The first group of volunteers have completed their service and have headed out on their journeys. It was a sad day for me to say goodbye to friends that have become my family in this country but at the same time it is incredible to look back on the last two years and see how much we have gone through and grown. To look at how we have integrated, how we speak the language, we wouldn't be able to recognize ourselves from the scared trainees that landed more than 2 years ago. Nor, I think, could we even imagine these day, the final days.
On one hand there is this sense of accomplishment and reward and on the other hand, there is a very sad feeling of the goodbyes and the closing of the two years. I have written about this topic before and dont want to beat it to death.
The sense of accomplishment is something I want to focus on in this blog post. Learning the language, community integration, successful and unsuccessful projects and learning from them, group projects, initiatives, and many other aspects of our service contribute to the sense of accomplishment volunteers usually feel. However, one aspect of the sense of accomplishment is a personal success. The amount of personal growth we go through during our PC service is surprising and different for every volunteer. Some people say they dont change, while others change so drastically that they are unrecognizable. Most people fall in the middle of this spectrum and everyone changes whether they want to or not. You can not go through an intense (as it feels at times) two year experience and not have been impacted.
The other night, I went on a TED talks bender. TED talks is according to wikipedia, 'a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate 'ideas worth spreading.'' Basically on their website, they have a list of different videos about all different topics. I was introduced to this website from a professor back in my college days and every once in a while I will watch about 2 hours worth of different videos. They range in all kinds of topics and the other night I went on the topic of happiness. I came across a few videos.
This video from TED talks really spoke to me and about my service: Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability.
The idea of opening up and allowing experiences is pretty impacting. Also when she spoke about courage being from the original Latin word, is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.
There were a few ideas that came from this video that I want to post about. The first is the fact that all human interaction comes down to connection. Making connections with people is vital to our survival and ultimately the way towards happiness. Making connections to ourselves (to continue with the quote 'I am enough'), making connections to others, and making connections to our surroundings. I connected this portion of the talk with another video: Thandie Newton's talk about making connections and losing your sense of 'self' to become a part of the whole. (I told you I went on a bender.)
I think an important part of PC and traveling to extend it is to make connections. The more connections you make, the smaller the world becomes. The more connections you make to people, the more commonalities you find between people. I think this is vital as our world becomes more globally focused. If people realized the humanity found within everyone maybe there would be less war? The less 'otherness' people had means people could not as easily justify wars. Just a thought.
This also goes into what Ms. Brown talked about in her talk. She talked about people making connections and the fear of disconnect. In order for connection, according to her and which I agree with, is the ability to be vulnerable. To be vulnerable we have to be seen, really seen.
She makes other points along the way that I find really interesting. They are:
1. Her study came down to those who felt worthy of love and connections and those who felt they weren't good enough.
2. The people who had a strong sense of love and belonging felt they were worth of love and belonging. It was that simple.
3. She also found that those people had a strong sense of courage. As I mentioned before, courage is the ability to tell your story with your whole heart. They had the courage to be imperfect.
4. They had compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others.
5. "And the last was they had connection, and -- this was the hard part -- as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were, which you have to absolutely do that for connection."
This all leads to the fact that they were vulnerable and felt vulnerability was necessary for connections.
She continues the talk with the way we, as a society, have become afraid of vulnerability and have thus have become to numb our vulnerability. She gives examples and could not be more on point. The danger in numbing vulnerability and fear means that we numb all emotions. We cannot selectively numb. We cant say we dont want to feel pain but we will feel joy. We either dont feel either or we feel them all.
She ends the talk with this:
"But there's another way, and I leave you with this. This is what I have found: to let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen; to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee, to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in this this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and, instead of catastrophizing what might happen, to say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive."
And the last, which I think is probably the most important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place I believe that says, "I'm enough," then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves."
Wow. I keep reading this over and over. This part of the talk impacted me the most.
To bring this back to growing in the PC, I viewed this video with a few other volunteers and we had an interesting discussion about the PC service and making you more vulnerable. PC puts a mirror in front of you and if you are open to it, it will show you a lot. You learn a lot of things that you need to work on as well as hidden talents you didnt know you had. For me, that mirror did both and I am better because of it.
PC also makes you more firm in your beliefs. As one friend said, you come here with an idea of who you want to be and PC makes your more confident in being that person. PC kind of fills you out in the idea of who you want to be. For most people, PC doesnt change you completely and turn your world upside down, but it does allow you to grow.
The "I am enough" quote was the most important from the talk and something I am learning how to say, while also learning how to be vulnerable and to tell my story with my whole heart. That is one thing I am trying with this blog and once I am done with PC, I hope to be able to tell more of my story.
Leave a comment if you watched the video, I would love to know what you thought of it.
13 July 2011
26 June 2011
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.
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.
