Flowers, the Zoo, and Getting Out of Baku

In May we celebrated Flower Day. It's actually a holiday for the birthday of the former president, but I guess that springtime automatically lends itself to a celebration of flowers as well.  And boy, did it! I met two of the teachers from our school at a park downtown, and it was truly resplendent with flowers!  How often do you get to legitimately use that word?

Me and Shebnam



The design on the base of this
statue was made entirely of flowers

 

This humongous picture of the former president?
Also made entirely of flowers. I am officially impressed.

Now that class night was over, we were able to relax and do some more fun things with our students, including a field trip to the zoo! Though it was a little depressing seeing the animals in such small cages (I really can't recommend a trip to any non-western zoo to any animal lovers out there), it was great seeing the kids reactions!

Everyone wanted a picture with the monkey (just behind Arslan to the right)

This camel smelled terrible, and there was the additional danger of getting
spit on! These three were the only ones brave enough to go in for the
picture, and I think the results are quite hilarious!

Our whole class with a lion: Farida, Yusuf,
Nasreddin, Muhammed, Arslan, and Yagub (standing)

 

At some point this spring Rachael, Colleen, and I realized that we had not been outside of Baku even once the whole year (aside from Thanksgiving). Which is a shame, because Azerbaijan is really a beautiful country, home to 9 of the 11 climate zones in the world. Fortunately a few opportunities came our way that last month before we left.

 

The first came when the twins' mother invited us to visit their summer home.  It is only about 40 minutes outside of the city, but it was a lovely retreat. Within their walled property, they had some beautiful gardens, and even a small field of poppies!

 

The three of us with the twins' older sisters

We really got out of the city a few weeks later, though, when several people from our home group went camping near Guba, a city in the northwest of the country.  That region is mountainous, and it made for some spectacular views. We simply couldn't get over how gorgeous it was. And relaxing- there really is something therapeutic about beauty, isn't there?

Our camping group (minus Andrea who took the picture) just before a hike

This is the valley we camped in, seen from our hike.  Not bad, huh?

Shepherd and his dad, Mike.  Shepherd and I had something
in common: this being our first real camping trip!

Up with the sun- the silver lining of sleeping on hard stone! :)
(it was super chilly, though, hence the sleeping bag-blanket)

I definitely danced around this field singing "The Sound of Music."
And someone definitely caught it on tape. He is, however,
under strictest orders never to show it to anyone!

One of my favorite things about this, my first true camping experience, was all the everyday things we got to do, not only outdoors, but surrounded by such majestic scenery. Brushing my teeth in the open air, in the middle of what could easily have been a National Geographic spread.  Also, filling our water bottles and washing our dishes in a little spring:



All in all, it was an amazing weekend.  I hope we get to do it again this year. And I hope we'll get to see more of this beautiful country!