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Family Camping Weekend 2016

Posted by Carolyn on August 3, 2016 Leave a Comment

This year our Family Weekend consisted of 3 nights in tents, countless s’mores, a perfect river, campfires, fairy houses, one head injury, games, biographies by Grams, 10 kids under 10, 10 adults over 30, a surprisingly pleasant vault toilet, one ~~Trump~~ pinata, a beautiful forest, nice weather, fun, and, of course, family.

The kids spent so much time moving rocks and sticks around in this area. They worked so well together building fairy houses and houses for all of the action figures.

The Wind River was perfect for us. We had a great beach right next to our campsite, with lots of big rocks in the shallow, warm river. We all worked together to reroute the river to create waterfalls and a wading pool for the little ones.

We spent lots of time cooking, eating, talking, and singing around the campfire.

One of the highlights was the pinata. Each family was asked to bring some sort of entertainment.

Of course, the kids had a wonderful time with their cousins.

And I always love when I get to spend so much time with this handsome man.

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November 2007, A Very Azerbaijani Thanksgiving

Posted by Carolyn on November 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

The following is a blog post Jesse wrote in November 2007, while a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan. Holidays are so important to us, and it was so odd to be away from our families, friends, and traditions while we were in the Peace Corps. Looking back through this post and the photos a couple things come to mind: though things change over the years, the things we’re thankful for stay the same – friends, families, music, laughter, also it is shocking that none of us got sick from that turkey from who-knows-where, cooked in a oven with only an on/off switch.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

This year marks the first time both Carolyn and I were outside of the States for Thanksgiving. It gave us a great opportunity to see how another culture celebrates this wonderful holiday. From what we could tell Azeris treated the day like…drum roll please…the same way they treat every other day! Turns out Thanksgiving is pretty much just a Western holiday (who knew?!?), so our good friends on the Peace Corps staff and in the embassy were nice enough to put together a nice little party for us. In honor of this wonderful event I decided to write a little poem (in true Robert H. Williams style.)

Twas’ the week before thanksgiving and plans were being made
For a feast so grand that the memory would not soon fade

Volunteers were cooking and packing their food
And journeying to the capital in a festive mood

When, at last, the party had arrived
Our embassy friend flung his door open wide

All our friends came together in one great big room,
The odors of the villages cleansed and perfumed

First we told stories and caught up on old times
Then came the food and talking stopped on a dime

There was turkey and stuffing and green beans, OH MY!
We had soda and juice and even pumpkin pie!

Everyone ate ‘til they were ready to explode
And staggered back upstairs for the talent show

There was singing and dancing and stories galore
And one strange act that left everyone calling for more!

After the songs were sung and the story finally finished
The time came to go, with the spirit far from diminished

So we all made our way home, our bellies full
And everyone had good reason to be thankful.

This party took place the week before thanksgiving actually occurred, so we were left to prepare our own celebration on the day of. We all gathered at our friend Mike’s house and had our site mates Nate and Cindy over. Mike’s girlfriend Kate joined us from Ganja and our good Azeri friend Zamira joined us for her first ever Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to find a frozen turkey at a local store (we believe it was imported from South America!) and we managed not to burn it! With some help from packages from the states we had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, cheesecake and green bean casserole.

Being here really has made us aware of what we should be thankful for in life. We are of course thankful for our good friends and family. We are thankful for the thoughts and prayers they send to us (not to mention packages and letters!). We are thankful for great site mates and great PC staff members. We are thankful for all the amazing friends we have made our family here in Azerbaijan. We are thankful for the little things back in the states like having a bathroom inside the house and familiar food. We are thankful for music and laughing and playing games.

Most of all I think we are finding that we are most thankful we have each other.

October Camping… err, “camping”

Posted by Carolyn on October 21, 2015 Leave a Comment

Last Christmas, Alma’s gift from my mom and step-dad was a camping trip with her cousin Liam and their dads. They decided to go to Silver Fall State Park. Of course, it turned out to be the first rainy weekend in months. They went anyway, and decided to play the camping part by ear.

When they got to the park, it was sunny and warm. They hiked around the waterfalls, in the woods, and had lots of fun. They had a picnic lunch in the lodge and hiked some more. Alma and Liam are just a few months apart in age, so it was fun for them to get to spend so much time together. One of the stories they came home with was from the caves. Alma said to Liam, “Will you protect me?” and Liam replied, “I AM SCARED.” Alma has been looking forward to her camping trip for months. She would tell me, “I’m going camping with Grams and Grandpa. You are not coming. Harriet is not coming. Daddy is coming.” She was very clear about this. There was no way I was going to sneak into the car. Of course, the rain showed up. They embraced the water and got soaked. At this point, it didn’t matter if the rain was falling, or the creek was splashing. It was warm enough that it was still fun. It was so wet, though, that everyone decided to head home. They realized they would have just spent the whole night in their tents as a fire would have been impossible and everything would be too wet to sit on. I don’t think Alma was too disappointed. They got to do all the fun things of camping without sleeping on the wet ground. I can’t wait for this to be an annual tradition. Maybe next year Grams and Grandpa will take Alma and Liam without their parents… maybe they’ll take Harriet, too!

