Green Camps

Three camps, all Armenian, and all fun! There are a total of five camps this summer, but I am only able to participate in three of them. So far, one has been completed and it was awesome! The kids were adorable and fun! I did a lot of the background work, kitchen work, prep work, and other organization stuff. But it was fun! I got to spend a week with other great volunteers!

I have two more camps in August and cant wait. I will be blogging more about it later. And now that I have a new computer (THANKS MAMA AND DAD!!!), and internet (THANKS E-LO!), I will be able to blog and email more, so look forward to that!

Love you all!

Summer

Summer is awesome! I have had such a great time these last few months!

In June, I went to Turkey with some of my fellow volunteers and then while I was there, I met up with my mama and aunt! I had such a great time, it was so relaxing. My mom and aunt came back to Armenia with me and we spent a week together traveling to different areas around Armenia.

I will be writing more, but just wanted to put up a short blog to let you know I am still alive.

Lots and lots...

October 2009- February 2010

Editors Note: This is a compilation of different posts that I have written over the last couple of months. Because of the holidays and the different times that I have written this, the post might jump around a bit. Sorry.

November 11, 2009 Note: Wow, I can’t believe it is already November, it seems as though time is flying by! These two years are going to fly by! Then again, it isn’t winter yet. But let me tell you, I am already colder than I have ever been. In my host family’s house, the only room that gets good sun is the kitchen and is on the exact opposite of my room. So my room never heats up with the sun and will not retain the warmth from the electric heaters… so it will be a cold winter for me.

But in other news, I looked at my new apartment! It belongs to my host uncle’s parents-in-law’s parents. Whew! They are in Russia and have been for the last ten years, I think. They won’t be coming back to Aragats any time soon, so they are allowing me to rent it, which I think is great! It is a huge apartment on the fifth floor. It is close to my site mate too, which will be nice when it gets darker earlier. I won’t have to walk home in the dark with the big scary dogs here.

Other Notes:

Lake Sevan

A group of us went to Lake Sevan as our first weekend out of site. When we first move to site, we are unable to leave our site for a month. This is to get us used to site and to get us involved in the community. Looking back (I am writing this about 3 months after the fact), it was smart of them to not allow us out of site for a month because it forces us to work on our language and adapting into the community. To be honest though because school is not in session, it was kind of boring just hanging out. When you enter PC, you can’t help it but you do have grandiose ideas about what you will be doing. Then you get to site and basically hang out for a month… not always what you thought.

Anyway, Sevan was really fun and a lot colder than I thought it would be. We rented a couple of cabins through another volunteer’s host family. We had a barbeque (horovats) and made delicious food. We had dance parties, played cards, laughed a LOT and generally enjoyed the lake. We went to an old monastery that was close to the cabins. It was really beautiful and we took some fun band photos! It was really cold though and gave us a small glimpse of what winter will be.

The cabins were nice and another PCV set it up but they weren’t what I was thinking when they said cabin. They are basically tin boxes with beds and a bathroom. But it was cheap enough and worked for what we wanted. I would totally go there again, but now I have to wait for warm weather…

Initiatives and Soccer Games

There are a couple of initiatives in PC. There is GAD, gender and development, EAI, environmental action initiative, PR, public relations and HIV/AIDS awareness. I am apart of the GAD and EAI initiative. We had our first meeting towards the end of September and got together to talk about projects that would be continuing and projects that they wanted to start on. There are some exciting things that may be happening and I am excited to be apart of it. It was also nice because I was able to see a bunch of volunteers that I had not seen in a while.

We also are only allowed 2 nights a month in Yerevan so I used my two nights for that weekend. It was nice being Yerevan because it is a big city that has a lot of European influences. It has outdoor cafes, during the summer, and lots of shops. It also has an outdoor market, the varnasage, where you can go and get some really cool souvenirs and household items. It is kind of like you leave Armenia and go into an up-and-coming European city.

The soccer game was a few weeks after the initiatives weekend but it was in Yerevan. Armenia versus Spain was the game and Armenia ended up losing 2-1 but it was a better game than expected. A few volunteers met up at an outdoor café before the game and just caught up on life. It is really nice and relaxing to hang out in the capital. There are also some places that remind me of places back in Gainesville.

Bird Week

Anyone who knows me knows how much I like to bird. Armenia is a great place to do bird watching because we have a lot of migratory birds. There are also a lot of different climates here so there are many different types of birds in a relatively small area. There are also a couple of different bird watching/protection programs that are happening in Armenia. One of them is an organization that sponsors annual bird watches.

