit in. Your clothes should be tasteful but you’re also coming here to show people a bit of the real America – wear what you feel comfortable in (without showing your back, midriff, shoulders, cleavage or thighs).
- Pack clothes that can withstand hand-washing.
- Cotton doesn’t stand up to hand-washing as well as you think it will. Also, if you can find something to remove armpit stains and/or deodorant stains that actually works while hand-washing please bring me some!
- Be prepared to gain weight.
- It WILL happen to you. Guaranteed. You must live with a host family during PST and for the first 4 months at site. The ‘national foods’ include enormous quantities of oil, butter, meat and bread. Bread is used as a utensil and it’s sometimes the only thing you want to eat. PST is overwhelming and it’s so easy to buy Snickers or hazelnut M&Ms during breaks. Thus…weight gain. So bring clothes you can grow into.
- Pack a yoga mat and bring exercise videos. You’ll have opportunities to swap videos but it’s good to have ones you know you like.
- Bring running shoes. Women: if you’re lucky and/or pick this battle, you can run in the early morning before people see you.
- Be prepared to live without daily internet access.
- During Orientation Week (assuming you’re at the same place we were), you’ll probably have hotel wifi but it’ll be difficult because everyone else will be using it at the same time. Don’t count on getting online.
- During PST (again, assuming you’re at the same place), there’s a decent internet café near the training school. You’ll go to this school about once a week. During the rest of the week your access will depend on what’s available in your town. Masazir had a small internet café but the computers were terrible and the speed was slow. It was so frustrating that I just gave up.
- Texting to friends and family in the States is easy and cheap. During Orientation week, you’ll get a handout with tech-related info.
- Don’t spend all of your Philadelphia/staging money.
- PC gives you a small chunk of money to get you through staging and the hours and hours of travel between America and Azerbaijan. Don’t spend all of that money! I used my staging money to buy a net-capable cellphone during PST and it saved my sanity.
I was going to say more about the culture but it’s subjective and best left for you to discover on your own.
Have fun in the States and we’ll see you soon!
