Day 78 Thursday

The electrician did indeed come at 9:00 this morning. He set to work an after about an hour our electricity was restored. Note--all of the electric cable I have seen so far is aluminum. No copper yet... Not sure what he actually did, but from seeing the left-over Stalin-era electric panel he could have done some voodoo on it and I would not be surprised. This entire house runs all electricity through one breaker!


So, electrician comes out to the house, works for an hour, fixes the problem. How much did it cost? 9 manat--$11.25. Not bad.


Had language lessons today too, we are working a lot more now with speaking the language and it is tough! Good though. Finished up that and changed clothes and spent three hours painting in the restroom--half done with that. Tomorrow whould finish all the paint, then plumbng on Saturday and it’ll be done! Yahoo!!


Came home to macaroni and cheese dinner and wrote the blog the rest of the evening. Now it’s 11:30 at night and I'm all up to date, so goodnight!!!

Day 77 Wednesday

We had been asked by Berry’s dad (I really must think of a good handle for him someday soon)if we would like to participate as a host home for a progressive dinner for the ten visiting Americans and several Azerbaijani students that would tag along. “Sure we would!” and we did.  However, as beloved is putting together a tex-mex fajita dinner for 20 people, the electricity went out about 2:00 in the afternoon. Not like this is a huge deal, it does that from time-to-time. You get used to it. It usually comes back on in a couple hours and life goes on. Today, it didn’t come back on. Thank goodness the stove is a gas range! 5:00 came, and then 6:30 and our guests arrived. Fortunately the time change has provided us with more sunlight in the evening hours and the dinner goes off as planned.


One of the locals even offers to look at the electric situation--it is decided that we are the only house on the block with no lights! He is not an electrician, just a guy that has some skill, but he cannot find the reason we are without power. He calls a friend and the electrician will be here at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Well that’s good news...

Azerbaijani’s love to take photos of special occasions and tonight is no different. So I also get to take a few for posterity. Here are a few, including a rare stage-diving incident right here in Ganja!

We decide to forgo the clean up since it’s getting dark--and there is no electricity in the house--and walk with the group to the last house on the Progressive Dinner stop for dessert. It is a very nice time, and on the walk home Beloved and I grab a couple night time shots of the city. Enjoy Ganja at night!

Day 76 Tuesday

Today is the English Gala. We are not sure what to expect, but there seems to be a lot of hubbub about it. It is divided into two parts, the children and the adults. From 2:30 to 4:00 the children at the Training House are gathered up and the Gala begins. Mrs. P. emcee’s the event. There is the first-ever showing of the Drama Club, they have prepared a rendition of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” in english no less. The performance is nice, the giant is played by the smallest member of the troupe. How fun!

Then there are skits performed by the various classes of the Training House. Indy, one of the teachers, tells me later that her kids put together the concept and the acting-out of the presentation. There were four skits, and Indy’s team won the prize!

The American guests that arrived Sunday morning were also taking part in the Gala, they did a presentation of American Culture and were very well received by all the kids.


At 4:30 the whole thing was produced again, only the skits were performed by older students and most of those in attendance were adults.

Beloved and I skipped out midway through the second gig--we were pretty hungry after having been there most of the day. We walked down to Ala Turka and visited with our friend Farshid the waiter. The food and discussion was good as always, and having our tummies full we walked back to the Training House and out in two more hours on the tile floor. We’re getting close now!

Day 75 Monday

Monday we got up a little bit later than we wanted, Sunday had been a full day. We helped our guests get some breakfast and hot showers, then got on our way to the Training House. We are getting to the point that we would like to be finished with this project, so we are packing a lot of hours into it.


On our way we see something that we’ve not seen before--they are trimming the trees that are on the sidewalks adjacent to the street.  Labor is abundant and cheap over here, so this event looks like a veritable parade of people, at least a dozen. There were guys in the trees with hand saws, there were guys picking up the limbs. There was a dump truck and it’s driver and a tractor with a wagon and it’s driver. 

There were numerous spectators too, but the one that got my attention was the chain saw operator. My dad always joked about never using a broom because it didn’t have a steering wheel. Well dad, today I saw a chain saw with handle bars!! Wonder what kind of leverage you get out of that rig? Not much I bet. I was fortunate enough to get a photo--here it is!

