Sick Supremely Sucks.

I've been missing lately; you might have noticed. If not, don't worry about it; I really don't mind.

I can't honestly say I've seen much outside of my own apartment for the past week as I've been caught in the grips of some horrific illness that's kept me bedridden and miserable. But, such is life. Luckily, (typically) I only get really sick about once a winter, so here's hoping I don't have to deal with anything like this for the rest of my time here.

Pre getting sick and whiny, I visited Gence (twice) for 2 different things. The first reason I had to go was to get my swine flu vaccination. Me and some other Ming kids hopped a marshrut early one morning to go get our shots in a hotel room with one of the trusty PC doctors... not sketch at all... Overall, though, it was a pleasant day as I got to see 2 of the new volunteers that I hadn't seen in quite awhile (amongst other great people). Flash-forward 2 days and I was making that trip again, but for a more social and fun reason - Sabina's birthday. Last year, about this time, I blogged about visiting Gence for Sabina's birthday. She was my first Azerbaijani teacher and friend. It was great to be with her again and see her hit year 22. We all had a sleepover and it was lovely.

Upon my arrival back, I kept thinking

about how this year has officially become my 'year of lasts'. It was my last year spending Sabina's birthday with her. My last Christmas and New Years have already passed. This is my last full winter and, inshallah, my last sickness. All these other lasts are popping up all over the place as well. I'm trying not to think of everything in this context, but, sometimes, I find it to be a difficult thing to do. The thing is, a lot happens in 10 months and I can't quite see that finish line quite yet, so I best not let my mind wander there.

AZBasketball.

Over New Years, me and Laura decided we wanted to start playing basketball at the sports stadium. So, one day while we were being worthless, food coma-ed zombies, we wandered into the sports store to dribble some balls. It was going to happen.

We returned to Mingechevir and found a ball. Success. We weren't sure when time was going to be on our sides, but it didn't matter. Fast forward to Friday and my plans for work fell through, so we headed to the stadium with no idea what to really expect. In our sports-type/comfy clothes, we made our way over to discover a group of kids playing soccer in the one court. After speaking with the kids' coach, we learned they were going to be there for an hour. It was a nice day, so we sat, watched, chatted and waited. The coach was incredibly nice (he made the jerk Azer boys leave when they were harassing us) and the kids were pretty darned cute (they're not yet at that age where the switch for overt rudeness has been turned on). I was surprised when one of the little kids yelled "Yapon" (Japan) at me and the coach shooed him off and yelled. That's definitely not something I'm used to. It was welcomed. Anyways, when the kids were done, the coach gave us the motion to take the court. So, we did.

Laura and I had a good 15 minutes being just us and a few of those straggler kids. We let them shoot when they were nice and talked a little with them. Soon, though, the court was home to a ton of new people including many boys, 4 girls (!!!) and 2 coaches (one a woman). They invited us to play with them. Azeri basketball is something fierce where all those rules of the homeland are completely thrown out the window. It was dirty. And fun. For one game, it was me and Laura on separate teams playing with just boys. The second game was us, the girls, and the boys. The last game was just girls. We continued to play like good Americans until the end when the girls got a bit scary and started drawing blood. It was such a random and fun experience that neither me nor Laura expected. We talked with the coach and arranged to meet again.

Sunday, we returned at our arranged time (they were late). We had Alexis and Sean in tow for this round. We only played one game (we won), but it still held all the crazy the first day did. And, it was another fun day. Elbows were thrown, grabbing and fouls happened all over the place, and it was loud. Though there was a bit more harassment this time around, I still had a blast.

I do think that by us just being out there, doing what we do, really does show Azeris how we are. We're making our presence known, talking to new people, and playing hard (with a supportive attitude that I think might be lacking on the other team's side). We clap when the other team scores, laugh (a bit uncontrollably) all throughout, and have fun. Sure, I love winning, but I love having fun more. It makes me excited to reach Softball season again.