This coming month, I will attempt to embark on a quest. The quest of National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. I will have 30 days to write 50,000 words. Hopefully I won't go crazy in the process trying to juggle Peace Corps responsibilities, clubs, reading, and general personal life at the same time. This should also be interesting because I recently took a small chunk out of my left pointer finger and consequently am typing this with nine fingers. Maybe that's my novel! No, no it isn't.
Why am I doing this? For fun, mostly, and to see if I can. Also, one of the easy to fall back on uses of time in Peace Corps in watching movies and TV shows. I know it wouldn't seem that way, but with Internet in the house, and portable hard drives being shared all over the place, the PC life can be overwhelming with media. Hopefully, writing a full length novel and posting it online (irony noted), I'll be able to make myself take a bit of a break.
So, let the words begin! The game is a-word! Insert your writing pun here.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Losing a Friend
This past week, my host family's puppy, Bucky (short for Buckingham, from The Three Musketeers) passed away. This was a sudden passing, which started at the end of the week before, when Bucky stopped eating, and anything that was forcibly given would come right back up. We were baffled, and the local vet was only able to diagnose it as dog "plague." I'm translating, but it's either dog plague or dog pestilence, according to my dictionary, and neither option is particularly informative as a diagnosis. Our main theory is that he ate something that effectively was poisonous to his system, and we were unable to get him to a proper vet in time. By the time when we realized he really needed it, I think he would have required an IV and blood work, which we could not have afforded.
Still, Bucky was my baby. Against my host family's reservations he was even known to sleep inside. Pause for gasp. I've been fortunate in my pet ownership that my family's dogs have all been long-lived. Our first dog, Beauregard, lived until I was in elementary school, and our next dog, Maggie, died when I was abroad in India. Now we have Lucy. Our other pets have not lasted as long, including some fish that made the mistake of living in elementary school me's bedroom when I and my friends enjoyed jumping on beds while playing catch. My mom still remembers the water gushing out onto the carpet floor.
I was expecting my host parents to take a more traditionally non-Western attitude towards animals, that they are animals and should be treated as such, not as family members. But my host mother was very upset at the loss, and mourned him over tea that night. My host father helped my dig the grave, and though he made a point of saying that animals don't get funerals, I think he realized he might have been a bit insensitive to how I was feeling, because later that evening, he came to me explaining that you do not have to treat animals that way, or wish them to heaven, because God automatically absolves them (the same goes for kids, apparently). I knew he cared because he clearly looked up both "absolve" and "sin." Thank you, Ata.
Thank you, Bucky, for making my life happy for the five months you were a part of it. Maybe you chewed on my fingers too much, but I will miss you. You were a great little buddy. I hope that in whatever dog heaven you're in, you're happy.
Still, Bucky was my baby. Against my host family's reservations he was even known to sleep inside. Pause for gasp. I've been fortunate in my pet ownership that my family's dogs have all been long-lived. Our first dog, Beauregard, lived until I was in elementary school, and our next dog, Maggie, died when I was abroad in India. Now we have Lucy. Our other pets have not lasted as long, including some fish that made the mistake of living in elementary school me's bedroom when I and my friends enjoyed jumping on beds while playing catch. My mom still remembers the water gushing out onto the carpet floor.
I was expecting my host parents to take a more traditionally non-Western attitude towards animals, that they are animals and should be treated as such, not as family members. But my host mother was very upset at the loss, and mourned him over tea that night. My host father helped my dig the grave, and though he made a point of saying that animals don't get funerals, I think he realized he might have been a bit insensitive to how I was feeling, because later that evening, he came to me explaining that you do not have to treat animals that way, or wish them to heaven, because God automatically absolves them (the same goes for kids, apparently). I knew he cared because he clearly looked up both "absolve" and "sin." Thank you, Ata.
Thank you, Bucky, for making my life happy for the five months you were a part of it. Maybe you chewed on my fingers too much, but I will miss you. You were a great little buddy. I hope that in whatever dog heaven you're in, you're happy.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tigers at the Bat
The Ismayilli Tigers spilled out of the bus yesterday evening, tired but happy. They had just returned from their first full tournament as a team.
We left for Kurdamir at 8:30 that morning, and managed to survive one of the bumpiest roads around, a road so bad only one driver was willing to take us, with a couple stops for kids to make mad dashes to the nearest ditch. Along the way, as we would pass herds of sheep and goats, kids would call out the names they knew in English, and ask about words they didn't. At the same time, the driver of course had the radio blaring. Once we hit the main highway, things evened out and I was able to read a little, collecting myself before we arrived.
The Kurdamir stadium lies to the south of the main roundabout, where we had played (American) football Christmas Day. The kids hid behind the bleachers to change clothing, and then came out ready to play.
Our first game was against Xachmaz (a town in the northeast of the country, near the Caspian Sea). The Tigers batted first, driving in four runs, almost reaching the mercy rule (five run per inning limit). Still a little rusty in the field, they let three runs the first inning. This was especially impressive since they were pitching themselves for the first time, something I had not prepared them for, but surprised them with as the other teams were planning to pitch. Trial by fire in the Land of Fire.
