So a phenomenon that I’m experiencing right now is how different the pollen is here. I’m used to that yellow powder that you find in North Carolina in April every year. However, the pollen here is very different. It’s not even powdery – which is nicer because then it doesn’t turn everything a faint tint of yellow. Here the pollen is puffy and white. It reminds me of the seeds of dandelions or small white feathers. But – it’s not! It’s flying everywhere in the air as you walk and kinda feels way cooler to walk in than regular old NC pollen. Here’s a photo of some of the pollen I’ve seen. In some places (like where I took the photo) it’s like there was a huge pillow fight with feather pillows. Unfortunately even though the pollen is different my allergies still act up – so didn’t escape that! Enjoy!

A friend of mine that lives in the same city as me posted this online. I saw it and immediately thought “YES!” because it’s so true in my mind. I hope you enjoy and know that I’m definitely not in the 1st place (the place where my mom thinks I am) – I am in the last place on the picture just as it says. I live in a city of 7 million, so a lot of life is just living in an urban environment and not riding camels for transportation. Enjoy!

Springtime is finally showing itself in my city. After one of the worsts winters here in a very very long time, we are finally ready to thaw out. I’m not even sure how many inches of snow we received this winter, but it steadily snowed every 3 to 4 days here for 3 months straight. For it to get to 50+ degrees here feels like summer. It’s like winter was keeping everyone frozen here and now that the weather is a little warmer, people are coming out of the woodwork! It is still a wonderful feeling to be able to walk around with just 1 jacket on and no scarf or hat. I’m not sure what I’ll do when 70 degrees get here!

I’m still skeptical that Spring is here to stay. It’s going to get a little cold here again this week and supposedly last year there was a big snow storm at the end of March. So we’ll see. But for now I’m enjoying the warm weather and the start of new life. Sorry there are no pictures this post. I’ll try and get some for the future of trees, flowers and landscaping as it occurs this spring.

Oh – and I’m not missing all the nasty yellow pollen in NC right now! You all can enjoy it without me. My allergies are treating me just fine here.

At the Black Sea festival that I just recently attended, there was lots of different music and dancing. Even just living here a short time, I could tell a marked difference in the music in comparison to where I currently live. The music at the festival was fast and fun with a Central Asian feel to it. One thing that I enjoyed was their version of bagpipes. The bagpipe itself is made out of a goat skin that has been sewn up. Hence it’s funny shape in looking like an animal. Here is a guy that was playing the bagpipes at the festival. I like how he keeps the air full in the bagpipe and takes a break, still playing the flute part of it.

I recently went to a festival that celebrates the different food and culture of the Black Sea part of my country. There were lots of different cheeses, meats, clothing, dances, music and tea. Since it was celebrating the Black Sea culture – there were lots and lots of fish. What seemed to be the most popular dish to eat at this festival was fried anchovies. I didn’t have time to try them, but I think I would give them a shot now (having thought it through). Supposedly they are really deeply fried, so the fish taste is not near as strong. The only thing that wierds me out about it is that most the time they eat them whole. Like….whole….bones and all. I’ve asked several locals and foreigners if this is true and they’ve all said that it’s normal to eat the bones. They said the bones are so small and more rubbery that you digest them fine. Still seems strange, but I promise to one day gives these guys a try. Here are some pics below of pans being prepared for the lunch rush. The anchovies have all already been battered and are waiting to be fried.

An interesting thing that I’ve observed about this culture is their desire for cleanliness. It’s interesting because they put a lot of emphasis on clean houses/apartments that appear clean to everyone else. One of the ways they show how clean they are is by cleaning the outsides of the windows all the time. In the states we would wash our windows down at our house 2 times a year with the hose pipe. However here, it’s part of your weekly cleaning rituals to clean the outsides of the windows. There wouldn’t be a problem with this if the windows were easily accessible. However – to clean the windows you have to climb out on the window ledge that is about 4 inches wide and clean from there. I haven’t done this yet because I feel like it would be a very sad way to die. Cleaning windows. I did see a women a few days ago on a walk to the bus stop and she was hanging out her window to get it extra clean. It also gets me that when they do this, they don’t wear tennis shoes or something good to grip with – they wear house slippers. I was able to catch the picture of this woman cleaning – so take a look and cringe a little with me. Note – I stayed and watched her and she didn’t fall out and die, so all is good. Look in the center of the picture and you will see her.

I was in a store a few weeks ago that is equivalent to a Sam’s Club or Costco and I was very surprised to see these varying size pots. The biggest surprise came when I looked at the biggest pot on the bottom. The pot on the top feeds like 60 people/portions. However, for that big party that you are planning the pot on the bottom gives 1156 portions/people fed. I don’t think I’ll be using any of these pots anytime soon…

I laughed when I saw this the other day. I don’t think they know the correct translation of the name of their store – otherwise they’re just giving away everything! I was tempted to go ask them and then tell them what it really means…oh well.