Nawroz

  I love it here, and so far my favorite day since being here has been Nawroz! 

This was a sight to see on the street!
Literally everyone gets involved with

this holiday!!

         My second day here we went to the Bazar with the Salem team and I got to pick out my very own, already made Jili Kurdi. I felt like I was going to pass out being in the bazar with all the new smells, having a headache from jet lag and the idea of wearing so much jewelry and sparkly clothing for Nawroz made me especially overwhelmed. Once the holiday rolled around I was more okay with this idea, seeing that it is very customary to dress this way!

        

The guys getting their picture
taken with the guards.

Our team dressed for the occasion!

        Nawroz day everyone goes picnicking outside the city, but the day before a huge pre-party happens downtown on the main street. The road is shut down and seriously everyone gets dressed up and fills the streets! As a team we got together around noon and had pictures. The interns and a couple of other friends went for lunch and then fled for the main street to join the rest of the city. 

      It took us a couple hours to meet up with our local friends who were selling Jewelry they made at a museum because the street was so packed with people! This day was incredible hanging out with so many great people and getting a feel for the culture.

      What I didn't expect, was that so many complete strangers would want a photo with us. It took us so long to walk the streets not only because there were o many people, but because about half of them wanted to take a picture with us! I felt like a celebrity just because I had blonde hair and was American!

One of the many photos take as a celebrity.

        After spending a bunch of time on the streets, we decided to head upstairs to the balcony of one of the largest malls in the city. We waited for a long time to get a seat on the balcony, but once we finally did it was well worth it. The view was spectacular! We waited another hour or so to order ice cream and it was amazing. 

  After the sunset, fireworks were set off over the city, and we started to head back to our house. It took ages to walk back to Stacy's where we got her car and piled 8 people into her small car to drive home! That was an experience in itself and a memory that gets brought up often.

    The real holiday began the next day when we loaded up the center van to go on a picnic up in the gorgeous mountains. We took two local friends with us who have become some of my best local friends since then. The day was filled with walking down to the water, lots of food, lots of dancing and a boat ride around the harbor. This was the first time my local friends had ever been on a boat. 

Nawroz was a great day to get to know so many people and to experience the culture I would be apart of for such a long time. I fell in love with this place instantly, and am felt so blessed that I was surrounded by such gorgeous sites in the Middle East!