Price Controls...

On a typical day in Michigan I would drive by any number of gas stations, check the prices to see how they've changed overnight (or even during the workday) and what the difference is from the gas station across the street, and decide if I need gas that day or if I can wait for a potential price drop. Here it doesn't exactly work like that. First of all, as Volunteers we're not allowed to drive. But we do obviously need to travel. I've been on my share of roads in Azerbaijan and stopped at gas stations for the marshrutka to fill up, and at first I didn't notice the phenomenon. Then I began to pay more attention and began questioning it - do the gas prices not change here? Really? Really. The picture here is indicative of the past 17 months that I've lived in Azerbaijan - the prices have been exactly the same throughout the whole time. In the States we're lucky if they're the same for an entire day!

The other interesting aspect of this is that I always thought that living in an oil-rich country would produce some benefits - namely, gas would be a better deal here than in places that require long distance shipping. But using the A-93 gas as an example:

     0.55 AZN/liter = $0.685 USD/liter

     1 gallon = 3.78542 liters

     so, 1 gallon = $2.59 USD

Price of gas in Michigan last week: $2.59/gallon.

Snowed In!

Last week my Volunteer group (AZ6) had our Mid Service Conference (MSC). It was a chance to reflect on our first year + of service, talk about our current and future projects, and start to think about life after the Peace Corps. I think I gained a few things from this: an increased motivation for my projects, the realization that I can’t compare my service to anyone else’s since everyone’s experience is unique due to their organization, community, resources, etc., and that what I see in my experience is but a small portion of what I’m doing. We had a guest speaker who had been taught by a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey in the 1960s, and it was incredible to hear his reflections from something that happened over 40 years ago.

The conference was officially over on Thursday evening, and Friday was supposed to be our travel day. Well, we all woke up to text messages saying that we weren’t going anywhere at the pre-arranged time, and to stay tuned. At some point during the night it had started to snow and Baku was pretty much at a standstill. So the Peace Corps put us up in the hotel for another night, arranged for our meals, and we finally left late Saturday morning. I don’t think there was a line item in the budget for that cost…but since we were in for a conference (and not just for a weekend away) it was their responsibility to make sure we were safe. That’s a BIG thanks to the Peace Corps for being flexible and working on their snow day (the office was closed because of the weather). Once we all determined we were in for the day, it was a lot of fun – good food, games, movies, time to catch up with friends, etc. (and no meetings) – but I think we would’ve gone a little stir-crazy if it was for much longer.

The weekend was wrapped up with SuperBowl XLIV, showing at the Hyatt bar at 3:30am local time (someone knew someone who knew someone who arranged the place). There were probably about 30 PCVs there – some still up from Sunday and others with short naps keeping them up. It was a very American feeling experience – minus the commercials. Then everyone dispersed, and we won’t be together as a whole group until our Close of Service (COS) Conference later this year.

The New Normal...

Different no longer seems that different. I’ve been here long enough that things I would’ve noticed a year ago I no longer notice – they’re just part of the normal, everyday environment that is my life. That is, until I see something that before coming here would have been normal, but now the absence of it is normal. A few days ago, I saw a woman driving a car. Not only was she driving a car, but she wasn’t alone, and her passenger was a man! Shocking! In my town I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a woman driving a car. So many people are surprised to learn that I know how to drive a car, and that I did so on a daily basis in America. Here driving is a man’s world. I’ve never seen a female taxi driver, and there are as many taxi drivers as there are men standing on corners eating sunflower seeds (and that means a lot). Even when I do see women in cars, the majority of the time they are sitting in the backseat, even if it’s a family member’s car. It’s just tradition, how it’s done. When I go somewhere by car, sometimes I get put in the front seat and it’s odd how I can feel people looking at me – granted, I’m probably being put there so I don’t have to sit next to a man I don’t know, but observers don’t know that. It makes me wonder what else I’m no longer noticing…

(As time goes on, interesting blog entries get more difficult to think of for the above reason – if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to let me know!)

Spontaneous!

I am not normally a spontaneous person. Things like moving, finding a new job, adopting a pet, etc. are usually fully researched so I can know what I’m getting myself into. When I arrived in Azerbaijan, one of the things that I decided I would not do was to adopt a pet. It takes away some freedom to travel because they need to be fed, there’s the problem of what to do with it once my service is over, and many other things. If you can’t already tell where the point of this post is going…well, read on. So last Saturday I moved. Later that day I made a quick trip to the bazaar for some extension cords (my outlets are located in the most inopportune places) and as I turned down the road, I saw a little fluff ball on the corner. Now, I should have known better and not even gone up to pet it. But I did. Now, it’s at my house, eating a random diet of things like apples, bread, leftover chicken, etc. and following me wherever I go. It seemed like it was meant to be – I’m finally in a perfect place for an animal and there’s even room for it to live outside (I really don’t want to housetrain a dog). Just look – how could I have refused this face?

Moving Again...

As I mentioned in a recent post, I had to find a new place to live. My last landlord, when I moved in, asked me how long I would be staying. I said that I would be there until December 2010 and he seemed fine with that. A couple weeks later he went to visit family in Iran and came back with the news that they will be coming to Azerbaijan in March and living where I lived. The one good thing that I can say about this is that I had plenty of notice, which is not always the case for Volunteers. Being in a country where much of its population works outside of its borders (usually in Russia) it’s not uncommon for Volunteers to be living in a house whose landlord is living in another country. It’s not even uncommon for them to return and need to have their house back within the week. So for the notice I was very grateful. You may ask, but it’s only January, why did you move already? Well, housing is a precarious situation – there aren’t exactly rental communities with apartments that are always available – what’s available now may not be available next week or next month. So since a place was found I decided to move immediately – both because of availability and because knowing that I’d have to move in the future is unsettling, and it’s nice to not have that uncertainty about not knowing where I’ll be living. Not to mention that it’s a better deal than my last place! So I packed my things up Friday evening, my Director and a co-worker came Saturday morning with a car to help me move, and an hour later everything was unloaded and sitting in the middle of the floor. A day later everything had been put away and mostly organized. I still have some things to learn, like how to pump the water (apparently a part needs to be replaced), and my borrowed refrigerator will arrive sometime this week, but the moving process is over. Now my only question is how I’ve managed to accumulate so much stuff in the small amount of time I’ve been here…