AzerbyJake: My How The Times Have Changed!

A year ago, the most important thing on my mind at this time was finding the ideal pair sunglasses to wear during McGill summer sports camp. Mission accomplished: a pair of bright lime green Ray-Ban knock-offs for 5$ outside the Met in NYC. I spent nights up worrying, wondering: would Tony and I, roommates at the palace of 3667 Jeanne Mance, be able to host the most epic party sports camp had ever seen? Most epic? Who knows, but I certainly think over 60$ in bottle returns and a visit from Montreal’s finest counts as epic. I spent lunch time after lunch time stressing: would Tony, Dan, Cory, and I be able to pull off another Fun Fun Friday as successful as 2009’s spy day? Probably not, but real life Mario Kart and the invention of our own game, Krug War, that involved playing soccer, capture the flag, dodgeball, and about 6 other sports all at the same time counts as a pretty “fun” day! I spent so much time a year ago worrying about these things. Would I be able to fit in a run up the mountain after beach volleyball on Sunday afternoon. Should I order Italian or Chinese for dinner tonight? Is it a hat day or not? Where are we going for drinks after work? Do Tony and I suit up for dinner tonight? What song will we sing at karaoke on Thursday night at McKibbin’s? Will Mike get mad when he sees what I did to the apartment?

Now, well, as the title suggests, the times have changed! Now, halfway across the world, I don’t worry about what kind of sunglasses I am going to wear, I wrestle with the decision of whether it would be appropriate to wear shorts or not. It’s not so much about how we can make this camp the best ever. Actually, it’ll be the first ever! Right now, it’s about how can we make this camp happen at all. Will our grant be accepted? What will the community think of it? Will we get the support we need? Will the kids even show up? Don’t get me wrong, I still find plenty of time to joke around. Trey and I recently nicknamed every volunteer who committed to helping us at the camp for the week. We still want to have some fun; there’s a mini pool in Stephanie’s yard just waiting for the weather to get warm enough! So no, the fun and games are not all gone, the giddy anticipation of the arrival of summer still exists, it just transcended anything I could have ever imagined.

Here are pictures from the Georgian Pilgrimage, ‘Church Holiday’ in Azeri, in Qax. This “pilgrimage” celebrates the death of St. George, one of the most highly regarded saints in the Catholic church. After taking the walk up the mountain to the church, barefoot (for good luck), I spent most of the day cooking kebabs for everyone. Then, the Georgians invited us over to share their homemade wine with them…the rest is a little fuzzy.