Hallo zusammen,
Ich habe jetzt meinen Flug nach Adana gebucht. Ich fliege am 22ten, werde dort bei Mete Weihnachten feiern und komme dann am 27ten wieder nach Istanbul. Adana liegt nicht weit enfernt vom Mittelmeer und bis zur syrischen Grenze sind es auch nur 2-3 Stunden. Da wird es bestimmt auch etwas angenehmeres Wetter als momentan in Istanbul sein. Ich freue mich schon!
Sonst passiert nicht viel, Andreas ist mit dem Zug unterwegs nach Neheim und sollte momentan in Sofia sein;) Schaut einfach mal auf seinen Blog, klingt alles sehr spannend, was er dort so erlebt. Jetzt muss ich wohl besonders gut in der Uni aufpassen...
Samstag, 12. Dezember 2009
Montag, 7. Dezember 2009
die letzten Tage in Baku
Hello everyone,
I spent my last days in Baku. On Staurday I chose to go to art galleries and check out what was displayed in the State Art Museum. I must admit the State Art Museum, located in an Oilboom mention, had a greater collection of more "older" art but was not as overwhelming as one of the private art galleries in the old part of town. The paintings, nicely displayed in an old house, were more vivid. Of course the galleries had contemporary art, so they are not really compareable. In both I tried finding art which expresses some azerbajanian feelings or how the people lived at that time. I discovered that is really mixed, Persian influence vs. Russian influence.
After having finished my cultural part, I met with Asmar, Gülnar's sister, and her friends to have a walk through town. Afterwards Günel and Leyla, friends of Gülnar, picked me up and we went to a pub in which a turkish band played. It was very crowded and in the smoky atmosphere many foreigners, who probably work in for the Oil industry were gathering with locals. Afterwards we hit a club, which later got closed down by cops... Cops overall are a special topic, which I don't want to discuss further.
The next morning, we went alltogethere with Günel's and Leyla's brother to Quobostan. It is an hour drive out of town, passing by some oilfields and desertlike landscape. In Quobostan are Stones which show engravings of the people who have lived there a loooong time ago. Also quite interesting were the huge stone drums. They actually make lound noise on account their porosity. And then time was allready over and I was driven by our driver to the Airport. On our way we stopped in a little coffe place, which was the meeting place for nearly only foreigners living in Baku.
My plane departed at 20:20 and in it was me, having seen a very political and economically interesting country, located between Russia and Iran at the Caspian Sea between desert and rich mountain pastures, filled with very friendly people!
I am really glad having made this trip, meeting so many nice people, experiencing overwhelming hospitality and having the feeling that eventhough not having seen or talked to somebody in 5 years, everything was just yesterday.
I spent my last days in Baku. On Staurday I chose to go to art galleries and check out what was displayed in the State Art Museum. I must admit the State Art Museum, located in an Oilboom mention, had a greater collection of more "older" art but was not as overwhelming as one of the private art galleries in the old part of town. The paintings, nicely displayed in an old house, were more vivid. Of course the galleries had contemporary art, so they are not really compareable. In both I tried finding art which expresses some azerbajanian feelings or how the people lived at that time. I discovered that is really mixed, Persian influence vs. Russian influence.
After having finished my cultural part, I met with Asmar, Gülnar's sister, and her friends to have a walk through town. Afterwards Günel and Leyla, friends of Gülnar, picked me up and we went to a pub in which a turkish band played. It was very crowded and in the smoky atmosphere many foreigners, who probably work in for the Oil industry were gathering with locals. Afterwards we hit a club, which later got closed down by cops... Cops overall are a special topic, which I don't want to discuss further.
The next morning, we went alltogethere with Günel's and Leyla's brother to Quobostan. It is an hour drive out of town, passing by some oilfields and desertlike landscape. In Quobostan are Stones which show engravings of the people who have lived there a loooong time ago. Also quite interesting were the huge stone drums. They actually make lound noise on account their porosity. And then time was allready over and I was driven by our driver to the Airport. On our way we stopped in a little coffe place, which was the meeting place for nearly only foreigners living in Baku.
