Many of us ex-pats living in Azerbaijan noticed soon after arrival that there is a serious problem with stray animals in the streets of Baku. Some of us might even wondered, how can we possibly help these homeless cats and dogs, unwanted, hungry, ill or injured?. Then a sudden realisation would come to mind stopping most of us from acting: there is very little we can do within the given time that we are here to improve the horrible situation with stray animals in Azerbaijan. The scale of the problem is truly overwhelming.

I have been trying for months to find any information on the Internet about local animal rescue organisations. The search led me nowhere. Then, by pure coincidence, I met a delightful young lady at the veterinary clinic who was waiting to pick up an injured puppy which she’d brought in for urgent medical care. As I was waiting for our newly adopted one month old rescued Azerbaijani kitten, I introduced myself to the girl and we started talking. Very soon I felt that she was the one I had been looking for all along. An inspirational enthusiast whose determination to save street animals immediately became a driving force for me to help her with anything I could. The lady’s name is Valeriya Garber, aged 23, residing in a sea side village outside of Baku. An architect and restorer by education, she has been recently involved in The Baku White City Project, designing the French Quarter and one of the future roads of the Project.

Valeriya Garber

As we were sat in the reception area, she was telling me about her group’s efforts in saving stray animals’ lives. Here is someone, I thought to myself, who does make a difference in the noble cause of fighting against animal cruelty. I asked Valeriya if we could meet up again for an interview. She invited me to her home in Hovsani which has served as a sanctuary for many injured street animals. Here is what I’ve learned.

Q: YOU WORK HARD SAVING INJURED ANIMALS IN THE BAKU AREA. HOW HAS IT ALL STARTED?

A:  It all began when I was a child. My Mum is an animal lover. She would often bring me along to feed homeless cats and dogs in the neighborhood. When I was 14 years old, there was a horrible incident which I will never ever forget. I brought out some food for the stray dogs we‘d been looking after. As they surrounded me in anticipation of a good snack, a few men suddenly approached us. One of them was carrying a rifle. They ordered me to step aside, so that they could shoot the dogs. They just wanted to kill anything for sport. When I refused to leave, they pushed me away and opened fire… A few dogs were killed, and I was left standing amongst their dead bodies, petrified and helpless. That shock scarred me for life.

Rescued lucky dogs

Q: PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR GROUP.

A: Our group is called “Friends”. It was founded on October the 4^th 2010, on the Word Animal Day. I designed the logo of the group. Even though we are very active, our group is not registered yet due to financial challenges. We are working hard on launching our own web site in the near future. In the mean while our colleagues at www.druq.az (in Russian only) offered us a helping hand by posting the photos of our rescued animals in order to find them suitable homes. We are on the Facebook too. Please check us out at: https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=183334885010825

Beauty, female puppy, was hit by a car, suffered a broken leg and both hips were dislocated

When I first set upon rescuing animals, I had no volunteers and no income. Only recently I could finally form a nice group of committed animal lovers (mainly girls) whom I can rely on to take some work off my shoulders. My position is the Director of the “Friends” charity. My main responsibilities include co-ordinating everything we do and deciding where the donated money goes. At the moment, there are two administrators in our group: Lyaman Alieva and Ilona Chechyotkina. Evelina Rajabova maintains the database profiles and photo albums of all rescued cats and dogs ready for adoption. Whenever possible, we do our best to make sure our animals are well and happy in their adopted families.

“Friends” predominantly rescue and look after injured street animals. We organised a team of foster parents which take care of our animals until we find good homes for them. We feel satisfied if we can place them with loving families. We don’t charge any fees for the adoption process. Frankly, it’s a double-edged sward. For the local people, if a pet adoption is free of charge, then a new owner’s attitude can become dodgy. Irresponsible owners are more likely to return the pets after their children have played enough with a kitten or a puppy, or if an animal has grown up and he is no longer cuddly and cute. On the other hand, if we decide to set up a fee to cover some of our expenses on vaccination and sterilisation, then the answer from most people whether they would like to give a pet a home would be a categorical “No”.

Pusechka was found in the ditch with paralised hind legs. Happy female kitten, can move on her own now

Q: DOES YOUR FAMILY SUPPORT YOU?

A: It goes without saying. I am fortunate that my parents provide all the help I need to continue doing what I  feel so passionate about. My Dad’s daily morning routine is to remove animal waste from our garden, or else the feces would accumulate and leach into the soil, contaminating underground waters. He builds kennels for the dogs too. My Mum helps me with treating ill and injured animals staying with us. She comes out with me on our routes twice a day to feed colonies of stray dogs in the neighborhood. I do realize though how worried my parents must be about their daughter’s safety. My active involvement in animal rescue can get dangerous. They just don’t want me to get hurt… by people, that is, not by animals. Our neighbors are our biggest concern. I was sometimes being threatened if I fed the hungry creatures. My group writes petitions and collects signatures to send to the Azerbaijani governmental officials advocating against inhumane killing of stray animals in the streets of the Baku area. The shooting gets worse now that the 2012 year Eurovision song competition in Azerbaijan is getting closer.

Zack was found in a celler of an abandoned house a week later. He had no food and water in the hottest month of the summer.

Q: HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT RESCUING INJURED ANIMALS?

A: Normally, my phone rings and I know that our help is needed. (On the morning Valeriya and I met up for an interview, she had 45 missed calls on her Blackberry). There are two categories of callers: the “sane” ones and the “mad” ones. The latter would try to blackmail me: “If you love animals so much, either take these dogs away or I will shoot them!”. Sometimes, dogs would just appear on my door step in a box. I remember a sad story when I found a large cardboard box at the gate of my house and opened it up. A big dog jump out of it, bit me in panic and ran away, revealing two small puppies on the bottom of the box. I didn’t know at the time that those puppies had a serious infection. The disease spread on to my healthy dogs and many of them died. The majority of our rescued cats and dogs are injured strays. The most common injures they have are either from being run over by a car or from being wounded after dog catchers’ brutal shooting.

Q: HAVE YOU TRIED TO JOIN EFFORTS WITH OTHER ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANISATIONS IN BAKU?

