Summer

So… it has been a while and I promised I would write, so here it is.

 

Green Camps

Green camp is an environmental leadership camp that allows children from different Armenian villages an opportunity to learn about the environment and develop their leadership skills. There were four day camps this summer in four different villages. I worked at two of the camps. They were awesome! The kids that attended the camps were from the village or surrounding villages. It is such a wonderful experience for them. There are not a lot of camp type programs for Armenian children to attend and summers are spent at their house or with relatives. In America, we are really fortunate to have so many different programs that kids can attend. Whether it is Scout camps, sports camps, music camps, summer school or other, our kids can stay pretty busy. Here it is not really the case, there are a limited number of camps. It was awesome being able to participate in some of them.

I also worked at an overnight camp and was able to bring 4 kids from my village to the camp. I also was fortunate enough to have my counterpart, Tamara, agree to help out at some of the camps with me! They would not have worked without her and I really appreciated her spirit and enthusiasm! We had a great time, even though some aspects of the camp were unnecessarily stressful, we had a great time! It will be something I never forget!

To learn more about this camp or to donate to the camps you can click on this link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-063

This is through a Peace Corps Partnership Program and depends on people like you to donate and support various projects.

 

New People, New People, New People!

A new group of about 55 people arrived in Armenia at the end of May, went through PST, and now are at their respective sites. It was such a weird experience going from the new kids to old kids. Right after my family left Armenia, I went to the A-18s site announcement ceremony. This is where they learn where they will be living for the next 2 years. Up to that point they have just been studying the language, learning sector specific information, and sitting through meetings about security, health, and PC policies. It was such a fun day because as 17s, we get to find out who our neighbors are and who will live near us for our next year. I, luckily now, have two neighbors! They live in the town east of me and I am excited!

 

Family! Friends! Turkey! And it's not Thanksgiving?!?

The best part of my summer was being able to take a vacation, travel around, but most importantly see my family!!! My mom and aunt met me in Turkey and spent two weeks traveling around! They came back to Armenia and spent almost a week seeing the different sites! It was such a wonderful experience being able to share a piece of my new life with them!

A few other volunteers and I went to Georgia to fly out of Tbilisi. We arrived in the morning and the flight was in the afternoon so we had a few hours to explore Tbilisi. We didn't do much exploring as much as we just went to a bath house, a few cafes, and a park to people watch. We took the afternoon flight to Istanbul, hectically met my friend Jake who flew in from Spain, and then hopped an overnight bus to Fethiye.

Before I met my mom and aunt in Istanbul, I went on a boat cruise through the Mediterranean… four days, three nights, sleeping on the dock under a blanket of stars. The cruise started in Fethiye and ended in Olympos. For the next two days, I kept feeling as though I was on a boat and rocking constantly… weird feeling. We spent the night in Olympos and then headed to Antalya the next day. Olympos was beautiful and a relaxed beach community. I really wish we could have stayed there longer; it was nice just hanging out. This vacation came at the best possible point during my service. It was the first time I had been out of Armenia and it had been a little more than a year.

After Olympos, we spent one night in Antalya. Antalya reminded me a lot of a Florida beach town, a relaxed atmosphere, interesting night life, and expansive. It was a lot more built up than I thought it would be but it was nice. We watched the US vs. England football match and met a couple of characters while we were out. The next day we had most of the morning to walk around before we had to catch our flight to Istanbul where I would be meeting my mom and aunt.

Because we flew in domestic and my mom and aunt flew in International, we had to meet them at the International arrival section. It was just like in the movies, or in Love Actually, where they show that montage of people meetings friends or families at the airport. We had to go through security to get into the international arrival section and I was worried we would miss them or it would take forever to locate them. One friend sat with the bags, another went to check the arrival schedule and I camped out with all of the people holding name cards. My plan was to remain calm and just walk up and hug them when I saw them. Or I was going to play a practical joke and walk up, say hi, and just shake hands. Then I saw them… I, embarrassingly, could not contain my excitement. I squealed and ran up to them, gave them a big hug, and may or may not have had tears in my eyes…

After making the introductions, we all headed to the hostel. The hostel was gorgeous and I would definitely recommend it for anyone. It is in a pretty sweet location, relaxing, and has really interesting people that work there. It is called Cheers Hostel and their website is: http://www.cheershostel.com/

