June 20, 2011
School finished on May 26th, and since they are going to have 12th grade next year, there was no Last Bell ceremonies. I selfishly wanted to have Last Bell, because I like the ceremony entailed and it would have given me a chance to see all the students at once and most of their parents. In fact, our school will not be having 12th grade, since none of our 11th graders are coming back. The boys will work their farms and the one girl will be going to the Technical School for nursing. The colleges and universities offered some big incentives to the students to enter this year and not do a 12th year. Otherwise they won’t have any new students for an entire year. Even though school is over, I still have some work to do, most notably with the on-line teacher training courses. We finally found a server that we can use and the first course should be up and running in September. In the meantime, we are trying to get as many course curriculum written during the summer as possible.
The weekend after school ended, we had a girls weekend at Sarah’s house. Sarah lives in a village a short distance from Yerevan. It’s very different from my village, first of all it’s completely flat and it’s much bigger. They have over 100 students in their school, compared to the 37 we had this year. There were 9 of us and it was fun to just sit around, compare notes, talk about our service and just relax. The one drawback to the weekend was that Sarah only has an outhouse. After having to use that for 2 days, I have a lot more respect for the volunteers who have had to use an outhouse for their whole service. Sarah lives in a typical Armenian compound. Her house, kitchen building and outhouse are all enclosed by a fence and a very imposing gate. The area between the house and the kitchen is where we spent most of our time. It’s a large patio that’s has a roof over it and was ample room for all of us. I was able to get up in the mornings and walk, which is a nice change from my mountainous village. We also had a spectacular view of Mt. Ararat.
The following weekend the 7 of us who were in the same training village our first summer here had a reunion there. We all stayed with our host families and had a big barbeque Saturday night. It was a good chance for us to be together and to say thank you and goodbye to our host families. That village and those families will always be very special for all of us. From the start they treated each of us like a family member and they were very pleased that we all came back. It was also the last time the 7 of us would be together, since Kyle left for America the following Saturday and 2 more of us leave next month.
Taguhie, my counterpart, is going to America tomorrow for 6 weeks. She has been chosen as one of 25 Armenian English teachers to take part in a special program at Indiana University. They will be studying with and learning about 25 Turkish English teachers. Since the two countries don’t have diplomatic relations and their borders closed, this is a big step in trying to get the people to get to know one another. I am very proud of Taguhie and know that she will get the most out of this opportunity. She has been a wonderful counterpart and friend to me for the past 2 years and I will miss her and only wish her the best.
For the next 4 weeks I plan on staying in my village. Of course I will have visitors every now and then and will proudly show off my village, which I think has the best view in all of Armenia. Next week we are having a “1948” weekend here. There are 4 of us who were born in 1948 and the other 3 are coming down to my house. Two of them have never been here before and so I’m excited to have them see my village, especially since they live in towns.
Only one more month to go and then I’m back home. That sounds so strange, since for the past 2 years this has been my home and I’ve gotten quite used to living here. For the next 4 weeks I will soak up as much of this life as I can, to get me ready for the whirlwind of activity that awaits my return: 3 family weddings, a daughter-in-law to be who I haven’t met yet, and a new granddaughter to meet. But I can’t wait!
In some ways, though, it’s scary thinking about returning to the States. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, how I’ll fill my time. While I will be leaving Armenia, hopefully I will have an ongoing relationship with this country and the wonderful people I have met. I also would like to stay a part of the Peace Corps, since I have inherited a new family within this organization and a host of friends. So, for me, this is not an ending, but just the beginning of a new and different way of looking at things and how I want to live my life.