Şəki

Ryan and I are spending the weekend in Şəki in celebration of our anniversary and also just to soak up the most of Azerbaijan in the few short weeks we have left. Şəki is a small city about five hours drive away from Baku. Its one of the more popular tourist attractions in the country. It is known for its halvası, a special type of baklava made with sesame seeds and decorated with a red dye. Such a charming place with such lovely, friendly people...



we couldn't catch all of this man's story. older people tend to speak in a gravely mixture of russian and azerbaijani that is rather difficult to decipher. this man killed the wolf back in 1996 when he was a shepherd and it was attacking his sheep. we think. now he charges tourist 1 manat a picture. how resourceful.

The Xan Saray, made without glue or nails in the 18th century

Happy 2 Years!

Holy moly! I cannot even believe. 2 years baby! And both of our anniversaries were spent not in America. So interesting.
So what in the world have I learned in 2 years?

- husbands are a gift from God
- a dirty house is a normal house
- spaghetti can be served more than once in a week for dinner and the world won't end
- I need coffee to survive
- Ryan needs clean socks
- praying more is never the wrong choice
- serving more is never the wrong choice
- loving more is never the wrong choice
- marriage is the fast track to sanctification ;-) jk

just friends

dating, 04.??.08

engaged, 09.28.08

married, 03.22.09

married life in America


married life in Azerbaijan

Culture and Marriage

Ryan and I have been married for almost two years. Our anniversary is right around the bend! And we have been living in Azerbaijan for over a year now. What does that tell you? We have spent more of our married life in a foreign country than in the states. What? Wild. It is fascinating to explore the ways our partnership has grown on foreign soil. How so many things we learned for the first time as a couple, we learned the Azerbaijani way. This experience has given us such a unique perspective on family and relationships and time. It has allowed us to build from an equal ground - not my Texan way and not Ryan’s Washingtonian way. (I definitely typed that in thinking it would light right up on me, but no. I do believe Washingtonian is actually a word. or the name of a newspaper). This journey has influenced our perspective on life, and reached down into our worldview. It’s so exciting to think of the different cultures God will lead us to throughout our lifetime, and the outlook we will have 30 years from now. I pray that our hearts will remain un-offended and ready to receive the ways that God has written his signature on every culture, in some shape, form or fashion.

little purple snowflakes

We had snow on Sunday! The snowflakes were the most marvelous little things. I realize that I am from Texas and that the very concept of snow marvelous to me, but really. These snowflakes were little MASTERPIECES. It was wild.



Really, have you ever seen snowflakes like these?

Last night I dreamt in Azeri for the first notable time. When I woke up I was so excited and I was telling Ryan all about it. I said yeah, I was grocery shopping and I went to the fish counter and asked the butcher,

hansi toyuq sushi ucun yaxsidi? (which fish is good for sushi)

and then it hit me. toyuq means chicken. baliq means fish.

which chicken is good for sushi?

:-)

schools in

Today is the first day of my last semester teaching english.

sticks & string

so, I have 2 five million word papers to write before this weekend.

which, you know, is life.

but I've had about 3 weeks to work on them.

so today was my day to bust it.

I woke up

drank some tea with milk and sugar

which I prefer over coffee recently :-)

snuggled with husband

gave myself a pep talk

and then got to work

until husband walked out the door...10 minutes later

indulging myself with distractions has become sort of a REALLY bad habit of mine

though most days I like to refer to it as a hobby

so, with no husband to hold me accountable I thought to myself, today is the day. now is the time. I must take pictures of all of my projects. RIGHT NOW!

so I did

and tomorrow I will pay up with a rigid homework schedule

I also photographed my cat. just because he's cute.

snoozer

no photographs please

bacon what?

I posted them all on fb, but here are some of my favorites

split pea soup

love those buttons

beginnings of a baby blanket

beginnings of MY baby blanket. these things take FOREVER

grandpa's old flannel button up

puff stitch neckwarmer

headbands

clarification: I did not make the placemat. some swedish person who works for some furniture store did. I just think these knitting needles are nifty lookin.

when husband got home I told him I played with my camera and made a portfolio instead of doing my homework, and his genuine reply was, oh really?! that's so awesome dear! I want to see!

again I say, what a keeper.

happy valentines!

