Baku in my mind (January, 2012)

"Life was beautiful and simple, seen from the roof of our house in Baku"

Kurban Said, "Ali and Nino"

        Having spent five months in Baku I am still not sure whether I like the city or not. It is really strange to realize that we, the internationals of the Academy, had given up our lives back home and preferred this place to many other places and schools. Some refused PhD and Master's scholarships in European universities, others did not have patience to wait for the results in other schools and came here. Most of us hate the city. Passionately. If one expects Baku to offer the western standard of urban development, then this is not the right place to go. The city is very unfriendly to pedestrians - most drivers park on pavements. Well, looks like there is no other option, especially for the owners of huge black Range Rovers and Land Cruisers. Baku people love big cars and treat them like living beings.  Today we went to 28th of May subway station pick up our books and saw a car run over a guy who was crossing the street. It sounded as if the car bumped into a plastic dummy, not a human being. The guy got up and sat on a pavement puzzled, tried to grab his belongings. The driver hesitated for a while, but when people started to gather around he got out of his car. We also got harassed by men in the street, they were yelling something racist.  My friend would often wonder in despair why it is not allowed to shoot people here. Well, I understand her, sometimes it really gets to you and makes weird things to your mind. All you wanna do is just doing to school, then back home, and maybe to a supermarket twice a week and, eventually, get your degree and leave this place forever. Public transportation, for instance subway, is quite a cultural phenomenon. It is mostly women who sit in the middle of a car, men prefer to stand at the doors. Young men always stand at the doors even if they get off at the last station. No one ever meant to block your way, they just want to make sure they do not miss their stop. So it is quite difficult to get out of a car. There are many other things that annoy foreigners here. However, entrepreneurs, diplomats, students, migrant  workers - everyone has his own reason to be here.

The Flame Towers. The modern symbol of Baku.

The territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan is four times smaller than that of the Republic of Buryatia. One can get to Tbilisi on a night train, just like going from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude. It is such a small country. However they are about 100 million Azerbaijanis in the world (only 9 million in Azerbaijan), which is comparable to Russia's population. About 30 million live in Iran, the northern part of which used to belong to Azerbaijan until the Turkmanchaj Treaty of 1828 (I am terrible at history though). There are many Azerbaijanis around the world, even 5,000 in Mongolia. I wonder how they got and what they do there.  Last fall I was looking through statistics on migration between Russia and Azerbaijan. There were only 700 Russian citizens who got temporary citizenship in Azerbaijan by August, 2010, and dozens thousand Azerbaijanis in Russia. I guess I am also among those 700 people. I met quite a few Azerbaijanis who want to leave this country and never go back. All of them were exposed to other cultures, are fluent in foreign languages; some got degrees abroad. They say all the want is buses arriving on time, clean streets, and freedom of expression. But I also know  a lot of people in Russia who want the same. And there are many things in Russia that drive me crazy or even make me feel ashamed of being a part of it. But no one choses where to be born. I do not blame  those people in streets of Baku, who stalk, stare or yell at foreigners as if they have seen an ET.

      Azerbaijan is both close and distant to me. Unlike other places I have been to, here I do not feel like I am abroad because I can just give everything up, pack my stuff, get a ticket and get home in 8 hours. I can communicate in Russian (which might be a curse rather than a blessing, I could have learned Azeri faster). There are definitely more Russian than English speakers in this country. I like the local cuisine. My friends say I am becoming local; I eat lavash, levengi (roasted chicken stuffed with ground wallnuts, onions and spice), pomegranates and narsharab (pomegranate sauce, a good substitute for soy sauce, works even with scrambled eggs!). Instead of Mexican wraps or Russian pirozhki my fast food choice here is shaurma or gutab (lavash like bread with parsley and other greenery).

Dinner reception at pomegranate festival. Love local cuisine...

       Azerbaijan looks like a secular country. Not all women are veiled, on the contrary, very few wear hijabs. Most women apply make up and wear skinny jeans, stiletto shoes, mini skirts, etc. Some even show too much (both for a Muslim and western country) and a westerner may easily take them for prostitutes (but in fact they are decent housewives and mothers, they just look weird). Women of all ages wear heels.  Our classmates dress up every day as if they have a date, or a birthday, or model casting. I often feel under dressed here, especially after the US, where a hoodie and sweatpants are the everyday uniform of a college kid. Azerbaijan is more like Russia in this sense. Back home I also have this feeling sometimes. I do know some women who  do not go out without make up even if it is a round the corner grocery store. But here women treat their appearance even more seriously than in Russia. So eventually I got a pair of high heel shoes. I wear them one or twice a week if I know I do not have to take long walks. I got some more cosmetics as well. Recently I opened my wardrobe and realized that most of my clothes is black. I remember my English instructor Molly, an American married to a Bulgarian man, wondering why Azeri men wear black suits and black pointed shoes even if it is +30 degrees Celsius in shade. People here like black color. People back home like black color too. Nevertheless, my wardrobe disappointed me, so I got a multi-color scarf.