Day 74 Sunday

The Daylight Savings Time change happened last night, we are finally back to just ten hours ahead of the Midwest instead of eleven hours, which we have been for the last three weeks. This is an important point because we are expecting the arrival of several guests from the USA arriving this morning. A group of ten, friends of Berry’s family (and Indy too, actually) flew into Baku arriving just after midnight then traveling by bus directly here. Berry’s dad had told us that he would call ten minutes or so before knocking at the gate, but he wasn’t sure exactly what time that might be. “Expect somewhere between 5 and 6AM.” So, at 5:30AM--with the time change it felt like 4:30AM, you know the drill--the phone rings. We’re here! So much for the ten-minute warning. No problem, we greet them and show them where they are to bunk and then get back to bed. Beloved did not sleep very well prior to that, she was fidgety, not wanting to miss the phone call.


Beloved and I got up and around about 8:30 and met with some friends for breakfast. It was progressing to be a normal day, so in the early afternoon we left the house to go to the Training House to continue with the tile work.


On our way we are passing by the Stadium that we occasionally run at. On the field are about a dozen or so people with, what’s that? American-style softball gear. I had to take a closer look at that, so as I am walking up to the entrance, a police car stops at the curb and motions us over. “Can we see your documents?” “Ummm, we left them at the house...” We stood there on the curb for about three minutes when one of the young Azerbaijani guys from the field walked down and asked if he could help us. He was very kind and it is a very generous thing that he is doing, but it is to no avail. The young man says, “you must go with them so they can prove that they are doing something. Please do not hold it against Ganja, we are really nice people.”


I though that was particularly kind of him to do.


We did go with the police. They had asked our address, which we were able to pick up, and we were able to tell them our address. Okay, so they will drive us back to our house, we will get the passports and the visa and all will be well. They drive about 80 percent of the way to our house, then go in a different direction. Beloved and I look at each other--they are taking us to the police station.


We quickly and wisely decide to phone for some help. “England, we have been picked up and taken to the police station.” That’s a first.


I thought about snapping some photos but then decided against it. In hindsight it probably would have been okay but I didn’t want to inflame an awkward situation. The station itself was small and dumpy--the same odd angles in the construction, the same power-struggle-style of leadership. The officer that brought us in started writing, a report I would imagine, but not a form--just a white sheet of paper. The senior man, judging by the gold flourishes on his jacket was busily playing Suduku. Don’t want to interrupt him. There was a soccer game on the television in the corner. There were about five guys at this post, all of them filing through as if to look at the latest catch. I guess we were somewhat of an oddity.


Nobody at the police station speaks english beyond, “hello, what’s your name? How are you?” After some fumbling around England walks in. There is some discussion between he and the senior man at the desk, then England says, “We must go and get your documents but one of you must stay here.” Great.


I stay and Beloved goes with England back to the house for the papers. All others leave too, I guess the show is all but over. In a very halting dialog I find out that this man, the senor man, is England’s neighbor. He goes back to his Suduku and I wait quietly for England and Beloved to return.


Shortly enough they do, and after some inspection of the documents all is pronounced in-order. Great! Can we go now? No. We must wait for a district man to come by and inspect the documents, then take them and get them photocopied.


England wishes us well and bids us good-bye, and soon enough the district man arrives. He looks over the passports and the visas and the receipts and the stamps, then all three of us depart the station. In a friendly gesture I ask his name as we drive to the photo-copy house. We understand very little of each other’s language, but in the small spaces that our proficiency overlap we are able to speak and laugh a little bit. His name is Jehann or something like that, so we laugh that we have similar names.


In the end, we spent two-and-a-half hours with this transaction, but it was not a horrible experience. The lawmen were courteous, there was no brutality or perceived request for a bribe. It is not something that I would like to do again but all-in-all not the worst thing I’ve ever been through.


We finally did make it to the Training House and worked for about two hours.


That was a full Sunday.

Day 73 Saturday

Today is yet another Work Day at the Training House, and England is determined that it should be one of the last. For some reason, three projects have converged on this one particular day--the yard, the rest-room, and repainting one classroom--so the whole place is swarming with people. Here are a few pictures...

