Now We See the Real Azerbaijan

After several days in the Neapol Hotel, literally not leaving the premises, we will be moving into our host family houses tomorrow! We've been having meetings and language lessons all day, every day we've been here to prepare us, so we'll see how it goes. I mean, if my host family wants to hear me count to 10 (or maybe even 100 if I'm really on my game at that moment...but they are pressing their luck past 29), then I'm all set. If they want to actually speak to me, we may have some issues, haha. I don't know anything about my family except their address and the name of the father of the house, but if you want to know approximately where I am to get a sense, I am near Sumqayit. It's a fairly big city near the capital, Baku.

I'm really excited to move beyond the hotel and actually see what Azerbaijan is like. All I have been doing is hearing stories and learning about things I haven't seen. Even when we arrived, it was already dark, so the drive to the hotel was very uninformative. Although, I did get to see my first car crash in the country. It was interesting to notice that there was a huge crowd in and around the crash scene (and I do mean in, because there was nobody keeping people out), but there were no women. As a female, I shouldn't be out at night (among many other things I apparently shouldn't do). It's certainly going to be a change for me.

Alright, bedtime so I don't fall asleep the minute I meet my host family! I don't think that's really the first impression I want to leave...although let's be honest, sleep is about all I've wanted to do for the past few days (especially when a really important lecture about something like Safety and Security is happening...don't worry, I try to wake up and pay attention).