The Persian holiday of Nowruz is celebrated (under slightly different spellings :) ) all over this part of the world. In Kazakhstan it's known as Nauriz, and here in Azerbaijan, we have Novruz.
Essentially, it's a holiday celebrating spring and the new year. Each country has its own take on it, though, with its own unique traditions. Some of those traditions here in AZ include:
Semani- about a month beforehand, we started noticing little plastic plates of grass for sale everywhere- the supermarket, the metro, on the street. The main day of the holiday, you're supposed to surround it with fruit and nuts and put candles in the grass and light them. One woman said that you should let the candles burn all night, so that there's no darkness in your home, but that seemed a bit dangerous to us!
Trick-or-treat! Only here, the children place an empty hat outside your door, ring the bell, and then run away and hide while you fill it (with much healthier treats than Halloween usually boasts of). They come back for it once you're inside again.
Fire jumping- Every Tuesday of the month leading up to Novruz, they build bonfires for people to jump over. The idea is that when you jump over it, all your bad deeds/vibes/etc are burned away, leaving you with a fresh start to the new year. In our courtyard, they had a smaller fire to the side with kids as young as 4 and 5 jumping it!
I definitely tried my hand at fire jumping, and while we caught it on video, you can't really see me in it. So here's a video I took earlier on of some of our neighbors.
The two days before the holiday, we celebrated Novruz with our students at the kindergarten. On Monday we learned about spring, baby animals, and how plants grow. And then Tuesday was just one big school-wide party! Some of the kids wore traditional costumes.
Meyva, the 2-year-old daughter of one of the Turkish teachers
Here's a little montage I made with some of the videos we took:
When we first started teaching this year, it seemed an almost insurmountable task- everything had to be coupled by gestures because the kids couldn't understand a word we said beyond "Hello" and "What is your name?" It's one thing to expect that in an English lesson, but what do you do when you have to work with 5-year-olds 7 hours a day, and those are the only phrases you're sure they understand?
Things have gotten easier (for the most part) since then, though, and their language skills have snowballed. Those moments that make us realize "Woah- they really are learning," are happening more and more often. Now 3-5 months later (depending on the student), they understand most of what we say and ask about the words they don't understand. They speak to us in complete sentences, unprompted, telling us stories, making jokes (kindergarten jokes), and quite often tattling on one another! We've even overheard them speaking to each other in English on occasion, like asking "Can I have a napkin, please?" at lunch. They're picking up on words/phrases we say a lot. It cracks me up every time I hear Farida say "Goodness gracious," and Colleen definitely taught them to say "awesome."
One day, during a 10 minute play-break between lessons, I heard Farida say "I'm a policeman!" When I turned around, this is what I saw:
After I took the picture I made her get off of him! :)
Along with these new language skills come all the usual kid conversations- those childhood observations of the world that are sometimes right on the money and sometimes hilariously strange.
Today was full of such conversations! Since Novruz is this week (a holiday celebrating spring) we took spring as our topic. We made flowers out of clay and winter trees to which we then added leaves, and one of the twins informed me that the tree's roots (I had to teach him that word) held onto the earth, because trees don't walk around like men. In our English lesson we learned the names of baby animals like puppies, kittens, chicks, and ducklings. We spent a little time talking about the each of the animals. When we got to kangaroos and how their babies are called joeys, this conversation happened:
Me: Where do joeys live?
Nasreddin: In their mommy's... teacher, what is this? (points to the pocket on his jeans)
Me: Pocket.
N: Our pockets on the side, but kangaroo's pocket on the front.
Me: Yes
N: And kangaroo's pocket is big
Me: That's right, because she carries her baby there. Do we put our babies in our pockets?
N: No, we put them in a house.
At which point I looked at Colleen and wondered why we never catch such moments (which are so much funnier with their hand motions and expressions) on video. So here's a video from a little later on, talking about ducklings. Not a particularly funny conversation, and they're not talking quite as much as they had been, but you can still get an idea of how they communicate.
(UPDATE (3/22): The conversation continued with them deciding that that's why the teacher always goes first, too- because she knows where we are going. The next day, Nasreddin was the line leader and he told Colleen- "Teacher, say where we going and I put them there.")
In Colleen's science lesson, they learned how plants grow, starting from a seed, and how they need water, dirt, and the sun. It took them a minute to wrap their heads around the idea that the dirt is the flower's food. Arslan asked if dirt is yummy and Muhammed pictured the roots grabbing dirt like a hand and shoving it in the flower's mouth!
