Mama Visit Part 2

My mama came two weeks ago and just left yesterday... sniff, sniff. But it was a wonderful visit. These last few months I have been checking things off of my Armenia bucket list and with my mom here, I had another excuse to check off more items from my list!

She flew in on a Monday night and Tuesday we were in my village, meeting my counterpart and her family! She was wonderful, as always, and had a whole spread of khorovats (Armenian bbq), salads, dolma, and lots and lots of food! It was wonderful and we were stuffed! We took a walk around the village and saw my schools, the canal, my culture house, and lots of other stuff. It was great!

The next day we went to the culture house again and my mom met my girls! It was a lot of fun to see my students interact with my mom.

My mom's visit last year was so different than her visit this year. This year we spent more time in my village (granted I had to be in Yerevan for my mom's visit last year because I was sick). Last year, we went to all the places in and around Yerevan. This year, we were in my village, camped out on a mountain, and traveled ALL over the country.

Outside of my village there is a mountain that I have been looking at for 2 years. I have always wanted to camp outside in Armenia and always thought that mountain would be great to camp at, especially because it is so remote and we would be able to see all of the stars. So I got a group together to camp on the mountain while my mama was here.

We coordinated to have a marshutni take us to the bottom of the mountain and we would hike up from there. If we started from my village, it would have taken longer and we didnt have that much time. Thursday morning we started the hike and made it to the tower that is right by the peak by 1 or 2. We met a guy that works there and he invited us to leave our stuff at the building and climb the peak. We figured we would camp outside of the tower and if it rained, we could move inside of the building.

After dropping our stuff off, we hiked the last portion. It was beautiful, there were so many great smells from all the herbs growing on the side of the mountain. There were SOOOO many beautiful mountain flowers too, small and bright colors. The hike wasnt that hard and we took our time up the side. We had a few photo shoots on the mountain. Then we hiked back to the tower and some of us took a nap, others played durak, while others just hang out. After a bit, we set up dinner and all ate together. The guy that worked at the tower, David, joined us and shared his tea with us. It was tea that was made from the herbs that were on the mountain. It was DELICIOUS and sweet, just the way I like my tea!

It was a great day and to end it we shared life stories. I love hearing people's stories and it is interesting to see what they decide to put in their life story and what they choose to leave out. We all gradually fell asleep.

The one thing about camping was it was the night after the eclipse (which we saw from my balcony the night before). This meant that it was a full, bright moon. It was so bright, we barely saw any stars and the whole night I kept thinking the sun was coming up. The mountain is also very rocky and none of us had sleeping pads, so we didnt get that much sleep. But it was still a wonderful experience and I would totally do it again!

The next day we went in to Yerevan after packing up my apartment a little more. I took down all of my pictures and it is slowly hitting me that I will not be in this country in less than two months. We packed up things that I wanted my mom to take back and went in on the bus. 7 Americans and a LOT of stuff, I think my bus driver thinks I'm weird. In Yerevan I had some running around to do and my mom was not accustomed to the once-a-week showers... so the Hostel was wonderful!

My mom made me a promise a year and a half before I came into PC. She has always said she wanted a tattoo but never had a reason to get one. So we made a bargain, I fulfilled my half and while she was here, she fulfilled her half!!! She got a cute little turtle tattoo on her foot and I got four flowers on my foot. They both are beautiful and it was such a fun experience to get tattoos together. Two other volunteers got tattoos while we got ours. It was a great experience and pictures will be posted!

The tattoo parlor that we go to is called Body Art and it is awesome! About 7 volunteers have gotten tattoos there and they all are awesome! The tattoo artist, Siro, is an awesome guy that I met at That Place, one of my favorite places in Yerevan. He now has opened an cafe, called Eden, which is quickly becoming another one of my favorite places! So many people and places I will miss in Armenia, but so glad that I have made so many memories that I will be able to look back on and giggle about!

The next day we shopped and spent a LOT of money on souvenirs and gifts. I was able to buy Armenian memorabilia and send it home with my Mama so I wouldn't have to carry it forever. We shopped until we dropped. It was great.

About two weeks before my mom came I met a taxi driver named Apo. He drove me and some other volunteers to our friend's village. The entire way he joked and laughed with us. He was great and I told him about my mom coming. He told me to call him and that he would take us anywhere. A few days before I arranged for him to take us that afternoon down to Meghri. So we shopped at the Varnisage in the morning and then had an afternoon taxi ride down to the border of Iran and Armenia. He was so much fun! He is from Goris and we had lunch outside of there. He took us to this really good kebab place and ordered for us. It was cheap and delicious! He also would stop and allow us to take pictures along the way. Most taxi drivers I have met are not that accommodating, but he was understanding and wanted to show off His Armenia to us and my mama.

We made it to my friend's village outside of Meghri around 8 that night after a 6 hour taxi ride. She showed us around the village and then we all went back and zoned out for a bit. The next morning we woke up and went to her school so that my mom could see an Armenian school and meet some teachers. This was the first time I had been this far south and it was beautiful. I had never been in the south in the summer either and it has gorgeous scenery.

We also arranged for a taxi to take us to the border town. It was crazy to be able to see Iran but know that we are not allowed to visit. We could see the border town in Iran and saw the spires from the mosque. It is such an amazement how a country can be surrounded by countries that are so closed off to them. They are so similar in so many ways but because of their past and the differences, they are completely closed off. It is different with Iran because Armenia and Iran have a working relationship, but I wonder if they didnt depend on each other what kind of relationship they would have.

