A Day in My life here in Azerbaijan.

I’ve written a lot about places I’ve been but I haven’t really given a good account as to what my daily life is like here in Ganja. I would say today is a pretty good example.
I wake up around 8:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays because these are the days I go to Taekwondo and so I don’t have to get up at 7:00 to go running. The reason why I have to get up so early to go running- and can’t really go later in the day is so that not so many people see me. I have yet to see a woman here wearing sneakers and sports clothes much less actually running outside. So I get up really early and go to the park (see photo)- and the people who are up stare at me. Then I run around the park and there are usually 8 or 10 old men there too. They do a lot of stretching but I haven’t seen much running yet.
Anyway… today I got up later, ate fresh baked bread for breakfast, went to my office around 9:30 and then went to teach my class at the Teacher’s Institute.
To get to class I have to walk to the mini-bus or Mashrutka (See picture)as they are called here. These are vans that have been reconstructed (ie. Some seats taken out) that travel a particular route around the city. The nice thing about them is that you can flag them down if you see them coming and you can ask to get off wherever you want along the route. There are a few designated stops but you can make your own. They cost a flat rate of 10 Gapik, which is about 10 cents. The not so nice thing about them is that they are poorly ventilated unless you happen to get on one with windows that open. I also think the goal of the drivers is to cram as many people as possible into them. So people are standing up or should I say stooped over (because you can’t stand up straight in them) with all their food from the Bazar, and children and God knows what else. There are of course also no seat belts, which is a bit of a concern as the streets here are regions of complete anarchy.

Today I hopped on Mashrutka number 14 and went to my class. I was feeling a little weird in my stomach. This is also normal for me. I’ve been in a state of weird digestive issues since I arrived 2 months ago. Today was a good day because it was one of the few times I did NOT hit my head upon disembarking the mini-bus.
Class went well. It usually does. The teacher’s here make me smile and we have fun talking about women’s things since there are no men in the class.

After class I walk back to my house and quickly grab my things for my Taekwondo class. My host mother usually tries to get me to eat. I think that is her main concern. I tell her I will eat later and as usual she looks disappointed. Then I walk back to the mini-bus stop and take another Mashrutka to the Olympic complex (See picture). This is a bit of a misnomer. There has yet to be an Olympics here in Ganja but the rings are on the building. The city is in the process of building a pool, too. Which would be nice- hopefully they will let women swim there. The other pool in town is for men only.

I LOVE my taekwondo class. Its one of the few places where I can relax and finally just be myself. And I get to take out all my frustrations on the punching bags and other students. My teacher is the Azerbaijan women’s national champion. She’s great. I hope to finally test and get a belt soon.

After class I grab another Mashrutka back into ‘downtown’ if you can call it that. Then I walk past all the men hanging around the street corners, drinking tea and oogling women, and ignore their stares and attempts at English communication. Every time I walk down the street its like walking into a hornets nest. You’d think they’d have gotten used to me by now. But I’ve got the ‘don’t even think about messing with me’ look down cold.

Back at my house my host mother had gone to sleep and I didn’t want to wake her up so I missed lunch and went back to the office (which is across the street-see pictures). That is where the frustrating part of my day started.

I’m trying desperately to print my financial aid award letter but my printer is out of ink. An ink cartridge costs a lot of money. But I don’t have any money- that’s why I need the financial aid award letter. There is another printer in the school so I save the letter onto my pen drive and try to bring it up on the other computer. No luck. This computer is pre-pen drive. Then I think I’ll just hook up my lap-top to the other printer. The computer teacher searches for the printer software for my computer. No luck- he can’t find it. Then I think I can just email it to that computer, but the internet is down today. Finally I think okay I’ll burn a copy of it onto a CD! I do this and but then realize that the CD drive of the other computer doesn’t work. The computer teacher finally pries it open and I try out my CD but it the file didn’t burn. I try to burn it again in a different format. No luck. Then I try another computer, which looks like its hooked up to a printer but that one doesn’t work either.
At this point I’m EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED!!! And very unprofessionally say some not so nice things about this country and office equipment. Then I had to take a break and teach my German class, which usually is a lot of fun. I definitely wasn’t in the mood. But as usual when I teach, my other problems were forgotten and we had a good class. I do enjoy teaching – which is also the other place where I can totally be myself.

After class I decide to break down and just buy a new cartridge for my printer using emergency money. I figure this was pretty close to an emergency. I walk to the ATM with ‘the look’ get some cash and walk to the one computer store in town only to find that its closed for the day! I just started laughing. It is pretty typical of how things are around here. The other thing is. Once I print and sign the letter I’m supposed to fax it back to SIT- well – you guessed it. This is the week the fax machine breaks down. I guess someone doesn’t really want me to have any money!
I get back to my office turn on the radio and my favorite song is on and I think…This is great…everything will work out the way its supposed to. I give up for the day, and go home and eat homemade paroshkis (they’re Russian fried dough filled with different things- meat, potato, lentils whatever you want.)
And I watch my favorite show on T.V. Its this awful Brazilian soap opera about a guy named Paco. The acting is terrible and even better dubbed over in Azeri.

Things are definitely not all bad here I’ve got a fun job, a roof over my head, food for the rest of the month and great music to listen to, (Not to mention instant coffee-yum ! and a very caring host family (the kids are really funny and cute). Life could be a lot worse.