Frogger

Well, it looks like my schedule is going to be even busier in Baku than it was in Moscow, but I will do my best to keep up with the blogging.  The heat has slowly receded, and as hat has happened, we've been getting out more and more to see the city.

One weekend, we went to see the old city, which dates back to the 12th century, although parts of it are built on foundations that appear to go back several thousand years.

We climbed the Maiden tower, which turned out to have a very nice museum inside that covers different topics  - history, construction, uses, etc... - on each level, and great views from the top! A bored looking security guard  offered to take our pictures.  I was a little worried he would try to extort money from us, but he only asked if we had a cigarette, and didn't seem upset when we didn't. 

After the Maiden tower we explored the old town and tried, unsuccessfully, to avoid the lure of souvenir shopping. The salesmen are quite persistent, and there is a lot of neat stuff to look at! One guy was very annoying and when I asked for prices he told me that if I bought right away, he would give a lower price, and then said I had waited too long when I tried to ask Stephanie what she thought and raised the price.  He didn't have anything I wanted that badly, so we left.  We did end up buying a little soviet-era serving dish that had Azerbaijani style.  It was a little worn, so we went to the bazaar to get it fixed up.  One guy replaced a bolt that was holding it together with a nicer model and didn't even charge us for the work.  Then Stephanie took us to a guy she bought a broom from to ask where we could find bronze polish.  He offered to have someone clean it for roughly twice the price we bought it for, but we just got the polish instead.  Then we asked where we could buy honey, because it's so expensive in the store.  He offered a jar (not large) for about $40 and insisted it was very fresh.  We decided he isn't someone we want to do business with either.

We had our lunch in an archaeological site, which used to be a home.

I enjoyed a fresh tarkhun (an herb with a sort of licorice flavor), while discovered four turtles in one of the little ditches.  The chef showed us his samovar and told us about the different parts of the house, like wells and water holes for cold storage.

One of the other nice things about Baku is that pomegranates and olives are native to the area, so they grow everywhere.  I haven't figured out yet if it's ok to pick them.  I haven't seen anyone else do it.  Not that I'd know what to do with a raw olive anyway.  Some of the olive trees are reportedly several hundred years old.

Bread here is delicious, and as with many places in the region, bread is culturally revered.  Here, we are warned that we shouldn't through bread away because it will cause you to be cursed.  If bread goes bad or you can't eat it, you're supposed to hang it out rather than throw it away so that it can be disposed of properly.  No one has told me what happens to the old bread, but occasionally we see little bags of bread hanging from doors or trees. 

In addition to the charms of the old city, we have been finding more nice things in our neighborhood.  There is a kids amusement park about a 10 minute walk from our apartment.  Aiden seems to be happy just wandering around, but he was also very excited about a little caterpillar rollercoaster and rode it three times in a row - once with me, once with Stephanie, and once by himself!

This doesn't really have anything to do with my story, but the third supermoon of the year was incredible over the city...

The time came for us to get haircuts.  I found a guy in a little hole in the wall (almost literally), who gives a good haircut for about $8.  He was very thorough and didn't stick his fingers in my ear or blow on my neck like my barber in Tajikistan.

Stephanie went to a place near our building and was thrilled to discover that they blow your hair out as part of the cut, so she came home with straight hair for the cost of a regular haircut in the U.S.  It took some getting used to, and I still like her curls, but it was fun to see her so excited.

We decided to take Stephanie's new do out for a spin, so we went down to the funicular that goes up to the valley of martyrs. Aiden was excited because it was like riding a vertical choo choo train.

I was excited because of the views and because I got to see the flame towers close up.

The valley of martyrs is a memorial to the people who were killed by soviet troops during a bid for independence just prior to the fall of the Soviet Union and is a very beautiful place.

In addition to the cooler weather, the days are getting shorter, which means my morning runs are getting darker.  It takes a little care not to break an ankle, but so far I'm keeping up with it.  One interesting thing is that now when I run past the bazaar on the way home, I usually see cars pulled over with people hauling animal carcasses out of their trunks and onto little carts for the butchers.  It's a little weird smelling fresh meat during a run, but not entirely unpleasant.  Speaking of meat, we found a guy who sells fresh pork and another who sells bacon, so we're basically set for the next two years. 

The other thing that happens as the weather cools off is that school starts, which apparently causes the volume of traffic to double because everyone drives their kids into the city for school.  This increase in traffic causes an inverse squared drop in the quality of driving, with people going the wrong way, flooring their gas on the way to a red light, or just generally not paying any attention at all.  Crossing the street feels like you've entered a game of Frogger. 

