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.
24 May 2011
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!
26 April 2011
COS Conference
It has come and gone. The COS conference is the Close of Service conference that talks about ALL of the paper work and meetings that you have to do to complete your service.
It has really made me think about my last couple months of service and really started to bring a finality to this... scary. I dont know if I want it to end just yet. I have made some amazing friends, both volunteers and community peeps. How do you say goodbye? How do you finish something that you feel you just started?
It has really made me think about my last couple months of service and really started to bring a finality to this... scary. I dont know if I want it to end just yet. I have made some amazing friends, both volunteers and community peeps. How do you say goodbye? How do you finish something that you feel you just started?
17 April 2011
Highs and Lows
Man, oh man. Peace Corps is such an up and down roller coaster of emotion sometimes. I dont know what it was but last week I was just in a bad mood. For about the last month I have had a string of visitors to my site, which has been awesome!
Starting with the Poetry Contest, which you can read about two posts back, I have played host to quite a few people. It has been wonderful to be able to share my village with so many different people. Some have come to experience the 'real' Armenia and check out the village life while others have come to help me plan/dream about the trip after COS (close of service) with others coming for a girls weekend.
I had a wonderful time, it really showed me how integrated I was in the community by having visitors come to my village. It made me realize how much I have learned about Armenia and Armenians and also how much I still dont know!
And then last week happened. When I talk to people about my service, the one thing I can say is that it is an adventure. And for some reason last week was not the good kind of adventure- I was completely homesick and down. I didnt want to quit but I definitely had that feeling of wanting to be anywhere but here. I dont know if it was the weather (rainy, cold, overcast, gross) or just my mood (sad, overwhelmed, stressed) but I was not having it. So I decided to go in to Yerevan for the day, mainly to take a shower (it had been about 2 weeks).
It is amazing what a shower can do for your morale. It was like I washed away all of the negativity and sadness I was feeling and was reborn a positive and happy person! The Saturday I went on a hike to an old fort by Talin. Apparently, it was part of the silk road. It was so much fun to walk to the fort and play around on the fort. Then I hung out with another volunteer and their host family, good times!
So, back to being on the high end of service and ready for this next week. It is crazy but after next week, I have my COS conference... where has the time gone?!?
Starting with the Poetry Contest, which you can read about two posts back, I have played host to quite a few people. It has been wonderful to be able to share my village with so many different people. Some have come to experience the 'real' Armenia and check out the village life while others have come to help me plan/dream about the trip after COS (close of service) with others coming for a girls weekend.
I had a wonderful time, it really showed me how integrated I was in the community by having visitors come to my village. It made me realize how much I have learned about Armenia and Armenians and also how much I still dont know!
And then last week happened. When I talk to people about my service, the one thing I can say is that it is an adventure. And for some reason last week was not the good kind of adventure- I was completely homesick and down. I didnt want to quit but I definitely had that feeling of wanting to be anywhere but here. I dont know if it was the weather (rainy, cold, overcast, gross) or just my mood (sad, overwhelmed, stressed) but I was not having it. So I decided to go in to Yerevan for the day, mainly to take a shower (it had been about 2 weeks).
It is amazing what a shower can do for your morale. It was like I washed away all of the negativity and sadness I was feeling and was reborn a positive and happy person! The Saturday I went on a hike to an old fort by Talin. Apparently, it was part of the silk road. It was so much fun to walk to the fort and play around on the fort. Then I hung out with another volunteer and their host family, good times!
So, back to being on the high end of service and ready for this next week. It is crazy but after next week, I have my COS conference... where has the time gone?!?
10 April 2011
Football!
This is why I love being a girl and a foreigner, sometimes.
We bought tickets to a football match, the Euro Cup Qualifier. Armenia versus Russia. The place to be on March 26th at 7:00. Actually, the place we needed to be at 6:00 or earlier to ensure we were able to get our seats...
My friend and I bought our tickets off of another volunteer that arranged it through another guy and so on. Thanks to said volunteer for organizing it, that was great of you! To continue, so we had our tickets and like the two previous football matches I had attended, we just had to show up. Little did we hear or know that we needed to be there an hour or more before the game's kickoff to ensure our tickets would be valid. Apparently the ticket sellers sold about 300 extra tickets and the only way to ensure your seat was to show up way before the game started. Having been to two previous games where this was never an issue, I did not think the stadium would be sold out and then some.
