Thursday, January 28, 2010
Today is Army Day in Armenia, a national holiday. However, they were having some activities at the local army base, so the schools were taking the boys to see that. It’s a way to get interest in the army as a career. There is mandatory two year army service for all boys once they turn 18. But it seems that less and less are making the army a career.
Well winter seems to have finally arrived in southern Armenia. This week has been cold and snowy. On Tuesday we had snow all morning, but then it rained for a while. However, it turned to snow agaityping this I’m sitting in my house with a hat on to help keep me warm. I haven’t lit my wood burning stove yet today and am relying on my fan for heat. My wood supply has run low and I’m not sure when I’ll be getting more. I haven’t seen my wood man in a few days, so I don’t want to take any chances of running out. I just bring the fan with me as I move from room to room. I’ll light my stove tonight. Since I didn’t make arrangements for the wood until the middle of November, I’m not sure how much I’ll actually get this winter. Rest assured that I will make arrangements for wood for next winter in plenty of time. I’ll also try to get a meter and a half for each month. I am a spoiled American used to a good heating system and it’s hard to get used to a chilly house. And I refuse to wear my coat in my house, the hat is one thing, but I draw the line at the coat. Besides this, my geyser, hot water heater, isn’t working either. It seems that in the cold the water pressure decreases and there isn’t enough pressure for the geyser to work. Oh well, I’m used to bucket baths anyway.
At school we have been having extra classes every day. Not only do we have to make up for the 3 weeks we missed in December, but my counterpart and I will be out all next week. We will be going to a conference on grant writing. Luckily the school is small and it’s fairly easy to change the schedule and make up the classes. In fact, it’s rare that the schedule isn’t changed at least once a week. With the snow on Wednesday, I had to go in early Thursday morning because the teachers who live down in the town (11 out of 14) were having a problem getting up the mountain. The buses weren’t running and they couldn’t find a taxi either. This also meant that some of our students couldn’t get to school. The teachers were finally able to get a ride most of the way up the mountain and classes were juggled to accommodate all. Flexibility is a needed asset here.
Our computer teacher is out on mandatory maternity leave since Dec. 1. We finally hired a part time replacement, who works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means that since she is trying to make up for the whole month of Dec., the three days she’s in the computers are never free. So my access to the internet is severely limited. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is generally at least one class using the computer/faculty room for a class. So for the next 2 months I will be lucky to get online once a week, unless I go to town on Saturdays and use the computers down there.
I finally started some clubs after school. I have one on Tuesday afternoons in which we are part of a pen pal program with other former Soviet Union countries that also have Peace Corps volunteers. Eleven of the students showed up for our first meeting and I think most of them will stick with it. We will be writing to students in Romania, Macedonia, and the Ukraine. There is also a project as part of this. Each group will put together a packet of information about their village/town and share it with the others. It’ll be a great learning experience for the students.
On Thursday afternoons I have a tutorial club for the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. It’s kind of a wide range of students, but they all expressed an interest so I’ll see how it works. Yesterday I gave them a placement test of sorts to help me see what they’re having trouble with. I plan to use a lot of different approaches, including games, in order to keep their interest and make it enjoyable for them. Since I am doing these clubs by myself, I’m hoping that my Armenian will improve. I told the students that I will help them with their English and they need to help me with my Armenian. We’ll see how this works.
Thanks to some very generous family members I have started a library of sorts in our English room. I have received a lot of pre-readers and readers, as well as some picture dictionaries on various subjects. When we started back after the holidays, I decided that the upper grades would start journaling and the 4th and 5th graders would start reading at the beginning of each class. Both ideas have been very well received by the students, especially the reading. Most of the books, both school and reading, in Armenia are primarily text, with little or no pictures, and very small print. Once they saw the illustrations and size of the print in these new books, they were excited to read them. We give them at least 5 minutes at the beginning of class and sometimes we extend it because they are so engaged in their books. At the end of the club on Tuesday I mentioned to those students that they could also take the books. It’s like I’m giving them money or candy, they can’t have enough of it. Each of the older students took a book. I just told them that they had to return the book when their done with it.
