Polen met Cohen after joining the Peace Corps in fall 2008. They were both assigned to the Azerbaijan team. About 60 people split into one of three groups: Community and economic development; youth development involving sports and kids; and English as a second language. "It's three months of language and job training," said Polen. Cohen reflected, "Peace Corps training is very intense." Their training included technical, cultural, language and health and safety aspects. When they arrived, Polen and Cohen stayed with host families for four months. The country of 8 million people is 95-98 percent Muslim and "fairly secular" with few-to-no extremists or radicals.
Chris Polen, along with fiancee Alexis Cohen, returned last week from two years of Peace Corps work in Azerbaijan
World traveler returns from trips to Caspian, Japan
Roberts native and UW-River Falls graduate Chris Polen, along with fiancee Alexis Cohen, returned last week from two years of Peace Corps work in Azerbaijan - pronounced "ah-zur-buy-john."
By: Debbie Griffin, New Richmond News
Caption: Peace Corps volunteers Chris Polen, Alexis Cohen (and fellow volunteer Micah) stand near a waterfall in the mountains near Xinaluq, Azerbaijan.
Roberts native and UW-River Falls graduate Chris Polen, along with fiancee Alexis Cohen, returned last week from two years of Peace Corps work in Azerbaijan - pronounced "ah-zur-buy-john."
The couple traveled 30 hours to get home through Hanoi, Vietnam; Seoul, South Korea; and Tokyo, Japan.
The two return with new perspectives and an interest in government jobs, perhaps as foreign diplomats.
The 30-year-old, multi-lingual Polen said he first traveled out of the country while in college with the UW-RF Wisconsin in Scotland program, sparking his interest in international travel.
A professor's words prompted him to take Japanese as one of his last elective college classes. He failed the course but learned the language well as he taught English in Japan for five years.
"I worked in middle schools and elementary schools," he said.
Doing some translation and consulting work helped him realize an interest in the business side of international work, and he says, "I wasn't done traveling."
He said he'd thought about the Peace Corps a few times, particularly after 9/11. Polen recognized that in the years following the tragedy, many people around the world developed resentment toward the United States.
"I thought I could do something to put a positive face on America," he said.
Peace Corps
Polen met Cohen after joining the Peace Corps in fall 2008. They were both assigned to the Azerbaijan team.
About 60 people split into one of three groups: Community and economic development; youth development involving sports and kids; and English as a second language.
"It's three months of language and job training," said Polen.
Cohen reflected, "Peace Corps training is very intense."
Their training included technical, cultural, language and health and safety aspects.
When they arrived, Polen and Cohen stayed with host families for four months. The country of 8 million people is 95-98 percent Muslim and "fairly secular" with few-to-no extremists or radicals.
The country used to be part of the Soviet Union and the old Russian Empire, and it borders several countries, so it's a mix of different people from different places.
Azerbaijan has varying climates due its diverse geography, including the Caucasus Mountains and arid regions. Polen said the weather there wasn't too different than Wisconsin's - cold and snowy in the winter and with mild, pleasant summers.
The two took small buses where they needed to go and sometimes hiked.
Polen recounts a scary incident when he was hiking with a small group and snapped some photos of an old chemical plant. First a guard in the distance yelled to them, then police showed up and soon Polen was "detained" for the afternoon.
He was able to laugh about it after he'd been released.
Asked about the biggest joys and challenges of their two-year experience, Cohen says she enjoyed living in good cities and the fact that she felt safe.
For example, she didn't worry when someone took her bag or money to put it in the back of the bus. Unlike in big-city USA, she didn't worry about scams there.
Polen said he enjoyed learning something new every day.
They both agree one challenge was just getting people - particularly in small communities - to "think outside the box."
Polen and Cohen observed a general attitude that it's better to maintain status quo than to try something, fail, and risk looking like a fool.
The Peace Corps paid basic living expenses while they were there, plus Polen and Cohen will each end up with about $5,500 for the two years' work.
They say the cultural exchange was always interesting and educational. Locals didn't understand the concept of living alone or Americans' need for privacy. Polen said most people there live with large, extended families until married.
Cohen said women do not live alone or it is presumed they are not respectable. Many believe that the only women who smoke and drink are prostitutes.
Polen learned that men who don't shave clean may be regarded as an extremist or terrorist. He said for sake of education, he let his beard grow out a few times.
Comes naturally
Polen filed a report describing the work he did while in Azerbaijan but says the information doesn't even convey the most important task: Exchanging information.
Peace Corps work involves many activities but mainly strives to help "interested countries" meet their need for a trained labor force and to promote better understanding both ways of Americans and the cultures in which they work.
As part of the community and economic development team, Polen helped the Ministry of Economic Development there to build its staff's professional skills through training sessions on communication, information technology and management, for example.
Other workshops included foreign-education opportunities, U.S. immigration procedures, IT best practices, AIDS prevention and gender-diversity development.
He helped a small, private business win a regional contract through the U.S. Agency for International Development. He worked in the ag-business sector, encountering everything from cold-storage and aquaculture to detangling bureaucratic knots and studying bee habitat.
"Oil is definitely the No. 1 export," he said adding that some of his work involved helping the country develop other economic resources.
He and Cohen say they also saw small markets in pomegranates, nuts, apples, fish farming, and they say bee keeping is an up-and-coming little industry, too.
The country has much natural beauty, and Polen said, "Someday tourism could be good there."
Learn more about the Peace Corps at www.peacecorps.gov.
