The Beginning of the End

(I wrote this yesterday and my hands are too numb in the frozen resource room to adjust it...so pretend I posted it yesterday!)

Everything has been wrapping to a close for me here in Azerbaijan.  I’ve had the first of my goodbye parties (more to come!) and yesterday I had to say my first real final goodbye.  I went into Tovuz city to see Nuranə who I have known since my first week in Azerbaijan.  She was my language teacher during our Peace Corps training and so I really owe much of my success here to her as without her I wouldn’t be able to speak!  But more than that, she was my good friend because she continued to teach my Azerbaijani for about a year in Tovuz (her hometown) which gave us lots of time to hang out and talk.  My first goodbye party was last weekend.  My 11^th grade students, who I have been teaching since the very beginning of my time in Qədirli, took me to our beautiful park in Tovuz city and then back to one of their houses for düşbərə (a soup with little ravioli like things – see the photo below!).  The whole day was wonderful and I thought it was really sweet that they decided we would have düşbərə because they somehow remembered me saying that I liked it but I had only had it once or twice when I first arrived.  That has been my only “party” so far, but I have also had my last English teachers’ lunch at Tamilə müəllim’s house and I went guesting for a final time at my aunt’s house, my grandpa’s house, and Jalə’s house (she is one of my best and favourite students).  This means that I have been eating a lot of Azerbaijani food, which is good since in the very near (unbelievably near in fact) future I won’t be able to have all my Azerbaijani favourites!  This means I’ve been making sure to get my fair share of mürəbbə (a sort of jam that we eat with tea), kabobs, kutlets (a patty of ground meat and vegetables – my mom undeniably makes them better than anyone else), nar (pomegranates), xurma/karaliyox (persimmons), köftə (meatball soup).

It is really starting to hit me that I’m leaving and today I’ve reached the point where tears are constantly just under the surface.  I had my last lesson with my sister Nuranə’s 9^th grade class today and as they went to leave I wanted to stop them and tell them what a pleasure it has been to teach them but I knew I would start to cry, so I decided to save it for the final party we are going to have at school on Friday (at which point I will certainly be crying the whole time so it won’t matter haha).  I should also say that I know nothing about what will happen at this party (well, that’s a lie, there have been some leaks) because everything besides its existence is supposed to be a surprise, so you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out what’s in store for me!