Hello Hello Everyone!
First and foremost, let me say: "The contents of this website do not reflect any policies or positions of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps."
Now that that's out of the way... this website is where I will be documenting my adventures in Azerbaijan so that you can keep track of me, at least as much as I want you to :) I've never blogged before but I figured now would be a good time to start.
As for the basics- I accepted an assignment to serve for the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan (what am I thinking?!) and I could not be more anxious/excited/nervous! I leave September 20th for Philadelphia for pre-training (Staging- 2 days). Then we take a bus to NYC and fly out of LaGuardia to Frankfurt on the 22nd, and from there to Baku, Azerbaijan! We will have 11 weeks of "Pre-Service Training" in communities outside of Baku before we go to our actual sites. I will not know my site until sometime during training. A lot of the training will be learning the language, a nice common, easy-to-learn language: Azerbaijani.
My job title is "Secondary School English Teacher". If you're familiar with the TEFL program, that's basically what I'll be using. If you're not familiar, TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. It is a program used all around the globe for English teachers. Other than that, I don't really know exactly what my job will consist of.
As of right now, I only have my address to be used during my time spent in training. I would love to get anything from pictures to candy to letters anytime!
Jaclyn Gilstrap, PCT
AZ 1000Main
P.O. Box 77
Peace Corps
Baku, Azerbaijan
I hope to use this site to answer any questions that come up so let me know if you have any! Let me also take this time to say Thank You to my family and friends for supporting me throughout this entire process- I could not have gotten to this point without every single one of you! Also, in case you're wondering, my favorite thing I'm taking with me is BY FAR my head lamp (thanks Rebs!)...picture coming soon. :)
Here is the link to the Peace Corps website on Azerbaijan- you should take a look! Also, I am posting a map of the region because if you're like me, I had no *&$^*! idea where Azerbaijan was!