The photos in this post were all taken by Jesse. He did a great job, didn’t he?

OCTOBER 2007, In Which We Had a Halloween Party in Mingechevir

Posted by Carolyn on October 14, 2015 Leave a Comment

The following is a blog post I wrote in October 2007, while a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan. The photo captions are new, added by me today. Because I wanted to.

Halloween Ziyafət!

andthenthey azerbaijan halloween sign — Isn’t this the spookiest?

We had our first experience with patience in Azerbaijan last week. Last Friday (the 26th) we spent hours and hours at Mike’s apartment helping him and his girlfriend Kate prepare for a Halloween party to be thrown the next day at School 3. It was really fun getting ready; we got to eat Kate’s spaghetti and Mike’s M&M cookies. We were making decorations, carving pumpkins, planning games and baking cookies until about 11pm. The next morning we went back to Mike’s to finish getting ready. Cindy and Bev came over and helped me peel grapes. Not an easy task. We hailed 2 cabs, loaded everything into them, and drove through rainy Mingechevir to School 3.

andthenthey azerbaijan halloween sexy jesse — Oh! The beginnings of Jesse’s epic Peace Corps Beard!

When we got there, Sevil, the teacher Kate knows at School 3 was talking to the director. We took everything back to the auditorium to set up. Sevil came back and told us we had to see the director. She informed us that it would be impossible for us to have the party that day. (This would have been no big deal to us, except that we gave up going to the Nar Festival to throw this party!! I was really looking forward to the Nar Fest; apparently last year they had a nar that weighed 2 kilos or something… that’s a big nar!) We planned to do the party on Monday morning. We learned we must be patient and learned that as Mike says, “The more you plan something, the more likely it will fall through.” Such is life in Peace Corps, at least in Azerbaijan.

Here's that skirt I talked about in my Kon Mari post! Oh how I loved this skirt... — Here’s that skirt I talked about in my Kon Mari post! Oh how I loved this skirt…

On Monday we walked (again in the rain) back to School 3. We set everything up and about 30 kids came. Everything went really well! Jesse ran the pumpkin carving station, I helped out with the mask making, Mike led the gross out table (goo, peeled grapes, spaghetti, severed hot dog fingers), Kate played pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern. When all the kids had done every station, we had a pumpkin walk. All the kids got cookies and the winner got one of the carved jack-o-lanterns.

andthenthey azerbaijan halloween carving — Aren’t Azeri girls beautiful? Whenever I see these old photos, I can’t help wondering what all these young people are up to these days…

I was really impressed with the group of kids we had. We were told that creativity isn’t really encouraged in schools, but these kids were very creative! Some of the masks they made were amazing and artistic! They did a great job making unique jack-o-lanterns – one even had a moustache and uni-brow. Appropriate.

andthenthey azerbaijan halloween mask — This one was my absolute favorite – still is. Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat, Give us something for to eat! I have to teach this chant to Alma and Harriet!

It was really neat to be part of a Peace Corps project! Even though it wasn’t our project and Kate isn’t even in Peace Corps (she lives in Ganja and is working on her masters degree), it was still good to see how parties work and it was fun to be involved in it.

September 2007, Elton John in Azerbaijan

Posted by Carolyn on September 28, 2015 Leave a Comment

The following is a blog post I wrote in September, 2007, while a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan. I always find it amusing to look back at what I was doing in past years on the same days. This is still one of my strangest Peace Corps memories, and still one of my favorites.

Elton John Bakida

I live in Azerbaijan and I went to see Elton John. Not exactly what I expected to do during my first week as a PCV. Although not very common to the PC experience, I’m sure I will remember the experience well.

First of all, buying the tickets was an experience. Unlike with Ticketmaster, we were able to barter the price down to 10 manat. How could I pass that up?

Second, we had to breech multiple polis checkpoints to even enter the stadium. There was a throng of people being blocked by officers when we got there. I don’t know it it’s because I’m reading a novel about the French experience of WWII, but I felt like my companion and I were in a military zone attempting to reach the other side of freedom. We got through the first line of guards by showing our tickets and by, as far as I can tell, being Americans.

We walked 100 hundred feet of no man’s land into a group waiting at a fence. Every now and then the gate would open a foot or two and the crowd would force a few lucky survivors in. The music was starting so I approached an officer and said, “Niya biz gedmirik? Billetlar var!” Somehow he understood and took us to the gate. We were in!

