Diving In

       Finally. The wait is over. Today is the day I explore Azerbaijan. After months of waiting, weeks of preparation, and hours upon hours of travel, we were going to experience Baku, the capital, first-hand. However, despite our anxious hearts, we couldn't ignore our demanding stomachs. Azerbaijani cuisine was always a curiosity, and slight fear, of mine, and when we gathered in the dining room on the top floor, I wasn't displeased.
       There was bread. Always bread. In Azerbaijan, bread is a staple. As in, it is actually considered disrespectful to not finish the bread on your plate. But if you are unable to (which seemed to happen often. Because the bread was SO GOOD and I always took more than I could consume because I wanted to consume it all), at the end of the meal they take leftover bread, put it in bag and save it or do something or another with it, that being giving it away or putting it outside for the birds. Also, it is common to find bread (or as I later discovered a lot of bread-like foods such as crackers or cakes) in high places such as trees. This is bread that has been dropped. I never asked, but my guess is they leave it for the birds. They don't like wasting bread. More on bread later.
        Meats. Lunch meat, really. Bologna and maybe salami, mostly. Cheeses- to my disappointment the creamy, fancy-looking cheese I got turned out to be goat cheese. I discovered they like strong cheese (not sure what it was called) that tastes similar to an extremely sharp feta- I found it to be very common. I wasn't a fan. I ended up avoiding cheese most of the trip, which isn't like me. Tea cakes, little cookies that weren't very sweet, and tea, of course, was served as well, and the thing I found most unusual was the jam.
        I will mention jam so many times throughout the course of this blog. Be warned. You see, I was weird for putting it on my bread that morning. I mean, they do do that occasionally, but that isn't the popular way to eat jam. On tea cookies, perhaps? Maybe you dip bread in it, like a sauce?
      No, nada, nope. Eat it with a spoon.
     .... Say what? Plain? Just, jam... on a spoon? Nothing else? Weird.
     I know. But believe me, when my inner skeptic had the first taste of this marvelous concoction of this morning's peach jam, I almost died. Okay so that's just a little bit of an overstatement. But really, it was good.
      You're probably like me and can't get over the fact it's okay to eat jam with a spoon. Well, this isn't your average Smucker's jam. This is locally made, fresh, and in-season jam. And oh-so-good with a cup of hot tea.
       As was the common theme throughout the course of this trip, I ate too much. But it was a happy full. After breakfast, we collected our things and marched on down to the front where the bus would be awaiting (I must say, bus drivers are under appreciated), and when our stuff was loaded, as well as the group, we were off.
      In the crazy roads of Azerbaijan. Gulp.

What Seemed to be the Rules of the Road in Azerbaijan (mainly Baku): 

• Drive on your side of the road
• Watch for pedestrians 
• Drive the speed limit
• Keep a safe distance between you and the driver ahead of you
• YOLO

... I honestly never got used to the driving there. Every time I entered an automobile I mentally prayed for it to go well.

Anyways, we made it to the Caspian Business Center, what would become our most consistent home for these next three weeks.

We dragged our bags off the bus, lugged them up the spiral stairs of this professional and clean looking building, and were greeted by the Azerbaijani components of the trip, holding welcome signs, balloons, the bags they were helping us get, and our bodies with all the hugs and smiles and exclamations they showered us with. I couldn't stop grinning, it was so fantastic how welcoming and happy they all were. And loud. Always laughing and making jokes and telling stories. You can't NOT smile when with this group. And let me just say, I had become Facebook friends with a lot of them prior to the trip, and seeing them in person was exhilerating.

One thing about the culture we learned about in our pre-orientation: In Azerbaijan, boys and girls don't have much physical contact. "So girls, don't be surprised if the boys don't hug you or offer any sort of touch outside of a formal handshake, and visa verse." So, that was completely false. Everyone, boys and girls alike, were super touchy, and they didn't seem to care who the opposite gender was.

We were given essentials, some more needed survival tips for being in this country, cell phones, a trip to get money exchanged, and then we excitedly went to lunch in a business-building cafe nearby. The faces on the security guards' faces when twenty-odd American teenagers came chattering into this formal and quiet building was priceless.

Today's lunch was cafeteria style, we got trays, silverware and plates, and handed our plates to different servers as we went through the line, pointing to various dishes we wished to try. So far, communication wasn't too difficult. The teens spoke English, and the adults who didn't hadn't appeared in our lives yet.