A: Initially, yes, I did just that. Combining good forces of like-minded enthusiasts whose purpose was to rescue stray animals was a worthwhile idea. I did extensive research on how to run an animal shelter. I traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to learn from the local well-established shelters’ expertise. At first, when we were getting ready to set up a shelter in Baku, all the enthusiasts got together and said: “Let’s get organised, it’s time we did it!”. The only thing we needed was a place – a piece of land – to build an animal rescue centre. This is where my parents stepped in and kindly offered to invest in a piece of land in Hovsani for our future project. To my great disappointment, I soon realised that none of those people who had promised to help actually meant it. The well-intentioned idea fell apart. I was on my own.

At the moment, there are three registered stray animal welfare protection societies in Azerbaijan, and I am involved in assisting one of them, the Leyla Alizadeh’s organisation.

Voltik was run over by a car, his legs, tale, paw were broken, he had no skin on his injured legs.

Q: HOW MANY ANIMALS HAVE YOU RESCUED LATELY?

A: Last year we found homes for 150 rescued dogs (including 100 disabled ones) and 200 cats. Last winter alone we placed 20 puppies with good families. Cats are easier to find owners as they are so self-sufficient. One doesn’t need to walk a cat twice a day, does he? All our rescued cats are kept separately from the dogs. We use the help of Mila Hanum, our cats’ lady, who offered her home and all her time to take care of our kittens until we find loving families for them. The cost of boarding at Mila’s is payable by “Friends” as it would be impossible for her to cope with the cost.

Q: WHAT ARE YOUR CHARITY’S AVERAGE MONTHLY EXPENSES?

A: It’s difficult to say. It depends on how many animals we will rescue that month or how many will be given to us to care for. Here is an example. The cost of multiple operations and further treatment of Voltik, one of our hardest patients, who was run over by a car and suffered broken hind legs, broken tail, an injured  paw and massive skin loss, was 500 AZN. He was literary put back together like a puzzle by Alla Hanum, my most trusted vet who’d treated our animals for nearly 13 years. She inserted steel implants into Voltik’s hips so that he could walk again. As far as the food expenses are concerned, I’ll give you an estimate: a well-fed dog consumes about 15 kg (33 lbs) of dry dog food per month. Naturally, a hungry dog off the street would eat much more. I can’t possibly afford these sums of money on my own, so I have to use the “Friends” donations to keep our cats, dogs and multiple colonies well-nurtured. Moreover, we pay for the animals’ sterilisation, medical care and vaccination as well as foster homes boarding services.

Q: WHO DONATES TO YOUR CHARITY?

A: We rely on donations to make our work possible. There are kind people who donate money to our cause. Embarrassingly enough, the generous people who do help us out are forced by the public opinion to keep it to themselves. They are afraid of becoming a laughing stock. The normal reaction is: “In the country where people’s life is too hard why would you help stray animals?!” A few times a year we organise charity events for fundraising.

King, an old dog, was run over by a car. He was in a terrible state, bold, rottening alive, smelly and immobile.

Q: WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE BATTLE AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY IN THE PLACE WHERE IT APPEARS TO BE THE LEAST PRIORITY?

A: I’ve always wanted to make a difference. Before I got involved in rescuing stray animals, I was a volunteer of an ecological group named “Don’t Trash Our City”. We carried out a few campaigns, picking up rubbish on the beach and posting “Please Don’t Litter” signs. Eventually our posters would be ripped off and chucked away only to add on to a load of rubbish people leave behind every day. So, that was a lost cause. Nowadays, I do other volunteering type of work at a local orphanage and an old folk home.

Q: WHAT’S YOUR DREAM IDEA?

A: I would like to open a sanctuary for injured and disabled stray animals. But I would only do it with  secure sponsorship rather than occasional donations. I need to be certain that animals whose lives  depend on me will have a stable financial resource for all their needs. The last thing I want is to have hundreds of ill and disabled cats and dogs living in a full scale rescue shelter and to suddenly find myself without a budget.

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….As we were sat in her living room talking, Valeriya was answering her phone from time to time. She was co-ordinating a pick-up of a wounded street dog hurt by the latest dog catcher’s brutal shooting. When she had it all sorted, she sighed: “It’s a full-on, all-consuming hard work to save stray animals here and I am to co-ordinate every step of the way.”

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Valeriya and Bonechka

Valeriya’s group can’t stand to see animals suffering. Can you? For those of us who are looking for a way to make a difference, contributing to her cause is the most direct help you can give to stray animals of Baku. If you are in Azerbaijan and decide you’d like a rescued puppy or a kitten, then please, think about contacting “Friends“. Please phone Lyaman Alieva at 050 597 6923 (Azerbaijani, Russian and English).

On May 14th 2011 Mike Pakizer and I sat in our newly completed climbing center debating what kind of turn out we would get the next day: our grand opening. Neither of us were prepared for the response we received. The following day we opened our doors at 1 pm. Locals turned out an hour early, packed the place out, and stayed until we finally closed our doors at 9 pm. We couldn’t believe it! Three months before we had been standing in an empty warehouse filled with grain, birds, rats, and their droppings. Now we were looking at a seven meter tall climbing wall literally crawling with excited foreigners and locals. To our knowledge, we had opened the second climbing wall ever in Azerbaijan and the first out side of Baku.

Opening Day

Getting Started

We are Azeri Mountain Adventures based out of Sheki, Azerbaian. We started in early 2010 with a simple idea:

Azerbaijan’s natural beauty + our passion for climbing & outdoor sports = a really great experience.

Mike, from Ohio, and my self, from Georgia (the USA one), spent months talking through many variations of adventure sports companies and researching possibilities. We finally boiled down our many thoughts and decided to focus on what we were good at: climbing. Azerbaijan is a country filled with climbing possibilities and Azeris are natural climbers, but few know the sport.

The Wall

Azeri Climber

So we began in February 2011 with a vacant warehouse, not including our feathered friends, and a simple design. That design quickly changed from one climbing wall with four ropes to an L shaped climbing area with 9 ropes, an incline route, a bouldering pit, and a large overhang for a more challenging climbing experience. For three months we worked in the freezing cold and short daylight of an Azerbaijani winter burning scrap wood to stay warm. Everyday we spent at least 30 minutes talking with curious onlookers, answering the question, “what is it?” Several hundred boards, 80 plywood panels, 700 rocks from the river, and an unhealthy amount of piroshkis later we had finished ‘The Wall’ and our curious neighbors finally understood, “what it is.” However, we quickly found that our work was far from over. We realized we needed other attractions to compliment our climbing center services. So we added table tennis, Foosball tables,  and American board games to round it out. Then, two months after our initial opening, we added a conference room with seating for 30 people and a bathroom to better serve our customers.

