THE WORST IS OVER

(hopefully) ... I am hoping, not that I think Winter's over and there won't be another cold snap/blizzard, but I got water last night for the first time in 19 days. I showered at a co-worker's this week after she realized I was going to take a 12 hour roundtrip to shower in Baku. It was really nice of her, and it was a great shower, the first of 08! Although I am glad it's over (again, hopefully) I will never forget the week of my life where I would go collect snow to melt down for water that we cold heat on a wood burning stove to drink instant coffee to stay warm.

Emily, my new sitemate has an on-going list of things she will never take for granted after Peace Corps (an excercise that would be good for anyone I think) this week water got added to the list, she still didn't have any last night, so let's keep her in our thoughts.

I think I am going to start a list too. I will say one thing I have not taken for granted since I moved into my apartment is water, especially running water on demand. I actually get jealous/awe struck when I am in someone's place with running water. You should have seen me staying at Christof's in Germany. I did the dishes everyday while he was at work, because they were so EASY to do, his response (other than gratitude) was you do known that the thing next to you is a dishwasher! I knew, but ...Running Water, wow!

Other things I have realized are great are broccoli, showering, WASHING MASCHINES, variety in cheese, sidewalks, trash cans, regular trash pickups, and insulation. I am sure I will add to the list over time.

Today is Jan 20th, which is a black holiday in Azerbaijan. It is a memorial day, so in honor of it I am going to start educating myself on the politics of the region. I think it would be great if by the time I left I was able articulately answer half the questions I am sure to get, so I suppose it's time I start devoting a significant about of time to that!

Last tidbit, The English Volunteer's in town organized an English movie day at the local movie theater, so yesterday I got to see Ice Age in English along with 66 other people in town, which is about 12 times larger than any other turn out I have seen at that theater! So it was a pretty great day. I found MUSHROOMS for sale in town. Emily came over and we chatted for about 7 hours and over 5 cups of coffee and bailey's (thanks again Steph). Then we went to dinner with Nick (her husband) and afterwards we met up with some other volunteers, all that and I got water! What a day, What a day!!!!