If you can read the English language, you probably know that the 6th day was the most important day of Biblical creation. Still, in the interest of keeping everyone on the same page, let me remind you why: that's when the big M-A-N was created.
Supposedly, mankind is the crown jewel of the world, the frontal lobe, the bipedal movement...and the man part of kind always seems to come first in the ancient visions of creation. Nevertheless, we've been auto-correcting that for awhile. In fact, you probably internally flinched when I wrote M-A-N (re: humanity) or mankind (re: humankind). Don't worry, your programming is functioning just fine.
    To keep the balance up there in that lovely logic center you probably remembered that women are subjected to terrible pressures and restrictions in the world. Maybe you're even compiling a list comparing the ratio of male to female leaders. And, unfortunately, you might be recalling some horror stories of women abroad and the men they encounter, foreign and local alike.
    Now that all those generalities are clear and present in your imagination, I want you to ignore them. Irrelevant.
    When I came to my little village, nestled in the crux of a cease-fire and an international border, I steeled myself to face gender discrimination. Oh yeah, I gave myself pep talks everyday, preparing myself for the fight to get the male leaders in my community on my side. Still, nothing could prepare me for host father poking a sharp rib in my side at every turn.
The questions were ceaseless. Often they were riddles and traps to prove he knew more or questions without any answer...
more often they were attempts to expose just how badly I spoke Azeri... ...or my failure to prove my worth as a woman.    He got me every time and I hated him for it.
    This is the same man now helping me renovate a classroom.     It may seem like a sudden transition from nemesis to ally, because it is. Granted, he became my greatest supporter 6 months ago but I still don't know when he switched sides. Suddenly he was introducing me around town, showing me restaurants that women never go to. We were talking politics and his questions were questions, not traps. He started calling me böyük qızım and buying me juice boxes in çayxanas. Now, he's saving our project, mobilizing parents, and spreading the word faster than I ever could.
    I can't say if he's an exception to the rule or the rule to an exception; but, I expected him to distrust me, he did. I suppose he expected that I would distrust him, I did.
    I do know that humanity isn't the crown jewel, I rather think the world would eject us into space if it could. In the wake of destruction, we're masters at finding a scapegoat in a nation, a gender, or a tribe. Circular reason your way around and around from patriarchal societies to violence to violent women in a patriarchal society and you end up at M-A-N (re: humanity).
    Maybe that's how my host father and I got here.

Your German for the day:
Achtung – Attention, duh. Don't you feel stupid for checking.

Your Azerbaijani for the day:
Ptolemi niyə Pompeyin başı Caesara verdi? - Why did Ptolemy give Pompey's head to Caeser?
Almanlar niyə Yehudilar xoşlamırlar?- Why do the Germans not like the Jews?
Bizim dilimiz yaxşı örənməyi lazımdır sənə.- You need to learn our language well.
Na vaxt bizə yemək bişirəcəksən?- When will you cook for us?
İngilis Kabinet – English room
Vəziyyət necədir?- How's life?
böyük qızım – my oldest daughter
çayxana – tea house, a SERIOUSLY man place...in Beyləqan anyway