Easter has come and gone and it looks like a brutal summer is on its way in. Already the thermometer on my porch is reading eighty-five in the shade and its only going to get hotter. The plus side is that I will be able to do Bikram Yoga without paying a hundred dollars a month to go to a studio. This last month has been an interesting one. It seems like just yesterday that I was complaining about the cold and the muddy streets. After a few weeks of rain everything is blossoming like mad. Coming from the Northwest distinct seasons are very strange.

I spent this last Easter in Baku mostly for Early Service Training which was a lot of fun. About half of us went and it was really good seeing everybody all together again. The training was for two days and then we had the weekend to ourselves. Baku is a really interesting city and a lot of fun areas to explore. This last trip we found an old Russian Orthodox Christian church that was elaborately painted and decorated. We also visited a brewery for lunch and the owner was very excited to see Americans that could speak Azerbaijani. He gave us a personal tour of his resturant and brewery and you could tell that he was very proud of his little operation. We also found this old run down theater that had been converted into a ping-pong club filled with smoke and sweaty old men competing like thier life was on the line. On Saturday night we ended up staying with a very welcoming couple that worked for BP. The next morning we all went to the Catholic Church for Easter Mass where we got to meet the American Ambassador and chat for a bit.

It is always strange returing to Ucar after being in Baku with a bunch of Americans. It is like I was back home for a bit and able to hang out with friends and do what I want but then I come back to the real world and I am in Ucar where no one speaks English and I am back in the fish bowl. It is getting easier though as I learn the language and make more friends. Overall I really like where I am at and wouldn't change it for the world.