You are going to live...WHERE?

Baku, Azerbaijan. Population 2 million people (officially). Private estimates are up to twice that. Here is the map (on a globe—in Russian—that is an old chocolate Christmas ornament).

 

It is literally half-way around the world, 12 hours ahead of Bellingham.

 

Nominally Muslim, Azerbaijan was part of the Russian empire from 1813 to 1918. It enjoyed independence from about 1918 until 1920 when the USSR invaded and annexed it. During this brief period, Azerbaijan established equal rights for women. It was a Russian state until independence in 1991 and this had a significant influence on the culture. This year (2011), Azerbaijan celebrates 30 years of independence from the USSR. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan and https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aj.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku

Neighboring countries are Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Russia. Baku is on the Caspian Sea, which we see out of our living room windows.

Main business? Oil. Lots of oil. Not much else.