A typical everyday style of many local women 

      This culture is very different from the west. For centuries people wondered and argued whether Azerbaijan belonged to Asia or Europe. Lately I finished reading "Ali and Nino" by Kurban Said. My Azeri classmate Gani gave me this book as a present. It is a wonderful love story of a person who enjoyed living in Baku immensely. In fact, the author was a son of a Jewish oil baron  Abram  Nousimbaoum, who came to Baku. Essad Bey Nousimbaoum went under the pseudonym of Kurban Said and published "Ali and Nino" in German in 1937 in Vienna. The author concluded Azerbaijan was Asia conquered by the West.  I think I started to understand why Caucasus people have dislike for Russians after reading this book. So many wars, so much blood and violence foreigners brought to this country in search of oil and wealth. Baku has always been a multicultural city - trade brought Russians, Jews, Turks, Indians and many others. However, the feeling of being a foreigner here is very different from any other. Azerbaijani may be similar to Japanese, who define a foreigner with the special word "gaijin", - someone, who has a different Motherland. This word is not recommended for use on TV or radio in Japan. They refer to foreigners as gaijins even when they are abroad. Most men ask you questions like where you are from, why you are here, married or not, etc. Most women just stare at you, or laugh or start asking other people around if they know who you are. They have this very annoying habit of speaking about you in Azeri in third person truly believing you will never guess they are doing it. I guess one can never get rid of the feeling of being a gaijin here in Azerbaijan. This may be explained by the fact that foreigners always brought troubles to this country. There is also a big dislike for Soviet times here. I used to hear my parents saying that there were many good things when USSR still existed. There was violence when the Russian Empire conquered Siberia, but I have no hate to this fact. I just think every nation and country have their own dharma, like every each of us.

        People in Baku often say this country is liberal. Or maybe I mean they sound liberal with all those western gadgets, haute couture boutiques, Turkish TV channels with soap operas and music videos with half naked women (I wonder if the gay parade before the Eurovision 2012 is going to happen). One local kid from the Academy told me there is a tendency among young people to say they are very liberal and tolerant towards alcohol drinking, smoking, sex before marriage, etc. But  when it comes to their own families they turn out to be traditional hardcore people. On the other hand, they are traditional people who later turn out to be not so traditional. My friend often tells me that I should not take people's words for the truth here. But it is funny how he thinks of himself as a very liberal person  (he travels a lot) and  still does not feel comfortable wearing sandals and shorts in summertime and sleeps on the floor rather than in bed (just like Kurban Said's Ali!).

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!

December 2011

Hi everyone! Finally I got to write my blog after 4 months in Baku, Azerbaijan. Pretty late to express the worst of culture shock, but I decided to start it for my friends and those who are interested what I'm doing here and what it is like to live in Azerbaijan. 

I am a Master's student at Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Last spring when I was in the US on my Fulbright grant I decided I wanna go to grad school, so I applied for a bunch of schools in Europe. I got accepted to Dublin City University and ADA, Baku. On my way back to Siberia I was already thinking of repacking my luggage and applying for a Irish visa. But it turned out to be harder than that. The main problem was that I did not have any savings and could not afford going to Ireland. At the same period of time I successfully passed my interview to ADA and so I decided to go. My family was shocked. Dad said he would get a loan so that I could go to Ireland, but I said no. I suddenly remembered I had a friend in Baku, so I sent him a message on FB asking about Baku and ADA. He said: "Come visit Baku, stay for a couple of weeks and see if you like the city". By that time I already confirmed to the school I was arriving to Baku. The main reason he said that was most people either love this city passionately or hate it to the same extent. Now I know he was right.

Just before coming to Baku I translated for an international environmental project in Siberian taiga and had only couple days to pack my stuff and go to the airport. As my friend told me not to take warm clothes "because it is almost never below zero in Baku and I never wear a hat" I packed light and jumped on the plane. The flight was surprisingly fast and there was an ADA representative at the airport to pick me up. I got to the apartment to learn that I have two roommates from the Gambia and India and a quite a spacious room in a 15-storey compound in the city center.  The weather was still hot, and one literally had to take shower 3 times a day. ADA turned out to be a small 3-storey building not far from our apartment but they were building a new big campus which they would open next year.

