So I was wondering what I should write about, what would be interesting to you to read.  Quite frankly I am not sure so please send me suggestions.  I thought that I would start with describing a typical day for me. 

I live in a small town north of Baku.  It is near the Caspian sea.  I live with a host family who I will introduce later.  I get up around 8AM.  Wash my face and brush my teeth, etc.  I have the good fortune of having a bathroom that is quite similar to what you may be accustom to in the US.  I then go back to my room to dress.  When I emerge from my room my hostma has tea and breakfast waiting for me.  Breakfast is bread (freshly baked white, round loaf cut into large chunks as needed), jam, butter, cheese, and eggs, typically hard boiled.  Usually I eat in the living room/dining room/bedroom.  My two young brothers, 8 & 11, as well as my hostpa have already left for the day.  I then finish getting ready, grab my back, slip out of slippers and into my street shoes and walk to school. 

I attend languages classes from 9-1 at a local school.  It typically takes me about 5-10 minutes to walk depending on my speed.  I walk by a preschool, Soviet-style apartment buildings as well as individual homes surrounded by fences with a variety of doors.  Typically I see someone selling milk in water bottles and apples from a car.  It is not unusual for me to run into a flock of geese or sheep or a herd of goats eating whatever they can find on the street.  I am in language lessons with 4 other people.  These 4 other people and myself make up what Peace Corps call a cluster.  We do a variety of activities and tasks to help us learn the language.  We also manage to take a few breaks during which we sometimes run to the local mini-market to buy whatever we are having a hankering for - soda, chips, snickers, etc.  Around 1 I head home for lunch. 

For lunch I am typically served soup, salad (not the american green-leafy salad, but the Azerbaijani salad with veggies in mayonnaise or just cut up tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and herbs.  Since my hostma knows I love fried potatoes I usually have them waiting for me along with some meat.  Then I drink more tea and am served sweet cakes or chocolate.  We also have a lot of fruit - apples, pomegranates, and grapes are usually lying around the house. 

After lunch I may have sessions that cover my particular sector - Community Economic Development - or there’s time for my group to work on assigned projects. 

I spend the evening with the family watching tv, working on homework, eating dinner, drinking tea, and talking.  My hostma spends a great deal of time with both of her sons going over their homework and I have now been added into the fold.  My brothers try to help me too.  Then I usually go into my room around 10 or 11 and have some “me” time.  In my room I study, try to get organized for the next day, read, watch part of a movie on my computer, play a game on my computer and/or write in my journal.  I am asleep around 12 or 1 if not sooner.  And that’s it. 

So let me know what you would like me to write about.