Miscellaneous

America, is it far or near?
They made a lengthy trip across the Atlantic Ocean. They were driven by a fervent desire to explore a country they had read and heard a lot about. Their final destination was Florida, a south-eastern state of the USA, some 6,500 miles from Baku.
Academic exchange programmes are a daily occurrence in Azerbaijan, where students now enjoy the opportunity to experience the pros and cons of education systems abroad, and be exposed to foreign cultures. The Florida-Azerbaijan exchange programme is one of the initiatives of this kind, which is kept up by support from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department. The programme hosted an Azeri delegation of 40 students in 9-11th years and 8 school-teachers in sunny Florida from February 12 to March 9.
It is a big responsibility to represent your country abroad, and if it is little known you will work by the sweat of your brow to provide foreigners with facts about Azerbaijan. The mission seems to be tough work. "We were well aware that many people in the United States do not even know what and where Azerbaijan is" one of the teens, Laman Agazada says. But she and her four school friends from Baku European Lyceum, who set for Osceola High School at Kissimmee Orlando, refused to give up. This "group of five" was selected because of their English-language exams with accompanying essays. The interview with programme co-ordinator Fran Winfrey was the last test to swing, and they did.
"I am very grateful to my teachers and the school principal Vafa Mammadova who prepared us carefully and organised all the preparations necessary for the trip," Laman says. She admits, she has got much in exchange for her contribution to advocating Azerbaijan abroad. For herself, there is a glaring difference between the Azerbaijani educational system, a mix of Soviet and western methods, and that practised in the United States. "The principal difference is that the US educational system provides students with an opportunity to freely choose curriculum subjects and enjoy frankness-based teacher-student relations," Laman notes. Her fellows - Ayan Askarli, Naila Hacizada, Davud Xalilov, Orxan Quliyev arrived at the same conclusion, as they also were impressed by the differences in systems, from classroom dynamics to student autonomy. The teenagers stayed with American families, enjoying much common time in the States. They have contributed to the completion of a joint project. "The educational focus of this year's programme was on health, and we worked together on a jointly selected topic, the health risk of smoking. Upon completion of our initiative we have even published a relevant brochure in the Azerbaijani and English," Laman says proudly.
But the brave schoolgirl is a bit upset, as unlikely she will play host to American students, Kari and Trae Abell, Lorenas Brido, Joybeth Bryan, William Geiermann and Alan Williams. Originally, the exchange expects Azerbaijani side to act as hosts in June 2003. "But this turns out to be impossible to do because of the conflict over Iraq," Laman says with sadness. Nevertheless, she cannot wait for the day she will welcome her American friends.

Infocell by means of numbers of short messages
will allow get necessary information conveniently and quickly
Permanently studying and analyzing the tendencies of the world market of mobile communications, Azercell JV strives to be at the cutting edge, introducing the newest technological developments in Azerbaijan.
Recently introduced by the operator, InfoCELL is a short messages service language and informational-entertaining system.
InfoCELL service will be permanently expanded and enriched with new services, and as a result will allow Azercell subscribers get on their mobile phones news, inquiry information, and also entertainment, including political, economic and sports, currencies rates, codes of countries and cities, humor, announcements of cinema and theaters, horoscope, weather forecasts and much more.
Services similar to InfoCELL were generally recognized at the global level and now are in the list of the most used services by millions of subscribers. As it is known, stability and success in business depend on efficiency in reception of information and on its reliability. Information of the entertainment kind will allow for planning leisure more accurately and lead it more interestingly and merrily.
The first signs of InfoCELL service became "Aphorisms" and "Interesting facts". Already subscribers may get aphorisms by sending blank SMS (space) to 7004 and interesting information by sending a blank SMS (space) to 7005.
Appropriately and opportunely the said aphorism will make an unforgettable impression. And "Interesting facts" will liberalize.
This service is available to all subscribes of Azercell.
Cost of the service is equal to that of SMS sending in Standart/Biznes/Ekonom - AZM 246 (without VAT), SimSim - 11 contours.
As previously, subscribers may choose the language of SMS service by sending the command "lang=eng", "lang=az" or "lang=rus" as SMS to number 0.
Soon Azercell is planning the launch of new sections of the service "InfoCELL by means of short messages".
Holiday gift
As before, Azercell offers its subscribers an excellent opportunity to please their friends and relatives, by congratulating them in an original manner, by means of HazirMessageCELL 
Having sent message "Novruz" to number 7080, subscribers receive a warm and unforgettable congratulation.
To choose the language for congratulation it's enough to send to number 0 message "lang=eng" or "lang=az" or "lang=rus". If the phone of subscriber doesn't allow sending a message to number 0 (such phones exist), instead of 0 he should choose +994509103300.
HazirMessageCell offers various samples of congratulations on the subject of Novruz: in English - 10, in Azeri- 10, in Russian - 10.  It means that if a subscriber sends the same request several times, he gets different answers each time. For example, in English the subscriber can get up to 10 responses.