For one of the annual bird watching events, I met up with my mentor PCV and another PCV and we went out at my mentor’s site to look for birds. She lives close to Gyumri and therefore there were a lot of raptor birds that we could see. Now, it has been debated whether or not I saw the bird, but I am pretty sure we saw an Imperial Eagle. This is very exciting for me but about two weeks after this sighting I went to a bird watching class.

At this bird watching class it was debated whether I really saw an Imperial Eagle or not. This saddens me a lot. The coolest bird I have seen in this country has a shadow of doubt cast over it. Therefore, I will continue looking for it and will see it again with someone who will identify it beyond doubt.

But the bird watching class was awesome! It was a week long and at the American University in Yerevan. It was 9 to 5 everyday and was all about birds and how to identify them. That Saturday we had a trip out to the lake to see the different birds that we learned about. We saw a lot of cool water birds! It was an awesome week because I learned so much. I can now train my students about birding skills. Next year, there is an advanced bird watching training that I can attend!

List of what I have seen so far:
Great Crested Grebe
Squacco Heron
White Stork!!! (There are nests in my mentor’s site!)
Lammergeier (such a cool bird- saw it from a marshutney while driving from an EAI meeting to YVN)
Common Buzzard
Imperial Eagle (?!?!?)
Common Kestrel
Ruddy Shelduck
Armenian Gull
European Bee-eater (such a pretty bird)
European Roller
Eurasian Hoopoe
White Wagtail
Red-backed Shrike
Sedge Warbler
Blue Tit
European Goldfinch
Eurasian Jay
Magpies (ugh, pretty but my gosh they are everywhere)
Eurasian Jackdaw
Carrion Crow

This is a list of the species that I know for sure. I have probably seen twice as many but either haven’t gotten a for sure identification or have forgotten to write them down.

Halloween and Green Camps!

School had a break the week before Halloween, called the Fall Break. I did not find out about it until the 24th, the Saturday before the break but I was able to go to Artsvaberd, which is in the north by Berd. Other PCVs were having a Green Camp and I decided to go up and help out. So I took a 2-hour marshutney to Yerevan and then took a 4-hour taxi ride north. It was a long day of travel and driving through the mountains took forever. It was really foggy too and it was a lot of back and forth up and down the mountain! But we made it safely!

Green Camp was a lot of fun! We played games, hiked around, almost lost kids (we found them, they went to their house before everyone else), and generally had a lot of fun. I love camp and had so much fun playing with the kids. We sang Boom Chick A Boom in Armenian, which isn’t much different than in English. Other PCVs came up and we all stayed at a 16s house. It was really cold there because of how north it is, but it was gorgeous! That part of the country is mountainous and has a lot of trees. On one of the hikes you can see Azerbaijan, which was cool.

The kids were also awesome! They were excited to be there and seemed to enjoy the Americans. There was also this kid that I had a lot of fun playing around with. One time at snack, we had wafers. Here they are called wafflies. I thought the name was funny so I did a dance and sang “wafflies, wafflies,” basically just being silly. Well he thought it was hilarious and him and I would do the wafflies dance. The next day another kid came up to me and introduced himself. Then he said he is so-and-so’s little brother. But I didn’t know wafflies’ name so I didn’t know who he was talking about. Then he told me he is poker wafflies. Poker means little, so he was saying he was wafflies little brother. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever witnessed! So for the rest of the camp, I called the older brother wafflies and the little brother poker wafflies. It was so funny; we would all do the wafflies dance.

Also during the camp, we got to go hiking. There is a statue close to Artsvabed that we had to climb a giant hill to get to. It was really cool and once we made it to the top, we got to see all around. It is beautiful in that part of the country. There are tall trees and green hills/mountains. It is the complete opposite of my site.

The camp was great because it reminded me why I am here, and that is to work with the kids of Armenia. This is a memory I will have forever!

While there, we also celebrated Halloween with other volunteers. This was fun and very American. We all dressed up and had a dance party. Good times!

The Dogs!

I am surprised I have not mentioned this in earlier posts, but there are lots and lots of dogs here. Some are domesticated (mostly in Yerevan or Gyumri), some belong to a family and are tied up outside of the house or left outside but fenced in, and then there are wild dogs that just roam around. And because there isn’t a trash system in place, there are dump sites where these dogs can be found. It is sad to see because they are so ragged and some looked like they had homes at some point.

Now, both the outside dogs that belong to a family and the wild dogs during winter get hungry. When they are hungry they can get kind of scary because they are more likely to charge you. I have yet to be attacked, but I have been charged. Especially at night, if you are walking through town, it is smart to carry a rock. I am not really scared but it is something that you have to think about. I am not sure what kind of dogs they are but they are huge. Also, a lot of times they have their ears clipped. I am not sure why. A lot of the dogs that are owned by someone work as herding dogs, they go out with the cows and sheep. I don’t know if there is really a threat of cows or sheep being attacked by anything. Armenia does have wolves, but there aren’t that many to be a threat, at least I don’t think… Something I should look up.

