Nothing goes as planned

Lately anything that I have been planning doesn't go according to plan. I have thus deduced that I should just stop planning. Things come up if I tryto plan anything more than 3 days in advance. Case in point, I have been trying to register with the local police to get my I.D. card and went to the office on Tuesday. Tuesday the guy said come Friday. I went today and now he says to come Monday. Unfortunately this means not getting up to a camp I was going to on Sunday. However I take solice in the fact tht I don't have as bad a wedgie as this kid: That makes me feel better.

That life doesn't work

Gender roles in Azerbaijan are difficult to explain,so I'm not gonna try. Lets just say they are different from America. I was riding on a bus the other day and the guy next to me obviously is not aware that I do not abide by his definition of gender roles as he proceeded to grope me with his elbow for about an hour. After I shoved a book and sweatshirt between us he then resorted to new tactics. He would try and sit with his legs apart so his leg would brush mine. This got him what I now call my "look of impending fury" and he would stop. After the bus stopped for a break and we were back on the road he aquired a piece of paper and wrote his phone number on it. He then ever so casually tossed it onto my lap. I promptly brushed it off on to the floor with a look of disgust. In his final attempt he grabbed another person's cll phone with a larger screen than his and typed in his number to show me. At this point I wanted to tell him "Dude, life doesn't work like that! You can't just assume any girl on a bus is interested in you, you have no right to be such an ass." unfortunately my language skills do not allow for such on the fly translations in my head and the previous sentence came out simply "That life doesn't work (in Azeri) Asshole (in English)"

Summer is here!!!

And that means 2 things: heat and camps! I live in quba, one of the northern regions of Azerbaijan and it was freezing in the winter. Seriously. Frozen pipes, feet upon feet of snow, hell I can still see snow in the mountains of Quba. And yet now that it is halfway through June I am sweating my ass off. It is profoundly hot. It was 102 degrees F in Quba on Friday. I don't care what they say about Azerbaijan having 9 climatic zones or whatever, it is hot everywhere. But yay for camps! I am hoping to help out with 4 camp this summer plus a camp like schedule of events at our local orphanage in Quba. Should be fun!

Addendum

As I was on the phone with Hannah last night I thought I heard a kitten so I opened up my door. Just as I did so a kitten came runnning into my room. Apparently the family upstairs aquired a new pet. I call her Bitey because she bites my toes. So now the list of sounds coming into my room includes:

People yelling in Azeri

People talking in Azeri

People whispering in Azeri

Tolets flushing

Water running

Refrigerator running

Dog barking

Dog whining

Chickens dying (being slaughtered)

Cars coming in and out of the hospital

Kitten meowing

Hammering in the garage

Children knocking on my door

And coming in roughly 2 months by my estimation... screaming newborn.

I need a new place to live.

Azeri wildlife... sort of

This is Huey, the puppy that lives in the backyard of the house where I am staying.

This is robot head, my sitemate Chris' new kitten.

And this is one of the hedgehogs that lives in Jake's yard.

Mmmmm....

This is water directly out of my faucet. An no, that is not a brown container. My water filter has been getting a workout lately.

The foreigner stare

As a foregner living in Azerbaijan I get stared at, a lot, everyday, blatantly, by everyone. I've gotten used to it somewhat and wearing sunglasses helps because then I stare back no problem. I have noticed though that in my integration into this culture I have bgun t stare at foreigners too. Mostly I just wonder "what the hell are you doing in Azerbaijan?" because it isn't like I'm living in a top resort destination over here. As I write this I am sitting in the office of an intenational organization and there are a buch of Americans here that I don't know and I can't help but sare at them as they have their meeting. Why oh why are you in Quba? I'm prett sure they are wondering the exact same thing about me.