Mike Watches the Horizon in Dash Uz

Specializing With Groups

Our facilities and skills provide a unique experience for groups who visit Sheki. Whether a client’s needs are for business or pleasure we are able to accommodate them. We’ve hosted several business conferences, providing food, tea, or pastries from local shops. We’ve also had frequent visits of large groups of children from local childrens’ homes, IDP communities, and humanitarian aid groups. These groups come for a day of fun, games, and a new sport that many excel at. Lastly, we are working to provide local and Baku based schools with a memorable educational experience. Indeed, we’ve already run a lockin and survival training course.

Exploring the Mountains

Greater Caucasus Mountains

Now we are looking outwards towards the massive mountains just behind the city. Many Azeris agree that God is an artist, especially when looking at the snow capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, the mountains they grew up with. Mike and I felt like we were part of a privileged few who got to pursue our passions and climb those mountains. We wanted to give others the same opportunity, but where to begin? Mike and I began by taking test trips to the surrounding country side to find good spots for climbing. We found cliffs, caves, the ancient ruins of castles and churches, and villages full of excited children who acted as impromptu guides to the area surrounding their homes. We were looking for cliffs that could host top rope climbing. This form of climbing requires solid vertical rock faces with strong natural anchors at the top so that climbers can be safely belayed (held with safety rope) while climbing. This style of climbing is perfect for customers of all skill levels, especially those who are new to the sport. Unfortunately, much of the exposed rock in the Sheki area is brittle and not suitable for climbing. After months of searching we finally found what we were looking for: good solid rock. We were blessed to find several locations that are well suited for top rope climbing.

We Get to Call This Work!

Joe, Jeremy, Wade and Mike on a Climbing Trip

Then we took our friends and coworkers to practice our skills and hone our setup time. One day in July I was hanging 20 meters off the ground with my hands crammed into a crevice of a massive slab of rock in order to keep myself there.  The sun was shining brightly, warming my shoulders, the roar of rushing water bounced off green covered slopes from the river nearby, and I couldn’t believe that I get to call this work.  Azerbaijan is beautiful country filled with countless natural treasures, rock climbing is a truly unique way to experience it. Now we, Azeri Mountain Adventures, get to share it with others. Beginning spring 2012 we will be taking groups to the mountains to climb and experience Azerbaijan in a way they never have before. So if you find yourself in Sheki or are itching to get out of Baku, come by and see us. We’d love to help you make your next trip or event a memorable one.

If you would like more information please visit our website:

www.azerventures.com

With regret we turned down the offer of chay, a regret which is with me still. We had simply run out of that precious commodity – time. The peace, love and warm sincerity which emanated from our host lingers on in my memories. 

Azerbaijan’s Nij village is located in what was once known as Caucasian Albania and this region was Christian for hundreds of years before the arrival of Islam. The land was occupied by Albanian people, tall and fair.

And so, in the village of Nij, we have a population of people who are direct descendents of the ancient Caucasian Albanians, and they are known as the Udi people. Amazingly, they still have their own Udi language (using 49 characters), and indeed they retain their own ancient form of Christianity.

After the arrival of Islam, Eastern Orthodox Christianity survived only in pockets where it had once been prevalent. The religion spread into Russia and had hundreds of years of varying support and dominance from the state. In Nij, interference from Russia was less, until the time of the Soviet Empire, when Azerbaijan fell under Soviet rule, which generally discouraged all religious activity. The churches of Nij fell into disrepair.

Since the end of Soviet rule, the Russian people in Russia (and indeed the people of other former Soviet states) have been embracing Christianity with passion, rebuilding churches and cathedrals which had been destroyed or neglected. The Udi people of Nij want to do the same, but the process is taking a little longer. Poverty together perhaps with fear of being aligned with neighbouring Christian Armenia, at odds with Azerbaijan over the Nagornah Karabagh issue, has meant that recovery is slow.

But the slow recovery is just in the buildings and in the literature. The Udi people of Nij , in their hearts and in their blood, are still Udi, and still Christian. They speak Udi as their first language, with Azerbaij ani and Russian as second languages. They had been praying in their own homes. The first support came from Norway, a friend to Azerbaijan perhaps partly stemming from a belief of common ancestry and shared historical trade routes.

The first church was restored (2003 – 2006). But some Nij people were still maybe nervous about being aligned with neighbouring Armenia. Some left Nij (there are smaller Udi populations in Georgia and in Russia as a result). This was a worrying time for the Udi people.

Gradually the Udi people of Nij began to feel more comfortable, as suspicion towards them fell away. Today the Azerbaijani people are proud to have the Christian Udis amongst them, and support is now coming from the Azerbaijani government and money is being made available from Azerbaijan’s oil revenues. Udi Bibles are being sourced, and a minister is on his way; he is currently undergoing training.

Nij is a large spread out village in the Qabala Region of Azerbaijan, but it is tucked a little way off the main tourist route from Baku to Sheki. For this reason it is bypassed by most travellers. You have to make an effort to go there. I have passed the ‘road end’ frequently.

With help from the excellent staff at the Qabala Hotel, I was introduced to some Udi people in Nij who in turn introduced me to the gentleman looking after the churches. His name is Rafiq and he will happily show you around. Just take a translator if you don’t speak Udi or Azerbaijani or Russian.

One church, Chotari, is restored (2006) and functioning with services every Sunday (12 – 2pm) attracting maybe a hundred worshippers. There is no singing as part of the service, but in the past there was, and perhaps there will be again in the future. It has a meeting room.

One church, Goyin, is now a museum.

One church is derelict.

I highly recommend a visit to the village of Nij for anyone interested in Christianity and its history. Words alone cannot do justice to the feelings you get when you visit these churches, to meet the charming and welcoming Udi people, to see and wonder about the many links with other more ancient religions.

Enter through the low doorways; bow your head as you go, showing respect to God. Find out about the baptism rituals. Hear about sacrificial practices. Visit the cemeteries and witness the wonderful engravings on the tomb stones. One of my own favourites has to be the ‘Celtic’ knot work design.

I wish I could’ve stayed longer.

