Friday, September 7, 2007

Night Trains are Glorious







THE NIGHT TRAIN
I took a train back from my permanent site visit back to site. The trains here only run at night for the most part. This is because they use the tracks for hauling cargo “oil” during the day. We left at 10pm. Now usually trains are associated with speed. This was not the case. Some are very old, mine, and slow. It took us 8 hours to do what took us 5 ½ in a big buss going over very poor roads, but it was wonderful. The train hums, thuds, clacks, creeks and scrapes as it rocks and sways is way down the track. It may not sound incredible but for me it was soothing. I was in a sleep cabin on the top bunk. The window, which my head was level with, was broken, or maybe missing, so the cool night air circulated constantly. Even though it was night you should see some sites, cars and cities in the distance, groups of boys waiting by the track just to yell, IDP’s living in old train cars. Maybe I’m just a night person but everything about it was relaxing, and when I was tiered of watching out the window I just let the train lull me to sleep. And when I woke up in the night I never had to worry because she was always there to put me right back to sleep.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Traditional Dancing

I saw some beautiful Azeri art work - this is just a little of it -enjoy


Saturday, September 1, 2007

a running list

So I thought I would start an ongoing list of likes and dislikes ... here we go

THINGS I LOVE
-Azeri humor – say in Barda
-Call to prayer
-That they are soooooo generous
-Take you right into their family and make you a part of it
-Always willing to help
-Martshukas
-Watermelons are dirt cheap and delicious all summer
- all fruits and vegetable are wonderful and FRESH
-They do A LOT for you
-their sense of time - SLOW
-that moo moos are an acceptable form of dress
- the art work
- actually learned to love hot cay

THINGS I DON’T LOVE
-Their fear of all that is cold, especially ice
-The trash
-Being stuck of a sweaty martshuka while the fat lady beside you tries to sleep of you for -5 hours
-There are no fresh fruits and vegetables in winter
- not being allowed to do certain things because I am a girl
-not being allowed to do certain things because I am guest – for months
-their sense of time when I’m in a hurry, ha ha!
- the bathroms- or lack there of- or there might as well not not be because the are disqusting