For the next couple of days, we explored Istanbul, met up with other PCVs that were also on vacation, and shopped, ate baklava, shopped, ate baklava and shopped. PS I love scarves and Turkey is a horrible place to have that kind of addiction. I also did something horrible… I ate at McDonald's, Little Caesars' and drank at Starbucks. Please don't judge, but all of it was delicious. And now that I have had my McDonald's fix I can go another year or more…

After Istanbul, we took an overnight bus to Cappadocia and spent two days seeing the sights there. I usually am not a big fan of tour groups and buses but it was necessary to see all of the places we wanted to see in the area. We only had two full days there and one night. We stayed in an awesome cave hostel that was also really nice. While there we had some of the best food I have had in a while. They make this stew type dish in ceramic pots. It is incredibly flavorful and unique tasting! We had a great time there and relaxed a little after the hectic-ness of Istanbul.

We took the night bus back to Istanbul, had one more night in the hostel before flying back to Tbilisi. I was going to stay a couple of nights in Tbilisi with my family but it turned out to be better if I went back to Yerevan right away. I took my family to some of the sights in and around Yerevan, including the Cascades, Garni, Geghart, Khor Virap, Noravank, and Ichmiadzin (sp?). I took my mom to my village and introduced her to my wonderful counterpart Tamara and Tamara's family! It was really cool that my mom was able to spend time in my village, even though it was short and we weren't able to see everyone I wanted to…

During my mom and aunt's stay in Yerevan, the World Cup was playing. We developed a schedule that worked out well. Run around during the day, come back and watch a game, eat dinner during the 2 hour break, watch the last game until 1-2 in the am and then call it a night. Repeat on the next day! It was awesome! It was hard to say good-bye to my mom and aunt but it was amazing having them here! I had such a wonderful time and can't wait to see them again!

 

Mid-Service, that's right, HALF way mark…

Yeah, so I have been here a year, officially. And I, officially, have one year left. Yeah, so pretty much, I don't know where this last year went… Wait, what?!?! A YEAR! Oh my, this time thing is flying by… Our mid-service conference was pretty good. We were put up at a sweet hotel with sweet showers and nice, hard, beds. It was awesome. As tradition, we also played kickball and, of course, being 17s we kicked butt! Those poor 18s had no clue what happened or who we are. Last year, playing the 16s was fun but not really challenging. (Sorry guys, but it wasn't.) The 18s presented a slight challenge towards the end but we were never really scared. The 18s say we cheated and called a game too early, but all of those factors were beyond our control… we won, fair and square. But not to gloat too much, the purpose was to have fun… I know the 17s did! Ha!

But in all seriousness, it has been a year and it feels weird. People say that your 2^nd year is totally different than your 1^st and I know that will be the case. There are so many different factors going into my second year… no site mate, working at the culture house instead of school, projects, and grants set up… It definitely will be much busier this next year than it was last year. I feel I will blink and I will be writing about COS (close of service) conference. I can guarantee a freak-out session because then I will have to figure out my life for the next year anyways…

 

Job Description

This school year will be a lot different than it was last year. I will be starting working full time at the Cultural House in my village. I will be doing about 4-5 after school clubs. Most of them will be English teaching with EE topics woven in. I hope to have a creative writing club, an eco club, a volunteer club, and possibly 2 others. I really want to expand and have an adult English class but I am not sure how that will work. I also hope to write a grant to help renovate the cultural house.

 

After Peace Corps

With less than a year left, I am starting to think about what will happen next year. Who knows is the only answer I have for it… It is kind of stressful to think about the future and I am trying to live in the present. It is hard when all of your peers are applying to grad schools/ looking at jobs and I am just staring off into space. I know what I want to do: teach. I know where I want to teach: somewhere not in the US. I know when I want to start teaching: 2012/2013 school year. But between August 2011 and June-ish 2012, not a clue… I know I want to travel around: Turkey (again), India, Malaysia, Australia, Philippines, Thailand… For how long: longer than a month, less than a year. Ah! Growing up and making decisions is a lot harder than you would think… but at least I am fortunate enough to have these options open and family and friends that are supportive. Right?

 

So stay tuned to new posts… They should be coming a lot more often now that I have the internets!