March 29, 2010
The past two weeks have been very busy and interesting. First, my counterpart and I were observed by the school director and one other teacher. I didn’t know they were coming, which was probably better, but my counterpart did, not that it would have made any difference in what we did. It was our 5th form class, which has 5 students in it. We did our usual routine, which helped relax the students, so we started out with 10 minutes of reading. Then we went to the curriculum and I must say the students were quite active in that lesson. During the debriefing, the school director asked why we have them read. My response was that reading helps build vocabulary and they seem to like it. I was a bit confused by the question, since I wasn’t sure if she was asking because she didn’t want us to do it anymore. For the most part they were pleased with the lesson and the way the two of us work together. I think they were also surprised by how much interaction I have with the students. The next day I read a report online that said that students who are learning a new language do much better if they have some reading time in that language. Needless to say I shared that with the school director. She actually is in favor of the reading, but was just interested as to why we were doing it.
I also met with the director of a youth center in Kapan who asked if I would do some English language classes there. It will be primarily for the staff, but will also be open to anyone else interested, between the ages of 18 and 30. It seems that in order for the people to take advantage of some European activities, they need to have a certain level of English proficiency. I will be starting those classes next Monday. It may work out that everyone will be in the same class with the same level of English. But I may have to split them into 2 groups, which I’ll do back to back. My hope is that we will get more English teachers from the new Peace Corps coming this year, and that one of them will take this over. I don’t relish the thought of coming down the mountain every week during the winter.
The weather up to that Thursday had been very nice, with temperatures getting up to the 50s. However on Thursday it started to snow. It snowed all day. By Friday morning we had about 18 inches of snow and it was still snowing. I was leaving on Saturday morning to go up to Yerevan in order to fly to Dubai on Sunday. The teachers from Kapan had to walk up to my village, since the taxis and marchutneys were not coming up the mountain. So I made arrangements to stay at Shannon’s on Friday night. After school, I called a taxi, but I had to walk down part of the mountain, since the taxis were still not able to get all the way up. I didn’t care what I had to do, but I was going on vacation!
It worked out well since Friday afternoon there was a writing Olympics in Kapan which I wound up helping to monitor and then judge. It’s amazing how well some of these kids write in what is basically a third language for them. They could choose from 3 topics and had one hour to write. There were a few who clearly had no idea what to do, but for the most part they were good. No one from my school participated, since the spelling bee had just happened, and we have a very limited pool from which to draw. Maybe next year.
The trip up to Yerevan Saturday morning was very interesting. We have to go over two mountains just outside of Kapan, with switch backs up and down. The side of the first mountain has a lot of shade covering the road, so it was a bit icy in parts. On one switch back going up the mountain, our van started to slide backwards. The driver got it to a point where it leveled off and was able to get up. It was slow going, but once we crossed the mountains, the roads were fine. The only trouble was that our van kept backfiring the whole trip!
Dubai is an extravagant place, to say the least. It was like going from one extreme to the other between Dubai and Vachagan. The highlight for me of course was seeing Kate and Andrew. Unfortunately though, they both had to work that week, but we would all have dinner together every night. For those of you who know them, their work schedules in Dubai are as bad as they were in London and New York, which meant we were going to dinner at 9 most nights.
The first two days we were there, Shannon and I took the bus tour around the city. It was interesting as we drove around to see the different dress styles on the women. Some were in the full burka, others had the long robes on and some just had the head covering. The same with the men. Some wear the traditional Arab long white robe and head covering, and others are in suits. They have two different routes, one more in the center of the city and the other around the outskirts. We went to a great underground museum which told about the history of Dubai and the people who settled it. We got off and walked around a “souk” which is their outdoor malls, and this one was specializing in gold. We also saw the indoor “ski resort” they have in one of their malls. Like I said, Dubai is extreme!
On Thursday, Andrew took off from work and we drove to Abu Dabbi to visit the huge mosque they have their. It’s one of the largest in the world. They give tours, which took about an hour and a half, and explain a lot about their religion and rituals. Shannon and I had to wear veils and a long black robe in order to go in. The former president of the UAE planned and paid for most of this mosque. He died in 2004 and they have a separate building where his tomb is and they read from the Koran 24/7, which they’ve been doing for the past 6 years. This is their way of showing their respect and love for this man. We also went to the Palace Hotel, which is huge. You know it’s something special when they bring bus tours to a hotel.
Friday came all too quickly and we had to come back to Armenia. After having walked around in sandals all week, it was hard to get back into winter clothes. But the snow had melted and it’s almost spring-like here most days. I still light my wood burning stove at night to get the chill out of my house, but it’s nice not to have to wear multiple layers whenever I go out.
April 6, 2010
A belated Happy Easter! I decided to stay in Kapan for Easter, mainly because I would have had to take more time off from school in order to go up to Gyumri to attend the Catholic Church there. A few of us decided to try the Armenian Apostolic Church for Easter services. They had a Saturday night Mass, which we went to because I had heard that the Sunday Mass was always crowded. It was very different from the Mass I’m used to, the priest has his back to the congregation, and of course it was all said in Armenian. It reminded me of pre-Vatican II Mass, specifically a high Mass since most of this one was sung. Next year I will go to Gyumri.
Sunday we all had dinner together at Barbara’s apartment. It’s always nice to be with the other Peace Corps volunteers, especially on holidays. Shannon and I showed them our pictures, Barbara had hidden Easter presents (she couldn’t find the plastic eggs) so we had an Easter hunt.
The men in the village have started to plant their produce. The fields are all nicely plowed and after school the boys go to help. I’m hoping to have a small garden in my yard. Yesterday as I was leaving to go to town, one of my neighbors was in my yard, with two of her cows. Occasionally she lets them into my yard to, as she says, help fertilize the yard. I don’t have a big yard but there was some uncut grass that the cows were busily eating. I hope once I have the garden in she stops bringing her cows around.