Gabala December 2011

Last October one of my classmates said his friend had applied for an environmental camp and I should try as well. I applied and did not hear anything from the staff team for 3 weeks. Then they told me I got accepted and have to go to Icheri Shekher (Old City, the ancient city center, a former fortress). I was showing terribly that day, so I skipped my classes and went to the office. There I found about a hundred people from all over the world in a tiny office full of luggage. Those were the participants and staff. I realized I knew some of staff members since they organized that Goycay Pomegranate festival a month before. We kicked off couple hours later and surprisingly took a plane, not a bus to Gabala, which is 6 hours away. Hmm, not a very eco-friendly way, but the weather was really bad. At the airport we all stood in a line to one counter. Two hours later the guy at the counter stood on it and yelled there were no tickets left. We asked what to do  if we have to get to Gabala and they said: "No problem, you can go without tickets since it is a charter flight and the plane belongs to the President". Nice, first time on a President's plane flying to the airport that was not yet open to commercial flights. Once we got tot he boarding gate, they asked for boarding passes that we did not have. They said: "Oh, you don't have one? Here you go!" and gave a blank one. Seriously, that was the first time I flew without a ticket. The security check was also super friendly: I carried a half-liter water bottle and a body lotion and no one said anything. The flight was about 40 min. but it took us more than one hour to get to the hotel. It was a five star hotel at the foot of a huge mountain. As I was told later the hotel belongs to the Minister of Emergency Situations. I was placed with a Russian girl Katya from Moscow, but she turned out to be from Chita which is pretty close to Ulan-Ude. The next day we started the plenary session two(!) hours later because the organizers were late. Same problem the second and the third day. I started to think punctuality is NOT common for local people. It is not even a "Latino rule" of 15 min., it can be hours! So all internationals were very very surprised. I felt pity for American, Canadian, Italian, British and other professors who came here to share their experience and had to wait until 20 year old ladies from staff team wake up and apply half a kilo make up and get ready to go. However, the conference was fun and the British professor rocked at the welcoming party and a Brazilian participant got drunk and crushed a TV in his room. In mornings me and Katya would walk around the hotel and enjoy super fresh air and snow fairytale left after the show storm. The views were just amazing.

Just outside the hotel

The outcome of the conference was a Declaration of Young Environmentalists which we redrafted so many times. No one would agree how to do it and we spent hours arguing. Now I understand how bad it gets in the UN. It was valuable experience and wonderful opportunity for networking, I met many interesting people and got to see more places outside Baku.

A lake not far from Gabala. We were supposed to go to a piano factory but thank God we did not!