12 June 2011
Camp Pictures
Check out my pictures! There is a link at the bottom of the General Pictures or you can just click here.
01 June 2011
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.
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.
24 May 2011
Fathers in Armenia
One thing that I love about Armenia is how much the men in families are involved in the lives of the children. From what I have seen, they are actively involved in raising the children. Armenian villages definitely have the "it takes a village" mentality and it is something that I feel America has moved away from. Children in my village play freely and without fear of their neighbors or of strangers. Everyone knows everyone so there really arent strangers here besides the weird Americans that live or come through. :)
Getting back to fathers, in all of my Armenian friend's families, the fathers are so proud and active in their children's lives, it is nice to see. For example, my CP's husband is always playing with his daughter, rough housing with her, playing computer games with her, etc. And the greatest part about it is that it is not out of the ordinary. I dont know why this surprises me or inspired me to write a blog post about it, but I just think it is nice to see. My host dad is also really involved. My host sister is definitely a daddy's girl as most Armenian daughters are. It takes one to be able to spot them out. Hi Dad!
Another inspiration for this blog was when I was in Yerevan a few weeks ago. I was walking down the street and saw two young men (maybe 20 or so) pushing baby strollers. It struck me as odd because I dont know if they were both the fathers of the babies in their strollers or uncles pushing their niece or nephew or babysitters? Who knows. It is something I have seen quite a bit though.
The last anecdote that I wanted to share was when I see grandfathers. I was in a store and this elderly man was playing with a baby while waiting in line to check-out. It definitely was not his granddaughter or in any relation to him. But the mother did not look worried or defensive and no one around us thought it was abnormal.
Armenians are so trusting of each other. I dont know if America could ever be that way because of how inhomogeneous we are as a culture. Armenians are Armenian, there is not too much diversity within their culture. I assume that is how they can be so trusting, they all have a shared past, shared language, shared culture, shared norms, etc... Just interesting to think about.
Getting back to fathers, in all of my Armenian friend's families, the fathers are so proud and active in their children's lives, it is nice to see. For example, my CP's husband is always playing with his daughter, rough housing with her, playing computer games with her, etc. And the greatest part about it is that it is not out of the ordinary. I dont know why this surprises me or inspired me to write a blog post about it, but I just think it is nice to see. My host dad is also really involved. My host sister is definitely a daddy's girl as most Armenian daughters are. It takes one to be able to spot them out. Hi Dad!
Another inspiration for this blog was when I was in Yerevan a few weeks ago. I was walking down the street and saw two young men (maybe 20 or so) pushing baby strollers. It struck me as odd because I dont know if they were both the fathers of the babies in their strollers or uncles pushing their niece or nephew or babysitters? Who knows. It is something I have seen quite a bit though.
The last anecdote that I wanted to share was when I see grandfathers. I was in a store and this elderly man was playing with a baby while waiting in line to check-out. It definitely was not his granddaughter or in any relation to him. But the mother did not look worried or defensive and no one around us thought it was abnormal.
Armenians are so trusting of each other. I dont know if America could ever be that way because of how inhomogeneous we are as a culture. Armenians are Armenian, there is not too much diversity within their culture. I assume that is how they can be so trusting, they all have a shared past, shared language, shared culture, shared norms, etc... Just interesting to think about.
06 May 2011
Georgia, Coffee and Wine
PC volunteers from Armenia have had quite a obsessive relationship with Georgia. Most volunteers that go there have an amazing time and fall instantly in love with Tbilisi. Last summer I was there but never really got a feel for the city as I was only passing through. Oh man, I was missing out!
After the COS conference, another volunteer and I planned a trip to Georgia! We decided to head straight to Batumi then end in Tbilisi before coming back to Armenia. It was a great plan, we arrived in Batumi on a Friday afternoon, exhausted after a night train to Tbilisi and then day marshutni to Batumi. We figured because it wasn't tourist season yet that we could just show up, use our Lonely Planet guide and find a place to put our heads. Wrong assumption but thanks to our wonderful (and cute) taxi driver, he found us a place to stay that was moderately priced and very centrally located.
Even though we were exhausted and the must see Royal Wedding was playing, we headed out for some food and walking around to try and get a sense of Batumi. The feeling: NOT tourist season. I thought that since Batumi was the destination spot for tourists in the Caucasus region but apparently ONLY in July and August. We definitely were looked at for being out of place and obvious foreigners. But it didn't detract from our time, we have been dealing with the stares and looks for two years, and in my case will probably be dealing with that for another two at the least.
We had some food, khachapuri, and sat by the water. I saw palm trees on the way in and dolphins while sitting by the water. It was great! We walked around and scoped out the night life but were too exhausted to take part in.