The journaling is also going quite well. It was hard at first for them to just write, even though we supplied them with a topic. They’re just not used to thinking in English. But after a few classes, they are doing very well. I told them their journals will not be graded, but I will look at them every now and then to see how they’re doing and correct mistakes. Some of the students are so serious about it that they go home and continue writing. Of course some of the other teachers are complaining that all the students want to do is their English homework.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I had to get a new gas bubble for my stove. Somehow I broke the on/off nozzle, luckily in the on position so I could at least heat up the kettle in the morning for my tea/coffee. However, I was a little worried that some gas might be leaking. So someone from Peace Corps drove down to Vachagan today and switched the gas bubbles.
I also went to visit my wood man this afternoon and explained that I needed more wood. I also asked if he could deliver more at one time. I think he understood, I’ll soon find out. Just as I was leaving, his wife came out and invited me in for a cup of tea. She also admired my Yaktrax and asked if I had gotten them in Armenia. I explained, as best I could, that the Peace Corps handed them out to all the volunteers. They’ve really come in handy this week. I know that by visiting people I will have to speak Armenian more, so it’s good for me to do this. And I do enjoy getting to know my neighbors.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
December 27, 2009
Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all had a very blessed and joyful Christmas. While I wasn’t with my family, I thought of you all often throughout the day. Spending Christmas in a different culture has been very interesting. But first let me catch you up on what’s been going on here since I last wrote.
There was a lot of sickness, seasonal flu they called it, in November and early December. There were some reported cases of the H1N1 flu, mostly in the capital city. So, on Dec. 7th, the Minister of Education announced that all schools would be closed for 10 days, reopening Dec. 21. This meant that I basically had 10 days off. While it was nice to have some unexpected time off, that isn’t exactly why I joined the Peace Corps. However, I decided to use the time as best I could to plan for the next half year. I had found that not knowing the curriculum and not having had a chance to look at all the books being used was getting harder the more we got into the school year. So, I’ve been going through the books used in each form (grade), picking out the grammar being introduced and making up exercises and activities for it.
I’ve also had lots of time for crocheting. I am so thankful that I know how to crochet, for it has been a real time filler for me. So far I have made 6 afghans, a scarf, hat and a placemat. Four of the afghans were for other PCVs who had bought the yarn and I just supplied the labor. I have one more afghan to make for another PCV and then I’ll move onto something else. Luckily there are quite a few yarn stores in the town near me, and a great one in the capital city that I go into whenever I’m up there. I might even try to learn how to knit, since that’s more popular among volunteers so I’ll have access to more patterns.
Each day I tried to take a walk, sometimes down to the town, other days just around the village. The people in the village have gotten used to seeing me walking around. They don’t walk just for the sake of exercise, but in order to go some where. At first they couldn’t understand why I was just out walking, but now they just accept that that’s what I like to do. Besides good exercise, it’s a good way to meet some of the villagers.
One of the other PCVs, Shannon, moved into a new apartment last weekend, so we helped her move her stuff. It’s very interesting seeing the looks on people’s faces as we walked from one place to the other with all her stuff. We only had to make two trips, which was good because she moved into an apartment on the 5th floor, with no elevator.
I found out on Sat., Dec. 19, that the schools were not reopening until Jan. 11th, so I will have had 5 full weeks off. I was disappointed that schools were not reopening, since I came here to help in the schools, but I realize that for health reasons it’s better to keep them closed. So I have decided to take a road trip next week, with Shannon, to visit some of the other volunteers in the northern part of this country.
I used this past week to get ready for Christmas dinner and my overnight guests and to relax a little. It was strange not having any last minute Christmas shopping to do, or any crowds to hassle with. In Armenia they celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6th, but their really big celebration is on New Year’s Eve/Day. That is when they exchange presents and gather at people’s houses, and have fireworks. So their last minute shopping is happening now. They are also just putting up their decorations, when I know in the States some are already taking down their decorations.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turned out really nice. 25 of us gathered at Barbara’s apartment for Christmas Eve dinner and then they all came up to my house for Christmas dinner. For most of the younger volunteers this was their first Christmas without any family, so it was good for them to be with the rest of us. I had 4 stay at my house and we sang Christmas carols Friday morning while we got everything ready. We had a grab bag so everyone got a gift and they could exchange among themselves if they wanted. Not too many did. While we didn’t have a lot of Christmas decorations, we did have some. Thanks to Jackie and Brendan, I had a stocking and a small Christmas tree, to which we added a reindeer. Actually the reindeer had started out as a paper maiche spider for Halloween, then was transformed into a turkey for Thanksgiving, and now is a reindeer. A little imagination and good old US ingenuity go a long way here.
