I watched my Nana make a mattress...

There are a very few time here when you can convince yourself that you are somewhere similar to home. Walking by the sea (if you let yourself forget it is the Caspian), eating watermelon and corn on the cob, talking with your American friend outside of the school. And then there are those times that you absolutely know that you are not in Kansas anymore – and Toto would be a stray dog that the kids throw rocks at. Some of these experiences are hard and somewhat heartbreaking (for example, the Toto reference), some are so amazingly cool that you just have to stop for a moment, in awe of the world you are currently living in.

A few weeks ago, I woke up to the sound of a bat or stick or something swinging. I looked out my window to see my nana, down below, beating a pile of wool with a stick. Okaaaay, I thought, this is new. So, I went about my routine, and when I headed off to school, I got to stop, ask about it (with translation help from my host brother), and take pictures. My host brother explained to me that every summer women do this. They are either making new mattresses or cleaning the old ones. They take apart the mattresses, wash out the wool and clean it, and put it all back together again.

Through out the day, I got to watch the various stages if this process. And, several times since that first experience, I have gotten to witness this routine as my host family gets all of their mattresses clean.

It starts with taking apart the mattress and soaking the wool. For a new mattress, they buy the wool at the wool market. They wash it out, then dry it in the sun. The wool beating is the next step in this process. They beat it and shake it out to get all of the bits and pieces of dirt out. This takes hours! Nana started pretty much when then sun rose and kept going until 9 or 10 am. Then the wool is gathered and taken back inside (or to wherever each particular family does this).

It is spread onto what is, basically, a giant sheet. The sheet is folded over and stitched together. Then some seams are put it. Again, this takes an incredibly long time. Nana started this part in the late afternoon and was just finishing around 10 pm. After that, a cover is put on. It is a much thinker fabric, and nicer. Most of the covers in my family seem to be a satin-y material. I have seem others in other houses. The mattress is slid into the cover, and then the cover is stitched together.

My nana is my favorite person in my host family. Her laugh is a cackle, and I just crack her up. She was cracking jokes as she was going through this whole process, and even paused to look up and smile for my photos. At one point she paused, sat down, and said how angry she was because the mattress was such hard work. Then she smiled, cackled a bit, and went right back to it.