Hey hey hey

Update!

So things are good. I have the feeling that we are starting to settle in. I'm updating from an internet cafe that we found in our village. Score. Alicia is at one of her technical training classes, so I decided to do a quick update. Thanks to everyone who is thinking/praying for us. We are learning more and more everyday. The language is coming. Our host mother wishes we could just wake up one moring and be speaking Azeri fluently. I do too. This would makes things much easier. But that's not going to happen, so we're working at it. She seems convinced her last volunteer was speaking Azeri in 5 days. I told her she was crazy. She is super sweet, and we're able to converse more and more everyday, but still rely fairly heavely on international sign language.
Alicia and I are leaving our town tomorrow to visit current volunteers in Azerbaijan. We're going to different posts, but are still going in groups. We're excited to see other parts of the country and look forward to comparing our experiences. We'll be there for 4 days. My daily commute to technical training is about to get a lot easier. Currently I travel from my small town of a few thousand to Sumqayit (soom-guy-it). From there I transfer and take another bus and travel another half an hour. Keep in mind this is just for technical training. My language training is only a 10 min or so bus ride. Anyway, the Peace Corps have hired us a driver to cut the 1.5 hour commute there, 1.5 hour commute back, to about 50 min to an hour round trip. Nice. Im excited about this.
Traveling within the communities has already taught me a lot about the people and the area. I feel this is the best way to learn, and am comfortable to travel. No worries mothers, Im not doing anything stupid or staying out too late. I miss you all and enjoy reading your comments. Keep watching, we'll keep posting. Salamatciligdir!

-Derek and Alicia