In some ways for me it was like being with my family. Most of the younger volunteers are the ages of my own children and some of them even call me Mom. I enjoy being with them, as I enjoy being with my own children. Having them here definitely made it easier on me not to be with my family. The one thing I really missed, besides my family, was being able to go to Church. There are no Catholic Churches in Armenia, at least in the part where I am. So I have decided that next Christmas I will visit Georgia or someplace where I know there are Catholic Churches.
As New Year approaches my wish for all of you is peace and happiness.
January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year’s celebration.
I’ve been on a road trip since last Monday, when Shannon and I left to head north. We had a meeting at PC Headquarters on Tuesday, Dec. 29 about volunteerism in Armenia. This initiative is new here and one that PC would very much like to see take hold. I’m on the planning committee for that and we hope to have some definite ideas and activities in place by April. The area I’m specifically involved in is camps for young people (ages 11 – 16) and Forums for young adults (18 – 25). It will be pretty intense for the next few months, but hopefully we will be successful. I’ll keep you posted. By being involved on the planning committee it will mean that I’ll be making regular trips to Yerevan.
In Yerevan I’ve been staying at a hostel, my first venture into hostels. This one is actually quite nice and very clean. They have a wonderful shower and computers that are online. And we get a breakfast each day. By staying in the hostel, I save about 1500 drams each night.
Tuesday afternoon after the meeting, we headed to Gyumri for a few days. We arranged to stay with another PCV, Staci, who we really just met when she came to my house for Christmas. Gyumri is a large city in the northwest part of Armenia. There was a major earthquake there in 1988, and some of the rumble is still visible. The earthquake destroyed a majority of the buildings in Gyumri and they put the displaced families in “temporary” housing – old railroad cars. They scattered these around the city, wherever they could find a flat, clean spot. There are still about 7,000 families living in this housing around the city. We walked around Gyumri quite a bit and it’s astonishing to see these “homes” right next to newer housing. In one of the city’s squares, there are 2 big churches, one of which was destroyed in the earthquake. The other was saved by the fact that it’s spires were built so as to absorb the shock and shoot off onto the ground. It’s amazing to see the remains of such destruction. Barbara, one of the PCVs stationed in Gyumri only since August, has done an incredible amount of research on the city and was very helpful on our walks. There is also somewhat of a walking tour, with explanations of the buildings and their history throughout the city. I hope to go back to Gyumri in the summer.
There is a wonderful fish restaurant in Gyumri where we ate Tuesday night. It’s called “The Fish House,” at least by the PCVs. It is attached to a fish hatchery and right on a river. The fish was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. There were 10 of us at dinner and we had a good time. On New Year’s Eve, we all, 14 of us, met at Amanda’s for dinner. She made a wonderful Greek chicken meal. Some of us, myself included, didn’t make it til midnight. But we were all together again the next day for dinner, which Staci and Barbara had made – ham, potatoes au gratin, garlic bread. It was nice to celebrate with the other PCVs. New Year’s is very big here, with most of the stores were closed and some will not open until tomorrow or even next week.
Saturday, Shannon and I left Gyumri and headed to Karashamb, the village I lived in during the summer, to visit my old host family. Of course the road network in Armenia is almost non-existent, so we had to come all the way back to Yerevan and then head to Karashamb. We wound up taking a taxi, because the marshutneys were all too crowded. We must have gotten the only taxi driver who didn’t know where Karashamb is. As it turned out, we met some of my family in a town before Karashamb, at a cousin’s house. One of the customs here surrounding New Year’s is that you visit your relatives and eat at each house. Each house has a table full of food: fresh ham, 3 or 4 vegetable salads, bread, small egg roll like things, nuts, pastry, fruit, and of course wine, vodka, and cognac. We wound up going to 3 houses and by that time I was stuffed. I was so glad we went, because it meant so much to that family. Some of the extended family had come to see me, and others called while we were there. They wanted us to stay the night, but I knew we would be putting someone out of their bed, so we declined. I will definitely go back to visit them this summer.
We got back to Yerevan and the hostel about 7:30 last night. It was nice to see all the lights and decorations in the city. These will stay up until sometime after Jan. 6th, their Christmas. Today as we walked around the city, we saw that most of the stores and even the restaurants are closed. Most will reopen tomorrow, but some take the whole week off. Tomorrow we head back to Kapan, to our own houses. It’s been nice to visit different areas and people, but it’ll be nice to be home again. Hopefully schools will reopen on Jan. 11th and I’ll get back to work.