It's nice to see the results of our work. To know that as much as we've messed up (and it's been a lot), they are still learning and growing by leaps and bounds. Plus, those results sometimes have us crying with laughter. That helps too!
Though there is a sizeable expat community in Baku, we've hardly met any Americans here. Except for a Christmas party in December, we've mostly hung out with locals and people from other countries (including a surprising number from the Philippines). But recently Jillann, a teacher who was here before us, put me in touch with her friend Elly. Last weekend, for Colleen's birthday, she took us around to some of the sights we hadn't been to yet.
First stop was Martyr's Alley. Part of a much larger cemetery, this particular section memorializes the deaths of approximately 93 civilians during a protest of Soviet rule on January 20, 1990. It was sobering, walking down the row and seeing the pictures of those who had been killed. The oldest we saw was a 77-year-old woman, and the youngest a 13-year-old girl.
The very first one you see as you walk down the alley is a married couple. The husband was killed in the massacre and the wife killed herself when she heard of it. She was only 20. It is so unbelievably sad.
Our day got a little more light hearted after that. We enjoyed exploring a part of the city we'd never been to before, and took advantage of the new scenery to take some more fun team photos.
If it wasn't so hazy that day, you could see where we live across the bay.
With our new friend and the Flame Towers- still my favorite
(and definitely the most recognizable) landmark in Baku
Hungry after an afternoon of walking, we set off in search of... wait for it... Schlotzky's Deli and Cinnabon! I didn't even know they had a Schlotzky's here, and I'd heard of the Cinnabon but hadn't experienced it yet. A roast turkey sandwich and a cinnamon roll for dessert? I'll take it. :) Then home to spend the evening chilling with a movie. Happy birthday Colleen!
While we were walking, Elly invited us to her place this weekend for a game night. Since it took an hour and a half to get to her apartment from ours, we decided to make it a sleepover. Three games, two movies, a pancake breakfast, and some guitar playing later, I am quite excited about our new friend. I didn't realize quite how much I'd missed having an American friend. ::contented sigh:: I needed this.
If you read my recent entry, "Up in the Air," you may recall that they were talking of sending Colleen to teach at another school. Since then, they tossed around the idea of each of us going there one day a week. But again, nothing came of it. We just decided to go about business as usual, while knowing that, if anything happened, it would probably happen quickly. That has definitely proven true.
Monday morning I walked in the front door of the kindergarten and before I'd finished signing in, I was told that someone was there to take me to the other school. Fortunately, the man who was driving me only spoke Azeri. Our limited conversation options gave me most of the ride over to try to plan an introductory lesson on the fly.
I ended up not needing it, though. While they had planned for me to start teaching that day, the groups on my schedule were all from the Turkish section, which was on vacation for the week. So I spent the day observing other English classes, trying to get a feel for the different levels and how the school works in general. Apparently they want us there every day now, but Colleen and I will be alternating between this school and the kindergarten. I will be there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, teaching mostly 5th and 6th grade, and Colleen will be there the other days teaching 3rd and 4th. Since they already have an established class schedule, we'll be taking half of the students for a supplementary conversation lesson during one of their regular English classes.
I've loved all the classes I've had so far. Here are some highlights from my first two days there:
Word about the American teacher got around fast- during one of the breaks I was standing in a 5th grade classroom, and I looked out into the hall to see a group of kids from the next room peering in at me. The teacher had to shoo them away!
We'll alternate which half of the class we teach each week. Their English teacher chose the students who would be in the first group, and they were jumping up and down in their seats trying to get her to choose them. I know the novelty and excitement of having an American teacher will wear off soon enough, but it's nice in the meantime. :)
Teaching the kids to say "Teacher, slow down please!" because, let's face it... I still get excited about things sometimes and forget where I am and who I'm talking to.
Getting to know the other teachers in the break room. They're really wonderful women. I already have a few offers to help me with my Azeri.
Walking home from work- that's one thing I've missed, and this school is only a 30 minute walk from our apartment. Plus, they let us leave after our last class, so I'm usually home half an hour before I would have even left the kindergarten.
So all in all, I'm pretty excited about it. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of my students and planning some real lessons. But it's the perfect compromise- I love our kids and coworkers at the kindergarten as well, and it would have been sad to leave them permanently. Here's to getting the best of both worlds!