But it didn’t end there. We were herded through a metal detector that went off for everyone (but no one was stopped…). A guard felt my backpack and seemed concerned, “Bu nadir?” I don’t know the word for sunglasses, but got the point across that I had my sunglass case in my bag. We walked to the fourth group of officers waiting at the stairs to the stadium. We were ushered to the next group of officers lining the top of the stadium, and then ushered to better seats than the ones on our tickets.

From across the field, Elton was a small dot of blue satin and sequins. He looked great, and sounded fantastic. For the first half of the concert, the crowd was mellow, a few people dancing in their chairs. But then Elton started “Sacrifice.” The Azeris sang every word passionately. The stadium became aglow with everyone’s cell phones and lighters waving over their heads. It was quite beautiful. The same happened during “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.” I admit it – I am a fan of Elton John. I grew up listening to him and knew all the words of most of the songs he played. It was interesting that those were the songs that the Azeris in their 20s knew. I feel like in America it would be “Tine Dancer” and “Your Song” that would get the crowd response. Nevertheless it was amazing to be surrounded by thousands of people singing retro British pop at the top of their lungs with thick Azeri accents.

Elton and his band played all his biggest hits, those listed above along with “Crocodile Rock,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Benny and the Jets,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Philadelphia Freedom,” and “Burn down the Mission.” I was especially excited to hear “Daniel.” I’ve always loved that song. I think because Daniel is my brother, and he is older than me and he’s going to New Zealand, which I imagine is like Spain.

All in all, good times were had. It was a great cross cultural experience and I learned a lot.

Back to the Magical Island

Posted by Carolyn on August 28, 2015 1 Comment

We are so lucky to have great friends who let us come along on their summer vacation. This year was more fun than last, mostly because the kids are getting so much cooler, and we spent almost a whole week in Coronado.

Seriously, look at these cool kids.

Yes, I understand that not all of them are looking at the camera, but you can almost see all their faces, and they are all under six.

We get to stay at our friend’s dad’s house, and it’s an incredible house. So incredible that people tend to look into the yard as they pass by. My favorite part of this is that it’s an amazing house that looks like a daycare center when we’re there. We have a bounce house set up, a working Mini Cooper, a multitude of balls and toys, and six noisy and active children. It cracks me up to think about what people must think.

bIMG_8392 This year we had grand plans of going to the zoo, or a baseball game, or something. We did none of these things. We did meet some great friends from Peace Corps for lunch, and my cousin and his sweet family came down for a day at the beach. Other than that we just stuck close to home.

When Michael, Michelle and Avalon were here, we got to take all the girls to the beach. Michael took to older girls to build castles and play in the water when Michelle and I hung out on some chairs. Harriet did this amazing thing where she seriously conked out the second we got to the beach – she did this every time we went to the ocean. She never sleeps in my arms, so I enjoyed every second of holding her sweet sleepy self.

We also walked to a cafe for lunch while Harriet took another nap back at the house. I love seeing Alma and Avalon together. They are sweet friends and sweet cousins. My girls are also lucky that Avalon outgrows her princess dresses and hands them down! Kissing-Cousins-Small We spent a lot of time outdoors. The kids took turns jumping, driving, running, making mischief, and having mini meltdowns.

We ate all our meals on the front porch.

One night we had just finished dinner when I noticed that the sun was starting to go down. I said, “Let’s go take pictures with the sunset!” Oh my gosh, you won’t believe how fast we mobilized our 6 kids and got out the door and across the street. The light was perfect.

I love so much that we are building memories for our children where they get to play and interact with these other families. These friendships are important as they grow up. It gives them a sense of where they come from and a confidence in where they’re going.

And I love that we are building memories with these families. The kids are all fantastic and hilarious. Their parents are beautiful, wonderful people I’m happy to have as my co-parents.

Some memories I want to make sure to remember, but might not make sense to the average reader of my blog: forgetting that I was the saboteur, and “The slime’s de flickin!”

San Francisco!

Posted by Carolyn on February 4, 2015 Leave a Comment

Jesse’s beloved grandmother passed away in January, so we headed down to the bay area for her funeral. We decided to extend our trip a night and take in some of the sights in San Francisco. We didn’t really know what to do in the city with two small kids, but we ended up having a pretty amazing day!

We stayed at the Argonaut Hotel which was, quite frankly, incredible. When we arrived, the bellhop instantly became Alma’s and Harriet’s best friend. He told them all about the area, and showed them a treasure chest. The lobby of the hotel had a treasure chest full of toys that the girls got to dig through and choose a toy. We don’t travel much, so maybe this is normal, but I was totally blown away. After we were settled in, we headed out to fishman’s wharf (but first got the girls complementary hot chocolate in the hotel lobby).

