Mama and Papa O Come to the 'Baijan: Part 2

Su yoxdur.

Woke up this morning, still no water. I was concerned that they had shut me down because no one had come to collect money. I was fully prepared to yell at the water guy and say, "My Mother and Father have come from America and you cut off my water, now what will they think??!!"

But the sun was shining, so it didn't seem to matter too much. We headed out, went to the mosque, and I finally got to climb to the top. It's the tallest mosque in the Caucasus, and the mortar is made of egg. Super cool. A great view and a good climb.

After that, we walked up to the park, only to be called by Elvin who told us that there was a parachuting competition at the Balaken Airport. So we hopped in his car and drove up. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the parachuting had ended (although we got to see a few fly from the window of the car on the way there), but we got to talk to some Russian guy who worked on their space program, a few Azeri officials who were more than welcoming, and a pilot who let us climb into his Antonov Airplane...as my dad said, "leaking oil like it should, looking old like it should. This is great!" He was terribly excited to see it, and we got to climb around in it and take pictures. Most of the guys there invited us back tomorrow, when there will be a hot air balloon and they'll take us up. Inshallah, the weather will stay clear so we can actually go!!
After that, we had a quick lunch outside at the Turkish restaurant in town (doner, pide, lahmacun, salad, ayran), and then to club. The kids were pretty excited to meet my parents, asked questions, asked what kind of student I was when I was a kid, if I studied my lessons well. (My Mom's response, "Stephanie is very smart. But she is a lazy student. Is she lazy now?" To which one student sassed me and said, "mmmm, so-so." Love that girl. Then my mom went on to talk about my math competitions, and how when I was a kid and scored well on a gifted-and-talented test she thought I had cheated...thanks mom).

After that, went to the post office to get a three month old package from my grandma's church group (yay!) and then we walked back to the park for dinner. We bought some Natakhtari on the way (mmmm), and ate fried xengel (I had my first piece ever...I've never eaten them bc of the meat, but I figured what the heck I might as well...good...the meat tastes like taco meat...good but not enough to convert me), greens and shor qutab (like quesedillas), salads, and of course plenty of bread. Jake walked out to ask the waiter something, got dragged into chatting with some guys sitting around, and came back with an open and partially empty bottle of whiskey...only in Azerbaijan. We finished that and then headed back to the park.
Up the steps, and then we met our buddy at the cayxana Ibish, who served us tea at the top of the park, one of the best places to see all of Balaken, and the surrounding mountains. We hung out there for a bit, took some pictures (we decided that my relationship with my sitemates, Jake and Trey, is akin to Wendy and the Lost Boys from Peter Pan), and then walked home.
Still no water.

Thank God Jake has a water tank, so mom and I were able to go and rinse off, wash our hair, while dad bucket-bathed it in my shower.

I'm so proud of them. They're like real PCVs. Showering with little to no water, brushing their teeth out the window, using the squat toilet...just wait till we hit the night train Friday night.