One of the kids favorite games recently is to get one of the wands from our dress-up drawer and 'cast spells' on the teacher. I've spent my fair share of time chasing them around the room as various animals, but this one with Colleen was downright epic. They decided to branch out from animals, and the results were pretty hilarious. To give you a hint, in the opening shot she is being the Azerbaijan flag!
I'll tell you what. If nothing else, kindergarten is never boring!
Hey. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. It's just that since New Year's, nothing particularly blog-worthy has happened. Work. Kids. Watching Downton Abbey with my roommates. In lieu of a story, allow me to share a bit of the culture we live in (or at least work in- I don't know how this compares to the country as a whole).
One thing we've marvelled at since starting work at our school is how little things are planned in advance. Don't get me wrong. I'm fairly used to that after all my years abroad. But some of the particular instances here crack me up a bit. At one point we were asked to make out a long-term plan, detailing the topics we're going to teach in each subject for the rest of the year. That's fairly standard, as I understand it. But no one was able to tell us how many weeks we'd be teaching, or when school ends. Huh. Okay. We just made an educated guess and planned weeks worth of topics without tying them down to particular dates.
Then there was the time we found out on Wednesday that we wouldn't have school Friday. It's not that someone forgot to tell us. They had just found out themselves. A week before New Years, we asked when the holiday would start and how long it would be and were told that we'd find out next week (a day or two beforehand). And this last Friday we left work not knowing if there would be school on Monday, since Sunday was a national holiday! We had to call someone over the weekend to find out. :)
None of this bothers us. It's mostly just funny. But one particular situation has us even more up in the air than usual. Since we have four teachers and only five students, I've long wondered how the school could justify it. A while ago they decided that they would have us teach an extra conversation lesson each week, with me staying at our school to work with the other classes, and Colleen going to a nearby elementary school. But nothing ever came of it and we had almost forgotten about it. Until last Thursday, when P dropped a bomb on us- they had decided to send Colleen to teach full-time at the other school, leaving me to take over the kindergarten group. But Friday afternoon we still hadn't heard any firm details, so Colleen wasn't sure where she should go to work on Monday, let alone what kind of lessons she should prepare.
Without any more information, we decided to carry on as usual, but I would be prepared to take over any day that they decided to whisk her away to the other school. Apparently someone from the head office was coming by on Monday to work out the details. Except that they didn't. So another week passed. At this point, we don't even know if it's still going to happen. But if it does, it will probably happen quickly, without much advance notice. Ah, flexibility!
It gives new meaning to the passage "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34). We really don't know what tomorrow will bring. That's always true, wherever you live. It's just easier to remember it here!
This is now the 4th country I've celebrated New Year's Eve in. It's not quite as big a deal here as it was in Russia or Kazakhstan, but it was still pretty spectacular. It certainly put any New Year I've spent in America to shame, if only because of the events at the end of the night. Intrigued? Then read on...
The local butcher shop getting ready for the holiday- seeing as I have
a long-standing fear of turkeys, this made me a bit nervous
This year was definitely different from previous years. First of all, the weather was simply gorgeous. It was warmer than it has been in weeks (in the 50's) and the sun was shining. We met a teacher from Rachael's school downtown, and after she left for some last minute shopping, the three of us walked up and down the park by the water.
Just a bit different from New Years Eve in KZ or Russia!
Have I mentioned what a beautiful city we live in?
But of course there were still New Years trees and Grandfather Frost (like Santa).
I can see our house from here! This is why we have such a phenominal
view from our apartment- we live at the end of nowhere!
The sun sets on 2012
Shortly after the sun went down we headed home to chill out for the evening. We watched a movie and then went out on our balcony at midnight. Now this is where the spactacular part comes in. If you've read any of my posts about the holiday from years past, you know that fireworks are a huge part of the celebration. Everyone and their brother buys as many as they can and then sets them off in their courtyard or off of their balconies at midnight. And they don't have any kind of laws restricting who can buy the really big ones, so it's lightyears beyond anything you've seen at home.