My plane departed at 20:20 and in it was me, having seen a very political and economically interesting country, located between Russia and Iran at the Caspian Sea between desert and rich mountain pastures, filled with very friendly people!
I am really glad having made this trip, meeting so many nice people, experiencing overwhelming hospitality and having the feeling that eventhough not having seen or talked to somebody in 5 years, everything was just yesterday.
 |
| Baku + Quobostan |
Freitag, 4. Dezember 2009
Baku - Zaqatala
Hello everyone,
this will be my first blog entry in english. The days until Monday I have caught up with Gülnar about how things have been, looked at some old pictures and got to know her favorite places of the city. On Tuesday the bayram was over and Gülnar had to go to work again. So I took the night bus from Baku to Zaqatala, 8h in an old Mercedes bus. I reached Zaqatala at 4:30 in the morning and there was a taxi which took me to Gülnar's mom's house. After a cup of Cay and a few words in turkish I layed down and didn't wake up until 12 the next morning. Later I got picked up by the neighbour, he spoke a very clear turkish and took me around town in an Lada Niva.
Zaqatala is a small town, has a nice park, a Stadium (their soccer club is at the moment second in the League) some small shops. The total opposite of Baku, instead of AMG Mercedes old Lada and Wolgas were the dominant cars, small family shops instead of Boss and Gucci. After having completed our little tour, I met Gülnar's aunt and Grandma. My best friend was at all time my yellow sözlük (dicitionary) which helped a lot explaining what I want and what my family does etc.
The next day friends took me to Seki, one of the oldest towns Azerbaijan's. The friends were 2 women, to whom I haven't really had the chance to talk to, 3 girls in their teens and a first grader. Of course turkish would be the language of choice, but I know now how a foreigner must feel somewhere in the Allgäu. After an 1,5 hour drive in an even older than the first Mercedes bus we reached Seki. Good deal there is no TÜV here;) Otherwise a lot of old still decent cars would have been send to the scrap yard. Those things probably use a lot of gas but that doesn't matter because gas just costs 55 qn the liter (about 50 Euro cent). Having reached Seki we waited on another car. An old Uaz (sovjet Jeep - link: have a look at the 469 model) took the kids and me, the two women got into another car. I found out later that they weren't coming with us to see the sights. So there it was, the kids and me and now two older boys (18 and 20) one of them was our driver. They boys drove us to the Xan Sarayi, which is an old palace nicely decorated and with colourful windows completly hold togethere by wood. Of course there was a guide, she prolly spoke Russian and Azeri. So the kids tried to explain everything in Turkish. A lot of fun;) I used the phrase "anlamadim" (I didn't understand) quite often. But hand and feed help so I stil got, considering the circumstances, a lot of things and even ask questions! But I would have been probably lost without my 3 weeks of language school. Afterwards we had a a look and a small museum and an old Caravan house, which now serves as a hotel. Very cool!
Since the culture part was over, we hit the roads with our Uaz. Those cars don't need paved roads those need paths or roads at all. 20 minutes on trails, one river and a gate later we reached a steep path which we walked up. The possible destination was never found, so we went back. Passing by a lot of smallswedish style bungalows. The weather was chilly and there was a lot of fog so I couldn't really see the complete beauty of the nature! One thing is for sure, the next time I will visit Azerbaijan will be in summer. Our tour got to an end at the main square of the city. There was already a table in a little cabin inside a restaurant set for us. We had our own samowar ("Cay fountain") and I ate Piti, a soup which grandmas would say, make strong. Exaclty the right thing for that weather. Afterwards the kids brought me to the Busstation and made sure I got on the right bus and that the driver was informed where I have to get of. Shortly afterwards I was on the way back to Zaqatala. We drove all the time on old tree covered road. Everyonce in awhile a sheperds or some cows used the roads with us. In the evening we had tea at the neighbours' and I played some nard a version of Backgammon.
The complete family gathered.
I spent my last day with the neighbours' brother who also lives next door. He works at a Teleferik in Balaken a city right next to the georgian border. In the evening I was invited to Gülnar's aunt again and I got to eat stuffed wine leaves and other specialities. I ate so much that I had to get some medicine to survive the night bus ride back to Baku. I got some more sleep at the apartment before I visited the culture museum. That was very interesting. I learned a little about the culture and history and current issues of this to me very unknown country.