It was an incredible day in San Francisco. On our way into the city we stopped and bought some sun block. These Oregonians weren’t prepared for a gorgeous blue sky day in the bay.

Our first stop was the Musée Mécanique. What a fun, cool place! It is full of old arcade games and other coin operated mechanical things. We didn’t have any quarters, but just looking at the machines was fun.

We walked down the museum’s pier and saw some big ships and a submarine and Rosie the Riveter (whom we love dearly thanks to Rosie Revere, Engineer).

We kept walking around, saw live lobsters, crabs, street performers, and lots of boats.

On Pier 39, Alma and I rode the carousel.

Halfway through, Alma asked me to let go so she could do it herself. Her independence is increasing these days. I love it in moments like this – I hate it in moments when she decides to run away from me. Luckily her dress is easy to spot, and she still doesn’t go far.

We had lunch at Boudin, and went through their factory tour. We got free admission since we ate at the restaurant, and figured we might as well go in. It ended up being really, really cool! I love watching things being made. Factories are pretty amazing.

After lunch we went to ride the cable car. The station is literally across the street from the Argonaut, right new Ghirardelli Square. We had to wait for about an hour. But it was an hour in the sunshine, with live music, great company in the line. No complaints from me, and the kids did a really good job, too!

Alma was excited to ride Trolley. I understand the difference, but with Alma’s affection for Daniel Tiger, we just called the cable car Trolley. We rode across the city.

Harriet fell asleep (seriously? It was so loud and so much was happening…) and stayed asleep when we got off the cable car, got back in line, and rode the cable car back to Ghirardelli. Then we waited in another line to get ice cream sundaes to share.

We walked down to the beach for the sunset in the sand. After dinner we walked around the wharf some more. Does this even sound like a January day?

New Dresses for the Girls

Posted by Carolyn on February 3, 2015 2 Comments

As part of my resolution to sew from my stash, I decided to make new dresses for the girls. I used Shwin and Shwin’s Holiday Dress pattern for the bodices, and made some amazingly twirly skirts using my own mind.

A day in San Francisco seemed like the perfect time for the girls to wear the dresses. They were perfect – short sleeved, colorful, twirly, and fun. They had the added bonus of making the girls super easy to spot in a crowd. I was able to use some of the more random fabrics that I didn’t have any ideas for – ahem scissors – and also some of my cherished favorites. Both dresses have the purple flowers and matyroshka dolls, but the rest are unique. I love Alma’s mashallahs and Hattie’s bee sleeves. Alma’s dress has two big sparkly blue bottons. Harriet’s dress has the one leftover sparkly button, and a cute pink bubbly button. I loved making these dresses. They were really quick to sew, and really fun to wear. I’m planning on making a couple like it for an upcoming silent auction at Alma’s school, and maybe a few for the Etsy shop.

Also, check back tomorrow for more photos of our time in San Francisco!

Another Pumpkin Patch

Posted by Carolyn on October 15, 2014 Leave a Comment

It’s kind of the Alma show here, but it’s hard to photograph a baby in an Ergo on my back…

From My Journal

Posted by Carolyn on September 18, 2014 Leave a Comment

March 17th, 2008

I’m on a train at it’s still light at the first stop. It’s a beginning of a journey I’ve been on for a long time already. We stay at the first station until dark – the train daring my new found light and inspiration to get off in Hajigabul, and stay stunted and frozen like the village itself. We start moving again, the light still sitting in the seat next to me.

Are we going backwards? No. It is just an illusion in the darkness outside the train. I begin this journey of discovery on a strange ride across Azerbaijan. Other trains go by backwards, making me blink, dizzy.

There are times in life where the inspiration strikes. It is lightning. It flashes. It burns. It is gone, but it leaves a scar.

There was a time, on a train, at night, in Azerbaijan. I was sick and didn’t know it, but felt it. I was living in a country far from home.

I felt the greatness of being.

The greatness of my being.

I can still feel that greatness. The feeling of flying backwards on the train. The feeling of time-traveling as we passed villages so old and dark that they were in the past. The dizzy feeling of passing lights and smooth turns. The feeling that I was put here, on this earth, with a purpose.

There was another time, in the day, on my way to the mailbox. The lightning struck, and the ordinary moment of my life is permanently scarred in my memory.

There are more moments like this. Moments where the lightning strikes, leaves a scar, a reminder of the greatness I can have. The greatness I can be.

And, so.

I am in the mundane moments of my life, trying to find the sublime.

I make choices every day to ignore the scars from these life giving moments.

I am here. I resolve to feel those scars, live in those scars, give thanks for those scars. Be those scars. Those fingerprints of inspiration left in my mind. The light in the seat next to mine. The memories of promise.

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Halloween Ziyafət!

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