We figured that, considering our view, we'd be able to see most of the fireworks across the city from our balcony, and we definitely got that part right. It was pretty great. What we did not count on, however, was the view we would get of the ones going off in our own courtyard. In the past my roommates and I have always gone outside to watch the show. This time, we were on the 10th floor. Which means they were exploding right in front of us. Literally 20-30 feet away. It was spectacular and terrifying all at the same time. This is some of the video I took. You can definitely hear us flipping out in the background:
I think Rachael was right, though, in saying that the best part was probably our neighbors on the next balcony, looking at us like we were crazy! What's up with these weird American girls, shrieking and laughing and cowering in the corner of their balcony? Even the little girl was laughing at us!
Once we got back inside and let the adrenaline rush subside, we poured ourselves another glass of bubbly (well, kind of- it was a carbonated fruit juice of some kind) and paused for one last group photo.
Happy New Year!
So that's all for now. Happy New Year from Baku! I hope 2012 was wonderful and that 2013 will be even better. :)
Celebrating the holidays overseas is never quite like in America. Last year, for instance, my roommates and I found ourselves out doing some last minute shopping on Christmas morning and only opening presents that afternoon. Our dinner also included shashlik, the Kazakh version of a kebab. Not exactly Norman Rockwell-esque, but we made it work!
This year, however, has been the least Christmas-y of all my years overseas. We never seemed to have time or energy to decorate or prepare anything during the week, and the between sickness and other issues, the weekends got away from us as well. Before we knew it, it was December 21st, and we had yet to even buy a tree. We found a small one on top of Colleen's wardrobe, but we never even put it up.
Our one attempt at seasonal decorations
This long weekend was a much needed break for all three of us. We took a day to just chill out and do nothing, and then a day to do a deep-cleaning of our apartment. I cooked, which is something that sadly falls by the wayside too often when we're teaching. We hung out and watched movies. It was a wonderful time to do all those things (including just relax) that we usually don't have time for.
On the 24th we went to an American-run coffee shop to indulge in some holiday-themed coffee drinks (for Rachael and Colleen) and hot chocolate (for me). Then we wandered downtown for an hour and a half looking for a mythical Mexican restaurant we'd heard about. We finally settled for dinner at a nice place near fountain square.
Today we never even got out of our PJ's (which is why you'll see no pictures of us!) We spent the day watching Christmas movies and cooking. Rachael made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and we had my mom's amazing pot roast + green beans and rolls for dinner.
Dinner and a movie: "Miracle on 34th Street"
It was a lovely day, but despite the themed movies and the late-night skype with my parents, it just didn't feel like Christmas.
One could assume that without all the usual trappings of the holiday in America (and don't get me wrong- I love the usual trappings!) I might have been able to focus more on the reason for it all. And that should have been the case. But unfortunately, that did not happen, at least for me. In all honesty, it was just an extra day off work.
I don't want to let this one slide. I think I'm going to take a day during our next holiday (for New Years) to celebrate Christmas again. No decorations, gifts, heartwarming movies, or special meals. Just me, Him, the Book, and the greatest story ever told. Maybe some carols. Anyway, that's the plan. Please feel free to hold me accountable on this.
Okay, I'll come straight out and say it... my main motivation in writing this particular entry is the excuse to include a bunch of pictures and show everyone how adorable our students are. Consider yourself warned. :) So, having said that, here is a typical day in the life of these two kindergarten teachers:
8:45-9:10- Students arrive at school. They put their coats away and are free to play until class starts. Since our first lesson is art, often either Colleen or I are cutting, gathering, or arranging things for whatever the day's project is. At some point a crowd of curious 5-year-olds will surround us, with a chorus of "Teacher, what is this?"
9:10-9:50- Art. Every day we have a different project planned, some more involved than others. We try to use different skills (drawing, tracing, painting, cutting, gluing, weaving) and reinforce the language they're learning. "What is this?" "What color is it?" "How many are there?" "Is it big or small?" They have made TP roll binoculars, lion masks, pasta necklaces, and picture frames, along with all the usual coloring and painting projects. Once Colleen had them make sheep out of a TP roll, paper, and some cotton balls, and it was the biggest hit! One boy wanted to carry it with him all day, and she had to bring an extra chair to the English lesson for it in order to get him to sit down!
10:00-10:40- Breakfast, including time to corral the kids downstairs and wash our hands before and after. Have I mentioned that we get 2 out of 3 meals at school every day? It's a pretty sweet deal. :)
10:50-11:20- English class. This is the only part of our day that we were really trained for before we came! Each week we have a topic like food, animals, or family, which we also try to incorporate into other lessons. Three or four days out of the week we'll focus on new vocabulary (with a LOT of review the whole way) and the other day or two we teach a grammar concept (like pronouns or basic prepositions) or useful sentences.
