Becky's Back from Baku!

Say that 100 times fast!! I don't even know where to start!! I can't believe that I've already been back for more than two weeks!!

So, a few months ago, my friend Lesley from church asked me if I wanted to go with her to Azerbaijan to see some friends at an English-speaking school. First of all, although I had heard of this country, I didn't exactly know where it was but I knew that VPOTUS had been there last summer and it turns out my friend Hunter lives there. What a small world! Once I located it on a map and tried to learn to spell it, I knew I was supposed to go and it would be a great trip!

Azerbaijan (I have a habit of visiting difficult-to-spell countries!) is located on the Caspian Sea and is an oil-rich country. The US has a bit of stake it in its success because of the oil but really it's just a developing former Soviet Republic full of potential. They are pouring money, millions and millions, into improving their capital city of Baku. I like that name. I learned a lot about the country while I was there and I could talk for hours about what a neat country it is but I won't bore you with that new-found knowledge unless you specifically ask me!! :)

So we spent a little more than a week there and most of our focus was to speak English with Azeri college students and young professionals who attend a conversation club. Basically they learn grammar in school but their teachers are usually Chinese who teach English. So they pay money to actually learn English from English-speaking people. What a concept!! I met a ton of students- the first day I basically talked my head off for about ten hours straight- and it was a real joy to be able to talk with these people. Some of them were close in age to me but most of them were in their early 20s. Just hearing about their life experiences and how different their culture is was fascinating to me. I did receive a couple of marriage proposals but as I told them, the pick-up line "Do you know what a green card is?" does not work for me. Sometimes we just had conversations and other times we "taught" seminars. Teaching is all relative. But it was a great way for them to learn English and we had a lot of fun there. I thought talking would be the easiest task ever asked of me because those of you who know me, know I love to talk. I could carry on a conversation with a brick wall. But this was quite exhausting!!

We did get to see the sights of Baku with a couple of excursions throughout the city. The four of us from America (we were referred to as the VA ladies and one student was curious as to what the word Va meant! I had totally taken abbreviations for granted.) went with Lesley's friend Donna on a tour of the city one of the first days we were there. I think we walked about ten miles! We rode the Baku metro which was quite an experience! We got some pretty big stares since seeing Americans on the subway is not an everyday experience for them. Plus we had been given flowers by a street vendor so we were really getting some stares! We had a nice Azeri lunch (which is very similar to Turkish food) and went to the market. We walked to the Caspian Sea and around the city. We ended the night with a wonderful dinner at this Azeri restaurant in the Old City that was such a unique experience! It was soooo nice!

Then a few days later, we got a tour of the city by some of the students at the conversation club. It was sooo fun to spend time with them and get to know them and see the city through their eyes. The main tourist attraction is the Old City and the Maiden's Tower. If Baku had an icon, that would be it. It's a windowless tower from the 12th century and the story behind it involves a king's single daughter jumping to her death because she couldn't be with the man she loved. I am positive there's more to the story than that but that's what I remember 2 weeks later. To me, it reminded me of the fairy tale of Rapunzel. But it was pretty cool and provided a really nice view of the city from the top! My favorite part was that the doorways were short and I was with this tall guy named Aslan. I told him to duck. He got really confused and started quacking. I started laughing and just before he hit his head on the doorframe, I think he quickly learned a new English word.

One night, my friend Audrey and I had the opportunity to eat dinner at a student's house. Nabat had come up to me the day before and she told me how excited she was to have us come to her house. I was excited too! I just love going to a place and really getting to experience the culture. She and her family (parents and a 10 year old brother) live in a new high-rise that was really nice. This family was clearly a wealthy Azeri family and they were the nicest people!! Nabat's mother had cooked for us for two days!! Her parents spoke no English and she spoke enough for us to communicate with and she translated everything to her parents.

The main problem for me was that I had eaten something for lunch that was bad and I was a bit ill. Ok, that was an understatement. I think I visited their bathroom four times in the first 30 minutes we were there. At least it was a nice bathroom!! At one point, I think I almost passed out on their floor. But thank God, I was able to hold it together enough not to create any international incidents. But they clearly noticed that the smile on my face was a mask to how I was feeling and after a wonderful meal (I did what I could to eat but it wasn't a lot since I was spending most of the time in the bathroom!), they offered me some medicine to make me feel better. At first I politely declined but eventually I gave in and within minutes, I was feeling soooo much better! Just in time to fully appreciate the homemade from scratch cake her mother had lovingly made!!

However, the next morning, I woke up and got ready for the day but suddenly noticed that I had broken out in hives over pretty much my entire body. I didn't freak out and just took a Benedryl and thought I was sleeping it off. I got severe hives again several more times. We asked another American friend who lives there (who is a trained pharmacist) what exactly I took (the family had given me the rest of the medicine to take with me and take again later but the packaging was in Russian). Basically he told us that the medicine is generally only given in developing countries and that in America, is basically only prescribed by veterinarians of large animals. Yep, that's right. I accidentally took a horse pill. Besides the severe hives and fever, I was okay but I still felt like I couldn't be around others. So I had to sit out the last two days and was in an Benedryl-induced funk. Oh, and I caught a cold on top of that. I was really, really bummed that I missed some of the fun and interactions with the students. I missed a field trip to the country side to tour a fortress. My friends' pictures looked really cool and so I might have to make a return trip so I can experience it to the fullest!! In the meantime, I am grateful for all the great care I was given by the staff of the conversation club and I really enjoyed my time there with them!!

It's definitely never really been on my list of most-desired places to visit but Azerbaijan was a great place and I would totally go back! Who knows, maybe another trip next year without a horse pill is in my future!!