< Khachapuri (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khachapuri) is a delicious Georgian dish that you can find everywhere and they are all slightly different. >
The next day we woke up and went to breakfast, khachapuri again (wasnt the first and wont be the last), and were going to walk around the city and see more sites. Right as we are walking to the beach, we run in to two other PCVs from Armenia! They were on their way to Turkey and had a couple days in Batumi. It was wonderful, we went site seeing with them for the rest of the day. We walked along the beach, tried to find the Stalin museum (it was closed though), ate some delicious cake and had some coffee. (I dont usually drink coffee, but wait for the rest of the trip.)
That night we went to a bar that had English speakers or so we were told. Not really processing the fact that English speakers meant Americans or English people. Not exactly what we wanted so we went to a different cafe before calling it a night.
Next day we went to the Gonio fortress, Botanical Gardens and tried to buy tickets on the night train. Bad planning on my part, we were too late in getting the tickets so we decided to get a night marshutni back to Tbilisi. This was a marshutni from HELL! Oh my, drunk people, crying babies, way too many pointless stops along the way, music and lights on the whole way... needless to say we were not the happiest of campers when we arrived in Tbilisi.
Oh and when we got into Tbilisi the hostel we booked online didnt exist yet... How that is possible, I am not sure but it wasnt there. At 6am we were walking around near the Marriott just walking in frustrated circles. Finally found a different hostel that helped us get a room so we could go to sleep.
Tbilisi is pretty interesting because of how Western it looks and feels. I think Georgia is very similar to Armenia in terms of their capitals. They are pretty developed, offer a lot of Western brands, and seem to represent a country that is developed. But traveling from Tbilisi to Batumi, I saw the same style of housing and villages that you see in Armenia. The countryside might be a bit greener with more trees but the feel seemed to be the same. It shows the stark contrast of the capital and the village life. It gives a fake representation of its country. Just like in Armenia, you cant really say that Yerevan is representative of ALL of Armenia. When you come to the villages, you see a completely different lifestyle. You can say that about America, too- compare Washington, DC to the outskirt cities, the difference in income, opportunity, education, healthcare... For some reason, it seems to be more of a false front in Georgia and Armenia, almost hiding the village life. Just some thoughts I had about it...
Back to the trip:
After unpacking at our homestay, we took 3 hour naps, showers, and woke up hungry and ready to see Tbilisi. Walking down Rustaveli, I felt as though I was in a European city with small cafes, bookshops, clothing stores, and internet cafes. I had to stop in to one and while there we met this incredibly cool Georgian-American. His friend and him reminded me of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in The Break-Up when they tease each other, talk fast, and are subtly really funny. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them for a bit in the internet cafe.
Later that night we went out to some pubs. We met some fun people out and listened to a band that we saw the next night again. They were really good and sang fun songs.
The next morning we woke up and it was overcast. We decided that instead of doing all of the touristy things- like the fortress, churches, Stalin sights, and all that jazz, we ended up just pampering ourselves. I bought a pair of sandals and had my hair done. We picked a random salon that is actually incredibly famous. The women there were awesome and it just happened that there was a women that spoke really good English and was willing to help me translate. They did my hair up and curled the ends, it was crazy. I kind of looked like a different person. It was a relaxed day and we really pampered ourselves.
The next day we met up with another volunteer that came up to Tbilisi to meet up with his cousin. While his cousin worked, we again tried to get up the energy to run around town touring the sites but ended up at a hookah cafe. We smoked some hookah, drank some delicious green tea, and talked about deep and meaningful things for about 3 hours. After that we went to a wine shop to taste different wines. Georgia is known for its wine and I now know why. I dont drink wine much because I do not really like dry wines and that is what most people drink. But while we were there, we tasted some semi-sweet and sweet wines. Bingo! Found a couple of wines that I like. So we bought some to drink that night and bring back to Armenia.
We took our wine back to the Marriott where the volunteer and cousin were staying (talk about nice!) and met them for dinner. We went to a really good dinner that had traditional Georgian food and some more delicious wine! Decided to go out to play billiards, hop to some other pubs, and listen to the band we heard the night before. We danced and sang along with the band. We saw a group of older Americans and one of them had a Florida shirt on!
ITS THE GATOR NATION!!! It is always fun to meet with other Gators! I got the group of guys to take a picture doing the chomp!
I am slightly ashamed to admit this but the night ended with McDonalds... sorry.
Our last day in Tbilisi we walked around the city a little more and tried to see the museums, although a lot of them were closed for renovations. We left Tbilisi on the night train. It was incredibly nice to hear Armenian on the train and be able to speak to people again. I was surprised that we didnt hear more English while we were traveling, I thought with all of the initiatives that Georgia was doing to get people speaking English we would have heard it more...
There were a lot of things that went wrong in terms of housing and transportation but a lot worked out and it was an incredibly fun and relaxing time! I drank lots of coffee (I am not hooked yet but I do enjoy a nice cup of joe now), lots of good (too sweet for my travel companions) wine, and had WONDERFUL company along the way! We met some really cool people and attempted to see some of the sights!