Turab decided he would wear an apron to help save his clothes from the dust of sanding plaster. Here is Turab, Namiq and one of the Teachers.

Vagev. Check his shirt--we see this many times--the print is spelled SECCESS CO. Apparently when you can't read the language it doesn't matter that it's mis-spelled...

And Indy. Oh yeah.

Day 72 Friday

Some time back I decided I was not as free-spirited as I once was, perhaps 45 years on the planet has tempered the “devil-may-care” recklessness with which I once operated in. I discovered that wearing safety glasses was an okay thing, that it is not stupid to turn off electricity before working on it, and that disabling or completely removing gaurds and shrouds, etc. is not a wise idea. So, in the midst of my rest-room remodel job, I find it necessary to trim a half-inch off the bottom of the door. “Is there a saw available?” Sure--and this is what I got. 

It is not a home-built tool, this is the industry standard circular saw. A 220 volt 1,400RPM Grinder with a 9 inch saw blade. I saw (hee hee) a workman wield this tool while standing on top of a ladder. It is amazing--this one actually has the top guard in place, I have seen a couple that have nothing but the exposed blade.


This blade is excruciatingly dull, and the room is quickly filled with blue smoke. Somehow between the blade, the friciton, and the heat we get the job done, but it is not a tool that I would relish using on a regular basis...

Day 71 Thursday

The weather is getting nicer and nicer, and we are spending more and more time outdoors. Beloved can not be stopped nor deterred in her quest not coax vegetables from the ground and she has been working nearly everyday in her bit of earth. Today we discovered “the turtle,” a beast we had been told of but never yet had seen. Here is a photo of the native wildlife. He is about the size of a football and has several colors of paint on his shell. Not sure why...

Day 70 Wednesday

The combination of dust from the construction and the beginning of springtime pollination beginning to come in really has given me some grief--my nose has been running and my eyes watering. So on the way to the Training House this morning we took our last remaining allergy-relief pill down to the local pharmacy to see if they had something like it.


Interesting side note, you can purchase amoxicillian over the counter here...


We talked a little bit and the phamacist figured out what we were looking for and sold us 10 little tablets, “take one each morning.” I’ve taken them two days now and they do seem to help. Funny thing, the expiration date was July 2010! Oh well, they were cheap!!

Got down to the Training House at about 10:30 and started laying tile. The work progresses slowly, there is a lot of cuts to be made working into the corners and around the radiator, but we fall into a steady rhythm and begin to make pretty good progress.


Lunch time is coming up, and I am not looking forward to another donar. A donar is sandwich-type thing that is made of chopped up meat, sometimes beef sometimes chicken sometimes lamb, mayo, and cucumber. So I asked if Indy would be willing to go to Ala Turka and pick up some pidas for us. She agreed and headed that way, about 20 minutes later I get a call from Farshid--he was calling to make sure what we wanted. He is such a good waiter! Indy arrived back about 20 minutes after that and we had pida! Much much better...

Manchester came by tonight. She just “popped in” to use the telephone--she had been to Baku for the weekend and left her mobile phone there. She and I have been having some fun with me learning how to serve a decent English tea. It is a whole ordeal, but lots of fun to try and outdo the last time that I served tea to her! The tea is prepared in a little teapot--very strong, and hot water in the kettle. The other elements are brought to the table--the milk in a small pitcher, the sugar (in cubes of course) and the bisquits (cookies), and a napkin or two. The cup is warmed (hot water from the kettle is poured in the cup and then tossed out) then brought on a saucer to the recipiant. The tea is poured, about a quarter cup, and then topped off with the hot water. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun to make her feel so special! She and Beloved talked for almost two hours catching up on her trip to Baku.

Day 69 Tuesday

Another Day of Celebration, the typical greeting is, “Beyram Mubarak,” which literally means, “congratulations on the holiday.” I had an opportunity to use this greeting this evening walking home from another work day at The Training House. This guy--a complete stranger to me--had cast a disparaging glance at my boots, which were dirtier than the typical Azeri shoe, so I took a chance and greeted him with a smile and albeit haltingly, “Beyram Mubarak.”  Although it was a little clumsy in delivery, the response it garnered was exuberance--something like, “Hey, this American dude doesn’t know any of the language but he can say Happy Novruz!!” 