My Apartment

Anyways, to get back to my new apartment… it is huge! It is three bedrooms, a giant living room, a long kitchen with a gas stove (that is really all they have here), bathroom, balcony, electricity, no water, and no gas heat or heating system. Yay! It will be interesting to live in. It is on the fifth floor and when I want water, more than likely, I will have to get it from the well outside, which means trips up and down! Think of this, I have an indoor toilet but no water. So I have to pour water down the toilet to flush it. So I will have storage bins of water, which means even more trips up and down the stairs. Yay for exercise!

All-Vol!

All-Vol is the All Volunteer Conference that happens towards the end of November. It is a time to come together and kind of refresh with everything. The new group goes for a couple of days more so they can talk about how things are going and have a couple of classes of language. It is fun time because everyone is together. We are put up in a nice hotel in Yerevan with hot water all of the time!

The conference is one of the times that all of the volunteers are together. It was nice because I met some PCVs that I had never met before, most of the people that I had never met before live way up north or in the south. I wish there were more opportunities that we could meet up though because it is good to hear from other volunteers what they are doing and success stories they have had.

Also the conference is scheduled around Thanksgiving and we always have a Thanksgiving dinner together. A group of volunteers work on cooking the dinner and then most of the staff and volunteers eat together. It was a really good time. We stood around the food, said a blessing, and gave thanks. The food was delicious; the cooks did an awesome job! It was wonderful because I was around so many people that were going through the same thing. It was funny too because during dinner my table shared stories of funny Thanksgiving moments or traditions that you do on Thanksgiving.

The conference was great because it was re-energizing. I was able to get ideas for teaching English and able to talk to other EEs about things they are doing in their classes. It was also good because we were able to talk about frustrations we might be having and it was good to know that others had similar frustrations. It felt good to be around so many people that were going through similar things and for the most part, it was really positive.

Side Note: Peace Corps Friend Groups

There are a couple of different groups in PC:

First, during staging in Philadelphia, you make a friend group. This usually consists of people you either met on the plane, at the airport, the first person you saw at the hotel, or the people you are rooming with.

Then you go to the hotel in Armenia. This is your second group of friends; again usually people who you happen to sit next to on the plane, traveled around in Vienna, or are rooming with. They usually consist of those in the first group and a few more. You are beginning to learn more about people’s personalities and are beginning to find similarities.

Next, you are assigned to your PST village. These, usually, become your closest friends because you live in the same site for 11 weeks. My village consisted of all EEs, so not only did we have language class but also we had sector classes together on central days. Also, those in your sector are in your friend group because you work on projects and go on field trips together.

Lastly, you say goodbye and go to your new sites. If you have a site mate or live close to other volunteers, these become your next group of friends. This group of friends also consists of the volunteers that are in your warden group. A warden group consists of those that live close and during an emergency will consolidate together.

There is also the difference between the north and south. The people in the south become closer because traveling north takes forever so they do not do it much. The same goes for those in the north.

These different groups are great and I am not complaining at all, I am just explaining how your friend group changes throughout your service. For sure, you will stay friends with everyone you have developed a relationship with throughout your service, you just get closer to the people that are close to you. It is interesting how your friend group changes and the dynamics in those groups.

My Boots

I always thought boots were stupid and more of a fashion statement than a practical type of shoe. I also lived in Florida where people would wear Uggs with mini skirts, so I have a slight bias against boots. But being here in Armenia, everyone has boots. And for a while, I resisted having a pair, insisting my Florida shoes would be fine… Um, no!

So I broke down and bought a pair of boots that I have yet to take off of my feet. They are a suede material that comes up mid calf. They are really warm because they are insulated. Right now, two months later, they aren’t the black color they were when I bought them, but they still do the trick. Next year, I assume I will have to buy a new pair because these wont last past this winter. I still wear two pair of socks under them but they are warm! My feet still freeze on the marshutneys but there is no stopping that.

UPDATE: As of February 6, 2010 my boots are out of commission. After the PDM conference, I was walking through Yerevan. It had snowed a LOT and it was melting on the roads. So I had to walk through some water, and while my boots are awesome, they are NOT waterproof. Basically the bottom of my boots came off and I can no longer wear them. Hopefully the weather warms up soon because I have been wearing tennis shoe-type shoes. Shoes and clothes do not last long here!