The kids pick it up really quickly, but the amazing thing is when we hear them using words or even sentence structures we haven't taught them! They pick up so much, just from hearing us speaking all day.
11:30-12:00- P.E. This is probably the hardest lesson to control, but the kids need it after sitting still so much of the morning. We play soccer, tag, and monkey in the middle. We work on different skills, like kicking, catching, jumping, climbing, and throwing at a target. When possible, we also try to play games that reinforce whatever they learned in their English lesson. In the video below, the kids had to transfer all the noodles from one chair to the other, acting like whatever animal Colleen called out.
12:10-12:40- Math (MWF) or Science (Tue/Thur). Math right now is basically a lot of practice writing the numbers, counting, and saying them in English, although just this week they got their first color-by-numbers picture. Science is just exploring the world, and learning the words to talk about it. We've talked about the five senses, the weather, the different seasons, and different kinds of plants.
12:40-1:10- Recess! Everyone's favorite time of day, including the teachers. As long as they're not in danger of hurting themselves or each other, we get to just chill out for a while and talk.
F bossing the boys around: a pretty accurate
representation of how things go down in our class
1:10-1:50- Lunch. Though the kids mostly talk to each other in Azeri and Russian, this is a great time to work on manners- for example, saying "Teacher, can I have ketchup, please" instead of "Teacher, ketchup," and saying please and thank you.
2:00-2:30- Problem Solving lesson. This is just a fancy way to say that this is the time of day when they play with blocks, put together puzzles, and play with clay.
2:30-3:00- Music (MWF) or Skills (Tue/Thur). The skills lesson is a time to do tracing worksheets, as well as do cutting, coloring, and matching activities in their workbooks.
In the music lesson we teach them songs in English, thus far, mostly ones we grew up with, like "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "Rain, Rain, Go Away." This week they're learning "The Hokey Pokey"! Whenever possible, we try to find cartoons or videos of the songs to play on our laptops, which they love.
3:00-3:30- Review and Games
3:30-4:00- Snack time.
4:00- The kids go home and the grown-ups collapse in exhaustion!
You may or may not have noticed that there were often 10 minute gaps between classes. The school here has built-in breaks for the children to play between lessons.
The whole class (at least that day) chillin' on the windowsill
One thing we love to do is teach them little games or tricks. The latest is the high five thing- "Up high, down low, too slow!" They can literally do that over and over again for 10 minutes if we let them. Although they came up with a variation on it all by themselves. If the person manages to slap your hand before you pull it away, they say "Too fast!"
P teaching them "Thumb War" (after we taught it to her)
So that's it! Our super cute students. It's not always easy to teach them (in fact, it almost never is) but it's certainly entertaining!
On a school-wide field trip to a bookstore last week
PS. As if this wasn't enough, I posted a few more on the "Pictures" page, as well as some that are not of the kids... although really, what fun is that?
Soon after we got here, someone told me that the longest
word in the world is Azeri.Now, I've
done some research since then and it seems that it's not actually possible to
determine the longest word in the world because there are too many
variables.But I can tell you that if it
were possible, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that my friend was
right.
The Azeri language uses a lot of suffixes with words to
convey meaning.For example, the phrase
"with my parents" is only one word in Azeri.To make it a complete sentence- "I am
with my parents"- is only 2 words: the pronoun + the rest of the sentence.Although you could actually leave the pronoun
off if you wanted to and have an entire sentence in one word.
valideyn- parent
valideynlǝr- parents
valideynlǝrim- my parents
valideynlǝrimnǝn-
with my parents Mǝn valideynlǝrimnǝnǝm-
I am with my parents
And that's a word we've used in
a lesson before, having only been studying for a few months.I can't even imagine what a native speaker
could come up with!
Some other fun/interesting
things we've learned about the language:
The verb always goes at the end of the sentence or phrase, not matter how long it is.To use an old example from a friend who studied Kazakh: "I with my friend to Temirtau for New Years went."That one definitely throws us off when we're trying to formulate sentences!
Our teacher taught us one verb that has at least 6 different meanings: to weigh something, to take a picture, to draw a picture, to smoke a cigarette, to pull, and to spread something (like butter on a piece of bread).