As I said earlier, we spent most of the day at The Training House, working on the restroom again. We completed the floor preparation and tomorrow we will be ready to lay the tile.


The evening was quiet and short, we put on the water heater and had a bath and went to bed early. After three days on hands and knees we are both kinda sore tonight!

Day 68 Monday

More cement work at The Training house, today we are leveling the floor. We add about two inches to the south side of the room and make it all drain to the center of the room at the floor drain. Hopefully! 

We stop and clean up at noon, we have been invited to join England and Mrs. P. to a Novruz celebration by one of the teachers at The Training House and her mother. They are very sweet ladies, and it is an honor to be invited. We arrive and the table is beautiful. We are seated and the first dish is served, plov. It tastes better than that name sounds, it is a rice dish with chicken in a sweet sauce with vegetables and nuts. Then came the second dish, which I cannot remember the name of. It is rice, sausage and spices wrapped in a grape leaf and cooked. It has a super-strong flavor. Gulbanas would not stop dishing these onto my plate, I ate about seven of them! Then the bread, then the salad, then the dessert, then the nuts and candy, then the chi (tea)--I have not eaten so much in my entire time here in Azerbaijan. It was a wonderful time!


We choose to go back to the Training House one more time, there is only about two hours left until dark, but we need to continue our floor-leveling work.


It is dark by the time Beloved and I leave the Training House, it is lightly raining but we want to see some of the bonfires that we know will be burning on the way home. It is about twenty minutes walk home, and we do get to see numerous fires and gatherings.


About 100 yards from our house is the taxi stand, we walk past it almost every day and have made a friend of one of the taxi drivers, Rassim. He knows N&L and The Coffeeman and we have used his services several times now. He is there tonight, talking with several other men, a couple are preparing a comparatively small fire. We are motioned over, and after the greetings all around are finished we are encouraged to jump over the fire. This is a local tradition, and we are happy to oblige. It is a nice connection point and can do nothing but increase our sincerity in the eyes of these people.

Day 67 Sunday

Sunday morning we are invited to breakfast with Berry’s family, so we postpone our work on the tile--we can get to it after lunch.  Lots of pictures here today, click on the image to see a larger view!

After breakfast we walk to the city square to see the Novruz celebration. It is full of people celebrating and eating and showing goods and dancing and riding rides--there are even a couple camels. 

Lots and lots of police there too, it has been speculated that they are not wanting any type of outbreak of protest.

We are leaving now, and we pass an ATM, or a bankomat as they are know here. I had to snap a photo--most people would not believe it otherwise. A dozen people all crammed in on each other. Hey--do you want some help? What's your PIN?

On the walk back the Berry’s house Berry’s dad informs us that they are going up to the mountains today and we would be welcome to join them. So, we postpone the tile work some more and take a trek up to the mountains. It is only about a thirty minute drive, then about a 15 minute walk up to a very pretty meadow. We toss the football and the frisbees and relax.

All in all a very nice day.

Day 66 Saturday

Saturday is a big work day at The Training House. Not only Beloved and me but there are about 15 of the staff here today as well. Most of them will be working on a room at the end of the hall--they are repairing some cracks in the walls and repainting the room.


Beloved and I jump into the restroom remodel, the first order of business is removing the fixtures and the so-called wall in the middle of the room. The sink and toilet come out easy enough, and the conglomeration of sticks and lightweight panels nailed together as a dividing wall is soon gone as well.

Then we start looking at the floor. About 80 percent of the floor is covered with a small terra cotta-colored tile, about three inches square. They are laid tightly together with no grout at all. After prying the first couple out of a line the tension is released and they almost be picked out by hand. Since they are coming easy we clear the whole floor of these little tiles. They match what is in the stairwells, and there are numerous ones there that are broken or missing, so we will be able to replace them some day in the future.

The floor is strangely uneven in a couple areas, almost as if it is wrinkled. The concrete below the tile has failed, so what is holding up the floor? A little “exploratory” poking around with a chisel reveals the method of construction for this floor; Apparently the builders of this--and I have to imagine all other--buildings of this era constructed the building with a sub-floor of concrete. Even the second floor, where we are. This sub-floor is not the finished-grade floor, so when that is ready to be installed the grade is raised with sand and then an inch or so of concrete is poured over that. There is no wire or screen in that concrete, so our wrinkles turn out to be where the concrete of the finish-grade floor has failed and traffic has caused the sand to shift around. We dig out the sand in about 30 percent of the total area, mix it with cement and put it back in, leveling it with the existing floor. 


