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:)

Wedding season

Today morning my friend Sahar sent her wedding pictures to few people in the office. Seriously, it made my day! I am so happy for her to be married to someone she loves! She is one fo the most beautiful brides i've ever seen! And this picture is one of my favourite! Love you, Sahar!

Smile, Hug, Hold Hands!

Today I learnt something interesting from one of the doctors. I was told that scientific research showed that smile improves your immune system and helps to bring down the stress. Same thing with holding your loved one's hand, it helps to improve the immune system of both and calms you down. Isn't it amazing? I also knew that hugging has a healing effect and is called "holding therapy".

How do we love

How hard it is sometimes to love people simply because some of'em hate you for whatever reason, and how high is the religious standard to develop an unconditional love that is beyond all earthly things. I love you BECAUSE you love me, I love him BECAUSE he is very sweet, I love her BECAUSE she helped me the other day, I love them BECAUSE I have to love them BECAUSE they are my family, I love this couple BECAUSE they're always smiling at me in the morning when I go to work, etc... That's easy, and I would say that's how animals express their feelings, if you pet and feed them, they are nice to you, but if you beat them, they bite and wound you. But we are not animals, then why do we behave like them? How easy it is to return back a smile! How hard it is to keep smiling at someone who turns his face away from you again and again... How about God's love? (I know a guy whose name is Godlove:)) Isn't it amazing that He (God) loves everyone no matter what people do with their lives, no matter how they treat others and no matter how much they care about Him. There is no "BECAUSE" in His love... The only difference is that if they don't love God, they won't ever know how much He loves them. What a loss! It is all about opening one's heart and letting Him work through it. Human's heart is never enough to love everyone, unless God lives in it... Once one experienced the all-embracing love deriving from one's love for God, he will ever fear to loose it and will try to keep it in his heart, through pains and sufferings, through tests, rejections and disappointments, even at times through humiliations; his heart will grow bigger and bigger and the whole other world will be opened for him. What a gift, what a joy, what a blessing...

O SON OF BEING! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant. (Baha'u'llah: Arabic Hidden Words, Page: 5)

O SON OF MAN! For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials. (Baha'u'llah: Arabic Hidden Words, Page: 48)

Some pictures, as promised.

During performance. Sheila Aquino-Birung, soloist for "Ya Baha'ul'Abha" and "O, Baha'u'llah". (photographer Kiyoko Nanni)
During performance. Dancing to our "Bare necessities" song. It is actualy possible to dance and sing at the same time! (photographer Kiyoko Nanni)
During practice. Some basses (lower male voices in the choir) - Adib, Zhenya and Bernard. As u can see, choir can be a lot of fun. (photographer Negeen Sobhani)During practice. Consultation on stage. I think we were talking about our movements for "Bare necessities". BTW, Mandu, the one in the middle, together with Martha, was our choreographer for this song. She is also a very good soprano. (photographer Negeen Sobhani)

During practice. During technical rehearsal in the Auditorium. Some sopranos (higher female voices in the choir)- Mutale, me, Patria and Neva. (photographer Negeen Sobhani)

During practice. Here is our conductor, Franco Aquino, very talented young man from the Philippines. (photographer Negeen Sobhani)

Simple Gifts

Have few minutes before lunch, wanted to share how our choir concert went last night. We all looked so smart, in white and black outfits, guys were wearing bowties, so cute! Took a lot of pictures, will post them later. Dr. Varqa was at the concert which made it a very special event. The hall was almost full with the exception of few emtly seets in front. Sometimes people are too shy to sit in front and sometimes they prefer to veiw things a bit from a distance. When Theresa (Kipp) announced the Bahai World Centre Choir, the audience started clapping and cheering us by wisteling and hoohing. We came on stage and my heart was trying to jump out of my mouth very badly. I couldn't sing the first song - needed some time to calm myself down, so i just mouthed it out. The atmosphere was great, the audience was so loving and cheering, our conductor, Franco (Aquino), was very encouraging, always smiling and giving us some hints to support us. I coudn't help crying while singing "Dastam Begir Abdul Baha", i love this song so much, and of course, our soloist "Corinne Padilla" did a great job singing it. i heard so many people saying that they cried:) We danced while singing "Bare Necesseties", it was so much fun and absolute surprise for the audience, they were laughing and clapping to the bit of the song. Children joined us for the prayer "O God, my God", they were so cute in their little suits and girls with their little dresses, trying to follow conductor's movements:) Franco's sister Sheila (Aquino-Birung) came to visit her family here and did a solo for two songs, one of which was a finale of the concert, "O, Bahaullah". We did it with the sound track, it sounded very emotional, especially becouse this is her first visit to the Holy Land and first time she performed in front of the Hand of the Cause and Institution members, she cried when we presented a huge, beautiful bouquet of flowers to her. It was a surprise for our soloists Sheila and Corinne and for Franco as well. Everything just worked out so well, we managed ot collect money and keep the flowers away from their eyes. Amirskiy (my zhanym) helped a lot by bringing them back stage before the last song so we could present them at the end of the concert. Our stage and technical crew worked so hard putting things together, i am so amased by their selfless services. We had a 15 minutes slideshow in between of the two parts of the concert, choir members didn't have a chance to see it properly yet due to being occupied with vocalizing and learning lyrics, but Kevin, who put the slides together has said he will show it to us separately. It consisted of some history of the choir, had some videos from defferent concerts and pictures of past and present. People were so uplifted and happy after the show, indeed music has a great efect on human souls.

