Other countries, other customs

We've been here in Baku for about three months now. We are very happy here and love the city and its people so far.
Being exposed to a new culture is always exciting, interesting but also funny at times.
Here are some things we have noticed so far that are a little bit different from what we've expected before coming here, or different from what we have experienced in Germany or in the US.
I don't mean to say anything negative about this beautiful culture. These things just stood out to us.
I'm leaving it to you to decide if they are positive or negative... or simply interesting ;-)



1. Floors are sacred




Whether you are going to the kids' indoor playground or to the dentist, you can find these baskets with plastic covers for your shoes at many places.
Azerbaijanis seem to be very concerned about not touching the floors with your street shoes.
I've only known no-shoe-policies at kids' indoor playground areas, but I had never seen these shoe covers for places like that. And I have never had to put these on when going to the dentist.

Besides my theory of floors being sacred, it might just be that Azerbaijanis are very clean people. When we first walked around the city, we were surprised at how clean the city is.

The other night, Anthon and I went to a popular burger place in town where they hand out these plastic gloves to their guests to not get their hands too messy while eating their burgers.

2. Azerbaijanis' love for children

People are sooooo nice to children here. At the restaurant, the waiters keep coming to entertain William and to keep him happy. When we're walking around downtown and let William walk around, most of the time some woman or young lady will come and want to hold and kiss him.
We experienced that a little bit in Saudi, where women would come to us and ask us if they could hold our blonde, blue-eyed William for a little bit. They then sometimes took a selfie with him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which supposedly brings luck. But it was by far not as extreme as it is here.
William seems to really enjoy getting so much attention, though :-)

3. The unfortunate unavailability of hot chocolate

We don't drink coffee, so we like to get a hot chocolate sometimes. We have asked so many restaurants for a hot chocolate, including the lounge at the Four Seasons hotel, but nobody seems to have hot chocolate, even if it's on their menu.

While we were walking around downtown, we found a "Choco Cafe". I got super excited and thought that we had found the Azerbaijani version of Max Brenner's. Okay, maybe not Max Brenner's quality, but at least a chocolate restaurant that offered hot chocolate and other fun chocolate dishes. Turns out, they didn't have any hot chocolate and the most chocolatey dish they had was this fruit and ice-cream filled crepe with chocolate sauce on top. I should cut some slack though. Some of the ice-cream was chocolate. It didn't really taste much like chocolate, but it was brown, so I'm assuming it was chocolate ice-cream.

The other day, we stumbled upon a little Christmas market in the downtown area. There were about 4 stands that had "hot chocolate" on their menu, but none of them was able to make one for us. Booh!
But homemade hot chocolate is so much better anyway, so I guess we'll just keep making our own, very chocolatey version at home :-)

Update 1/1/2017: I have finally found a restaurant that serves excellent hot chocolate!!! Today, we went to a Russian restaurant called Mari Vanna and they had dark hot chocolate with spices as well as white hot chocolate with and hint of orange. Both were very delicious. I hate it when restaurants charge me +$4 for mediocre hot chocolate made with chocolate powder and hot water. That's the worst!
But at Mari Vanna, you can tell that they make their hot chocolates with hot milk and real chocolate. It's thick, creamy, rich and full of flavor - delicious!


4. "Milkshakes"

When you are ordering a "milkshake" off a menu, don't expect a super creamy, cold milkshake like the shakes from McDonald's or the Shake Shack.
Milkshakes here are basically room temperature banana milk, strawberry milk or whatever-fruit-you-want-milk.
I looooove shakes. They are one of my favorite desserts, so I was bummed the first couple of times that I "just" got banana milk, which I make at home almost every morning.

5. Hardcore traditional salads

No explanation needed. And apparently no dressing either. Just dill and parsley branches, garnished with a little piece of tomato and cucumber. Nope, we just could not finish this one.

