October 2009- February 2010
Editors Note: This is a compilation of different posts that I have written over the last couple of months. Because of the holidays and the different times that I have written this, the post might jump around a bit. Sorry.
November 11, 2009 Note: Wow, I can’t believe it is already November, it seems as though time is flying by! These two years are going to fly by! Then again, it isn’t winter yet. But let me tell you, I am already colder than I have ever been. In my host family’s house, the only room that gets good sun is the kitchen and is on the exact opposite of my room. So my room never heats up with the sun and will not retain the warmth from the electric heaters… so it will be a cold winter for me.
But in other news, I looked at my new apartment! It belongs to my host uncle’s parents-in-law’s parents. Whew! They are in Russia and have been for the last ten years, I think. They won’t be coming back to Aragats any time soon, so they are allowing me to rent it, which I think is great! It is a huge apartment on the fifth floor. It is close to my site mate too, which will be nice when it gets darker earlier. I won’t have to walk home in the dark with the big scary dogs here.
Other Notes:
Lake Sevan
A group of us went to Lake Sevan as our first weekend out of site. When we first move to site, we are unable to leave our site for a month. This is to get us used to site and to get us involved in the community. Looking back (I am writing this about 3 months after the fact), it was smart of them to not allow us out of site for a month because it forces us to work on our language and adapting into the community. To be honest though because school is not in session, it was kind of boring just hanging out. When you enter PC, you can’t help it but you do have grandiose ideas about what you will be doing. Then you get to site and basically hang out for a month… not always what you thought.
Anyway, Sevan was really fun and a lot colder than I thought it would be. We rented a couple of cabins through another volunteer’s host family. We had a barbeque (horovats) and made delicious food. We had dance parties, played cards, laughed a LOT and generally enjoyed the lake. We went to an old monastery that was close to the cabins. It was really beautiful and we took some fun band photos! It was really cold though and gave us a small glimpse of what winter will be.
The cabins were nice and another PCV set it up but they weren’t what I was thinking when they said cabin. They are basically tin boxes with beds and a bathroom. But it was cheap enough and worked for what we wanted. I would totally go there again, but now I have to wait for warm weather…
Initiatives and Soccer Games
There are a couple of initiatives in PC. There is GAD, gender and development, EAI, environmental action initiative, PR, public relations and HIV/AIDS awareness. I am apart of the GAD and EAI initiative. We had our first meeting towards the end of September and got together to talk about projects that would be continuing and projects that they wanted to start on. There are some exciting things that may be happening and I am excited to be apart of it. It was also nice because I was able to see a bunch of volunteers that I had not seen in a while.
We also are only allowed 2 nights a month in Yerevan so I used my two nights for that weekend. It was nice being Yerevan because it is a big city that has a lot of European influences. It has outdoor cafes, during the summer, and lots of shops. It also has an outdoor market, the varnasage, where you can go and get some really cool souvenirs and household items. It is kind of like you leave Armenia and go into an up-and-coming European city.
The soccer game was a few weeks after the initiatives weekend but it was in Yerevan. Armenia versus Spain was the game and Armenia ended up losing 2-1 but it was a better game than expected. A few volunteers met up at an outdoor café before the game and just caught up on life. It is really nice and relaxing to hang out in the capital. There are also some places that remind me of places back in Gainesville.
Bird Week
Anyone who knows me knows how much I like to bird. Armenia is a great place to do bird watching because we have a lot of migratory birds. There are also a lot of different climates here so there are many different types of birds in a relatively small area. There are also a couple of different bird watching/protection programs that are happening in Armenia. One of them is an organization that sponsors annual bird watches.
For one of the annual bird watching events, I met up with my mentor PCV and another PCV and we went out at my mentor’s site to look for birds. She lives close to Gyumri and therefore there were a lot of raptor birds that we could see. Now, it has been debated whether or not I saw the bird, but I am pretty sure we saw an Imperial Eagle. This is very exciting for me but about two weeks after this sighting I went to a bird watching class.
At this bird watching class it was debated whether I really saw an Imperial Eagle or not. This saddens me a lot. The coolest bird I have seen in this country has a shadow of doubt cast over it. Therefore, I will continue looking for it and will see it again with someone who will identify it beyond doubt.
But the bird watching class was awesome! It was a week long and at the American University in Yerevan. It was 9 to 5 everyday and was all about birds and how to identify them. That Saturday we had a trip out to the lake to see the different birds that we learned about. We saw a lot of cool water birds! It was an awesome week because I learned so much. I can now train my students about birding skills. Next year, there is an advanced bird watching training that I can attend!
List of what I have seen so far:
Great Crested Grebe
Squacco Heron
White Stork!!! (There are nests in my mentor’s site!)
Lammergeier (such a cool bird- saw it from a marshutney while driving from an EAI meeting to YVN)
Common Buzzard
Imperial Eagle (?!?!?)
