I am just getting started at UNEC, the Azerbaijan State Economics University. Teaching always presents a bit of mystery at the beginning of the semester, with new students, new developments in the business world, and new teaching ideas to try out. This semester, I am teaching two MBA courses, one in Marketing and the other in Entrepreneurship, subject areas where I have done most of my teaching. I was typically nervous about my first classes, but after three class meetings I am feeling more comfortable. My voice did give out, as I had not taught in two months and did not bring water to my first class.

I am still working on making adjustments to my syllabi. I am working hard to line my teaching up with the UNEC standards and the Azerbaijani culture. My students are working full-time and taking four 1.5-hour classes per week. They really cannot afford to have me floundering too badly. One student gets up and helps me operate the online attendance program at the beginning of each class. In the other class, I have to ask which buttons to click to navigate the system. I am never great at getting the students’ names down, but I am trying here and the pronunciations are unfamiliar but not too hard. So, I start every class with a stunning display of technical and linguistic ineptness. Like my SUNY Plattsburgh students, the UNEC students have been kind and forgiving.

The building is a very nice older structure that has facilities comparable to our Hawkins Hall. It very much aligns with my idea of a place for learning. They do have a great faculty cafeteria that I eat at weekly and will have pictures of in my upcoming food post. The Dean of the MBA program has been very helpful to me at work and in getting the most out of our experience in Azerbaijan. Nazim will show up in many pictures and posts.

I was assigned to teach on Wednesdays and Fridays for 8:10 to 9:30 – at night! Even though the people have been so friendly, I have wondered if the American guy got the worst shift. Accidently, I found where a group of teachers congregate before their classes. I am going to try and spend time here and get to know my colleagues better. I am also working with my colleagues on the syllabi for my courses and have had some really interesting conversations about Azerbaijani culture as it relates to education, gender, religion, etc. I have been here for two months and it feels really good to be learning about Azerbaijan and having to adapt my practices.

No apologies for my vanity in defacing myself. Selfies can be so cruel. I didn’t know this office is where the teachers hang out and was wearing a t-shirt and making funny faces. I promise to be better prepared now that I know how this all works. I am cautious about taking pictures of students or posting them, as I don’t know if they would feel comfortable denying my request to take some pictures.

I have about a 10 minute walk from home to school. It is slightly uphill getting there, so I have to be careful about breaking a sweat. Right between my apartment and the school is the old walled city. So my commute is pretty nice. More pictures of the Old City later.

Its interesting trying to establish a temporary life. I am really happy that I purchased a printer/copier/scanner my second week in Azerbaijan. With it being difficult to get the simplest things done, its nice to have a pretty functional home office. There are some common areas where I could work at UNEC but I would rather be more social at school than have my head buried in a laptop. But, I add this picture because its a pretty important part of getting my work done.

One more picture of me in the school surrounded by words and things I have little hope of understanding. I try not to let it bother me that I know so little about this place and just enjoy what little I do learn everyday. Also, can’t have a post without Evie, who came to UNEC on the weekend to help me take some pictures.

I am slowly collecting pictures on different themes. I have folders for 1) Food and drink, 2) Soviet stuff, 3) Religion, 4) Sustainability, 5) Markets and small business, 6) Buildings and architecture, 7) USA activities, 8) Music, 9) and specific outings. Next week we hope to visit our first area of Azerbaijan outside of Baku, so that would be a post on its own I imagine. We have been in Baku for two months now and we need to see other parts of Azerbaijan.