6. Christmas decorations 

About 97% of Azerbaijanis are Muslim, so we were a little surprised to find out that Azerbaijanis celebrate Christmas, or at least have tons of Christmas decoration everywhere.
I'm not quite sure yet how exactly it is celebrated here, but I'm in the middle of trying to find it out and will write a separate post about it ;-)

A Christmas bazaar that we went to a couple of weeks ago

Christmas booths in the main downtown area

    

7. Heydar Aliyev cult of personality

We have never lived in a current or former Communist country, so the cult of personality is a new thing to us. We had heard and read about it in the media before many times, but we've never seen it in our every day life. 

Heydar Aliyev had served the country for several decades in the Communist Party and all kinds of political positions, and later became Azerbaijan's president. After his death in 2003, he was succeeded by his son, Ilham Aliyev, who is the current president. 

When you drive around Baku, it is very likely that you will pass at least a portrait of him or some place or building that is named after him. Baku's international airport is named after him, there is a concert hall, called the Heydar Aliyev Palace, then there is the new Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, a Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex, a Heydar Aliyev avenue, a Heydar Aliev park with a very typical soviet looking statue of him, and several more buildings and portraits Heydar throughout the city.

                                        

                             

On our trip outside of Baku, we noticed that this cult is not limited to Baku alone. Every town we passed through had an important street named after him. We also saw several statues and town halls named after him. 

So yeah, just very interesting to us, who have never lived in a country that honors their former leader so much. 

Asking around locals, I got the impression that most people find it a little excessive. So, I wonder who the people are that were in charge of naming all these places, and why they feel like everything has to be named after him. Hopefully, I will find out at some point.

8. Women cleaning the streets

No matter what country we have lived in or have traveled to, I don't think we have ever seen so many old women sweeping the streets. In other countries, it's usually men that do this work. 

Most of the street sweepers look similar to the lady in this picture. Wearing a skirt, a jacket that shows that they are employed by the city, a head covering, and a traditional broom made out of twigs in their hand. 

9. Very well dressed people

We were also surprised to see how nicely people dress here. Really, most people look very neatly dressed and styled. I've also never been to a place where so many women wear skirts or dresses than they do here. And high heels. Lots of them, even at the children's indoor playground. They would rather walk around in them with plastic covers on, than walk around in socks :-)

This mom was not even wearing shoe covers, let's judge her! 

There are also a lot fewer head scarves than we expected. I heard from several locals that the head scarves and full niqab with black abaya have only recently become more in the city. But those, as we were told, are mostly tourists visiting from the Middle East for recreation or medical tourism.

More about Azerbaijan's government trying to increase medical tourism in this article: http://www.azernews.az/business/91430.html


The little OCD inside of me would love to end with a No. 10, but I can't think of one more right now. I'm sure this list is going to grow, though, as we learn more about this country. So, keep your eyes peeled for another article in the future ;-)

Brace yourself!

For about 15 years, I've been wanting to get braces. When I was a kid, I was pretty jealous that both my sisters got braces and I did not. Back then in Germany, your teeth had to be pretty crocked in order for the insurance to pay for them, so I guess mine were not crooked enough for German standards.
I've been looking into getting braces for probably 6 years now. I got several quotes from orthodontists in the US and they all told me that it would be around $5000-6000. And who knows what other costs were not included in that price.
It might be worth it to some people, but I don't have severely crooked teeth and I didn't find that it was worth the money for how little crooked they are.

In Jeddah, it would have cost about $2000-3000, but with William joining our family, I kind of forgot about that idea... the first year with William was pretty much just trying to survive somehow :-)
So, we decided to maybe get my braces at our next post if prices aren't too outrageous.

As soon as we got to Baku, we had a consultation with an orthodontist that many expats as well as the embassy's doctor had recommended to us. His price quote for braces sounded very pleasing to our ears: 1925 AZN, which is $1100. Plus, we found out that our insurance covers 50% of that. So, heck yeah, put on those braces, Dr Anar!
Of course, it made me a little nervous to get it done in a country other than the US and in addition, to get the braces by an orthodontist who himself has pretty crooked teeth. But my treatment should be pretty standard and simple.

