Answers to Your Questions-Part 2

A lot of you had questions about teenagers and what life is like for a kid in Azerbaijan.  Instead of answering specific questions, I'll try and give a general description of life for a teenager.  There are a few substantial factors that dictate what their life is like here-whether they're a girl or boy, in a village or a city.  I mostly have an idea of what life is like for a city boy in and my answers paint that picture.

Teenage boys in the city have a lot of freedom, certainly way more freedom than a girl.  Boys are the royalty in the household, girls are just girls.  This isn't to say girls are unloved, but there is an obvious gender bias towards boys.

A typical day for a teenager in Azerbaijan during school is wake up, go to school and come home for lunch.  Most children, especially those who are approaching the end of their school years, will study an almost equal amount of hours with tutors on subjects that they will be tested on for college admittance.  So they might take tutoring in english, history, and azerbaijani, but not in math or physics.  Girls are also expected to help with housework, though this load is lessened in their intense after-school tutoring years.  Boys have very little responsibility in housework.

Most children I speak with in the city plan on going to college.  The college entrance here is very different and very centralized.  You must decide very early on, maybe around 8th grade, what 'faculty' you are studying for.  Faculty is similar to a major but it also refers to their section of exams they will take.  The test you take upon completing school (11th grade) is determined by your chosen faculty.  And that test will focus on certain subjects over others.

Based on your test results (and only your test results) the government (not the student) will determine what school you will go to, what faculty you will attend, and whether or not you will be receiving money towards your education.  So, its a pretty big test and the ambitious students usually spend years of extra tutoring to prepare.

Aside from studying, teenage boys do many different things.  Frequently they'll go to an internet club or be online at home.  Facebook is huge here and if you want to be cool you need to be on it.  1st person shooter games are also really popular here and its more common to see people playing those at internet clubs (also called playstation clubs) than anything else.  Many teenage boys do sports or some form of physical activity, wrestling and judo are very common extracurriculars and of course soccer is ubiquitous.

Azerbaijan has a rich and still vibrant folk tradition and music lessons, such as for their national instrument-the tar, are quite common.  Chess is also a common after school activity
and its been more than once that a little kid has beat my ass pretty hard in chess.

There are very few hangouts, in the sense that Americans think of them, in the regions-no movies, malls, restaurants, coffee shops where youth can get together.  Teahouses (serving tea or beer) are quite common, but it is very much an adult male location, not for youth.  There are many beautiful parks and strolling through them back and forth, again and again, is a very popular pastime.  Its also a way that women can be out in the public and not bring on 'the shame'.

Every boy wants a girlfriend, and with the rise of Facebook (and internet access in general) and the ever-presence of cell phones, this is becoming easier and easier to do.  However, dating is very different from the United States.  Boys and girls may be dating and never actually be with each other, instead acting out all the comedy and drama of a relationship through phone calls, text messages, and Facebook wall updates.  Its common to see boys and girls interacting when school is somehow involved (walking home together, talking outside together) but it always gets us PCVs giggling like school girls when we see a coed group on the weekends.

Wow, this ended up being a lot longer than I was anticipating and at some point I have to put an end to a post that is trying to express 12 months of observations.  I'll return to this idea in the future, but do you have any questions that this post brings up that you would like clarified?