Ten Things Muslims and Christians Have in Common

1. Both are descendents of Abraham

2. Both believe Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and is still alive

3. Both believe Jesus will return at the end of the world. Popular belief among Muslims is that He will set foot at the garden of olives near Jerusalem. 

4. Both believe Jerusalem to be a holy city

4. Both believe in only one God who is to be worshipped 

5. Both believe in one life on this earth that is fleeting and meant to be lived in submission to God and in one afterlife (a reward) with God that is eternal

6. Both believe God is sovereign and supreme and in control of everything 

7. Both believe in God being the creator of the universe 

8. Both believe in the following prophets or holy men of God - Adam, Noah, Elijah, Elisha, Lot, Jonah, Abraham, Iassac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Job, Moses, Aaron, Zechariah (New Testament) and his son John the Baptist. 

9. Both believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman

10. Both believe that women should dress themselves conservatively in consideration of the temptations that men face toward sexual lust and in order to show honor and respect toward the men in their lives (fathers and brothers and husbands)

WESTWARD HO!

In THREE days I'll be Westward bound!

What I'm looking forward to in America:

Family, friends, and my CITC family

Sonic - cheese tots and a cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper!

Dr. Pepper

Driving Texas highways (above pictured Hwy 6 between Houston & College Station)

Going for a walk without being stared at

Tex-Mex

Teeth cleaning and medical check-ups

Public library

Physical activity options OTHER than workout videos (ULTIMATE FRISBEE!?)

Grocery shopping - so many choices (including healthy whole wheat bread!)

Goodbye for now, Kurdistan!

Top ten things I will miss while I'm gone:

1.   Kurdish friends and the friendly Kurdish people

2.   Luprak Butter

3.   Kak Naan ("Mr. Bread-Man") and his awesome bread

4.   Mountains

5.   Seeing people dressed in traditional Kurdish clothes

6.   Kurdish tea 

7.   Fresh vine-ripe tomatoes sold by the kilo at every little store on every corner

8.   Holland Bazaar

9.  Kurdish food like Iprax and Biriani

10. Cold cokes available at every store for less than fifty cents

Kurdish Mountains

Packing Heat

Yes, that's right. Light-packer is packing heat! An American friend of mine hooked me up with a Kurdish friend who was trained by US Special Forces who let me shoot his weapons. We drove out to the middle of nowhere and I got to shoot an AK 47 and Glock handgun.

AK 47 semi-automatic. I hit the middle!
My friend said I got lucky. WHATEVER! ;-)

Glock handgun action. Ok, maybe 1 time is luck,
but 2 times means I got skillz!

Love

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Been thinking about love a lot lately. A song based on this scripture by Ginny Owens called "I am Nothing" has also been going through my head. Especially this verse:

I could live a flawless life
Never cheat or steal or lie,
And always speak so kindly, smile so warmly, and go about doing good.
I could dedicate myself to do what everyone else wants me to -
Listen to them, compliment them, say the things I should.
I could show up every Sunday, lead the choir and Bible study
And they all might come to know me as a leader and a friend.
Or I could achieve success on earth, but success cannot define my worth
And all these actions, all these words would not matter in the end.

Chorus:
Songs will fade to silence,
Stories, they will cease.
The dust will settle covering all my selfless deeds.
So as I strive to serve you,
Won't You make it clear to me,
That if I do not love, I am nothing.

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthians 13:13

HOLLAND!!!

 

 
 

Water Truck

Having adequate water in this dry land can be a challenge.

We have four water tanks on our roof that get filled with city water about every other day, but we also have a large lawn to water (my gardening interest is fast waning). To top that off, for a week or so we didn't get city water. So, over the past two months, we have completely run out of water at least three times.

When we run out of water we have to call a water truck to come and re-fill the tanks. See the hose snaking it's way off the back of the truck? It's bigger and heavier than it looks. We have to haul that thing up to the roof from the second floor patio and then hold on for dear life as the water gushes out of it at the force of a fire hose. Would be fun except it seems like every time we ran out of water it was when we were having people over and needed the water to cook for them. AAARRGGHHHH!

Leaving the 99

On the last day of English camp Ms. Karen’s was teaching her class how to spell the word “apple.” One girl kept trying to get it right. She came to Ms. Karen at least ten times with every possible configuration of spelling possible.
 

Each time Ms. Karen encouraged her to try again until finally she got it right. She was overjoyed when she heard Ms. Karen say “YOU DID IT!” Her persistence awarded her the good student of the day award.  

After the award ceremony that day this little girl raced down the hallway and jumped into Ms. Karen’s arms and just said “THANK YOU!” For Karen, that was the moment she knew her trip here was worth it. For just that one little girl to be encouraged.