For those of you who read last month’s article, I hope you have been using your numbers! Now, as modern parents say to their children, it’s time to use your words…

If you start to frequent your neighborhood shops, people will be curious about you and will want to chat. Be friendly and try to exchange a few basic pleasantries. Here’s how.

Greetings

Say hello before you get on with your business. The easiest way to say hello is Salam. This is one of the many words in Azerbaijani that is Arabic in origin. It is a rather beautiful Islamic greeting that literally means “Peace.”  Arabic speakers say it a bit differently – salaam – with the emphasis on the second syllable. (Listen to this sound at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/salaam.) In Azerbaijani the emphasis is more on the first syllable.

Sometimes a shopkeeper will address you in a more formal way with Salam əleykim, pronounced more like əleyküm. (Don’t worry about the unusual letters. We’ll look at this later.  The response is to turn the phrase around – Əleykim salam! This literally means “Peace be upon you.” It comes the Arabic expression and is a greeting exchanged between believers, a promise to help you and protect you from harm (and also to ask God to protect you from harm.) Our English “Hi” is certainly not an accurate translation!

Friendly Questions and Answers

Don’t be surprised if people ask you questions. As you become a familiar face to a shopkeeper, he is likely to start asking how you are. Thus, a simple Salam will become Salam. Necəsiz? Necə- is the “how are” part. The endings -siz and -siniz are using for the plural “you” or formal address (as vous is used in French). The singular ending is -sən but this familiar form is only for people you know well.

The answer to Necəsiz? is Yaxşıyam. “I am fine.” You can return the question by asking back, Bəs siz necəsiz? “And how are you?” They will probably respond: Mən də yaxşıyam. “I am fine as well.”

The way to ask someone “What’s new?” or “How are things?” is Nə var, nə yox? This is literally “What is, what is not?” A joke I often hear in response to this question is: Hər şey var, heç nə yoxdur. “Everything is, nothing is not.” Normally though, people simply respond with the following: Sağ ol. “Thanks.” Sağ olun. “Thanks”  (polite or plural form). Hər şey yaxşıdır. “Everything is fine.” Yaxşıyam. “I am fine.” Hər şey qaydasındadır. “Everything is in order.” Pis deyil. “Not bad.” Əladır! “Fabulous, great.”

One question you will inevitably get is Siz haradansınız? “Where are you from?” The easiest answer is to say the name of your country as clearly as you can and add –dan “from” to the end plus –(y)am “I am.” Thus, I always say Kanadadanam – “I am from Canada.” Canada and America (Amerika) are easy, other countries are not so obvious. Look up your own country and practice it, because you will be asked this question. (See below for my link to learning resources.)

Fond Farewells

The most common farewell is sağ ol (singular) or sağ olun (plural) for “Good-bye.” Yes, this word is using for both “thanks” and “good-bye.” Literally it means “Be healthy/well.”  Other often-heard expressions for good-bye are: Yaxşı yol. “Good luck (Have a good trip).” Görüşərik. “See you. (We will meet again).” Hələlik. “See you soon.” Sabaha qədər! “See you tomorrow.”

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Listen online to all the phrases in this article:

Greetings: http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-to-greetings.html

Friendly Questions and Answers: http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-to-friendly-questions-and.html

Fond Farewells: http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-to-fond-farewells.html

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Learning Resources

http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/07/learning-resources.html

http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/08/resources-update.html

http://speakazeri.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-resource.html

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Go on – use your words today!

Yaxşı yol. Gələn dəfə görüşərik!

I lived in 16 houses in my first 18 years of life. I did not like to say it because I seemed like a liar. My father was a doctor who worked abroad mostly for oil companies. Being capricious and having a severe case of itchy fate we went on a round the world rodomontade.

I was born in my actual country: Ireland and then moved to Libya, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Chad, France, Russia, Qatar, the US, and finally Oman before leaving school. To give me some stability I was sent to boarding school aged 7. There were always three countries in my life – Ireland where I am from, Great Britain where I effectively grew up and wherever my parents happened to be. This could be said to be the makings of an identity crisis.

A friend of mine named Marcus had a similarly peripatetic childhood. He was born in Jerusalem to an English father and an Irish mother. After leaving Israel he lived in London, Moscow, Cairo back to Jerusalem for a second time and Belfast. Marcus said that as a child who grows up around the world one goes one of two different ways. One either becomes a citizen of the world or one embraces one national identity even more closely. He opted for the later became a British nationalist, an ultra Tory royalist and Anglo-Catholic fanatic. He is now an Anglican priest and recently came out as gay.

When I was a tot it did not occur to me to object to my situation. I knew nothing about countries or identities. It was only when I was about 7 that I began to think something was amiss. I said to myself that as an Irish child I ought to live in Ireland and not in Saudi Arabia. Having said that I did to some degree identify with Saudi Arabia even though I was certain that I was not a Saudi and I could not even count the fingers on one hand in Arabic.

My parents were always raving about the splendour of Ireland. It gradually dawned on me that there was a mismatch between this rhapsodizing and the fact that they did all they could to put distance between themselves and the Emerald Isle. Now here is a revolutionary idea – if Ireland is so stupendous why not actually life there? This was the 1980s when unemployment was structurally high and taxes were higher. However, property was cheap as chips. As a doctor my father could have had a very good life there as did many doctors at the time. My mother had she been bothered her barney to work as a teacher (as she was qualified to do) would have had a decent life too. If Ireland was not such a tremendous country there should have been a little less euologising about it.

As I grew to adolescence I formed my identity as British and Irish within that. I came to reject Irish nationalism and see that there need be no contradiction between being Irish and being British. I chose to live in Great Britain as an adult not because I am not keen on Ireland but simply because all my friends live in Ireland’s neighbour.

Boarding school stretches one’s relationship with one’s parents. My parents are virtual strangers to me. That is partly owing to family rows though and is not solely attributable to me being packed of to school before I could tell the time. I was at school with my middle sister for three years and then she went to a different school from me. I was three years old when my eldest sister was sent away to boarding school.

Sending children to boarding school so young is bizarre. Why have children? It is said to make children more independent but in fact it renders them institutionalised. Boarding school in the 1980s was a much more austere proposition than it is now. This is before the internet. We were not allowed to make or receive phone calls except on our birthday. This is now illegal. I was allowed to watch telly on Saturday night only. Consequently I bereft of the major cultural influence of my generation.