As we walk up to the gate and see the crowd (at this point we still dont know we would be refused), we walk up to the police officers and show them our tickets, expecting them to point us to the entrance. They said we were too late and that our tickets were no longer good. They sympathized with us as much as to say, sorry we can't help. As the story unfolded about the number of seats vs number of tickets sold, the Russians who pushed their way through and the fact that other volunteers who were there an hour early were still having trouble getting to their seats, my determination grew.
Watching the guards like a hawk, surveying the entrances and where it was we needed to go, we made our move. I grabbed my friends hand, pulled out our tickets and did what any foreign girl has done at one point in their lives: acted stupid and entitled. I waited until a guard looked a certain way, ducked my head and walked. We kept pointing to our tickets, pretending we didnt understand the 'excuse me girls, wait, come back', and continued walking. We walked past about 5 different heavily guarded areas where we could have been stopped and eventually made it into the stadium.
We recruited another guard who wasnt even sure we should be allowed in to show us our seats. We made it right before halftime and joined with the other volunteers. We had a great time, I lost my voice slightly, and Armenia ended up tying with Russia, 0-0. All in all, good times were had. But I definitely abused my foreign status by pretending I didnt know the language or rules. I also think I only got away with this behavior because I am a girl and could play the lost girl card. And you know what, I am okay with what happened.
We bought tickets to a football match, the Euro Cup Qualifier. Armenia versus Russia. The place to be on March 26th at 7:00. Actually, the place we needed to be at 6:00 or earlier to ensure we were able to get our seats...
My friend and I bought our tickets off of another volunteer that arranged it through another guy and so on. Thanks to said volunteer for organizing it, that was great of you! To continue, so we had our tickets and like the two previous football matches I had attended, we just had to show up. Little did we hear or know that we needed to be there an hour or more before the game's kickoff to ensure our tickets would be valid. Apparently the ticket sellers sold about 300 extra tickets and the only way to ensure your seat was to show up way before the game started. Having been to two previous games where this was never an issue, I did not think the stadium would be sold out and then some.
As we walk up to the gate and see the crowd (at this point we still dont know we would be refused), we walk up to the police officers and show them our tickets, expecting them to point us to the entrance. They said we were too late and that our tickets were no longer good. They sympathized with us as much as to say, sorry we can't help. As the story unfolded about the number of seats vs number of tickets sold, the Russians who pushed their way through and the fact that other volunteers who were there an hour early were still having trouble getting to their seats, my determination grew.
Watching the guards like a hawk, surveying the entrances and where it was we needed to go, we made our move. I grabbed my friends hand, pulled out our tickets and did what any foreign girl has done at one point in their lives: acted stupid and entitled. I waited until a guard looked a certain way, ducked my head and walked. We kept pointing to our tickets, pretending we didnt understand the 'excuse me girls, wait, come back', and continued walking. We walked past about 5 different heavily guarded areas where we could have been stopped and eventually made it into the stadium.
We recruited another guard who wasnt even sure we should be allowed in to show us our seats. We made it right before halftime and joined with the other volunteers. We had a great time, I lost my voice slightly, and Armenia ended up tying with Russia, 0-0. All in all, good times were had. But I definitely abused my foreign status by pretending I didnt know the language or rules. I also think I only got away with this behavior because I am a girl and could play the lost girl card. And you know what, I am okay with what happened.
Best Week Ever
This week starts on a Wednesday but really started a couple of months before that. If I can allow myself to take a side step before I really get on with this blog.
Winter is hard for me, as I am sure it is for many other volunteers all over the world in cold, cold places. Things shut down, the produce becomes limited to potatoes, people do not go outside for the most part, your house and workplace become too cold to move, its just a darker period. Seasonal depression is real and the lack of sun or sunny days and the ability to go outside and enjoy them is not really fun. Although (as you can see in other blogs) I have started to appreciate winter. The ability of snow to make everything look clean, snow fights and snowmen. As with everything, there are good and bad sides to winter.
But as the end of February and March started to come around, the sun started to come out more and warm things up. Everyday felt like it was getting warmer. I was able to change my heater to the medium setting and not needing to blast it throughout the night. People started to perk up. It felt as though we were all coming out of hibernation.
Then with March, my director and I decided to write a SPA grant. Sadly, it was not funded due to multiple reasons. And that still hurts. But the process of writing it has been a highlight in my service.
