This is a post dedicated to some of the interesting and perhaps unusual animal sightings I've had here in the past couple of months. Warning- not all the animals are of the cute, fuzzy and living kind. I guess I'll go in chronological order by sighting for lack of a better way to organize this slightly random post.

The first story comes from the inside of a marshrutka as you can see from the picture. I was coming back from Mingechavir as I very often do and I hitched a ride with a very nice couple from Balaken, a region in far northwestern Azerbaijan on the Georgian, Russian border. They were going to visit their son who was in the military in Shemkir, a city about an hour west of Ganja. Since they were passing through the city the gave me a lift. We chatted quite a bit and they were of course curious about me, a young woman standing by the side of the road trying to get to Ganja. Not long into our journey but what did I spy ahead of us but an old Russian car carrying an unusual load. Yes folks there were live sheep strapped to the roof rack. I had seen this before but had failed to get a picture but I was ready this time. I've also seen ducks tied to the tops of cars as well. The couple were laughing too, so I guess it is a little bit unusual. When I asked they said it was not 'normal.'

A few weeks later I was in Mingechavir (again) and Mike and I were strolling through the bazaar trying to scrounge up some grub for dinner, when we heard lots and lots of little cheeping noises. We looked around and then down and there was a box filled with baby chickens for sale- 60 cents a pop! Not bad considering eggs are 10 cents a piece. If you keep it healthy its a pretty good return on your investment, especially if you just feed it food scraps and um other things, but I'll get to that story later on. We almost got one for Mike's sitemate Nate. But we thought since he didn't have a yard it might not be a good idea. They're pretty cute!

And now for the story of Fankie. I think his full name is Francis but I'm not positive. Fankie is a hedgehog that Maria saved from the Ganja bazaar. I've seen them in cages on the street and wondered what they were use for. I found out its soup. I'm not really sure how Azeris prepare it, whether they just dump the whole hedgehog in the pot and let it stew like with khash? (Note: Khash is a delicacy of boiled cow or sheep head and legs. These parts are severed, the hair is blowtorched off and they are sold all over town. I walk by several Head and Feet shops on my wayto work. There is even a door to door head and feet salesman. You just dump the head and feet in a pot add some herbs and then enjoy the yummy goodness that falls out and into your bowl. Needless to say I've never tried khash, nor do I intend to. My host family tried to feed me entrails soup once but the smell of it killed my appetite. I can't imagine what khash would be like.)

Back to Frankie. Maria is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Qazaq, far Western Azerbaijan on the Armenian and Georgian border. She bought Frankie for 5 manat. I'm not sure why other than they're pretty cute, low maintenance, and when you live in Qazaq who wouldn't want someone or something to keep you company. Frankie made a trip to Ganja a couple of weeks ago and curious, Mike and I went over to visit him at Tor's apartment. (Tor is a PC volunteer in Ganja) This is a picture of Tor with Frankie. Although hedgehogs are nocturnal, we did get him out and waddling around before dark. He especially liked to crawl into the dark spaces.... hmmm.

My final story is from a couple of days ago, and its dedicated to Carol. I remember several conversations with Carol, when she was still here in Ganja, about her affinity for finding dead animals either whole or in part all around they city and country. I may not have seen as many as she has but I've definitely seen my share, too, mostly chicken feet or heads right outside my doorstep. But the other night I was walking back home from work and in a patch of trash riddled dirt were three or four severed rooster heads. But the funny thing was- well not funny- more like disturbing was the group of live chickens scratching around the same area. I ran upstairs got my camera but sadly when I returned, the live chickens had gone but the roosters were still there. So I got a picture of that. Yeah its pretty nasty. sorry. But dead animals in all their forms really is part of life here. I'm just really, really glad I'm a vegetarian. Oh and the other animals of note in the picture are the ants. Its ant season again. My apartment is infested but not as bad as Mike's. Try as I might can't keep it clean enough to get rid of them. I guess its just part of summer.

As if we hadn't had enough excitement with all the Novruz partying, the following weekend was the first international rowing competition in Mingechavir. The President's Cup, as it was called (and surprisingly 'president' was not referring to Ilham Aliyev, but rather the president of the Azerbaijani National Rowing Federation, Elchin Zeynalov), was 4 days of rowing excitement with teams from, Russia, Georgia and Iran. The first two days were the sculling and the final two were the canoeing and kayaking events. On the morning of the first day we tried to haul ourselves out of bed for the opening ceremonies. As with most events here information regarding the details was difficult to come by. The only news we had to go on was word of mouth from Azeri friends and the unusual number of large blond men in town. So we did not jump out of bed in case it was all for nothing. We mosied across town to the banks of the Kur river. It didn't look like people were walking in droves to anything in particular. From the opposite side we could see buoys and a small crowd gathering so we continued on our way with brighter prospects of actually viewing an interesting sporting event here. Sadly when we arrived we discovered we had missed the opening ceremony. (Darn we missed another plethora of speeches) but the events were underway. sort of. It was hard to tell. There was a lot of hubbub around, people in speed boats racing to and frow but there was no schedule and certainly no announcer so we really had no idea what was going on. There was a kind of program that had some information about the future of Azeri rowing, the new sports complex and some general information on the competition but no details like times and specific events. So we talked with an Azeri student Mike helps out who was covering the event for his university paper, and he tried to get more information for us There was lots of media around along with several police officers and government officials. So we hob nobbed with them. This event also marked the official opening of the new Riverside Hotel which charges exorbitant prices for nice enough rooms but sadly there's no other infrastructure in Mingechavir to draw tourists. Why would anyone come here to vacation? There is absolutely nothing to do! But I digress. The hotel restaurant sported Euro-style furniture that should have stayed in Europe and it was so new they still didn't have menus. But the staff was very friendly and helpful. Back to the races we saw that a group of rowers was making its way to the finish line. We weren't even really sure which team was which as very few of the boats were marked and only the Iranians actually had uniforms. We hung around for a few more races, which were mostly won by the Russians or the Iranians. They were just so much bigger than the Azeris and the Georgians. There were also some women doing some warm-ups and I hoped to see one of the women's events. Sadly it was not to be. At around mid-day we were starving and over-heated so we went to lunch at the cafe on the other side. After some sustenance we decided to check out the new sports complex. Although far from finished, when it is completed it will be pretty amazing. But again the question I have to ask is why? But the answer I believe lies in the fact that Azerbaijan is vying for the 2016 Olympics. All I have to say is they have a LONG, LONG way to go! The next day I had to go back to Ganja. I thought I had to go to work but then it turns out I didn't so I came back to Mingechavir to take in the rest of the rowing fun. In the meantime the Russian team had gone home. I guess they didn't have any canoers or kayakers. These events were a bit more heated, or wet for some. We saw some angry disqualifications quite a few people fall out which can't be very fun. The racing boats are pretty tippy. On the last day we tried really hard to get up early but again- no luck- and today there were huge crowds. And then we realized they were all college students who the government forced to come to the event. The students weren't really paying attention and most were trying to sneak off. We had been blessed with small crowds the days before which was much more comfortable- no staring or stupid 'What is your name" questions. But today was a whole nother ball game. We escaped to another viewing area beyond the hotel pool and had some nice conversation with some Iranian team members. There biggest shock was coming to Azerbaijan and finding out that no one spoke English so they were happy to talk to us and clarify some things about the competition. Well, it wasn't the head of the Charles but it was a pretty nice way to spend a couple of days outside! They even got the cotton candy out for it. Who knows the world may be watching the rowing's best of the best in Mingechavir in 2016!

The following day was fairly uneventful. Mike had meetings and I was revising my thesis proposal. In the evening we were invited to Elvin' s aunt's house for another Novruz dinner. Elvin is a student at the Teachers Institute and he works with the Ming PCVs quite a lot. He is very excited about anything American and was very excited to have us all come to his house for dinner. Dinner was more of the same, Dolma, Plov, Baklava. We had an egg challenge. Afterwards we all took a stroll outside since all of the apartment blocks were having bonfires that night. We stopped at some embers and jumped over them, wishing our last years' troubles away. There were some fireworks, too. We wandered in on Carolyn's counterpart's party and we danced around with them for a while and watched small children play with sparklers. It was really fun until the kids started throwing fireworks at us. Then we made for home.

The Novruz festivities ended with several large gatherings in Mingechavir. Early on Thursday the 20th of March, the vernal equinox and the official Novruz day, Mike and I hopped out of bed in Ganja and sped up to Mingechavir for the big party there. We arrived just on time. Like last year the main street had been blocked off and all of the schools had set up Novruz displays around the square in front of the police station and municipality building. We found Mike's awesome sitemates Jesse and Carolyn at Carolyn's school's display. She is a TEFL volunteer at school number 13. We said our hellos and then made our way around to look at all the other beautiful displays. We were treated like royalty, and every school gave us Baklava, nuts, fruits, cookies, kete and anything else they could hand out to us. Since I know quite a few teachers in Ming and Mike just knows everyone- and everyone knows him. We had photo ops galore. Some of the displays were really very beautiful. The children were all in bright colored clothes. There were lots of flower and bright green samina plants. Many of the girls were making traditional food and there was a log butter maker. I liked the lamb shaped cookies ( or bread) can't remember. I also got to play the traditional hard boiled egg game with some school director. Each person takes an egg and then they tap the eggs together and the one whose eggdoesn't break gets to keep both egges. and they go on and challenge the next person with their winning egg. It was kind of fun- low output entertainment. When we were done touring around we went back to Carolyn's school and awaited the coming of the mayor. Carolyn's school director asked us to say good things about the school to the Director, in Azerbaijani. We practiced a little and when he stopped by to assess the display we gave our best performance. I think we did OK.

At the end of the morning we were stuffed with food and still did not have enough hands to carry the left over. We got a couple of plastic bags and then on our way back to Mike's place we gave most of it away to some street children, who even after we gave them a bunch of food still asked for money. We got back to Mike's place and dumped our remaining platter of food on the table. The mother of one of Mike's co-workers had seen us in town and bestowed upon us an entire platter of cookies, sweets and nuts. We were overwhelmed with food. As we were going guesting in the evening we busied ourselves with making sweets of our own to give to our host- one of the teachers I work with. In the midsts of the baking hubub the neighborhood children were knocking on our door with empty caps hoping we'd fill them with sweets. This is very similar to trick-or-treating. We thought GREAT we can load some of this stuff off on the kids. So Mike filled their hats but then a few minutes later we got another knock and sitting outside our door was a new piece of Baklava in return for the sweets we had given. We were not making much headway on our pile of food.

With make-shift chocolate chip cookies in hand (we make them without brown sugar and with m&ms to keep the cost down) we headed to Sevil's apartment, where again we were stuffed full of food. We met her mother and two children and I drank wine- which Sevil pounded like a vodka shot , much to our amusement. With left-over plov, dried fruit and more candy and baklava we waddled back to Mike's place and then went to Caroloyn and Jesse's place for a little more socializing. Their host family has built a chay xana/restaurant and they open it up for them to have friends over. So we sat for a while drinking tea with their host father. He's a really nice guy, and he loves to sit and talk with us and make toasts. We called it a night fairly early and went back to sleep off all the food to prepare for the next day of feasting.

In the midst of all the Novruz celebrations there was also a concert put on by the Ganja Chamber Orchestra. This musical group puts on concerts 4 or 5 times a year but every time they perform I'm either out of town or I find out too late. There is no published schedule that I know of and I have to rely on word of mouth for any information. The group performs in an old Albanian church that has been renovated with the help from some Norwegian organizations in town. My Norwegian friends are the ones who let me know about the concerts, which always seem to be last minute. This time Mike and I were finally in town for a show. We weren't sure what to expect and we've learned not to get our hopes up with anything here. But we were pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong this time around. The concert was wonderful. We were so happy to listen to beautiful live music in such nice surroundings. They opened up with a piece by Mozart and went on to perform several other short pieces by Russian and Azeri composers as well as others. There were featured soloists and the hit of the evening was this amazing Tar player. He lit up the stage. What was so unique about the concert was that although I would categorize the music as 'Western classical' every piece, even the Mozart had a subtle Eastern rhythm which added an extra flair. There was also a group of Norwegian tourists in town for the Easter holiday so the small hall was filled with Norwegians, and we didn't feel like we were in Azerbaijan- we lived here but we were outsiders and here were these tourists who looked kind of like us but spoke a different language, too. It was kind of surreal. Hopefully we'll get to another concert before our time's up.

