Kissing mom
Our family Our amazing photographer Mark and his very devoted and supportive wife Mara
My sister Ruzanna is performing traditional Kazakh bride's dance
Cutting the cake
Married at last I and Amir are welcoming the friends
Our wonderful MC Mr. Ardjomandi and his beautiful interpreter Tatyana

Life is Beautiful

We got married on 7 April at 4:00. In the morning we went to Bahji to do some photos in the gardens. The weather was not cold and not hot, it was cloudy with little sun rays coming through. It was a gorgeous day and everyone felt happy. Behi was volunteering that day in Bahji Visitor Centre, he was the first one to welcome us there. We walked in the gardens and took a lot of pictures, i wish i could post all of them here! Kiyoko was our photographer for that morning, and she did a great job. My family and Amir's father were very happy to be in the gardens around the Shrine again and to take part in our photosession. After we got satisfied with our photosession in Bahji, we had lunch in the Visitor Centre together with Behi and went to Haifa to take few shots on the Terraces. There were few more Israeli wedding couples taking pictures on Terrace 1, we had a variety of colors and couples, it was fun. Our ceremony started at 4:00 in the afternoon, we had close friends and families saying prayers and doing readings for us after which we said our wedidng vows. After we signed the marriage contracts we finally were legaly married, and our happiness didn't know limits (Russian expression translated by me in English:)). Our friends and family prepared some performances for us during the refreshments part. There was a Kazakh dance performed by my sister Ruzanna, Ukrainian song by our friends Serghei and Liudmila, musical peice performed on mandolin by Bahi and African dance by three gorgeous African girls. We exchanged the rings after cutting the cake which was cooked by Amir's good friend Bernard. It was beuatiful! He made a little cake for our rings too! I don't have pictures of the wedding cake yet, but if i get one, i'll post it here. At the end my father decided to sing a song with me and my sister, the one we learnt together many years ago. It was nice to sing with them again on my wedding day:) We managed not to forget that it was Kara's birthday and sang for her. She got my Bridal bouquet as a birthday gift:):) I will try to post more pictures soon. Life is beautiful...

Solar Eclipse Today Started at 12:56pm

That's how it looked from the holy mountain:)

Winter wedding

This is my good friend Elena who used to serve here for two years. A month ago she got married to Igor from Saint Petersburg. Saint Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in Russia and i think in the world. It is full of history. I have never been there but wishing one day to visit, especially now when Elena and Igor are there. I love this picture, she looks so beautiful, and he looks very happy too:) When i look at this picture i feel a little cold, and i love it because i miss snow. I think winter weddings are especially beautiful!

Night pictures on a black blog

Archives building on Friday night on our way to the talk in ITC. It looked magnificent.

Exploring the neighbourhood

it was a beautiful spring morning














Give me a hug, baby:)

















warm welcome embrace...
Mutale and Jarrett hosted our class that weekend
and, they are our neghbours!


















this pic was taken on our way to the class..
i looooooove the area we're gonna live in..















i don't know who it is, but it looks like a musician to me:)
I almost heard the sound of metal harmonica...

Our little temporary home...

Taha, looking like real babooshka (grandmother) fixing something in the bedroom

Amir is arranging his favorite room - KITCHEN

TAHA JUST MOVED
Can you tell?!?!?!

Just cheking if it's possible to post anything in Russian

Мне поставили русскую клавиатуру!!
Proves succesful!

My new acquaintance...

My orientation buddy Kurt went on vacation recently to the Philippines.
He told me about this little creature that can be found only in 3 islands in the Philippines, it is called Tarsiers, it is very small and has huge eyes. I asked his permission to post this picture on my Blog. Aren't they adorable? Double click on pic to see them better, they are sitting on the tree.

And this is what i found about them on Internet, including a bigger picture:

The family Tarsiidae contains one genus and five species. Tarsiers are found in the islands of southeastern Asia, including Borneo, Sumatra, some East Indian islands and some Philippine islands. They are species of secondary forest. Tarsiers are small haplorhine primates, weighing 80-150g. Their fur is silky and buff, grayish brown, or dark brown on the back and grayish or buffy on the underside. They have round heads and remarkably large eyes that are directed forward. Their ears are nearly hairless and seemingly membranous in texture. Their muzzle is short, and they seem to have almost no neck (although they are capable of turning their head over 180 degrees!). They are active at night and highly arboreal. During the day, they sleep in dense vegetation, usually on a vertical branch; occasionally, they use a hollow tree. They feed on insects and small vertebrates, which they capture by leaping on their prey and grabbing it with their hands. Tarsiers are usually found in family groups or by themselves. Family groups are based on a stable pair bond. They are not sexually dimorphic.