Living as an expatriate child can cause the child trouble when they attempt to reintegrate into their home nation. For instance, I knew of a Canadian who grew up in Saudi Arabia. He moved back to Canada as an adult and had trouble adjusting to his own country.

It can of course work beautifully. An expatriate child can come to belong to the country where they are resident instead of going back to their ancestral nation. There is no right or wrong outcome.

I ask parents to be aware that there child has had a different upbringing from the parents themselves. My parents were decidedly lukewarm about the British identity my sisters and I have. They did not seem to appreciate the fact that Great Britain shaped us because my parents opted for us to live there.

I swore to myself that I would never live overseas not even for 6 months. However, I lived in Romania for 2 years and now I have started a 2 year contract in Azerbaijan. Yet still the Thames Valley is the centre of the universe for me. I pine for the British Isles more and more. I feel I am missing out big time. I have migrated for push more than pull factors. No, I did not grew up yearning to live in Azerbaijan. I am here partly for the dosh but I am also a refugee from the political correct oppression and insanely excessive bureaucracy of the Labour Government which Cameron’s Nottheconservative party have failed to reverse.

It is the world’s best known school. It carries with it many stereotypes – some of them accurate. At its worst it is held to be attended by super rich toffs who run the United Kingdom through nepotism and it sanctifies snobbery. There is a small degree of truth in this. Time was that Eton was a finishing school for the gentry and would take any boy however short on the grey matter he was so long as he had the right connections and measured up financially.

A French academic said Eton taught, ”Homosexuality and cruelty to animals.” That is only half-true. Although homosexuality was apparently rife as recently as the 1970s a healthy supply of porn has kept the boys almost all straight. I can count on the finger of one hand the Old Etonians I know who are gay. It is not a higher proportion than in the general population. Oddly, as society at large has become more accepting of gays Eton has become more condemnatory.

As for cruelty to animals – the school has a beagle pack with which to hunt hares. The attitude of most boys towards hunting with hounds is very much in favour.

Winsor & Eton Riverside station

I had been apprehensive before I went to Eton. Would I fit in at this stratospherically posh school? I went to a woeful prep school near Inverness that had never sent anyone to Eton. Did Etonians even wear jeans? Was that too working class? I saw a programme about Eton and it showed boys in jeans. I breathed easy.

There was a lot of contempt for people who went to state school. Before chav was added to the lexis our patois was sprinkled with opprobrious terms such as pleb, lebbage, Kev and prole. Our accents were almost without exception decidedly public school. The long vowels of received pronunciation were there but one had to be careful not to overdo it because that would reveal affectation. Some were very fruity indeed. We used the right social markers – ‘loo’, even ‘bog’ or ‘shithouse’ but never, ever, ever ‘toilet’ – that would make faces fall. ‘Pudding’ and never ‘dessert’ – calling it ‘sweet’ like a dinner lady would was the worst of all.’ ‘Napkin’ and never ‘serviette’. Anyone who used a non-U word would be mercilessly ribbed. I became rather embarrassed that my parents did not use the right vocabulary.

I was atypical. I come from a mere middle class Irish family. No-one in a previous generation had attended a school like this. This is not unique now. The boys are white Britons in 9/10 cases. There are some British Indians and so forth as well as a leavening of Hong Kong Chinese and Russians. One needs to be signed down years in advance so that means that few who are not British citizens come to the school.

Eton is tremendously well-equipped as well as having some opulent buildings. It is 17 miles west of Marble Arch, which is the centre of London.

The school is very self-important with its own lingo. Pupils who achieve things get to have letters put behind their name! Looking back on it this seems horridly pretentious.

People did not exclude me for being from a middle class family but I felt a little out of it. There were other boys who were the sons of doctors. I felt status anxiety – am I posh enough? The other boys had fathers who worked in almost every case – some were independently wealthy or retired. I guess about half the mothers worked. What did the parents do? Many were army officers, barristers, solicitors, bankers, dentists, journalists, publishers, jewellery dealers, architects, gentleman farmers, teachers, MPs and plantation owners.I would say the first four occupations were the most common.

Your average Etonian has parents who are financiers. They live in the Home Counties. They are non-religious and vaguely Conservative in their political sympathies. He comes to the school for family and social reasons. If his father did not attend Eton he went to a public school of about the same rank. The boy has attended one of about half a dozen prep schools that send droves of boys to Eton annually. The boy will go on to one of the top 10 universities and probably not Oxford or Cambridge.

Most boys seemed not to give much thought to being at Eton. They came from upper class families and considered it perfectly normal to attend such a school. They felt they were guaranteed success. I suspect that many had, as I did, a painful collision with reality.

I was fascinated by history and by Eton’s political and literary legacy. Most Etonians were willfully ignorant about this. Sporting prowess was social success. In that respect Eton is just like almost any other school.

I was very cut off from most people my age. We were allowed to watch telly only on Saturday evenings. This was before computers could show telly from the internet. I was fascinated and frightened by what ordinary adolescents got up to on weekends. I longed to be able to go to nightclubs like them. I imagined as an ordinary boy I would be able to at least try and score with a girl each Saturday night.

The one way the wider world did come to Eton was through drugs. Some boys walked off to Windsor or Slough rather than going to games of an afternoon. These entrepeneurs would make a healthy profit on the merchandise they brought back. I know of two Old Etonian who were small-time dealers in London in their early 20s.

Prince William attended the school as I did. While he could never totally blend in there he was treated more normally there than he would have been able to at any other school.

I seldom socialise with other old boys of the school. My chums are from Varsity days or since. I have been back twice since the year I left. In my teenage years school was my world far more than any other school could have been but means surprisingly little to me now. Now I am I – Eton does not influence me. As I approach a third of a century I am very comfortable with myself. I know my likes and dislikes. I dress down and prefer informality.

On 31st October 2011 A baby born in India was declared the world’s seven billionth person by child rights group Plan International.

Baby Nargis was born at 07:25 local time in Mall village in India’s Uttar Pradesh state.

The United Nations also estimated that on Monday 31 October 2011, the world’s population would reach seven billion.  This astonishingly large figure is mainly due to improved healthcare worldwide which has had  a direct result on people living longer.  It is reported that in the last 50 years, the average world life expectancy has increased from 48 years old to 68 years old.  This of course proves to be exciting for scientific and medical purposes but the figure will continue to rise as science and medicine makes further advances.  Therefore with people continuing to reproduce the world population is going to get larger and larger at a very rapid rate.

