September 5, 2010
I had to go back up to Yerevan two weeks ago so I decided to go up early and visit my host family from last summer. It was so relaxing and felt so good to be back there. The grandmother wasn’t home, but the two daughters-in-law, their children and one son were home. This was the first time I spent a few days there and didn’t have any studying to do so I was able to observe how the household works. Karine, the daughter-in-law who lives there full time, has taken over the chores that Ella, the grandmother, usually does, like milking the cows collecting the eggs, etc. Besides this, she still does all the cooking and baking. Narine, the other daughter-in-law who with her two children stay there for the summer, does all the cleaning up. It’s amazing to watch these two women work and be together. They are really good friends and it’s a joy to be with them. We spent most of Friday baking gatta, an Armenian pastry that is absolutely delicious. Everything is made from scratch so it takes a bit longer than it does at home. There is such a sense of community in that village, which is not as apparent in the village where I live now. Friday night we walked over to the daughter’s house and joined some other women sitting outside and having coffee. The kids kept coming in and out of the circle to say hello and ask how I was doing. Some of the nephews stayed over that night and then in the morning the women came to the house for coffee and say goodbye. I hope to visit them again a few more times before I leave country. I really do feel like a part of that family.
School finally started again on Wednesday, Sept. 1, the traditional opening day of school. They have a wonderful ceremony here called “First Bell.” All the students dress in black and white, generally new clothes bought for this occasion. They all gather outside where there is a short ceremony, honoring students’ for their work last year, welcoming the new first graders, and this year all the teachers had to take an oath about being prepared and present for classes. Then one of the older boys picks up one of the first graders, gives him a small bell, which he rings. He is carried into the school building where he rings the school bell. A lot of the parents and grandparents come to this and it’s really a nice way to start the school year, especially against the beautiful background here in Vachagan. This year we have 38 students in our school, down from 43 last year, and one grade actually has 6 students in it.
All the PCVs in the Kapan area gathered a few weekends ago for what’s called “warden’s weekend.” This is where we go over safety issues, like how to get to Yerevan in case of a national emergency, and set up a contact chain. This year there are 11 of us in this area, although 3 of them are south of us very close to the Iranian border. As I’ve mentioned to some of you, this year will be different since there are any other senior volunteers down by me. While I do enjoy being with the younger volunteers, it’s also nice every now and then to be with someone closer to my age. I’ll have to rely a lot on phone calls to the other senior PCVs in country.
Our Country Director’s term is up in October. Lee has been a wonderfully supportive CD and will be missed, especially by my group. She will be going to work in Afghanistan, of all places, with US AID. I was fortunate enough to be up in Yerevan this past weekend and was able to say goodbye to her in person. Our new CD will be a man, who will come in January. He is presently in Morocco and needs to finish up some work there first. So we will have an acting CD for a few months.
I went up to Yerevan for a Saturday meeting, but because of the distance and transportation I needed to leave here on Friday. That night there was a football (soccer) game between Armenia and Ireland. About 12 of us went and it was pretty good, especially since the Irish won. There were a lot of Irish fans who came to root on their team and most of them were staying at the hostel. This worked to my advantage Friday night as they put me in a private apartment, away from the wild Irishmen. Shannon was also able to stay with me in the apartment so we were able to get a good night’s sleep and then just laze around Saturday morning. Unfortunately, they moved me Saturday night into one of the larger rooms that normally sleeps 8, but last night had 10 in it. I think there was only one other woman in the hostel last night, and she was one of the Irish fans. Some of the Irish had actually missed their planes back to Ireland Saturday morning and couldn’t get another flight until Tuesday. I think they were drinking or something.
One of the young men in the room, not an Irishman, Josh is from Luxembourg just traveling around Armenia on his school holiday. He had arrived on Thursday and gone straight to Mt. Aragatz, the highest mountain in Armenia. I invited him to stay with me if he gets down this way. He was really interesting to talk to and I think he would like to hike Mt. Khustrup, which is the second highest mountain in Armenia and right near me.
All of the other volunteers who had been in Yerevan on Friday and Saturday, left Saturday to return to their villages/towns. Since I live so far, that wasn’t an option for me, so I had an evening in Yerevan by myself, which I completely enjoyed. The weather has been unseasonably hot, so I went to one of the outdoor cafes for dinner. It was relaxing to just sit and people watch. They have this wonderful play area for children of all ages right next to where I was, so I could watch the young children on the riding toys and in the inflatable houses, and also see the teenagers play ping pong. And since it was so nice out, there were tons of people enjoying it. I felt very comfortable there and very much at home.
My trip back down to Vachagan was very interesting. I had gotten up early to catch the marchutney, which leaves anywhere between 7 and 8:30 in the morning, depending on when it is full. I actually got to the bus area before the bus, but I wanted to get a good seat. There are usually 2 or 3 single seats, which I like the best. Anyway we left about 8:10 and besides the passengers, there was a lot of bags and baggage. I had put my backpack on the shelf above me so it won’t get stepped on or too squished. The road on the way out of Yerevan is lined on both sides with fruit and vegetable stands. Our driver kept slowing down whenever we approached one and at first I was getting annoyed. After all, I wanted to get home. However, I soon realized that the journey is as important, and can be fun, as the destination. So I began to relax and enter into the spirit of the trip. We stopped at one stand and some of the women got out and bought some vegetables and fruits. In fact one of them gave me some, since I hadn’t bought anything. After everyone got back on the bus, we started up again and soon found another stand to stop at. This time I did buy some eggplants and red peppers. By this time, there was so many bags, that we barely had floor space for our feet. And we had picked up an extra passenger who was sitting on a stool in the aisle. It was quite an accomplishment for some of the women to step over this stool and around all the bags. But everyone was enjoying themselves, and talking to one another, comparing what they bought and the prices they were able to get. I no longer cared about the time it was taking, but was enjoying being part of this group.