This was my lunch. Watermelon was commonly served with feta (something I personally didn't quite fancy.), and the seeds all intact. There is no such thing as "seedless watermelon" in Azerbaijan, but the freshness made up for the little black obstacles. Watermelon is huge there, sweeter than imaginable and so, amazingly juicy. The Azeris laughed when they saw us Americans spitting out all the seeds, there they just eat the seeds too. I guess the story of a watermelon plant growing in your stomach isn't popular in Azerbaijan!Also, it wasn't commonly cold, they didn't refrigerate it, to my knowledge. It was always room temperature, but still amazing. (Vocab word of this paragraph: "Meyva" means "fruit.")

Bread, of course. That was good dipped in the soup I had, which was a rice and spice soup (sorry couldn't resist.) with barley and various greens that came together nicely. Noodles, some potato cakes, and something similar to meatloaf (but better). And the juice. Let me tell you a thing or two about this juice.

 One, it's called "sherbet." And it wasn't what would commonly be imagined as juice. It was more thick, kind of syrupy but in a natural way. They make it, it seemed to be a watermelon base and sometimes they added other fruits to it. Purely fruit, perhaps sugar, and water cooked together to form this homologous, syrupy, and sweet mixture. Amazing and hard to recreate (trust me, I've been desperately trying ever since I returned.). Remember to ask for ice in Europe, it isn't assumed.

After lunch, we were split into four groups, and local Azerbaijanis aided us on this awesome scavenger hunt of the city. We went to this part of the city called "Old Baku" by locals, seperated from the new part with this big wall.

 The wall really did divide two completely different sides of the city. The new side was bustling, busy, full of fashionable city-goers speeding along their way, past the modern stores and high-end restaurants. Old Baku was more calm, very empty (we were often the only ones walking down the stone roads), and quiet. In a peaceful way.

A random view of the buildings. The architecture was charming.

Little rug shops- Azerbaijan is a major exporter of rugs. We were taught how to find out what was really a woven, worth-the-price rug and a cheap knock-off to trick visitors into buying. But the rugs were gorgeous and so soft. 

We came upon this little gazebo while walking through the barren streets and I found it photo worthy. 

These were common- little souvenir stands, almost all having about the same things. Bartering prices was fun but tricky not being able to, you know, speak their language. But surprisingly doable. 

This is a terrible picture of the incredible Maiden's Tower. If you're interested, there is a little story behind it that can be found here: http://www.ibb.gov.tr/sites/ks/en-US/1-Places-To-Go/towers/Pages/maiden-tower.aspx

These highly-decorated sinks were popular. 

Fountains, beautiful fountains everywhere. So much care is given to making the streets look impressive and adorned, and that effort worked out splendidly. 

This was a museum we didn't go in to, however it's unusual shape was eye-catching. Azerbaijan has so many randomly shaped buildings that are so refreshing to one who lives in a town where every single house is stucco, has a tiled roof, and the same eggshell tan color (*cough Mesa cough*).

This was a carpet museum. Appropriate. 

Ah, the famous Flame Towers. More on these later. 

To get to higher grounds for the hunt, we rode in this... trolley-like thing? I have no name for this. This picture gives an idea of the layout: similar to a mini theater, the seats got higher as you went back. All windowed walls, sort of like a ski lift but on the ground going up this incredibly slanted hill. Super fun. 

Under this impressive ramada was what is called "The Eternal Flame." It burns in memory of all the people lost to the war with Armenia, and how their flame will go on forever. The walk to this was a trail lined with graves of some of the soldiers lost, beautifully kept up. I saw a white butterfly floating around the graves and one of the Azerbaijani boys told me that a white butterfly was considered to be a spirit, fluttering around. I thought it was very fitting that this butterfly was there. 

A view of the city from the Eternal Flame. 

Views of the streets of the New Baku. 

Other things that happened on this hunt: We rode the metro, which was an extremely close experience, literally, and when the Azerbaijani boy showing us around, Tima, told us to stay close to him, we didn't waste a second in doing so. We bought a lemon from a vendor, something random on the list but easy enough to find. It turns out lemons were randomly sold on the side. Not even an entire fruit vendor, you could just be walking along the road and this person selling tee shirts would also have a little basket of lemons for sale. Also, having your weight taken was a possibility in various places, such as an underground passage under busy streets. Or in the busy streets. Warning: they will charge you for standing on that balance. 

Our group didn't win the hunt, but it was well worth it. Already we had learned so much about the culture, traditions, and views in this country. Now for the host families. That's another story entirely.