Ñ Íîâûì Ãîäîì!
Yangi yilingiz bayramingiz bilan!
Happy New Year!
Can’t believe it’s going to be 2006 soon! A new year, a fresh start… I like it.
In 2006, I will eat less fatty foods, learn more Uzbek, walk on foot more, get more exercise…
In 2006, I will not be so messy, so lazy, so apathetic, so self-absorbed…
“… they are new every morning… great is Thy faithfulness…”
Thank you.
More Christmas activities:
December 23rd – JDA Party
Yes, this is for Christmas, not Halloween…
What this has to do with Christmas, I don’t know.
Okay, here we go… this is more like it…
December 24th: Christmas Eve Service
… no pics, but we had a nice service at a hotel, local and foreigners together…. I played keyboard and guitar; we also had a jambey (African drum), cello, and trumpet. We totally rocked “Go tell it on the mountain”. People actually CLAPPED (which rarely happens with this group).
December 25th: Christmas Day at the Campbells
Eatin’….and drinkin’…
Singin’…
Playin’…
Receivin’ … the… presents…
Smilin’…
Rememberin’…. praisin’…thankin’…
December 25th: Christmas Night with an Uzbek pop star!
My friend and coworker Nozila invited me to join her for a Lola concert – a famous Uzbek pop star.
The concert hall was typical Soviet-style taaaacky, and the concert was kind of as well… but it was fun.
Her opening number…with angels…
The stage…
(there was a fan blowing her hair back like this at appropriate moments)
Las Vegas-style…
The obligatory nod to her peeps…and her culture…
She just got married, so this is a nod to that… no irony at all…
… at the end, there were hundreds of people waiting to give her flowers…
“Christmas” activities so far:
Party with kids (and parents)…
Ladies tea…
… at a classily decorated home…
… and a not so classily decorated tree…(mine)…
… I did it on purpose, people.
One interesting fact about Christmas here, especially for those who believe in it – many of the things that symbolize Christmas – the evergreen tree, St. Nick, presents, etc, etc… were all associated with the New Year in the former Soviet Union. But now those who celebrate Christmas see how these things, which we (westerns) sometimes think have commercialized Christmas, have special meaning… they can for us, too, if only we choose to remember it for that.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
I see that I caused some confusion with my last entry. 
In August 2005, five of us went to the lake and that’s when we kind of “bonded” as this little group, which is slowly being disbanded, most notably this week with two departures (one left us back in the fall). Here’s is what we used to be:
I guess I should’ve put THIS pic up instead. Ha ha.
And come ‘on, people, if there was something else going on, I would’ve emailed each of you PRIVATELY first before going public!
My little group is going to be very amused by your assumptions.
By the way, xanga peeps, sometimes, these entries will be for the three peeps who have left (red t-shirt girl, guy on right, and girl in back) so if it doesn’t make sense to you, you’ll know why.
And since the third is leaving early tomorrow morning (tall guy on right), this is just a tribute to one of the best groups of single friends ever to exist in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. We laughed together, cried together, drank together, ate together, encouraged each other, supported each other, sometimes yelled at each other, saw each other in strange situations/clothing/moods, and most of all, loved being with each other. And in the end, we knew that God, in His infinite and amazing wisdom and timing, brought us together at this point in time, in this place for this purpose. I would not have enjoyed the the past year here as much without them, and don’t know how if I will enjoy the rest of my time as much without them.
This week is very sad, as four of my friends are leaving. Two left on Thursday morning, and as they got engaged here (they met this January in Thailand, and after a bunch of stuff – meeting in Turkey, then England, emails, etc, etc – she came here to be with him), we did a very special send off for them:
Joel, the groom, is from California. Trish, the bride, is a Brit. Performing the wedding ceremony was Roar, from Norway. Very official.
Special wedding tatoo…
… we’ll miss you, lovely couple. And look at Joel – he’s so hot right now – Le Tigre!
You may wonder what I do on weekends here in the land where the donkeys roam. Well…. on this particular weekend…
.. I cut this guy’s finger…
… watched a guy make handmade Norwegian ornaments for my Christmas tree…
… got gussied up for a fundraising ball…(to benefit local kids who get college scholarships to study abroad..)
… enjoyed ourselves….
… and even won ourselves a little basketful of treats!
(After the party, it’s the hotel lobby….)
So it’s not all serious business over here… and don’t worry, most of us enjoy ourselves extremely responsibly!
Musical note: the current popular song over here right now is this song by Juanes – La Camisa Negra
Samarkand is one of the cities of the famed Silk Road. It’s actually mentioned in a very famous American movie – know which one? Anyway, my friend Helena and I took a trip there last weekend. It’s pretty touristy, but the Islamic architecture is pretty amazing. This was my third trip, but it still amazes me how intricate some of it is. I guess I think of it in terms of time – how much TIME it took for someone to carve something or put all the tiles together or paint all these teeny-tiny designs…
I love photographing old Uzbek men in their native garb, but you can’t really ask them if you can take a picture of them, so my friend stood near this guy while I pretended to take a picture of her. Brilliant!
These gravestones are the new trend, apparently.
Women in “traditional” garb walking down Shah-i-Zindah, a very holy street. Isn’t it nice that I disturbed their pilgrimage by taking this picture? Peacocks are so hot right now.
I think the Registan, a huge square with three madrassahs, looks fake… like it looks like I’m standing in front of a picture. Note the young man who wanted to be in the picture with me.
There was some sort of ceremony going on here, and I captured these two young ladies bringing bread. Everyone started hootin’ and hollerin’ when they walked down the aisle.
Don’t these pictures make you want to venture over here???? This also looks fake. But I was really there.
Tomorrow, I will write an entry that won’t make most people gag… but for now… I just want to say what a fun pleasure it is to listen to Justin Timberlake’s Justified Album! So what if the lyrics are insipid (“I wanna be your sky, so blue and high”) .. the music’s catchy, danceable, and most of all, FUN! You can’t listen to “Rock your Body” without swaying just a teensy bit or even gettin’ UP and shakin’ IT. As Justin says:
“Don’t be so quick to walk away! Come ‘on and dance with me! I wanna rock your body, please stay! Come ‘on and dance with me!”
And sometimes, in a country like U, you need someone to tell you that.
