Today is Sunday, my site mate Vivian and I decide to take an hour walk along the Caspian Sea. We plan to meet at her host family at 10:00am. I am still not familiar with the neighborhood, so I leave my host family earlier so to give myself enough time to look for her house. The night before, I got the instruction from other PCV how to get to Vivian’s house, so I thought I remember.
My neighborhood has many small alleys and most of the roads are in a very bad condition. There are no street names, the address of all the houses are very confusing. The only way to find the way around is either to draw a very detailed map or to memorize all the landmarks. I am very bad in direction. I even got lost in Queens back home. The first week with my host family, I already got lost three times walking from the school to my host family. I know it is going to be an adventure to find Vivian house.
I turn left from my host family home and walk toward the Caspian Sea as instructed. Five minutes later, I find myself standing in front of a ruin building. The surrounding is totally unfamiliar to me. I try to find my way back to my host family, but all the alleys look the same. I cannot remember which alley belongs to my host family. Now I am completely LOST. I only know a few words of Azerbaijani and I do not even know my host family’s address. If I call my host sister to get me, I cannot even tell her where I am. Finally, I call Kim, the PCV who gave me the instruction last night.
Chi “ Kim, I am lost”
Kim: “Where are you?”
Chi “Don’t know, I am scared”
Kim: “Can you tell me some of the landmarks?”
Chi:”I stand in front of a ruin building and next to it, is a long old building look like a dormitory”
Kim: “What else?”
Chi: “Don’t really know?”
Kim: “Try to walk back to a paved road and I will come get you”
Chi: “I tried, I cannot find the paved road either?”
Kim: “ok, I will try to find you”
Five minutes later, Kim shows up at the end of the alley. I feel so STUPID! Well this is going to be part of my life in Azerbaijan :)
My neighborhood has many small alleys and most of the roads are in a very bad condition. There are no street names, the address of all the houses are very confusing. The only way to find the way around is either to draw a very detailed map or to memorize all the landmarks. I am very bad in direction. I even got lost in Queens back home. The first week with my host family, I already got lost three times walking from the school to my host family. I know it is going to be an adventure to find Vivian house.
I turn left from my host family home and walk toward the Caspian Sea as instructed. Five minutes later, I find myself standing in front of a ruin building. The surrounding is totally unfamiliar to me. I try to find my way back to my host family, but all the alleys look the same. I cannot remember which alley belongs to my host family. Now I am completely LOST. I only know a few words of Azerbaijani and I do not even know my host family’s address. If I call my host sister to get me, I cannot even tell her where I am. Finally, I call Kim, the PCV who gave me the instruction last night.
Chi “ Kim, I am lost”
Kim: “Where are you?”
Chi “Don’t know, I am scared”
Kim: “Can you tell me some of the landmarks?”
Chi:”I stand in front of a ruin building and next to it, is a long old building look like a dormitory”
Kim: “What else?”
Chi: “Don’t really know?”
Kim: “Try to walk back to a paved road and I will come get you”
Chi: “I tried, I cannot find the paved road either?”
Kim: “ok, I will try to find you”
Five minutes later, Kim shows up at the end of the alley. I feel so STUPID! Well this is going to be part of my life in Azerbaijan :)
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