The occasional traffic cop doesn't help much.  On the way home, I have to cross a busy street and usually count on the traffic light to give me a chance to cross.  But in the afternoons, there is a traffic cop who likes to encourage the cars waiting at the red light to just go and merge into the general traffic, without any regard for the fact that this makes it effectively impossible for pedestrians to get over.   The first time this happened, I finally got fed up and crossed when the traffic jammed briefly.  He started shouting unintelligible things at me, but I just shouted that I had a green light and he looked at it and said "ok". 

For being so close to the water, it's relatively difficult to find fresh fish, but the other day I went to the store and there was a big tank of live trout. So I bought a couple and had them cleaned.  We cooked it up in an iron skillet and it was amazingly good!  So while, not from the Caspian, they are local and it doesn't get much fresher than flopping. 

That pretty much covers it for now.  Work has been interesting lately, so I'll try to talk about that a little more next time...

Welcome to Baku!

So here we are at long last...Baku.  After an uneventful flight from Vienna, we landed on time and were

greeted by the cite of an Azerbaijan Airlines jet. 

We were taken to our new home, which is in walking distance of the Embassy, has plenty of space, and a great view toward the downtown and iconic "Flame" tower, which is built to evoke the iconic flame symbol linked to Zoroastrianism.  Baku was a major center for the religion and there are apparently a few standing fire temples that we can visit while we are here.

The flame towers are even cooler at night, when they light up to show flame patterns or the Azerbaijani flag.  We even have a couple balconies where we can sit and look out at the view.  Unlike Moscow, the balconies do not seem as though they will fall off the building anytime soon.

Aside from being close to work, our apartment is near a nice park with a playground and not far from a grocery store called Bee Gross - not exactly an appetizing name - but it's actually a nice store, with a good selection of food.  

                                      

The one strange thing - and this isn't limited to Bee Gross - is that there are times when store employees will just come and stand next to you and watch you.  We haven't figured out why yet - it doesn't seem to correspond to more expensive items, where they might be worried about shoplifting.  It's as likely to happy when we're looking at buckwheat as it is when we're near the caviar.  And it isn't that they're unhelpful.  In fact, people here are extremely polite and when we asked a store clerk where to find dish soap, he proceeded to show us around the entire cleaning section until we found what we want.  Regardless, compared to the grumpy and sullen looks we got anytime we entered almost any place of business in Moscow, I'll take the occasional hovering. 

We are also about a 20 minute walk to the main pedestrian area known as fountain square - named for its multiple fountains, I suppose.  There are lots of restaurants, stores, and parks throughout this part of town - even a McDonald's. 

There is also a beer house nearby, which has a good selection of European beers on tap - and some incongruous statues of Mariachi players. 

On the first weekend, we stopped for lunch at an outdoor cafe just off fountain square and in addition to some very good kebabs, we had our first taste of Azerbaijani plove, complete with raisons, apricots and quince.  Some of the best we've every had - and those of you who follow the blog know we've tried a lot of plov!

Shortly after the delicious plov, I had my first adventure.  There are these purple cabs all over the city, and they're the only ones with meters, they also have seat belts and air-conditioning, so they tend to be the cab of choice.  The first two weeks here, the temperatures hovered around 100 degrees with enough humidity to make it pretty uncomfortable. So even though the walk wasn't far, we took a cab back to our apartment.

Seconds after the cab drove off, I realized that I left my camera in the cab.  I thought I saw the cab across the street and ran over, but it was a different one.  Then about a dozen more identical purple cabs drove by and I realized that I would probably never see my camera again.  The driver of a different cab told me to call the dispatcher, which I did and they promised to notify me if someone found it.  I still wasn't hopeful.

I have a spare camera, but the batteries were all in the pouch with the primary, so I wouldn't be able to use it anyway.  Rather than sit and mope, I headed out to see if I could find a new battery, checking stalls at the bazaar, visiting electronic shops, etc... but no luck.  Eventually, I realized that I was getting close to where we had gotten in the cab and thought that maybe, just maybe, the driver would have gone back there to wait for another fare.  Sure enough, as I panted up the hill, drenched with sweat, the driver sees me and starts waiving my camera at me!  I couldn't believe it.  Needless to say I asked him for a ride back home and gave him an excellent tip.  Since then, I've been careful to wear my camera on my belt when we go out.