So, I finally fulfilled my dream and got ceramic braces about 1.5 months ago, and this is what it looks like:

The procedure was painless, as expected. But I have to admit that I was a little bit surprised at how huge these brackets are and how rough they feel in the mouth. I expected them to be much thinner and smoother. I can definitely relate to this now:

The day I got them, Anthon kept asking me all day if I was excited to finally have braces. Well... not really!
It's not the braces that I'm excited about, it is the result after year when I get them out again that I'm excited about.
After the first couple of days, I found them so awful that I kind of regretted getting them, but I kept (and still keep) telling myself that it will be all worth it in the end... hopefully :-)

After having them for about 7 weeks, I can testify that they really suck! I feel so bad for children and especially teenagers that have them. They definitely make me feel even more self-conscious, even though I usually don't see as many people and friends every day as children do.
Even after 1.5 months, I notice them every time I laugh because they feel so big in my mouth, which is quite irritating.

I was also surprised at our difficult it is to smile and talk normally. Since the brackets are just as thick as your teeth, it is actually not that easy to smile. I deleted so many pictures during the first couple of weeks because my smiles just looked awful.
I also had to get used to hearing myself speak with braces. There is more of a shh sound to hear now and it was super irritating at the beginning and sometimes still is. I don't know if I'm getting used to the awful sound or if I'm speaking more clearly with them now.

When we first got together with friends, I remember them often mentioning that you can hardly see them. But then when I look at pictures or videos of myself, I'm sure that people are just being nice :-)

Definitely visible

Having braces also makes flossing more complicated. I'm a very eager flosser and I've already had to go back 2x because a bracket or the wire became loose due to flossing. I have to go back every two weeks for tightening, so every extra trip is a little bit annoying.

I also don't like how it makes my teeth look more yellowish, as you can see in some pictures. I think it's because the ceramic brackets and the colorless elastic ties tend to get discolored quickly and in certain lighting, the discoloration is more visible.

And, as everybody of you former braces wearers knows, eating most foods becomes more difficult.  I think I lost a couple of pounds during the first 3 weeks because of that (which is actually one of the few advantages right now). Apples, carrots, meat, even cucumbers and bread and some pastries- everything hurts or feels uncomfortable to eat, even after 7 weeks :-/

And nuts!!!! Candied almonds!!! I'm going to miss eating them this Christmas season.

So yeah, after 7 weeks, it's still a love-hate relationship. I'm glad that I finally got them and that for a very great price, but it is hard when you're as self-conscious as I am. At the same time, I'm of course super excited to see the results in a year or so. I might have the upper ones for only 4-6 months, so that will makes things only half as awful :-)

                              But until then:

Petty Finances - Our Philosophy, Goals, and the "Why" behind it

Many people have asked Melissa and I how we handle our finances and why we do it the way we choose to.  This blog post is an attempt to answer some of their questions in a concise posting that provides a few links.

Our Philosophy

Finances – Many philosophies on how to handle them, but few of those found online preach the true urgency of saving.  Over time, I’ve become a big fan of Mr. Money Mustache (MMM) – an early retiree/financial independent that, through aggressive savings and successful after college incomes, retired at age 30.  Although Melissa and I fall short of what MMM demands, we strive to meet his some of his basic goals:

1.     Focus on happiness itself

2.     Spend less – you (and we) already have a luxury life when compared with 90% of the world.

3.     Invest the excess in index investing.

Now, let me repeat this.  We are not perfect at this.  I’m certain that all my family and friends can highlight this, but I believe our family and friends can also speak to our frugal spending in less important spending categories.

Our Goal

Melissa and I have a goal to be Financially Independent (FI) by age 45.

Wikipedia defines FI below:

Financial independence is generally used to describe the state of having sufficient personal wealth to live, without having to work actively for basic necessities. For financially independent people, their assets generate income that is greater than their expenses.

Now, this in by no way means that I will quit working completely at age 45.  Working for the State Department now is undoubtedly the most meaningful job I could have.  I make a difference.  I’m able to strengthen my abilities.  I continue to learn and have incredible professional growth.  Quite literally, I’m excited to go to work 98% of the time.  I don’t think too many people can say that!

I am happy to report that Melissa and I are on track for our goal!

How do we do it?

