Leigh in Azerbaijan

I’ve been a little distracted since returning in August.

First a bar opened downstairs.  The sequencer kicked in 5 nights each from 9.30pm which put an end to studying and sleep.  I would walk across the yard to another teacher’s spare room and then back again pre-dawn to start the day.  The school finally moved me to a temporary apartment where the floors had been lacquered some four or five weeks earlier.   The floors were still giving up formaldehyde so I was feeling sick, depressed and couldn’t concentrate on the simplest of tasks.  I was leaving the windows and doors open so was then battling mosquitoes at night.

A week ago I swapped apartments with another teacher as I have been told that I will be moving to a decent apartment in a week.  I’m not sure if it will happen yet. I swapped as Tasha had to get out due to contested ownership of the apartment and BP won’t pay rent under such conditions.

I’ve been struggling with a cold for four weeks and still had today mostly in bed.  I’m worried that it’s more than a virus so am off to the doctor on Monday.  Many other teachers here have had colds for up to four and six weeks so I guess that’s comforting in a way.

Last night was a farewell meal for Judy at Sultan’s Restaurant.  Judy has been with us only since August – a short stint.  Sultan’s is a classy restaurant that overlooks The Maiden’s Tower.  This link may show a photo.  It might not as well. Just tried to post the photo here but Edublogs seem to have reduced their allowance to each blog and I’m at 100%.  I guess that means no more photos, until I delete some old ones.

Five school days and I fly back home for three weeks.

november-4-2008.jpg (JPEG Image, 1440×847 pixels)

It’s a momentous event.     http://www.patrickmoberg.com/

I now have a new web address www.leighnewton.com.au

I’ve had if for a while actually.  I created the new site while I was waiting for the old page to expire so that the new server could reserve the url for me.  The new server however was slack in following through and a web crawler has taken over the site and  filled it with rubbish.

This post and the included link is part of my strategy that search engines find links to the new .au site.

Here’s the url again.    http://leighnewton.com.au/  If you have a blog or website would you consider adding it to your page in order to help people find me.  Thanks.

Two weeks back a new bar opened up downstairs, three floors below me.  The music starts around 7pm at a restaurant level which is acceptable.  At 9:30 however, a Turkish singer (who looks like a Turkish movie star) starts up.  He has a sequencer with bass and drums and that’s where the problem begins.

The bass is so loud that it’s hard to think about much at all except the annoying repeated bass playing a pattern about 120 times per song.  The next song starts with a new pattern that repeats for 120 times.  Heather, three floors higher up, uses sleeping tablets but I’ve taken to evacuating to get sleep rather than lie in bed getting angry. I’m now sleeping somewhere else 5 nights each week, seeing as though it’s loud from Wed through Sunday evening.

It’s hard to know what regulations there are here.  Even if there are regulations about something, money and power seem to find a way around.  The Director has been sympathetic and says the school will move me as soon as possible, which probably means December.  The situation is not so bad for expats who can be moved but I wonder about the owner/residents in these buildings who have no choice but to stay or sell at a reduced price due to the disturbance most nights.  Looks like the black mafia grows stronger.

A friend’s father worked for a tobacco company here which was nationalised two years ago.  There was nothing that could be done about it.  My guess is that it’s now owned by a powerful Azeri family with a siginficant income.  He also described how a local company counterfeited Kent cigarettes with low quality tobacco for a few months to reduce its market share.   It seems that these things happen with no consequences.

Iran is a delight!  The goverment may be led by mullahs who reflect the voice of Saudi Arabia, but the people are gracious and friendly, the poets are remarkable.  It’s sad about the brain drain.  Two of our guides have applications submitted for emigrating to Australia as translators.

Lunch in Shiraz. Our guide told us that women didn’t have to wear black.  She suggested that it was fashion.

A bass relief at the tombs of the Persian kings below.

The tombs of Artaxerxes (L), Xerxes and Darius – big names in Persian Empire history.  Darius commissioned Persepolis (a name given to it by the exploring Greeks many years later).  Xerxes defeated Athens (490BC) and sacked the place.  Was this the reason that Alexander the Great sacked Persepolis 150 years later?  Sad for us in both instances.   Artaxerxes defeated Valerian, the Roman Emperor and destroyed his army.

Persepolis was all it might have been!  A place of splendour, power and enormous wealth.  More images to come.

Sally and Chee Wan at the Gates to Persepolis, complete with graffiti from explorers hundreds of years ago.

A wonderful lock at one of the wonderful bazaars.