This is my first entry from what was once a part of the Soviet Union as I am in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
I return to Istanbul on Tuesday, and I come back to North Carolina towards the end of July.
I must profess it is odd to be in a place like Turkey but since it is where my father grew up and I speak the language, it only feels like a foreign country when I see a Turkish toilet (you aren't allowed the luxury of sitting down!).
But Azerbaijan really does feel like a foreign country and I think I might even feel that way if I lived in Baku!
Turkish and Azerbaijian are very similar languages, but I ended up getting a cold cucumber yogurt beverage when I asked for soup. (It was good though!).
And there have been many off-the-wall things which are simply too detailed to explain at length here.
The most amazing of which though may have been going to see Will Smith's new movie "Hancock" with expectations that it would be in English with Azerbaijani subtitles. But, in fact, the film was dubbed in Russian!
What was even stranger was the fact that the film featured Azerbaijani subtitles for the first 15 minutes of the film and then they all disappeared!
But, it was a unique cultural experience and the Azerbaijan Cinema (that is the theatre's actual name) was an old cinema which actually had a bar in the back of the screening room.
As is the case in Turkey, there is an usher who shows a person to their seat. Interestingly enough in Azerbaijan though the usher seems to stay for the first few minutes- or until the subtitles disappear. He seems want to make sure that everyone is behaving. There are countless reminders that one should not smoke or use a cellphone in the screening room. But. sure enough a cellphone went off at a climatic point during the film.
It also interesting to see product placement ads which can't work in Azerbaijan because the country only has McDonalds and Red Bulls (well plus a few other things), but there are no Dunkin Donuts here in Baku! And, amazingly enough there is not one single Starbucks in all of Azerbaijan (see earlier entries).
The guidebook said that it was easy to meet girls here since many would love a chance to leave the country. The problem is that lady sitting next to you at the William Shakespeare Pub here in Baku (yes, there is such a place!) might be a prostitute-oh yes that is quite legal here.
There were actually lots of gorgeous Azeri girls at the movie. There was one hot blonde (yes there are blonde Azeri girls!) sitting very close to me. The problem was her god-damned boyfriend was sitting between us.
Why did the usher have to put me there?
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