January 29

Today is an anniversary day - we've been here for one month.  And one year ago we were in the middle of the Arab Spring.  When I think that our crazy year is now over, I can't quite believe that it's already been a year.  A friend of mine posted pictures of her baby's first birthday and I was shocked to realize that it was a year ago that we were hanging out in Oakwood with her baby that was Joseph's age at the time.  It's been a funny year; it feels like it has lasted forever, but then it feels like it began a month or two ago.

I also can't believe that we've been in Baku for a month.  It feels like we've been here much longer than a month.  Our house is already starting to feel like home in that way that's hard to explain.  When I was reading blogs a few days ago, I finished and looked around me.  "Oh," I thought with confusion, "I'm in Baku.  That's right.  I'm not in America, I'm living in Azerbaijan."

That's when I know I'm settling in overseas - I forget that I live overseas, and when I do remember, I can't quite recall what's so weird about my situation.  When I was searching through my consumables heap the other day, Sophia and I had a conversation about how the movers were still living in America and wouldn't be moving overseas.  Most people in America, I had to explain to her, live in America their whole lives and never live anywhere else.  That's part of what makes them American.  I'm not sure she quite understood the concept.

So, after a month in my Baku, here is my assessment.  We love the housing.  Our house is beautiful, spacious, and comfortable.  Of course it has its maintenance quirks - our downstairs heating being the most frequent - but that's to be expected.  The mission members are wonderful; we've had dinners and breakfasts and rides and offers of help and a very warm welcome.  The city itself looks to be fairly reasonable, but I haven't been out much since our car hasn't gotten here yet.  Brandon's job is... interesting to him, but so far much much busier than his job in Egypt ever was.  But I suppose there has to be a pill in all of that jam.  Otherwise we wouldn't want to leave at the end of two years.

So for now, so far so good.  I'm crossing my fingers that no revolutions come our way.  But if they do, I suppose that I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing.  How's that for optimism?