International schools host an "international" event every year. Kids dress in their national costumes, play native games, perform dances and sing songs from their countries. Parents bring in regional foods to share. When I was in Ukraine, the school had an "International Night" so regional beverages were served as well as foods (that was fun!).
Here at my school in Azerbaijan, International Day was on Friday, during the school day, so no beverages. It was a wonderful day, with fantastic performances by both adults and kids: a Korean drumming dance, Indian bridal dance ritual, the singing of the Azerbaijan national anthem, Haka dance from N.Z., salsa and tango, "We Come from a Land Down Under, " on and on.
The ELS dept. ran a games workshop--the M3s/grade 8 kids played bingo in three languages and alphabets. It would have been four if Ling from China hadn't gone on vacation a day early.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Rumors and visas
Azerbaijan doesn't have a free press (the country is #97 on a scale of 100, according to a map I saw at the Newseum this summer). In a country without a free press, people rely on rumors. It's the same way at my school, unfortunately--we hear rumors about things going on in the larger community that affect us personally, but we hear nothing officially.
Azerbaijan has been issuing 30-day tourist visas to visitors at the airport. A rumor went around that the 30 days had been decreased to 7, but the school wouldn't confirm or deny. "It's a rumor," was all we were told.
Well, it's true. And it affected a lot of teachers who were expecting family and friends to visit during fall break. My friend Eileen's parents were coming from Ireland for 9 days. They were forced to leave within a week or pay $600 each to stay the extra two days. It was cheaper for them to pay to change their flights and leave sooner. (and while Eileen may be READY for them to leave after 7 days, it's still a disappointment!) Some friends and family cancelled altogether.
The latest rumor is that Azerbaijan will no longer allow visas to be obtained upon arrival at the airport, no exceptions. No one can come in as a visitor/tourist without an official letter of invitation. This is allegedly because of upcoming elections--the government wants to prevent outside observers from monitoring the elections in November. (In Ukraine, observers regularly come from other countries to monitor elections, and a good thing, after what happened to Yushchenko in 2004.) But...that's another rumor.
Oh, these wacky ex-Soviet countries! Fall break begins on Saturday and I have a flight to Germany at 7 a.m. Because I came in on a now-expired tourist visa and still hadn't received a resident visa, I might not be able to get back to Azerbaijan from Germany after the break. Frankly, I wasn't that worried about getting back IN, it was the getting OUT that concerned me. (I just read an amazing book "The Forsaken", about Americans who believed Soviet propaganda during the depression and emigrated to the USSR, some to work in Henry Ford's plant. They all ended up in the gulag.)
On Monday, the business office took my passport (or "confiscated" it, as I'm now thinking), claiming it was needed to obtain my resident visa. And I would have my passport back, along with the resident visa, by Friday. Friday afternoon at latest. Maybe Friday evening. But before flight Saturday morning. Yes, will have it. Driver will bring to flat. Stay in flat, don't leave.
Okay, whatever you say. The woman in the business office is a lovely person and she's not the one causing the problems--it's systemic.
It was an enormous relief today to receive my passport along with my resident card. I'm now here legally! and I can prove it if a cop stops and questions me! although that's not likely because of my skin color!
So I'm off to Germany on Saturday, should be able to get out and in. No updates on what's really happening with visitors and visas, just rumors.
Azerbaijan has been issuing 30-day tourist visas to visitors at the airport. A rumor went around that the 30 days had been decreased to 7, but the school wouldn't confirm or deny. "It's a rumor," was all we were told.
Well, it's true. And it affected a lot of teachers who were expecting family and friends to visit during fall break. My friend Eileen's parents were coming from Ireland for 9 days. They were forced to leave within a week or pay $600 each to stay the extra two days. It was cheaper for them to pay to change their flights and leave sooner. (and while Eileen may be READY for them to leave after 7 days, it's still a disappointment!) Some friends and family cancelled altogether.
The latest rumor is that Azerbaijan will no longer allow visas to be obtained upon arrival at the airport, no exceptions. No one can come in as a visitor/tourist without an official letter of invitation. This is allegedly because of upcoming elections--the government wants to prevent outside observers from monitoring the elections in November. (In Ukraine, observers regularly come from other countries to monitor elections, and a good thing, after what happened to Yushchenko in 2004.) But...that's another rumor.
Oh, these wacky ex-Soviet countries! Fall break begins on Saturday and I have a flight to Germany at 7 a.m. Because I came in on a now-expired tourist visa and still hadn't received a resident visa, I might not be able to get back to Azerbaijan from Germany after the break. Frankly, I wasn't that worried about getting back IN, it was the getting OUT that concerned me. (I just read an amazing book "The Forsaken", about Americans who believed Soviet propaganda during the depression and emigrated to the USSR, some to work in Henry Ford's plant. They all ended up in the gulag.)
