Holiday Events...

The 2009 holidays passed much differently than the 2008 holidays. In 2008 I was living with a host family and worked on Christmas. Then I spent New Year’s with some American friends (in a snowstorm). In 2009 I spent Christmas with some American friends as well as some other foreigners that I just met. Then I spent New Year’s with an Azeri family, one of them being my best friend here in town. And it was about 60 degrees (Celsius, of course) and sunny.

It was great to celebrate Christmas, even if the traditions weren’t the same. There was a Christmas movie (Elf) on Christmas Eve and gingerbread for breakfast. There was a hike in the morning in the hills outside of Ganja. And there was turkey and potatoes and stuffing and pie. And part of the group we were celebrating with was a British family, which meant we also had mince pie (ok) and Christmas pudding (yum). So while it’s hard being away from the normal traditions, it’s exciting to experience and make new ones.

New Year’s was quite uneventful. It was enjoyable to spend it with a local family, enjoying their company and eating good food. I think it was a little different than normal, this year was the first time in a long time that matəm fell over New Year’s (the calendar is lunar, so it shifts about 10 days each year). Matəm is the Islamic mourning period that lasts for 40 days. So I have a feeling there would have been some drinks and/or dancing had that not been the case. But it was, so we watched a concert and fireworks on tv, ate a huge meal, talked, etc. I spent the night there and then left in the early afternoon – I had another holiday meal to eat! My Director invited me over so I went directly from my friend’s to my Director’s and ate more of the same. It was fun to be with locals on the holiday and see how similar it was to what I probably would have been doing at home in America. One of the only differences was the lack of New Year’s resolutions, which I’ve never really made anyway.

So in a country that doesn’t celebrate Christmas: two Christmases down, none to go. See you in December!