New Years' round the Corner!

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I am hoping that your Christmas' were all that you wished them to be...
Mine was great, I could say it wasn't what I had hoped it to be but when I think back now it really was a fabulous day...to start it off I woke up at 1 p.m. :) and that was by alarm mind you haha. I needed at least two hours to whip up some famous Idaho(sub Azer) Mashed Potaoes, by the time I finished these my wrist felt like it was going to fall off cause first of all I did NOT have a potato peeler which wasn't too bad I used a knife and got the job done but second of all I didn't have a whisk or a stirring spoon. Lol

Maua and her family had come to raid my place the night before taking all the cups spoons, forks, plates, pots, and cooking utensils I had in preparation for cooking Christmas dinner at her place. So at the time I wasn't thinking about stirring my mashed potatoes and I ended up having to use a spatula that had holes in it and I would push it down onto the taters so they could squeeze through the little holes and hopefully become a tid bit less chunky. All in all it ended up working...a few hours of stirring, sweat and sore wrists later and from what I was told that they turned out great! :) They are pictured below on the left along with the deviled eggs I made for them and everyone really liked those cause they ate them all therefore, they must have been ok...

As for Christmas dinner and the food they served, It was completely different than most dishes I've had during the holidays, but delicious none the less...first we had salad with soup(zoop they say) and both were great the soup tasted like a mix of cream of mushroom with bacon and basil. And the salad was normal except there were pickles added. For second course they brought out baked chicken, mashed potatoes,  these crepes that are folded and stuffed with mushrooms and a type of cream sauce and some bash which is a drink that is served to go along with the dinner. It tastes like sweet and sour sauce and wine! I like this and then for our third course I finished mixing up the deviled eggs so those were served along with a tray full of polish meats and tomatoes with onions and seasonings.

Throughout the entire meal Marchin, Maua's boyfriend that lives with her, did the honors of pouring vodka shots for all of us, we probably took around 6 but I never felt a thing lol I'm pretty sure it's due to the mass amounts of food I was consuming...but keep in mind I woke up at 1 pm so I hadn't had breakfast! (little self justification "for me") I had a great time talking to her family, her parents don't speak any English so Maua would translate for us, but Zaur the director of our club and Shine came to dinner too. I had a lot of fun sitting next to Zaur he is really funny once he starts talking or drinking maybe that was it lol, but he told me a lot of stories from his previous years working for the volleyball federation. Also Zaur kept joking with me because as a team we all pulled secret santas out of a hat and I happened to be the insanely lucky one that chose my coach Adnan, and Zaur thinks it's so hilarious and keeps sarcastically asking me if I've bought him anything yet!?! Ha I was horrified when I pulled Adnan's name out I have NO IDEA WHAT TO BUY THAT MAN! So if anyone has any good ideas please please please feel free to facebook me and let me know the only thing I know is that he likes vodka and cigarettes and both don't seem too appropriate...I was thinking about a gift card to Traveler's cafe because it is right across the street from the federation and I know he drinks coffee, so most likely that's where I'll end up buying my favorite coach his Christmas gift. ;)

Oh and the picture below is of Polish Cake that Maua's mom brings with her for every holiday no matter if she is coming to Baku or the USA she lugs it along to celebrate it's her tradition and it is very good! Maua said it's made with something like 40 eggs and the cake is spinning on a machine like a pottery wheel and they are pouring the batter so that's how it looks like that! The next picture is my present from Maua she brought me Polish coffee and chocolate! :)

 Once Christmas dinner was over I thanked her family dearly and excused myself to my home upstairs so that I could skype with my family. For a couple days before we have been planning on me being there with them on Christmas morning to open presents via skype so I was really excited to do that. I called my mom and she answered along with the rest of the household and after a while they all nestled down to open presents I couldn't see everything they got but the presents I did see were great and all of the family was happy! I took the time while they were distracted by christmas going ons to ELF my family which if you don't know how it works you go to this website and cut and crop the faces of your family or friends and it will generate a dance of elves with photo shopped faces of whom you chose. It was hilarious I shared the link with my mom, brother sis, step dad, step sis and step brother and watching their reactions via webcam was so priceless I even cropped my dog Curly's head onto one of the elf's bodies LOL!!! I was laughing so hard when I watched it myself...if you're my facebook friend the link is on my wall for Christmas day please go watch it if you're looking for a good laugh!

