Is it graft? AZAL Moscow/Baku

The first frustration that kind of set the stage for everything that's happened in the last 24 hours or so occurred in Moscow. Ray had warned me to get ready to experience Central Asia, saying, "they don't really understand the concept of a line." But what I'm coming to understand is that you've got to watch out for people taking advantage of you and looking for graft opportunities--not that you can do anything about it.

The woman at the ticket counter in Moscow sent my checked luggage away on the conveyor belt to who-knows-where and then began making some calculations. "2090 rubles." What? For what? Of course, I couldn't understand the conversation, and thanks to Ray for having accompanied me all the way to the airport (a 40 minute commuter train ride from Moscow). Apparently, my luggage was overweight. I'd run into this issue at JFK and had to quickly buy a duffle bag to put in the very heavy accounting textbooks and check this bag separately. That way, each piece of checked luggage was under 23 kilos (50 pounds). Well, I was looking at the scale when the gal in Moscow weighed my heavier bag and it was indeed 23 kilos. Apparently, however, the rule for AZAL (Azerbaijan Airlines) is 20 kilos total--my pieces were 23 and 8 for a total of 31 kilos, 11 over.

It get suspicious when they refused to accept a credit card for payment...and when we needed change for the cash paid, one of the people behind the counter made change out of his own pocket--I guess they'll settle up later when they divide up the day's "earnings."

I did get a receipt for payment of this fee and on the reverse of the receipt there was an official-looking explanation of charges for luggage on international flights. However, the immigration official here in Baku took my receipt, would not give it back, and refused to provide a photocopy. "There is no time," he said in a heavy accent--though I was looking at 5 hours layover in Baku! This guy was going to make me buy an Azerbaijan visa for $40 (I shouldn't have had to buy one since I would not be leaving the airport), but I think once he saw I'd been scammed already in Moscow he decided not push me too far. Who knows what he'll do with that receipt, but I just hope I'll be able to get PRagma to reimburse me for the charge...

The more I think about it, the more frustrating it is--this guy is supposedly with immigration, not the airline, so why would he keep my receipt from the airline!? But, on second thought, I think that AZAL is state-owned, so immigration and AZAL employees may be one in the same...

Some details on the trip

I found this contract through a friend who attended the School of International and Policy Administration at Columbia. She allowed me to sign in to her careers web site account. Thanks Kelly! Anyway, the contract is with Pragma Corporation, who got it from Kabul University, who got it from the US Trade and Development Agency. We'll be teaching for four weeks, concluding on February 19. The schedule calls for us to have class for eight hours a day, six days a week (Friday's off). The syllabus indicates we'll finish all 27 chapters in the 24 days of class, but I'm skeptical. Even with university students fluent in English, this seems ambitious. But we'll see. I am not the lead instructor, but an assistant to a woman who has done some accounting instruction before on contracts like this, but not as much in an academic setting--she's been to lots of the central Asian countries and has been to Afghanistan before as well.

There is the option of going back again to teach another round of the accounting class--there will be a month off and then another class will begin. I'm waiting to see how things go before I decide on whether I would "re-up." There are a couple things standing in the way, one of which is the Foreign Service Oral Exam I have scheduled for April 2, the other is an interview with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 22--if I did get the job at the Fed, it would begin in late March.

I'm scheduled to be back in New York on February 20, and with an interview on February 22 I won't have much time to sleep off the jet lag. Will I have enough time to shave off the beard!?

Moscow sidetrip complete

Tonight at 11:30 my plane leaves for Baku, Azerbaijan. I arrive sometime around 3 AM and don't leave for Kabul until 8 AM. I'm told the airport in Baku is not that great, so the prospect of five hours there is not pleasant.

Moscow has been interesting. Thought it is winter here and normally very cold, it hasn't been too terrible these few days. Each day has been mostly overcast, however, with spurts of rain that aren't quite freezing. There's lots of mud in Moscow right now--I'm kind of struck by how much dirt and mud there is. I think it's dirtier than New York, though not in a garbage/litter/sewage way--I have yet to see any big piles of garbage in the street. The dirtiness of Moscow is about dirt--earth and since it's been wet, mud. It's more or less understood here to take off one's shoes when entering someone's apartment and it seems clear this is not some asian/Japanese custom, but rather just a practical matter so that mud isn't tracked all over.

Someone in the upstairs apartment is playing piano right now. While entering one of the underground metro stations the other day there were about a dozen people standing in a line each playing a stringed instrument and together they delivered a piece of classical music I recognized. You have a sense that the people here know and understand their culture and history.

I'll have to add more commentary on Moscow later, it's nearly time for us to leave for the airport.

A Stop in Moscow

Well, I've made it to Moscow via Frankfurt and have been staying here with my friend Ray who was a teammate of mine on the rowing team at Boston U. Ray is completing a PhD in political science at Oxford and lives here in Moscow while conducting research. In classic American fashion, we went to TGI Friday's to initiate Friday night's revelry.

Moscow is awash with oil money and construction abounds--and I'm told the number of coffee shops has shot up dramatically, though as yet no Starbucks. Last night we made it to an expat party full of Brits and Americans, several of whom said they would also miss the cheap pirated DVD's.

I hope to post some photos and video I've taken here, but have some more learning to do before I can get to it...