April is almost over and I am I couldn’t be happier. It was an adventure with a bad start but a good enough ending (knock on wood). Here is what happened…I moved into my new apartment, located in the scary “bazaar” neighborhood. I was excited because it was decent, with a western style toilet and a decent looking bathroom in addition to the fact that it was newly painted and clean looking. I was positive and looking forward to my new Azerbaijani existence. The day after I moved out my water stopped. Apartment buildings in Azerbaijan are usually not the best when it comes to water supply. Usually each apartment has its own 50-liter tank which gets filled when the water does come. In most cases this happens 2 to 3 times a week so I figured I’d have to wait a day or 2. On the 3rd day, however, I figured out that the water hadn’t been coming to the building for over a month, and was lied to by my landlords who I asked 2+ times about why the hell people kept coming in the building lugging buckets of water. I continued to live like this for the next 3 weeks, showering and doing laundry at other people’s places, and buying food day to day. I chose not to buy the necessities I needed such as a mop, cooking utensils, a fridge, pots and pans, etc until this issue got resolved. I got in touch with the ex-com, police, and everyone in power I knew in order to get the government on the ball of getting the water fixed. To top it off, I could barely sleep in this apartment due to the fact the street dogs would have a barking contest outside my window from 1 till 6 am….and I thought the roosters during training were bad. Basically I had had enough. Meanwhile my counterpart, who helped me look for houses for 3 months, found my site mate Sarah a GREAT house in just one week. Not only does she have running water, but also her house is fully furnished, renovated, and with all the housing utensils she needs, that and she has a swimming pool/tub in her yard. Being pissed was understatement. So then that was topped off by the tragic events that took place at Virginia Tech. Being so far away from it did not make it any easier on me, having in mind that I have walked the halls, have friends there, and had always considered the place home. Nothing was going right, until just a few days ago when the Peace Corps housing coordinator actually did his job, and found me a house! I moved today and am ecstatic. I have a huge yard which will have tons of fruit in the summer. It also has furniture, a fridge, and all the basic necessities that were lacking before. The only negative to my little house is the scary outdoor toilet that I am trying to get used to. Its basically a concrete slab with a hole, under which there is a poop well. Lets just say that it DOES NOT smell like roses and the scorching summer heat will only make it worse.
Well this was an unexciting blog entry so let me try and change that.
Everybody has pet peeves. The big ones I had before moving to this country included slow drivers, prick customers, talking with your mouth full, and people waking me up for no good reason. Reasonable right? Well let me tell you about the new ones I have developed in my 10 month Azerbaijani life:
1. Waiting in line - Making a line does not exist in Azerbaijan. Weather you are at the bank, post office, train station, or market instead of a line one usually encounters a semi circle. When you get in the semi circle it is all a battle of who will get to the cashier first. Now personally I enjoy my personal space and when there are only 2-3 people waiting I stay behind like a good little girl waiting my turn. And that’s usually when the assholes come. They will literally wedge themselves between me and the person in front and ignore the fact that anyone else exists. When this happen I fuuuuuume. Lately I have started to literally push the kids out of the way, but the old people just don’t get it! Ah! I get frustrated just writing about it.
2. Catcalls - If you are a girl, I am sure you have experienced the occasional whistle or catcall. Sometimes you ignore them, sometimes you retaliate by a certain hand gesture we are all familiar of. Well in Azerbaijan this is a daily occurrence. I have been asked to get married, live together, kissy sounds, “I love you” calls, as well as the occasional walking into me on purpose thing. The problem is that yelling and cursing in English or Azeri doesn’t help, and neither does just ignoring them. Lately my iPod has been helping, but seriously will they ever learn? Surprising for a conservative Muslim culture, but fact.
3. Money talk - We have been taught that asking about salaries and similar money issues is not polite. I have always avoided the subject and felt uncomfortable when it was brought up. Well in Azerbaijan they have been brought up exactly the opposite. Even though I keep telling them “Konolluyam, konolluyam (I’m a volunteer, I’m a volunteer),” they just do not get it! And this is not just my school colleagues, this is cab drivers, shopkeepers, old ladies, and anyone I ever meet! What’s your salary? How much do you pay for this? How much do you pay for that? How much money did you make in America? Lately I just tell them I don’t like to talk about money and they drop the subject for about 5 min.
4. VIZIFs – Peace Corps Azerbaijan requires all volunteers to have cell phones. The cell phone system is probably the most developed thing Azerbaijan has and there is great service everywhere. Peace Corps provided us with the phones and it was our job to get a sim cards and a pay as you go plan. The credit we get on our phone is fine for text messaging people and checking your email, but actually calling costs a lot and therefore we never do it. This is speaking for us volunteers, because Azeris rarely text. They make 1 min phone calls to each other and the infamous vizif. That is when someone calls you and hangs up, meaning they have no credit on their phone and want you to call them back. This annoys me, because I never have any either and if you want to talk to me then use your own money! (PS. If you have a Cingular or a TMobile phone, I can text you for the same price as anyone in Azerbaijan, so let me know!)
5. The “Bush” talk – I don’t like President Bush just like most of the world at this point. I trash talk him all the time and enjoy the occasional discussion on why he keeps digging his hole deeper. Half of the time when a local finds out I came from America, they start talking shit about Bushy to me, and surprisingly that really pisses me off. They don’t know me, or my beliefs so they are being disrespectful to my home and purpose. If I ever was to talk bad about their president, I would be hated by everyone and I know not to do it because its clearly insolent. So yes I can talk shit about Bush, but you better not say anything until you get to know me!
Don’t misunderstand though, there are lovely people here who understand what my mission is, and have been nothing but helpful to me. Uneducated, disrespectful, and rude folk exist everywhere and this is what the ones in this country do. Other than that the school year is almost over and there are only 4 more weeks of classes left. Let me tell you teaching in a 3rd world country is exhausting and I am looking forward to having little to do. This is it for now!
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