The best week ever begins on Wednesday, March 8th, Women's Day. At my clubs, all of my students came in and after combining their money bought me gifts. They all came in, shyly kissed my check and wished me Happy Women's Day and presented me with some of the most interesting gifts. I loved it and was so blessed. It just showed me how much has changed within a year and how much more my community knows and loves me. All throughout town people wished me a Happy Women's Day! It was great.
Thursday was just an awesome club. We had a poetry contest coming up that some of my students were participating in. My students were preparing for it and working together to make sure their dictation, interpretation and memorization were all up to par. Thursday I also worked on the SPA grant some more with my director. It was wonderful to see him learn and grow as we worked through the project.
Friday, my director and I ran around the village collecting price quotes for the grant application. I drank so much coffee (even though I am not a big fan- that brought me up to 10 cups drank so far in country...) and I worry that it is starting to grow on me a little. I dont want to be addicted to coffee... It was a lot of fun though- we met with so many different people. My favorite part of the day was when my director and I went to the bigger store in my village to get quotes for remodeling materials (think paint, brushes, etc.). It was almost like a comedy show between an American attempting Armenian, a director attempting to translate from my Armenian to actual Armenian, a store owner who completely understood me before translation, another store worker who did not understand me or the translated Armenian, and two onlookers who did not think I spoke English or Armenian and were trying to help in Russian. It was a great experience and one that I will continue to look back on and laugh about. Although it is bittersweet because we didnt end up getting the grant. Also on Friday, my director and I somehow ended up in the store owner's office with two bottles of cognac, pictures of his family vacation in Jermuk, and talking about his daughter who spoke really good English. Great night, one of the best in village life so far...
Saturday, my director and I had to go in to Yerevan for even more price quotes. Sunday was the poetry contest and our contest was to include Fulbrights as judges. My director offered to pick them up from Yerevan, they would come to my site the night before and we would all go up together the next morning to Talin. The two hour car ride from Yerevan to my site with the two Fulbrights and a sister was awesome. My director is a really awesome guy and very open about his ideas and opinions. I can ask him just about anything and he will try to give an unbiased answer. He is incredibly passionate about Armenia and the future of Armenians. It is really fun hanging out and talking with him because we talk a combination of Armenian, English, and Arabic (of which, I know none). But somehow we completely understand each other and are able to have deep and meaningful conversations. So, on the way back we talked about so much stuff. We were driving at night and then right outside of my village, we stopped the car, got out and turned off the car lights and stared into the open space. Even though it was a little dusty, we could see soooo many stars! Stars take my breath away just about every time I look at them, it was a wonderful ending to a great night.
Sunday, we woke up and arrived at School No. 1. I must give a LOT of kudos to my counterpart, the lovely Ms. Tamara, and the three other English teachers both in School No. 1 and 2. They did awesome! Basically, I handed over the information about the Poetry Recitation Contest and let them handle and organize the rest. We had a wonderful group of students who showed that they practiced a lot, were dedicated and prepared! My CP set up the marshutni ride to Talin (a town about 45 mins away, on the other side of the mountain) and we all jumped in and headed off.
The contest was wonderful! So many students showed up and were so prepared. You could tell they were a little bit nervous but they did a great job! The students from Aragats did incredible. My village placed in the top 3 for each grade and were the most represented out of all of the schools that participated. So proud!!!
And that isnt even the end of the day, we ended the contest around 1 or so. On the marshutni ride back, a neighboring PCV suggested we go to look at Ani. He had heard you can see it from the border, although we werent able to. You can do it from Gyumri and apparently there is a tour agency that lets you go to Ani... Anyhow. We hire a marshutni, grab my CP and her family- mother, daughter, and husband, and head out with the Fulbrights, other PCVs, and myself. We go out to the border, see an older church that was once a part of Ani, and drink Arteni white wine as we make toasts to friendships that will last forever. On the way back, the marshutni stops at the bottom of a hill/mountain that has a holy site near the top. We climb up to the holy site, which is kind of a shack memorial where people tie ribbons, cloth, and string to make a wish. We all tie our strings and make a wish. We then walk to the side of the mountain to watch the sun set over the mountains in Turkey. It was a beautiful day! We hike back down, head in to town, spend a little more time with my CP and then eventually head back to my apartment. It was such a wonderful day!
