A Visit From Home...

Last month I was lucky enough to have my mom come visit me in Azerbaijan for a week. We had a great time; while we didn't have/make time to visit what others would consider the "touristy" (quotations because it's a stretch on the word touristy - tourism is not a highly developed industry here) parts of the country, she saw Baku and experienced life in my town.

Due to a late arrival (the suitcase later than her) we explored Baku on her first day in the country - walked the Old City, climbed Maiden's Tower, and even rode the metro (subway). After picking up the delayed luggage at the airport we headed to Ujar from the bus station, experiencing the normal patience building transportation schedule - "We will leave when the bus is full."

In Ujar it was a busy week. We had meals with my tutor, with the family who had me over for Novruz, with my Director and another co-worker, tea at multiple other places, and my cooking club made a full meal at my house. In between all of that were trips to the bazar, a tour of town and all my regular stops like the bank, post office, work, hair salon, etc., and the continual explanation of who the new foreigner was - although apparently it's pretty obvious we're related.

It was great to get a fresh perspective on my town and my experience here - things that a new Volunteer just arriving in the country notices are things that I don't really notice anymore, but she did. So the animals roaming the street (she may live on a farm in America, but that doesn't mean the animals roam free!), the trash and the lack of women on the street are just a few of the things that seem different to an outsider. She was surprised by how many cars are on the street - both in Baku and Ujar (apparently I made my town sound smaller than it is?) and by how bundled up people were - still layering clothing when we were wearing short sleeves (although if it gets to 110 degrees, I guess 70 is still kind of cool).

We returned to Baku via train since I was trying to give her as many different experiences as possible. It's a slightly different route into the city and you can see a lot more of the oil industry that dominates the economy here in Azerbaijan. We stopped by the Peace Corps office, did some introductions, saw a little more of Baku and then the next morning we flew to Istanbul, Turkey for a week of vacation...