To make a verb negative, you add an "m" to the middle of the word- "bilirǝm" (I know) becomes "bilmirǝm" (I don't know).It's kind of an important distinction, but I mess it up all the time. I once told someone quite emphatically (in Azeri) that I am not studying Azeri.
The verb for "to understand" literally means "to fall into your head."
The verb for "to listen" translates as "to hang something on your ear."
Ah, the joys of learning a new language. Good times.
Let me just start by saying that I have been planning that
blog title since this summer! :)We've been
excited about celebrating Thanksgiving with the teams in
Turkey since we first heard of the possibility.But as high as my expectations were (sorry ESI- I broke the first rule of living overseas!), it was even better than I expected.
First of all, Antalya is gorgeous. From the first glimpse out of the airplane window, I knew it was going to be pretty spectacular.
And it only improved on closer acquaintance. We stayed at a hotel in the old city, with orange trees growing in the courtyard. It was quite picturesque, to say the least. Stone pavements, narrow alleys, the occasional stunning view of the Mediterranean, and plenty of charming little carpet and souvenir shops ready to take us tourists for all we were worth!
The cultural center where we had our meetings (the place
with the red shutters), only a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel
No filters, no playing around with the colors... and it was even more amazing
in person. (photo credit goes to Stephanie, one of our teachers on the Turkey team)
Just chillin' on the Mediterranean. No big deal.
Thursday was our busiest day, by far. Rachael, Colleen, and I, along with the girls from KZ arrived in the morning after travelling most of the night, and we got there just in time for the first of several group sessions. The people who run the cultural center (and cafe) where we met agreed to make Thanksgiving dinner for us, which was a huge blessing. It was absolutely delicious with all the traditional dishes- even pumpkin pie for dessert! Since we didn't have to cook or clean up, we were free to have most of our sessions that day, which in turn freed up most of the weekend for sightseeing and hanging out.
On Friday afternoon the entire group rented a tour boat to take us up the coast and back. We started out at 3:30, and it was a two hour tour. There was one moment in particular, standing at the bow after the sun had set, but before it started getting really dark, that is etched in my memory. I can't even begin to describe how exquisite it was. My camera couldn't capture the depth of colors, but here's my best shot anyway.
But even had I been able to take a perfect picture, to capture all the colors, shadows, and forms, that would only be a fraction of the experience. Imagine the gentle rocking of the boat, the soft breeze in your face, the air just cool enough to be refreshing without being too cold. Try to hear the lapping of water against the side of the boat, the faint sound of the guitar as Jim and Rachel play wrship music in the background. The sound of laughter and conversations is just loud enough to feel enveloped by the easy camaraderie of the group without detracting from the absolute peace and stillness of the moment. It's the kind of beauty that takes your breath away, that bursts forth in spontaneous praise simply because you can't keep it inside any longer. Even now I find myself overwhelmed as I remember and try to describe it. How anyone can experience such beauty and not believe in the One who created it is beyond me.
Besides the boat tour, we spent our days in sessions, exploring the city, and just hanging out with friends we hadn't seen in months. Several of us got together two out of the three nights for swing dancing parties! The first night there were only three of us, so we spent the evening looking up fun new moves on youtube and trying to figure them out. I haven't laughed so much in ages. And I have to say, one of the highlights of the weekend was getting to hang out with our guy friends. After living for months in a culture where the genders don't mix very much, on an all-girl team, it was a refreshing change!
This is the first time, at
least in my years with ESI, that we've had more than two city teams together for
the holidays, let alone four countries.So
many phenomenal people in one place, singing, laughing, crying, hugging,
playing, walking, talking, dancing, and praising together is something you
don't get every day. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people we're privileged to know, and for the opportunity to spend time with each other in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I only wish it could have lasted longer.
The whole group of us on Thanksgiving- 31 in all.
And now it's time to go back to our respective cities, jobs, and friends, refreshed and encouraged. Although Rachael, Colleen, and I are already planning our next trip back to Turkey!
I've posted more pictures of the trip on my "Pictures" page, if you want to check them out.
Heads up: this entry is not so much about life in AZ as it is about life anywhere. I've been thinking some deep thoughts on love and G*d. It's not particularly polished or thought out, so I apologize if I repeat myself. I'm just thinking out loud.
Please don't read this and think that I'm writing to share what I have already attained.Far from it.I am writing about the lack, the giant gaping hole I have begun to recognize in my life and my relationship with G*d.