World population in numbers

• 1 billion- 1804
• 2 billion- 1927
• 3 billion- 1959
• 4 billion- 1974
• 5 billion- 1987
• 6 billion- 1999
• 7 billion- 2011

Source: UN

What does this mean for world energy?

It has been knowledge for some time that non-renewable resources are running out and although new oil and gas is being discovered it will not be enough to cater for an ever growing world population.  So what is the alternative?  Can the world rely on solar, wind or water energy to maintain everthing people have become accustomed to?

BP argues NO!

On December 20th 2011, BP announced that after 40 years they were closing down their solar energy business.  It was once believed to be the business that would carry BP into the future but with the global economic crisis they have found it more and more difficult to run a successful business and they made the decision to cease trading as the sector had become completely unprofitable.

BP however are not the only solar energy business to suffer; many others around the world have had to halt their production due to rising costs and a difficult market place.  Solyndra, of Caliafornia and Solon of Germany are two other companies who have filed for creditor protection, also in December of last year.

BP, although defeated in the solar industry apparantly remain committed to Alternative energy; having invested 7 billion dollars to date since 2005 they are on track to invest a further 1 billion dollars by 2015 however, their focus is now on wind and biofuels – not the sun. (www.ft.com)

On the 12th of December the British media reported that findings showed that Britain will have to face a future of pwer cuts due to the Government’s plans to rely heavily on wind farms.

The governement argues that it is a long term solution to the energy problem and that generating energy from wind will prove to be a sustainable and cheaper option.  But a report by the Scientific Alliance claims that the UK will be in an energy crisis ‘by the middle of the decade’.  They estimate that five wind turbines would have to be put up every day to generate the Government’s target amount of electricity from wind production.

….A third of all UK electricity is due to be powered by wind by 2020?

The Future:

Researchers agree on two factors; the first that reliance on alternative energy is a long way off and secondly, that policy makers can accelerate or delay any potential developments.

US chart of energy production

The size of the energy market is phenomenol; global power consumption was a  total of 150 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2010.  The utility industry in the US alone  produced an estimated 3.7 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2010.  Almost half of that was produced by coal, while solar power contributed less than 0.1%.

Wind power is one of the fastest-growing sources of renewable energy in the world. But by the end of 2010 there were still only 121.2 gigawatts of generated capacity—representing around 1.5% of global electricity consumption.

Policy makers can speed up or delay these developments.   A price on carbon, either a tax or a carbon-trading mechanism, would make new technologies competitive with cheap oil and coal more quickly, encouraging investment in and adoption of alternative energies.  Governments can also spend money on research, development and pilot projects, which will greatly accelerate the project from idea stages to reality. Higher oil prices also make all the energy alternatives more attractive to investors and consumers.

But will this ever be a reality?

Next month:  An in depth look into nuclear energy.

What do we all think of when we think of Dubai?  The Burj Al Arab, the Burj Khalifa, Palm Island or the Atlantis Hotel?  It’s hard to imagine that none of this was in existence or even in the planning 40 years ago, when  the Emirate of Dubai was little more than desert.

As a member of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has played a vital role in adapting and improving the image of the UAE.  Although the other Emirates encourage tourism and tourists in, none have been as welcoming and as adaptable as Dubai.

Dubai has achieved what few felt was possible; it crosses the boundaries of old and new, of East and West, of traditional and modern, and does so with amazing grace.  There is a great sense of respect everywhere in Dubai and the tourists appreciate that their hosts have opened the doors to their country where they get to experience the magic and the mystery of Old Arabia whilst at the same time getting to indulge in the future.

Today, each year tens of thousands of people from all over the world flock to Dubai for the guaranteed weather, the diverse cutural experience and to be overwhelmed by the infastructure and the showcase of exhibits that the state has to offer.  With Dubai only a 2 hour flight away from Baku, many of us a guilty are escaping the city and heading for a weekend or public holiday, lying on the beach or soaking up the history, culture and cuisine.

But how did it all begin?

Timeline of Dubai

1830:  Dubai is a small fishing settlement that is taken over by part of the Bani Yas tribe from the Liwa Oasis.  Dubai became owned by the Maktoum family, who are still in power today.

1892:  The pearling industry is Dubai’s main source of revenue and the Emirate attracts a lot of attention from foreign traders as Dubai declares that all foreigners will be tax exempt.

1930 – 1940:  With reported disputes between the royal family and the worldwide recession, Dubai’s pearl industry falls into decline.

1958: Sheikh Rashid becomes the ruler of Dubai.

1959:  Sheik Rashid has grand plans for transforming the Creek area to accomodate growing trade.  He borrows millions of dollars from the Emir of Kuwait.

1966:  Dubai discovers oil.

1968:  Dubai begins exporting crude oil and the money starts pouring in.

1973: The Dirham becomes the official currency.

1985: Emirates airline begins operating and Dubai begins it’s reinvention as a major tourist destination.

1990: Sheik Rashid dies during the first Gulf War, his son Sheik Maktoum takes power as ruler of Dubai.

1999: The Burj Al Arab opens, and becomes one of the most desirable tourist areas in the world.

2003:  Dubai introduces freehold properties which results in a property boom.  The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank recognise Dubai as a financial hub.

2006:  Sheik Mohammed becomes the Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE, as well as ruler of Dubai.

2011: The tourist industry continues to boom and Dubai keeps on growing….

The last 40 years…

The development of Dubai since the creation of the United Arab Emirates has been truly remarkable; the business development, the fascinating infastructure and the worldwide  recognition of achievement is due to a few unique visionaries, who always had the belief that Dubai could be great.  Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan  are internationally regarded as great leaders by the world over as it is very unnusual for any ruler to see so much success on their home soil.  The UAE’s first president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayhan has been confirmed as the principal driving force of the development of the UAE and will be remembered so throughout history.  He was ruler of Abu Dhabi and of the UAE; he ruled the Emirates for over thirty years until his death in 2004, aged 86.

Few outsiders however shared the vision of these few men.  When the United Arab Emirates was created in December 1971 many doubted that the area would ever be successful, let alone profitable.   Many people had decided that the UAE was ‘an artificial creation that stood to have no chance of success and that its evolution was largely an artefact of British Colonial policy’.  How wrong they were!