Naile's wedding was by far the best wedding I've been to in Azerbaijan. Much of that had to do with the fact that I wasn't stuck at at a table by myself with people I didn't know and who didn't speak any English. Being able to converse with friends makes events much more enjoyable. Mike came, too so that was definitely helpful. And this was the first wedding that I was good friends with the bride and Naile was my closest friend in Ganja. Although the wedding was very nice I am very sad to see her go.

Even though this was the best wedding I've been too it still did not differ significantly from all the other weddings I've been to or heard about. The food was the same- salads, kebabs, and plov, the music was the same-very loud and the dancing was the same. There was also the usual entourage of video and still cameras. There were three video cameras in all which blocked most of the action at the head table and frustrated Mike in his pursuit of the ever elusive "perfect shot." The wedding wouldn't need to be videotaped and broadcast live on T.V. if the cameramen weren't blocking the view all the time. So essentially you never see what's going on directly. You have to watch the wedding on one of the many t.v. sets mounted on the walls all around the room. Naile had arranged for a table just for friends and co-workers from SOROS. So we all sat together, danced together, listened to speeches and took lots of pictures together. At weddings in Azerbaijan all the important people in the different aspects of the bride or grooms life are supposed to give a speech. The fathers give a speech, the mothers, the siblings, the uncles, the grandparents, colleagues, friends. Hasan, the director of SOROS was elected to represent the colleagues and friends. He tried to drag me and another American up there but we refused. We also knew that Hasan could handle speech giving on his own. He's notorious for getting up in any large crowd and pontificating about anything and everything. Tonight was no exception. True to form Hasan gave a lengthy address about Lenkaran and SOROS and America. As I had wagered he delivered the longest monologue of the evening. After the reps from a particular faction gives the speech then those people belonging that group must dance to the song celebrating that relationship. So after Hasan's speech we all got up and danced to the work colleagues song. I even got Mike off his chair! The unexpected moment of the evening was the Plov presentation. Instead of a traditional Azeri dance it was a Spanish number and to my shock everyone around me loved it! It just re enforces my belief that most Azeris don't really like the traditional music at weddings but no one is daring enough to break from custom and try something new. Maybe in another 100 years or so it will be different. I'm not holding my breath! The challenge for me was seeing Naile not as herself. It was really strange seeing her all dressed up. As Azeri girls go she dressed pretty casually without a lot of the bling and pizazz that most girls have. Simple beauty. She was also without her usual smile and laughter. What I most treasure in Naile is her sense of humor and we spent many days laughing and joking. Weddings are a non-smiling event. I'm still not 100 percent sure why its improper to smile and laugh- especially for the bride. Females laughing in public is generally considered inappropriate and weddings are considered a solemn occasion so its probably a combination of those things. What was funny was that half the time you could tell Naile was trying very hard NOT to laugh and smile. But of course the highlight of the evening was the grand finale- the bouquet toss. Unlike in the U.S. the toss is for anyone who is single so the men are jockeying for position along with the ladies. Naile's cousin who is well over 6 feet tall placed himself right up front blocking everyone behind him and he would box out anyone who tried to get in front. But his bullying failed and the flowers tipped off his fingers and into my hands! The first one I've ever caught. I don't think Mike was very happy about it, though. He may bail out before that time comes. Although the wedding was nice, as with most all weddings I've been to here, I'm never overcome with happiness for the couple, especially the woman. Although being unmarried here has its disadvantages, I've seen few happy marriages and especially happily married women. I hope Naile will be happy, I hope more that her new husband treats her with love and respect and I hope his family(they will be living with his parents) will be good to her, too. Hasan's soliloquy

Aren't we cute!

Here's a picture of me with Seva, Naile's sister. She just came back from studying at Columbia in the U.S. The other two guys are Tural and Farid, friends of Naile and two of my students and softball players. They are both really great guys.

The amazing Spanish plov (pronounced plofe)

This year Mike and I had the chance to celebrate Novruz both in Ganja and in Mingechevir. We were lucky we saw anything at all since none of the Azeris we knew had any idea when events were happening in either town. This year the "official" Novruz holiday was on Thursday, March 20th, the vernal equinox. However the Tuesday before was the final Tuesday in the Novruz weekly parties celebrating the 4 elements: earth, wind, fire and water. So essentially the entire week was one big spring "new year" celebration. True to form and of course looking ahead to his upcoming election in the fall, Ilham gave the country 9 days off. So officially from Thursday the 20th-28th were free. However since the 18th and 19th were big party days too, they were essentially days off as well. I realy like Novruz because of its significance to the people. It is one of the few tastes of the ancient culture even before Islam came to this region. Most all of the other holidays here, with the exception of Ramadan and Qurban are political in nature. Under Soviet rule I was told that Azeris were not allowed to celebrate Novruz, so its come back since with quite a lot of fervor. This year Ganja went all out especially with the city decorations and even a 12 meter piece (Hunk?) of Baklava. The Baklava here is not like the kind made in Greece and Turkey. Its similar but I find it sweeter and gooier. Mike came to town on Tuesday to help me out with my Library opening on Wednesday. I had found out that day from Naile that Wednesday was also going to be the big day for Novruz events in Ganja. No one realy knew for sure when everything was going to happen, for once it wasn't just Mike and I who were out of the loop, so Naile called up the city government to confirm. So on Tuesday night also a big party night Mike and I strolled through the city to get a glimpse of all the festivity preparations. Here are some pictures that Mike took. There was a big tent set up with the famous Baklava and the cops guarding it let us take a peak inside but no pictures until the next morning! So we figured we'd have to arrive early to get there before the throngs of people started eating all the Baklava. According to Naile and her government connections the festivities were to begin at 11:00. We decided to try to be there an hour early to try to get some good pictures of all the activity. When we arrived just after 10 the roads downtown had already been closed and the central square in front of the exectutive power building (the big ugly one in all the pictures) was already very full. The Baklava was unmasked for all to see, quite impressive. A guy on a cherry picker was taking arial views of it and there were still a lot of police milling around quasi guarding it. The makings of a giant bonfire were on center stage, and as we watched men kept dousing the wood with lighter fluid. I think the logs were pretty well saturated by the time they got around to lighting it.

All around the square there were different 'booths' with different organizations and handicrafts. There were also boxers, wrestlers and Taekwondo fighters. Several musical ensembles were arranged in different areas around the square including a marching band type group. A couple of dance schools performed various traditional dances. Then around 11 o'clock a group of 4 men on horseback came riding in and circling the soon-to-be bonfire. I didn't think it was a particularly good idea to have a bunch of horses walking around an inferno, But they didn't seem to see anything wrong with it as you will note from the first picture.

The fire was lit a few minutes later and it was intense. Because of all the gas the logs practicaly incinerated in about 10 minutes. The blaze was incredibly hot- and it was a breezy day so staying to close to the blaze was not a safe idea but the masses came in close, ashes, soot, flames and all. I didn't think being in the midst of a pack of people around a giant blaze was very smart so I moved away to a safe distance. Mike, always more concerned about getting the perfect picture over personal safety, stayed in for some photo-ops. After the fire we went over to see what was going on with the Baklava. By now the mayor and his contingency had arrived and they were serving it up. The police had organized themselves in a human wall, linked arm and arm around the table to barracade the masses from swarming the Baklava. This had little effect and the people shoved through breaking the police ranks and rushed the Baklava. Some even jumped up on the table and several were shoving huge chunks into grocery bags they had brought. A couple of old women got carted off by the police. It was mass chaos and incredible to watch. We were shocked and amused. I mean- its just Baklava! You can make it at home. We didn't think it was worth pushing and shoving to get in for a piece since we don't really like it that much anyway so we made a quick exit and went to the restaurant for some breakfast/lunch to mull over what we had just witnessed.

Naile, the very sweet and funny girl I work with, is getting married this weekend. I'm actually excited about the wedding because this is the first bride that I actually know really well and I her wedding wasn't arranged- she actually loves the guy!But he's from Lenkaran, which is a city about as far away from Ganja as you can get- in the South near the Iranian border. After the wedding on Saturday she is moving down there to live with him in a couple of rooms in his parent's house! However, this is pretty normal for the culture. It definitely saves money!

So a couple of weeks ago we went dress shopping around Ganja with Naile's sister Sevinj. The interesting tidbit is that here the bride rents her wedding dress-which makes so much more sense! The rental price is still pretty steep-around 100 bucks for an afternoon/evening. The key is to try and get a dress that hasn't been rented before. If I haven't mentioned it before, the dresses here are amazing- and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. If you want a gynormous Cinderella-style poofy, blingy gown, this is the place to be! They are really, with few exceptions, incredibly elaborate-the more sparkles the better! They really are eye catching in the store windows- this is also a country I would wager with the most wedding dress shops per capita. This may be due to the fact there are so many weddings. Most couples have at least two big ones- one for the boy's family and the other for the girl's family. Many also have a pretty big party for the engagement. Each one requires a different dress. In the girls wedding the bride can wear any color and usually does not wear white. White is reserved for the boy's wedding which is the final and 'real' wedding (i.e.- the marriage is consummated that night-with a witness to ensure the virginity of the bride!! and a family party given by the boy's family where the wedding sheets are displayed!!!!) Anyway, I digress....Naile decided to wear white for her girl's wedding because most of her relatives will not be able to all the way to Lenkaran to see the boy's wedding. But anyway, after gazing at all of these dresses for so long I was excited at the prospect of actually going into a shop and maybe, just maybe being able to try one on. This is no easy feat because the shop assistants only let girls try on dresses if they are actually having a wedding. But Naile and I weren't above lying! haha!

But as it turns out one of her neighbors worked in a shop and she let both Sevinj and I try dresses on. So I picked a particularly bright one- I liked the color- not necessarily the style. Sadly it didn't really fit. I'm just not built like the tiny Azeri girls here. I think my back is twice the width of most girls here. So needless to say its not a very flattering cut(note to self, arm liposuction and tummy tuck are in order!)Haha! Anyway it was still a fun day and after roaming all around, Naile, the bride, never actually tried one one. Here are some pictures I took until one of the shop ladies yelled at me, maybe the flash will ruin them? Or they are top secret designs that could be copied- like everything already is here???? Anyway, Will have a posting about the wedding up soon!

Since it has finally warmed up around here ( a couple days last week were in the 80s!!!! Doesn’t bode well for the summer temps :( ) Mike and I have crawled out from under the thermal sleeping bag and made attempts at accomplishing a few more things before we pack it all up and head back home. Starting in late February I began working with the Az-ETA Mingechavir branch giving a few presentations/workshops and general support for their work. To my surprise and happiness the turnout at the weekly meetings has been great, about 20-30 every week. I’m so impressed that so many teachers, who are generally over-worked and severely underpaid, take the time to come to a one hour meeting every week for their professional development. This branch just got a room at the local Teacher’s Institution, where we have are meetings and there are books and other resources.

On March first I was invited to lovely Yevlax for a training there. It was another successful event. I brought teachers from Ganja and Mingechavir and there were already 25 or more teachers from Yevlax there. Some of the Yevlax teachers are trying desperately to start their own Az-ETA branch but are being met with some strong opposition from their local education department and city government. Hopefully they will persevere!

