Central Asian Cultural Gifts

I have recently become obsessed with an application on Facebook called "Central Asian Cultural Gifts." This application allows you to send "gifts"-- pictures and captions of scenes from Central Asia-- to your friends. The cynic in me loves it.

Amongst my favorite gifts to send...
1. Fat butt sheep. In this part of the world, sheep butt fat is a delicacy. Depending on the kind of kebab you order, you're likely to find butt fat on the skewer in between your slices of meat. Mmm... sheep butt fat.
2. Food poisoning. All too often. I just got another round of mild food poisoning (or a very short flu-bug) yesterday.
3. A fountain in the middle of the @#!$ing desert. Like so many other Central Asian cities, Baku is located in a desert. Our water is rationed. In this apartment, we have water from 7-10am and 9pm-midnight. And yet, there is still enough water for 24-hour fountains in the park commemorating Heydar Aliyev, the former president. Hmm.
4. Sexual harassment on the street. So true! Men stare at me all the time here. It's creepy and unnerving. For a while I thought that people were staring at me because I'm a foreigner. Then I realized, however, that women aren't staring at me. I've been told that the problem is my light hair, which signifies that I am Russian and/or a prostitute. And thus it is ok to stare. I've recently tried staring back or yelling at them, but unfortunately that only attracts more attention and more intense stares.

To the available "gifts" I'd like to add a few of my own. These are Central Asian Cultural Gifts that I wish Facebook would add:
1. A crowded bus. It's common to be on a bus so crowded you are literally smashed body to body with the people next to you. It is suffocating, at least for this American. Tonight I was on a bus so crowded the driver could not close the door. I was lucky enough to get a seat, so I offered to hold another woman's purse and packages. I almost missed my stop because I was so blocked in by people next to me and packages on top of me!
2. The smell of burning trash. Incineration is a common form of waste disposal in these parts. And by "incineration," I mean some guy setting fire to the dumpster in the back yard.
3. Half-built buildings. The skyline of Baku is full of half-built skyscrapers. (This is also true in Almaty.) It seems that about half the buildings on any one street are empty shells of partially constructed buildings. These quality of construction is pretty low. Last year, a building under construction collapsed because it was not structurally sound, killing a few workers.
4. Car-based commerce. Sometimes you see people selling things out of the trunk of their car. Oftentimes, they're selling a trunk full of melons or other fruit. The strangest thing I saw was a guy selling sausages out of his trunk. The products are not boxed nicely in boxes, they're just spread and piled all over the bare trunk. And the cars are always old Soviet ones, Ladas and Volgas. Car-based commerce lend a distinctively post-Soviet vibe.

Back and better than ever

It has been several months since my last post. I got bogged down this fall with research, exhaustion, and other forms of procrastination. Also, nothing terribly interesting was happening and it didn't seem worth writing about. All that has changed this week! I am finding more quirky things about Baku that seem worth sharing. For example, these two pictures. First, the big bakery in town has started making chocolate cake which they name "Obama cake." I can't decide if it is a cute attempt to celebrate our new president, or if it's just racist. Second, I passed this bumper sticker yesterday. I think it's an anti-sex message...?

Forward with Ilham!

The U.S. isn't the only country holding presidential elections this fall. Azeris went to the polls today to elect a new president. Well... that isn't exactly true. Today some Azeris went to the polls to vote in a presidential election. The main candidate and predicted winner is the incumbent, current President Ilham Aliyev. The question of the day has been not who would win the election, but how many people would actually go out and vote.

Why has everyone been so sure that Ilham would win? Certainly, it's not his snappy campaign slogan, "Forward with Ilham." There are several reasons. First, the president is actually quite popular here. Azerbaijan's economy is growing at a whopping 25% per year, thanks to its growing oil exports, and the government has recently raised pensions and government salaries nine-fold. There has also been huge investment in infrastructure (schools, roads, hospitals) that has pleased many Azeris. Additionally, the "main" opposition parties have boycotted this election. There are 6 other candidates, in addition to the president, but none of them are considered to be major political players and none seem to have staged anything resembling a campaign. Finally, the government has undoubtedly skewed things in its favors. There has been an effort to shorten the campaign period (campaigning only started a month ago) and new restrictions on candidates, so that they can only post their posters in official places (such as the bulletin board shown here) and inside of buildings.