This is all great, but how can we do this?  Here are a few things that we do.  Maybe you can get some ideas for your family.

1.     Budget, track spending, and review weekly financial position on mint.com

a.     Make a budget with realistic, but disciplined estimates.

b.     Cut money out of places that don’t make you happier.

c.      Normally we complete this review on Mondays as a precursor to our Family Home Evening.

2.     Talk about nearly all expenses

a.     I have to convince Melissa that my expense is good and she has to do the same.

b.     With the exception of a very modest “personal” budget, the rule above applies.

                                               i.     For me, this has blocked unnecessary electronic purchases, going out to eat too often, and other stupid, male-typical purchases.

                                              ii.     For Melissa, this means home décor, occasional baby stuff, and a few other stereotypical female purchases.

3.     Does it cost over $1000?

a.     You have to get these purchases right.  Take them seriously and ensure you’re not going to take huge depreciation when you don’t have to.  Can you get the same purpose without losing your shirt?

4.     Forgetting about “big wins”

a.     A few times, I’ve received extra money due to a major project at work or a major award at work.  Instead of spending the money on anything, we throw it immediately into our investments.

5.     Stay at home

a.     From entertainment to dining, we do our best to keep activities at home.  It is nearly always cheaper and is just as fun. Things that we do outside of our house are generally are free or very inexpensive.

6.     Travel

a.     Although flights and rental cars always get us, we generally try to avoid lodging costs by staying with family or cheaper AirBnBs.  This is without a doubt one of our excessive spending areas, but when in the Foreign Service, it is a little bit of a necessary evil in an attempt to live a normal life.

Saving that much?  You can too!

In one of my favorite personal finance articles, MMM shares The Shockingly Simple Math behind Early Retirement.  In this article, it explains that retiring is prevented by spending, not saving.  By spending less, saving is automatic.

No doubt though – this is something you have to want.  Sacrifices to convenience and affordable luxuries on sometimes a daily basis feel very real.  And even with an income above the US household average, our savings rate (currently 52.3% of take home pay) brings us much lower than that same household average income.  Many things we would be able to afford, we can’t.  Otherwise, we won’t meet our FI goal.

Hopefully this explains a little more on the position we take.  We’d rather spend an evening with friends at home than out at an expensive venue.  We cherish the simple joys that come free and more often than not, more meaningful than the ones that cost lots of money!

Do you think you could get on-board with an MMM philosophy?  What items do you spend money on that don’t make you legitimate happier?  Check out your projection for FI here.

Our first impressions of Baku

Salam, everybody!

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we moved on to our new post about two months ago.
So far, we are really loving it here!
Azerbaijan is a country that most people we talk to have never heard about. It has just in recent years become a little bit more known to people because of the Eurovision Song Contest that Baku hosted in 2012, the first European Olympic Games and a Formula 1 race that both took place in Baku last year. I hope Azerbaijan is going to host more international events and attract more tourists in the years to come. Anthon and I have traveled quite a bit in the past few years and agree that Baku is one of the most beautiful cities we have been to and is therefore definitely worth a trip.

Azerbaijan is very fascinating to me. About 98% of Azerbaijanis are Muslim and you can definitely see some Middle Eastern influence in the buildings here, but then Baku also feels a lot like a rich Eastern European city like Budapest or Prague. You can feel and see that Azerbaijan has been part of the Soviet Union for about 70 years. Especially the political buildings and statues remind me of the former Soviet Union, but then you look around and see a mosque or a building with typical middle Eastern art patterns. Coming from Saudi, this mix is just very interesting to see.

Middle Eastern patterns on this fire tower

But then a very European looking Symphony hall

Not sure what this building is, but if you take a closer look, you can see some typical Middle Eastern arches and other adornments

Polish Embassy - the windows reminded me of Jeddah's famous Roshan windows that looked very similar

The Muslims here are mostly very liberal, eat pork (although it is not offered much in restaurants), have never been to a mosque in their life, dress "normal" and not especially conservatively, and people even celebrate Christmas. I've already seen first Christmas decorations at the stores this week and we are looking forward to experiencing our first cultural Christmas here soon.