Palm Island, Dubai

Dubai: Need to know information:

Geography: Dubai is located on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates and shares borders with Abu Dhabi in the south, Sharjah in the northeast, and the Sultanate of Oman in the southeast. Hatta, a tiny village of Dubai, is surrounded on three sides by Oman and by the emirates of Ajman in the west and Ras Al Khaimah in the north. Dubai’s topography is emphasized by sandy desert consisting mainly of crushed shell and coral. The desert gives way to the Western Hajar Mountains that run alongside Dubai’s border with Oman near Hatta. Devoid of any natural bodies of water, the natural inlet – Dubai Creek, has been dredged to make it deeper for large vessels to navigate and divides the emirate in two.

Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Population: 1.422 million Dubai, has the largest population compared to the other six emirates.

Land area: Dubai covers a land area of 4,014 sq. km.

Languages: though Arabic is the official language but English is used in offices and other languages including Hindi, Urdu and others are widely spoken.

Climate: The climate in Dubai is dry, subtropical and rain is very rare. The hottest months are between June and September when the temperature often tops 45 to 50°C during the day and the humidity is very high.  The temperature of the ocean can reach 37°C at the hottest part of the summer.  The weather in October, November and April offer more reasonable temperatures of between 30°C and 35°C, but the best time to visit Dubai is between the months of December and March, when the temperature is pleasurable and the warm waters and sybaritic spas are sure to have the greatest effect, when the average temperature is 24°C.

Currency: Dirham, approximately  3.67 per US Dollar

Time Zone: Dubai is 4 hours ahead of GMT

Religion: Islam is the official religion of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the majority being Sunni Muslims. Dubai is one of the most liberal places in the Gulf and followers of other religions (except Judaism) are tolerated. The holy day is Friday with most government offices, companies and schools remaining closed on Friday.

Climate: Dubai has a subtropical and arid climate with the weather usually hot and often humid. The temperature ranges from a pleasant 10°C (50°F) in winter to over 40°C (104°F) in the daytime during summer. The mean humidity in Dubai is roughly 60% in the summer. Rainfall in the emirate is sporadic and light, with rainfall primarily occurring in the first quarter of the year. However, Dubai experienced an unprecedented record rainfall in January 2008 – 105mm of rain in two days (average rainfall for January in Dubai is 15.6mm).

Banks and foreign exchange: Dubai has a large network of local and international banks offering a wide array of commercial and personal banking services. All the banks are controlled by the UAE Central Bank. Banking hours are usually Saturday – Thursday, 8.00am – 2.00pm with some banks offering services until 8.00pm

Taxes: There is no income tax or corporate tax in Dubai (except for oil producing companies and branches of foreign banks). However, the main forms of tax are the rent tax by Dubai Municipality (5%) as well as in-built 10% on food and beverage bills at hotels. In July 2007, Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) introduced a toll system – Salik – in order to ease traffic congestion. A fee of AED 4 is deducted from a prepaid toll account every time one passes through the Salik toll zones.

10 Random Facts:

1. Approximately 80% of the residents in Dubai are foreigners.

2. The Dubai Emirates Mall allows visitors to ski indoors while they shop

3. There are no street addresses in Dubai.

4. One of the fastest growing cities in the world is Dubai

5. There are no personal or income taxes in Dubai.

6.  The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building and tallest man-made structure in the world.

7. 1 in 5 people in Dubai purchase 5 pieces of gold jewellery each year.

8. Dubai has the world’s first man made islands;  Palm Islands.

9. The average annual precipitation in Dubai is only 13 centimeters

10. The worlds largest horses can be found in Dubai.

Have you ever wandered through the carpet stores of the Old City or been at the first Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum? Have you ever paid attention to them, their ornaments and colors? If not, then you should definitely visit this interesting museum and get to know the history of this mysterious and old art – carpet weaving…

Before telling you about the museum, let me tell you about the history, to awake your interest for this old type of art. In Eastern countries like Azerbaijan, carpets were not just a way to keep home warm and fill up the empty space on the wall. It was an ancient and complicated form of applied art. Families that had women involved in carpet production were held in great respect by people and every person tried to get the best quality carpet in order to decorate their home. Thus, in Azerbaijan carpets became a very important part of home.

Archaeological data places carpet making in Azerbaijan as early as 4 B.C. The art of carpet weaving passed from generation to generation. But how are the carpets made? Well, the production of carpet is not easy. It goes through many stages like washing, combing, spinning and dyeing. The best wool for weaving a carpet is considered to be white wool, because it can be dyed different colours. Cotton, silk, golden and silver threads can be used along with the main material. Natural colored animal wool and yarns can be dyed using different plants and plant roots, onion skin, flowers and grape leaves. All colours are made purely by boiling these materials. Therefore carpets never change their colours even after hundreds of years because of their natural base.

Carpet weaving was entirely women’s work and required talent, patience and hard labour. Carpets were weaved by two methods – with pile and without pile. Thus the surfaces of the carpets were different. Pile-carpets were used mostly for decorative purposes, while pile-less carpets were used in the daily life of people. The loop of pile and pile-less carpet could be from sixty to 440 thousand loops for 1 square meter, while the height of the pile itself – around 3-6 mm. The more density the carpet has, the clearer and more accurate and therefore the more expensive it becomes.

Seven kinds of pile-less carpets are known: Sumak, Verni, Kilim, Palaz, Shedde, Jejim and Zili. In spite of the fact that Heyba, Gashlig and Khurjun differ in size, they also belong to carpets. Heyba, Gashlig and Khurjun had the same functions and were used like a travelling bag and worn over shoulders. Pile-less Kilim was even used like a curtain, therefore special holes were kept on them for the light to come through. Jejims were so thin and soft that they were used as outerwear.

Meanwhile, compositions in the carpets were mostly constructed under geometrical rules of mirror symmetry. There was a belief among people then that carpets bring happiness to the home. So, in the centre of many carpets we can find the sun and moon. There are some carpets with four side elements which describe life based on four elements – water, soil, air and fire. Every element in the carpet has a symbol. For instance, zigzag elements in Palaz, symbolize water. But the symbols and images on Azeri carpets may differ depending on the region it was produced in, because every region has its private design and ornaments.