In the second inning, both teams hit the mercy rule switch, and in the final inning, Xachmaz managed to pull ahead. The Tigers had one last chance to retake the lead, but the game ended on a rule misunderstanding--one boy hit a pop up that was caught for an out, and then threw to the bases that the Ismayilli boys had abdicated before they could return. Final score: 12-11
The second game was a pitcher's duel against Goychay, our nearest team, though this was our first match. This was the height of their fielding for the day, and the game ended at 4-3. Again, they almost staged a comeback, but a pop up ended the game once more.
Finally, the Tigers took on the Goranboy team (from the west, near Mingachavir), which has recently had to start over basically from scratch with very few old-overs from previous years. They were the only team to have girls on the team, at least as far as I saw, something I hope will become a larger trend across the country. The boys’ bats came alive, driving in 10 runs to Goranboy’s four. This was a huge win for them, after the two disappointing losses, and there was much rejoicing.
Sadly, we never played the home Kurdamir team, a team made up entirely of IDPs, or Internally Displaced Persons, a special project focus for Todd in forming the team. Not so sadly, we also missed out on playing the Bilasuvar team, which has managed to thoroughly beat all the teams they’ve faced. They’re an intense team that could teach our kids a lot, they’re just not ready for that lesson just yet.
The only major hitch came when two boys on the team got into a skuffle, after one made some joke at the other’s expense. The tussle resulted in bloody noses, and a one game suspension courtesy of yours truly. Today at practice, it led to some questions about what happens when there are fights in the major leagues (they’ve been checking out youtube, I’m guessing), and will continue to discussions about teamwork and respect.
Huge thanks go out to Todd and Sarah, the Kurdamir volunteers, for hosting us, as well as to the team captains of all the other teams, and to the boys and girls from throughout the country who came out with their game faces on and their bats and gloves at the ready. We’ve got one more definite tournament, in two weeks in Baku, and until then, we’ve got our work cut out for us.
We left for Kurdamir at 8:30 that morning, and managed to survive one of the bumpiest roads around, a road so bad only one driver was willing to take us, with a couple stops for kids to make mad dashes to the nearest ditch. Along the way, as we would pass herds of sheep and goats, kids would call out the names they knew in English, and ask about words they didn't. At the same time, the driver of course had the radio blaring. Once we hit the main highway, things evened out and I was able to read a little, collecting myself before we arrived.
The Kurdamir stadium lies to the south of the main roundabout, where we had played (American) football Christmas Day. The kids hid behind the bleachers to change clothing, and then came out ready to play.
Our first game was against Xachmaz (a town in the northeast of the country, near the Caspian Sea). The Tigers batted first, driving in four runs, almost reaching the mercy rule (five run per inning limit). Still a little rusty in the field, they let three runs the first inning. This was especially impressive since they were pitching themselves for the first time, something I had not prepared them for, but surprised them with as the other teams were planning to pitch. Trial by fire in the Land of Fire.
In the second inning, both teams hit the mercy rule switch, and in the final inning, Xachmaz managed to pull ahead. The Tigers had one last chance to retake the lead, but the game ended on a rule misunderstanding--one boy hit a pop up that was caught for an out, and then threw to the bases that the Ismayilli boys had abdicated before they could return. Final score: 12-11
The second game was a pitcher's duel against Goychay, our nearest team, though this was our first match. This was the height of their fielding for the day, and the game ended at 4-3. Again, they almost staged a comeback, but a pop up ended the game once more.
Finally, the Tigers took on the Goranboy team (from the west, near Mingachavir), which has recently had to start over basically from scratch with very few old-overs from previous years. They were the only team to have girls on the team, at least as far as I saw, something I hope will become a larger trend across the country. The boys’ bats came alive, driving in 10 runs to Goranboy’s four. This was a huge win for them, after the two disappointing losses, and there was much rejoicing.
Sadly, we never played the home Kurdamir team, a team made up entirely of IDPs, or Internally Displaced Persons, a special project focus for Todd in forming the team. Not so sadly, we also missed out on playing the Bilasuvar team, which has managed to thoroughly beat all the teams they’ve faced. They’re an intense team that could teach our kids a lot, they’re just not ready for that lesson just yet.
The only major hitch came when two boys on the team got into a skuffle, after one made some joke at the other’s expense. The tussle resulted in bloody noses, and a one game suspension courtesy of yours truly. Today at practice, it led to some questions about what happens when there are fights in the major leagues (they’ve been checking out youtube, I’m guessing), and will continue to discussions about teamwork and respect.
Huge thanks go out to Todd and Sarah, the Kurdamir volunteers, for hosting us, as well as to the team captains of all the other teams, and to the boys and girls from throughout the country who came out with their game faces on and their bats and gloves at the ready. We’ve got one more definite tournament, in two weeks in Baku, and until then, we’ve got our work cut out for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)