Winter in Azerbaijan 2008

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.