Once Christmas was over Idaho time, I said bye to everyone and by this point it was 130am for me. I decided to watch some Grey's anatomy until I felt sleepy, since I purchased the entire season six a couple days ago for ONLY drum roll........dun dun dun 20 monet!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSS :) just a little excited bout that one if you didn't notice lol, and so I popped the dvd into my computer which mind you was connected to my flat screen LG tv via a fancy little cord I purchased so I can watch my dvd's on the big screen now!!! Another very exciting deal for 10 monets...I always am proud of myself whenever I am techno savey and it actually ends up being a success...soooo now I don't have to buy a dvd player that I won't be able to take home since my bags have to weigh so little. Back to Greys...I ended up accidentally watching a whole disc worth which is about 3 hours whoopsies...and then by that time it was about 4am and  Grey's concluded my Christmas 2010!!!!

Today the 26th of December, I woke up at 2pm :) since I went to bed so late you know...right after I woke up Maua called me and asked if I would like to go to the city center with her and the fam. I said "Yep, I'd love to!" Then showered and got ready in the alotted 25 minutes...wellllll 32, to be truthful. I went downstairs to meet everyone and we walked to the bus stop which is about 3 minutes from our apartment, I am really trying to comprehend the bus routes/numbers since it's ridiculously cheap to ride the bus it costs 20 of their cents, which is called something like khopak, as compared to a 5 monet cab ride which is about 6.20 USD. But I get nervous bout the bus because they don't wait for you! It's like a moving jump on if you can make it system and I'm not sure when it stops or where it stops all the time or if it's gonna end up taking me across the city and being my Russian stinks, aka is non existent, I don't thing that's an adventure I'm willing partake on, alone, quite yet....

We had a little misjudgement about the bus today to add to my weariness and ended up walking half the way there which wasn't bad becaue I love seeing the city and by foot it's easy to take pics, we stopped at one of my favorite parks where there is a beautiful fountain and I took some pics. There was a dog there with a Santa's hat on lol it was so cute. I asked why they celebrate Santa here and Christmas trees with lights if they dont' believe in Christmas the actual date, and the response was, the people here in Azerbaijan associate Santa Clause and Christmas lights/trees with New Years it doesn't mean Christmas to them it means New Year's is coming. I guess that makes sense to me, either way I am just grateful they have Santas around here cause it made the holidays feel a little more homey for me. :)

Inside the City Center I took a lot of great pictures of the lights and we took Maua's parents to eat at our favorite place La Baguette! The food is amazing and so cheap, the first month I lived here I spent almost every night at La Baguette because they have free wifi and I could talk to my family and friends, when I didn't have internet in my terrible first apartment! So it's kinda like a second home to Maua and I because we know all the workers there and we used to stay past closing EVER night the owner even knows me by name and was kind enough to give me a key chain from Dubai and is a great guy, oh p.s. (sidenote) I used to carry around my hot sauce, before it ran out lol, and some nights I'd forget it on the table at the restaurant and a couple of times I'd come back and the owner would be mid shake with my hot sauce in his hands pouring it all over his food. Outside, once he realized he was caught I smiled and just said "OOhhh I see you found it!!! Do you like it?" He laughed and told me it was great..but INSIDE, I was thinking "AHHHHHHHHHHH You found my hot sauce from USA and you're USING IT!!?!?! NOOOO It's almost gone!!!!" Lol and for anyone that knows me you're prolly laughing now cause you realize how much hot sauce means to me! And this kind was so good too...alas hum bug it's gone NOW lol and I guess I'm happy the owner got to taste it but wish I'd only forgot it one time not three! ;)

I do have sad news though, for this month, so I saved it for last. Carla my roommate from Canada was having health issues while she was here and therefore left two days prior to Christmas for Canada to get some medical testing done and hopefully a solution. She explained to me before she left that most likely she wouldn't be coming back to live with me, so now I am roommateless again. I don't mind living by myself but it's not nearly as fun coming home to an empty house or hanging out in the living room by myself when I am used to having her here! She was so much fun and I am praying for her every night that things get resolved quickly and her health doesn't affect volleyball. Below are some pictures of the airport, since I went with her to say goodbye and of our last photo together!

That's the update for Christmas time!!!I am hoping to go with Maua to a great restaruant for New Year's to have some good food and then lots of dancing we are going to try to find this anyhow. I want to finish by saying thanks again for reading about my life, and I am so blessed! Living alone will give me some time to learn about myself, and I'm only four months away from end of my first professional season. So far it's been a pretty smooth ride and I love that I'm getting the opportunity to play here in Baku. Let's hope the next round of matches turns out better than the first will a few more 'W's than 'L's lol and let's hope everyone has an incredible NEW YEARS 2011 HERE WE COME :)

Lots and Lots and Lots of love from Azerbaininja
Jordana Price