Yeni Iliniz Mubarek!

Happy New Year my wonderful people!

Last year to celebrate New Year's, I traveled into the capital, Baku, with the rest of the AZ7 volunteer group. We ate a lot of delicious food, hung out with each other, and basically just had a nice time. Baku however, is a very expensive city when you are living on a Peace Corps budget. I remember spending wayyyy too much money. So this year I decided to pass on the Baku New Year's celebrations, not only because I'm broke but also because Baku is just too far from Zaqatala (an eight-hour bus ride).

So I spent New Year's in my town. And it was AWESOME! A quick schedule rundown of my day (on the 31st): woke up late; visited my new sitemate's (Jane) family in Danaçı (a village in the Zaqatala region); hung out with her host mom and sisters; had yarpaq (grape leaf) dolma for lunch (so delicious!); watched her host sister make a LOT of şirin çorək (a nut/sugar-filled pastry); proceeded to eat like 20 of those things; went back to the city to my house; played board games with Jane and Mike; sang karaoke through youtube on my computer at my house; went to visit my friend Könül's family; had tea and dinner with them (we ate plov (rice with meat, caramelized onions & beans), roasted chicken with potatoes, and yarpaq and kelem (cabbage) dolma... I may have had to unbutton my pants after that feast); at 11:30 headed to the town center to watch the fireworks at midnight; almost had a limb blown off by how ridiculously close we were to all the explosives; met with other friends in the city and walked around town for an hour and half; strolled back home and did random internet-y things until 3am.


In summary: I had a fabulous New Year's Eve, which I think means that 2011 is going to be an equally fabulous/wonderful/amazing year!