January 8, 2010
Our trip back to Kapan was a bit nerve-wracking since they had had snow in some of the areas we had to drive through. The road in some places was icy and snowcovered. We passed one snow plow and a sander. Actually the sander consisted of 2 men in the back of a truck throwing shovels full of sand alternately on the road. But it worked and we made it safely back. I was glad to see that there wasn’t any snow on the 2 mountain roads just outside of Kapan, since they are a series of switch backs, which I’m not too sure I want to do on ice and snow.
This has been a very relaxing week, especially since a lot of the other PCVs are still away and a lot of the stores are closed. I spent most of the week either reading, crocheting, or doing jigsaw puzzles. We had snow most of Tuesday so it was a good day to stay inside. However, it has almost all melted since the weather got warmer again. This has been an unseasonably mild winter.
I’ve also had time to do some cooking, which is another adventure here. While their diet is not that spicy or that unlike our own, there are certain spices that they don’t have here, so I’ve had to improvise with some recipes. I did make applesauce the other day, which was really good with the French toast I made this morning. They don’t have syrup here, so I substituted the applesauce for it. They also don’t have tomato sauce or marinara sauce, but have tomato paste. So when I could still find fresh tomatoes and green peppers, I would add those to the paste, sometimes with carrots, and make a marinara sauce. However, I can no longer find either, so I’ll have to find another way to doctor up the tomato paste.
I spent most of today outdoors, since it was so nice out. This morning I broke apart one of the trees that my neighbor had taken down and laid outside my basement door. I’ll use the small pieces for kindling to start my wood stove. This afternoon I went for a hike and again foraged for kindling. It’s amazing the amount of wood that I use without even having it get too hot. My supply of fire wood had gotten pretty low, which has made me realize the value of forests and the value of rationing what I do have. And I’ve found that using different size kindling helps to start the fire. I am learning so much about fires and wood stoves! But it was a nice day and it was a good excuse to be outside. I’ll probably look for some more tomorrow, especially if it’s nice out again.
I have also realized these past few weeks that I had gotten used to being able to check my email on an almost daily basis. However not being in school and with most of the businesses closed in Kapan, I haven’t been online in over a week. It made me think of the Peace Corps volunteers who served before the advent of email and cell phones. My admiration for what they must have experienced, the loneliness and sense of isolation from family and friends, has grown considerably. When I came to Armenia in June, I didn’t expect to have such regular access to an online computer, but I quickly became spoiled and used to it. Some things we just take for granted as part of everyday life, when in reality they are anything but in a large part of the world.
Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all had a very blessed and joyful Christmas. While I wasn’t with my family, I thought of you all often throughout the day. Spending Christmas in a different culture has been very interesting. But first let me catch you up on what’s been going on here since I last wrote.
There was a lot of sickness, seasonal flu they called it, in November and early December. There were some reported cases of the H1N1 flu, mostly in the capital city. So, on Dec. 7th, the Minister of Education announced that all schools would be closed for 10 days, reopening Dec. 21. This meant that I basically had 10 days off. While it was nice to have some unexpected time off, that isn’t exactly why I joined the Peace Corps. However, I decided to use the time as best I could to plan for the next half year. I had found that not knowing the curriculum and not having had a chance to look at all the books being used was getting harder the more we got into the school year. So, I’ve been going through the books used in each form (grade), picking out the grammar being introduced and making up exercises and activities for it.
I’ve also had lots of time for crocheting. I am so thankful that I know how to crochet, for it has been a real time filler for me. So far I have made 6 afghans, a scarf, hat and a placemat. Four of the afghans were for other PCVs who had bought the yarn and I just supplied the labor. I have one more afghan to make for another PCV and then I’ll move onto something else. Luckily there are quite a few yarn stores in the town near me, and a great one in the capital city that I go into whenever I’m up there. I might even try to learn how to knit, since that’s more popular among volunteers so I’ll have access to more patterns.
Each day I tried to take a walk, sometimes down to the town, other days just around the village. The people in the village have gotten used to seeing me walking around. They don’t walk just for the sake of exercise, but in order to go some where. At first they couldn’t understand why I was just out walking, but now they just accept that that’s what I like to do. Besides good exercise, it’s a good way to meet some of the villagers.