At the end of Saturday we have a firm foundation upon which to start. Unfortunately it is almost two inches out of level. Tomorrow we will correct for level and then start laying tile after that.

Day 65 Friday 2

Today we are going to the building materials place. We walk down to the Training House and meet with Nomiq and Mrs. P. and then we are at the building materials warehouse.


Mrs. P. drops us here--she has other errands to run, she will come back after while and collect us.


Mrs. P. has done a great job putting together a list of all that we determined it would take to complete this project, along with a budget of how much each item should cost, so it should be a straight-forward time of picking up the materials. The tile acquisition was easy enough, but then we moved over to the paint side of the building. I love paint, I made my living with paint for more than 13 years. I know paint. What they have over here is not paint. The majority of all painting that is done is whitewash. Almost a watercolor paint. They call it “emulsion” and they use it everywhere, even outside, and it washes off in the rain. Also, it only comes in white, but they have small containers of coloring that you can tint your emulsion with. Great.


Is there a better grade of paint? Yes, they call it “paint” and use it almost exclusively for doors and window frames but almost never for a wall. It is a heavy duty oil-based enamel, and it comes in several colors, but only about 15. A couple shades of red, light blue and dark blue, etc. I sure hope it mixes well, I got a 500ml of black, red, yellow and medium blue, we’ll see what we can do with these and three litres of white.


The language barrier is a tough thing to get over or around, especially with slightly specialized technical terms, like those used in building materials and remodeling practices. I would like to know about some plumbing options, but I cannot get our interpreter to understand what I am asking about, so he is unable to ask the salesperson about it, so I was getting frustrated and just decided that this would be one time to walk away and attack it another day.


We got our tile and  thinset and cement and paint loaded up and we headed back to The Training House.

Day 65 Friday

A quick post about an actual interaction between Berry, a teen-aged American student here and here native Azerbaijani sporting coach.

Coach= Berry, come here.
Me=ok
Coach= Are you going to grow taller?
Me=Well I am young i think i will grow more.
Coach= Have you been trying?
Me=...
Coach= you need to hold on to a pull up bar and hang for at least 1o minutes a day if you want to get taller.
Me= Do you really think it will help?
Coach= OF COURSE!

Who would think anything else?

Day 64 Thursday

Azerbaijani Language Test Today. I have been looking forward (not) to this day for a week, ever since it was announced that we would have a test coming up. The first portion, the written portion was 30 minutes of suffixes, possessives, plurals, and some translation, plus a few sentences of descriptive terms about my family. I struggled, but did my best. I really didn't feel good about it, but our instructor didn't help when she announced, "Almost passed."


Great. Now what? I hate studying, I hate school, and now I have to re-double my efforts because I just failed the first test I ever took. Honestly, I felt like crap.


During our break I guess I looked a little more down-cast than I wanted to, Amalya, our instructor, asked how I was feeling, I said I wish I had passed the test. She says, "But you did." I did? Yes. "What about, 'Almost passed?'" "Oh, that was joke." I shake my head, my instructor knows just enough english to be dangerous. After some amount of discussion I figure out she was trying to say, "Barely passed!"  I told her, "we need to work on your joke-telling..."


Passed the spoken portion with an 85, Beloved got a 90!

Today is the birthday of my father. He has been gone now many years, but today I want to honor his memory, and honor all my family by telling just a little bit about him.


I have never ever regretted that my dad was a gear-head. From the first times I can remember him he always had some old car or truck in the back yard that was in some state of repair or customization. He loved auto racing and demolition derbys. I have many memories of Saturdays at the dirt track, and it was fun to see his silver race car lead the pack and win the race. We always had lots of trophies around and a huge (to a ten-year-old kid) garage in the back yard.