Monday was back to the work week and finishing up stuff for the grant. I continued work with my CP, met with the Mayor (who actually talked to me), and continued with clubs.
And that was my best week ever, but really it has continued over for a while now. I feel as though these last few months, mainly since January, I have really hit my stride. Even though not getting the grant was a blow, it will be okay. I feel as though I have let down my community and all that were involved in it, but its just the way things happen. We are looking in to other grant opportunities now and focusing on upcoming projects.
It is such a bittersweet feeling. I finally hit my stride in my village, granted I still have up and down days, but my community is really getting me. More and more people are coming up and talking to me, more and more students know me and show respect, I have more people that smile at me. It is wonderful! And this all started before the grant writing or anything- so it is purely as though they realize that I am here to help and not some crazy American lost girl. I just wish I hit my stride sooner, say August 2009, and could have done a lot more for my village. I have heard this reiterated by PCVs worldwide, but you really get more out of the experience than you give and it is somewhat heartbreaking. I already have so much, I dont need more.
My students are continually improving their English skills and continually improving their independence and leadership! We are planning a camp right now that is going to test their English skills and teaching abilities! It will be great! I am also thinking of doing a workshop for the English teachers of my village just to give them tools and resources for the classroom. We have a lot planned for these next coming months.
I wrote out a calendar of my last 5 months and really scared myself. I am not counting down or awaiting the day, I simply needed to schedule things out so I dont forget to do anything or over-schedule things. Oh my! Between our COS conference, my camps, my mom's trip, green camps, 4th of July, COS and things I want to do at site, I have no time! On one hand, it is incredibly exciting to be this busy with so many different projects but on the other hand, I am really scared about how fast time will go. This experience has really changed my life and has opened my eyes to ideas I had never thought about before.
Winter is hard for me, as I am sure it is for many other volunteers all over the world in cold, cold places. Things shut down, the produce becomes limited to potatoes, people do not go outside for the most part, your house and workplace become too cold to move, its just a darker period. Seasonal depression is real and the lack of sun or sunny days and the ability to go outside and enjoy them is not really fun. Although (as you can see in other blogs) I have started to appreciate winter. The ability of snow to make everything look clean, snow fights and snowmen. As with everything, there are good and bad sides to winter.
But as the end of February and March started to come around, the sun started to come out more and warm things up. Everyday felt like it was getting warmer. I was able to change my heater to the medium setting and not needing to blast it throughout the night. People started to perk up. It felt as though we were all coming out of hibernation.
Then with March, my director and I decided to write a SPA grant. Sadly, it was not funded due to multiple reasons. And that still hurts. But the process of writing it has been a highlight in my service.
The best week ever begins on Wednesday, March 8th, Women's Day. At my clubs, all of my students came in and after combining their money bought me gifts. They all came in, shyly kissed my check and wished me Happy Women's Day and presented me with some of the most interesting gifts. I loved it and was so blessed. It just showed me how much has changed within a year and how much more my community knows and loves me. All throughout town people wished me a Happy Women's Day! It was great.
Thursday was just an awesome club. We had a poetry contest coming up that some of my students were participating in. My students were preparing for it and working together to make sure their dictation, interpretation and memorization were all up to par. Thursday I also worked on the SPA grant some more with my director. It was wonderful to see him learn and grow as we worked through the project.
Friday, my director and I ran around the village collecting price quotes for the grant application. I drank so much coffee (even though I am not a big fan- that brought me up to 10 cups drank so far in country...) and I worry that it is starting to grow on me a little. I dont want to be addicted to coffee... It was a lot of fun though- we met with so many different people. My favorite part of the day was when my director and I went to the bigger store in my village to get quotes for remodeling materials (think paint, brushes, etc.). It was almost like a comedy show between an American attempting Armenian, a director attempting to translate from my Armenian to actual Armenian, a store owner who completely understood me before translation, another store worker who did not understand me or the translated Armenian, and two onlookers who did not think I spoke English or Armenian and were trying to help in Russian. It was a great experience and one that I will continue to look back on and laugh about. Although it is bittersweet because we didnt end up getting the grant. Also on Friday, my director and I somehow ended up in the store owner's office with two bottles of cognac, pictures of his family vacation in Jermuk, and talking about his daughter who spoke really good English. Great night, one of the best in village life so far...