March 8th was International Women's Day. It was a national socialist holiday in the Soviet Union that Azerbaijan has decided to keep. Its kind of like Mother's Day except its an official holiday so there is no work and you don't have to be a mother to enjoy it. Originally it was intended to celebrate the achievments of women in the Soviet Union and during the Revolution. Now in Azerbaijan men are supposed to give the women flowers and gifts and supposedly the husbands give the women a break from the housework for a day. That is NOT to say that the men do it instead, they just let the women leave the dirty dishes for the next day. Oh well. I received many congratulations from teachers, students and friends. Mike even gave me some flowers. They were beautiful mostly because he actually found some real ones instead of the usual plastic! On the 7th Aiching, a volunteer in Goranboy, invited a bunch of volunteers and me to a big Women's Day celebration at one of the two schools in town. There were many speeches about women and mothers and Azerbaijan. Many children recited poems and there was singing and dancing as well. The kids were cute, especially the little ones who forgot their lines and the teacher her helped a trio of girls with some songs by singing along with her head turned to the back of the stage. I also got in on the festivities and read some information about some famous women- Amelia Earhardt, Marie Curie and Margaret Thatcher. It was cute and I always like to see Aiching and cheer her up since she has to live in a pretty sad place. Then the following weekend Mike and I were invited to Qebele, in the northern foothills, for an Az-ETA youth conference. I was also chaperoning/assisting one of the groups from Ganja. So we rented a bus and loaded up with kids at 7 AM in Ganja, then drove to Mingechavir picked up Mike and some Mingechavir students and their teacher and then headed up to Qebele. I was anticipating only about 40 or 50 students but it was in fact a huge event with students from all over Azerbaijan- probably around 300 in all. Then we sat through 4 hours of student presenations about Novruz- the big spring festival. Everyone got a little restless, including us. We managed to entertain ourselves with the food. We first were served tea and then later cups of yellow liquid were handed out. We weren't sure what they were and I was about to try a sip but the smell stopped me. Then when the platters of rice emerged later on I realized that they were cups of oil to put on the rice! Woops! Ah yes- two years here and I still have much, much to learn. Although exhausting being around so many teenagers, the day was really nice. We were both really happy to see our friend Vafa who was the teacher who organized it.

For the past two months or so I have been working on organizing all the books that I've been left in charge of. I've also purchased some more to add to the collection. Naile, my friend who works at the organization where my office is, helped me process all the new books and organize the old ones. What I thought would be a two day task ended up taking much longer. More because of my anal retentive behavior than anything else. So we decided as a celebration of our hard work, to have a little opening ceremony-red ribbon and all. Since it was right around Novruz we combined it with a Novruz party. We browsed the books, jumped over a candle, swallowed fire, told fortunes, and ate cookies that Mike and I had made the night before. It was a small but appropriate opening. The picture shows what my office looks like, in case you were wondering. This is only a taste of the fun that's been happening over the past few weeks. Will hopefully get to those posts soon. Since its after Novruz the country is in a flurry of activity, which will last probably until July, when it gets too hot to move anymore so I'm taking advantage of all the motivation and the decent temperatures. Started a TOEFL class today and will be working with the Ganja Az-ETA branch on Saturdays and of course I'm still working on my thesis. Its been a bit more of a challenge since my computer up and died on me- not even 3 years old!!! I actually have a proposal that I like-we'll see if my advisor likes it as well! More to come soon! Inshallah!

Coming back to Azerbaijan after three weeks in the U.S. was a bit of a shock. We had left Azerbaijan in December after a relatively mild fall and start to a mild winter. However we returned to a country covered in snow and temperatures well below freezing. Luckily the holiday in Wisconsin had been chilly so we were prepared for the temperature change on the outside but in a country with practically no central heating it was the cold on the inside that was the hardest to get used to.

After a mild fiasco trying to leave Minneaopolis airport including cancled flights, cancled credit cards and impossibly long layovers, I arrived in Baku in the wee hours of the morning on Januaray 9th. I had heard from Mike that there was snow in Baku but I really didn't think too much about the implications of that until we were nearing the runway for landing. All I saw out my window was drifing white snow. The runway was bairly discernable and in a puffy white cloud we landed on what I hoped underneath was some form of pavement or asphalt. I had to laugh because it was so typical of this place. Thankfully we did not skid off the snow-covered runway and made our way toward the terminal. Several large airplanes were scattered haphazardly along the runway as if abandoned. We taxied our way through the snow (it was probably about 8 inches- which really doesn't sound like much or any reason for concern except for when you are in a city that is not used to ANY snow and has no means for getting rid of it!)

We parked the plane among the other abandoned ones and caught a shuttle bus a few hundred yards to the terminal entrance. After waiting for close to an hour to get through customs and almost another hour for my luggage I made for the exit expecting to see Mike there to meet me. I still did not understand the full ramifications of all this snow until I tried finding a taxi to take me into the city. At 4 AM there is no public transport so taxi is the only way to go. Because of this, in normal weather conditions they charge exhorbitant fees and now because of all the snow they were milking it for all it was worth. What normally cost around 20 dollars was now 50-the excuse being that the roads were so bad. I finally bargained one driver down to 30 and we started out toward town. Then iIunderstood what all the fuss was about. The roads were not been plowed, and the snow had all turned to ice. Driving in Azerbaijan in nice weather is a harrowing experience, now with the snow I was even more tense than usual in the back seat of the cab. Thankfully he was a relatively careful driver and at his was one of the few vehicles in Azerbaijan to actually have working seat belts! There also were very few other drivers on the road. However A drive that normally took 20 minutes took about an hour and a half.

Finally at my hotel I got a room and crashed. The next day I found Mike and we exchanged travel adventures and amazement at the state of the city. Only the most major roads had been cleared, the rest all had a good 6 inches of ice on them, worn very smooth by all the traffic. At almost every stop light cars were spinning and skidding to get going. if stuck any men hanging aroundwould team up and push the car into the road. People were chipping away at the ice with shovels and douseing sidwalks with table salt. I also noticed that outdoor water spickets were open and running, which made me pause and think "why the heck would they pour more water out that would just make more ice?" My anwer came a few days later when Mike and I were safely back in Mingechavir. With all our luggage we had planned on taking a taxi back but we realized that taking any of the roads would be very, very dangerous so we took the train.

Back in Mingechavir there was considerably less snow-but enough to actually almost make it look pretty- but the temperatures were colder. I solved the water mystery when we were talking to Mike's site mates. Most of them had no water or if they did their host families left it running so it wouldn't freeze. Thankfully Mike had water- very, very cold water. I became concerned about my own apartment. I feared broken pipes and a flooded apartment. A few days later I returned to Ganja and as I had feared, there was no water-but my apartment was still dry. I later learned that the whole building had no water and the pipes from the city water into the building had broken. Since cold temperatures in most parts of Azebaijan are a rarity none of the water pipes are insulated making them highly prone to freezing and subsequently breakage There was no telling when it would be fixed so I decided to head back to Mingechavir where there was a flush toilet, shower, and someone warm to snuggle next to. So we spent the next couple of weeks huddled in blankets reading student applications for study abroad programs in the U.S. and made excuses to bake and cook so we could turn on the oven and gas burners to warm up. Mike does have a small electric heater but sadly even with the lights out barely glows orange. The only other sources of heat are the gas stove-in the kitchen and the gas water heater in the bathroom- neither of which provides meaurable heat to the rest of the apartment.

Outside kids were enjoying the weather with snowballs and dirty snowmen. It was nice- almost normal.

Then on the 20th of January we both went back to Ganja for a football fest. Although I had no water, I still had electricity and internet. Mike had signed up for NFL radio casts of the games so we went back to my place to listen to the Packer's and the Patriot's games online. With the time difference the games were actually early Monday morning.

We started listening to the Patriot's but then about halfway through the 1st quarter the power went out. This is not unusual for Azerbaijan but we had been so used to stable electricity that we were caught off guard. So now we had a dilema. Mike's computer only had enough battery power for one of the games. Which one would we listen to? I magnanimously gave up the Pats game because I figured they would win anyway. So we got some sleep and then woke up at 4:30 to listen to the Packers play the Giants. An amazing game! Except that in the middle of the 4th quarter Mike's computer battery died and we had to 'watch' the game on his cell phone, which just gives updates every few minutes. Because I had no power I also had no heat so we were huddled under the blankets watching a little cell-phone screen. It was pretty funny.

We headed back to Mingechavir the next day,but not before finding out that my power outage was NOT a city wide phenomenon. While I was in the U.S. the Azeri government had installed new electric meters which require a card to purchase and upload elictrical units. As I was gone I had no card and had used up what few kilowatts of power the electricity department had allowed me. So now I had to get a card and figure out where to go to load it up with power potential. The system seemed overly high tech for such a low-tech place.

Knowing what I had to do to fix the problem but lacking the time to do so we went back to hibernate in Mingechavir. Although the snow was melting a bit during the day it was still bitterly cold at night. And we were both suffering from mild depression since coming back from a wonderful vaction in the States. We had little ambition to do much of anything except eat and sleep.

Finally about February we did wake up permanently (we did get out to Baku to catch the Superbowl at a bar that stayed open all night for a bunch of crazy Americans- the game started at 3:30 AM Monday Azeri time)

For Valentine's Day and a late Birthday present we took a trip to Sheki to stay at the new Sheki Saray Hotel. Its supposedly run by Marriot so the standards are pretty high and the food is excellent. The weather that Saturday was crystal clear and warm. Probably the first really warm day since we'd been back. Once in Sheki we went up to an Albanian Church in a small village outside of Sheki called Kish. We had been there in the fall but failed to get nice pictures so we decided to make the short journey again. Kish is a nice little village and its most noted for its doors. In many of the old houses the main door is actually two doors- a small door within a larger door. There are two knockers as well- one small and one large. In the past male callers would use the larger knocker and females would use the smaller one so that the women inside would know if they had to cover up.

As the weather was so fine we decided to walk back into Sheki- only about an hours walk. Making our way down from the church we almost litteraly ran into a group of boys on home-made sleds (well they almost ran into us!) Normally I don't have much nice to say about any representatives of the male gender in this country but these kids were pretty funny;especially their sleds. Some even had put lights and liscense plates on them. On our way back into town we also came across a group of puppies all sleeping in a pile in the sun. At first I though it was just one big lumpy dog until they all started moving. They were pretty cute. But had to try not to think about the horrible future in front of them.

As I write this, winter is finally coming to a close here in Azerbaijan. The past couple of days have been in the 60's and 70's. The boys are playing soccer in the stadium below my apartment and many of the cities are getting spruced up. This may be more on account of an imminent visit by the president than the time of year. But Novrus is just around the corner (see posting on Novrus) so we have the merciless hacking of tree branches and raging tire bonfires to look forward to! Never a dull moment in Azerbaijan.

Again, here is another post that is extremely over-due. Kind of like my library books when I was a kid. I like to think that maybe my narratives are better if I have more time to process the experience...Well enough with the excuses and on with the story! Last spring I was hired to teach about the life in the U.S. to young Azerbaijani high school students selected to study in the U.S. for a year. As part of the deal I got to go to Almaty, Kazakhstan for a week-long training of trainers workshop. There, other teachers and teachers' assistants from Central Asia all got together to learn about what we had to teach. Although I had recently come back from a short trip to the States, I was itching to travel again- especially to another Post-Soviet country. I am trying to decipher the roots of some of the cultural idiosyncrasies here in Azerbaijan- is it Soviet, Muslim, Persian or just unique to Azerbaijan. It being anything from drinking cold water causing imminent death, driving practices, bribery, gender roles or care (or lack thereof) for the environment. And of course since the Borat movie came out I was also curious as to how exaggerated Kazakhstan was portrayed.There were four of us total representing Azerbaijan- two teachers, myself and a Peace Corps Volunteer- Brendan, and two Azeris who were alumni of the exchange program(FLEX) and also our teaching assistants, Govher and Mamed.

The four of us boarded a plane headed for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This was also quite exciting to have to change plains in Uzbekistan since the Uzbek government is highly selective of who it lets in. Since we were only in transit it wasn't a big deal. But still cool to say we'd been to Uzbekistan- if only for an hour. The only notable thing on the actual flight was that there was NOTHING notable down below. It was a sunny day so we could see the ground and it was amazing at how barren and desolate Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are. I think we crossed what's left of the Aral sea but there was nothing but steppe, desert and more of the same.

In Uzbekistan we had a nice transfer, what was interesting was that from what I could see the ONLY airline that flew into or out of Uzbekistan was Uzbek air. hmmm. We did have a slight altercation with the Uzbek police when Govher was trying to take pictures of the airplane. The guard/officer made her delete all her pictures.

Because of the nature of the trip (business) I didn't have a ton of time to catch all the sights. But we did get out for a day and an evening.

The training was located at a Sanatorium (Health spa/retreat) outside of Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, located in the South only a few miles from the border of Kyrgyzstan. The building was an immense Soviet Style structure. This was where all the higher ups in the Soviet government came for vacation. It was pretty nice, complete with golf course, driving range and an indoor pool with water slides! I had to splurge and buy a bathing suit to take advantage of the luxury.

