First Trip to Baku — 2 Day Two
An update from Baku. — Food first — yesterday, I tried one of the traditional dishes and cannot remember the name, but it was like a dumpling with ground chicken or perhaps chicken sausage inside and served with a small cup of vinegar. Not my thing…like a potsticker or chicken dumpling! The vinegar didn’t help. So, I won’t be ordering it again. I had spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and an Azerbaijani wine. Nice.
Today…wow! Interesting Marriott breakfast buffet that included pork sausage and chicken sausage. Considering the religious make-up of the country, pork was a small surprise. We had lunch in the beautiful ADA student center…PIZZA! (I also could have gotten French fries or some more traditional Azeri food but chose the safe option since I’m working). Dinner was another traditional dish, Chicken Levangi served with rice. The chicken is baked and stuffed with (cooked) ground plums and walnuts…delicious! The side dish was rice that was cooked but then baked inside a delicate pastry shell, probably phyllo dough. I have a photo and will post photos separately.
So back to the beginning of this day…OMG…raining…hard. Our driver was at the door and we set out. You have never seen driving and traffic like here in the US and maybe nowhere else in the world. We were stuck in an absolute jigsaw puzzle of traffic this morning. No one was really going anywhere and there was one car that drove on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the street. Cars squeezing through spaces in front of, behind and beside that I would never dare. After may way too close calls, much honking of horns, closing of the eyes and prayer, we took side streets and arrived at the University only about 10 minutes late. The return trip was pretty similar except that at one gridlocked intersection, a police officer jumped out of his car to direct traffic…taking his life in his hands, for sure! I must praise our driver…nerves of steel and incredible driving skills that allow him to jump into the tiniest of spaces between cars. I would fail here at this!
I met people this morning at the university that I have only seen on Skype and it was fantastic to actually see them in person and to be able to chat face-to-face. Long day of with a very patient and good consultant from the Ellucian (parent company for Banner) explaining some of the fundamental elements of Banner (student system) and much discussion about changes to business processes, policy and procedure. This will be such an huge step for this university. I think they are only barely beginning to understand what a change this will bring for them.
I must admit I was rather anxious before leaving on Saturday — about the trip and coming to an unplanned — until this summer — destination. I am very happy that I am able to do this and that somehow I was “chosen” to do this. I have worked in higher education for over 30 years and firmly believe that education is the key to solving many of the problems the world faces, especially those areas close to this part of the world. If what I am doing can help to make any difference for the young people who are the now and the future, it will be time spent beyond price.