Forty-Nine Days

Today is my 49th "Anniversary" since I first stepped of the plane in Baku. Time appears differently when you are first moving to a new place, and when I think back it feels like just yesterday and like I've lived here a lifetime.

Yesterday I had a short Skype chat with some other "international" MCPs (Presidents of AIESEC), meaning someone who are MCP in a country that is not their own, and we were discussing the challenges and wonders of being in this unique position. One of the questions that came up was

"Do you already feel like a local?"

One girls answer made me reflect on my own experience in Azerbaijan. She said she still feels like an international, its impossible to not notice how in small and big you are not natively belonging to the culture. But on the other hand feeling at home and comfortable in the city, knowing how to move around and get to where you want to go. And that is how I'm feeling in Baku as well. I'm obviously a foreigner to the culture and society, but I have somehow found my place, there is still loads to discover, but I'm happy I already now know some cafes, restaurants and have gotten some routines.

In my 7 weeks here I have managed to travel to 4 different cities, gone to the beach a few times, stolen apples from a countryside garden, gone sight-seeing in the city, start my term as MCP, gone hiking to a waterfall in Gabala, eaten at 20something restaurants, found what shop sells asian spicy ingredients, met a Chinese speaking Azeri guy, been to company meetings, gotten rejected at a hotel for not having a marriage certificate, danced at a construction site and learned some Azeri. Those are just a few of the moments I have experienced over the last weeks in Azerbaijan.