After Meghri we traveled to Kapan for two nights. We walked around town at night and it was cool to see how many people were out just walking the streets. We were followed by a creeper for a little bit who offered to buy us ice cream. The vendor was not happy about this and shooed the guy away. It was a weird interaction but I was grateful to the vendor for sending him away. Other than that, our first night in Kapan was really relaxing. The next day we walked up to the WW2 memorial and saw all of Kapan!

That night we took a marshutni up to a village outside of Kapan where another volunteer lives. We walked out to another point in her village that overlooks the gorge. Absolutely beautiful scenery. We had dinner, chatted, and laughed. We talked all about COS and what we would be doing after service. It is a good thing my mom has had the PC experience otherwise I think she would have been bored during some of our conversations! She met this volunteer last summer in Turkey and they got along great so I promised I would bring her back so they could meet up again. It was a really good night of just hanging out in a village. My mom, who is a lover of flat lands, was impressed by this volunteers steep village.

It was nice for my mom to see smaller villages because even though my village is classified as a village, it is large. Both places we visited in the south (besides Kapan) were less than 1000 people. One school only had 106 students while the other school had 36 total... small villages. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing the volunteers and their villages.

The next morning we took a different taxi driver (not Apo) back to Yerevan. We asked the driver to stop by Tatev so that we could ride the Longest Aerial Tramway in the world! He was really nice and a cool driver too. He went on the tram with us as well and we spent an hour exploring around the monastery. It was beautiful and another thing on my Armenia bucket list.

Back in Yerevan we hung out and took an evening to ourselves. My mom and I were both exhausted and were able to relax. My mom was invited to Gavar to give a presentation about how she teaches to an NGO that works with children with disabilities. She planned out her presentation and the next day in true PC fashion, things did not turn out the way they were planned. Also in true PC fashion, it turned out wonderful! My mom was able to pass on a little bit of knowledge while also learning about the children with disabilities in Armenia. It was interesting to see and I was there to help translate, although another volunteer did that completely. It was impressive to see her Armenian skills and watch her translate back and forth between my mom and the NGO workers.

That night we went back to Yerevan and that is the night I got my tattoo. It is beautiful, hurt like hell, but I love it!!!

The last day my mom was in country, my mom, three friends, and I went to the UNESCO World Heritage sites. Apo, my favorite taxi driver, took us on a wonderful 8-hour trip! We stopped in the Aparan bakery on the way for their famous baked goods. Apo is hilarious and joked with us the whole time. He also said it was his first time to all of these sites so he was excited to see them as well. He didnt know the north as well as the south, but he was perfect in his navigation!

This whole time my mom has been OBSESSED with goats! She has loved goats since she was younger and just about freaked out every time we saw them here. We told Apo this and asked if he saw goats, could we stop so my crazy mom can take a picture of them. He joked that if we wanted to take a picture of a goat, we could go to his mother-in-laws house!

This day was probably my favorite because it was a full day and we experienced Armenian hospitality through our wonderful Apo. It was a great way to end my mom's vacation. That night we went to the opening of Eden cafe and had a great time with a few other volunteers!

Taking my mom to the airport was weird. It was almost like my experience had come full circle. She drove me to the airport and said a short goodbye when I first boarded the plane to Philly. She said when her mom dropped her off at the airport for her PC service, it was a quick kiss on the cheek, I love you, and good luck. When my mom and dad dropped me off, it was the same thing. Goodbyes are hard. I did the same thing to my mom too, knowing I wont be seeing her for another 7-8 months.

Saying goodbye to her is the first of many goodbyes that I will be making. But I keep reminding myself that tears mean that it mattered. Its okay to cry because of it means I made lasting friendships and memories.

Camp Pictures

Check out my pictures! There is a link at the bottom of the General Pictures or you can just click here.

English Summer Camp!

I had a week long English summer camp in my village last week. There were about 50 students that were involved, a great group of PCVs, my awesome director, and a few onlookers that completely supported the camp. It was a ton of fun and now I want to have another one for my younger students. I had a smaller group of older girls (mainly from my older English club, 10-11th form) that were there in the morning. I split the day up into morning and afternoon camps, with my older girls becoming junior counselors in the afternoon for the 7th, 8th, and 9th form students.

One day was rained out but the 6 others had perfect weather! On Sunday we took a hike out to the small church/religious spot that is about an hour walk outside of town. It was really fun because we had a picnic while we were there. In typical Armenian fashion, each student brought one item to share with the rest of the group. We had hotdogs, hard boiled eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, greens, tomatoes, cucumber, bread and cheese. We sat under the sun at the top of a hill and I just soaked it all in.

This camp really made me feel a part of my community more so than anything else. Having about 15 volunteers come through at different times and introducing them to my director, students, and CP was a lot of fun because it brought both of my PC worlds together. I am pretty sure some of my girls were smitten with a few of the counselors which was fun to see. I remember having a crush on one of my counselors when I was their age. Fun to see.

One final point about my camp was that it was cheap. With the help of other volunteers, my director, and my students, the total cost for this 7 day camp was about 10,000 dram (roughly 30 dollars). That was mostly for the paper supplies. And now we will have another one at the end of July. After that is a English teacher workshop and then I am done... (panic, panic, panic)

I will try and upload some pictures soon.