..............
We know that we are to love G*d.And we know that He uses human relationships
to model what our relationship to Him is to be.So what does love look like in my life?I love my family.I love my
friends.There is a constancy in that
love, and a sense of safety.My family
especially has seen me at times of my life that I hate to recall.They have received the worst of my anger,
pettiness, dishonesty, weakness, and pride.But despite all that, I never fear that they will stop loving me.I am secure in their love, as I am secure in His.
But though G*d identifies Himself as both our Father and our
friend, that is not all.He is also the
bridegroom.But that is something I have
never experienced.I've never even dated
anyone.So what am I to do with
that?I have been thinking about this
quite a bit since this summer.And while
I have never been in such a relationship to experience both sides of it, I
realized that I do have a certain familiarity with one side of the
equation.And that's the side I need to
focus on right now anyway, because it's the part that is up to me.I know He loves me.But how am I to love Him? Forgive the seeming irreverence, but I need to have a crush
on G*d. What is it like to have a crush?Ahh, now that is one thing I know all too
well.I seek out his presence.I want to spend as much time with him as I
can.I want to know him and be
known.I want to earn his approval, to
look beautiful, to say and do the right thing.I want to show the best version of myself, or even better.I want to see him smile and know it's just
for me.When he's not around I think
about him and talk about him.I tabulate
his charms and virtues.I admire him and
strive to be someone that he might admire.
That is how it should be with G*d.I should crave His presence, and seek it out
as often as possible.I should delight
in reading His word and learning more of who He is.I should strive to be pleasing and beautiful
to Him, to be even better than I really am, because He's worth it.When I have a crush, it's hard for me to shut
up about him (my poor friends!).How then,
should I talk of G*d, who is infinitely more worthy?I should dwell on His virtues and benefits,
and strive to be the person He intended me to be, the person I know He still
sees when He looks at me.
And what is the return on this?As I said, I know one side of this equation
very well, but have yet to experience the other.I know what I want in a husband, the deepest
desires of my heart.And while I know
that no man, no matter how good, will ever be able to be all this for me, I
know that G*d can and will be.He knows
me better than I know myself.He knows the depth and
magnitude of my sin in a way that I can't even comprehend, and yet He loves me
passionately anyway.At the same time,
He sees good in me even when I don't see it, and He works to draw it out. He sees the woman He meant me to be.He protects me from my enemies, and takes
care of me.He comforts me in my grief
and rejoices with me in my joy.
And, well, this last part was hard for me to learn, but
profound.
He thinks I am
beautifulHeartbreakingly so.He craves my presence.He longs for us to be one.He loves me as I have always longed to be
loved.Completely.Unreservedly.Passionately.Unendingly.
In the words of Charles Wesley's classic hymn, He is the true lover of my soul.
Baku is a fairly large city, with a population of just over 2 million. It is the capital of the country as well as it's industrial, cultural, and financial center. And yet in so many ways it has the feel of just one big neighborhood.
The larger grocery stores don't allow you to take bags in (except purses), much like in KZ and Russia, so they provide lockers at the front. Unlike in KZ and Russia, however, more often than not the lockers don't have locks. What would be necessary in most major cities in the world is simply overlooked here. People leave their bags, even their computer bags, in the lockers and just trust that they will still be there when they get back. And here's the amazing part: they are.
Another impression I've gotten here is that there really are no strangers. There are simply neighbors you haven't met yet. Every stranger we have had to ask for help has been so gracious, even going out of their way to make sure we got where we needed to be. Now I might have chalked that up to hospitality, since I'm obviously a guest in their country, except that I've seen the same general courtesy extended to locals. One day in the park a girl came up to me and asked if she could borrow a cell phone. Unfortunately, I don't have one yet, but the elderly gentleman on the other side of the bench overheard and offered her his phone. On my way home last week a teenager approached me outside of a little shop and asked if I had 40 qepik (about 50¢). On the metro, if I feel someone trying to take my bag away from me, I know it's because they want to help me by holding it on their lap. Rachael has taken several rides with the same taxi driver and one time she realized she didn't have enough money to pay him. So he just told her to pay him the next time. Welcome to Mayberry. I love it. Now don't worry- I'm still careful. I keep a tight hold on my purse when out and about, I don't walk down dark alleys, and we never open our door unless we know who it is. But I have never felt so safe in a large city. What could be the source of this small town feel in the midst of the big city? I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure it's because the Azeri people are just generally awesome. In my humble opinion. :)
Let me start by saying how stinking adorable our two
students are. Also rambunctious and hard to contain sometimes.Which description is foremost in my mind
depends on the day!:)But this post is definitely about the former.