Before the training started we had one day to go and explore the city. Our first stop once we figured out which bus to take into the city, was the central Bazaar, the largest in Central Asia. As expected it was a large area of mass chaos, not dissimilar to Bazaars in Azerbaijan only larger and less concern about us being foreigners, which was a breath of fresh air. After haggling for trinkets for souvenirs we headed on our way. We stopped for lunch at a nice Italian restaurant on one of the main boulevards. The afternoon was spent trying to do a self- guided walking tour from Brendan’s lonely planet book. Unfortunately the whole group wasn’t as keen on walking so much so we only managed to see a few of the sights. The first was the large turquoise Russian Orthodox Church. We walked on to see other monuments and city anomalies including a replica of the Eifel Tower. What struck Brendan and I the most was the large grocery stores and one in particular that carried imitation Dunkin Donuts- Domino Donuts. There are no donuts in Azerbaijan and we were in heaven. After getting soaked through in a flash rain storm we decided to head back to the Sanitorium. One of the other interesting things was the Taxi system. In Kazakhstan anyone can be a taxi, there are almost no marked Taxis, ,in contrast to Azerbaijan where every second car has a yellow sign on top. We flagged down some random business man driving out our way. He told us he often picked up people and was willing to take us around again if we needed a ride. The other interesting thing was that his and many of the other cars I noticed, had steering wheels on the right side. On another evening after the training I along with two other Americans- one a PCV in Kazakhstan- and spoke Kazakh and knew the city- went out again to see what see what we could see. We walked around some parks and some more monuments. One of the more interesting was a memorial to the people who had been sent to the forced labor camps in the area. We also saw another beautiful Orthodox Church, sadly it wasn’t lit up and the ambient light was too little to capture it on film. We walked on to see a newly constructed behemoth mosque (Note the tiny people standing in the doorway- that's me and another Kate-PCV Kazakhstan). It may be one of the largest in central Asia, I’m not positive so don’t quote me on that. It was huge! So as you can probably decipher, Kazakhstan has both a strong Christian and Muslim community. I think that since the end of the Soveit Era the scales tip more towards the Muslem side. Again, I'm not positive, I still need to do my homework.

We caught a late bus back to the Sanatorium and the bus driver was so impressed that one of us spoke Kazakh that he wanted us to go to his house for dinner. Another highlight of the training was talking to the other Americans in the ‘stans’ and learning about the similiarities and differences between all the countries in the area. It sounded like things were pretty similar most everywhere. Turkmenistan seemed to be slightly more dictatorial and Kazakhstan slightly less. Kyrgyzstan seemed to be relatively progressive as well. I will also note that nothing I saw in Kazakhstan was remotely like ‘Borat’ The people didn’t look like that- they look Asian- , not like Borat, whatever it is he looks like- but its definitely not Kazakh! I also have to take into consideration that I was in the largest city and a resort town so things were probably better there than anywhere else. From what the Kazakhstan volunteers described of their experience outside of the city, it sounded pretty rough. One shower in the neighborhood and you only get to go once a week. The training was great and we were all sad to leave. Although I can’t say that I’m dying to go back but it would be nice to gather even more insight into this Soviet puzzle.

Now this post is a VERY long time in coming. Sorry for the wait. I hope I don’t disappoint! I guess it was last March? (It’s been so long I can’t even remember when it was) Mike and I were invited to a wedding, which we didn’t really want to attend as both of us have had our fill of deafening music, repetitive dancing and multiple courses of the same food. But since it was his counterparts brother we felt obliged to go. After getting all fancied up we hailed a taxi to take us across town to be sure to arrive on time. When we got there, we were quite embarrassed/dismayed/overjoyed to find out that the wedding was already in full swing. We thought we were actually about 10 minutes early. We then realized that daylight savings had started and we were in fact an hour late. (doh another time change mishap by Mike and Kate! See Turkey blog day 2) And of course we had no idea because things like that are somehow part of the collective unconscious here. We are definitely not in that same loop. As it is very, very inappropriate to enter the wedding palace late (ie- after the bride and groom) we decided to just leave, and spend the afternoon doing something a little more to our liking-such as going places. As it was a beautiful day we decided to take a little road trip to Yevlax. Yevlax is not a traditional outing destination. People usually just pass through as it is at the intersection of the major north/south and east/west roads of the country, but nobody stays. Why then, you may be asking, would Mike and I want to go to Yevlax to visit. Well it turns out that there is in fact something worth looking at in Yevlax- especially if you are a Soviet relic nut. Although neither Mike nor I are all that into Soviet paraphernalia we like a good excuse to go pretty much anywhere- even Yevlax. Hidden away in a field/junk yard/garbage pit is one of the few remaining statues of Lenin. During Soviet days, every city had a Lenin statue but after the collapse, Lenin had to go. However, he has been, mysteriously replaced by another more current but also deceased, political figure. I’ve heard but cannot confirm that some of the Lenin statues were never completely taken down, but only his head was removed and Heydar Aliyev’s was mounted on the body. I’ll let you be the judge, they do look quite similar. We had read about it in our Mark Elliot guidebook, and having nothing better to do that day, we decided to go and check it out. We arrived in bustling Yevlax after about a 40 minute Marshrutka ride. The statue is located on a side road a few kilometers heading out of town so we decided to just walk since the weather was so nice. Following the excellent directions in our guidebook we found the side road, turned, and started scanning the area for any stray Soviet leaders. Our search seemed to be in vain. We did find many Yevlaxians curious about us. Luckily we had a photo in our book and some rudimentary Azeri vocabulary so we asked a group of guys at a car repair place, “Lenin hardadir?” Which translates to, “Where is Lenin?” We were also pointing at the picture in the ME guide book for added clarity. And low and behold it worked! They knew right what we were after. It turns out we had walked past it- I guess it had blended in with the other junk. The guys even offered us a ride back to where it was. In a few quick minutes, we were in the presence of greatness. Lenin indeed existed. The cool thing about this particular statue is that it has been broken/cut/sawed in half. So, you can cozy up to Lenin’s face for some great photo ops. We had a good time taking pictures, having snacks and enjoying each other’s company and the beautiful weather. (Note great views of distant Sheki Mountains)

Sorry that this is so long in coming! In July I FINALLY got to see one of the most revered sites in Azerbaijan. The legendary “Göy Göl.” Talk to any Azeri for any length of time and eventually he or she will mention Goy Gul and inquire as to whether you’ve visited it or not. After hearing about it for more than a year the anticipation was building up to a frenzy but I had no opportunity to travel there. Reaching the nearby towns requires your own vehicle and political or ‘financial’ clout with the local military posts in order to pass through. It is also not recommended for foreigners to go because of its proximity to the Armenian occupied territory and the possibility of landmines and/or sniper fire. However, before you freak out, Mom, - between Göy Göl and the border are some VERY tall mountains which I doubt any Armenians are clamoring over to plant landmines or shoot at the few people around the densely forested Lake.

Anyway- back to how I got to go there…So a student and friend of mine, Xaliq, (pronounced Khalig- who is now studying at Troy University in Alabama for a year)

has a professor at his university here in Azerbaijan who is doing research on Göy Göl. As a going away party/present for Xaliq he wanted to take us to Göy Göl for a little excursion. Göy Göl is also one of Xaliq’s greatest passions and he has written many reports and given numerous presentations about it, all without ever having actually been there. So this was a very special day for both of us!

We left Ganja around 11:00 and proceeded to make our way toward Hajikend- the town closest to Göy Göl and where we would first have a Barbeque. Its interesting to me how every single trip to Hajikend I’ve been on has been almost exactly the same. First we had to stop to get some supplies- I’m not sure what, exactly. Then a few kilometers later he needed charcoal then further down the road at a different store we purchased lighter fluid. A while after that we stopped at the roadside slaughter house for the meat then at the village for fresh baked bread (see ‘Azeri Barbeque’) and then we stopped at a spring for ‘fresh, clean’ water. Never mind the trash and sheep excrement upstream from it! Finally, once we reached Hajikend a good hour and a half to two hours later (its only about 20 miles away!) we then had to search for the perfect grilling location. This was a little difficult since we’d arrived a bit late in the day and most of the prime spots were taken. After driving back and forth for another 15-20 minutes we found a suitable place to eat.

We proceeded to unpack all of our barbeque equipment. (Keep in mind that there were only 3 of us!) We had a table, 4 chairs, grill, wood burning water boiler- tea maker, a complete set of dishes, plus all the food. This time there were no carpets or sound systems but our grilling neighbors provided some atmospheric music from their car stereo. Then began the food preparation, which again did not vary one iota from the previous barbeques I’d taken part in! First we built the fire and began to grill eggplants, peppers and tomatoes on large skewers (called Shish in Azeri! which is where the term shish kabob comes from! Amazing.) In the meantime Xaliq’s professor, Mr. Elshad, prepared the different kebabs, while Xaliq and I tried but failed miserably in keeping the fire going in the wood burning hot water heater so we could all drink tea.

The vegetables, once grilled to a nice mushy pulp, were mashed together with some onions and spices to create a salad. This is the exact same salad that I have eaten at EVERY Azeri barbeque. Don’t get me wrong the salad is great but its no longer a surprise! Then we tossed lamb kebabs on the grill but not before dousing them in salt. A while later we munched on those- and then worked again at trying to produce some boiling water.

We finally managed to boil the water and drink our tea. By now the day was almost over and Xaliq and I were getting worried as to our chances of making it to the lake.

He talked to Mr. Elshad and he didn’t seem real positive about the prospect. After packing all of our things back into the car we drove to the military check point. Normally it costs 100 manat (120 dollars) to bribe the soldiers to let you in. We didn’t want to pay this so we tried another approach. Apparently there was a man who was a guide and could take us to the lake through the woods on foot.

We drove to a small village and found this guy who commissioned his son to do the trek with us. Mr. Elshad, who had seen the lake numerous times, opted out. Led by a young boy we hiked up over a steep ridge. Both Xaliq and I were quite thankful that we were so late because althhough it was still warm out, it was not unbearably hot and the hike was pretty strenuous-especially for those of us who have done no real physical activity for over a year! Once over the ridge we passed through some fields with sour plums, horses and a sign telling us to be quiet, where we finally saw our first glimpse of the lake. It really was spectacular and well worth the difficult climb. We then clamored down the other side to the shore. Beautifully reflected on the surface was Mt Kapaz and the neighboring hills. As it was evening the light cast magnificent shadows on the mountains. It was really beautiful-the most beautiful place I’ve been to in Azerbaijan.. It is the most peaceful, clean place I’ve seen in this country. There was little to no trash, no other people, no cell phones, no car horns and the lake was clean and clear and there were trees! Lots and lots of trees. But more importantly it was special because of the meaning it held for Xaliq. It has been his dream since childhood to visit Göy Göl and I was there to share the moment when that dream came true. Although there are places in the world that are more beautiful than Göy Göl, much of its beauty comes from the personal significance it holds for people from Azerbaijan. Similar to how I feel about Acadia National Park in Maine. It is the natural beauty entwined with all the childhood memories I have of hikes and bikes and skis, through the park, that place it on the top of my ‘most beautiful places’ list.

After taking many pictures and enjoying the serenity, we made our way back to the village, where we met Mr. Elshad and headed back to Ganja. On the way we caught a magnificent moonrise over Mt. Kapaz and at around 10 arrived home. Göy Göl was well worth the wait!

Day 8 June 4, 2007

Tbilisi-Qazax-Ganja

Our train rolled into Tbilisi around 8:00. It had been a very long night and we were still tired, hungry and in need of a restroom. We decided to head to the Old City and find an Irish pub that we thought also served breakfast. After taking many wrong turns and wandering around the city we found it-but it was closed. We opted to go back to the main commercial street and go to the old stand-by with convenient operating hours, predictable menu choices and clean bathrooms, McDonalds. However my bladder was screaming, and luckily on our way we found an open café serving breakfast so we stopped in there for the first course of the day and the toilet facilities.

We continued on to McDonalds for more of the same- and an even nicer restroom where after eating again we could actually ‘freshen up’ which meant brushing our teeth!