Life in Baku reminds me that of small towns in Russia where people stare at you without blinking just because you are a stranger. They may even come and start talking to you and usually it is complete non-sense from local guys who try to hit on you. At first we were really shocked: men whistling and teasing you in the streets, yelling from their cars, shouting "chocolatas" to my roommates. Total insanity. When I hung out alone I would also get a lot of attention, they would stare at me, say something or even stalk. Once I was stalked till my compound where the guy stopped and started masturbating in front of me. I freaked out and ran away, I was so scared. The next day when I told my classmates about this unpleasant accident they replied it never happens here. They also added that it is very typical of local men to stalk women and the latter even find it attractive. Out librarian told us that her husband had been stalking her for 2 months before he came up and started to talk to her. They say men do it to learn whether the girl is reputable and does not hang out with other guys. Anyways I do not appreciate stalking and usually try not to go alone after 9pm. 

My classes have been pretty tough. There is so much homework to do that we, both internationals and locals, do not have any time to hang out in the city. My usual schedule is: wake up-->homework-->ADA-->home-->homework-->bed-->repeat. I do not even remember myself being so stressed at Wheaton, the US. I knew the academic life at ADA was pretty similar to the American system, but it is much harder here. They are no electives this semester, and all internationals have to keep their GPA above 3.0 to stay on scholarship which makes us very competitive. We also have Career Management classes which are compulsory. They teach us how to write a CV and go through a mock interview, that's ok, but why on Earth make it compulsory?? They also ave employer sessions and last time there were 2 guys who did not even speak English! Those guys are not gonna hire me because I am not a national of this country and they speak Turkish, so why would I stay in class? All internationals just left the room.

However, not everything is sad in my Azerbaijani life. We figured that hospitality is the greatest peculiarity of Azeri people. Since we came here, we were invited to 3 families - two professors and a classmate's. Azeri people are the best hosts ever. I never saw so much care about guests. And local cuisine is amazing - lots of greenery, nuts, veggies and of course meat. Since I do not eat beef, I never got to try many of local dishes but there are also plenty of dishes with lamb and chicken. Shaurma and doner are our typical fastfood choices and student lunch at ADA. 

 

I also got to visit few places outside Baku. Me and some of my international classmates went to Goycay to a Pomegranate Festival. Goycay is a small town 5 hours away from Baku. It is famous for several dozens types of pomegranates and for the festival they hold yearly in October. At first we felt like animals in a zoo because everyone stares at us and even came ask t take pictures with us. Some did not even ask, just took out their phones and took pictures. I felt like people in Goycay never saw foreigners before and probably will never see them again. We were given our countries' flags and made stand in the street for 2 hours while government officials and foreign ambassadors were arriving to the festival. I was also asked to give an interview to a local TV company. Once I finished the interview I turned and saw a bunch of Chinese people behind me, so now Azeris probably have a very different view of contemporary Russia! In fact because of my appearance most of locals think I am Chinese so they keep saying Nihao to me which makes mad at times. Once I even yelled at 2 guys and cursed them in Russian. I realized it is really good to know Russian when you travel to former Soviet countries. However, less and less youth in Azerbaijan speak Russian which is a pity. I heard one senior student saying that almost every youngster in Baku speaks English and could not resist from arguing with him. Few people do, and when shop assistants speak neither English not Russian this is where a life of a foreigner gets complicated. I guess there is a lot of dislike toward Russians and Russian language but who can argue many people from this country go search for better lives in Russia. I looked through migration statistics between the two countries: several dozen thousands of Azeris left for Russia in 2011 and only 700 Russians to Azerbaijan. And I am one of them! I believe Azeris need to learn Russian to have better chances for employment and travel. Russian is a UN language as well.  Most middle-aged and elderly people do which makes my life a lot easier here. I started to go to Azeri classes but it will take ma a while to understand and speak the language properly. 

Now I am preparing for my finals and it is just killing me. So my stuff to do... I am looking forward to enjoying winter break: going out, visiting international classmates, sightseeing, museums , etc. We have this nice tradition of international dinners that each of us hosts. We gather together, bring our national dishes, listen to music and dance. Vlad, the Ukrainian guy started a board games club at ADA so hopefully on winter break we get to play board games and UNO a lot, as well watching movies and just doing nothing. I was also thinking of going to Tbilisi because it is way more liberal and cheaper city. 

Will be posting soon about my November trip to Gabala.