Twice a week after lunch, we work with play-dough.It's usually free modeling, rather than
guided, to let them have fun creating and just playing.But Thursday, one of the boys was complaining
quite loudly that he didn't want to play with clay.So Colleen and I decided to inject a little
silliness into the lesson, in the form of a blue mustache and glasses!Needless to say, it was a hit.
For the rest of the lesson, they were making variations on a
theme, the one common denominator being that every creation ended up on their
faces!And of course, pictures must be
taken.
In case you're wondering about the odd angle, it was
the only way we could keep them from falling off!
I'm afraid I may have created a monster, though... one of
the boys spent the rest of the day doing silly things and then making a camera
motion with his hands, wanting me to take his picture!After snack time that afternoon, I couldn't
get close enough to wipe his face off until did.My camera might need to take a long break
before it's next appearance.;)
Having said that, allow me to regale you with one last shot
from that day.They had learned the
words fork, spoon, napkin, and cup in their English lesson, so in P.E. they had
a "Utensil Relay Race."Each
of them had a plate full of (uncooked) noodles on one side of the room and an
empty plate on the other side.They had
to race to move them all using the different utensils we called out.The fork was the hardest, by far!It was so funny to see them hunched over
them, walking as slowly and carefully as they could.It was hard to get a good shot, since they
were moving, but here's the best I could do.
So there you have it.Our super cute students. I defy
anyone to find cuter ones!:)
This weekend one of our friends and teaching assistants (P)
got married, and the other one (T) got engaged!Add that to the Muslim holiday of Kurban, and it was a pretty exciting
weekend.We didn't get to go to T's
engagement ceremony because it was the same night as the wedding.But we were able to attend P's henna party on
Wednesday after school, as well as her wedding on Friday.
The henna party was at P's apartment.Traditionally, it would only include women in
their twenties or younger, but she had invited all the women in her family as
well as her fiancé's family.We started
with a delicious dinner her mother had cooked, and then broke out the henna and
the Azeri dance music!
Some of the highlights of the evening:
·One of P's friends brought her 11-year-old
daughter.She is studying English and
pretty much attached herself to us for the whole of the party!
·P's future mother-in-law pulling us up from our
chairs to dance with her (in the traditional style, which we don't know!)
·The little 5-year-old boy weaving through
everyone's legs hugging the 2-liter Coke bottle I'm pretty sure he wasn't
supposed to have.
·One of the longest conversations we've had with
a man we don't work for since we got here- talking to P's brother- I didn't
realize how much I'd missed being friends with guys.
·Being out after dark!It's apparently something nice girls don't do
around here, so we're usually home by sunset every night.
They gave each of us a bag of henna to mix with black tea
at home.I'm definitely looking forward
to trying my hand at some of those cool designs.Assuming it's not disastrous (and maybe even
if it is), pictures will follow!
Our new little friend
P draped in the traditional red veil
Colleen getting her henna
The wedding invitation said 6pm on Friday, so we met some
of the teachers from Rachael's school at the metro station at 6:30.Apparently arriving actually at 6 o'clock
would have been ridiculously early.We
didn't attend the ceremony itself, only the reception.In form it was much the same as wedding
receptions in America.It was in the
details that it differed.There was a
dance floor and live band, for instance, but the music and dancing were Azeri,
mostly centering around the hands.We got up there anyway, but when the videographer zoomed in on me, I may or may not have hidden behind Rachael's back! :) The dancing was also mostly, though not entirely, separated by gender. There were dances where P was in a circle of women and her husband was dancing in the middle of a circle of men. The couple didn't go around to greet all the guests. Instead, guests came up to the main table to greet them and have their picture taken. Since the photographer took our picture, I only have a hard copy and can't post it here. But P was gorgeous!
All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend. I feel so grateful to have been included in such a big event in P's life, since we've only known her for a little under 2 months. But that's just another example of the amazing Azeri hospitality we've experienced here, which is a whole blog entry in itself! When I'm able to get the rest of the pictures, I'll add them to the pictures page. Until then, this is Molly signing off!
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