I have officially been converted, I LOVE TBILISI!!! On my way out of Armenia I will be visiting Tbilisi again and I WILL make it to that damn fortress if it kills me!
Next day we went to the Gonio fortress, Botanical Gardens and tried to buy tickets on the night train. Bad planning on my part, we were too late in getting the tickets so we decided to get a night marshutni back to Tbilisi. This was a marshutni from HELL! Oh my, drunk people, crying babies, way too many pointless stops along the way, music and lights on the whole way... needless to say we were not the happiest of campers when we arrived in Tbilisi.
Oh and when we got into Tbilisi the hostel we booked online didnt exist yet... How that is possible, I am not sure but it wasnt there. At 6am we were walking around near the Marriott just walking in frustrated circles. Finally found a different hostel that helped us get a room so we could go to sleep.
Tbilisi is pretty interesting because of how Western it looks and feels. I think Georgia is very similar to Armenia in terms of their capitals. They are pretty developed, offer a lot of Western brands, and seem to represent a country that is developed. But traveling from Tbilisi to Batumi, I saw the same style of housing and villages that you see in Armenia. The countryside might be a bit greener with more trees but the feel seemed to be the same. It shows the stark contrast of the capital and the village life. It gives a fake representation of its country. Just like in Armenia, you cant really say that Yerevan is representative of ALL of Armenia. When you come to the villages, you see a completely different lifestyle. You can say that about America, too- compare Washington, DC to the outskirt cities, the difference in income, opportunity, education, healthcare... For some reason, it seems to be more of a false front in Georgia and Armenia, almost hiding the village life. Just some thoughts I had about it...
Back to the trip:
After unpacking at our homestay, we took 3 hour naps, showers, and woke up hungry and ready to see Tbilisi. Walking down Rustaveli, I felt as though I was in a European city with small cafes, bookshops, clothing stores, and internet cafes. I had to stop in to one and while there we met this incredibly cool Georgian-American. His friend and him reminded me of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in The Break-Up when they tease each other, talk fast, and are subtly really funny. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them for a bit in the internet cafe.
Later that night we went out to some pubs. We met some fun people out and listened to a band that we saw the next night again. They were really good and sang fun songs.
The next morning we woke up and it was overcast. We decided that instead of doing all of the touristy things- like the fortress, churches, Stalin sights, and all that jazz, we ended up just pampering ourselves. I bought a pair of sandals and had my hair done. We picked a random salon that is actually incredibly famous. The women there were awesome and it just happened that there was a women that spoke really good English and was willing to help me translate. They did my hair up and curled the ends, it was crazy. I kind of looked like a different person. It was a relaxed day and we really pampered ourselves.
The next day we met up with another volunteer that came up to Tbilisi to meet up with his cousin. While his cousin worked, we again tried to get up the energy to run around town touring the sites but ended up at a hookah cafe. We smoked some hookah, drank some delicious green tea, and talked about deep and meaningful things for about 3 hours. After that we went to a wine shop to taste different wines. Georgia is known for its wine and I now know why. I dont drink wine much because I do not really like dry wines and that is what most people drink. But while we were there, we tasted some semi-sweet and sweet wines. Bingo! Found a couple of wines that I like. So we bought some to drink that night and bring back to Armenia.
We took our wine back to the Marriott where the volunteer and cousin were staying (talk about nice!) and met them for dinner. We went to a really good dinner that had traditional Georgian food and some more delicious wine! Decided to go out to play billiards, hop to some other pubs, and listen to the band we heard the night before. We danced and sang along with the band. We saw a group of older Americans and one of them had a Florida shirt on!
ITS THE GATOR NATION!!! It is always fun to meet with other Gators! I got the group of guys to take a picture doing the chomp!
I am slightly ashamed to admit this but the night ended with McDonalds... sorry.
Our last day in Tbilisi we walked around the city a little more and tried to see the museums, although a lot of them were closed for renovations. We left Tbilisi on the night train. It was incredibly nice to hear Armenian on the train and be able to speak to people again. I was surprised that we didnt hear more English while we were traveling, I thought with all of the initiatives that Georgia was doing to get people speaking English we would have heard it more...
There were a lot of things that went wrong in terms of housing and transportation but a lot worked out and it was an incredibly fun and relaxing time! I drank lots of coffee (I am not hooked yet but I do enjoy a nice cup of joe now), lots of good (too sweet for my travel companions) wine, and had WONDERFUL company along the way! We met some really cool people and attempted to see some of the sights!
I have officially been converted, I LOVE TBILISI!!! On my way out of Armenia I will be visiting Tbilisi again and I WILL make it to that damn fortress if it kills me!
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