Son Zeng

Pictures from Son Zeng ("last bell"), the last day of school, and my extended host family who I visited in the village for a Son Zeng party. Copious amounts of fresh mutton kebabs (super fresh, killed in the yard 2 hours before cooking), bozbosh (a hearty, buttery soup made from beef or chicken and chickpeas), and vodka (by the men only, of course) were had by all.

More pics

Pics from a teachers' seminar in Ujar in May.

Silver Lining of a Very Hot, Boring Cloud

I'm stuck in Baku for three days for a teachers conference that is going to be extraordinarily boring, but the hotel they put us up in is awesome so I get free wifi connection at high speed all week. I'm going to just post pictures randomly for the next few days as I have time, and I'll provide detailed explanations some time in the distant future...or never. This first round of pics is from my trip to Zagatala and Balaken last weekend. Zagatala is a town way up in the mountains, close to the border of Georgia and Russia, and Balaken is north of Zag literally right on the border. They are fairly liberal areas compared to the rest of conservative Azerbaijan, and the mountains and scenery are beautiful. Balaken has a huge Heydar Aliyev (the former president) park with a gondola from the big hill at the end and some carnival rides at the bottom. Also across from the park they have the coolest bar I've ever seen in this country, with tables made out of giant tree stumps and bear and wolk skins hanging on the walls.

Ev Sweet Ev

If it would please the Court, I would like to present exhibits A through E, photographs of my ev (Azeri for "home"). Included are pictures of the porch with two doors which lead into the respective bedrooms, the kitchen (the stove is to the left, out of shot), the house itself seen from the yard amidst the gigantic weeds I've yet to cut down because I don't enjoy cutting an entire yard with scissors, the hamam (shower house) and the dreaded outhouse. Anyone offended by the outhouse picture can direct your comments to one Ms. Linda Neighbors, who specifically requested it. Anyone offended by the rest of the pics has a bug up their butt and needs to either get it out or stop reading this blog.

I present these exhibits for the consideration of the people of the Jury.

I rest my case.

Verdict: Guilty