More engagements

and today i learnt that Lua and Cairan are also engaged:) Lua was my flat mate for two weeks on Leon Blum, and I met Cairan at Bahji gardening day shortly after his arrival. i love their announcement picture, so much light, so much love, indeed reflects their happy spirit! amazing couple, all the best!

Some Ayyam-i-Ha activities

"It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days [Ayyam-i-Ha], to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name... "

(Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 16)


I am really learning a lot here at the BWC about Ayyam-i-Ha and different ways of celebrating it. Seriously, there is so much going on throughout these days! What i love the most is the atmosphere of fellowship and festivity.

We had some prayers and a gift exchange in our Office, each of us got something very cute and special.

I also had aprivilegee to be invited to a children Ayyam-i-Ha party at one of the homes. It was so much fun! There was a dinner, fun games, music, we sang some songs, they did some face painting, played piano together:):):) I think I enjoyed it more than kids:):)

We had a Philippino Ayyam-i-Ha party last night with lots of non-Philippino friends.
Here we had some performances, people prepared songs and dances and performed their talents for everyone:) We also felt like little kids and played some crazy (!!!!) games with a lot of noise and laughter.

I was hoping to post some pictures but Blog refuses to do so. May be tomorrow i'll be more lucky and will be able to illustrate my stories:)

Peter's photography

i love these photos!

Showering Muts

Soon she'll be wearing it:)
Unrapping the presents
We tried our best not to embarrass Muts during her Bridal Shower:)

Happy Birthday to Noushin!

Tomorrow, 6 February, is Noushin's birthday! yey! She is happily studying now in Canada. We are orientations mates and used to be good friends when she was here. I don't know if you know what i mean but we connected from the first time we talked. It felt so easy and fun to be around her! We had that cheese cake lesson once with Mateen, after which i still don't have any idea how to make it, all i remember is that it was FUN! Congratulations and may you have a beautiful birthday, as beautiful as yourself!

Last weekend

Friday morning I volunteered in Bahji gardens. It was freezing cold at 6:30 in the morning, raining cats and dogs, but amazingly pleasant transplaning baby santolinas to bigger pots:):) (too bad i never used the clippers, i was excited to do some clipping)

After a few hours of transplaning, I and Amir had a staff visit to the Prison Cell of Bahaullah. This pictures were taken after the visit, while waiting for our sherut to go back to Haifa and attend a wedding of our friends Radostina and Shadman.


Entrance/exit of the prison. I am trying to get a hold of Sabina who organized a sherut for us:)















...still waiting for a sherut













...i and Sabina are not wasting time waiting for a sherut












...finaly in Haifa, before the wedding ceremony, taking pictures with friend Matthew, his gorgeous wife, Carol, and my gorgeous former flat mate Stephanie









...beautiful Radostina with her new very proud husband Shadman taking picture with Emem











That night we went back to Akka after the talk. I stayed with Tahirih and next morning we went for the morning prayers in Bahji together. After lunch we went for a walk in old city. Here are some pictures taken in old Akka.




...in front of the House of Abbud

...just a cute combination

...Amir is videotaping Karavan saray

...I thought this was a nice dialog of two epochs...

Finaly, we went for a devotional at my orientation mates Nancy and Ramraj's place for their future baby. She is due in mid April. There was a very warm nice company, some Mauritus food and prayers in different languages. We had a great time!

...on our way to Hamegenim to Nancy's devotional...

...I am touching a very hard belly of very happy Nancy...

after this devotional we rushed to a farewel party for my russian-speaking friend Kevin:)

wow!

that was a busy weekend!

New year party with Kevin Habibi

Let me introduce you to another good friend of mine who has left the Bahai World Centre already, Kevin Habibi. He is next to Amir on this picture. On 31 December Russian-speaking friends and their friends and family got together for a little celebration giving respect to the old Soviet tradition. In Soviet times, we didn't believe in religion, therefore, we didn't have Christmas or Kurban-Ait, or any other religious celebrations. But we had our own Soviet holidays, one of the biggest ones was a New Year's eve. People are still so much into it, that even after becoming Bahais some of us cannot not to do anything on that night. I guess old traditions have long and tough roots, and it'll take a while for us to get unused to them:) Well, everything takes time:) Anyway, there was a lot of Russian food, jokes and TV New Year's programms. Kevin Habibi has special regards with Russian-speaking friends, kind of a closeness or connection. He would understand and laugh at all the jokes which is a rare case with people from another culture, usually Russian jokes are hard to translate so they are as funny as they are in Russian:0) And it is not just about jokes, he is very Russian in a way that I cannot describe, or, I should say, very open and friendly and patient with us. He felt easy in our company, so did we. And he is in general the kind of a person that treats everyone equaly, without any favorism or preferences. I must say that he is one of the few i have met so far who has this amazing quality.