Pizza and a Movie in America

So for PST, we earned what was called Lee Cash. This was given out when we would do some things for PC, such as reflection journals or answer questions during central days. At the end of PST there is an auction where we use our Cash to bid on various items. They ranged from sleeping bags, cooking wear, trips with the director, movie nights, and other various things. Well, I won baking things and a pizza & movie night with Amy, the second in command.

So after All-Vol week, another PCV and I went to Amy and her husband’s house to have pizza and watch a movie! It was like a night in America! Their house is amazing and very similar to America. They were kind enough to let us spend the night and use their shower… oh my! The pizza was delicious and we had Italian sausage!

It was really fun to hang out with them because they served in PC Africa. They allowed us to look through their photo album from their service. It was interesting because some of their pictures look exactly like mine, in terms of times with other PCVs and what you take pictures of. It is interesting because even though we were in totally different countries, we have similar experiences.

I also had a conversation through Skype with a PCV in Cape Verde around January. We were talking about how we have felt during service and the different emotions you go through. Especially with going through PST, moving to site, living at site for a couple of months, working, speaking another language, missing home, talking to home, and everything else. Although our site and placements are very different, the emotions are the same. You are frustrated at some of the same things; you laugh at the same jokes… its crazy. There really is such a thing as the PC family.

*Holidays*

It was kind of bitter sweet because Thanksgiving and Christmas are times that I go home (except for the one Thanksgiving I was in Germany) and spend time with family. This holiday season was very different because it didn’t really feel like the holidays. Right now I feel that Thanksgiving and Christmas won’t happen for a couple of years. It is a weird feeling.

But one really cool thing that happened to me is it snowed on Thanksgiving!

For Christmas, I made the long trip south to Kapan. A lot of people went to one of two places for Christmas. One of those places was Kapan and so there were a lot of volunteers there to celebrate the holidays. We did a gift exchange where people bought 5000-dram worth of household items and we had a grab bag type exchange. We were going to do a white elephant type of gift exchange but we ran out of time. We went to another volunteer’s house that lives right outside of Kapan. It was big enough to fit about 20ish people. We all brought dishes to pass and I made dip!

We had lots of good food and good times. I was able to call home which was nice because I was put on speakerphone and got to talk to family! I missed family a lot during the holidays but since if didn’t really feel like Christmas, I was okay.

-Move In Day-

Wow, I have a lot of crap. This is about the only thing I realized when I moved in. I also have been thinking a lot about the after-service trip that I will be taking. I plan on traveling through India and Southeast Asia. But I only want to take a backpack to travel through. So whatever I want to take from PC will have to fit in that backpack. And looking around my apartment, there is not much that I will be taking with me after my service. A lot of stuff I am hoping I will either pass on to the next group or will be leaving in country. I will probably send some stuff back to the states, but I don’t think I will have that much that I will need to send back. Interesting.

PCV Apartments

Ugh, talk about mini-America and jealousy. So there are two apartments that I have stayed in that I am extremely jealous of. My apartment doesn’t have running water or heat (besides my PC electric heaters), so any place that has water and heat will make me jealous. But there are really only two places that I am extremely jealous of. And as it happens, those are two people that I am extremely close to. So on one hand it is good because when I visit them, I basically go back to America. On the other hand though, it has the potential to cause a lot of jealousy problems… hehe. Both apartments are like mini-American apartments with running hot water and a nice form of heating. Both of those apartments are in larger cities though so it makes sense that they would have nicer apartments.

8 Months in Country

Wow, I cannot believe I have been here for that long… on one hand it feels as though time is flying by and it has only been a few months but then I feel as though I have been here for years. I think that is the general statement about PC: the days are long but the time is short. Some days can drag on but if you look back over the past week, it flew by. I think time has gone by so fast though because of the holidays, All-Vol, conferences, and school being out.

PDM

Project Design and Management conference is a requirement for A-17 PCVs that want to write a SPA grant. But beyond that it is a conference where you bring your counterpart to talk about how to design and manage projects. It is a great conference that teaches you start to finish how to create a project. It is five days long and in Tsaghadzor, which is a resort town.

It was a fun conference because I was able to spend time with my counterpart and really get to know her! She is awesome and I am excited to implement some of what we talked about during the conference into out town!

In Other News…

In other news, I am going to be an aunt! As exciting as this news is, I am a little sad I will miss a lot. I knew entering Peace Corps that this might happen so I mentally tried to prepare for it. But you can’t really prepare for this kind of news. I am so excited and I keep going back and forth between being scared of what type of aunt I will be to panicking that I now have to become responsible! Ah! And I cant wait because I know how awesome my brother and sis-in-law will be as parents, that this is such a blessing!

