The Weather Outside is Frightful….

It is December, Christmas is nearing, and the weather is nippy. I have turned into a cabbage in the sense that I always have at least 3 layers of clothes on. Those layers rarely come off in order to reflect my showering schedule which in turn has become quite empty. Having the bathroom outside the house really is no fun when the temperature is in the 30s and you have to get naked and wet. Mornings are also tough and almost as unpleasant as showering. I sleep inside a humungous Slumber Jack bag which PC provided and is perfect for here. Getting out of the bag is the problem due to the fact that not only is it freezing inside my room, but I have to literally jump up and down while I dress so I don’t freeze my buns off. As you might have guessed the long underwear I sleep in NEVER comes off in order to minimize the amount of clothes I have to put on. I am so pretty right now!

Azerbaijani fashion in the winter is really amusing due to the choices of winter coats that are in. There area two styles: “ The Dark Ages” one and “The Matrix” one. The Dark Ages coats are tan, light green, brown, or sometimes all of these in 1 and have a large fur around the neck. They come to the ground, are bulky, and smell a little like a wet dog. A Kate Moss type woman may pull off a coat like this, but since most Azeri women are heavy set and short the coat along with some other features pop out like no other. “The Matrix” coat is just as unflattering and scary looking as the “Dark Ages” one. It is usually made of dark brown or black leather and is quite shiny. A long leather coat doesn’t sound that bad you say…Well, please stop imagining the coats in Benetton and picture this coat with a waistline, leather patches and sometimes so long that you can’t see the woman’s pointy high heels. Women that wear this style look like a mix between a Renaissance woman (with the bulky skirts) and Neo. I say that because the waistline comes right underneath the boobs and the skirt part of the coat usually covers a quite large behind. Azeri fashion in general is quite ‘different’, but since I find the coats especially amusing I thought I’d share.

Speaking of cold and winter, Christmas is completely non-existent in Barda. In accordance with Soviet Union tradition though, fake Christmas trees are put up for New Years and presents are exchanged. I managed to buy myself one that comes up to my knee along with some mini ornaments and have it propped up in my room. I also got my hands on some Christmas music and truth is my attempts to get into the sprit have done nothing more than depress me! I have to go to work on Christmas and am planning to have my students sing carols to me in order to have some sort of observance. New Years will be spent in Baku where I will have a real celebration in order to make up for Santa Clause forgetting me!