The city is very clean, there are many old, but well maintained as well as new, modern and slick looking high rises.

Very modern looking Cultural Center

The famous Flame Towers that are lit with LED lamps

View over the city

The old downtown area is very nice to walk around, and Baku is full of little parks with fountains and beautiful trees. There is also a very nice broad 3.75km long boardwalk along the Caspian Sea with cafes, carousels, malls, museums, a ferris wheel, a bike park, and more fountains and trees.
We also really like walking around in the main downtown area that reminds us of German pedestrian precincts.

Downtown area at night

There is also an old, walled downtown area with cobble streets, called Icheri Sheher that is really nice to walk through. It dates back to at least the 12th century and has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2000. There are several little tourist souvenir shops, a nice art gallery, small restaurants and huts where old Russian looking ladies make tendir, the traditional Azeri bread baked in a clay oven. The salespeople are surprisingly unobtrusive, which makes it very pleasant to walk and look around.

The Maiden Tower, the symbol of Baku, in the old downtown area

Walls that surround the old downtown 

I love the mix between old and new

We were put in an apartment in a high-rise about 3km away from the old downtown area (we have only little say in where we get to live). The apartment is quite spacious, but nothing luxurious and I was, quite honestly, a little shocked when we first entered our new home. I made some changes, moved furniture around, added personal touches and we now really like it and feel comfortable here.

Although I like that our apartment feels a lot more private than our home on our last compound did, I feel like it is more difficult to meet new people. It was super easy to make friends on our last compound, but I'm having a hard time meeting new people here. I guess I'm meeting new people every once in a while, but we haven't met many people that we really click with. I'm sure we will find good friends eventually, but it just takes a little bit more time than it did in Jeddah, I think.
I go to a kids' club a couple of times a week with William where he can run around and play with all kinds of toys. Before signing up, we were told that most US embassy moms sign up their kids there, so I thought that it would be a great way to connect with other mothers. I've been there so many times now and I have only met 1 other Western lady that speaks English. I have yet to meet somebody from the embassy there.
I think the problem is that pretty much all expats have nannies that go there with the children, so the mothers never really go to the club. Oh well.... at least William likes it there, right? :-)
And at least they have free wi-fi for me.

William in his toy heaven :-)

Besides the little connection problem, we are really enjoying our new city life. It makes me feel like I really live here in Baku, whereas I felt like I was living in a small, Western bubble on our compound in Jeddah.
From here, we can just hop in a cab or Uber taxi and go anywhere for really cheap. Taking an Uber taxi to the downtown area costs about $1.17 - so cheap!
We bought a nice car for a great deal before coming here, but taking an Uber taxi is sometimes more convenient.

Talking about cheap, eating out is fairly affordable here, too. For one of our date nights, we went to the Four Seasons hotel, sat down in their lounge, ordered two mocktails, a cheese platter that was pretty big, and then 4 little cake pieces. I think we paid around $24 for everything. Remember, this was at the Four Seasons, the nicest hotel in town.
Going to the movies is super cheap, too. A ticket costs $2.33 per person. So, we go together and watch an English movie, buy two popcorn cups, two drinks and only pay around $8 - that's pretty awesome!
The typical local street food, a doner (different from the döner that you get in Germany) and an ayran drink only cost 1.5 Azeri Manat, which is only $0.87.

Salads might be cheap here, but they are a little bit too hardcore for us with the whole dill and parsley branches and no dressing :-)

Room service at a hotel. We were super hungry and ordered way too much, but we got all this for $21.

Traditional Azerbaijani restaurant

We have also found a great babysitter that we are very, very happy with. She is a local, but speaks English very well. She has been very helpful with her knowledge about the city and where to get things.
As a specialist, Anthon unfortunately rarely gets any language training, but we are surviving here with English.... and our hands and feet. It's definitely a little bit more difficult than it was in Jeddah though, where most people spoke English.



So yeah, generally the transition has been pretty smooth. Every time we drive or walk around the city, we tell each other that we are so happy to be here. It is really a nice place and we hope to convince our families and friends to come and visit us while we are here ;-) Book your tickets!