"Do You Hold Oruj?"

At the time that I am writing this, the holy month of Ramadan has been going on in Azerbaijan for two days. Until the 31st of August, Muslim men and women of faith will fast from sunrise to sunset, pray, and reflect on the time they believe when G-d revealed G-dself's final revelation to the Prophet Muhammad in the form of the Qu'ran. The Azerbaijani word for "fast" is "Oruj" and the literal translation of "fasting" is "to hold oruj." Let the jokes commence now. A case in point: last year around this time, I was still taking language lessons (cue laughter). During one lesson, my tutor decided that it was a good time to drill some Azerbaijani words related to Ramadan. Her first question: "do you hold oruj?" At which time, she broke down giggling as if it were the funniest and wittiest pun since the introduction of "punny" to the English lexicon.  It makes me wish that I had a name that so often appeared on Turkish CNN with Q and A sessions on "how to hold Beth." Oh well. I guess some people have all the luck...

Not too much else to report as of now except that I will be traveling a lot to different parts of Azerbaijan, in order to help Catherine with a project related to travel and education. I will also be going to Baku for my close of service conference. Oh--a small detail I forgot to mention: Oruj, George, and I will be traveling home (USA) sometime in the early part of December as my COS date has been set for November 30th! Because there is little-to-no conception of the magnificent species that is the guinea pig, I imagine that the process of trying to get George state-side will make some great blog subjects. Stay tuned!