Observations part chityere

Scales:
This is probably one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve become pretty accepting of what goes on here, probably because of my time in Russia, so out-of-the-ordinary things are becoming harder to notice, but this is really just downright odd.
All over Baku, especially in the main area in Fountain Square, there are men standing in completely arbitrary spots on the sidewalk with a scale. On the scale is a little paper sign that says ’20 geppik’ and whenever you walk by the men will frantically gesture at you so you can weigh yourself. In public. In front of people. In front of an Azeri man. This concept is so strange to me: why on earth would you ever pay someone to be humiliated and weigh yourself on a probably faulty scale? It’s not even the scales are the ones that are large and immobile and you get a fortune with that you see in public restrooms in the States (which I’ve never understood either but I can see how people would get duped into the fortune-teller/ astrological sign business). Nope, these are just ordinary bathroom scales. About the size of my computer- easy to pick up and walk around with. It’s as if someone sat in their apartment and wondered, ‘What is the most random household item I can possibly make a profit off of and still be able to keep? A scale! Ingenious. I will run downtown now and charge people to weigh themselves.’ Believe it or not buddy, but I don’t like to know my weight, and I certainly don’t tell people what is, let alone men or strangers.
I can’t figure out if people don’t regularly own scales in their houses, but I find this pretty hard to believe. The really odd part about this is that I’ve seen people actually weighing themselves on these scales. I once saw a whole family huddled around the scale comparing weights and seeing what the youngest daughter weighed.

Dogs:
There aren’t many stray dogs here, I’ve seen less than a handful. I have seen a fair amount of dogs as pets and they are either one of three breeds: pit bull, rottweiler or German shepherd. People will walk their very large dogs in very public areas and these dogs are usually charging forward and pulling their owner all over the place while the owner is trying to leisurely stroll through Fountain Square. This actually makes watching these people pretty entertaining since I can only think, that’s what you get for taking a large dog that needs a lot more exercise into a public place. I guess the only kind of popular dog here is one that is very intimidating. I swear the other day I heard the sound of a hound dog howling (at which point I got very homesick for my little beagle, Rosie) but I couldn’t actually spot the dog and in all reality it was probably some crazy car horn made to sound like a dog.

Public transportation etiquette:
Americans are their own special breed when it comes to public transportation. We believe in personal bubbles around each person that are not to be invaded unless it’s a life or death situation, and even then you have to ask permission. Americans will wait for the next bus/ train if the current one looks too crowded. When riding public transportation Americans will choose to stand and hold onto the railing even if there are 10 empty seats on a bus if it means you have to actually sit next to someone and touch them, since this is an invasion of privacy or could be construed as sexual harassment. People will move to get away from each other as fast as possible, and generally no one touches your stuff or helps you out since again, Americans can’t be bothered with doing anything overly helpful or friendly. (At least, this is the case up north where I’m from.)
Not the case here. In fact, the closer and more awkwardly entwined you are with someone on public transportation, the better. While sometimes this can be detrimental, i.e. having to breathe through your mouth because of a serious case of B.O., I like to think of it in a positive way. The people here are very friendly and helpful once you can get past the American personal bubble. I have several examples to back up my theory.
Firstly, if someone sees that you’re trying to get onto the bus and it’s uber-crowded, they’ll help you up. And by help you up, I mean they will grab onto any part of your body they can reach, and haul you up to steps so forcefully there really isn’t a choice in the matter. Once you’re up, they’ll either let you hold on to them, ask people to make room on the railing, or simply hold on to you. If it’s hot and sweaty this can be gross, but at least people here are considerate enough where they’re willing to help you get where you want to go. They could just stand there and let you fend for yourself on a crowded bus, but instead they’ll take your bags (if you have any) and lend a hand. I find this quite refreshing.
Most people are also really nice and helpful about holding your bags or helping you move throughout the bus. If someone senses that you’re trying to get through, a man will usually help part the way for you. The other day I was on the bus with a couple of bags and I didn’t have the best grip. The man I was standing above grabbed my bags from my hands and held them on his lap. Another woman grabbed my raincoat so I wouldn’t fall down when the bus came to a sudden stop. Yeah, they were a little touchy-feely but it wasn’t creepy, they were simply trying to be helpful.
There’s also a really big effort to make sure that young children are ok while on public transportation. I’ve actually seen mothers willingly let totally strangers whisk their child up to the top of the bus away from the wide open doors so there’s no chance that their kid could fall out while the bus was moving. Other times I’ve seen random people grab kids and attempt to calm them down or play with them if the bus is particularly crowded or hot and the child is upset. It’s completely opposite the attitude we hold in the U.S.- to shield our kids from any strangers. However, here there’s a sense of community and trust, and that everybody is genuinely looking out for one another. I really like this aspect of the culture, and it’s one that I hold a lot of respect for. I can see the reasons for this on both sides of the cultures, but as I’m here I’m starting to think that Americans can be pretty uptight about these matters.
Another aspect to this is that men will almost always give up their seat for a woman. I’ve had this happen to me several times on both the bus and train. Once I had a huge backpack so it was probably better for me to sit down than get thrown all over the place, but other times I’ve only had to go a couple stops and men have quickly gotten up for me so I could take the seat. While I guess this goes against the feminist grain, I still like to think that chivalry isn’t dead and I’ll take the seat anyday.

Apartment guards:
Our building has two quasi-“guards”. One is a man who stands on the opposite side of the courtyard and will charge you money to park your car because he’s “protecting it”. Right.
The other is a very friendly and very large man who sits just outside of the staircase leading up to our apartment. Our apartment is located next to the other entrance into our courtyard, so I think he’s the side street guard. He always wears the same thing: a massive white button-up, black felt pants, a black tie, and sometimes he’ll have his black felt suit jacket. He has a big handlebar mustache and long white hair and usually he’s just sitting on a bench, but sometimes he’s messing around with some shed. He’s always very friendly, but I have no clue what he actually does. Or if he’s maybe just a resident here who likes to socialize.

City signs:
I know they have these throughout Europe but I still think they’re hilarious. You know how when you enter a city there’s a sign that will label what area you’re in? For example, when entering Boston, there will be a big sign that says ‘Boston’. They do that here as well (obviously). The funny part is, however, what happens when you’re leaving the city. Upon leaving the territory there’s a big sign that will say the town but it will have a huge red X through it. Just as a reminder, this is no longer (for example) Sumgayit. But it doesn’t tell you where you’re headed next, just that you can be damn sure you’re not in Sumgayit.

Cab rides:
This is more of a little vignette but I have finally managed to 1) negotiate with cab drives, 2) successfully tell them where I live, 3) successfully do this in Russian, and 4) have gotten a free cab ride. I felt very proud of myself the first time I talked a driver down from 7 manat to 5. I should have done 4, but I was irritated at that point. Another time I talked a driver down to 4 manat to take me home, and then spent the whole cab conversing in Russian with the driver. Then when he dropped me off, he didn’t have change for my 5 manat bill, so he gave me the cab ride free! I was almost in shock. I have a feeling it’s because I was American and I chatted with him the whole way, but I’ll take a free cab ride any day.