Ad gunu mubarek, Peace Corps!
Today is the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps! Happy Birthday Peace Corps!
And, thanks for all my bomb birthday wishes and plans. I'm so lucky.
My birthday weekend started Thursday, when I headed down to a friend's village to meet his host family and take a little break. It was nice, I'd forgotten what it's like to be taken care of...wake up, pec is already lit and the room is warm, breakfast on the table, watching cartoons with the 5 year old host sister, tea is brought to me...oh the life. Again, grass is always greener - I like my house a lot - but it was nice to go back to that.
Spent a couple days there, hanging out with the family, exploring the city, and then woke up Saturday for a trip to Sheki. There are three of us PCVs with birthdays around this weekend, and we wanted to have a big party together. Unfortunately, Saturday also happenned to be the anniversary of Xocali, a major event in the NK war that ended with hundreds of Azerbaijanis killed. So having a big celebration somehow seemed culturally insensitive...only a few of us went. We talked, had some not-so-fast food for dinner, and then attempted a pudding competition (with not so clear winners and not so clear pudding either...). Nice, uneventful, laid back.
Sunday we woke up to a gorgeous snowfall, which delayed my return to Balaken, making it so that I had just enough time to run to my house, drop my backpack off, and run out again to go to Jake's counterpart's house for dinner. We've known this woman for a while, but it was the first time we had been to her home...she's fantastic. We can be honest, laid back, and talk about whatever. It was so relaxed.
After that, back to my house, and woke up the next morning at 5am to try to screen the Oscars. Though, thanks Azerbaijan, my internet wasn't working, so that didn't work out so well. We woke up anyway, made biscuits and gravy and bloody mary's, and watched a movie. I head to school, and am bombarded by shouts of "Happy Birthday Teacher!" The kids have presents. My counterpart gave me a present. So loved.
Came home after that to realize that, again, they have cut the gas, so I napped and froze a little. We had club at 3, so I woke up just in time to throw on a frumpy sweater and go. Jake had asked me earlier to come, because he said he needed help managing the students (typically 8-10th graders), but also he said not to rush because he knew the kids would be late.
So I rush to the office and at about 3:05, I walk in.
SURPRISE!!
To my complete surprise, everyone is sitting around wearing Target-dollar-bin Birthday hats, there's a cake, candy, balloons, and about 20 of our students sitting around smiling.
This was the first incidence where I almost started to cry.
We play pin the tail on the donkey, and about halfway through the door opens and I see two more of my close PCV friends walk in (friends I didn't think I was going to get to see on my bday).
This was the second incidence where I almost started to cry.
So we play, and we have an impromptu dance party, and then it's time for presents.
All of my girls made me cards, brought me gifts. One of the girls made a book, and inside wrote the lyrics to "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.
This was the third incidence where I almost started to cry.
*A note on the crying: It's been a rough winter. Rough. I get stuck inside, I'm really antsy, I mull things over in my head, and I make myself crazy. So I've been pretty crazy lately. Also, it's easy to get lonely at this time of year. Seeing my friends come out for me like this - especially when I sort of had this idea that my bday was going to go by rather uneventfully - was amazing.
After the party, we went to a restaurant with two of our Azerbaijani friends (one of them being a guy we hung out with on my birthday last year) and again, had a great time. Sitting in a big, cozy room, listening to a Turkish Music Video channel, making fun of Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. So great.
So it was a lovely birthday. Moral of the story: nothing goes as expected. But as long as you've got good company, it doesn't matter.
Also, a cultural note: This was a year of completely ridiculous birthday presents. Shopping in an Azerbaijani bazar is like going to a dollar store in some rural middle of nowhere town, located off the highway...and yes, some of the presents are from PCVs...highly integrated PCVs. ;-)
Some treasures: a toy car that says "Meat Wagon, New Edition," three picture frames that look like they could be a matching set from three completely different people, a perfume that "smells like middle school," a ceramic duck with kitchen utensils (ridiculous and practical), a ceramic plate that shouts, "BAKU AZERBAIJAN" in gold lettering, a pen that is also a lazer pointer, flashlight, and normal pointer (like a presenter), and a fabulous asymetrical shirt, that is tight and worn off the shoulder, and comes with a matching belt.
I'm so loved.
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