My Life in Azerbaijan - Azeri Summer

The temperature in the sun is 54C, or 129F. Standing directly under the hot sun, you think your brain is melting. If my friends complain about the 90s degree heat in New York City, I would gladly exchange places with them just for one night here in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan is in the middle of summer, everywhere is hot, hot and Çox isti. Between the hours of 12pm to 4pm, the street is nearly deserted, not many living or non-living creatures around. Taxi drivers, construction workers and street cleaning ladies all nap/hide under trees, birds refuse to sing, cats stretch out with their flat belly on cool sands, policemen hide in teahouses, chickens burrow under bushes. Cars, trucks and bicycles are abandoned on shaded sidewalks. Not a single soul is willing to venture out in the open.

My balcony faces south. Normally if I open my balcony door, there is a light breeze flowing in directly from the north, which makes my apartment cool in summer. Three days ago, when I opened the balcony door, I noticed the shift of wind direction. The cool breeze was replaced by blast of hot air. Instead of blowing from the north, the sizzling wind charged in from the south. The temperature inside my apartment changed from warm to scorching hot. I could not sit, stand, sleep or walk. The boiling heat combined with high humidity liquefied me. I found every inch of my body covering with sweats. I stayed half-naked whole day inside my apartment. (Thank God, I do not have a roommate!) Repeated cold showers could not alleviate me from the agony. For once, I wish for winter. (I normally hate the cold) The heat lingered deep into the night, by midnight, my apartment remained hot like an oven. I lay wide-awake until dawn.

Remember once my Azeri friend told me that there were two kinds of wind blowing in Azerbaijan: the north and the south wind. The south wind is notorious for its high temperature. It sets off from the Saudi desert. Summer when it swifts through Azerbaijan, sometimes it can destroy crops and kill farm animals. These past three days, I have experienced its power. Once I understand what it is, my altitude towards the “devil heat” changes. Instead of hating it, I accept it, respect it and make peace with it.

“Harmonize with nature “

Another Chinese wisdom ricochets from memory.

Three days later, the wind changed direction. Now it is once again blowing from the north. What a relief! Even daytime temperature remains well above 110F, but if you stand under a tree or hide in a shade and do nothing, it is not so bad. By evening, with a light breeze, I can go out for my normal run. I, once again LIVE.