Ice Skating in Heels

It finally came, the first real snow of the winter. Everyone in town seems elated. For weeks students have been telling me that it wasn't really winter because it hadn't snowed (this time last year we'd already endured multiple snow storms). And along with the snow comes adventure and the chance for lots of anthropological study.

First of all, our pipes froze. Luckily we live not far from the bulaq, or spring. We need one bucket to make the toilet flush, the kettle for drinking water, and the jug for washing dishes. I feel like a pioneer girl!

Walking to school is is like walking across an ice rink that just finished hosting 30 second grade birthday parties. I remember last year shaking my head and thinking "They really must not have any lawsuits in this country." There are no salt trucks, no snowplows or shovels. Mathias' ten minute commute becomes thirty. My twenty-five minute commute becomes an hour. It's especially hard because even if the weather changes, the culturally acceptable footwear does not and we are forced to do this in dress shoes and heels. I'm only mildly afraid of hurting myself when I fall. My true fear of falling is because its very embarrassing. Especially because no one else is falling. REALLY. Over two days I fell twice, Mathias said he fell a couple of times, and out of all the people I saw all over town I only saw only ONE Azerbaijani fall down. I reason with myself-in America we have sidewalks that get shovelled, the roads get salted, and I'm from Georgia for goodness sakes! And everyone else in town has been doing this their entire life. I recently read an article about how its actually better to run barefoot, but that people who have been running in shoes forever can't go back. Is this an example of how we become slaves to our technology?

The great thing about the snow was how happy it made everybody. You could just feel it. People were smiling and watching kids sled down the street. Yes, the street, with cars and everything. Apparently I was the only person concerned as fifth grade boys tore down the ice slick (or road) in front of their school, speeding through intersections without a second thought. The sleds have square wooden seats on runners made of pipes. Because of this, they don't steer and in fact I saw more than one kid spinning as they went down. And of course, thoughtful as people here are about bums not getting cold, many of them are outfitted with pillows to sit on. I even saw a very fancy crocheted one! I thought to myself, since I didn't see any girls sledding at all, that maybe that's what the girls get to do. The boys ride, the girls make seat covers. This thought was a little presumptive though as I did see one girl the next day sledding on a side street with her family.

So I'm enjoying the snow as long as I don't break anything on the ice. Don't worry too much, my students have taken to holding my hand and walking me home!