We had a bit of time to kill and neither of us wanted our vacation to end. We walked back down the main drag and went into an English Bookstore where we wiled away a couple of hours browsing the over-priced literary selections. We left empty-handed not wanting to pay the prices or weigh down our packs anymore. We finally decided we should start our trek back into Azerbaijan. Wiser this time around, we simply reversed our entrance procedure. We found a mini-bus going to Rustavi- where, despite a slight wrong turn, we ended up at the Red Bridge mini-bus stop in the city center. We claimed the front two seats and in half an hour we were on our way to the border. The border crossing was uneventful. Back in Azerbaijan we found a mini-bus going to Qazax and in no time we were on another mini-bus from Qazax to Ganja. We had claimed the front seat in this mini-bus as well, which was a quite risque because women are unofficially not allowed to sit in the front seat in Azerbaijan. We didn't care and we spent the majority of the ride fighting with the passengers in the back who wanted us to close our window because they were afraid the wind it caused would kill them all. It was over 80 degrees outside, we were NOT shutting the window! Welcome back to Azerbaijan!And to make our welcome home even better, about halfway into the ride the mini-bus broke down and we had to wait for a half an hour or so for a new one to come and take us the rest of the way. At about 6:30 we finally arrived in Ganja. On our way to my apartment we ran across two of my students. Much as I like them it had been nice to be anonymous for a week. The break from the constant ‘fame’ we have here had been really, really nice and to be plunged back into it was a bit of a shock. We wanted to savor our adventure for just a little longer. Back at my apartment we downloaded the travel pictures and went off to our friend Carol’s for dinner and a recount of our adventures. Our vacation was really over.

Day 7 June 3, 2007

Yusefeli-Hopa-Sarpi-Batumi

We crawled out of our tree house around 7:30 and went on the hunt for some breakfast. We didn’t have to go too far as the campground provided this meal as well. We ordered more eggs along with some bread and cheese items. The eggs came back a little less than hard-boiled. Not my favorite way to eat an egg but it was better than nothing-or so I thought. Mike was also not a big fan of soft boiled eggs but he slurped his down as well. Then we settled up with the owner and went into town to catch our bus.

We bumped down and up windy roads on our way to Hopa. I enjoyed the scenery while Mike took a little nap. It was pretty hot in the bus despite the attempts at air conditioning but Mike was sweating and looking paler than normal. He clearly wasn’t up to his chipper self. I hoped it was just travel fatigue but after a bit it was clear he was getting worse. Glad I had saved many of our plastic bags I was ready for the inevitable. Once Mike’s stomach had been purged of the egg, he began to feel much better. And the rest of the journey to Hopa was pretty uneventful. We climbed into a densely forested mountain range that runs all along the Black Sea Coast of Turkey. It was apparent that the mountains received quite a lot of rain and indeed it began to precipitate as we gained elevation.

At around 1:00 the bus dropped us off in Hopa. It was a pretty large city so we figured it would be pretty easy to get to the border. We started to walk along the main street in what we hoped was the direction to Georgia. Since we had no more maps or guidebooks we were just guessing. Luckily we guessed correctly and pretty soon a mini-bus stopped and asked us if we were on our way to the border. As we were, we hopped in and continued on.

In sharp contrast to Posof, there were tons of people and all sorts of vehicles trying to cross at Sarpi (or Sarp- depending on if you are speaking Turkish or Georgian-and I can’t remember which one is which!). It seemed that getting to Georgia would be no problem. After being checked and stamped in Turkey, we moved on to Georgia where we were checked and stamped again. We had purchased some Turkish wine for a friend and hoped that it wouldn’t be a problem brining it in. At the baggage searching station we hauled our backpacks onto the table- a little nervous about perhaps having to pay duty on the alcohol. We weren’t really sure about the rules, not being experts in contraband. But we had no need to worry as the bag search was pretty lame. I unzipped my back pack and she didn’t even really look inside. So the wine smuggling was no problem. We gathered up our stuff and made our way to the parking lot where there were several mini-buses waiting too take us to Batumi, a large city part of a semi-autonomous region of Georgia, on the Black Sea. We crammed into the next bus waiting to leave and we were pretty happy with how well our luck was going. Mike was sitting in a seat in front of me and about 10 minutes into the bus-ride he turned around and asks me if I have his camera. A giant wave of panic washed over me!! SHIT!! I didn’t have it and I couldn’t remember if I was supposed to have it. We had been so careful for the whole trip making sure we always had the camera but we had slacked off! This is of course nor ordinary photo taking device! Mike’s camera is probably his most important possession. And this is his second one since coming to Azerbaijan. The first one broke in a freak dropping accident and he had been cameraless for months until he bought this new- 10.4 mega pixel who knows what other bells and whistles it has-off of E-bay- at a not so cheap price- those megapixels cost a bundle! Photography is his hobby and he had taken some incredible pictures from our trip. So the situation was bad, really bad. We discussed our predicament, and no, I wasn’t supposed to have it, but he didn’t have it either. It was not in the bus hiding between seets. Once we were sure that it was not in our possession we knew we had to go back and try to find it. Mike was pretty sure that he had it at the border crossing but may have left it on the bag search table.

We got off at the first stop, walked across the road and waited for a bus going back the other way. We were pretty desperate so we started flagging down anyone we saw going by. Luckily in a few minutes a mini-van with Turkish plates stopped and the guy gave us a lift back to the border. I waited in agony while Mike talked his way back into the border area.

Words cannot express the relief I felt when I saw him five minutes later, walking towards me with a big smile and his camera. I don’t know if I could have picked up the pieces of Mike if he had lost his precious camera!!!

Batumi ho take 2! Back in a crowded mini-bus we were on our way again. The first thing we did once we got into the city was go to the train station and get tickets for that evening’s overnight to Tbilisi. The train didn’t leave until 10 PM (and this time we remembered to set our clocks ahead- so we wouldn'te miss our train!)

We went back into town to get something to eat and walk along the Sea. We gorged ourselves on pizza and khajapuri (A Georgian cheese and bread specialty) and then strolled along the boardwalk. We saw a ferris wheel in the distance and decided to head for that and have a ride to take in the views from above. Along the way we came across a large children’s presentation of sorts. There were pictures children had created hung around this Greek-style performance area and it was clear that they were preparing for some sort of theatrical performance. We hung around for a bit waiting for the show to start. When it became clear they were still a ways away from the opening act we continued on to the Ferris wheel. A pretty long line waited us but it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. We also were delighted to see that it appeared to be for free! There was not a ticket booth in sight! The giant wheel was clearly a new addition to the boardwalk area. It was one of the really slow ones that never stops so you have to time it right and jump in as the other people are jumping out. We sprung in and had a cute little car/bench to ourselves. We were about an hour early for the sunset but we still had amazing views of the Black Sea and Batumi.

After our ride we walked back along the beach (which was pretty rocky) I dipped my feet in the water, there were several people swimming-and we had our swimsuits with us but it wasn’t hot enough to be that inviting. Then we sat and watched the sun sink into the clouds and then the Black Sea.

Once the sun was gone we went back to the stage, where the performance was in full swing. Each of the kids walked out and spoke a little speech into the microphone. I think they were all supposed to be dressed up as various famous people. One guy even brought his German Sheppard and tried to do a little dance routine with him. Another guy was dressed as Elvis and spoke in English. It was very cute. We both agreed that although we had seen many interesting sights during our travels, Batumi was the coolest city we had visited. It was getting late so we decided to make our way to the train station. When we arrived we were very pleased to see a much newer version of the Soviet style trains that we are used to in Azerbaijan.

It was still big and clunky but the compartments were all new and outfitted with T.V.s- which also had a CCTV station so we could see if someone was coming to our room. We also had fun poking our heads out of our little room, trying to see ourselves on camera. Simple minds simple pleasures!

At the second stop we were joined in our compartment by two middle-aged Georgian women- both of whom snored pretty loudly. So we didn’t get much sleep on that night either.

Day 6 June 2, 2007

Erzurum-Yusefeli

This was the first day were we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus somewhere so we slept in until about 8:00. We then tried to successfully operate the shower which managed to get every surface in the bathroom soaked while the person who needed cleaning stayed dry. Amazing really. We also switched on the T.V. to see if we could decipher any of the Turkish news. We were astounded to find out (we think, at least-our Turkish not being so stellar!) that the night before 4 people had died in a terrorist bombing in Bingoel!!! Glad we got out of there in one piece!!

We checked out of the hotel and found out when the buses to Yusieeli were leaving that afternoon. We had some time so we walked around town a bit looking for breakfast- especially egg dishes of sorts. After being directed to 4 or 5 different cafes-none of which had eggs but many had soups (soup seemed to be the breakfast dish of choice in Erzurum) we finally found a fast-food type place that had pizza and burgers and breakfast. So Mike got a pizza and I had a breakfast menu- and then we found out that the DID serve eggs so Mike got his eggs as well.

After stuffing our faces- it had been a while since our last real meal- we set about walking around Erzurum. We went up to yet another fortress; this one had a clock tower. We admired the views and came down as a thunderstorm was rolling in. Then we walked around the Jewelry market and then decided to look for the ticket office for the bus.

We arrived around 12:30 and were happy to find out that a bus was leaving at 1:00. We got our ticket and made it to the station on time.

Curious as to the route we would be taking I dug around for the map we had purchased the day before and low and behold I had lost this one, too. Probably I left it in our hotel room. Traveling blind yet again- we headed to Yusefeli. Luckily we already knew where we wanted to stay.

The ride to Yusefeli was the prettiest ride we took in Turkey. We rode along roaring rivers and amazing rock formations and through narrow mountain passes, getting more and more excited about the prospects of whitewater rafting which was to be the next day’s adventure! We arrived in Yusefeli around 5:00. We first needed to find out when buses were leaving for Hopa the next day. Unfortunately the only direct bus was at 9:00 AM. This could put a damper on our rafting plans! We figured before we made a decision we would find our place to stay and inquire about rafting. Also in town we found three guys from Israel hoping to do some trekking in the mountains. One of them spoke pretty good English and none of them spoke Turkish so we banded together to find our lodging for the night.

We had read that one of the rafting headquarters also had a camping/pension with tree houses. A bit out of town and directly on the banks of the raging river we found Green Piece (yes that is how it is spelled!!) campground. We talked to the proprietor- a really friendly gentleman-who spoke great English- well the best we’d heard the whole trip. Unfortunately we found out that the water was TOO high for rafting. He was willing to take professionals but not amateurs. We were a bit disappointed but our hearts were not set on it. We had figured it would be a long shot. And now we could make the 9:00 bus the next morning and get to Georgia the next day in time to catch the night train to Tbilisi.

Once the rafting issue was settled we pondered our lodging options; a room or a tree house? We took the tree house even though the owner said it could be chilly. It was just too much of a novelty to pass up!

We settled our things in our little home amongst the leaves and walked back into town. We looked for postcards and then checked our email and decided to go back to the campground for dinner as the other options in town didn’t look so appealing. We took a walk past the campground on the road that went along the river. It became very clear why we weren’t going to raft the next day. The water had washed out parts of the road and the rapids were relentless. We saw large trees being churned up in the rocks. Not a fun place to be if you happened to fall out of your raft!. Back at the campground we had a nice dinner and settled into our tree house. Unfortunately we choose the one next to the street light so it was bright as day for most of the night. And the whole structure was a little wobbly so anyone tossing and turning in their sleep simulated small earthquakes. Needless to say I did not get much sleep. But it was still really cool.

Day 5 June 1, 2007 Van –Tatvan -Bingoel -Erzurum

We woke up around 6:30 got repacked and went down to the lobby to meet the Belgians. A little after 7:30 they came down and we headed for the minibus to a town not far from the ferry dock. The driver said he would take us the rest of the way to the boat for no extra charge!

On the way we were chatting about our travel plans and I wanted to look at the map in our travel guide. I searched through my bag and realized that I did not have it with me. I had left it either in the hotel or at the restaurant the night before. So now we were without maps and information for the rest of our trip. Luckily we were over halfway done and I still had all the Georgian alphabet and phrases for when we were back in Georgia. I was pretty mad at myself for leaving it, but we would get by somehow without it.

In a little over an hour we reached the ferry port just as a boat was leaving. We jumped on with a large Turkish family going on a picnic and were charged a more than reasonable fair. At least the price was much less than we had anticipated spending. Akhdamar Island is famous for an ancient Armenian Church perched on the rocky island about 3Km out in Lake Van. There were great views of the surrounding mountains and landscape. We hiked up some of the rocks to get some better photos of the church. The Turkish family invited us to have tea with them we refused, knowing how long a ‘tea break’ lasts. This was going to be a long travel day so we didn’t want to get ‘stuck’ on the island.