Polls just closed a few minutes ago and the city has been a little rowdier than usual this evening. A pro-government victory parade just went by our window and there has been quite a bit of car honking. But no major surprises are expected this evening.

It's no King Burger

Like King Burger in Almaty, Baku has its own share of fake American fast food restaurants. Tonight I had dinner at Pizza Hat, for example. The pizza was actually pretty good... probably better than Pizza Hut.

Ismayli

Last week, I traveled out of Baku to a town called Ismayli with Amy, my friend and the director of American Councils here. (American Councils organized my trip to Azerbaijan-- found me a host family, arranged my visa, etc.) It was the end of Ramadan last week, so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were national holidays. Ramadan is a month-long Muslim holiday, during which people fast from sun up to sundown. My host sister was fasting and I felt bad that she would cook me breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then not eat with me!

Ismayli is located about 3 hours west of Baku, past the desert and out in the lush mountain region of Azerbaijan. It was really beautiful. Amy spent 2 years there as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English and we stayed with her host family. We spent 2 nights and one full day there. The full day was the official holiday marking the end of Ramadan and involved a lot of feasting. Her host mother made a big dinner for the holiday (pictured here)-- plov with chestnuts and lamb, and salad. And we spent most of the day visiting Amy's old friends from her time there. At every house we visited, they put out a big spread of fruit, dolma, bread, tea, sweets, and various other homemade goodies. Four houses and eight hours later, I just couldn't eat anymore, so I went home to digest, while Amy continued with her visits. I think I'm still full from that day!

The view out my window

This is a picture of the view from my bedroom window here. It might give you a very small glimpse into what Baku looks like. While Almaty was very green and lush this spring (once the winter snow melted!), Baku is actually a very dry, dusty place and is surrounded by desert. There aren't many green things growing here. As you can see, there is a large construction site right outside here. There is a ton of construction going in Baku, as both the government and private companies build all sorts of new buildings. They work 24/7 on the construction site here by my window, making it sometimes difficult to sleep at night. They are making great progress, though. When I arrived two weeks ago, it was just a big hole in the ground! Beyond the construction, there is a statue that marks the local metro stop and behind that a large building, which is the city train station.

I'm in Azerbaijan!

After a nice summer in the U.S., I am back in the (former) USSR! I am in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for the next 5 months or so. Azerbaijan is located on the Caspian Sea, bordering Russia, Georgia, Iran, and Armenia. It is rich in oil reserves and also produces most of the world's caviar. Baku is a city of about 2 million people located right on the Caspian. For other fun facts about my new location, you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku

I arrived here on September 19th and have spent the past two weeks finding my way around the city's old narrow streets, learning the bus routes, getting used to the local food, and getting started on my research here. I'm happy to report that I'm settling in nicely. Although I get lost nearly every day, I have only resorted to eating at McDonald's once so far. Yes, there is a McDonald's in Baku! No more King Burger for me!

I am living with a host family here. They are incredibly nice people, which has made the adjustment much easier. There is a father and mother, as well as two children-- a son, age 24 and daughter, age 21. The mother and father speak mostly Azeri (a Turkic language that I don't speak!) but the kids speak English. There is also some scattering of Russian thrown in. We have a two room apartment here, plus bathroom and kitchen. The family lives in one room, while I have the other room. Three meals per day are included in my rent here. I'm sure I'll discuss the food in another posting later (so much meat and potatoes!)... regardless, it's nice to have people cooking for me.

I have had lots of adventures here already and will tell you about them in upcoming posts... to be continued!