I was 10 or 12 maybe, I had gotten as a gift a painting set--my family recognized my artistic talent early on. It was a nice set of oil paints and a book of canvas sheets. I was having a hard time figuring out just how they worked, and was very frustrated. Crying actually--I was always a sensitive artist. My dad heard me and intervened, turning to a fresh sheet in the book and picking up the brush. With a deft stroke, he drew a large red numeral 5 in the middle of the page. That was it. He said, "If you can figure out how to paint numbers and letters you would always have a job as a sign painter..." or at least that is the way I remember it. I was done trying to paint mountains or flowers for a while.

I had leukemia when I was 14, the same year dad had by-pass heart surgery. He would bring me along when he went "out for coffee" with the guys. I was awkward and sickly, but felt like a million bucks when I got to sit at the table and listen to the stories.


I finally did become a sign-painter, and dad was always helping me out. Like the time he helped me build two 22-foot ladders so I could almost break even on a job that I was way over my head on. I had bid on--and won--a plastic face job, installed. $650. The materials alone cost me $600. I was young and stupid, but he never brow-beat me about it. He sent all his cronies to get signs from his son.

He had asked me to paint a sign for his and mom's "What-Not Shop," a 4x8 sign. He helped me install it, we drove metal fence posts in the ground to install it on. I was standing in the bed of the truck with a sledge hammer while he stood on the ground and help the post in place. See where this is going? I almost broke his arm...


He died of a heart attack when I was 28. I sure miss him. Happy Birthday Dad.

Day 63 Wednesday

One of the things beloved says to me every week--man, we should record that sound! 


Imagine someone laying on the horn of the car for five solid seconds, then a couple toots in the middle of one more five-second long blast. Yep, everyday, several times a day, you hear the call of the water-truck. Sounds like a good title for a book or a movie!

The water truck is apparently a staple of Azerbaijani culture and infrastructure. These ancient trucks rumble up and down the streets, seldom exceeding the limits of first gear, blasting their siren call into the homes and apartments of Ganja. It stops every hundred yards or so, or wherever the people with the plastic containers are gathered. Every time I have encountered the water truck it is a pleasant, cultural experience. People interact and shake hands and talk to each other. I have been assured that the water is of much better quality than what comes from the tap, and it is relatively inexpensive. Beloved has coerced me into walking out to the water truck to purchase water on several occasions now. Walk up to the back of the truck, turn the spigot, smile and give the driver 40 qapiq. Five gallons for sixty cents, not bad. 


This week has been busy with work from the USA, The Salesman has been working hard and is breaking into a new field, digital advertising. He wants to create a 12-second ad that has some movement (Flash) and loop together 30 or so of these, then display them on a big-screen monitor inside grocery stores. And wherever else he can find a market for them--which, given his track record, should be lots of places. So, I have been brushing up on my skills with Adobe Flash, and having some fun with that!

Day 62 Tuesday

Novrus! 


Novrus is a regional holiday that celebrates the coming of spring in conjunction with the spring equinox.  It is a two-day celebration, this year recognized on March 20-21. However, Each Tuesday for the month prior to Novrus is a celebration as well. There are many nuances to the holiday, most center around family and community, like this little tradition that I totally missed out on...


Twice today I heard banging on the gate and on our neighbors gate. When I looked through the peephole there was no-one there. The tradition is, children leave their hat on the ground in front of the door and knock, then run and hide. The party answering the door must leave candy or goodies of some fashion in the hat--kinda like trick-or-treat. I wish I had known how it all works, I would have loved to been able to bless the neighborhood kids instead of being a stick in the mud. I hope I have an opportunity to redeem myself next week.

The four Tuesdays' prior to Novrus have themes to the parties that take place on the evening of each of these days--earth, water, wind, and fire. Tonight was fire. Lots of fire. about 8:00 I thought the furnace was scorching something...no, the whole neighborhood smelled of smoke, and my house--being as drafty as a barn--was being filled with the aroma of smoke.


It gets better! About 11:00 the neighbors across the wall to the west started playing music really really loud. I got out of bed, put on my shoes and went into the back yard to see a huge red glow and dozens of hot embers dancing up and down, some even in my yard. The music was like something from the scene of a drunken camel oasis party--and way too loud for 11:00 at night. I can tell right now that for next week's actual Novrus party I am going to have to shoot video with sound--photos are not even beginning to do it justice! Hey--it's Novrus!!!

