My dad is enjoying making video
Mandolin piece by Behrouz
African queens gracefuly dancing for us
Our wedding cake with a little cake for the rings in the middle
Just signed the contract...are we really married ????
Zhenya (Dj) was our MC for the reception
Ukrainian song by Liudmila and Serghei
Happily following Mark's instructions

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!