We haven't explored the old city itself yet because it's just been too hot, but just across the street from it is a park called the Bulvar (or Boulevard in Russian).  It actually runs for several miles along the coast, and it's flat and well paved, which makes it attractive for running.  The sun doesn't come up until almost 7 am, so running down our street, which is on top of a hill, to the water is tricky.  There are lots of potholes and steps along the sidewalk that threaten to break an ankle, but once I get to the Bulvar and I can cut loose.  My first morning run, I took my camera along for some dawn photography...

 On our second weekend, we did some exploring.  We had to get new photos for our diplomatic accreditation, so I called the photo place that the embassy recommended to confirm they were open.  15 minutes later, we got there and some guy says the photographer left for the day and was wholly indifferent to the fact that we had just maneuvered a stroller across a landscape akin to the moon in 100 degree heat.  Stephanie spotted another place across the street, so we took our business there instead.

On the way back, we took a shortcut through some alleyways, which gives a glimpse of what the city was like before the oil-sponsored construction boom.

That evening, we took the advice of some coworkers and took a cab outside the city to a fish restaurant on the coast.  It was wonderful!  The food was great and reasonably priced, and there was a great playground right next to the seating area where Aiden could play while we ate. 

We tried a number of local dishes including  fresh cheese, pickled green plums, and a puree of roasted eggplant and peppers - and that was before the fish, which we washed down with a nice dry Azerbaijani white wine...

The next day was slightly cooler (only mid-90s) so we decided to explore the Bulvar a little more in the daytime.

There are a number of fountains, interesting plant specimens, and topiary gardens throughout the park, not to mention restaurants, and amusement rides.  Aiden was very excited to go on the Ferris Wheel, which also gave us some good views of the city.

 The name Baku apparently means windy city - not to be confused with Chicago.  But last weekend we saw why.  There is generally a good breeze on any given day if it isn't blocked by buildings.  It helps with the heat somewhat.  But on Saturday, we were invited to the beach and the winds were sustained at about 35 mph.  It made for some beautiful scenery, but we couldn't go in the water much more than knee depth - despite Aiden's demands that we go swimming.

The sand stung pretty badly, so we moved the tables down to the wet sand, which was much better.  Aiden had a blast and it was a nice break from the hot weather.

When we got home, we found that everything was full of sand, even bags that were zippered up.  It was pretty amazing.  Luckily we have a big tub in one of the bathrooms where we could clean up without coating the rest of the house in sand.  I thought it was all worth it, but I'm not sure Stephanie agrees. 

On Sunday we went back down to fountain square to get someone at one of the phone stores to interpret Stephanie's cell phone balance.  It looked like she had gone through about 15 Manat, or over $20 in less than two weeks, which would have been very expensive.  I don't know what we were doing wrong, but it turned out she had only used a couple dollars. We had lunch at a nice Georgian restaurant, which allowed me to reunite with one of my favorites - Adjarian Khachapuri (cue angels singing).  Aiden even ate some flat khachipuri and ground chicken kebabs after we passed them off as pizza and chicken fingers. 

All in all, we still have a lot to see, but we're off to a great start.  As for work, it's very busy, but I love what I'm doing.  The press environment is fast paced and unpredictable.  For an example of unpredictability, one day one of my staff came in unexpectedly - he was supposed to be on leave  - and said we should go to the 40th day commemoration of the passing of one of our media contact's mother.  He assured me that although I had never met the man, my presence would be appreciated and he was right.  Attending the commemoration is a way of showing respect and solidarity with the family and I was able to learn a lot about the tradition.  The family seemed appreciative that we were there, so it was nice to be able to show our support.  There were a number of other representatives of major media outlets present, so we sat with them and shared some dovga (a sort of salty curdled milk drink with bits of herbs - way tastier than it sounds), as well as plov and tea.  I found it a much nicer way to be introduced than through a formal meeting. 

So here we are, with lots of adventures ahead of us, but already off to a fine start.  I think the next two years are going to be good...

Summer in the States

Before getting to Baku, I wanted to give a quick rundown of the four months we spent in the U.S. en route from Russia to Azerbaijan.   Looking back through the pictures, it seems the common theme was trains, since that's what gets Aiden most excited, but there was a lot more to it than that. 

In addition to catching up with friends and family, one of my favorite parts was the food.  Eating all the things that we couldn't get in the U.S. was a delicious and highly caloric (as the tightness of my suits reminds me) adventure.  From korean chicken wings to Eastern Shore raw oysters to creole gumbo, it was great to  be reminded of the culinary delights that only home can provide. 