Common Kestrel
Ruddy Shelduck
Armenian Gull
European Bee-eater (such a pretty bird)
European Roller
Eurasian Hoopoe
White Wagtail
Red-backed Shrike
Sedge Warbler
Blue Tit
European Goldfinch
Eurasian Jay
Magpies (ugh, pretty but my gosh they are everywhere)
Eurasian Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
This is a list of the species that I know for sure. I have probably seen twice as many but either haven’t gotten a for sure identification or have forgotten to write them down.
Halloween and Green Camps!
School had a break the week before Halloween, called the Fall Break. I did not find out about it until the 24th, the Saturday before the break but I was able to go to Artsvaberd, which is in the north by Berd. Other PCVs were having a Green Camp and I decided to go up and help out. So I took a 2-hour marshutney to Yerevan and then took a 4-hour taxi ride north. It was a long day of travel and driving through the mountains took forever. It was really foggy too and it was a lot of back and forth up and down the mountain! But we made it safely!
Green Camp was a lot of fun! We played games, hiked around, almost lost kids (we found them, they went to their house before everyone else), and generally had a lot of fun. I love camp and had so much fun playing with the kids. We sang Boom Chick A Boom in Armenian, which isn’t much different than in English. Other PCVs came up and we all stayed at a 16s house. It was really cold there because of how north it is, but it was gorgeous! That part of the country is mountainous and has a lot of trees. On one of the hikes you can see Azerbaijan, which was cool.
The kids were also awesome! They were excited to be there and seemed to enjoy the Americans. There was also this kid that I had a lot of fun playing around with. One time at snack, we had wafers. Here they are called wafflies. I thought the name was funny so I did a dance and sang “wafflies, wafflies,” basically just being silly. Well he thought it was hilarious and him and I would do the wafflies dance. The next day another kid came up to me and introduced himself. Then he said he is so-and-so’s little brother. But I didn’t know wafflies’ name so I didn’t know who he was talking about. Then he told me he is poker wafflies. Poker means little, so he was saying he was wafflies little brother. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever witnessed! So for the rest of the camp, I called the older brother wafflies and the little brother poker wafflies. It was so funny; we would all do the wafflies dance.
Also during the camp, we got to go hiking. There is a statue close to Artsvabed that we had to climb a giant hill to get to. It was really cool and once we made it to the top, we got to see all around. It is beautiful in that part of the country. There are tall trees and green hills/mountains. It is the complete opposite of my site.
The camp was great because it reminded me why I am here, and that is to work with the kids of Armenia. This is a memory I will have forever!
While there, we also celebrated Halloween with other volunteers. This was fun and very American. We all dressed up and had a dance party. Good times!
The Dogs!
I am surprised I have not mentioned this in earlier posts, but there are lots and lots of dogs here. Some are domesticated (mostly in Yerevan or Gyumri), some belong to a family and are tied up outside of the house or left outside but fenced in, and then there are wild dogs that just roam around. And because there isn’t a trash system in place, there are dump sites where these dogs can be found. It is sad to see because they are so ragged and some looked like they had homes at some point.
Now, both the outside dogs that belong to a family and the wild dogs during winter get hungry. When they are hungry they can get kind of scary because they are more likely to charge you. I have yet to be attacked, but I have been charged. Especially at night, if you are walking through town, it is smart to carry a rock. I am not really scared but it is something that you have to think about. I am not sure what kind of dogs they are but they are huge. Also, a lot of times they have their ears clipped. I am not sure why. A lot of the dogs that are owned by someone work as herding dogs, they go out with the cows and sheep. I don’t know if there is really a threat of cows or sheep being attacked by anything. Armenia does have wolves, but there aren’t that many to be a threat, at least I don’t think… Something I should look up.
My Apartment
Anyways, to get back to my new apartment… it is huge! It is three bedrooms, a giant living room, a long kitchen with a gas stove (that is really all they have here), bathroom, balcony, electricity, no water, and no gas heat or heating system. Yay! It will be interesting to live in. It is on the fifth floor and when I want water, more than likely, I will have to get it from the well outside, which means trips up and down! Think of this, I have an indoor toilet but no water. So I have to pour water down the toilet to flush it. So I will have storage bins of water, which means even more trips up and down the stairs. Yay for exercise!
All-Vol!
All-Vol is the All Volunteer Conference that happens towards the end of November. It is a time to come together and kind of refresh with everything. The new group goes for a couple of days more so they can talk about how things are going and have a couple of classes of language. It is fun time because everyone is together. We are put up in a nice hotel in Yerevan with hot water all of the time!
The conference is one of the times that all of the volunteers are together. It was nice because I met some PCVs that I had never met before, most of the people that I had never met before live way up north or in the south. I wish there were more opportunities that we could meet up though because it is good to hear from other volunteers what they are doing and success stories they have had.
