1) Whispering phone numbers.
2) Bluetooth messaging.
3) Blasting music on the cell phone.
First and foremost, Azerbaijan does not have a dating culture (for the most part) I’m sure things are more liberal in the bigger cities, but the phenomenon mentioned above is prominent throughout the country. So let us delve a little deeper to see how this actually plays out.
Lets say you’re walking down the street with your girl friends and the guy spots you. He walks up behind you and starts whispering his phone number, in hopes you will hear it and call him. I’m not kidding folks people really do this! If that doesn’t work, he will give his number to a friend loud enough so you can hear it, and, well, call him. Variation: he throws a piece of paper at you with his number written on it.
Bluetooth. This is by far the most technologically savvy way of hitting on someone. Lets say you’re sitting on a marshrutka and the guy is lingering close by. He tries to connect with your phone, and if you’re interested you accept the Bluetooth connection. A variation on this method: he writes a text message declaring his interest and methodically positions his phone towards the window, so you can read the message in the reflection and the xamin sitting next to you does not suspect a thing. True story!
I’ve personally experienced this one (on more then one occasion, unfortunately). Lets say you’re sitting on a bench reading, at your nearest Heydar Aliyev park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The guy walks over and starts blasting his crappy music. Variation for Americans: 50 cent, or worst Enrique Iglesias. On this particular occasion I slammed my book shut, pouted a bit to show that I did not appreciate being bothered and walked over and sat at another bench. Not 15 minutes had passed and another guy (or the same guy, I wasn’t paying attention) came and sat down next to me. I even sat in the middle of the bench to avoid company. I was about to slam my book shut and leave, when two xanims came up and asked me to sit back down. They positioned themselves between this guy and me and sat down. In less then a minute the guy fled the scene. I didn’t fully understand what was going on, and I was a lit annoyed that these ladies were sitting so close to me (summer in Azerbaijan brings interesting smells) and kept trying to strike up a conversation. I told them it was a beautiful day and there were so many people at the park enjoying the warm weather. I said I was just trying to read my book in peace, and that I had been sitting at another bench, but a guy came and sat next to me so I had to move. Then the lady tells me that they saw what had happened and that’s why they came and sat next to me! I was so flattered!
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2 comments:
I liked this! :)))) Have no recollection of such stuff, but I have no experience of rural azeri dating game. Thankfully.
Oh, I love your post! I'm re-reading fellow RPCVs blogs, and this post made me laugh so hard. In Azeri dating culture, women will "study" in public to try to appear as if they aren't trying to attract a boyfriend. ;) He likely thought you were trying to get someone to be interested. Dating culture in Azerbaijan is actually a very big underground thing for millennial Azeris. Another one to add for interested readers... men will randomly dial house phone numbers in their town, hoping a young woman picks up so that they can give her their cell phone number to start a texting conversation and try to date a woman over the phone they've never met. They will try to convince the young woman to meet somewhere local even. Many young Azeri women use other apps that they can delete the conversations so their families don't find out (like Snap Chat or What's App). It's super creepy. As someone who had to date discreetly before we got engaged, it's funny the lengths they will go to in order to date. Conversation clubs are a GREAT date spot apparently. ;)
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