Potentially My Best Day Yet...And Then I Got Sick

This weekend, my friend Connie who lives in a nearby region asked if she could come down to Tovuz and go for a walk/hike with me.  I’d told her many times how Beth and I walk out towards the river and it’s absolutely stunning, so she had been vowing to come down for a while.  We decided that the three of us would pack some food and try to make it all the way to the river on Saturday, something so far we had only done in a car.  We set off at about noon through the now dried but previously ridiculously muddy roads.  They were difficult to walk on as the road had been so destroyed by cars and sheep when it was muddy, but once we got out of town and more into the rolling hills, there were no problems.  Besides a few cars that went by bearing people to their “country homes” by the river and the stray shepherd, we were totally and wonderfully alone.  The weather was fantastically sunny but not too hot (yes Dad, I wore my sunscreen, and yes I still got a sunburn, but not too bad...).  We seemed to hit a snag when we were finally making our descent towards the river about 2 hours later, because we found that our road really only led to some homesteads instead of to a place to picnic on the banks (the other times when we had gone by cars we took more real roads, but this way was more fun for a walk).  At first we had dogs starting to come at us barking menacingly from the closest house and we began to think crap, we have to go back..and probably fast.  But then we noticed a nice man on horseback in the yard calling off the dogs (literally) and motioning for us to come.  It was a very nice little house where an extended family from my village had come out for the day to make “yuxa” (think a gigantic tortilla-ish bread...like 2 or 3 feet in diameter, I have put in a picture from watching my aunts make it in the village).  It was so strange to have walked for two hours and then to have people just be like “oh, it’s Jess!” and have them introduce me to one of my student’s fathers and ask me how my co-teacher is doing (I impressed them by saying it was her son’s birthday and they were all like oh my gosh, she knows better than we do!  As they had forgotten and they are even related).  They helped us climb through their paddock, after giving us çay and trying to feed us, but settling for giving us a ton of cheese and yuxa to carry with us to the river.  We made our way down to the banks, having to jump over a little stream that I inevitably stepped in while jumping across (who’s surprised?).  We picnicked by the river and Beth nearly gave me a heart attack pushing away clumps of dirt where the bank is eroding and could potentially drop off at any time (in fact we were even sitting on a sort of bench like area where a lot of land had fallen away so as to create a lower level leading closer to the water).  On our way back, a man from the next homestead who was visiting his neighbor at the house where we had had çay, helped us up to his house to protect us from dogs.  He even gave Connie his horse and walked her along on with it (that horse was booking it, let me tell you, Beth and I were trotting behind panting).  When we got to his house, we again had çay and were offered another meal and a ride home, which we declined and set out for our walk back, making it home at about 6:30.  It was just such a nice afternoon of Azerbaijani kindness.  Here we were, the crazy Americans just appearing out of the hills, and trust me, everyone in this area thinks we are absolutely insane for walking that whole way on foot, but they didn’t even lecture us on how we were doing things we shouldn’t be doing and we were going to die or be eaten by dogs (yes, I do usually have these conversations when people from the village see me walking).  They were so sincere and sweet and happy to see us and gave us some good joking conversation too.

You’d think my day would be complete when I got home, but no.  I had been planning to cook ratatouille all week for myself and my family, and the timing couldn’t have been better as it ended up that both Beth and Connie were there to enjoy the “American” (read really just non-Azerbaijani) food.  We wolfed it down, laughing as we saw my sisters’ disgusted faces (they weren’t big fans…).  And then the day was rounded out with a little guesting adventure to my counterpart’s house to say happy birthday to her son…and to try to be fed a whole other meal.  We were able to get away with pretty much just the cake, but not by any fault of my teacher’s to food-push her hardest!

It’s days like this that I like the best.  I get to remember that where I live is beautiful and not always muddy and disgusting.  I get to enjoy Azerbaijani hospitality when I actually need it and not when I’m having to wrench my arm away from a well-meaning xanɩm (woman) who is dragging me to eat dolma at her house and making me late for class.  And I get to find a good balance between fun with my American friends and sharing them with my family/village so they can enjoy their company too.

 Connie and Beth

Beth and me at our happiest!

Connie and Me

Connie getting a ride to protect her from dogs...taken while Beth and I ran to keep up

Notice the thistle that is literally is tall as that man!

So that was Saturday.  On Sunday I started to feel a little bit sick and by Monday I felt like complete crap.  Now it is Wednesday and I feel much better (thankfully we had Monday off from school because it is our beloved former president - and current president's father - Heydar Baba's birthday...which meant I got to sleep a lot), but in the time I was sick I got a lot of reminders of the interesting ideas Azerbaijanis have about illness...

Reasons I was Told I Got Sick:
1. I took a shower on Sunday
2. I walked all the way to the river
3. My new jacket for spring suits me too well and everyone is looking at me with jealousy
4. I wore sandals outside without socks
5. I drank cold water

Ways to Get Better:
1. Drink tea with one/all of the following fruit jams - blackberry, raspberry, cherry, and other fruits I can't translate
2. Don't stop drinking tea until you are sweating out the illness
3. Wear a safety pin under your clothes to protect you from other people's jealous/evil thoughts