Potatoes and Baby Showers

Winter is officially over. Yep. Over. It only took 5 whole months. In Texas I think winter is about 3 weeks. Volunteers always told me that winter here was long, but around January and February I thought, it wasn't too bad, I had survived. And then came the snow in March and it just started getting annoying. Finally, there isn't any more snow and we've started planting our potatoes.

Potatoes. In America we buy them from a store in a dirty bag and there is a little bit of soil still left on them and that is why it is important to always wash them. Now I can tell you that I have smelled the manure, led the horse, and planted the small "planting" potatoes that are all part of that beautiful process that leads to the dirty bag of potatoes in the supermarket. Two days and 8 planted fields later, we will eat next winter. Yeah, that's what we did all weekend (and there are still about 5 more fields), but it was great! The entire village was there plowing and planting their potatoes for next year. At the end of both days I took a shower, two aspirin and I went to bed early.

Other recent events...
My landlord's daughter had a baby! A beautiful baby girl named Deriya. I even got to go to the hospital to pick her up with the family. And a few weeks ago we had a baby shower. Baby showers here are different. The night before the baby shower family, close friends and neighbors come to the house and cook the food-all night long. All night they mix, in shifts, this soup-like substance called "bulgoor," which is special to our village, in these huge cauldrons over fires outside. Inside they prepare the freshly-slaughtered sheep's meat and make enough salad and bean soup for all the women in the village. And the next day, after not having slept all night, they serve the food while pretty much the entire village comes and goes throughout the day. And I was able to be a part of the entire process! I did cheat and sleep for about two hours, so I guess I'm just not as hardcore as the old ladies, but it was a great experience and I am so happy that I was able to do it.

Also, we wrote a project proposal in the mayor's office where I work and we found out that we are going to receive the money for the project! I was so happy! The project is for a children's playground in the village, and we've already started building it. The village is excited about the new playground and there are so many good ideas that are coming from it. The kids in the school are learning how to make mosaics that they are going to put down in the cement and they will be in charge of painting the wooden fence around the playground and lots of other things. I'm so excited!

Besides planting the potato fields, the "working season" has begun. From now until October there will be pretty much nonstop work in the village. Soon we will plant the beans, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, raspberries and lots of other fruits and vegetables. And then everything will have to be collected at the end of the season and stored for the winter. It is an awesome process and I can't wait to see it all and be be a part of it all. I'm afraid I'm going to hate the fruits and vegetables back in the States because now I've actually tasted fresh and it has totally spoiled me!

**The winter here was actually one of the mildest they've ever had, unfortunately my Texas blood still found it quite cold!