May 13, 2011
Another month has come and gone, but it has been a busy month. Easter was very enjoyable, but a bit different. Barbara and I went to Good Friday services at the Church she usually goes to. It’s a Syrian rite Catholic Church, which is a bit different from the Roman rite. For Good Friday they sang the Stations of the Cross, and didn’t have a Communion Service. There was no Mass on Saturday, so we went Sunday morning. In a lot of ways this rite, and the Armenian Apostolic Church, is very much pre-Vatican II. The priest has his back to the people and at certain times during the Liturgy, a curtain is drawn across the altar. For Easter it was a high Mass, with most of it sung by the choir and the priests and deacons. It was about 2 hours long and unlike the Armenian services, everybody stayed for the whole Mass and there was very little moving about and talking. The Ordinary of the Diocese celebrated the Mass and afterwards everyone was invited to greet him in the rectory. We were pleasantly surprised that he spoke English.
After Mass we had been invited to the Mayor’s house where it’s a tradition for those invited to bring an empty pot and fill it with a soup made especially that day. Barbara and I brought a pot and met three other PCVs there and spent about 3 hours eating and talking with the Mayor’s family. Thankfully some other people came so we could graciously leave. However, the Mayor’s brother insisted that we meet him at the family restaurant in an hour. This restaurant is probably the best in Gyumri and has an outdoor, tropical theme to it. All in all it was a very nice day.
Tuesday and Wednesday of that week we had our Close of Service conference. At this conference we got all the paperwork we need to fill out in order to leave country. I think it may be harder to leave than it was to get in. There were also some workshops on readjusting to American culture, resume writing, interview skills, and post-Peace Corps jobs.
Monday night, since we had all arrived at the hotel by then, we had a bachelorette party for one of the young girls in our group who had recently gotten engaged. It was a surprise and a lot of fun. On Tuesday night the American Ambassador had a small reception for us at her house. She has been present at all our major conferences and tries to maintain contact with PC. She too will be leaving this summer. Since this is the last time we will all be together, we arranged to have a group picture taken on Wednesday. After another day of workshops, we went out to celebrate at a local karaoke club. I really enjoy spending time like that with my group, especially the young people. They are always so full of life and energy. While I didn’t get up and sing, I did dance.
One of the sites I wanted to see before leaving Armenia was the Genocide Memorial. So on Thursday, Barbara and I went up to see it. It’s a very impressive indoor/outdoor memorial to the thousands of Armenians killed in the early 20th Century by the Turks. There is a living flame in a semi-outdoor building, with memorial music playing at all times. Inside there is a museum depicting that period in Armenian history. It was a very moving visit.
Luckily on Friday I was still in Yerevan at the PC office and so I was able to see part of the royal wedding via computer. Some of the restaurants in Yerevan had wedding parties at lunch time, with big screen TVs on champagne. It was quite an event here, as I’m sure it was elsewhere.
The on-line courses are still in the planning stages, with the major hurdle still being getting a server to host the courses. On Friday, Gayane, my program manager, and I went to visit our latest prospective partner in this endeavor. This was some place. TUMO, the name of the organization will open in September and will be an enrichment after school site for children ages 12 to 18. It is all tech based and will be able to handle 1000 children at a time, all with their own computer stations and computers. They will be focusing on 4 major areas to start with, animation, web design, graphics, and music. It will be free, the students will have to apply and once accepted will be given points. They will lose points if they don’t come, if they don’t complete a project, etc. Once they lose all their points, they can’t come anymore. This is the brainchild of 4 American Armenians, who want to bring the Armenian youth up to date technologically with the rest of the world. They are creating this as they go along, with no other facility quite like it anywhere else. It was amazing to meet some of the people and listen to their ideas and plans for the future. I really hope this works out for us to partner with them, because I think we can help each other. I hope to visit the site once again before I leave country.
After 10 days, I was more than ready to return to my village. I’m not used to constantly being around people, and so I missed the quiet of my house and my village. I like being able to hear the birds in the morning instead of traffic, to be awaken by the roosters and cows, and seeing the mountains. I also missed going to school and interacting with the students and other faculty members. These people have become a part of my life and are very important to me and I want to spend as much time with them as possible while I’m still in country.
On May 9th Armenia celebrates Victory Day, commemorating the end of World War II. In the village cemetery, there is a memorial to all those from the village who were killed during the war. Out of 192 men who went to war, 81 were killed during the war. This year they had the ceremony outside, even though it was raining. A large majority of the villagers came to the cemetery for this ceremony. A veteran gave a short history of Armenia’s war efforts, then some of the students enacted a short skit, and then all the names of the war dead were read. It was amazing how quiet everyone was during the reading of the names. The families of the deceased had brought bouquets of flowers which they laid on the memorial near their names. Very close to this memorial are the burial plots of 4 villagers who were killed during the war between Armenia and Azerjaiban, and flowers were also put on these graves. There is a very real sense of respect and honor for the history of this country and for those who have given their lives for Armenian independence.