I finally got a chance to get some more videos uploaded. The first is some shots from around Warsaw and Turon, Poland before the wedding. Poland is such a beautiful country.
The Second is some video of the wedding itself. Congrats again Amy and Pito.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
A story
As I haven't had much excitement in the last few weeks and I have yet to find a reliable internet connection where I can upload another of my videos, I thought that I would tell one of the many stories that I have accrued.
My roommate and I had gotten in the habit of using the same group of taxi drivers for rides home. These guys post up at the top a hill next to a metro station, so it is a bit of a walk, but they understand that each time they will get 5 manat and we get a ride home without having to barter over the price. We've had several interesting run ins with cabbies since we've been here, so having working out a mutual understanding makes the walk worth it.
So after a long, hot day I made the trip up the hill alone, as my roommate was currently on vacation back in the states and hailed one of the cabbies while offering the other drivers in the group (people here hang out in groups of four most everywhere you go, haven't quite figured out why yet) a "Salam". The cab was actually one of the better ones in the group so I slouched down into the rather comfortable back seat grateful to be sitting down again and on my way to my apartment.
Before I go any further I need to explain something about the cabs here. None of the cabs work for actual cab companies. They don't have yellow cabs. They don't even have cab meters (hence the bartering over the cost of the cab ride). Any person with a car can run his own cab service, and from what I gather, they so quite well for themselves. The only way to tell a cab is the magnetic light on top the car that says "taksi" which is connected to the battery by a wire that runs through the firewall and up to the roof.
Back to the cab. We started to pull away from the front of the metro station and I turned to look into the on coming traffic. When I turned back, the car was completely filled with the most foul smelling, thick black smoke. I didn't panic, but I didn't really know what to do either. Should I jump out? I opened the door so I could breathe a began to furiously waft the smoke out. Steadily things began to clear and that is when I caught sight of the flame along the A pillar of the cab (the A pillar is the part of the car where the windshield and the front doors meet) and the panicked cabbie batting at it with his open palms. He patted the flame out and turned to me with a smile on his face to say "problem no, problem no". He drove me the rest of the way home without incident and I got out and laughed al the way up the elevator.
I couldn't help but laugh. I know this is like joke you tell where you say "I guess you just had to be there", but stuff like this tends to happen here quite regularly. How many people can say that they were in a cab when it caught fire?
My roommate and I had gotten in the habit of using the same group of taxi drivers for rides home. These guys post up at the top a hill next to a metro station, so it is a bit of a walk, but they understand that each time they will get 5 manat and we get a ride home without having to barter over the price. We've had several interesting run ins with cabbies since we've been here, so having working out a mutual understanding makes the walk worth it.
So after a long, hot day I made the trip up the hill alone, as my roommate was currently on vacation back in the states and hailed one of the cabbies while offering the other drivers in the group (people here hang out in groups of four most everywhere you go, haven't quite figured out why yet) a "Salam". The cab was actually one of the better ones in the group so I slouched down into the rather comfortable back seat grateful to be sitting down again and on my way to my apartment.
Before I go any further I need to explain something about the cabs here. None of the cabs work for actual cab companies. They don't have yellow cabs. They don't even have cab meters (hence the bartering over the cost of the cab ride). Any person with a car can run his own cab service, and from what I gather, they so quite well for themselves. The only way to tell a cab is the magnetic light on top the car that says "taksi" which is connected to the battery by a wire that runs through the firewall and up to the roof.
Back to the cab. We started to pull away from the front of the metro station and I turned to look into the on coming traffic. When I turned back, the car was completely filled with the most foul smelling, thick black smoke. I didn't panic, but I didn't really know what to do either. Should I jump out? I opened the door so I could breathe a began to furiously waft the smoke out. Steadily things began to clear and that is when I caught sight of the flame along the A pillar of the cab (the A pillar is the part of the car where the windshield and the front doors meet) and the panicked cabbie batting at it with his open palms. He patted the flame out and turned to me with a smile on his face to say "problem no, problem no". He drove me the rest of the way home without incident and I got out and laughed al the way up the elevator.
I couldn't help but laugh. I know this is like joke you tell where you say "I guess you just had to be there", but stuff like this tends to happen here quite regularly. How many people can say that they were in a cab when it caught fire?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
In the midde of nowhere
Technology is awesome. Right now I am sitting in a car in the middle of Azerbaijan, writing this on my laptop which is hooked up to the internet through a cellphone. Why am I here? Why am I taking the time during my workday to write a blog post about technology? All valid questions.
You see, today ended up not being like very other day. Our company is looking at a new project here in Azerbaijan so we decided to take a field trip out to scout locations for our road. Seems simple enough. Drive out to the middle of nowhere take some pictures and some GPS coordinates and drive back home. At least that was what was supposed to happen.
We drove out to the first location we had planned and took our pictures, got harassed by the local police, and took our GPS locations. Nothing too exciting (except for the police harassment, trying to explain to a cop that you are just taking pictures of the land and power lines for a road that doesn't exist when he doesn't speak your language is not easy). We got back into the car, flipped it into gear, and...went nowhere.
Upon investigation we discovered that not only was the transmission low on fluid, but there wasn't any fluid in the transmission to begin with. So we checked underneath and sure enough we had left a long trail of red fluid behind us. We weren't going anywhere.
So here I sit, and have been for the last hour and a half, waiting for another car to come and pick us up. Our driver keeps telling us 5 minutes and has been for the last half hour. I'm starting to not trust these people, they're all a bunch of con-men. But as I type this a white Toyota is pulling up. Looks like we are saved after all.
You see, today ended up not being like very other day. Our company is looking at a new project here in Azerbaijan so we decided to take a field trip out to scout locations for our road. Seems simple enough. Drive out to the middle of nowhere take some pictures and some GPS coordinates and drive back home. At least that was what was supposed to happen.
We drove out to the first location we had planned and took our pictures, got harassed by the local police, and took our GPS locations. Nothing too exciting (except for the police harassment, trying to explain to a cop that you are just taking pictures of the land and power lines for a road that doesn't exist when he doesn't speak your language is not easy). We got back into the car, flipped it into gear, and...went nowhere.
Upon investigation we discovered that not only was the transmission low on fluid, but there wasn't any fluid in the transmission to begin with. So we checked underneath and sure enough we had left a long trail of red fluid behind us. We weren't going anywhere.
So here I sit, and have been for the last hour and a half, waiting for another car to come and pick us up. Our driver keeps telling us 5 minutes and has been for the last half hour. I'm starting to not trust these people, they're all a bunch of con-men. But as I type this a white Toyota is pulling up. Looks like we are saved after all.
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