Day 61 Monday

Last week was Beloved's birthday, and we visited the home of our housekeeper Yaver and her daughter Naza. There is a pretty good electronic piano there, on loan from N & L. Beloved played that day and it was lovely.

Yaver mentioned that Naza was taking some lessons once-upon-a-time but had not followed up on it recently. Beloved piped up immediately, "I would love to show her some things," so it was settled, and today was the first time that Naza and Beloved worked together. It was not a huge thing, just about an hour to evaluate where she is at and what will be the plan to move forward. I suppose we will go down to their house once a week or so and Beloved will give some piano lessons. Naza doesn't like to have her picture taken!


Hopefully I will be able to give some help with the house--it breaks my heart to know anyone has to live in this meager of standard--especially a single mom and a 12 year old girl. I never mean for this blog to be a downer to anyone, but I do feel compelled to show you what life is like in a third-world country. The house is about 250 square feet, the yard is 15 feet by 25 feet, and the hen eats anything that might grow in the dirt--not that it appears anything does. It is a walled yard, like all Azerbaijani homes have, but the gate is about an eight-inch step up to get out of the yard. I can imagine what this place looks like after a rain--and they have a basement storage area too.

I hope to be able to help this woman and her daughter raise their standard of living even if it is just getting the roof guttering to fall outside the wall or get some soil that might produce some grass. Check the photo--the window frame in the corner of the yard has a stick on top of it which is holding the gas meter up. One anchor drilled into the wall fixes this--how simple is that? The house is not in much better shape, there is no such thing as building codes in this region that I have seen, doors and windows don't fit very good... There are dripping faucets and  so many little things that can be done. She just doesn't have a man in her life to take care of the little things. She is working hard and her priority is taking care of Naza--there is not much left over for anything else.

Day 60 Sunday

Beloved and I have had a busy week, so we decided to spend the day inside our own four walls and relax a little bit.


We try to do something enriching on Sundays, we meet with friends or listen to a lecture or something like that. Since we were not getting out today we watched a movie that I had wanted to see for some time, "Invictus."


I highly recommend this film. It tells a story of great personal sacrifice for a cause that a man believed was bigger than himself. It is a story of forgiveness and reconciliation on an epic scale. It is a story of tremendous investment into a project that would unite people in such a way that they overcome their prejudices and personal hatred.


It got me thinking about all the things that we take for granted day-to-day, the fact that we are so caught up in our own lives that we fail to see how much of a difference we could make in the lives of others if we just would. It takes some guts to commit to get your hands dirty and do something. Other stories I can recommend like "Pay it Forward" or "Blindside" remind us that we can make a difference in someone else's life. Maybe not to the scale of taking a homeless kid off the streets and giving him a college education, but you can buy an extra cheeseburger at McDonalds when you see an obviously needy person standing around the parking lot and give it away. What's the worst that could happen? They say, "no thanks" and you have an extra cheeseburger for dinner or tomorrows lunch.


I guess I'm just all stirred up, but I'd rather be stirred up than clogged up. Our life is a conduit--a pipe. It has been said that a pool gets stagnant when water flows in and there is no "flow" out. We have been so blessed--we, all of us, need to remember to recognize this fact and keep the "flow" going. Ever bought someone's lunch that you didn't even know? It's a blast. Ever been at the gas station when a young mother is stopping the pump at $1.80? I have. You know what I did? I swiped my card and filled up her tank. It is so much fun to see the tears of gratitude that $25 can buy. Yeah, I've been scammed too, but I also believe that what is sowed with a good conscience still brings a harvest. The "flow" is still going!


Take it to heart, think it over and look for something that is do-able for you. The opportunity to change your city is all around you. It can cost as little as $1.00 to change someone's day for the better.


Does anyone care? Prove it.

Day 59 Saturday

My how quickly two months passes. We have had so much fun here getting to learn all sorts of new things and meet so many interesting people.

Today broke bright and clear, and about 43 degrees F at 8:30AM. We had an idea that it would be a warmish day, the heaters did not have to work so hard overnight. We actually turned them down when we got up at 11:00PM. Thanks Manchester! After a long Friday we went to bed early, about 8:30--I was really tired for some reason. Manchester called at 10:50, "Sorry to call so late, I know it's short notice but can we borrow your house tomorrow?" She had a conflict in venues needed a room for her student group. "Ummm, sure. Goodnight."  However, being awakened, we both had a hard time going back to sleep, so Beloved and I watched a movie in the middle of the night! Got back to bed about 1:30 and finished out our eight.

