These Boots are made for Hiking: HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2013

I didn't go to Baku to the DCM home for the volunteer's Thanksgiving this year as I have been to Baku twice this month and I didn't want to make the 14 hour train ride and the 7 hour bus ride back. The weather has been getting colder and gloomier and I don't have a site friend anymore, so I decided to write positives of why I am here. Today is Thanksgiving, a perfect time to be grateful. I am grateful when the sun is shinning even when it is butt ass cold! I am grateful for my community friends who allow me to wash and dry my clothes at their place of business (yes they have a dryer, the ONLY one in Zaqatala!). I am grateful for my community friends when I need a lock on my door or a mirror installed in my wardrobe, they help me buy the parts and asked their repairman friend to installed them at no cost except for a cup of tea. Other community friends that help me save money by buying me a padlock at the bazaar for one manat instead of the supply store that would have charged me 3 manat. I am thankful for my Azerbaijani friends who give me food (fruits, veggies, nuts, bread and chicken) because they know how little we get paid. I am grateful for my students as I watch them learn and grow and I know I made a difference in their life. I am grateful for my family who SKYPED me weekly or monthly and I listen to their stories, their successes and their failures. I am grateful for my family and friends who play Hanging with friends and Words with friends as I know they are thinking about me and are keeping me in their prayers. I am grateful for an Azerbaijani counterpart who wants a better future for Zaqatala and is willing to go with me week after week to recruit schools and organizations as well host families for the upcoming volunteers that are coming in April.

My friends at the Wedding Palace knew today was Thanksgiving so they got a turkey for me (yes, it was alive) and their chefs killed it and BBQ it for me (thankfully I did not see it alive or else it would have been another rescue!!). And I have to tell you, the BBQ turkey was awesome!! And speaking of rescues, I went into the kitchen the other day to feed my kittens (who no longer are kittens) and when I put the bowl down, there were 4 of them eating, oh my what happened. The extra kitten looked exactly like Bounty but smaller, at first I did a double take and then realize it was smaller (probably about 3-4 months where mine are 6 months). After he ate I put that little one out and shoo him away, and then kept the kitchen door closed so he couldn't get back in (mine jump through the window (or lack of window). So the next day, no kitten, whew, he went back to where he came from. So again, I got the kittens food and put it down and all of a sudden that little one came right off the kitchen shelf; he was hiding in the kitchen. What I am going to do? I surely don't need another kitten to feed. Bounty and Junior are taking a liking to him but Snickers hisses at him. I don't let him come in the house (only in the kitchen), but he looks healthy and I hate to say this, he is as cute as button!!! Here are some updated photo of the kittens and the new guy! (Thank God he is a boy). I hope everyone has a Blessed and AWESOME Thanksgiving as we are truly Blessed.