A for the Absurd

What could better explain the life in Azerbaijan than real life stories? People often ask me what surprised me the most, if I had a culture shock or how is it different here. Well, let the stories speak for themselves:

Yesterday was a boring day for me but not for my friends. I decided I didn't want to take a class about European integration; well now I regret.
The girls came to the class like every other day. The difference was that they already new the teacher personally. The articles he asked the class to read were indeed very hard even for the international students. Well, what we should have expect was that the Azerbaijani students would not read anything. Half of the class did not read a single word and the rest who actually did, didn't understand anything. Well, English is not their native language so let's say they did have an excuse...

At the beginning of the class teacher states the rules that they had to obey: only English language as a language of the course, attendance - not only physical but also active and so on and so forth.
What happened next I would never even think of.

They stood from their desks and started arguing with the teacher about English being hard for them as a second language. They screamed they had their rights to speak Azerbaijani in their own country and that they won't speak English. The fact that the teacher was replying only in English made them even more furious... One guy actually left the classroom and came back with the dean. Tell me something like this could happen in Europe...
The teacher actually told one girl who did not prepare anything for the class that she should be ashamed of herself and tell it to her mother.

Absurd.

Today was full of surprised. I was very busy because I got in contact with a Center of Polish Culture in Baku and we had a meeting. We're preparing an Independence Day concert in November and I'm taking part in it.


After drinking 4 glasses of tea with them I could finally get home. Or at least I thought so...

Me and my flatmate have only one house key just because we don't know how to make a second one. Well, so when I came back home today and nobody answered the door I was sure she's at a store and will be back in a few minutes. After 20 min of sitting in the wind I got cold and decided I would just stand in front of the door - it would not take her long, right?
It was a little embarrassing when some people were walking the stairs... Two of them actually were my neighbours and I was hoping my flatmate would come soon because I didn't want to be invited in... Guess what happened...

In the next hour I met the whole family: mother who speaks only Azerbaijani and has a sister who lives in France, 4 children: 2 of the boys already study and the other two don't speak either Russian or English but they're still at school. Especially the small one ;)
They would make me tea, served of course with sweet cherries, show me the whole and only photo album of the family. I tried to call my flatmate several times but she only has a Polish number which doesn't work here, I tried calling the house number but nobody would pick up... I was already getting worried. Then the meal came, more family stories, father came back home from work. Eventually we tried knocking on the door which took us some time... only to find out my flatmate was home the whole time :O
Can't be mad at her - today I finally met the Azerbaijani hospitality ;)
But not being able to get into your own house with your flatmate already in...

Absurd.