After an hour or so we got back on a ferry returning to the mainland. This one was packed with a Turkish tour group from Izmir- which is on the western coast of Turkey. It was a group of mostly female teachers dressed very European in sharp contrast to the women in Eastern Turkey. Before heading back to port the captain took a swing around the whole island which afforded us even better views of the mountains and church. Back on the docks we began the process of flagging down a bus to Tatvan, the next town with a bus station, and from there on to Erzurum. We hailed one bus going to what I first thought was Erzurum. We talked to the ticket/porter and he named an outrageous price. I asked how many kilometers it was and he said 1800, which I thought was way, too many- and then I realized that the bus was going to Izmir not Erzurum. Talking with the teachers on the boat I had gotten the names confused and realizing we didn’t want to go all the way to Izmir we let the bus continue on its way. Then of course I stupidly realized that, we still could have gotten on because it was probably going through Tatvan. I already had two travel strikes against me today and it was only 11.00!!! Thankfully Mike didn’t hold it against me!

Luckily about 10 minutes later ANOTHER bus heading to Izmir drove by and they agreed to take us to Tatvan for 10 Lira a person. We rode in style for the next hour and a half!! The buses in Turkey are WONDERFUL!!- comfortable, clean, free water, air conditioning, quiet!!! Paradise on wheels.

We rolled into Tatvan, a small little community on Lave Van, around 12.30. At the ticket office we asked for transportation to Erzurum and were dismayed to find out that there were no more buses heading there that day. We then asked where the next closest city was and if there was a bus going there. The men named a town, which didn’t sound familiar- and since I’d lost our maps we had no way of knowing if this was a good decision. We thanked them and then headed off to look for a map of Turkey. At a bookshop we found what we were looking for- and realized that the town they named was not really where we wanted to go. It was too small and unlikely that there would be transportation to Erzurum from there- and if we got stuck there, the overnight options would be sparser. We found another city that looked promising and back at the ticket office asked if there were buses to Bingoel. Thankfully there was one at 2 so we bought a ticket and then went to eat ice cream. The irony of course was that we had already been offered two opportunities to go to Erzurum and now that we finally wanted to go there- we couldn’t! At 2:00 or so we headed to the bus station outside of town and then boarded another luxury liner heading to Istanbul. We finally got on the road around 3:00. And bumping through constructions sites and over mountain passes and after stopping in every town on the way-5 hours later, we finally reached Bingoel- or more accurately the fork in the road before Bingoel where it turns off to Erzurum. Mike and I disembarked here and decided to poke around trying to find a way to continue to Erzurum. I ran over to a ticket office across the street and found out that there was a bus leaving for Erzurum at 10:00 that evening. It was only 7:00 so we figured we would see if we could find something else in the meantime but if not we would use that option. After sitting on the curb for 45 minutes finally a guy in a small commercial vehicle of sorts offered to take us to Erzurum. We gleefully hopped in and were on our way.

The ride continued to be very windy and bumpy. We did get to watch some cool lightening storms. Our driver also informed us that only a few months ago, this road was where the ‘terrorists’ (most likely PKK factions) shot at the cars going by. We both wondered if the flashes in the sky were really lightening! After a slight delay at yet another military checkpoint we arrived in Erzurum around 10:00. The Belgian couple had given us the name of a decent hotel and our driver knew where it was- Erzurum is the largest city in Eastern Turkey. Settled in our hotel room we went straight to bed.

Day 4 May 31, 2007

Igdir-Dogubayzit-Van

Another easy rise and shine at 5:00! We packed everything up and headed out the door, inadvertently waking the desk clerk. Igdir was already bustling about at this early hour so we had plenty of help getting to the right mini-bus. Once we had our seats secured, although we refused the first offering, the mini-bus driver bought us some tea- a very hospitable gesture even though Mike and I have drunk enough tea to last us a lifetime!

The drive to Dogubayzit was very beautiful, with even more impressive views of snow capped Mt. Ararat. We arrived in town an hour and a half later. We contemplated our next move. The major sight in Dogubayazit is the Ishak Pasha Sarayi- a large ruin of an ancient palace about 6 KM outside of town in the foothills. Since it didn’t open until 8:30 we thought we’d get a little morning exercise and walk.

Meandering through town trying to find the road, we were both impressed with the very large military presence in the community. Schools and apartment buildings on many of the streets had armed military guards. We strolled past a base with a large fleet of tanks and other military vehicles. Also in sharp contrast to the other cities, was that here the vast majority of the women wore head scarves. I felt quite out of place with my hair exposed so I put on my hat. A short distance out of town we saw the palace in the distance and were a bit dismayed at how far we would have to walk with all of our stuff. We decided to stop and ponder the possibilities over a little ‘breakfast’ consisting of day-old bread with honey and Coke.

We chose to keep walking but hail the next mini-bus that was going in that direction. Not long after we were back on the road, we flagged down a small bus. When we opened the doors we were greeted by an energetic group of teenagers on a class trip to the palace. We had found the party van! They were absolutely thrilled to give us a ride and they drilled us with questions. At the palace we said our thanks and good-byes but some of the kids joined us on our tour and even gave us small gifts. They were so cute. What was so interesting to both Mike and I was how different they were from teens in Azerbaijan. Most of the group had boyfriends and girlfriends and there was no embarrassment or secrecy. They held hands and acted like young couples would in the United States. We were a bit amazed.

The palace was beautiful. The location reminded me of an Eastern version of Neuschwanstein-of course with COMPLETELY different architectural styles. On a clearer day I’m sure the views of Mt. Ararat would have been beautiful but our luck with the weather wasn’t so good and it started to rain right as we arrived. We wandered through the different rooms followed by our little fan club, taking many pictures along the way.

After purchasing a few postcards we decided to take a walk up to a small restaurant on a bluff overlooking the palace for some prime photo ops. The kids walked with us up the hill but refused to join us for some cokes in the restaurant. We said our final good-byes and they joined up with the rest of their group which was climbing the cliffs behind a mosque and fortress. We thought briefly about joining them for the climb but we had full backpacks and were not up for the exertion.

Our next challenge was finding a way back into town. We decided to walk back to the small parking lot next to the palace and try to catch a ride with the next group going back to Dogubayazit. We sat on the curb looking pathetic, made friends with a puppy and about a half an hour later or so a small group in a mini–bus was pulling out of the parking lot. We flagged them down and they agreed to take us back to town. It was a group of surveyors who were heading to Erzurum. They tried to convince us to go with them all the way –since we were planning on heading there eventually. However we wanted to stick with our itinerary so we just had them drop us off downtown near other mini-buses.

We found the mini-bus that was going to Van our end destination for the day. We had about an hour before it left at 12 so we wandered around the town, found some homemade ice cream and then got back to the bus stop ready for departure.

On the bus we met a young guy from France who had been traveling for 6 months. He had just come from Iran and said it was the friendliest, mot hospitable country he had been too. He had been biking from Singapore and was making his way through Asia and the Middle East.

We reached Van in a couple of hours- driving with in sight of the Iranian border for much or the way, and stopping at a couple of military checkpoints. What was interesting is that only the men in the van were patted down and had their luggage searched. Women apparently are not a threat or considered capable of acts of violence.

We found our hotel with no problem and after we had settled in and were heading out to do some sight-seeing we met a guy who worked as a kind of tour guide. He was taking a Belgian couple to see the famous Van cats and later on to Van castle for sunset views. He offered to take us too- the price being what we wanted to pay for his services. A few minutes before Mike had mentioned wanting to see some of the cats on the street. I had read that they were so rare and valuable that I didn’t think we would see them just walking around town. And according to this tour guide the cats had all been collected and taken to the University for research because they were getting sick and dying for no apparent reason. These cats are unique in that they have a genetic mutation and they are all white and with one blue eye and one yellow eye. Now some were being born with two blue eyes and it seems like these ‘mutants’ are the ones getting sick. So now scientists are trying to figure out what is killing the cats. So they are all in the ‘Keddi Evi’ or Cat House on the Van University campus. At 4.00 we all drove out there to see these interesting creatures. There were hundreds of beautiful white cats living in a big house- they had two gardens with play areas and inside quarters as well. We spent a good hour playing with them through the bars and trying to get good pictures. They were really cute but sad at the same time. Their eyes were pretty amazing, too.

After the kitty photo shoot our guide drove us to the base of Van castle and gave us some directions on how to get up to the top. He dropped us off at some shrine of sorts and there was a ‘back’ way to the castle so we wouldn’t have to pay the entrance fee. I think the tour guide thought he was doing us a favor but I just felt like an ugly tourist walking through this holy place and disturbing the women who were there. A couple of small boys led the 4 of us up the hill and we finally reached the castle but our small guides continued to ‘help’ us on our tour. Finally Mike gave one of them a lira and they left us to explore on our own.

Van castle is a huge ruin overlooking the former old Van city which was part of Armenia at one point. All that is left of the city is a couple of towers and lots of holes where the houses had been. The whole thing was destroyed during World War II. At the top of the fortress there were great views of Lake Van which is a huge body of water- one of the largest at such a high altitude. The lake is so alkaline that you can wash clothes in it without detergent and its kind of slimy. We were too early for the sunset but we had a little snack and then headed back to town. But we arranged with the Belgian couple to meet early to go together to Akhdamar Island the next day to help reduce the costs. We had read that the ferry prices were dependent upon the number of passengers so we figured we were better off to go together.

When we reached the road we started looking for some means of transportation back into Van. We caught a ride with a group of boys on some kind of joy ride and were very thankful when they finally dropped us off close to town where we got a bus downtown. By this time we were pretty hungry so we walked around trying to find a place to eat. Van was a pretty big city so we thought our options would be pretty good. It was Mike’s turn to pick a restaurant because he was the more particular of the two of us. We stumbled upon a Koefte restaurant- these are a kind of Turkish meat balls- and they also had hamburgers and French fries. The prices seemed pretty good so we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately a hamburger was defined a bit differently in this restaurant, but the fries were good. Also eating there was a group of Southern Azerbaijanis. Southern Azerbaijan is in the northern part of Iran- there are about 30 million ethnic Azeris living there. We talked briefly about the history and declined the invitation to join them for their meal, too. We had finished and were pretty exhausted so we walked back to the hotel and fell into bed.

Day 3 May 30, 2007

Aradahan-Kars-Igdir

We had NO problem waking up the next morning! We were up at 5:00. Not only did the prayer calls keep us up but, because of our easterly position in the time zone, the sun rose much earlier. We were easily on time for our 7:00 mini-bus to Kars.

On the way we noticed an interesting 'landmark' on the hillside, that we would see numorous times throughout the rest of our journey. On the side of a hill was the crescent moon and star symbol found on the Turkish flag as well as some kind of quote or anouncement of the military post that was in the region. As we were in what is considered by some as 'Kurdistan' I can only imagine that these Turkish symbols were 'gentle' reminders of what official country we all were in. Very interesting....

We got into town around 8:30 and set about trying to find the tourist office and a way to get to Ani. Ani is the ancient and now ruined Armenian capital and the major ‘tourist’ attraction for anyone going to Kars. We were also on the hunt for Lira- Turkish currency. Unlike Azerbaijan or Georgia there were no shady money exchange shops on every street corner. We actually had to find a real bank! We quickly figured out that the banks didn’t open until 9. So we found the tourist office first and discovered that our only option to get to Ani was to hire a taxi ourselves as they didn’t organize any tours. By that time the banks were open so we loaded up on Lira and food and found a taxi to take us the 40 km to Ani.

We arrived around 10:30 and with the help of our driver, bargained for student prices. We spent the next two and a half hours wandering around the amazing ruins of Ani. It was built between 900 and 1100 AD and was a major stop on the Silk Road as the gateway to the Anatolia peninsula from the far East. The population at its height was a booming 100,000. However with the advent of the shipping trade the overland trade routes were discontinued and the cities that had sprung up along them died out. Now all that is left is a handful of ruins,mostly old churches, scattered about a wide open field within throwing distance of the Armenian border. What struck me the most was how massive these buildings had been and now nature is slowly reclaiming them. Ozymandias by Shelly springs to my mind. The exact opposite impressed Mike, he was more amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the buildings for the time period and how buildings built today are not nearly as well-constructed.