The next days I will be in Baku before my plane leaves on sunday evening...
this will be my first blog entry in english. The days until Monday I have caught up with Gülnar about how things have been, looked at some old pictures and got to know her favorite places of the city. On Tuesday the bayram was over and Gülnar had to go to work again. So I took the night bus from Baku to Zaqatala, 8h in an old Mercedes bus. I reached Zaqatala at 4:30 in the morning and there was a taxi which took me to Gülnar's mom's house. After a cup of Cay and a few words in turkish I layed down and didn't wake up until 12 the next morning. Later I got picked up by the neighbour, he spoke a very clear turkish and took me around town in an Lada Niva.
Zaqatala is a small town, has a nice park, a Stadium (their soccer club is at the moment second in the League) some small shops. The total opposite of Baku, instead of AMG Mercedes old Lada and Wolgas were the dominant cars, small family shops instead of Boss and Gucci. After having completed our little tour, I met Gülnar's aunt and Grandma. My best friend was at all time my yellow sözlük (dicitionary) which helped a lot explaining what I want and what my family does etc.
The next day friends took me to Seki, one of the oldest towns Azerbaijan's. The friends were 2 women, to whom I haven't really had the chance to talk to, 3 girls in their teens and a first grader. Of course turkish would be the language of choice, but I know now how a foreigner must feel somewhere in the Allgäu. After an 1,5 hour drive in an even older than the first Mercedes bus we reached Seki. Good deal there is no TÜV here;) Otherwise a lot of old still decent cars would have been send to the scrap yard. Those things probably use a lot of gas but that doesn't matter because gas just costs 55 qn the liter (about 50 Euro cent). Having reached Seki we waited on another car. An old Uaz (sovjet Jeep - link: have a look at the 469 model) took the kids and me, the two women got into another car. I found out later that they weren't coming with us to see the sights. So there it was, the kids and me and now two older boys (18 and 20) one of them was our driver. They boys drove us to the Xan Sarayi, which is an old palace nicely decorated and with colourful windows completly hold togethere by wood. Of course there was a guide, she prolly spoke Russian and Azeri. So the kids tried to explain everything in Turkish. A lot of fun;) I used the phrase "anlamadim" (I didn't understand) quite often. But hand and feed help so I stil got, considering the circumstances, a lot of things and even ask questions! But I would have been probably lost without my 3 weeks of language school. Afterwards we had a a look and a small museum and an old Caravan house, which now serves as a hotel. Very cool!
Since the culture part was over, we hit the roads with our Uaz. Those cars don't need paved roads those need paths or roads at all. 20 minutes on trails, one river and a gate later we reached a steep path which we walked up. The possible destination was never found, so we went back. Passing by a lot of smallswedish style bungalows. The weather was chilly and there was a lot of fog so I couldn't really see the complete beauty of the nature! One thing is for sure, the next time I will visit Azerbaijan will be in summer. Our tour got to an end at the main square of the city. There was already a table in a little cabin inside a restaurant set for us. We had our own samowar ("Cay fountain") and I ate Piti, a soup which grandmas would say, make strong. Exaclty the right thing for that weather. Afterwards the kids brought me to the Busstation and made sure I got on the right bus and that the driver was informed where I have to get of. Shortly afterwards I was on the way back to Zaqatala. We drove all the time on old tree covered road. Everyonce in awhile a sheperds or some cows used the roads with us. In the evening we had tea at the neighbours' and I played some nard a version of Backgammon.
The complete family gathered.
I spent my last day with the neighbours' brother who also lives next door. He works at a Teleferik in Balaken a city right next to the georgian border. In the evening I was invited to Gülnar's aunt again and I got to eat stuffed wine leaves and other specialities. I ate so much that I had to get some medicine to survive the night bus ride back to Baku. I got some more sleep at the apartment before I visited the culture museum. That was very interesting. I learned a little about the culture and history and current issues of this to me very unknown country.
The next days I will be in Baku before my plane leaves on sunday evening...
 |
| Baku - Zaqatala |
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