I can see Iran from my roof...

    Just kidding.  What I can see are mountains all around, lately dipped in snow like a baker who underestimated her need for frosting.  Everything is a matte color except for the sunsets, the ever popular year round strings of lights over businesses, and bright houses dotted throughout the more sedate shades of concrete.  Kurds love bright colors and I am anticipating the spring where they attempt to rival nature with their Naw Roz celebration.  This is their New Year's celebration, and pretty much the whole month is taken up with picnicking, dressing up in traditional Kurdish clothing and celebrating in other ways.
     We live on a busy street, Bahktiari, and are known as the "Hganew Sour Acca", or  "the Red House".  People don't have addresses here, so to reach my house by taxi I would say "Mizgoat Bahktiari" which refers to the mosque locate up our street.  After passing that landmark you would just keep muttering "rake" (with a rolled r) which means straight until our house comes in sight.  There are ducons, or small shops up and down the street with produce and other odds n ends, such as cheap bb guns that can shoot through pop cans.  We have our ducan across the street and are quite faithful to him, minus for produce (Cheryl has a guy down the street who absolutely dotes on her and brings out better fruits and veggies from the back).
       Sometimes I can't see the mountains, when it is a dusty day.  You can tell its going to be dusty from the moment you wake up, the air is heavy, and Cheryl and I usually get headaches from the pressure.  It' still been in the 50's during the day, though at night its pretty chilly.  I've earned the nickname "refugee" for all the layers I parade around the house in.
     I've been asked, "What is the hardest thing you have done out there?"  To be honest, my life isn't hard.  Sure, hot water and electricity is not a given, but its not anything to be called a hardship.  The language barrier is a big one, but I know that with enough time, it can be overcome.  The biggest challenge I have had to deal with is myself.  I am used to living on my own, dictating what I want to do, and being able to get away whenever I feel like it.  Being a wayfaring 20-something has its high points, you add a car into that mix and it feels like freedom.  However, it seems as though the lesson of the year is to plant my feet in the sand and just be here, in my heart, my mind, and with love.  I get frustrated sometimes, with students, with friends, and I want to just book it for a while or to "just do it".  I can teach class, have conversations, and spend time with others without it coming from the heart.  They might not even notice.  But I know someone who always knows, and its his approval I want the most.  You know, its easy to say that, I'm working for a "well done, good and faithful servant" but its how that belief permeates your life that proclaims its truth or your shallowness.