Ali drove me to the international school to get something signed the other day and didn't I leave my camera home on the desk! Monday must be laundry day in Baku because almost all of the apartment balconies we passed were decorated with clothes. I have no idea how clothes hanging to dry over a dusty dirt road would be clean for very long, but I am making a point to go back that same way next Monday to get a picture. It wasn't an overly attractive thing, but it was perfect nonetheless. There are many examples of beautiful architecture in this city, and that's all well and good....but for some reason I am drawn to the square Soviet block apartments. They have nothing in particular to recommend them but they fascinate me, despite their downright ugliness. Just weird I guess.
Another thing that we passed on our way to the school was one of those old Soviet neighborhood heating plants. There were a couple of smoke stacks that drew my attention as we drove past this rusting abandoned plant. Ali told me it was for heat back in "Soviet Time". Apparently the Soviets heated entire neighborhoods of apartment blocks with one single boiler. It was hot water heating via wall rads and the heat was turned on in the middle of November and turned off in the middle of March. No one had a thermostat to control their own temperature, no one could turn the individual rads on or off....which is the same in our house. I always thought it was odd that the rads had no shut off valves. There are no thermostats, either. If I want heat I go outside to the mechanical room and turn the crank. If I want it off, I got outside and turn it back. Rudimentary system, but at least I have the control and not the Polit Bureau.
I did finally get around to taking a picture of the Dom Soviet this weekend. It was built by German P.O.W's during the second world war. This thing is huge (see the teeny tiny cars?) and has an enormous square in front. Back in "Soviet Time"....before 1991, it was the Soviet Ministry Building and I've heard it called just "the ministry." It's gorgeous when it's all lit up at night, so that's another photo I have to get before we leave here.
A few of weekends ago we decided to take the dog for a drive. We ended up on the north side of the Absheron Peninsula (Baku is on the south side). We only drove about 30 kilometers at the most but we passed what is supposed to someday be a neighborhood that looks like one in a western country. The plan on the website shows normal sized houses, with lawns, yards, and sidewalks, and no high walls separating one neighbor from another.
Right now it looks like this......
Across the road from the new development was a field with "badam" trees supporting a crop of grocery bags.
I think "badam" are hazelnuts (as per the hand signals accompanied by circuitous description and deduction between Ali and me). This is something he tried to explain to me a long time ago since we live in the area of the city known as Badamdar. But, as with most things, it took me a while to get it.
When we left Villa Badam, we followed the road further up the shore toward Sumqayit, the 3rd largest city in Azerbaijan. Here they make (or have at some point made)......stuff.....like synthetic rubber, fertilizers, aluminum, batteries, and caustic soda, in addition to various and sundry petrochemicals. The Soviets made lots of.....um....stuff.... there too, back in the day. I do believe it has come to the attention of WHO. I think I read somewhere that a nearby town is called "Polymer." No kidding!
What would a nice heavily industrialized, ecologically interesting town be without nearby beaches?
It's kind of universal how things just tend to go to pot over the winter, eh?
I'm really sorry I'm not going to be here in the summer and won't get the chance to change in one of these handy dandy cabanas. Or sip a few margaritas at the Marlboro Bar (which is supposed to be busy and rockin' in the summer with happy beach goers).....
Then again, the way our moves always get delayed and pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances, I might get that chance after all. I sure would like to know if I dipped a toe in the Caspian would my nail polish come off? Honestly, these folks have to be made of hardier stuff than I am.
Where is his hard hat? Where is his fall protection? What about his voltage absorbing gloves and shoes? Are there no industrial supply companies in Baku? I am sure you can get all of this stuff at Taza Bazaar! He could drop his wire cutters out of that basket onto the head of a passing pedestrian!
This electric company repairman held my fascination while John was in the Baku Roasting Company getting us a couple of lattes. That process takes about 15 minutes, with no line up, and in that time, this guy got his wires up and connected to the pole with nary a spark. He was down on the ground and safely back in his truck by the time my coffee was passed through the car window. I burnt my lips on it and suffered more injury than this guy with his death defying attitude toward electrocution. I'm amazed that this was a genuine electric company employee, and it makes me a little hesitant to report outages. Next time I need to call, I'm going to wait until the freezer full of Alberta beef is on its last few ice crystals. I'm not sure I could handle the guilt of sending someone up the power pole like that.
But if I did lose all that meat, I could take a little stroll down to the corner to get one of these guys.....except.....not!
Those sheep are grazing inside the concrete bunker for the power pole and these turkeys are left to wander along the sides of the road (mostly in the road). The number of turkeys is dwindling so I guess that they turned out to be a profitable investment for Buddy, the Green-Shack-Rancher-Butcher. Is it really necessary for every few streets to have an outdoor butcher shop? Go ahead, call me a "lamb hugger."
And just because it's free range poultry, doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you.
When I get to Denmark, I'll take some pictures of the happy Danish cows. They're supposed to be the happiest cows in the world....or maybe that's the people. Er....no, I don't mean the people are happy cows.....I mean the cows themselves are happy...really happy......like the people, who are the happiest people in the world. Danes are so freakin' happy, they are even happy to pay taxes. I discovered this little tidbit on a website for people moving to Denmark. WOW! There's obviously something way more interesting in their water than heavy metals!
If I find some Danish sheep I will photograph them, too. I bet the ewes will have pink bows and the rams, spit polished hooves. They won't graze inside concrete power pole bunkers, they'll romp in perfect green, government-maintained, meadows....under the watchful eyes of expensively groomed Sheep Dogs. Like this one.
He will look like this again when he gets to Denmark! I swear he will! (Even though he claims to have lost his passport and would prefer to stay here.....where there is a woeful lack of grooming parlors.)
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