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!

Heading home!

For anyone that isn't aware, today is my last day in Almaty... at least for this trip. I'm heading to Europe tonight for 3 weeks of vacation. Neal and I will be traveling in Italy, Croatia, Romania, and Germany. I return to Berkeley on July 2. Fear not, there will be more travel blog posts in the future. In addition to this Europe trip, I am also scheduled to spend 10 months in Azerbaijan and Belarus between September 2008 and June 2009 doing more dissertation fieldwork. No doubt there will be many more adventures to blog about. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting back to the first world and being back with friends and family!

Getting Around

I've been meaning to post this for months. It took me a really long time to figure out my way around Almaty. It wasn't hard to get my bearings. The city is at the base of mountains and from almost anywhere in the city you can look up, check where the mountains are, and know what direction you're headed in. Nope, the problem was that there are no street signs! Or at least, not many.

To be fair, some intersections are marked with street signs-- maybe 25% of them. (See the top picture.) However, the signs often mark not just this intersection, but also what street is coming up next. Unless you already know, it can be hard to figure out which street you're actually on. Moreover, these signs are written in both Kazakh (on top) and Russian (bottom). So if there are signs around, the problem is that there is too much information!

Many intersections have no signs at all. (See middle picture.) In this case, you have to either keep walking to the next intersection, which might not have a sign, or poke around the buildings nearby. Sometimes they're labeled with the full address (see bottom picture) and sometimes not. All this can leave you wandering in circles for hours trying to figure out where you are, whether it's where you're supposed to be, and (if not) how you might get where you're supposed to be.

This is all complicated by the fact that many of the street names were changed after the fall of the Soviet Union to be more Kazakh and less Soviet. So Astronaut/Kosmonot Street became Baytursinova, Soviet Street became Kazybek Bi, October Street became Tole Bi, etc. And in case you haven't guessed, most of the streets sound the same to the untrained ear. How many times did I end up wandering around Kabanbay Batyr Street when I was supposed to be on Karasay Batyr or Bogenbay Batyr or.... you get the picture.