Old impoverished women here stand silently on busy pedestrian pathways with their hands outstretched and heads bowed. Old impoverished men are more likely to have some little enterprise like selling lemons on the street or setting up a scale and charging passersby 20 kopeks to be weighed.
I went past a scale operator the other day, gave him some money and said "I'll pay you 20 kopeks NOT to weigh me." He said something back. I have no idea what he said, he had no idea what I said, but we both laughed merrily.
Yesterday morning on my way through the village I caught up with a very tall skinny guy who was also walking to school. I asked if he's the new PE teacher. He is. I asked him where he's from. "Here, Baku. " "And did you teach at another school before this? What did you do?"
"My job--I'm player on Azerbaijan National Basketball Team." Oh my God.
I sputtered "I'm American! Basketball is a very big sport there!" as if he didn't know.