We spent most of the summer in Washington D.C., where I went through three months of training for my work as press officer, and a smidgen of Azerbaijani language training.   Having a three year old in tow was a great reminder of all the great (and free) things to do in the D.C. area.  From the Washington Zoo, to the Smithsonian Museums, and even a trip up to the B&O Railroad museum in Baltimore (not free, but worth it), we got to see a lot of really cool stuff. 

Aiden also made his first acquaintance with swimming pools and it was pretty much love at first splash. 

Before we knew it, training was over and we had just a few more weeks before leaving for Baku.  We spent 10 days of that time driving from Washington to the Alabama gulf coast to see my grandparents.  Despite being constantly on the move, we saw a lot of things we probably wouldn't see otherwise and had a good time doing it. 

On our way out of Virginia, we visited a safari park where the animals are free to approach your car and eat out of buckets you hold for them...

That included this creepy llama below, who scared the bejeezus out of us with his murderous stare.

We then made our way to Chattanooga in Tennessee, where we toured Rock City - a mish-mash of kitschy tourist trap and natural beauty that actually works well enough to make it worth the high entrance fee.

One of the most spectacular parts is actually underground, where they've constructed a huge diorama of fairytales all lit by blacklight.

We also made a stop at a railroad museum where Aiden got to ride a real train, complete with a trip through a Civil War-era tunnel!

In Chattanooga itself, we didn't find too much to do, although the views over the river were impressive.  That, and we discovered a moon pie outlet store because Chattanooga is where moon pies are made.  Who knew?

As we continued southward, we stopped in Birmingham, AL, where in addition to some great examples of  20th century industrial architecture and creole cooking, we explored some very poignant reminders of the sacrifices of the civil rights movement.

I also got to check something off my list, which was a visit to the Sloss Factory National Park - a national park set in the remains of a huge iron factory, that is really just amazing in terms of its scope.

Then we finally made it to Fairhope, AL, where Aiden got to spend a few days getting to know his Great Grandparents, which was fun for everyone.  We also got to see some of the sights in Fairhope, including this fairytale house, dolphin-watching in Mobile Bay, and a trip to the impressive Foley Railroad museum.

Before long, we were on our way north again, with a first stop in Montgomery, AL, where the blazing heat wasn't enough to keep us from sights like the first White House of the Confederacy, a lunch of fried chicken and fried green tomatoes, and a tour of a living history museum based on antebellum Montgomery.

That evening, we made our way to Atlanta, where we got to see the birth place of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It was great for Stephanie and I, and hopefully in the future, we can explain the importance of these visits to Aiden.

We learned shortly before starting our trip that Aiden needed ear tubes to be inserted again, so we had to shorten our trip by a day and pick up the pace a little.  On our race back north, we stopped at a South Carolina historic plantation, that was one half pre-Revolutionary War and one half Pre-Civil War.  A good history lesson for Stephanie and I, and a great chance for Aiden to run around unfettered.

That evening, we made it to Charlotte, NC, which has some great public art, a compactness that puts a city skyline behind single family homes, and some great soul food!

Our final stop on the trip was Old Salem, NC, which is a town that dates back to some of the earliest settlements in the new world.  We had a delicious lunch at tavern where Gen. Washington once stayed.

And in a little feat of nostalgia, we made a pit stop at this retro Arby's in Virginia, which also happens to be a test kitchen for the chain, allowing us to try some new offerings.

With our last couple weeks, we visited our families one last time, including more trains for Aiden, wine tasting for Stephanie and I, and a great party with friends and family at my parent's house, which I don't have any pictures of because I was too busy talking to everyone (a better use of time in my book). 

And since New York will always be home, we spent a couple days in the Big Apple on our way out of the U.S., including a neat trip to Governor's Island, which was host to a tree house and mini-golf course free to the public.

We then took a ferry up the East River to Brooklyn, where I discovered a salted-caramel donut sunday topped with popcorn ice cream and caramel sauce.  Does it get any more foodie than that?

We rounded off our visit with a trip down to the Freedom Tower and a stroll along the High Line Park, with it's great views and quirky art exhibits.

And that's how a summer goes by between overseas assignments.  We made an overnight stop in Vienna, visiting the beautiful Schonbrunn palace gardens and staying in a nice hotel that upgraded us to a full suite when our reserved room wasn't ready.  It definitely made the trip a little nicer.

And then we were here, in Baku.  We're off to a good start, and I'll have an overview of our first weeks shortly.