OK, first of all, yesterday I went to the wedding of Ahad (who I study with at SPEA)'s brother. Really, there is nothing like getting invited to a wedding when you are in another country- it's such a great experience. Ahad invited me to the before-wedding activities, which meant that I met him at his family's apartment, and then we all drove together to the bride's apartment, and then there were some traditions to do (like tying a red ribbon around the bride's waist) and then going to take pictures, and then off to the wedding hall. There were musicians with us for all this (a drum/accordian/clarinet trio) and the cars were all marked with ribbons and honked and made a lot of noise- fun!

They had the celebration in a wedding hall in a neighborhood with about 300 or 400 other wedding halls- weddings are a huge deal here! Then you sit, eat, drink, and dance. Yum yum yum. Let's just say that caviar was involved- luxury to me! And yes, I danced. I got progressively better throughout the night i think- must have been all the shampanskoe. Dancing here involves holding your arms out sideways and moving mostly your wrists- at first i felt like I was hula-ing, but that's because I was bad.

So, me with the bride and groom:


The official from ZAGS and the official registering of the marriage:


Ahad!


Ahad dancing!


The singer, who is apparently famous:


Confetti!!!

I'm behind in my posting, mostly because pictures take a very long time to load. I'll have another post with more pictures of Baku soon.