It ends up they did not come over today, something else worked out but the house was all ready just in case.

So, like I started out saying, the day was bright and warmer than it has been recently, so it was a good day to work outside. We walked down to The Training House and jumped right in. England was there with Vagev, and by the time noon came around we, about eight of us, had removed six small trees and a couple stumps from the playground, which is just about ready for a few loads of topsoil and then grass seed. Hopefully we can get some growth before it gets too warm.

After the workout in the yard was our language lesson. Still learning more every session, I hope we are ready for the test on Tuesday. It will be half written and half speaking. Always remember, in the possessive, add -nun to the owner and -i to that which is possessed. Johnun bacunun gozun adI Tinadir.

After the lesson we went with Mrs. P to get some prices for a tile and paint project that we have volunteered for. Beloved and I love to do building projects, so this is right up our alley. Mrs. P has done a little, but she still learns some terminology about thinset and grout and sealer and self-leveling concrete, and does a great job of wading her way through the language and interpreting for us to understand what is going on. Turns out that the restroom can be tiled and painted for about $200. We will start next weekend.

By the way, most of you will be starting Daylight Savings Time tonight--don't forget to change your clocks. It will be an interesting week--we start DST next Saturday night. Just gotta be different I guess!

Day 58 Friday

Well the post yesterday mentioning "warming my heart" and the photo of the beautiful sunset were not for no reason, we are back in the grey days. It was so nice to have a weekend of shadows and crisp blue skies, but that has been the exception, not the norm. I have not seen the sun since Monday morning, five days ago. I'm sure it's up there--it does become a lighter shade of grey as the morning progresses, but I sure miss the blue sky. Still cold too, but at least it's been dry...

I'm finalizing a couple comps for the new logo of the Bank today, there is meeting on Monday that all the branch managers will be attending and we will review the new design. I think we are getting close, I would like to move forward with something fresh on a whole batch of marketing resources we will be using at our newest branch in Balakan. The plan is to open May 1 so all this needs to be settled. I am really having fun playing around with this stained-glass concept, and it has received pretty good reaction. They have this national art-form called shabekah, it is the construction of stained-glass windows that uses carved wood instead of leaded carriers. There are no nails or glue used in this method of construction, it all fits together tightly like a jig-saw puzzle that you can see through. Coupling that with an eight-sided icon, which is like a national symbol, and the human figure growing up and strong like a tree... I hope it is favorably received.


Beloved went to visit L this morning, they are going for a long weekend get-away to Georgia. Not the State, the Nation of Georgia. Tbilisi is only about a two-hour journey from here, and several of our acquaintances have mentioned going there for a change of scenery. Its inexpensive and closer than Baku.


Got to study the language books today--new vocab words and a pre-test tomorrow with the real test on Tuesday. I never liked school...

Day 57 Thursday

A very special post today, Happy birthday to my sister-in-law, V!! Love you! Thinking of you makes me feel all warm inside!

A midwestern Sunset

Back when I was young and foolish (as opposed to old and foolish) I would sneak off from work and have lunch with V. We would hang out in the afternoons or go watch a movie. Or go to Lil' Mexico on Pawnee!! Yum! She and PF, my brother, have always watched out for me and rescued me when I ran out of gas, which was way more frequent than it should have been. We always enjoyed lighting things on fire in the back yard or working on the old Ford, and not enough good times on the boat!


I miss ya!! I love ya! Have a great day!!

Day 55 Tuesday

Today is International Women's Day. In fact it is the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, so, to all you beautiful women out there, Happy International Women's Day! All banks and schools closed. Valentines Day eat your heart out!

It is also the Third Tuesday before Novrus, the New Year. Yes, they celebrate the calendar new year too, I am just learning about this celebration, so more to come on this as it unfolds, but something happens on each Tuesday prior to Novrus, and today is Windy Tuesday. Not sure what that means just now. There are gatherings and celebrations all around the city tonight, including bonfires. If you are one of the really fortunate ones you will be invited to jump across the fire three times. It has something to do with good luck... I'll bet there's liquor involved too.