Happy Valentines! Ours was swell. Hope yours was splendid!
We wined and dined and husband gave me pajama pants and yarn.
:-) what a keeper.

Update!

Hello Friends!

I’ve been gone for a while and (obviously) a lot has happened since Thanksgiving! I will try to recap the last few months to the best of my abilities. It’s been good. It’s been challenging. We can hardly believe that our time here is almost up. We are feeling all sorts of emotions. excitement. sentiment. anxiousness. I feel a little crazy (and guilty) that some of the first things on my to do list once we reach the States have to do with food, beverages and beauty products.

so...

-Christmas was nice. Ryan brought home a nice little cedar tree one day that served as our first real Christmas tree (last year we were at my mom’s). It’s still sitting here in our living room as I type. Ryan wants to plant it before we leave. Husband bought me some real fancy perfume that I’ve been wanting for a while. I bought husband some socks...
:-) AND I drug him to the store and made him play dress up and bought him a sexy new outfit :-) which he appreciates also. one day I caught him all dressed up in front of the mirror making James Bond faces. true story.




-New Year’s was loud. and full of fireworks. but not as full as last New Year’s when we were in Vienna freezing our little tootsies off.

-My Papaw turned 91 in January. The same Papaw that used the words lizard and gizzard while performing our wedding.


- don't be surprised if the next time you see me I'm sportin a grill. not joking. okay, maybe just kind of. I have a cavity spreading on one of my two front teeth that I can't do anything about till May. the joys of living in countries where straight white teeth are viewed as overrated.

-We had a Cultural Anthropology class that shook our brains and made us question everything we’ve ever been taught about life by our own culture.

-We are slowly packing up our house. Our take home pile is getting smaller and smaller.

-I’m crocheting a baby blanket (for my still un conceived child :-) It’s my first big project and I’m really excited about it.

-We found out yesterday that the MA program we were planning on taking isn’t available to us. So now we feel a little bit, unhinged. Pray for us.

-Last night I had dinner with some hilarious Azeri girls. They piled food on my plate and made me drink five cups of tea. After dinner we did Azeri karaoke and belly danced. Thankfully this was an all girls party. There may or may not have been a video taken of me making a complete fool of myself.

Life is good. We are thankful. We are glad to be here now. We are glad for what's to come.

Thanksgiving Debriefed

Hello All! I hope that you had a marvelous Thanksgiving, full of good food and good company. Ours was lovely. I have all the pictures to prove it.
Our preparations began on Wednesday. We listened to old school Amy Grant Christmas music and baked enough pies for an army: chocolate cream, banana cream, pumpkin cream, chocolate pecan, classic pumpkin, dreamy apple and one classic pecan that didn't quite make it safe out of our bipolar oven. I called it rustic and ate it anyway.



On Wednesday, we also began the brining process on our turkey.




WARNING: the next picture is not for the faint of heart.....





eeeeek!!! I've never handled a turkey in my life, much less one that was walking and clucking hours before it landed itself in my sink. we gave it a good washing, plucked some straggling feathers and quickly submerged it in this lovely stuff:


my 2nd try at making a cheeseball and it was actually a hit. my first attempt was not so bright.

we had the lovely Amy Owen with us. she counseled us through the turkey cooking process.

and the lovely Amy Noxon made caramels, YUM!



kneading dough for the Parker House Roles mmmm...

Note: after reviewing the pictures of my face, I have determined that I am incapable of smiling like a normal human being. and I will be attending smiling 101 directly following our return to the U.S. of A.





Then, we turned around on Friday and had a SECOND Thanksgiving for our Azeri friends. It was sooo wonderful. I had four of my students come. Between all of us who invited people, we had eleven Azeris join us. We made them all little party favors with candles, truffles and cards with scripture about giving thanks.


Fatima, Fidan, me, Sabina and Xatira



Now, time to breakout the Christmas decorations!!! I've already started making pom pom garland, and Ryan surprised me by bringing home a little, but very sweet tree the other day.