There are four basic carpet-weaving schools in Azerbaijan: Karabakh, Guba-Shirvan, Gandja-Kazakh and Tebriz. We can see an image of sheep horn in many Guba carpets. It is a symbol of profusion and protection. Carpets produced in Baku also had different ornaments. Among them buta was a symbol of fire worshipping, the religion wide – spread before Islam. Buta resembles a flame tip. If butas stand face to face in the carpet it is called love buta, if they look on different sides, it is called parted buta. If it stands on small legs, it is dancing buta.

Carpets produced in Baku and Absheron peninsula mostly reflected the color of the sea and sands. In Karabakh weaving school, there were many carpets with images of beautiful horses (because Karabakh was known for its thoroughbreds), dogs and hunting scenes. Tebriz carpets were also very popular. The series of Tebriz carpets The Four Seasons have a very interesting plot. Such carpets are divided into four parts with decorative patterns. In the center there is one hero or a poet with his beloved and four different illustrations representing each season with couplets of oriental poems. In this carpet green dragon represents the east and symbolizes spring, the eagle represents the south and summer, the white beaver represents the west and autumn, and the tortoise represents the north and winter. The illustrations from different Azeri romance poems as Leyli and Majnun and Khosrov and Shirin were also often reflected in Tabriz carpets.

There are some kinds of religious carpets made especially for performing Namaz, Muslim’s ritual prayer. In such carpets called Namazlig couplets from the Holy Quran written. Very large ones were made for Mosques where big groups of people were performing Namaz at the same time.

At present, carpet production in Azerbaijan still goes on. The central carpet trading stores are in the Old City. Here, around Maiden’s Tower and Caravansaray there are nearly 50 carpet stores, which offer different kinds of wool and silk carpets for tourists who are interested in them. Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum named after the carpet designer Latif Karimov is one of the places in Baku, which is worth to be visited. This corner of culture is located in Neftchiler Avenue. Its collection numbers more than 10 000 objects, including ceramics, metal works, jewelry from Bronze Age, metal works of 14th century. Carpets and carpet items of the 17th-20th centuries, gold and silver adornment, national garment and embroidery; applied art works of modern period. Every year the Museum organizes the Republic and International Exhibitions, and publishers catalogues and booklets to many of them. The Museum has a bookshop where one purchase books on Azerbaijan crafts and carpet art. Opening hours are 10.00 – 18.00 every day, except Monday.

So, what is shami and what is so special about it. Shami is a lamb patty. But not your regular lamb patty made of ground raw meat. Shami is a patty made of cooked ground lamb and this is how the process goes. First, the lamb is boiled in water along with whole onions until tender. Then the meat is ground together with the onions, the eggs are added, the ingredients are blended together and the mixture is shaped into patties. The patties are then fried on both sides until golden.  Boiling the lamb in the first stage removes its heavy taste and smell as well as mellows its taste. Precooking the lamb also allows for short frying times in the second stage and the patties do not absorb as much oil as their counterparts made of raw meat. Shami has a beautiful golden crust on the outside and is super soft and flavorful inside. It is absolutely delicious. Nush Olsun!

Lamb Patties from Lenkeran (Shami)
Makes 18-20 patties

2 pounds (1 kg) boneless lamb with no fat, cut into medium size pieces
2 medium onions, peeled
2 eggs
salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup vegetable oil, for frying

Put the meat and peeled whole onions in a medium saucepan. Fill the pan with enough water to cover the ingredients completely. Add a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil and cook, maintaining a gentle boil, for about 30 minutes, or until the meat is cooked. It should be tender and should not be pink inside). Strain on a fine-mesh sieve (reserve the strained broth for other uses, such as for dushbere).

Pass the meat and the onions together through a meat grinder (the traditional way). Or, grind in a food processor. Put the mixture in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Knead thoroughly with your hand until well blended.

Shape the mixture into 18-20 oval or round patties (I made round),  about 3/8-inch (0.9 cm) thick (you can make them thicker if you want to. They should be somewhat “chubby” and not too thin).

Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium frying pan. Brown the patties on one side, for 3-5 minutes, then turn to cook the other side. Do not turn until one side is ready. These patties are fragile and may easily break if you keep turning them.  Remove from the heat and serve immediately with rice pilaf or bread (traditionally shami is served as an accompaniment to rice, but I like it with bread too).

Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables

The inspiration for this salad comes from kisir, my favorite Turkish salad, made of bulgur, fresh vegetables and lots of fresh herbs. In my salad, I roasted the vegetables and tossed them with cooked wheat berries and lots of fresh herbs. A splash of olive oil, lemon juice and pomegranate paste  and you will not want anything else for the day.  An ideal accompniament to any meat dish!

You can increase or decrease the amount of pretty much any ingredient in this salad, to your taste. I love my salad with lots of fresh herbs. And I use fewer zucchini squash as it tends to soften too much in the oven. So, play with the amounts to suit your palate. Using pomegranate paste (in Azeri -narsharab - a molasses-like syrup  made of tart pomegranate) is optional, but I love the extra tartness it adds to the salad. Pomegranate paste is available in most Middle Eastern/Persian stores.

Serves 6 to 8

2 cup wheat  berries
4 medium eggplants
1 medium zucchini squash
1 medium red bell pepper, cored and seeded
1 medium yellow or orange bell pepper, cored and seeded
1/4 cup or to taste, olive oil
freshly squeezed juice of 1 medium lemon
1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup, optional
1/4 cup or to taste, chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup or to taste, chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup or to taste, chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup or to taste chopped green onions, white and green parts
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

Wheat-berries

Put the wheat berries in a medium saucepan and fill the pan with enough water to cover the wheat berries by at least 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook until the wheat berries are tender but still slightly chewy. Check often to make sure the saucepan has enough water; add more as needed. The cooking may take 1 or 2 hours, and sometimes longer, depending on the variety of the wheat berries. To cut the cooking time, you can also presoak the wheat berries overnight in a bowl with cold water, and cook them the next day. Put the cooked wheat berries on a fine mesh sieve and run cold water over them to stop the cooking. Drain thoroughly.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F.

Cut the vegetables into medium-size dice. Place on a baking sheet. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Spread on the baking sheet. Roast the vegetables on the middle rack of the oven until they are nicely browned, stirring once or twice, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Put the cooked wheat berries in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and if using, pomegranate paste. Toss. Add the roasted vegetables and fresh herbs. Toss to mix. Adjust the amount of dressing to your taste.

Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. Nush Olsun!