Dinner out with Baboosh!

Sahba calls me "baboosh" which is a made up word from "babooshka" meaning "grandmother" in Russian. We call each other like this ever since I don't know when... Even in my list of people I want to invite to my wedding she is "Baboosh", not Sahba :) We have fun together and that particular night we went out with Amir and Amelia. After having eaten a nice Asian dinner in a smoky "Giraffe", and talked about Australian sheep, Filipino woods, kangaroo and horse meet, Baboosh decided she wants to have some ice cream. It was freezing cold, raining with thunder storm. She was so funny, eating her ice cream, shaking freezing, but enjoying herself a lot. Here is the picture that Amir took of three of us, you can see Baboosh on the left, happy as never! So cuuuute! Baboosh! (and happy coming up birthday too!)

Walking Together on a Path of Service

Last week we have completed Ruhi 7. It was my first tutoring experience in English. I got very lucky to be encouraged by the members of our study group and it was indeed a wonderful learning experience for all of us. Amir was a great support to me by always being there. It makes such a difference when someone who is close and dear to you is there for you when you start on something new and exciting:):) Thank you, Amir! The group itself was very patient and loving, very disciplined and very creative:) I realized how much I miss toturing, because back home ruhi study groups are a vital part of the community life. I am sure now, after the House of Justice released last three messages, study circles will become even more in number, and I am excited going home and help in any way I can. Our last session was in Bahji. The night before I went to new Akka and stayed with one of the most beautiful souls serving here, Tahirih.
I love sleeping in Akka, it is always so peaceful and tranquil there. Being there for me is like taking a bit of a fresh air after busy Haifa life. We said some prayers together and I slept like a baby:) Next morning, I went to help Amir to cook as he volunteered to prepare lunch for the group. By the way - he is an amazingly talented cook, very creative in his approach, and very open to learning:) When I reached his house, he was already in the middle of cooking, the table was full of chopped and not yet chopped veggies and other ingredients. He woke up around 5 am to start! I helped him a bit and took his pictures while cooking.

















On one of them you can see he is very shy covering his face, and on another one he is openly looking at the camera after I asked him "Pleeeeeaaaaase!" so cute! After we were done with cooking, we took a cab and went to Bahji. Our class mates were already there and we started right on time:) No need to mention how special it is to be able to study in Bahji, in the precincts of the Holy Shrine of Bahaullah! It was wonderful! We had an honor to have two family visitors (one from the United States and one from the United Kingdom) at our class and they participated sharing with us their experiences and their insights. At the end the group presented me some flowers absolutely unexpectedly for me! I was so shocked and at the same time so grateful to all of them for such an ecouragement. We took our group picture and moved to the lunch room which was full of pilgrims, staff and visitors where we had our lunch, it was great to spend time together! After lunch we went to the Shrine to pray. I miss serving as a tutor already and look forward to starting a new study circle in February:)

Children

This is my dear friend's granddaughter who is 3 months old now; her name is Kamila.
I see so many little children lately. Children... I love watching infants. They look like little angels who just came down from heaven. They are so beyond everything that adults worry about, they are so innocent and pure... Hard to believe that all of us were like that once upon a time... Watching their sleep or their babytalk, or interacting with them makes me feel that I am touching upon something sacred. Sometimes I am scared to look at them, cause it seems they can see me through... Don't try to hide your feelings from them cause they see with their hearts. They are so fragile and at the same time very strong. Their little hearts are full of love to everyone they see, their eyes are so hungry to learn new things. I can't stand seeing them crying, their tears are so sincere. Sometimes I wonder whether they actually see God and communicate with Him on their own, invisible for us, level. It's amazing that without knowing how to talk they feel and can express their love so clearly. No need to know many language to explain how you feel, just smile and embrace with your love. It makes me think how much parents should be prepare and should know in order to save this purity and raise noble people. Help them to find the gems that are hidden in their souls and support them in polishing those gems of inestimable value. What a task! What a blessing, what an endeavor!