Also the conference is scheduled around Thanksgiving and we always have a Thanksgiving dinner together. A group of volunteers work on cooking the dinner and then most of the staff and volunteers eat together. It was a really good time. We stood around the food, said a blessing, and gave thanks. The food was delicious; the cooks did an awesome job! It was wonderful because I was around so many people that were going through the same thing. It was funny too because during dinner my table shared stories of funny Thanksgiving moments or traditions that you do on Thanksgiving.
The conference was great because it was re-energizing. I was able to get ideas for teaching English and able to talk to other EEs about things they are doing in their classes. It was also good because we were able to talk about frustrations we might be having and it was good to know that others had similar frustrations. It felt good to be around so many people that were going through similar things and for the most part, it was really positive.
Side Note: Peace Corps Friend Groups
There are a couple of different groups in PC:
First, during staging in Philadelphia, you make a friend group. This usually consists of people you either met on the plane, at the airport, the first person you saw at the hotel, or the people you are rooming with.
Then you go to the hotel in Armenia. This is your second group of friends; again usually people who you happen to sit next to on the plane, traveled around in Vienna, or are rooming with. They usually consist of those in the first group and a few more. You are beginning to learn more about people’s personalities and are beginning to find similarities.
Next, you are assigned to your PST village. These, usually, become your closest friends because you live in the same site for 11 weeks. My village consisted of all EEs, so not only did we have language class but also we had sector classes together on central days. Also, those in your sector are in your friend group because you work on projects and go on field trips together.
Lastly, you say goodbye and go to your new sites. If you have a site mate or live close to other volunteers, these become your next group of friends. This group of friends also consists of the volunteers that are in your warden group. A warden group consists of those that live close and during an emergency will consolidate together.
There is also the difference between the north and south. The people in the south become closer because traveling north takes forever so they do not do it much. The same goes for those in the north.
These different groups are great and I am not complaining at all, I am just explaining how your friend group changes throughout your service. For sure, you will stay friends with everyone you have developed a relationship with throughout your service, you just get closer to the people that are close to you. It is interesting how your friend group changes and the dynamics in those groups.
My Boots
I always thought boots were stupid and more of a fashion statement than a practical type of shoe. I also lived in Florida where people would wear Uggs with mini skirts, so I have a slight bias against boots. But being here in Armenia, everyone has boots. And for a while, I resisted having a pair, insisting my Florida shoes would be fine… Um, no!
So I broke down and bought a pair of boots that I have yet to take off of my feet. They are a suede material that comes up mid calf. They are really warm because they are insulated. Right now, two months later, they aren’t the black color they were when I bought them, but they still do the trick. Next year, I assume I will have to buy a new pair because these wont last past this winter. I still wear two pair of socks under them but they are warm! My feet still freeze on the marshutneys but there is no stopping that.
UPDATE: As of February 6, 2010 my boots are out of commission. After the PDM conference, I was walking through Yerevan. It had snowed a LOT and it was melting on the roads. So I had to walk through some water, and while my boots are awesome, they are NOT waterproof. Basically the bottom of my boots came off and I can no longer wear them. Hopefully the weather warms up soon because I have been wearing tennis shoe-type shoes. Shoes and clothes do not last long here!
Pizza and a Movie in America
So for PST, we earned what was called Lee Cash. This was given out when we would do some things for PC, such as reflection journals or answer questions during central days. At the end of PST there is an auction where we use our Cash to bid on various items. They ranged from sleeping bags, cooking wear, trips with the director, movie nights, and other various things. Well, I won baking things and a pizza & movie night with Amy, the second in command.
So after All-Vol week, another PCV and I went to Amy and her husband’s house to have pizza and watch a movie! It was like a night in America! Their house is amazing and very similar to America. They were kind enough to let us spend the night and use their shower… oh my! The pizza was delicious and we had Italian sausage!
It was really fun to hang out with them because they served in PC Africa. They allowed us to look through their photo album from their service. It was interesting because some of their pictures look exactly like mine, in terms of times with other PCVs and what you take pictures of. It is interesting because even though we were in totally different countries, we have similar experiences.
I also had a conversation through Skype with a PCV in Cape Verde around January. We were talking about how we have felt during service and the different emotions you go through. Especially with going through PST, moving to site, living at site for a couple of months, working, speaking another language, missing home, talking to home, and everything else. Although our site and placements are very different, the emotions are the same. You are frustrated at some of the same things; you laugh at the same jokes… its crazy. There really is such a thing as the PC family.
*Holidays*
It was kind of bitter sweet because Thanksgiving and Christmas are times that I go home (except for the one Thanksgiving I was in Germany) and spend time with family. This holiday season was very different because it didn’t really feel like the holidays. Right now I feel that Thanksgiving and Christmas won’t happen for a couple of years. It is a weird feeling.