One of the other PCVs, Shannon, moved into a new apartment last weekend, so we helped her move her stuff. It’s very interesting seeing the looks on people’s faces as we walked from one place to the other with all her stuff. We only had to make two trips, which was good because she moved into an apartment on the 5th floor, with no elevator.
I found out on Sat., Dec. 19, that the schools were not reopening until Jan. 11th, so I will have had 5 full weeks off. I was disappointed that schools were not reopening, since I came here to help in the schools, but I realize that for health reasons it’s better to keep them closed. So I have decided to take a road trip next week, with Shannon, to visit some of the other volunteers in the northern part of this country.
I used this past week to get ready for Christmas dinner and my overnight guests and to relax a little. It was strange not having any last minute Christmas shopping to do, or any crowds to hassle with. In Armenia they celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6th, but their really big celebration is on New Year’s Eve/Day. That is when they exchange presents and gather at people’s houses, and have fireworks. So their last minute shopping is happening now. They are also just putting up their decorations, when I know in the States some are already taking down their decorations.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turned out really nice. 25 of us gathered at Barbara’s apartment for Christmas Eve dinner and then they all came up to my house for Christmas dinner. For most of the younger volunteers this was their first Christmas without any family, so it was good for them to be with the rest of us. I had 4 stay at my house and we sang Christmas carols Friday morning while we got everything ready. We had a grab bag so everyone got a gift and they could exchange among themselves if they wanted. Not too many did. While we didn’t have a lot of Christmas decorations, we did have some. Thanks to Jackie and Brendan, I had a stocking and a small Christmas tree, to which we added a reindeer. Actually the reindeer had started out as a paper maiche spider for Halloween, then was transformed into a turkey for Thanksgiving, and now is a reindeer. A little imagination and good old US ingenuity go a long way here.
In some ways for me it was like being with my family. Most of the younger volunteers are the ages of my own children and some of them even call me Mom. I enjoy being with them, as I enjoy being with my own children. Having them here definitely made it easier on me not to be with my family. The one thing I really missed, besides my family, was being able to go to Church. There are no Catholic Churches in Armenia, at least in the part where I am. So I have decided that next Christmas I will visit Georgia or someplace where I know there are Catholic Churches.
As New Year approaches my wish for all of you is peace and happiness.
January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year’s celebration.
I’ve been on a road trip since last Monday, when Shannon and I left to head north. We had a meeting at PC Headquarters on Tuesday, Dec. 29 about volunteerism in Armenia. This initiative is new here and one that PC would very much like to see take hold. I’m on the planning committee for that and we hope to have some definite ideas and activities in place by April. The area I’m specifically involved in is camps for young people (ages 11 – 16) and Forums for young adults (18 – 25). It will be pretty intense for the next few months, but hopefully we will be successful. I’ll keep you posted. By being involved on the planning committee it will mean that I’ll be making regular trips to Yerevan.
In Yerevan I’ve been staying at a hostel, my first venture into hostels. This one is actually quite nice and very clean. They have a wonderful shower and computers that are online. And we get a breakfast each day. By staying in the hostel, I save about 1500 drams each night.
Tuesday afternoon after the meeting, we headed to Gyumri for a few days. We arranged to stay with another PCV, Staci, who we really just met when she came to my house for Christmas. Gyumri is a large city in the northwest part of Armenia. There was a major earthquake there in 1988, and some of the rumble is still visible. The earthquake destroyed a majority of the buildings in Gyumri and they put the displaced families in “temporary” housing – old railroad cars. They scattered these around the city, wherever they could find a flat, clean spot. There are still about 7,000 families living in this housing around the city. We walked around Gyumri quite a bit and it’s astonishing to see these “homes” right next to newer housing. In one of the city’s squares, there are 2 big churches, one of which was destroyed in the earthquake. The other was saved by the fact that it’s spires were built so as to absorb the shock and shoot off onto the ground. It’s amazing to see the remains of such destruction. Barbara, one of the PCVs stationed in Gyumri only since August, has done an incredible amount of research on the city and was very helpful on our walks. There is also somewhat of a walking tour, with explanations of the buildings and their history throughout the city. I hope to go back to Gyumri in the summer.
