On a positive note...

These two hooligans came up to Quba and we had a pajama party.

Where is my machete?

So, Peace Corps issues us a variety of items to keep us safe and healthy. We get a fire extinguisher, smoke detector, water filter, sleeping bag, etc. However I was talking with one of my super-awesome fellow volunteers and her friend in Peace Corps (I forget now, but it started with an s. Suriname? Senegal? Slovakia? I just don't know) was issued a machete! What the hell? Where is my machete? I go out into the woods, I hang out in the wilderness, and I need something to open champagne bottles with. It also seems pretty lame that while other PC countries get training on how to treat deadly snake bites and stave off lion attacks ( I'm assuming this) we have sessions on what our rights are for when we are detained by the police or KGB. Lame. I want a machete.

Wondering if life hates you?

I've bad having a spell of bad luck/karma/hoodoo, whatever you want to call it and thought maybe other people were wondering if their life hates them too so here is a checklist:

1. On the night train have you been moved from a cabin full of old dudes to a cabin with 3 small children and at the exact moment that the youngest ones starts crying your headphones stop working.

2. Your apartment has not had working water in a month and a half. Each day for a new fun reason?

3. Every month your electricity goes out because the people living in your apartment before you racked up a 740AZN bill that is still outstanding and the electric company doesn't understand the concept of new tenant.

4. You heat your house with a metal box that has a gas pipe running to it and the gas goes out for no reason with no warning. When there is gas it leaks and your house fills up with soot and fumes.

5. All of the above happens as soon as winter decides to finally put some effort in and everything is now freezing and covered in dirty snow.

I do my dishes in the toilet

I don't know what is going on in my apartment. I live on the second floor so I have to pump water up into a tank to use in the house. For the last half of December the pump simply didn't work. Then the pump started working but according to my landlord there was "no water in the ground". Now, the pump works, there is water, but it does not come out of the faucets, it comes out of a hose into the tank of my toilet. So, in order to do dishes, wash clothes, pretty much anything involving water, I have to take the hose (not the schlong) out of the toilet and fill up buckets. It appears that things are slowly getting better, but we shall see. In the mean time I'm just glad I haven't had to deal with frozen pipes yet this winter.

Not paying attention

It occurred to me the other day that over the past 16 or so months I have stopped paying attention to the absurd. I notice, it just doesn't strike me as odd anymore. As I was sitting in a van packed with 27 people it didn't even seem odd that the driver had to open the door with a tire iron. However when water actually comes out of a sink, whoa, stop the presses. Ah Azerbaijan.

Hash

While in Baku for the New Years shenanigans I went out with the Baku Hash House Harriers for a walk/maze/tour around Baku. They do this every week but this was the first time I was able to do it in Baku. Anyway, I got to see some new parts of the city and had a pretty good time with some crazy ex-pats.

Old Lenin museum

The Slums of Baku

Secret Wine Keg

Azerbaijan want to have the world's tallest flagpole.

Mansion with oil rig in the front yard. I learned what a nodding donkey was too!