Bucket List:

Because I have so much time devoted to thinking, I have decided to create a bucket list of things that I want to do in my life. I added things that I knew I wanted out of life and have already accomplished, just because I wanted it to be a complete list. Some of these are borrowed from other people. It is something cool to do because it shows all of life’s possibilities!

Also, with this time, I have created my five-year plan. Hopefully, after PC I will travel through India and Southeast Asia, go home for a couple of months, and then take a job teaching in an international school or with the Department of Defense School System! Who knows!
• Get Masters Degree
• Peace Corps
• Backpack Europe
• Spend every birthday in new country (probably not possible every year- but something to strive towards)
• Swim in every ocean, yes even the Arctic, I am thinking off the north coast of Alaska?
• Visit every continent
• Visit Hawaii and Alaska
• Take an Alaskan cruise
• Sky dive and if I like it, get certified
• Get certified in diving
• Dive the Great Barrier Reef
• See a World Cup Football Match
• Go to an Olympic sport
• Learn Spanish fluently
• Travel to every country in Central America
• Write out a life Bird List
• Take a road trip from Florida to Alaska
• Macchu Picchu in Peru
• Ayers Rock
• Backpack India
• Teach in another country, not including PC
• Learn to appreciate wine
• Run with the bulls in Spain
• Participate in the tomato fight (Spain?)
• Go on an African safari
• Route 66
• Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Mt Rushmore
• Get more tattoos!
• Whale watching
• Spend a month in the United Kingdom
• Travel around Greece
• Swim with Sharks off the coast of South Africa
• See Silverback Gorillas in the wild
• World Wildlife Fund trip
• Go to a Super Bowl game
• Be involved in Girl Scouts
• Never have regrets!

Update

Hey All!

Happy Thanksgiving! I miss you all! I have been writing but have not been able to upload. I just wanted to write a quick note that I appreciate and am thankful for all of you! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are getting ready for the upcoming season and New Year!

Site and Stories

September 14, 2009

Site:

I have now been at my site for at least a month and so far it has been slow. I feel like I am hitting a language plateau, which is frustrating because this is when I need an explosion in language because I have begun teaching. I will describe my site, host family, and assignment later in this post. Right now I have some stories that I want to get down.

Spiders in the Outhouse

If you are friends with me on facebook, you have seen this story but I thought I would share it here in my blog. So for those of you who don’t know or haven’t heard, I am the owner of an outhouse*. My house in Aragats is a two-story house with all of the living happening on the second floor. So to get to my outhouse, you have to go down the stairs outside, down a path past the building where cows used to be, past the chicken coup, and you arrive at my outhouse. It is basically in the garden in the back yard. If any of you are familiar with my parent’s house in Bradenton, it would be like walking from the living room to the back gate where the park is but all outside! Not too bad, but still a walk that will be interesting in the winter with snow. I have a feeling I wont be using the bathroom much during the winter… he he.

So anyways, in one of my morning rushes to go to the bathroom, I walk out do my business and as I am standing up my head goes into a carefully crafted spider’s web. All I know is thank goodness I went to the bathroom before this happened, because it scared me. I run out of the house and leave the door open so I can look back at what exactly happened. In the corner is a spider obviously upset that I messed up its web. Understandably so, I know that it must have taken it a long time to make it. But the spider is black and white and its body is as fat as a nickel. And that was just its body; it was huge!

Now, I am stupidly scared of spiders. I have been scared of spiders probably my whole life, but it was heightened when in 7th grade I saw a movie about deadly spiders. The movie highlighted the lethalness of black widow spiders, which give me nightmares to this day. But to try and overcome my fears, I have compromised with the spider world. I will not kill spiders if they are outside unless they are threatening my life, and even then they have to be about to bite me while saying “I am going to kill you now.” Also, I try not to kill spiders and the only exceptions I have made are those that are found in my room. Even these can sometimes be lucky if it is during the day and I can capture and release them outside. And when I do relocate, I have horrible nightmares and fears that they will grow into giant man-eating spiders and avenge their relocation. Or if I do end up killing them, their family members will plan an attack while I sleep. It is very unrealistic, I understand, but still scares the crap out of me. Daddy long legs and sometimes tarantulas are the only spiders that I can handle and actually can say I don’t mind.

Keeping this compromise in mind, I was placed in a moral dilemma. This spider was technically outside, I can’t in any way claim that my outhouse is a building and therefore indoors. So technically, according to the compromise, I can’t kill this spider. And I really shouldn’t relocate it because it does help with the fly population that can be found in the outhouse. But it was so big and scary that I could potentially see it getting angry with me for messing up its web every time I stood up and then killing me. It was plausible. So I made a decision to get my host sister involved. She claims she is not that scared of spiders and can handle the situation. Next to my outhouse is a pile of sticks (wonder where the spiders came from?). She grabs one, wraps the web and spider around the stick and throws it down the hole!

