So Novrus has come and gone. The rain and miserable snow has stopped leaving the streets free of the mud that sticks to my shoes.Now when the wind blows the air is filled with dust, but the sun is shining and it is warm. Not hot yet, but warm. I think that the lack of any sort of central heating or air conditioning has made me much more aware of the changing seasons. After a winter of continually being cold, at work and at home, this warm weather is wonderful. To mark the coming of spring here in Azerbaijan the people celebrate a holiday called Novrus. Novrus is kind of wierd mix of Easter and Hollloween with some other random traditions thrown in. The kids go around to all the houses and collect candy in thier hats. There is decorating of eggs but instead of hiding the eggs they "fight" them. The eggs are hard-boiled and each person holds the one egg then they hit them against eachother. The egg that shows a crack first loses and the winner gets to keep that egg. The other fun thing they do is jump over bonfires and as they jump over leaving all thier bad luck in the fire.
Work has been going pretty well lately, still mostly English tutoring and conversation which is fine, but I also just submitted a grant to purchase twenty bikes for my organization to start a bike club. If it gets approved I should be getting the money in late June and have the bike club up and running this summer which will be a lot of fun. It is really hard to believe that I am already a quarter of the way through my service. Even though I miss home a lot sometimes, I am really enjoying my time here and it is going fast. The more I get to know the people here the more I like them. I think many of them are shocked that I would go so far away from my family and home so they like to take care of me and watching out for me.
Following Novrus I was able to move out on my own and now live in a two bedroom house by myself. After nearly six months of living with a host family I can cook what I want to eat when I want to eat and only eat as much as I want. Living like a grown up again is very refreshing. It does come with its own set of new challenges though. I have to do my own laundry which is interesting.
Here are some pictures from the Novrus celebration and also of my new house.
My Kitchen Sink
Porch and Garden
Hammock
Novrus Celebration At the Culture House
