February 25, 2011
The past two months have been relatively calm and enjoyable. This being my second year here, I feel much more comfortable and at home. February has been very cold and snowy. It seems as if every few days we have more snow. Living in a village only adds to the inconveniences that snow brings. Since most of the "walkways" are really just animal paths, needless to say they are not shoveled. The parts that don't get any sun at all become very icy and slippery. I have had to use my YakTraks a few times this winter. And there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to the snow and cold, since it's forecast that we will have snow most of next week. From the sounds of it I could have stayed in New York and had the same weather.
The other thing that I continue to notice is the rhythm and sounds of village life, even in the dead of winter. The most common sound is that of the men cutting wood for the stoves, for heat. Besides that, it is the quiet of the snow that I notice. It muffles the sounds of footsteps and even of the children yelling. Maybe I've just gotten used to them, but I don't even hear the cows, donkeys, or chickens as much lately.
Last week I went up to Yerevan for a Mentoring Workshop sponsored by the British Council. It was only a 2 day workshop, but since it takes me a full day to get there and then another day getting back, for me it was a week off of school. The workshop was very good and we're hoping to use some of it for the new volunteers this summer. Most of the programs in Peace Corps, especially here in Armenia, have an informal mentoring program among volunteers. The focus of this workshop was to set up mentoring relationships with our counterparts. I think it will be very helpful.
Spending a week in Yerevan is a bit expensive, but fun. There are a lot of restaurants there and of course there is a great yarn shop there. I've been in the yarn shop so often and buy so much yarn, that I now get a discount. In the middle of the week, there weren't any other volunteers in Yerevan besides the 4 of us attending the workshop. But on Friday others came in, so it was good to see them. I came back to my village Saturday to give myself Sunday to catch up on wash, etc. The ride back was a bit tricky and took 8 hours, instead of the usual 5 or 6. At one point the road (there is only one going north-south) had been closed for a while before we got to that point. After waiting for about 45 minutes, it was re-opened, but the police were monitoring how many cars went at any one time. This was being done at both ends of the 20 kilometer stretch. It wasn't that it was snowing, but there were white-out conditions because of the wind. I am glad that I don't plan on going back up to Yerevan until after the snow is all gone.
Some of what the Peace Corps teachers have established here are national and international competitions in spelling, writing and poetry. The Spelling Bee was held in November and right now is just held in the southern part of the country. The Poetry Festival/Competition this year will be a national competition with regional competitions held first. The entrants have to memorize an English poem and recite it. The Writing Olympics is an international competition with entrants from Armenia, Azerbjian, Georgia, Moldva, other Eurasian countries, and maybe even some African countries. It is based on creativity, not spelling or grammar. This is one of the few times these students get to be creative. It's a bit hard getting them to do that, since they are used to memorizing and giving back verbatum. However, my students have come a long way in the last few months and about 8 of them will enter. I really don't care how well they do, it's more the fact that they are willing to try and have increased their English ability.
As the winter drags on I am glad that I can crochet and have my computer on which I watch a lot of movies and play games. I can't imagine what being a Peace Corps volunteer was like 50 years ago without these amenities. I have watched more movies the past 20 months that I did the past 20 years.