There is a wonderful fish restaurant in Gyumri where we ate Tuesday night. It’s called “The Fish House,” at least by the PCVs. It is attached to a fish hatchery and right on a river. The fish was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. There were 10 of us at dinner and we had a good time. On New Year’s Eve, we all, 14 of us, met at Amanda’s for dinner. She made a wonderful Greek chicken meal. Some of us, myself included, didn’t make it til midnight. But we were all together again the next day for dinner, which Staci and Barbara had made – ham, potatoes au gratin, garlic bread. It was nice to celebrate with the other PCVs. New Year’s is very big here, with most of the stores were closed and some will not open until tomorrow or even next week.
Saturday, Shannon and I left Gyumri and headed to Karashamb, the village I lived in during the summer, to visit my old host family. Of course the road network in Armenia is almost non-existent, so we had to come all the way back to Yerevan and then head to Karashamb. We wound up taking a taxi, because the marshutneys were all too crowded. We must have gotten the only taxi driver who didn’t know where Karashamb is. As it turned out, we met some of my family in a town before Karashamb, at a cousin’s house. One of the customs here surrounding New Year’s is that you visit your relatives and eat at each house. Each house has a table full of food: fresh ham, 3 or 4 vegetable salads, bread, small egg roll like things, nuts, pastry, fruit, and of course wine, vodka, and cognac. We wound up going to 3 houses and by that time I was stuffed. I was so glad we went, because it meant so much to that family. Some of the extended family had come to see me, and others called while we were there. They wanted us to stay the night, but I knew we would be putting someone out of their bed, so we declined. I will definitely go back to visit them this summer.
We got back to Yerevan and the hostel about 7:30 last night. It was nice to see all the lights and decorations in the city. These will stay up until sometime after Jan. 6th, their Christmas. Today as we walked around the city, we saw that most of the stores and even the restaurants are closed. Most will reopen tomorrow, but some take the whole week off. Tomorrow we head back to Kapan, to our own houses. It’s been nice to visit different areas and people, but it’ll be nice to be home again. Hopefully schools will reopen on Jan. 11th and I’ll get back to work.
January 8, 2010
Our trip back to Kapan was a bit nerve-wracking since they had had snow in some of the areas we had to drive through. The road in some places was icy and snowcovered. We passed one snow plow and a sander. Actually the sander consisted of 2 men in the back of a truck throwing shovels full of sand alternately on the road. But it worked and we made it safely back. I was glad to see that there wasn’t any snow on the 2 mountain roads just outside of Kapan, since they are a series of switch backs, which I’m not too sure I want to do on ice and snow.
This has been a very relaxing week, especially since a lot of the other PCVs are still away and a lot of the stores are closed. I spent most of the week either reading, crocheting, or doing jigsaw puzzles. We had snow most of Tuesday so it was a good day to stay inside. However, it has almost all melted since the weather got warmer again. This has been an unseasonably mild winter.
I’ve also had time to do some cooking, which is another adventure here. While their diet is not that spicy or that unlike our own, there are certain spices that they don’t have here, so I’ve had to improvise with some recipes. I did make applesauce the other day, which was really good with the French toast I made this morning. They don’t have syrup here, so I substituted the applesauce for it. They also don’t have tomato sauce or marinara sauce, but have tomato paste. So when I could still find fresh tomatoes and green peppers, I would add those to the paste, sometimes with carrots, and make a marinara sauce. However, I can no longer find either, so I’ll have to find another way to doctor up the tomato paste.
I spent most of today outdoors, since it was so nice out. This morning I broke apart one of the trees that my neighbor had taken down and laid outside my basement door. I’ll use the small pieces for kindling to start my wood stove. This afternoon I went for a hike and again foraged for kindling. It’s amazing the amount of wood that I use without even having it get too hot. My supply of fire wood had gotten pretty low, which has made me realize the value of forests and the value of rationing what I do have. And I’ve found that using different size kindling helps to start the fire. I am learning so much about fires and wood stoves! But it was a nice day and it was a good excuse to be outside. I’ll probably look for some more tomorrow, especially if it’s nice out again.
I have also realized these past few weeks that I had gotten used to being able to check my email on an almost daily basis. However not being in school and with most of the businesses closed in Kapan, I haven’t been online in over a week. It made me think of the Peace Corps volunteers who served before the advent of email and cell phones. My admiration for what they must have experienced, the loneliness and sense of isolation from family and friends, has grown considerably. When I came to Armenia in June, I didn’t expect to have such regular access to an online computer, but I quickly became spoiled and used to it. Some things we just take for granted as part of everyday life, when in reality they are anything but in a large part of the world.
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