But one really cool thing that happened to me is it snowed on Thanksgiving!
For Christmas, I made the long trip south to Kapan. A lot of people went to one of two places for Christmas. One of those places was Kapan and so there were a lot of volunteers there to celebrate the holidays. We did a gift exchange where people bought 5000-dram worth of household items and we had a grab bag type exchange. We were going to do a white elephant type of gift exchange but we ran out of time. We went to another volunteer’s house that lives right outside of Kapan. It was big enough to fit about 20ish people. We all brought dishes to pass and I made dip!
We had lots of good food and good times. I was able to call home which was nice because I was put on speakerphone and got to talk to family! I missed family a lot during the holidays but since if didn’t really feel like Christmas, I was okay.
-Move In Day-
Wow, I have a lot of crap. This is about the only thing I realized when I moved in. I also have been thinking a lot about the after-service trip that I will be taking. I plan on traveling through India and Southeast Asia. But I only want to take a backpack to travel through. So whatever I want to take from PC will have to fit in that backpack. And looking around my apartment, there is not much that I will be taking with me after my service. A lot of stuff I am hoping I will either pass on to the next group or will be leaving in country. I will probably send some stuff back to the states, but I don’t think I will have that much that I will need to send back. Interesting.
PCV Apartments
Ugh, talk about mini-America and jealousy. So there are two apartments that I have stayed in that I am extremely jealous of. My apartment doesn’t have running water or heat (besides my PC electric heaters), so any place that has water and heat will make me jealous. But there are really only two places that I am extremely jealous of. And as it happens, those are two people that I am extremely close to. So on one hand it is good because when I visit them, I basically go back to America. On the other hand though, it has the potential to cause a lot of jealousy problems… hehe. Both apartments are like mini-American apartments with running hot water and a nice form of heating. Both of those apartments are in larger cities though so it makes sense that they would have nicer apartments.
8 Months in Country
Wow, I cannot believe I have been here for that long… on one hand it feels as though time is flying by and it has only been a few months but then I feel as though I have been here for years. I think that is the general statement about PC: the days are long but the time is short. Some days can drag on but if you look back over the past week, it flew by. I think time has gone by so fast though because of the holidays, All-Vol, conferences, and school being out.
PDM
Project Design and Management conference is a requirement for A-17 PCVs that want to write a SPA grant. But beyond that it is a conference where you bring your counterpart to talk about how to design and manage projects. It is a great conference that teaches you start to finish how to create a project. It is five days long and in Tsaghadzor, which is a resort town.
It was a fun conference because I was able to spend time with my counterpart and really get to know her! She is awesome and I am excited to implement some of what we talked about during the conference into out town!
In Other News…
In other news, I am going to be an aunt! As exciting as this news is, I am a little sad I will miss a lot. I knew entering Peace Corps that this might happen so I mentally tried to prepare for it. But you can’t really prepare for this kind of news. I am so excited and I keep going back and forth between being scared of what type of aunt I will be to panicking that I now have to become responsible! Ah! And I cant wait because I know how awesome my brother and sis-in-law will be as parents, that this is such a blessing!
Bucket List:
Because I have so much time devoted to thinking, I have decided to create a bucket list of things that I want to do in my life. I added things that I knew I wanted out of life and have already accomplished, just because I wanted it to be a complete list. Some of these are borrowed from other people. It is something cool to do because it shows all of life’s possibilities!
Also, with this time, I have created my five-year plan. Hopefully, after PC I will travel through India and Southeast Asia, go home for a couple of months, and then take a job teaching in an international school or with the Department of Defense School System! Who knows!
• Get Masters Degree
• Peace Corps
• Backpack Europe
• Spend every birthday in new country (probably not possible every year- but something to strive towards)
• Swim in every ocean, yes even the Arctic, I am thinking off the north coast of Alaska?
• Visit every continent
• Visit Hawaii and Alaska
• Take an Alaskan cruise
• Sky dive and if I like it, get certified
• Get certified in diving
• Dive the Great Barrier Reef
• See a World Cup Football Match
• Go to an Olympic sport
• Learn Spanish fluently
• Travel to every country in Central America
• Write out a life Bird List
• Take a road trip from Florida to Alaska
• Macchu Picchu in Peru
• Ayers Rock
• Backpack India
• Teach in another country, not including PC
• Learn to appreciate wine
• Run with the bulls in Spain
• Participate in the tomato fight (Spain?)
• Go on an African safari
• Route 66
• Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Mt Rushmore
• Get more tattoos!
• Whale watching
• Spend a month in the United Kingdom
• Travel around Greece
• Swim with Sharks off the coast of South Africa
• See Silverback Gorillas in the wild
• World Wildlife Fund trip
• Go to a Super Bowl game
• Be involved in Girl Scouts
• Never have regrets!