Great, now this spider is not only upset that I ruined its web but also is now NOT dead in a pile of crap at the bottom of an outhouse hole. And now I can’t go to the bathroom at all because there is a spider just sitting, waiting, and planning revenge. I’m pretty sure it didn’t realize it was my host sister that actually did the relocation. But to be honest, I can understand why it would place the blame solely on me.

That day I went to school, taught, went to my neighbor’s house, and hung out. I went to the bathroom one other time that day and checked each corner and crevice before doing my business. Next day, I rushed out of the house and was out until the afternoon. But then it came time to face my fears. I walked to the shack and swung open the door. I had a feeling I was about to face death when I opened the door. And I did. But now instead of one set of eyes on me, there were two. Just like I knew would happen, it brought a friend. And in that single day, they procreated. They had an egg sack, which I can only assume to be the army they were raising up against me. They expanded their web to cover the entire top of the outhouse and seemed prepared to fight.

I had to. I had no other choice. I couldn’t relocate them again; they might have come back with other friends, bigger friends. I didn’t know what would have happened. I still feel bad about it but I had to. I went back to the stick pile, picked a sturdy stick and fought. I stood up for the right to use my outhouse without fear of death. I had to. I couldn’t involve anyone else in this decision; I had to fight this battle on my own. When it’s family members decide to avenge their deaths, I couldn’t have them attacking my host family members and friends. I had to do it alone.

Needless to say, the spiders are no longer with us. It was quick and hopefully painless. They did put up a fight and one died defending the nest, they were brave and I am sorry for what I have done.

Now it is a slow wait process to see what their family members decide to do…

*The term outhouse is used to describe an actual shack style outhouse with the moon on the door. It is a squatty-potty with a hole in the ground for you to do your business.


UNO

This game is great. It gets people of all ages to gather around a table and play a simple card game. It can bring out a range of emotions, from cutthroat competition to sidesplitting laughter to deadly silence. It can be played while having a deep conversation about family members to dancing and listening to Armenian/Russian pop music. It is completely versatile and allows a beginning Armenian speaker to teach a game to her family members.

This was the first time my brother actually played a game with me too! Very exciting! My brother is very shy around me and doesn’t talk to me much. I totally understand it and am very happy that I have a somewhat similar soul. But he is slowly opening up to me and talking to me sometimes. I really want to know the language more because I know he is funny. He likes to tell stories and always has good one-liners, I just don’t understand them.


Sad Pancake Story

So, I attempted to make pancakes and failed miserably. They had to be the worst pancakes I have ever made in my entire life. You know the first pancake that always fails; the entire batch was like that but worse. I think I used baking soda instead of baking powder, which might explain it. I also couldn’t use milk so they weren’t that rich. It was really sad. I wanted to cry. And those who know me well, know how much I love pancakes…

That is one of the frustrating things. I think I mentioned this in another post, but it is exactly like what my professor said: there is no middle ground of emotions. You either have an amazing day where you are on top of the world or it is one of the worst days of your life. Ok, so maybe that is an extreme dramatization but it is pretty accurate. It is like once you are in PC, you become bi-polar with your emotions. When I have a good day, I am on top of the world. My language is amazing, I am picking up words I didn’t even know I knew, I can have in-depth conversations with people, people understand me (!), and I am culturally appropriate at all times! But when I am having a not-so-good day, it is like nothing can go right. And you might be thinking, oh my maybe she is bi-polar, but a lot of others feel this way too. In America, I had average days, where things were just good or okay. But here, there are more extreme days than just average days. Weird. I bet PC volunteers would be good people to do psychological studies on.

Teaching
So my assignment is to work with my counterpart in school or after school and teach about environmental education. But for now, I am working in the English class with 3rd and 8th form. We shall see how this goes…

A Small Community
My first invitation to coffee was when I was just walking down the street. I was sad that I had to turn it down but my family was waiting for me. It was super exciting though because I was stopped and someone knew me! This really is a small town. I am finding out that people are still unsure of why I am here or what I am doing. I know that integration is a slow process so I am being patient. But it was still exciting that I was invited in for coffee!!! Although I don’t drink coffee, they usually will serve me tea.

The Best Shower Ever!

When I was here for site visit, they were putting in a shower. I think baths before the existence of this shower room were outside showers in the tub in my backyard or bucket baths in the kitchen. When I arrived at site, the shower room was still not complete. But they would work on it every couple of days at night. I wanted to help out but would probably have been in the way more than I would have been of use.

