There is a Purple House in That Village

There’s one way to build an Azerbaijani house: soviet-gray bricks.  The gray brick is pervasive here.  It must grow from trees, trees that keep producing through winter.  Most houses, and the walls that surround them, are built with these bricks stacked high.  In Lənkəran, they have a little bit of variation, where we have some vibrant red bricks that add a little spice to the landscape.  Over the gray brick, sometimes they spread more soviet-gray cement.  This was especially true in Sumqayıt.

But let’s take a trip from Lənkəran to Boradigah, a village where Jade, an English teacher volunteer, lives and teaches.  About three-quarters of the way there, sitting in the bus, I saw something that took my breath away: there was a purple-painted house (no pictures, since I was caught off-guard).  That’s right, there was color on this house.  And it looked awesome!  But not only that, I saw more of them.  There was even a little variation, with a pink house and a few green houses.  Maybe it will catch on!  This outward expression of color, or outward expression of anything, is not common here, but if you want to see it in Azerbaijan, the Mahmudavar village, on the road from Lənkəran to Boradigah, is for you.

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