My Life in Azerbaijan - The Storm!

February 5, 2010
I could hear the wind was blowing whole night long, but I did not realize it was this bad. This morning when I got up to go to work, I noted that lot of water coming through my bedroom windows. I could feel the icy wind creeping in through the cracks. Then, I discovered there was no electricity. When I opened the door to go outside, a gust of freezing wind hit my face. It was snowing heavily and the wind was mercilessly blowing and blowing. It was a blizzard outside. My host family’s chicken shed and yard were completely covered with snow. I quickly went to the outhouse and found out that not only there was no hot water; there was also no running water. That meant no shower for me today. I ran back to the house and woke up my sister and told her everything. She looked at with the sleepy eyes and did not think it was a big deal.

“You do not have snow in New York?”
“We do, but no electricity, no running water and no hot water at the same time are rare!”
“It happens here all the time Chi, it will be ok in a few days”

Then, she went back to sleep.

The gusting wind combined with the heavy snow and sub-zero temperature made it unbearable to stand outside just for a few seconds. I knew I could not make it to work. Later, my sister told me that the road to the city was littered with stranded cars. Those who went to work in the morning could not make it home that night until late. I was glad I did not leave the house or I would never make it back alive.

For a day and an half, my host family’s house was out of power. We could not watch TV, and we did not know what was happening outside the house. None of us could take a shower because there was no hot water. We drank hot tea, ate bread and sat around the heater, hoping the power would be back soon. At night, my host mother lit up two candles and the entire family was sitting in the dark eating sunflower seeds whole night long. By 9:00pm, I could not take it anymore, so I went back to my icy cold room and sleep. Sleeping was the only way to keep me warm. Before I closed my eyes, I prayed to God that let this winter go by fast because I really hated the cold!