Baku & Ming

Baku

Last Saturday we went to Baku (in Azerbaijani it is spelled Baki but the I doesn’t have a dot, making the sound like the y in symbol) for the day with my language group and my LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator). We got to town at about 9 and went straight to McDonalds. That’s right, Big Mac for breakfast! Nothing better! McDonalds is in a square called Fountain Square and it’s where a lot of ex-pats go. There are a lot of Western things around, like fancy clothes stores that are impossible on a Peace Corps budget.

After breakfast we went up to Martyr’s Lane. This is pretty much a huge memorial to everything that’s happened in the last 25 years of Azerbaijan’s history. In 1990, the Russians came into Baku and massacred about 250 people – mostly men who were going to what they thought would be a peaceful meeting with the Russians. They were surprised by the Russian tanks; a few were able to escape. Ayten, my LCF, grew up in Baku and her father had gone to the meeting but was able to make it home that night. There are also very many graves for people who died in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia, when Armenia occupied a very large area of Azerbaijan’s territory in the 1990s. Martyr’s Lane is on top of a hill looking out over the Caspian and Baku’s skyline.

We then went to the Peace Corps office, which is very nice and very air conditioned. After getting the tour, we headed back to Fountain Square for nachos with some current volunteers at Tequila Junction. The nachos were good and the restaurant was full of British ex-pats in the oil industry. It was fun to hear English again!

We then went into Old City, which was built before the 7^th century, maybe even 500 B.C., depending on what source is used. We went into a carpet shop in a cave made using egg yolks as spackle. The shop owner told us all about what to look for when buying a carpet and told us some of the history and common symbols used in Azerbaijani carpets. It was a very interesting experience, but I think the man was a bit disappointed when we turned out not to be rich American tourists. We then saw the Maiden’s Tower and Shirvan Shahs’s Palace. They are both old. Older than America.

I really liked Baku. It was a lot cleaner than Sumgayit. Down in the area by Fountain Square, it has the feel of a European city. There are beautiful buildings and lots of ex-pats. It was great to not have people constantly staring at us, since there are so many European people. We live in a constant fish bowl everywhere else in Azerbaijan, so it’s great to know that there is a place we can go and just blend in… at least for the most part.

Mingachevir

This week we got to visit our permanent site in Mingachevir (pronounced ming etch a veer). It is a great town. It’s very beautiful and green. And CLEAN! We stayed with our host family. They are amazing! Tahir, the father is a retired sports teacher and the mother, Bebe is an art teacher at my school. They have an 11 year old son named Farid, who is very quiet and sweet, so far. Their house is very nice, a lot nicer than where we are now. Our room is nice and airy, with 3 windows that open into their garden full of pomegranate, apple, plum, kiwi and filbert trees.

My school is about five minutes from our house. I walk through the Bazaar to get to school; we’re about a block from the Bazaar. Jesse’s walk is about 25 minutes, but it’s a pleasant walk, he says. There are three other volunteers in our town, two of whom are from our group, AZ5. Nate lives right around the corner from us and Cindy lives in an apartment down closer to the river. Mike, from AZ4 is awesome. We’re so lucky to have an AZ4 site mate to show us the ropes, and Mike is one of our favorites. He and his girlfriend (an American named Kate who is not in PC, but lives in Ganga) had us all over to his apartment for quesadillas and chocolate chip cookies. Good times!

All in all, we are very excited to move to Mingachevir next month. We love the other PCVs going there, the town is great and our living arrangement is pretty darn good.

Photographs: 1. Greta, Bonnie, Barbie, Jen and me. This was when they announced sites for all the volunteers. Our shirts are from a Turkish soap opera. All the kids have these shirts. We also decided to have Crazy Hair Day. Our language group is the best and most fun! 2. McDonalds in Baku. Good stuff. 3. Me and Jesse at Martyrs Lane, Baku in the background. 4. The carpet shop in the cave. 5. Baku around Fountain Square. 6. Sunset on the river in Mingachevir.