Friday, September 10, 2010

Katie and Erin!

Azerbaijan never felt so good! This last week I got to share my life over here in the Peace Corps with two of my very best friends Erin and Katie! I swear it was like we were never apart (I mean its only been a year!)! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present (in June) as having these girls come visit me.
They got to Baku in the afternoon so we had to evening to do a little exploring.
We walked through the old city.
Then had dinner down near Fountain Square at a little place my family will remember well, Cafe Caramel (Its not my fault that I always eat at the same places in Baku, I only get to go there so much and I crave food from home! :))
The next day we went out to see my training family in Jeyranbatan.We ate fresh sunflower seeds right out of the head!
And got to sit outside under to grape canopy.
That night we hopped on the night train out to Qazax!Were we only had a day and a half to explore, so we made the most of it! Mason and Erin made some friends in the bazaar :)
We chased donkeys around while yelling at Mason to take pictures of us.
We walked down to the river and the Heydar Park.
Then we got to Zeynab's house. Mason, Katie and Erin pulled up our water from the well in Zeynab's back yard.
The girls got their fill of tea.
Me and so many people I love!
Look its my living room :)
Then we had to jump back on a bus to get to Baku. This is the bus...
But we had lots of laughs and times to dance those last nights in Baku together!
The Caspian Sea!
You can kind of see the "biggest flag in the world" in the back ground (squint).
We climbed to the top on the Maiden's Tower for a great view of the city.
And then, we found the Flying Carpet. Maybe the best part of the trip, just a little store next to the Maiden's Tower, we spent over an hour in this little shop listening to the guy tell us about all these beautiful antique rugs and other treasures. I ended up buying this silk blanket made in Uzbekistan during the 70's, and of course we needed to play dress up to take pictures of it :)
Azeri style pictures, no smiling.

This summer was fantastic, between my family coming to explore Azerbaijan and take me to Georgia and Katie and Erin running around with me I had a hot and sweaty blast! Now its back to school on Wednesday, wish me luck!