My Life in Azerbaijan - Appearance

July 18, 2010
Appearance is everything for the Azeri people. They are obsessed by keeping their shoes spotless clean even in a rainy day with mud everywhere and they care very much how their hair look. Azerbaijan must have the highest concentration of hair saloons in the world. I count my street, it has eight hair saloons! They must also iron all their clothes! I receive Peace Corps monthly newsletter today, and I have to laugh. One section is written to remind us the importance of bringing a napkins/rag with us on a muddy day so we can clean our shoes!

However, if you go to the Azeri home and look at their toilet, it will make you sick. The urine smell never seemed to bother them, the dirt on the floor, the leaking pipes, the broken toilet seat (if it has one, usually it doesn’t), the un-flushable toilet bowl, the filth on the wall, the insects, the oxidized showerhead, etc., are all acceptable conditions to them. My previous host family has a western type toilet; it is brand new, clean but only for display. When they have to do their “dirty” business, everyone use the “shit hole” outside the house. That “shit hole” is covered with yellow stains, permeated by smelly odor and the place has no light. At night, they just bring a flesh light with them. I can never understand it.

I agree with Vivian’s comment about the importance of our “nest”, a home where it gives me comfort, privacy, shelter, and a place where occasionally we can escape from the outside world. For that reason, I try my best to keep my apartment clean. However, keeping my Azerbaijan bathroom clean and fresh has been a challenge to me. No matter how much I clean, bleach and scrub, it can never smell as fresh as my bathroom in New York. The problem is due to the old and leaky pipes up stair of my neighbor. Instead of fixing those leaky pipes and getting ride of the odor, my landlord simply covers the ceiling with an artificial ceiling. It is just a matter of time when those pipes eventually burst and the entire ceiling collapses and my bathroom becomes one big “shit hole”. I hope that day will not come until next year December, or I have to take an ET (early termination). Other than this, my life in Azerbaijan is fine.