Some of the structures were off limits, one of which was the citadel perched on a hill with a tempting elevated view of the city. Despite a warning sign in Turkish we decided to clamber up to the fortress. To be fair the warning wasn’t real clear as to exactly where we weren’t supposed to go. And we figured if they really wanted to keep us out they should have put up a fence! However we learned later that there was a good reason for visitors to stay away. Because of the conflict with Armenia there was a risk of landmines in the restricted areas!! Woops!!!

Around 1:00 we headed back to Kars and just as it started to pour our driver dropped us off at the Heydar Aliyev Park in Kars. After noticing this park on a map of the city we HAD to go and visit and take at least one picture. For those of you who have not read some of my previous posts, Heydar Aliyev is the now deceased former president and “savior” of Azerbaijan. He held the country together and restored order after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His son Ilham is now the president, and every regional capital has a Heydar Aliyev museum and park and the whole country is littered with his giant billboards and quotes. Even in Turkey we could not escape his shadow.

After waiting out the storm we walked back into town- purchased some famous Kars honey and then walked up to Kars castle. The top offered great views of the city. I must note here that Kars looks nothing like how I pictured it in Orhan Pamuk’s novel ‘Snow,’ which is a fascinating book. The city was not nearly as barren and cold as depicted but it helped that we were there in late May and not the dead of winter.

After hiking down from the fortress we decided to start to walk to the bus station, where our 5:00 bus was leaving for Igdir. We were between storms and we had time and not a ton of money to spend on a taxi so we decided to walk as far as we could and get a cab from there. About 2/3 of the way to the station we hailed a cab- afraid we would be cutting it close with the bus. We drove maybe a kilometer to the bus station and the meter read 10 Lira!!!! We were in shock. Aside from the heroin smuggler this was our next worst transportation decision. And since it was a metered cab we couldn’t bargain with the fair.

We harped on our misfortune for a bit but then moved on- literally. We got on a really modern bus to Igdir and munched on fresh bread and honey for most of the ride. We also had impressive views of Mt. Ararat as we got closer into town. Igdir was a small city, nothing really outstanding. Lots of people on bicycles. It looked very European. The driver of the bus, who was Kurdish and openly expressed his love for the United States and support for what the U.S. is doing in Kurdish populated northern Iraq,helped to find us a hotel since he highly disapproved of the one from our tourbook. After settling in we gathered travel provisions for the next day and then went to bed. The mini-bus for Dogubayazit, our next destination was leaving at 6:00 the next morning.

Day 2 May 29, 2007

Akhaltsikhe, Georgia to Ardahan, Turkey

Having gotten almost no sleep because of the relentless barking of the packs of street dogs, getting up at 7:00 was a piece of cake. We swigged the remains of the previous day's Coke for our morning energy boost and went to the street to meet Levon. At 8:00 there was no sign of him. At 8:15- still no driver. It seemed like our travel luck was finally fading. Finally at 8:20 we walked over to the other taxis at the corner to begin the negotiations again. This is VERY difficult in a language that has NO common alphabet or even sounds like ANY other language on the planet. And sadly neither Mike nor I speak any Russian. But as luck would have it, again- one of the drivers spoke a spattering if German. So we negotiated a deal and headed out of town. We were a little baffled as to why Levon hadn’t shown up. He stood to earn a pretty easy 85 Lari (that’s the Georgian currency- its about $60) We were discussing this in our new cab when I looked at the clock on the dash which read 7:20. I thought, as with most clocks in cars, it probably wasn’t right, but it kind of bothered me especially since Mike had asked me yesterday if we changed time zones. I had kind of laughed and said something to the effect of ‘no, silly- we didn’t change the time when we came to Georgia in the winter!!” So I asked the driver for the time- and it was indeed 7:20. And then we realized the Georgia must not observe daylight savings!!! Now we were in a bit of a sticky situation. Do we keep going and stand Levon up? Do we try to explain the complicated situation to our new driver with our limited communication ability, and leave him without this ‘big job”?? We decided to try to explain everything and go back. We both would have felt really bad all day knowing that we had gone without Levon. So I tactfully tried to explain that we had to turn around because we got the wrong time and that a friend was going to take us at 8:00. After a few minutes the man understood and wasn’t upset at all. He even offered to still take us if Levon didn’t show up.

So at 10 to 8 back in front of the hotel- Levon pulled up in his white Lada and we started our journey to Vardzia for the second time that day. The ride was very beautiful, but extremely bumpy. The road just deteriorated as we got closer to our destination. On the way we stopped to look at a castle on a cliff one of many ruins on and in the bluffs overlooking a river on our route. After two and a half hours we finally reached Vardzia. And it was well worth the ride. It is an immense monastery built into an entire cliff face. Since it was only 10.00 we were the first and only tourists at the sight. We meandered through the chambers, kicking ourselves for not bringing a flashlight- DUH! Oh well... we did the best we could with Mike’s cell phone.

We took one wrong turn and had a brief encounter with some of the residents of the monastery. They weren’t as keen on talking with us so we apologized and continued on our way. There was no guidebook or signs, which I found visually quite appealing but it also hampered our

learning about the site. There was a tour in Russian at two o’clock but that wouldn’t have helped us either. We were left to just imagine what all the rooms were used for. Back it the car, we returned to Akhaltsikhe and then sojourned on to Turkey.

The road to Posof-turkey was also less then ideal. We bounced through an extremely run-down mining village and then past an Armenian memorial that Levon wanted us to photograph because he was Armenian. At around 1:00 we reached the border, said our good-byes to Levon and walked through the gate into the great void between Georgia and Turkey.

All went smoothly until we arrived at the Turkish side. The computers were down. It was going to take about an hour. We also had to get our tourist visas, which was no problem and to our delight, when we looked at the clock on the wall we realized we had gained another hour- the time changed back again in Turkey. So we didn’t really loose an hour at the border. Unfortunately we also learned that there were no more mini-buses from Posof the little Turkish border town, to Kars, our planned final destination for the day. We would have to wait until morning.

Slightly frustrated, especially after having such travel success the day before. We had even talked the previous evening of trying to get ‘ahead’ so we could have more time on the Black Sea. Our hubris was observed by the god of public transportation. It looked like we were stuck for a while at the border and then for even longer in Posof. We asked if there was anything going to a town nearby- Nothing.

Finally our passports were ready and we could leave. And the wheel of fortune swung in the other direction! The only other person crossing into Turkey was a semi-driver who had heard about our problems. He was heading to Ardahan, a pretty big town on the way to Kars and offered us a ride in the cab. We were so excited with our luck!! We might get ahead after all!! And we got to ride in a tractor trailer!!!

It was a good thing he was there because we soon realized, after leaving the border area, that Posof was a NOT within walking distance from the border- it was probably 10km, up hill! When we arrived near Posof we were stopped at the first of MANY military checkpoints we would encounter on our journey. All over the roads in Eastern Turkey-especially Southeastern Turkey- there is a HUGE military presence and periodic road blocks and passport checks. We pulled over, the driver handed over his papers and we handed over our passports. We waited a few minutes and then we were asked to get out of the rig. We were greeted with 4 or 5 men with machine guns relaxed but in ready position. We tried to speak in what I hoped was a Turkified Azeri (the languages are very similar). After some minutes they had us get our bags out of the truck- it looked like we were going to be waiting for a while. We had no idea what was going on.

Then after an hour or so the captain of the whole unit came over to talk with us. Thankfully he spoke good German so I could explain who we were and what we were doing there and he was able to give us a small clue as to what was going on. Apparently there was nothing wrong with us, but there was something wrong with the driver. He assured us that if another transportation opportunity came along we could go on our way. He was very polite and friendly but our passports were still in their possession. So we waited, and we waited, drank tea, and soda ate the last of our food, and waited some more. We made small talk with the other soldiers and we observed all the bustle around the truck. Officials came to inspect. Photos were made. More military with more machine guns showed up and finally the police came and arrested the driver! At around 4:30, after we’d been there for over 3 hours Mike was fed up. He decided that if we didn’t get our passports back by 5 we would call the US embassy in Turkey. I was definitely more for the “lets not agitate the guys with machine guns –approach” but I was sick of sitting around for no apparent reason, as well. The soldiers hanging around with us detected our agitation and not long after we were summonsed to the captains patio where we were given more tea and cookies and a more detailed account of what was going on. The captain was very apologetic and kept repeating that there was no problem with us but with the driver. It turns out they had found heroin in the trailer of the truck!! We had suspected that, especially after we saw the police come and haul the guy off, but we didn’t understand why we weren’t given back our passports.

It must have just been an ‘oversight’ because they again said that there were no more buses out of Posof but we were more than welcome to stay at the military base. This was another exciting twist. We figured it was a good option if nothing else came along. But then another officer offered to flag down every car going by and see if they were heading to Ardahan or Kars. After about a half an hour we got a ride with a group of geologists traveling to Erzurum, the largest city in the region and on our way. We hopped in glad to finally be out of that horrible town!!! In retrospect we were really lucky. We could have been arrested right along with the driver just by association. 1st travel tip of the day: don’t accept rides from strange truckers.

An hour and a half later we arrived in the small city of Ardahan. The geologists dropped us off right downtown and wouldn’t accept any money. We found a hotel for a reasonable price across the street from a newly renovated mosque. Starving we found a decent restaurant and then now thoroughly exhausted went straight to bed. Right about 10:00 as we were about to fall asleep we were jolted back into consciousness by the prayer call blasting right in our open window!! We burst out laughing!!! Travel tip number two: when in a Muslim country choose hotels wisely- preferably ones NOT directly across the street from mosques!

We listened to the praises of Allah two more times that night and we were up before dawn to start the next days adventure. All we could do was laugh at ourselves.

Day 1 May 28,2007

Mingechavir/Ganja, Azerbaijan to Akhaltsike, Georgia

Last week, Mike and I embarked upon a much needed vacation through Eastern Turkey. Our first plan was to go to Istanbul for a week but once we learned how much flights cost we decided to travel overland to the lesser traveled eastern parts of Turkey, passing through Georgia to see some of the historical sights there as well. Our goal was to see as much as possible in 8 days without spending more than $1,000 between the two of us. Needless to say – we had quite an adventure!!!!

On Monday May 28th the journey began- for some a bit earlier than others!! Mike had to first catch a 7:10 AM bus to Ganja from Mingechavir. I rolled out of bed at about that time! Ha ha! I ambled down to the main road into Ganja around 8:30 where I was going to flag down Mike’s bus and hop on and continue with him to Qazax-the last ‘city’ close to the Georgian Border in Northwestern Azerbaijan. We were hoping to find more convenient and less expensive transport (ie. NO TAXIS) into Tbilisi. This had proven to be a problem on our last trip to Georgia. Luckily when we reached Qazax about 2 hours later, there was a mini-bus filled with people ready to head to the border. We squeezed in- made friends with the locals- and bumped and jostled our way to Georgia. About halfway into the ride I heard some mysterious peeping noises coming from what I thought was inside the minibus. I looked out the window for evidence of small winged creatures and saw a family of geese walking down the road but the noise continued after we had passed them. Sure enough at the next mini-bus stop a large older woman got off followed by 20 baby geese which she proceeded to load off the bus by wing and foot.

We navigated the border with no problem and then looked forward to our next challenge- Finding transportation into Tbilisi. The taxi drivers spotted us from a far and immediately swarmed to greet us once we crossed the bridge into Georgia. They were asking incredible prices so we refused. Luckily there was also a minibus charging a much lower fare but it wasn’t going to Tbilisi rather, Rustavi, a smaller city about 12 kilometers outside of Tbilisi. We figured that there would be another minibus into Tbilisi from there and at worse- if there wasn’t, the taxi fare would be much cheaper from there. In Rustavi, the driver dropped us off right where a Tbilisi bound minibus was loading up. We hopped on and continued on to the Georgian capital. Much to our delight- we ended up at the central minibus station, and after asking some drivers, were easily able to find our minibus to Akhaltsike, where we were planning to spend the night.

At about 2:45 the bus left for Akhaltsikhe, a 3 hour journey past Mtskheta- the spiritual capital of Georgia, Gori -the birthplace of Stalin, and Borjomi- famous for its mineral water, skiing and national park.