It was fun though while it was being built. My host mom, sister, and I would go down and sit outside, sometimes listening to music, while my host father, brother, sometimes uncle, and sometimes grandfather would work away installing the shower. It was fun especially when we would play music. We would dance around and my host father would sing away. They really like Akon’s song, Right Now (Na Na Na) and love singing it at the top of their lungs. My iPhone has that song on it, so we would all dance and sing to it over and over again. My dad would even dance around to it. Fun times.

These are some of the memories I will have for the rest of my life because it was so carefree and fun. Even though I can’t speak fluently or even enough to have an entirely deep conversation, my family and I connected to each other through music. Music is such a universal thing and can be so powerful. It makes me realize how important music is and how important it is to me. Music helps me escape when I am having a bad day, it can put me to sleep, and one song can have a million different memories tied to it (think Newsies soundtrack or N’SYNC). And now Akon’s music has a whole different meaning to me.

About a week and half after I had been at site, I had my first shower! Oh my, it felt good. Just like in the states, I set up my music and danced around. It was one of the best showers because it felt so good to shower after about 2 weeks without one! This shower is one of the few luxuries I have at my site, and with the almost constant water, I could have a shower every day if I wanted one.

Watching Football (Soccer)

My papik (grandfather) who lives across the street comes over and watches football with my dad. My uncle will sometimes come over and watch it as well. My grandfather used to play soccer for 15 years, I don’t know if it was professionally or when he played but he loves watching it. I love watching it with him because it is another way we can connect. He usually goes for Manchester United but I am not sure if he always supports that team or just when they play. And right now, I don’t really have a team that I specifically support so I am going along with Manchester United. Although, I saw the Arsenal (I think?) game where the coach was kicked off of the pitch. That was fun because my grandfather was really upset and yelling at the television. Funny!

It is also fun because it is the guy thing to do in the house. In the States, I watch football and am really missing my Gators play! And I have been keeping up somewhat with my boys through the internet but I haven’t been able to see any games. I have the option of listening to the games through this service that costs about 5000 dram, which roughly equals about 15 dollars a game. But I might only do that with more important games later in the season. So, for now I am replacing my football watching with watching soccer. And it is good because I love soccer. Not to mention, but soccer boys are so cute! He he! Maybe I will begin to pick a team and begin following them!


September 15, 2009

It is kind of funny right now; I am watching the men in my family cut limbs off a nut tree. It is my grandfather, my father, my brother, and my 4-year-old nephew. Just like American men and stereotypes of men working, they will work hard for about 5 minutes and then take a break and talk about what they accomplished. Actually, I just realized they are cutting down the whole thing. Why? I am not sure but he is going for the trunk. This is pretty sad. My father is cutting it with a chain saw while my brother, grandfather and nephew hold on to a rope that is wrapped around the tree. Success (I guess), it just came down. Apparently, it was getting too big and

Behind my house I have a garden that is full of vegetables right now. In the garden there is eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, lots and lots of peppers (I think they either are poblano or very similar to poblano peppers), herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, and others), garlic, and onion. We also have a couple of small apple trees, a nut tree, apricot (still, even though one was cut down), a cherry tree, and some other things. We have a stalk of corn and I think my tatik said something about melons. Then behind my house there is a field that is connected to School Number One. A lot of the times there are soccer games being held there.


September 17, 2009

Right now, I am staring out at my mountain. I think I have found my thinking spot in my new site. I like this spot in my kitchen. It is close enough to hear what everyone is doing and feel apart of the family and it is has a great view. This is my new health spa spot, it is my new place to think and write. I never really realized how much I like to write. Getting my thoughts out and rereading them help me focus on what is important.

I wrote this after a conversation with another volunteer. I was telling him about what was happening and how I didn’t like not knowing something. He told me that I needed to live in the grey. So I wrote this paragraph, I thought it was funny and figured I would share. Enjoy my musings.

I like black and white. I do not like grey. Grey and I are not friends and might never be. I don’t like him and I am pretty sure he is not fond of me. Black and white make sense. They have reasons for what they do and explanations for why they are doing it. One is just bad and the other is just good, there aren’t any spaces in between. Both are clear-cut and one is opposite of the other. Again, both make sense. I like these areas. Grey leaves spaces for questions, with a lot of them being unanswered. I don’t like this. I don’t like my questions being unanswered. I want answers: I need answers. I like knowing. I don’t mind figuring things out but when I know they don’t have an answer or lead to a place of reality and grey area, I am unhappy. But I think living in reality and in the human world you have to live in the grey. While some people flourish here, I need to learn how to flourish in a world full of grey. So far I think I have done okay, but I can do better.