"...We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high;..." (Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Aqdas, Page: 38)

Engaged!

I guess, i can announce to the whole world that i am ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!! yea... Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance for your congratulations! He is the most wonderful person in the world, and i am VERY VERY happy and excited to start a new chapter in my life together with Amir.

29

Yesterday i turned 29.
I had a wonderful day, full of surprisees and gifts, many friends sent me their greetings and wishes over the email. The day started with the SMS message of my sister at 2 in the morning, saying how much she loves me and how much she misses me. It was very sweet of her, and i know why she sent SMS so early knowing the time difference, she just wanted to be the first to congratulate me, so sweet. But of caurse, she didn't know that my zhanym called me the night before right after the sunset to wish me a happy birthday ahead of anyone:) i miss my sister a lot, but i was too sleepy to reply. At 4 in the morning i heard another signal for SMS, this time it was my father. Of caurse, i didn't reply either, and two hours later my mom decided to send me a message too. I love my family! I think they were racing who is first to express their love to me:):) in the morning my zhanym called me and sang a happy birthday song in russian (second time), which sounds very sweet with the pilippino accent:):):) he is such a sweetheart:) At work i heard the happy birthday song AGAIN from my office colleagues and according our office tradition everyone gave me a big hug, so at least 25 people hugged me yesterday, isn't it great! And i even had a cake that Mutale made for me. This was a total surprise! It was delicious! Men, i wish every day was my birthday! One of the best presents of that morning was the announcement of my two good friends of their engagement, i was so happy for them! At night my zhanym, my brother and i went to one of my favorite places of Asian food in Haifa that is called "jiraff"(rather strange name for the Asian food place), where we had some noodles and spicy rice with some see food, yummy! the day ended with the Youth Prayer gathering at the Shrine of the Bab organized by the Youth Committee, i couldn't think of a better ending of my birthday! At night, before going to bed i talked to my zhanym, and then thought of how i don't feel to be 29 at all. It's just a number anyway. I felt a bit sad that each year the number grows bigger, but it was not long, next day i felt fine. All my friends and people that surround me here did so much to make me happy on that day! i am so greatful to God that i meet the most wonderful people on my path of service. Anyway, i have to remember next time to say 29 instead of 28 when i am aksed of my age:)

All ye who music love

Things are getting hectic with our preparation for the choir concert. We sing 14 songs with one break in the middle of the programm. The closer we are getting to the date of the performance the more tired we are and more we realize how much more practice we need...(more, more, more!) We have a saying in Russian that if translated in English sounds something like "you can't get enough of breath before the death", i don't know if it makes any sence at all in English...you tell me... Anyway, i think it's a perfect description of our pre-performing state-realizing that no matter how much we practice before the concert we will perform only ot the best of our ability, it might not be the best people will hear but it'll be the best we can do:):)funny... anyway, i am very excited as i know that there are a lot of people coming to listen to our choir. The songs are so differnet in styles but are very beautiful , all of them! Starting with prayers and spiritual song, continuing with African style dancing songs and finishing with classical overture. I think to learn and sing is much more fun then to listen. Choir is an amazing environment to learn patience, teamwork, collaboration and even consultation! Because one needs to constantly listen to others in order ot sound in harmony. Complete elimination of ego, just blending in one big harmony and unity. Our conductor Franco, amazingly talented musician is as much fanatic of his hobby as he should be in order to conduct the amature choir like us. Believe me, it's not easy! I am so proud of him and hope he can be proud of us during the concert.