Pictures

Yea, finally I was able to post some pictures with snow on them. Even looking at them makes me feel a little cold and feel the fresh smell of it, and I love it! This was before my day shift, early in the morning. It snowed the night before and we all were very happy to see and play with fresh fallen sparkled snow! And this is our square cat Vaska enjoying the snow! And here I am with Seppo - one of the Canadians who worked with us with his frozen moustache! Miss those days!

Missing snow.

It is December 12, and I am missing snow... It is snowing a lot back home right now, and it is +25Â°С in Haifa today. I found a CD with pictures from the work place of mine before coming here. Ther are some pictures from winter time, it was so refreshing to see them! Especially now, when I am almost falling asleep because the temperature in our Office is very high, we are all boiling here. uph! I used to work in the oil company as a field interpreter, so I had to be outside most of the time all year long. As you know drilling goes on nonstop unless there is an emergency. So we worked day and night shifts drilling through the layers ofKazakhstan:) During winter we had a lot of fun because moustache of our workers would freeze, glasses would stick to the face, we would warm ourselves up drinking a cup of hot tea or coffee as we worked. Our work cloth for winter was very thick and heavy and all in oil due to the nature of work. We all look the same in those orange overalls and hardhats. Ha-ha! Helarious! It was so much fun! I miss my work, the people I worked with, and constant sense of thrill as we worked at some dangerous sites. There was a cat that lived in our camp by the name Vaska. We used to call him a "squarer cat" as he was very big and fat. He was black with a white tie on his neck. I once took his picture early in the morning before going to work as he looked spectacular on the fresh white snow. I am really missing those days and hoping to go back one day and visit old friends, if any left, at that field. For some reason i am having trouble uploading the pictures, but i will share them with you as soon as i am able to. Chao!

New Experience

Last Monday I and Amir were invited to a concert in Haifa Auditorium. First of all, I would like to say a few words about Haifa Auditorium concert hall. I have been there once before at the Israeli symphony orchestra performance conducted by one of the best conductors in the world, amazing musician, Zubin Mehta. The Concert hall is built in interesting way. The stage is huge so that a big orchestra could fit. Behind the stage there are more seats for the audience. So imagine if you are sitting there, then conductor is facing you and you can actually watch him, his face, which normal audience doesn't get to see. And because you are sitting behind the orchestra, I am sure the sound of the whole thing is quite deferent because strings are further away, and all the winds are just in front of you. That would be quite unique experience, I am sure! Anyway, this time they have actually blocked the back side, and the stage looked much smaller and, like any other stage, with the wall behind. Kids that study violin here in Haifa conservatory performed as a small string orchestra. Two of the Bahai kids were there as well, that is why we went to support them and to enjoy their performance. It was quite an experience, since I didn't expect what I got to see. The kids were sitting on the right side of the stage, their conductor - a young man of Russian origin, professor of the conservatory was sitting at the huge grand piano on the left side of the stage, facing the kids, on his right side he had an electrical keyboard. Behind the piano there were a drummer and a bass guitarist, and in front of the conductor there was sitting a guy who kept talking before each piece, of course he spoke Hebrew, and I guess he was an MC. Anyway, the conductor was amazing! He was a leading accompaniment for all the pieces, he is a very good pianist! Sometimes he would play the keyboard AT THE SAME TIME as piano by his right hand, without even looking at it! And at times he would stand up to give a sign to kids that their time to play has come. It was very spectacular! I just enjoyed watching this guy, I wonder how his brains work, he is so multi-functional. And he is so good at it too, I didn't have an impression that he is having a hard time managing so many things simultaneously, on the contrary, I think he enjoyed it very much! Wow! They played popular national Israeli songs, there were four singers that sang them, and the audience was singing along with the soloists as they all knew the songs. There was a screen on the stage as well showing some historical facts, some nice pictures and lyrics of the song, of course in Hebrew. I wish I could read it so I could join them in their sing-along. It was so much fun! The singers have very deep Israeli type voices, good quality singers. At the end, the MC started thanking everyone for coming (as we figured) and thanking everyone for performing. He probably said that kids in orchestra come from different religious backgrounds, because we heard him saying "Bahaim" (that's how Israelis call Bahai) after he mentioned Jews and Christians. Then each child was called by a name, stood up and bowed. It was very nice to acknowledge their wonderful work at the end. We were proud of our Bahai kids who were there, what a wonderful experience for them to be able to play and perform with so high quality musicians! Unfortunately, i don't have any picture to post as i didn't have a digital camera with me. may be next time:)