September 24, 2009


Yum! Yum! Food…

So I am assuming that some of you are wondering about what I eat. Well they aren’t starving me, that is for sure! Right now, there are a lot of fruit and vegetables available because it is the end of summer. I already said what we have in our garden, so that is about what we eat.

I will describe some of the food I have been served, as that is an accurate representation of what you would be served if you visited. These items are usually for guests and parties.
Dolma- mmmm… it is delicious! It can be either grape leaves or cabbage leaves stuffed with ground meat that is mixed with spices and rice. They are rolled and then boiled. They can be served with matsun, which is similar to yogurt. Sometimes they mix the matsun with garlic and oh goodness, that is delicious!
Horovats- Some of you may have heard me talk of this. Basically it is a barbeque in the sense that the meat is grilled. They make a fire out of sticks, let them burn to coal and then roast chicken or pork over it. They also skewer tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers, and other veggies and roast them. They then put it all on lavash and you dig in. It is absolutely wonderful. The most seasoning they do for chicken is salt it. And for the pork, it all depends but mostly oil, salt, pepper, herbs, and onions.
Lavash- similar to tortillas or chapattis, just a flat bread that is served with every meal.
Soups- There is a soup that looks kinda orange and usually has cabbage in it. I forget what it is called now, but that is good and usually has some meat in it.
These are the more traditional foods.

For the rest of the time, there are different things. A lot of fried potatoes, sometimes rice, these Georgian ravioli type things, fried potatoes, salad (which just consists of sliced tomatoes and cucumber), soup, fried eggplant (which is delicious!), eggs, eggs fried with hotdogs, and other similar type meals. Food has been really good, no complaints so far. Bread is served with every meal and it is really good.

For the past couple of weeks we have had honey from my family’s orchard. That is exciting because I love honey! Yum Yum!

Gyumri!

This amazing place hosts some of my new best friends! And it is in my extended community so I can go there, not too often, but enough. Gyumri is host to a Russian military base so there are a bunch of military men running around. However, they all look to be at least 16 years old. But anyways, Gyumri is the second largest city in Armenia. It is big enough to get semi-lost if you don’t know the place but not big enough that you feel overwhelmed.

There is a great group of volunteers around there so I get to hang out with other Americans on weekends if I wanted to. To get there I can take an old soviet train, a marshutney (which is like a 12 passenger van that they will squeeze anywhere from 20-28 people), or a taxi. The train, which goes from Yerevan to Gyumri and through my town is 500 dram and takes a slow but relaxing 2 hours. The marshutney is packed and takes 1200 dram and is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The taxi is quicker but probably costs around 5000 dram. So my cheap option, obviously, is the train and I love taking it. I hope to get pictures of it but I don’t want to look like a tourist or more out of place than I already do.

About two weeks ago, I made my first solo ride to do some banking and Internet. I met up with another volunteer and had lunch. We went around and did some shopping. I bought shampoo and conditioner (I know, big spender) and then we went to an internet café to skype! This was nice and I hope to skype more! It is weird to talk and see people that are all the way around the country… Madness, I say, madness!

The second time I skyped, I went to a different internet café. That was interesting because half way through my conversation, they started building a swinging door in the internet place. Then a group of guys behind me kept staring at my conversation. Talk about not having privacy! But it was still wonderful to hear from my brother, sister-in-law, mom, and dad! Thanks for talking guys!!!


Even Sadder Pancake Story

So I asked my mom to send me maple syrup because you can’t get that here and because it is delicious. I wanted to retry my pancake abilities and impress my family with delicious maple syrup. But when the package came, apparently the bottle busted and cut the plastic bag that contained it. So needless to say impressively besides the book, DVDs, and recipe book, everything was covered in sticky goo. I wanted to cry because nothing was salvageable. (I say I wanted to cry, but I actually did. There were a couple of tears. You people know how much I love maple syrup…)

But anyways, picking up the package was interesting because they had no clue what the ooze coming out of it was. They thought it was muraba, which is a sweet sauce that they preserve with nuts. It is good, NOT MAPLE SYRUP good, but still good. Then they thought it was honey but that didn’t make sense because my host father is a beekeeper so why would someone send me honey. And since they don’t have maple syrup here, it was kind of hard to explain. I just said it was like honey.

October 5, 2009

Happy Pancake Story

So I made chocolate chip pancakes the other day with fake maple syrup that I bought at the SAS Supermarket (which is a market that has a lot of international food products, like Kraft Mac-N-Cheese and maple syrup). They were delicious and perfectly made. Yum! Yum!

Shout Outs:

Thanks to all of those who have sent packages, letters, and cards! I really appreciate getting mail. It is really fun to read about what you guys are up to! It is also a nice connection to home!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!