my heart's all over the world tonight: Kurban Eid!

Last week, we celebrated Kurban Eid, or The Feast of the Sacrifice. It's one of the largest Mslm holidays, and it's a time when they remember that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Ishmael [the father of 1slam], but at the last second, G stopped Abraham and provided a ram. We celebrate here with lots of eating, a few days off work, and SO MANY sacrificed sheep.

Since we had a few days off work, we spent some time with friends, and a lot of time just exploring our city. Even though I've lived here for almost a year and a half, I fall in love with this city over and over and over. So, enjoy some pictures of this beautiful place and the Kurban Eid holiday!

Old City Walls:

A gypsy boy playing for money:

it's Autumn!

really, really new + really, really old + TRAFFIC = my city

pinch me. I live here?!

the Maiden's Tower:

The roots of this country lie in Zoroastrianism, the w()rship of fire and the elements. This is a 13th century fire temple that we visited with our coworkers:

little, tiny doors:

this fire never stops burning due to the oil reserves underground:

thankful beyond words for my team:

Sometimes, for the holiday, they decorate their rams before they sacrifice them. Picture worthy? I think yes.

Last year, it didn't snow until February, and then it was like 9 flakes that stuck for 2 minutes. On monday morning, we woke up to THIS. What?! It was the first time it snowed here in November in TWENTY YEARS! This southern Texas boy in the picture below had never befre experienced snow like this!

So, since we were snowed in, I decided to bake. I made cinnamon rolls from scratch! Crazy. Awesome. Delicious. Who am I?!

And while we ate cinnamon rolls, we played Pandemic!...We're getting pretty good at this game!

I spend one night with a dear friend and her family. I cooked Mexican fajitas for them, and we enjoyed a night of games, laughing, and crazy pictures.