On Monday, the business office took my passport (or "confiscated" it, as I'm now thinking), claiming it was needed to obtain my resident visa. And I would have my passport back, along with the resident visa, by Friday. Friday afternoon at latest. Maybe Friday evening. But before flight Saturday morning. Yes, will have it. Driver will bring to flat. Stay in flat, don't leave.
Okay, whatever you say. The woman in the business office is a lovely person and she's not the one causing the problems--it's systemic.
It was an enormous relief today to receive my passport along with my resident card. I'm now here legally! and I can prove it if a cop stops and questions me! although that's not likely because of my skin color!
So I'm off to Germany on Saturday, should be able to get out and in. No updates on what's really happening with visitors and visas, just rumors.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Cult of Personality
When my electricity failed a few weeks ago, two employees from the school came over and poked around the wiring. A socket had "melted" probably because I'd had the ac on ALL THE TIME (dumb entitled American, I could see them thinking).
At least I know that the circuit breakers are functional. The workers later drove me to school. I had a nice conversation with Rashid, who speaks English and is learning German and is trained as accountant but school has better pay than accounting and is necessary to know someone to get accounting job. "It is necessary to network?" I asked. "Yes, network!" he said, happy to learn a new idiom.
I asked about Heydar Aliyev. Rashid told me Aliyev had been the head of the KGB in Soviet-era Azerbaijan, "worse than Stalin," he said, and even today old people "shudder" when his name is brought up.
That must be hard for them, because his name is everywhere. The Azerbaijan airport is called Heydar Aliyev. Libraries, parks,and boulevards are named after Aliyev. Billboards of Aliyev are all over the place. He died in 2003, now his son is president, and he's allegedly grooming his own son to be the next president (a pre-teen who owns 6 palaces in Dubai).
I team-teach in M1/grade 6 Humanities. A recent assignment was to research and write a speech about a famous person, ie Gandhi, Elvis, Napoleon, Vaso de Gama, Genghis Khan, Helen Keller. The 6th-graders had to include positive and negative points about their subjects.
One of the local students chose Heydar Aliyev, but she couldn't find anything negative about him. She's not allowed to.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Carry your papers
Everyone at school was in a tizzy this week, esp. new teachers. Alvin, the music teacher, and his wife were picked out of a crowd by police when they were walking downtown on Saturday, asked for their papers, and since they didn't have them, they spent SEVEN HOURS IN JAIL.
So we're all being warned to carry our BP badges, copies of our passports, and letters stating that we're employees of the school and here legally because--here's the catch--we're NOT here legally. We came in on 30 day-tourist visas which have expired, and our long-term visas haven't arrived yet. So without all this documentation, any one of us could be picked up and thrown into the slammer.
We all know, however, that it most likely happened to Alvin and Tina because they're from India. The first thing the police officer asked was "Pakistati? Hindustani?" Alvin said "Hindustani." The officer wanted documents, they weren't carrying them, the officer told them to get into the car, Alvin refused, and the officer forced him into it. These were plain-clothes policemen in an unmarked car. Apparently Tina was relieved when they were driven to the police station; they could have been taken anywhere.
Alvin and Nina are gentle, kind people. It's a shame that this happened to them, but overt racism is common here (as it was in Ukraine).
And now we're all even more illegal because Azerbaijan just reduced its 30-tourist visa to 7 days. So we've been here without proper documentation for 49 days instead of 26.
So we're all being warned to carry our BP badges, copies of our passports, and letters stating that we're employees of the school and here legally because--here's the catch--we're NOT here legally. We came in on 30 day-tourist visas which have expired, and our long-term visas haven't arrived yet. So without all this documentation, any one of us could be picked up and thrown into the slammer.
We all know, however, that it most likely happened to Alvin and Tina because they're from India. The first thing the police officer asked was "Pakistati? Hindustani?" Alvin said "Hindustani." The officer wanted documents, they weren't carrying them, the officer told them to get into the car, Alvin refused, and the officer forced him into it. These were plain-clothes policemen in an unmarked car. Apparently Tina was relieved when they were driven to the police station; they could have been taken anywhere.
Alvin and Nina are gentle, kind people. It's a shame that this happened to them, but overt racism is common here (as it was in Ukraine).
And now we're all even more illegal because Azerbaijan just reduced its 30-tourist visa to 7 days. So we've been here without proper documentation for 49 days instead of 26.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Metro
This morning I took the metro to go to church (Mom, are you reading this?) Baku has a system similar to DC's Smartcard; you get a plastic card, swipe it as you enter, and top it up when it runs low.
It's been a couple of weeks since I added money. This morning I wasn't in a rush to get to work, so decided to take a few minutes and top it up. The machine wouldn't accept my crumpled 5 manat bill. An employee came to help me out (well, I was holding up other passengers, you know how irritating THAT is). He pointed out that there are 21 rides on my card. Did I really want to add another 25? Well, no, thanks very much, I guess I don't.
This was done without either of us speaking the other's language but it was all very clear.
