My Life in Azerbaijan - Hunting for an Apartment

March 10, 2010
I am excited that finally I am moving out and living on my own next month. No more washing dishes everyday, no more mapping the floor, no more cutting vegetables, no more hanging laundries for the family and no more orders from ana (host mother). Washing, cleaning and helping out around the house actually did not bother me that much, it was the greasy foods, constantly being watched and lacked of privacy that distressed me the most. For the past six months, I could neither be myself nor could I completely relax. To be flexible is the key to survive in Peace Corps, I accepted the challenge and lived through those difficult periods and now it is time to move on.

Past couple weeks, my co-worker from the bank have been helping me to search for an apartment. He warned me that it would be impossible to find any thing with 100 AZN and he is right. The three apartments that we saw last week are all above 250 AZN per month. Things that upset me the most are the conditions of the apartment. Either the Azeri people do not care much about their bathroom or they are the lazier people on earth. The bathroom in each apartment is just horrible: all the pipes are leaking badly, the toilet bowl is broken, water is not running or keeps running, the bathtub has yellow stinks everywhere and the wall are crumbling due to the constant moisture of the room. The floor is wet and dirty and no one seems to care. Then it is the kitchen, dirty dishes are everywhere, but the apartment has been empty for months. Dirty cloths are hanging on the heater, on the floor and on the bed….I felt sick after seeing three of them and I could not see any more.

Yesterday, a broker told me that there was a very nice apartment near the bank where I work. He promised me that I would love it and it was not cheap, 350 AZN a month! (how can I afford it with only 226 AZN allowance from Peace Corps) but I went with him anyway and indeed the living room, kitchen, bed room are very nice, completely renovated but as soon as I saw the bathroom, I just felt sad again….

I am not looking for luxury, just a decent 1-bedroom apartment. I can clean, bleach and scrub all the stinks, but I do not know how to fix the leaks, the broken toilet bowl, the smelly sink and I definitely do not know how to stop the toilet water from running. In New York, I have my super to take care all of that, here I have no one. The owner is not going to fix it, Peace Corps will not get involved and I have no one to turn to. “For 250 AZN a month, this is what you get! Unless you can pay more” I will keep looking, just keep looking…..