Days with my Georgians

The day started off with the few of my Georgian students who stayed in Qax for the summer at my conversation club. The girls are pretty advanced and even the ones that do not speak too much were still very eager and grasped just about everything that was said. We mostly did introductions and asked lots of questions. I love having guests at clubs because it is good for the students to hear a new voice and practice speaking, but it is also brilliant for lazy bones like myself because there's practically no prep! These are my girls.

This is me teaching. We're discussing how to form the correct sentence in asking my parents how long they're been married.

This is Beca showing her mad dancing skills after she made a deal with my kids about dancing.

After club it was off to the Georgians! Nona, Misha and Julietta wined and dined us keeping a hefty amount of watermelon on the table. I could say plenty of beautiful nice things about this family but I will settle with they are truly kind to me and make my time in Qax seem like a vacation rather than work, I love them. Misha cut the watermelon in a different way and all of us American folks were enthralled. This of course made him laugh, which I had to mimmick and force Nona to laugh even louder. I just really like the way he laughs but I guess I'm the only person who ever makes fun of him. Later on in the evening Vaja returned from a boys day out of drinking and waterfall fun and with him comes the dentist! My parents were taken to see the wine storage and a little tour of Misha's garden. All in all a good day. From left to right Misha, Julietta, Vaja, me, Doodle, Beca, Mommy and the dentist.
We had to hit up the Heydar Park, which in summertime is hoppin'! Here's me and my lovely parents.
Vaja re-appeared from some unknown waterfall and refused, as always, to smile in the photo. The second take with Beca's help was much more successful. My Baly gals with Beca, Vaja and I.
Nona wasn't in the family picture because of a certain rendesvouz but fortunately I found her walking to the store with her mom. The Hello Kitty shirt was a recent purchased. We bought it together deciding white was a much better alternative to the green because of her bag. Nona = best friend in Qax. She's fabulous.

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Guest-napped in my own backyard!

My mom and I went to buy train tickets, good experience. We waited for an hour to be told to came back a few days later...I think it's important that my mom saw this, it might make some of my frustrated emails a bit clearer. When I returned home Doodle was sitting in my garden and my renter was shouting fruit names and asking my to translate. He tells me he is feeding my father and giving him tea, Doodle turns to me and says, "I don't know what's happening but he brought me out her and gave me tea and is getting all sorts of things from your trees." It was awesome. Mom and I ended up joining them and spent a lovely hour discussing remedies and different ways to utilize the many things growing in my yard. Here's the lovely set up.

We headed up to my xala's house in our guesting extravaganza. She is a brilliant cook and her cakes are to die for. It was a nice afternoon with Xala and her three daughters. Xala's motto is "Why do you need badness? In this world we only need goodness." She lives by this every day and with that kind of warmth and optimism she raised her girls. I love these ladies and here they are with my parents.

Of course we had to stop by Mindy's, that's not her real name of course but she loves America and out of the M names I listed Mindy stuck! She received her gifts of a book, USA t-shirt and a USA headband in true Mindy fashion...beaming and trying not to squeal like the 5 year old she felt like. The shirt was promptly pulled over her head and she even paraded it around the street for a bit. Here's my little wanna-be American

Her mom was very excited to not only meet my parents but prepare a meal for them. She made some plov and though my parents had already eaten two different kinds on their trip this chicken-eggy goodness was a first. Here's Mindy with her mom and sister Nigar.

How could Qax exist without my lovely Russians. Almaz is a lovely woman with three stricking daughters. Unfortunately the eldest was in Baku, but she was there for a university test and education is number one so she is pardoned. Mindy came over to join in the festivities as my parents were eating some more dolma and not seeming too surprised at the cocker spaniel which makes my Russians all the more unique in Qax. Almaz kept the conversation flowing in her English-Azeri-Russian mix as usual, never forgetting to fill her yard with as much laughter as possible. When my mom handed out the scarf, 13 year old Konuş was elated, rarely get a bigger smile out of that girl. Nothing could beat the markers and princess coloring book my mom got for Diana. She's 8 and very shy, it took me a few visits to even get a hello. Of course with my parents it was the same game but the second the coloring book appeared she couldn't contain her excitement. I can't wait for a new painting to put on my wall. This is us with Mindy, Almaz and her two youngest girls, Konuş and Diana. They are all so pretty!

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The smartest man and an Azerbaijani respite

What would Qax be without a trip to my hFam? After trying to give my parents a little break from so much Azerbaijani and translating I told them to suck it up and get in the cab! Off we went. The yard is now a little wonderland. I thought it was beautiful before but Ata kept his word by blowing me away. truly gorgeous and a light brought outside so there's really no need to ever use the house. It's beautiful. The conversation kept flowing as my parents had me translating their views on education and "those kids nowadays" to my extremely intelligent Ata. He was then questioning my father on chemistry and biology using so many crazy words that I ended up just explaining ideas rather than the simple sentence he said. He even knew about Kaiser Steel, quite a few Americans aren't even aware of that. He's seriously just so smart. That was one of the first comments my parents made, this was repeated a few more times throughout their visit. Here's me with my American and Qax sets of parents!

My hSis was also there and when my mother so kindly gave her the teddy bear she brought a tiny child came out of her. I love my cute little Gülçün and when she acts like a kid it's even cuter! The bear was tossed in the air, spun in circles and copious amounts of hugs and kisses were laid upon the bear before he was ceremoniously placed on her bed. This is the cute little thing pre-teddy bear.
Best picture ever! Ata kept calling Doodle "my friend, my American friend" with one of the warmest smiles I've ever seen. He always greets me so kindly but having my dad there sent him over the moon. My goal is to get a hug out of him before next Christmas, he might be buttered up enough!
After so much Azerbaijani, and loads of confusion on my parents part I gave them a little break with my counterpart. Nailə's English is pretty great so no translation was needed. The education talks resumed and after about an hour Nailə realized that she was holding her own in English and didn't seem so shy to respond. It was great watching her realize her own strength in the language she taught herself a mere six years ago. She's quite impressive and as always her dolma was delicious.

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