Saturday, my director and I had to go in to Yerevan for even more price quotes. Sunday was the poetry contest and our contest was to include Fulbrights as judges. My director offered to pick them up from Yerevan, they would come to my site the night before and we would all go up together the next morning to Talin. The two hour car ride from Yerevan to my site with the two Fulbrights and a sister was awesome. My director is a really awesome guy and very open about his ideas and opinions. I can ask him just about anything and he will try to give an unbiased answer. He is incredibly passionate about Armenia and the future of Armenians. It is really fun hanging out and talking with him because we talk a combination of Armenian, English, and Arabic (of which, I know none). But somehow we completely understand each other and are able to have deep and meaningful conversations. So, on the way back we talked about so much stuff. We were driving at night and then right outside of my village, we stopped the car, got out and turned off the car lights and stared into the open space. Even though it was a little dusty, we could see soooo many stars! Stars take my breath away just about every time I look at them, it was a wonderful ending to a great night.
Sunday, we woke up and arrived at School No. 1. I must give a LOT of kudos to my counterpart, the lovely Ms. Tamara, and the three other English teachers both in School No. 1 and 2. They did awesome! Basically, I handed over the information about the Poetry Recitation Contest and let them handle and organize the rest. We had a wonderful group of students who showed that they practiced a lot, were dedicated and prepared! My CP set up the marshutni ride to Talin (a town about 45 mins away, on the other side of the mountain) and we all jumped in and headed off.
The contest was wonderful! So many students showed up and were so prepared. You could tell they were a little bit nervous but they did a great job! The students from Aragats did incredible. My village placed in the top 3 for each grade and were the most represented out of all of the schools that participated. So proud!!!
And that isnt even the end of the day, we ended the contest around 1 or so. On the marshutni ride back, a neighboring PCV suggested we go to look at Ani. He had heard you can see it from the border, although we werent able to. You can do it from Gyumri and apparently there is a tour agency that lets you go to Ani... Anyhow. We hire a marshutni, grab my CP and her family- mother, daughter, and husband, and head out with the Fulbrights, other PCVs, and myself. We go out to the border, see an older church that was once a part of Ani, and drink Arteni white wine as we make toasts to friendships that will last forever. On the way back, the marshutni stops at the bottom of a hill/mountain that has a holy site near the top. We climb up to the holy site, which is kind of a shack memorial where people tie ribbons, cloth, and string to make a wish. We all tie our strings and make a wish. We then walk to the side of the mountain to watch the sun set over the mountains in Turkey. It was a beautiful day! We hike back down, head in to town, spend a little more time with my CP and then eventually head back to my apartment. It was such a wonderful day!
Monday was back to the work week and finishing up stuff for the grant. I continued work with my CP, met with the Mayor (who actually talked to me), and continued with clubs.
And that was my best week ever, but really it has continued over for a while now. I feel as though these last few months, mainly since January, I have really hit my stride. Even though not getting the grant was a blow, it will be okay. I feel as though I have let down my community and all that were involved in it, but its just the way things happen. We are looking in to other grant opportunities now and focusing on upcoming projects.
It is such a bittersweet feeling. I finally hit my stride in my village, granted I still have up and down days, but my community is really getting me. More and more people are coming up and talking to me, more and more students know me and show respect, I have more people that smile at me. It is wonderful! And this all started before the grant writing or anything- so it is purely as though they realize that I am here to help and not some crazy American lost girl. I just wish I hit my stride sooner, say August 2009, and could have done a lot more for my village. I have heard this reiterated by PCVs worldwide, but you really get more out of the experience than you give and it is somewhat heartbreaking. I already have so much, I dont need more.
My students are continually improving their English skills and continually improving their independence and leadership! We are planning a camp right now that is going to test their English skills and teaching abilities! It will be great! I am also thinking of doing a workshop for the English teachers of my village just to give them tools and resources for the classroom. We have a lot planned for these next coming months.
I wrote out a calendar of my last 5 months and really scared myself. I am not counting down or awaiting the day, I simply needed to schedule things out so I dont forget to do anything or over-schedule things. Oh my! Between our COS conference, my camps, my mom's trip, green camps, 4th of July, COS and things I want to do at site, I have no time! On one hand, it is incredibly exciting to be this busy with so many different projects but on the other hand, I am really scared about how fast time will go. This experience has really changed my life and has opened my eyes to ideas I had never thought about before.
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