1 metro ride anywhere on the Baku metro is 20 qopeks. (100 q = 1 manat) I have the DC system in my head, where it costs $2.65 or whatever to go from Ballston to Federal Triangle, and more during rush hour, and more if you're going farther....it's easy here.
And this farecard will last me until fall break!
It's been a couple of weeks since I added money. This morning I wasn't in a rush to get to work, so decided to take a few minutes and top it up. The machine wouldn't accept my crumpled 5 manat bill. An employee came to help me out (well, I was holding up other passengers, you know how irritating THAT is). He pointed out that there are 21 rides on my card. Did I really want to add another 25? Well, no, thanks very much, I guess I don't.
This was done without either of us speaking the other's language but it was all very clear.
1 metro ride anywhere on the Baku metro is 20 qopeks. (100 q = 1 manat) I have the DC system in my head, where it costs $2.65 or whatever to go from Ballston to Federal Triangle, and more during rush hour, and more if you're going farther....it's easy here.
And this farecard will last me until fall break!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Haircut
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
Yesterday I headed out with my English-Azerbaijan phrasebook, determined to deal with my shaggy hair. Baku is full of "kisi salonu" or men's salons, but I had a hard time finding a "qadin salonu." I walked into the first one I saw, a little place full of chattering women.
Much merriment resulted when I pulled out my scrap of paper with the Az. words for "haircut" and "a little bit." An older woman in the salon came over and carefully said "I can speak English. I can help you." She asked where I was from (I've learned to say "America" instead of "the United States" which people don't seem to understand), then told me that the husband of the daughter of her sister is chief of embassy in Washington D.C.
Her nephew-in-law is head of the Azerbaijan Embassy! "So HE'S the one who wouldn't return my calls when I was trying to get a visa," I did not say.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
BACK TO SCHOOL IN BAKU
Even though I feel as if I've been teaching in Baku for months, today is the first day of school for local kids. So the metro was more crowded than usual (and this will be the usual from now on) and as I walked through the village, little groups of children headed up to the main road with their mothers.
Both boys and girls were looking very spiffy, unrecognizable from the grubby kids who've been playing in the village streets every afternoon. Boys wore dark suits, white shirts without ties, and girls wore fancy dresses or plaid skirts with white blouses and ties, some with giant white bows in their hair. Uniforms? or just dressed up for the first day? I'll find out tomorrow.
Yesterday I headed out with my English-Azerbaijan phrasebook, determined to deal with my shaggy hair. Baku is full of "kisi salonu" or men's salons, but I had a hard time finding a "qadin salonu." I walked into the first one I saw, a little place full of chattering women.
Much merriment resulted when I pulled out my scrap of paper with the Az. words for "haircut" and "a little bit." An older woman in the salon came over and carefully said "I can speak English. I can help you." She asked where I was from (I've learned to say "America" instead of "the United States" which people don't seem to understand), then told me that the husband of the daughter of her sister is chief of embassy in Washington D.C.
Her nephew-in-law is head of the Azerbaijan Embassy! "So HE'S the one who wouldn't return my calls when I was trying to get a visa," I did not say.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
BACK TO SCHOOL IN BAKU
Even though I feel as if I've been teaching in Baku for months, today is the first day of school for local kids. So the metro was more crowded than usual (and this will be the usual from now on) and as I walked through the village, little groups of children headed up to the main road with their mothers.
Both boys and girls were looking very spiffy, unrecognizable from the grubby kids who've been playing in the village streets every afternoon. Boys wore dark suits, white shirts without ties, and girls wore fancy dresses or plaid skirts with white blouses and ties, some with giant white bows in their hair. Uniforms? or just dressed up for the first day? I'll find out tomorrow.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Discovery Channel
Before I came to Baku, I read guidebooks which advised against riding the metro because it's so dangerous, but no specific reasons as to why--robberies? crashes like the DC metro? One of my students (from the U.S.) told me that he's "not allowed" to ride the metro because "the embassy won't let us. It's the most dangerous subway in the world!"
Then I got to Baku, started riding the metro, no problems, easy! easier than DC! The other day I went online to read up on the specifics.
The most dangerous subway in the world got its title due to an accident in October 1995. An electrical spark in the rails started a small fire, but because the seats in the cars were made of highly flammable toxic materials, the smoke spread quickly and 300+ people died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I was riding the subway this morning, thinking about the worst subway disaster in history. Then I thought about all the people riding with me looking at the American sitting there. They were probably thinking about that dangerous country, America, where everyone carries a gun and shoots it off whenever they're pissed.
Then I got to Baku, started riding the metro, no problems, easy! easier than DC! The other day I went online to read up on the specifics.
The most dangerous subway in the world got its title due to an accident in October 1995. An electrical spark in the rails started a small fire, but because the seats in the cars were made of highly flammable toxic materials, the smoke spread quickly and 300+ people died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I was riding the subway this morning, thinking about the worst subway disaster in history. Then I thought about all the people riding with me looking at the American sitting there. They were probably thinking about that dangerous country, America, where everyone carries a gun and shoots it off whenever they're pissed.
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