Adventures with the Crafts: Time to acclimate to our new home......

So we are slowly acclimating to life in Baku. What does that mean? Well, I am learning how to drive here for one.....and feeling quite proud of myself for being able to take the kids to and from school and get myself to a few different markets AND put gas in the car alone. Sure sounds silly considering these are things that are no big feat at home.....however most people here hire drivers to get them around town for many reasons but mostly because the traffic is insane and communication makes things tough as well. As I have said before while lanes might exist (ie. they are painted and are actually visible there on the road) the drivers pretend they are not. If you are in a left hand turn lane and you might be first in your lane to turn....within seconds you will be surrounded on all sides even if there are not lanes (or even pavement) there as everyone wants to be first to turn. SO once the light turns green, you are outnumbered......Some streets have street lights that turn the typical red/yellow/green and mean the same as they do at home....but most streets do not...instead they have many circles of death as the expats (non-locals including me) call them. Basically there is a "to each his own" mentally when driving here. Throw in the fact that I barely speak any Russian or Azerbaijani and it makes things extra tough. For example....getting gas....Barry tells me just say "fso" and give them $40 manat. "Fso" meaning fill it up...but he forgot to tell me they will ask which kind of gas would you like of course in either Azerbaijani or Russian and I am also not sure which type of gas to point to.....I know not diesel lol but not sure if it was premium or whatever the other one was? Oh well....live and learn he now says to point to the red one.....Shopping is another feat mostly due to language but also because the fruits and vegetables (and eggs) must be washed as soon as you get home due to dirt/bacteria/chicken poop (no lie) on them....yuck...so most people use vinegar or bleach water to rinse it all off.... but Barry and I prefer to use the $3 manat bottles of vodka (vatka) we can find here.....why not go all out? lol...The saying here is if you can't peel it or cook it, don't eat it. So putting away groceries takes a lot longer having to do all of that. Finding meat is also NOT easy. Chicken is easy to find. But the beef is behind a counter and you have to know what kind of meat you want (and I don't even know the difference in the states of what each kind is called) but also how much you want in Russian or Azeri. Once you do that, they often don't clean the machine so more often than not your ground beef ends up with lamb in it and it is a pretty strong flavor none of us in our family enjoys at all:( Not even Grace or daddy who are typically pretty good eaters....Luckily everything else is easy to find.....bread, juice, salt, sugar, flour, and you can tell by the picture on the packaging or the package itself what it is.

So we are acclimating/assimilating.....aka learning how to live in a 3rd world country to our best abilities.....and I think we are doing just fine. Whatever we can't find....we are lucky enough to be able to order on amazon for the most part (with the exception of wine) and I am learning how to cook what pre-packed things I used to depend on in the states that I can't find here.....we make a lot of homemade bread, pizza dough, cookies, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, etc.

So beyond laundry, cooking, and then when the kids get home doing homework and playing with them....but without my own homework or lesson plans to do....I have actually found time to read books again!!!!!!....I have been pretty limited to online books and 1 a friend let me borrow.....but was ecstatic to hear today a bookstore with ENGLISH books just opened up! So of course I had to drag Barry and the kids down to Port Baku to see for myself what it was and what it had. It was definitely NOT a Barnes and Nobles....it was quite small for a bookstore.....but it did HAVE books in English! That is all I needed. Found 2 good ones for me and the kids each found one as well. The traffic home gave me a major stomachache (totally not kidding) but we picked up pizza on the way (called Pizza Holiday) and that and the wine we had when we finally made it home over an hour later made the stress stomach ache disappear quickly.

So we are settling in just fine and getting used to life here, even if it isn't home and there isn't a Barnes and Nobles or a Target or even anything at all resembling a Walmart:(

Here are some pics of the bookstore and my loot from grocery (market) shopping alone.

Grace at the new bookstore.

My shopping spree loot.....chicken/coritsa (whole and boneless skinless breasts), pringles, butter/masla, cheese slices, baby cucumbers, tomatoes/pomodoro, milk (milla), apple juice, fanta soda, conditioner, carrots, laundry soap (actually found a free and sensitive one), eggs, and bread/corek. Made an awesome chicken Parmesan dinner with my market day loot that everyone loved (even daddy) and for those of you who know Ty....he asked for 2nds and 3rds on chicken BEFORE eating his spagetti!!! Now that is a successful dinner and a miracle! :)