English Camp

Many hours this month have been consumed by preparing for a four-day English Camp for kids in my city. The camp was a huge success! On the first day of camp we had some visitors come and introduce the kids to the rules for the four days we would be together. Meet Serbest the cook, Princess Peyman, Ballerina Shiyan, and Seruk the Giraffe. These guys will also soon be going along for visits at the pediatric cancer hospital.

Hospital Art

 

This month I had the opportunity to help with an art project for the pediatric art hospital. A friend who works at the art institute asked a colleague to select some students to paint some pieces to hang in the hospital. As you can see, they did a great job! 

Research shows that art, especially art depicting nature promotes a healing environment in hospitals.

Spring Flowers

 
One of the development projects going on around here is a tulip farm! I took a road trip to visit the farm and got some great shots.

Newroz: Kurdish New Year March 2011

The line of people on the hill are dancing

Kurdish New Year starts on March 21 every year (coinciding with the spring equinox). 

My Kurdish friends tell met his celebration began thousands of years ago when they were freed from an evil oppressive king. The legend states that the man who went to kill this king said he would light a fire on the mountain if he was successful.

Musicians make a living by traveling between
groups of picnickers to provide live dancing music

So, it's a celebration of freedom and light and new things. Every year on the eve of Newroz the Kurds light fires to commemorate the evil king's downfall and then they gather for three days of picnics, wearing brightly colored and sparkly traditional Kurdish clothes, and dancing. 

This year I eagerly put on my traditional Kurdish dress and went on 4 different picnics with 4 different families. And I couldn't get enough!

 Day 1 it rained, but that didn't stop us from dancing or eating the yummy food.

Iprax is vegetables (zucchini, tomato, onion, eggplant, bell pepper)
stuffed with a mixture of rice and minced lamb and boiled in oil, water, and sumac (a sour seed).

 Day 2 we went up into the mountains where there was still snow. 

  
Day 3 and 4 the weather was sunny and beautiful. On Day 3 I drove and we even stopped to dance on the side of the road on the way to this beautiful picnic spot pictured below.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Peymanga Huneri Cwan (Art Institute) hosted a Valentine's Day party to which my friend who works there invited me. A good time was had by all!

Peymanga Huneri Cwan

The above title is Kurdish for "Art Institute." I have a friend in town who does good work there as a teacher of young Kurdish people. In a culture that tends to value uniformity and even tends to see creative forms of expression as shameful, I really respect the people here who have the courage to express themselves through the arts.

Peymanga Huneri Cwan (Rough translation: "Institute for Pretty Things"). Cwan in Kurdish means beautiful.

Since moving to Kstan I've begun to appreciate beauty more. Most of the buildings are concrete, half-way built, and not even painted. Very few trees remain due to years of war. But the Art Institute building in town is refreshingly different.

The Boot Whisperer

 

So! This month I'm back in Texas! My extended family spent some time together in Wimberley, a quaint little retirement town located in the Texas Hill Country. While there I was almost convinced to buy some boots from a German lady known as "the boot whisperer." Apparently she can look at a person's foot and correctly guess his boot size. She and her husband own and operate a successful second-hand boot store in town. Check out the ones I wanted... too bad they didn't come in my size ;-) just kidding!

Pumpkin

It's fall and I'm missing Bonnie and Russ and friends back home carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds. There are some pumpkins that are grown here in Kstan, but they aren't quite the same as pumpkins back home.

Fortunately, my roomies and I share a love of pumpkin products. Every time someone from the states comes to visit and asks "what can I bring?" we say; "canned pumpkin!" Recently we helped our neighbors "gut" and boil some pumpkins. Then we introduced them to eating the boiled pumpkin with brown sugar and butter, mmm! As they were about to throw out the seeds I asked if I could have them. The first batch I burned to a crips, darn propane oven without any temperature control. But the second batch turned out really good.

Masha'Allah

Beautiful country-side. The mountains of Kstan in the fall! Masha'Allah!

Masha'Allah is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise or thankfulness for an event or person that was just mentioned (definition from Wikipedia). It is used to remind people that all things come from God. People also say it superstitiously to ward off the "evil eye," believing that admiring something about another person in an envious or covetous way could cause something bad to happen to that person. So if you compliment a person or their things, always tack on a "Masha'Allah" afterwards so they know you're not saying anything out of jealousy or envy.

That's what neighbors are for

Project 365 Day 26: Our neighbors often send children over with plates of hot food fresh from their stove. It's really nice to know they think about us often. Today was a particularly neighbor-food-full day. From left to right: Lentils, Kitilk (meat and rice stuffed inside rice cakes and fried), dates, honey, fried green beans. We usually send the plates and bowls back with baked goods like pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, and banana bread.

Bubble Tea

Project 365 Day 25: I was craving bubble tea today. Reminds me of great friends back home.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Project 365 Day 24: It's my dad's birthday! In his honor I'm posting a picture of a father and daughter. I took this photo in eastern Turkey last year.