Visa Update

It's been a couple weeks now since my last post so I think it is time for an update. A lot has been going on in recent weeks, and one of the crazy things about this delay we've been in is that we have been able to take advantage of a couple things that we would have missed out on.


One of the more significant events that we were sad about missing--had we taken off for Azerbaijan on October 19--was a meeting of business people hosted by The Connector. This forum was held in Colorado Springs, and was delightful. We heard from several businessmen that are operating such operations as translation services, training companies, book sellers, travel and resorts, all sorts of people. There were men and women from the USA, Canada, Norway, Azerbaijan and others.


It was very insightful to sit and hear strategies and concepts about operating small businesses in Azerbaijan. I sat next to an older gentleman from Southern Azerbaijan, he spoke very little English. However, he was respectful and genuinely glad to be in America spending time with foreigners (to him) that want to help his nation prosper and see new concepts.


We also got to spend some time with The Coffeeman. It's always nice to see him, we have a great time together. We had produced a flyer for this conference, he had it printed and brought it with him. It turned out nice and was well received.


One neat bonus of this conference was that it was that it was held  in Colorado Springs, right at the base of Pikes Peak and a fe minutes from a National Park called "Garden of the Gods." If you ever are in the area and get the opportunity to tour this park, do so. It is not huge, and even a couple hours will give you a really neat experience. These rock formations are fascinating and I encourage you to see them if you can.


One other event that we, or at least I was happy to have been able to take part in was an annual event in my Hometown, a motorcycle toy run. This is a motorcycle rally held each year to raise funds and donate toys for under privileged kids. My daughter A shares my love of motorcycles so she joined me on the run. There were over three-thousand motorcycles on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, it was huge fun to be part of.


Today we sent off our passports to the Azerbaijan embassy in Washington DC with our visa applications. We had met an American gentleman at the forum who showed us his recently acquired 90 day tourist visa. We are hopeful that this will be the last step that getting out of the country now. We have our airline tickets set, and we will know in about 14 days if we have visas to enter the country of Azerbaijan.


More later!