At about 6:00 we blew into Akhaltsike – a pretty run-down but promising town. The most noteworthy aspect of the town was the weather! It was very blustery pretty upon arrival and getting worse!! With a little help from the locals we found our hotel then we got ready to start our first sight-seeing tour to Sapara- an ancient mountainside monastery.

We could hear thunder grumbling around but nothing too serious. While we were settling in- we were startled by the sound of glass breaking outside and then the power went out. We debated as to whether we should still venture out or not. We opted to go quickly and hope to be back before it started to pour. On the streets there were already several downed trees but undeterred we headed for a taxi and arranged a ride to the monastery tucked away in the hills not far outside of town. Luckily our driver spoke some German so I was able to communicate simple things with him. As you will find out later- German as opposed to English came in much handier in Turkey as well.

After 30 minutes of scrambling up roads intended only for 4 wheel drive vehicles (we were in a husty trusty Lada) we arrived at a beautiful old monastery and fortress in the hills. We asked the driver (Levon) to wait about 30 minutes- (we would have stayed longer but the bad weather was closing in fast) We walked around and clamored up old fortress ruins- looking for the perfect photo shots. We walked down to the largest church, hearing chanting coming from within. I didn’t realize the monastery was still active and was a little nervous about disturbing the monks. We stealthily walked in and upon realizing that we didn’t speak Russian,one of the monks called another over who spoke English and he gave us a brief tour of the complex. There are 10 of them living there and they are almost subsistent- but they do carry cell phones! During Soviet times the monastery was used as a camp for the soviet youth group “the young pioneers” and the little guys had defaced a lot of the ancient frescos. The monks are slowly restoring everything but it all takes money and time. Unfortunately because of the weather we had to cut the visit short. During the taxi ride back we arranged to have Levon take us to Vardzia- the next days adventure. We decided to meet at 8 AM outside the hotel.

Back in town we admired the carnage from the windstorm- fallen trees all over the streets and still no power in most of the downtown area. We hunted down a place to eat- and dined by candlelight! Fitting as we were also celebrating 6 months of coupledom.

Back at the hotel, exhausted we fell into bed.

This past weekend was the premier of the Azerbaijan interregional softball league in the regional capital of Barda- known for its white fetaesqe cheese. This softball leage is the brainchild of Larry Badger- PCV here in Ganja. In the States he is part of a traveling softball league out on the West Coast and in order to prepare for the coming season once he returns to the U.S. he wanted to start up a team or two in Azerbaijan. With equipment donated from his team in the U.S. and other sources, Azerbaijan now has 4 regional softball teams- Ganja, Barda, Mingechavir and Sheki. I've been helping Larry out with coaching the Ganja team. In addition to the Peace Corps Volunteers and others-(meaning me)there are several players from Azerbaijan on each team. The Ganja team has been practicing since early April, with a consistant group of 6 Azeris plus 4 Americans. It has been a ton of fun trying to explain the fundamentals of catching, throwing and hitting and then on top of that all the rules to softball. I never knew how complicated it is!! I don't remember ever NOT knowing how to play. As with any undertaking here there is always a bit of uncertainty as to whether the whole thing will get pulled off. Will the teams show up? Will the government shut it down? Will it rain? But to the amazement of many, on Saturday, 4 teams showed up, 4 very fun and highly competitive games were played. It was a great, great day. There was even one Azeri woman who played for the Barda team. I have been trying to get some of the girls I know to play for Ganja but it is a challenge. Women and athletics don't really mix here. But I'm working on it. The next tournament will be in Ganja on the 9th and 10th of June. We are hoping to ask the Ambassador to come for a GREAT photo-op. We'll see if she can make it. Enjoy the pictures from the weekend- and note the geese and cows in the background! No event in Azerbaijan is complete without the requisite livestock in attendance! Oh and Mike has better pictures which I will hopefully post later on.

I know this post is a bit late in coming. Sorry. Work and lack of internet have kept me from being as diligent with my blog as I would like. Now that I finally have a phone line in my apartment it is much easier to keep up.

After returning from my all-too brief visit to the U.S. Azerbaijan was in the middle of its Novrus celebration, which lasts for most of the month of March. As everything in the country was shut down for the week I headed to Mingechavir to spend the holiday with Mike. Because of Peace Corps regulations he cannot leave his town without a work-related reason and permission from his program administrator. But enough about Peace Corps travel policies and on to Novrus!

This is an ancient New Years celebration, dating back before Islam came to the region. The holiday starts on March 20th but every Tuesday prior is also a holiday celebrating the four elements- earth, water, air and fire. The final Tuesday is the main holiday and the streets are filled with bonfires. What few trees there are left in the country are hacked at for fuel for the clebration- anything else that will burn- regardless of its toxicity is also added to the flames- note tires being added to the pile!!!

On the final Tuesday there was a large festival in the city center. Each school had a Novrus display, there were tightrope walkers, sportsmen and young children in traditional dress dancing around to folk music. There were also several speaches by the local government and some pop singers also came into town to perform. Also note large billboard of dead former president Heydar Aliyev. As I've said before he is the most influencial dead guy I have ever known. In the evening Mike and I gathered outside with the neigbors to stand around and admire the bonfire-ignoring the poisonous rubber smoke from the burning tires. It was - as they say in Azeri- chox gesheng. (Very beautiful) Once the flames had stopped lapping the tree tops, the children and some of the adults took turns jumping across it. The idea behind it is when you jump over the flames you shout out your troubles of the past year and are thus symbolically leaving these burdens behind you and starting a -fresh. Children also leave their caps in front of doors and knock on them with the anticipation that they will receive some kind of sweets. There is also a play that is reenacted every year- where an old bald man- symbolizing winter searches the town for the most beautiful young girl to marry- she is, of course, the symbol of spring. There are also traditional rice dishes which are eaten for Novrus and guests bring plates of sweets to friends and neighbors.

At our block party once the fire went down and the children had stopped jumping over the flames and lighting fireworks under my feet, we headed into the community outbuilding for a small dance party. The apartment dwellers had chipped in for a musician and for several hours we skipped about to traditional music. We got to meet many of Mike's young neighbors who were very curious about these strange Americans. Probably the funniest thing was when two different women on two separate occaisions asked me if Mike was my son. Anyway. Because the nature of our relationship is pretty close to incomprehensible to Azeris outside of Baku we just tell people that we are married. As I have said before-there are no male-female relationships unless a wedding is being planned.

This Novrus was special in that the president decreed that the holiday last for an entire week- so the following Monday was also a day-off. The week was a good way to get readjusted to being back in Azerbaijan.

During a week of unusually warm weather. Mike, Carol and I decided to meander along the Ganja river- which sadly is these days, severly lacking in water but not garbage in its bed. Here are some interesting shots that Mike took on the way. We passed some really interesting and innovative construction. I love the way people make bridges and fences/gates around here. It is kind of artistic. We walked towards the mountains past a tree nursery sponspored by ADRA- which is an NGO run by the 7th day adventists. We walked through unploughed fields and grazing sheep and goats, careful not to disturb the enourmous Caucasion sheep dogs!! We had hopes of climbing up a small but steep mound to capture the views of the surrounding country side but it was getting late. At one point we stopped for a break and watched several old men dig out rocks from the riverbed. We were slightly confused as to what these guys were doing and then we heard the rumbling and grumbling of a big engined vehicle and what should appear but a giant dump

truck driving straight up the river bed. Then the guys began heaving the large rocks into the back of the truck. Dont really know what they were for! On our way back we thought we'd try a different route that took us past some farms. As we approached the house we heard some dogs barking but thought little of it. Suddenly two immense sheep dogs (they are the size of St. Bernards but NOT as cute!!!) were charging at us with teeth barred. Carol screamed at us to throw rocks as she booked it across a small stream dividing the property. She had already narrowly escaped three dog attacks during her stay in Azerbaijan. I picked up two baseball sized ones but couldn't bring myself to chuck them at the dogs. I looked back and saw that Mike had lost his footing and the dogs were still advancing. I threw the rock- it went wide- (there is a reason i played first base- the position with the least amount of throwing necessary!) Mike somehow made it up and we lept across the stream just as the dogs reached us. Hearts pounding we kept running to distance us as much as possible from the dogs. We looked back and they hadn't crossed the stream but we didn't want to take any chances. We then decided to take the safer route home- the one we had come.

It became clear to me that having a boyfriend and living with an Azeri host family were not going to mix very much longer. So once I returned from Georgia I began hunting for an apartment. I have never really done this in the United States so I was quite concerned about the difficulties of the task. Its not that there are not a myriad of apartments available, its working the system so as not to get over-charged for being a foreigner and finding a bearable Landlord/lady that is not over intrusive and accepting of a woman living alone. It is VERY unusual for anyone in this very family oriented socitey to live by themselves and its even more rare for a woman. Those who do are usually prostitutes. So it was going to be a challenging task to find a landlord/lady that would accept me and a place that I would find livable. A student of mine volunteered to help me out and he set out going to some real estate agents around the city. We worked out a story that I was his distant cousin from America doing research in Ganja about my annecesteral roots. The idea was that if I was connected with a family here in Azerbaijan than I was probably not a prostitute and that they wouldn't charge me as much as if I were here on my own. My friend would go to different realitors around town and ask if they had any thing to the specifications I had given him. If there was a place that fit my description he would call me up and we would meet at the realitors with the landlord/lady and go look at the apartment. I learned quickly that the number of times the landlord/lady said how beautiful the place was, was inversely related to its acutally beauty and suitablity. I also learned quickly to pick out the problem landladies. Many of the apartments that they want to rent have been in the family for a while and only because someone has moved out for a while are the letting it. And it has happened on more than one occaision that family members have moved back and then moved in with the American tennant. This is perfectly normal here. As well as your landlord coming every few weeks to 'check on the place.' I definitley wanted as little intrusion and interaction with my landlord as possible but it was going to be a difficult task. I also ran into problems with guests. On more than one occaision some people flat out said that I could have no male guests. As the value of the apartment is determined by who has lived there. If people think that a prostitute has lived there then the apartment is harder to rent out again. The other difficulty was the outrageous decor and less then adequate bathroom/toilet facilities. Finally by chance I found a really cute place. The Landlord had just moved back from Russia, bought this place and renovated it to be rented. The fact that the guy had been in Russia as a good sign because he was more open to the idea of a 'western' woman living alone and having guests but not the paying kind! He also had no deep personal ties to the place so he wasn't going to be popping in to make sure I kept the place clean. And the best part is that it was newly redecorated so it all smelled new and fresh and clean and there was a flush toilet! ( I had been living for 7 months with a bucket flush and no toilet paper) So here are a few pictures of my place. I also have a 'great' view of a park across the street. Everyday there are kids playing soccer or guys doing some sort of 'sports' activity. Its usually walking around the track- not too fast because you might get sweaty and then get a cold and die, or they do pull-ups on the pull-up bar. I also go running with a friend in the mornings. People are not too adverse to it- I've even seen a woman walk around the track every morning. The guys only get irked when I pass them.

I aquired my apartment without furniture so then I spent a week or so trying to drum up some inexpensive home furnishings. It wasn't too hard but transporting them there made me nervous!!!!

The task that occupies most of my time here is laundry. I do not have a washing machine and my clothes get incredibly dirty. I live in the dust capital of the world- I'm not sure if thats an accurate fact but it is very, very, very dusty here. So I've devised a stomping system of washing,which kills two birds with one stone. washing my clothes and venting my frustrations constructively.

I really like my apartment it comes with its own alarm system. Not only people live in my city dwelling but there are also numerous chickens and roosters who live in a pen by the entry way. Although I live on the third floor the rooster's joyful crow wakes me up right at first light everyday. Sheep are also a common sight in my neighborhood. I looked out my window the other day to see a big heard comming down the road. The sheep in Azerbaijan are unique in that they have this flab of fat on their butts before their tails. so I call them the fatty-assed sheep. These particulary sheep seemed pretty healthy as they sported the largest fatty-asses I had ever seen here. NOTE- I live in a city of over 250,000 inhabitants!!!! Needless to say life is never boring. It just takes a little patience and creativity when you don't have the luxuries of the US. The best thing though is just having my freedom! I really liked my host family but I can now cook my own meals and keep my own schedule without feeling guilty and obligated to anyone else. I know it isn't really acculturating but I think I would go crazy if I didn't have my own little haven.