Eurovision is coming!

There has been a lot of excitement in Baku since we last added to our blog.  Azerbaijan has won Eurovision!  We had never heard of Eurovision, but it is apparently a singing contest where Abba got its start.  Now that an Azeri duo has won, everyone is very excited that the contest will be held in Baku next May.  We think that it's going to be a very interesting year to be here.  Apparently there are a lot of preparations to do.  Both Hilton and Marriott have hotels under construction and it will be interesting to see what gets done in time for all the visitors who are expected.  We are also hopeful that these expected visitors will help smooth out the visa application process.  We've heard varying stories about where the contest will actually happen - the most interesting prospect is that an entirely new venue will be built!

As new arrivals, we noticed that there is a lot of construction here everywhere.  Some days you can see some action, but a lot of the time it seems to be idle.  Since the big win in May, there is definitely more action around town.  One story is that the wife of the president loves Paris, so a lot of the old Soviet era buildings are receiving a Parisian style facelift.  They do look nice.  We are quite amazed at some of the scaffolding that is used.

We heard that after a building nearby collapsed all by itself a couple of years ago, it turned out that more floors were added than planned and that it was 25% short of concrete.  The government then condemned many existing buildings and issued stop-work orders on others that were under construction.  (Is building inspection a new idea here?)  That building is being rebuilt now.

Just this week we've noticed that another nearby building seems to be growing taller.  We don't know if that was planned all along, or is it an afterthought?  Ed has done some random research and discovered that we may not have left the earthquake danger zone.  Apparently, there was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Baku in November of 2000, the strongest in 160 years.  More than 90 buildings and apartments blocks were seriously damaged.  Some studies have been done that show that most of Baku would not fare well in a major earthquake.  So why are we living on the 17th floor?

The "flame towers" have been under construction for several years already.  We have seen quite a lot of progress on them in the last few months.  It would be wonderful if they could be finished this year, but it looks like a monumental task.

BP is planning to move into a new building which is being constructed for them.  They are supposed to move in (including Ed's group) at the beginning of 2012.  We drove past it after visiting the Museum of Modern Art a few days ago.  It looks like they still have a whole lot to do.

The show at the Museum of Modern Art was a group of photographs of Azerbaijan taken by foreign photographers.  It was really good.  There were a number of large scale photos of Baku and we had fun finding our apartment building in several of them.

We are finding the summer weather plenty hot here.  Our apartment has air conditioning and it is getting quite a workout.  The temperature has reached 40°C (104°F) already.  We understand that the heat will last into September.  The taxi drivers who are willing to use their car air conditioning are getting more of our business than those who just roll down the windows.  Here you can see me looking wilted in Fountain Square.  Apparently these little figures help you avoid where they are working on the paving.

Ed has completed his wine rack table and we have furnished it with an electric opener and a globe.  This one is a little more sturdy than the chocolate ornament.  We also finally got some bookcases.  We bought one plastic shelf unit from a Scandinavian store and two other shelves from a German family who were leaving town for China.  Now the fabric has a home in the sewing area, and the ovens are off the kitchen counter.  Yea!

As some of you know, we had a very nice visit to the Pacific Northwest in June and July.  It was wonderful to see family and friends in person.  We had a great time and felt that the long flights were well worth all the fun we had.  We're ready to do it all again before too long.

 

Many of the expat quilters are out of town for most of the summer.  There are a few of us who are staying in the AC and quilting like mad.  In my sewing corner, the AC blows right at me, so I can still keep my iron on.  The first scrap quilt top has been delivered to Susan the quilter, so now I'm on to the one called Scrappy Chaos.  I love that name since I feel that it quite accurately describes my sewing area.  I'm also working on several table runners and aprons for a charity bazaar which will be held in November.