Forgive the title, but if you were here you would understand. With the exception of a week or so it's been at least 100 every day for like 3 months here. At its worst it got up to 110 for about a week and a half, then tapered off to 108 for a couple more and finally fell below 100 last week. The past couple of days storms have been rolling through and brought the temp down to a nice cool 80, though from what I've heard it's not destined to last. I haven't posted in so long because the only working internet club in my town wouldn't really be well aptly described as "working". It's so eaten up with viruses that the net only works only half the time. Furthermore, it's about a 30 minute walk away, and is located inside an unairconditioned box that maintains an air temperature that I would estimate is only slightly higher than the surface of the sun. Considering this, I usually find myself less than enthusiastic about coming here unless I can make the walk without losing 5 pounds of body water in the process. I apologize to those of you, especially my family, who have been waiting patiently by the computer to get news from me. So, here it is.
First off, I've finally planned my summer trip, though by the time I get there it won't really be summer anymore. I'm going to be spending a week in the ancient and lovely city of Istanbul. I've secured my flight and a cheap but reliable hotel room for the week, and the rest I'm playing by ear. I'm flying solo, though a few of the departing volunteers from AZ will be there for a few days during my stay. I'm gonna get to see the Hagia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, the Blue Mosque, and all kinds of other neat stuff. Plus, since I now speak Azeri (sort of), that means I will be able to understand Turkish (less sort of). I'm looking forward to a break from Ujar and Azerbaijan in general before the school year starts again.
As far as home life goes, I'm basically sitting around reading a lot and trying not to boil in my own heat-stressed bodily fluids. I've become exceedingly good at freecell and solitaire on the computer, and extremely bad a showering regularly. I've adopted a stray cat who was abandoned by its mother in my yard. At first he was totally terrified of me, but now he is just about the neediest animal I have ever seen in my life. He will NOT SHUT UP. Fortunately for him he's cute and I like cats, otherwise he would have been left outside the gate to fend for himself. I have dubbed him Magnus the Brave, on account of the fact that he is afraid of his own shadow. Pictures will follow when I have time to get to a computer whence I can send them.
Finally, I've been trying to get more acquainted with people in my community by essentially doing as they do. This means I spend a good amount of time sitting outside the local store, at the local tea house and the local restaurant/bar hanging out with "the guys". "The Guys" are all people who live nearby me in Ujar, all of varying ages, professions, marital status and walks of life. I've shared countless glasses of tea (yes, glasses. They drink it piping hot, but out of tumblers, so you get used to the end of your fingers having no sensation after a while), beer, and more than a few reluctantly accepted shots of vodka. Out of these interactions I have found a few fundamental truths about the Azeri soul. First off, family, especially kids, is the be all and end all of Azeri life. These guys, or the married ones at least, care more about their kids than anything else, for which I applaud them. However, this also means that anyone older than 20 that isn't married with a kid on the way is considered a bit odd. To them, the proper course of life is 1) grow up, 2)get married, 3)start a family, 4)find means of supporting said family. Because of this they cannot for the life of them understand why I am neither married nor have any desire to get married. Without fail, every single conversation I have with a group of men here will inevitably result in at least one, and usually many, attempts to convince me to find a girl and get married in Azerbaijan. To them, which girl, her personality and our potential compatibility are completely irrelevant. As far as they're concerned, I just need to get married quick and then figure things out afterwards. Outside of family though, most guys here are just trying to live the best they can with what they have and try to have fun with it. Average salary here is around $100 a month, which is very little but enough considering that most households have about 4 incomes and no rent to pay. They like to do some irritating things, like constantly argue about money as if arguing about it makes more of it appear, and when I grew a goatee earlier this summer they constantly gave me crap about it because they think beards look bad. But for the most part they just like to joke and have fun, which is about all there is to do here in this flat, hot, boring town.
That's all for now, I'll post more when I'm in Istanbul. Peace.
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