This and That - Happy Novruz - Bayraminiz Mubarek

Pictures: We attended a program at School Number 10 which honored the poet Nizami, and the first picture is of the poet (born 1141). He wrote about 7 beautiful women from 7 different countries represented by their costumes. During the program each of the 7 beautiful girls performed a national dance. The boys liked most the Arabian beauty and her belly dance. Cell phones came out and videos and pictures were taken a plenty.

There are 2 national foods. The brown sweet is called hava. Hava is prepared by frying floor in butter and then adding sugar. It has an unusual taste, and is often served to visitors who come to mourn a death and during the holiday of sacrifice, Qurban. The other national food is Khengal which is a thin dumpling, boiled, served with yogurt after topping with caramelized onions and meat.

This and that

We are presently 11 hours ahead of the Central Daylight Savings Time. On Sunday March 28 Azerbaijan will begin Summer Time. We will set our clocks up then. Today officially begins the Novruz holiday and I will not go back to the library until March 29. Because of the week long holiday, the pension deposits were made to the banks this week. Also, we must get our money now because the ATMs will run out of money this week and not be replenished until the 29^th. So, consequently daily life the past few days add a few twists.

On Thursday Linda traveled to Salyan to visit with another PCV, Leslie. I went to get my semi-annual haircut after work. The day’s weather began pleasantly, but while I was in my chosen “kishi saloun” – men’s salon, it began to rain heavily. I had to walk the near mile home in cold hard rain, but on my way I passed an ATM with about 15 women and 30 men lined up waiting for their turn. Now, when I use the term line, it is a crowd. There is really little order to it except that women are generally given a little preference. A person may get to the window, and then have the cards of family members and/or neighbors as well as their own. I have watched as a patron will withdraw from 5 different accounts.

On Friday, I went to the post office to check about packages. The post office is always busy because there is where the phone bill, gas and water utilities, mail, outgoing packages, and electricity is paid. Because of the holiday there has been a rush to mail packages to relatives all over Azerbaijan and Russia. So, every time I have been in the post office this week, there has been about 40 people. Today, there was about 50. I was most concerned about getting any packages, because the 29^th of March will be my next opportunity. We had 2 packages, but due to the mass of humanity, I told the man in charge of packages I would be back in the afternoon.

Note about packages: If some in Azerbaijan wants to mail a parcel it is best to bring the items to the post office unpacked. The preferred method is the man in charge of packages, notes what you have, provides a box and packing, then securely tapes your package with packing tape – lot’s of packing tape. Paper work is extensive, money is paid, paper work is attached, and in only 30 – 45 minutes, you have finished mailing a package. Yes, about 45 minutes per person.

Note about electricity: The old method of paying for electricity was that the meter was read and a man collected the money on the premises. Often that led to small corruption with an extra manat or 2 being added in to everyone’s bill and pocketed by the reader (yes, it was a very good job). Now, to eliminate corruption, we have a computerized meter. We purchase electric credit in advance, using a “charge card” we access our meter and our balance is shown. As the balance approaches zero, we buy more credit.

Now, that is great. Except, the concept of buying a month’s credit at one time is not readily adopted. When I buy credit – I buy one month’s amount because I do not like standing in the lines (crowds). While I am buying, people are purchasing from 1 to 7 days worth of electricity – often 5 manat at a time. That, of course, means that most people must purchase credit often. With the holiday approaching, it is a necessity to have your credit purchased. I bought my electric credit last week late in the afternoon, when lines are very short.

All that is to tell you about Friday’s pick up of our packages. As I reentered the post office in the early afternoon there were 40 people or more crowding around the 3 people taking money, processing cards, and giving receipts. I had to wait about 45 minutes for my packages to be processed because of all the paper work the package clerk had to catch up on from the morning. He had completely shut down his window and had to tell a lot of angry people that they would not be mailing anything out this late, his computer was down, and no one could pay their phone bill, all the while he is smiling at me and asking me to sit and wait. He takes exceptional care of us and was going the second mile for me now.

While waiting I watch the crowd around the electric window. The clerks are always friendly and very hard working, but the crush of the crowd was getting to everyone. I looked up and there were 6 arms stretched out through the window, all shaking their money for attention. One little woman (to indicate her age – she was not married to Moses, but I’m sure knew him) screamed to be taken next – shouting takes place, and I’m uncertain order will be maintained. Somehow, it all works. It makes the DMV in the United States look like a stroll in the park.