Friday, November 27, 2009
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. This has been a busy two weeks for me. On Sunday, Nov. 15, I moved into my own house. I was fortunate to have the school director find this house for me and act as an intermediary with the landlord. The house has 2 bedrooms, a living room, eat in kitchen, and bathroom. For the winter I have closed off the 2 bedrooms, so I don’t have to heat them, and have set up myself in the living room. The house faces east, so I see the sunrise every morning. It’s wonderful!
Moving day was very interesting. My village doesn’t really have roads, so I had to take the path I usually take to school, which goes behind houses, up rock inclines, etc. Four other volunteers helped me move, which made it a lot easier, luckily one of them being a strong young man. I started to move some of the smaller boxes myself in the morning. On one trip one of my students came along on his donkey and took the boxes from me and he and his donkey followed me to my house. On the next trip, two other students came along and carried the boxes. The other volunteers came around noontime, and we were able to carry the rest in two trips. On the last trip, my young friend on the donkey came along again and once more carried the heavier boxes. It was quite a sight to see 5 Americans loaded down with stuff trudging along these paths, especially when the donkey joined us. Barbara had made soup and brought it with her, so we had lunch in my new abode, of course with a wine toast for good luck.
The only heat I had for the first few days were my electric heaters, which the Peace Corps provided, plus one that the owner had left. So that night I plugged in the owner’s heater and went to bed. Some time around 4 AM the heater blew a fuse so I woke up to no electricity! I thought the whole village was out, but I soon saw lights in the other houses, so I knew it was just me. Luckily the electrician was working in a neighbor’s house and soon discovered what had happened. He came to school to get me, and after a few minutes I had electricity, except in the one outlet, which also affected my refrigerator. That night I blew another outlet when I mistakenly plugged a heater into a surge protector which is also a converter. The electrician and I are becoming fast friends.
There was supposed to be a wood-burning stove in the basement of this house, but when I went to check it out, it wasn’t there. One of the advantages of living in a small village is that everyone knows what’s going on with everyone, so that afternoon my neighbor offered me his extra stove. My counterpart’s father installed the stove for me on Wednesday, which meant I was finally going to have heat. My counterpart had also arranged for another of my neighbors to deliver a meter of wood to me. That night I went to light the stove and discovered that I didn’t know how. Once again back to the electric heaters. When I saw my neighbor the next day he asked how the stove was and I told him I couldn’t light it. He came over and showed me how. Finally a working stove and a very warm house. He also brought over some Cognac, to welcome me as a neighbor, so I was warm inside and out.
The only thing that remains to be fixed in this house is the hot water heater. The old heater had been ruined a few years ago when the pipes froze and burst. I’m supposed to find out today what size geiser I need and then my friend the electrician will come and install that and fix the other two outlets. It’s been adventure moving and settling into my new house, but it’s worth it. Paraphrasing Hillary Clinton, it takes a village to train a Peace Corps Volunteer.
This past week we had an All Volunteer Conference in the capital city, Yerevan. There are currently 79 Peace Corps Volunteers in this country. My group went to Yerevan on Friday for 2 days of meetings and the other group joined us on Sunday. It was great to see all the PCVs I had trained with and catch up with them and compare notes on how we’re doing. Some of the meetings were specific to each sector, so for instance all the TEFLs met as a group and discussed our common problems ad frustrations. There was also a development fair, with representatives from different organizations active in this country. My only problem is that not a lot of organizations come down to where I am. But it’s nice to know they have a presence in the country and maybe if we keep pressuring them, they will eventually come down.
The highlight of the Conference was Tuesday night when we celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. All of the volunteers participated in the preparations in one way or another. I was on the decorating committee, so we had a huge paper maiche turkey on the food table and small turkeys on every other table. We also made hats for everyone and placemats. The food was so good. We had 7 turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce, breads, a ton of different vegetables and of course pies. The night ended with a talent show that was a lot of fun. While I wasn’t with family and friends, I was with my new family and friends and all of you were remembered during our moment of silence. Yesterday at school, I brought in wine and chocolates to celebrate Thanksgiving with the staff (that’s how they celebrate things in my school). It was nice to be able to explain this holiday and share some of it with them. Last night 4 of us got together again for dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, not the least of which is the support of all my family and friends back home.
Friday, November 27, 2009
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. This has been a busy two weeks for me. On Sunday, Nov. 15, I moved into my own house. I was fortunate to have the school director find this house for me and act as an intermediary with the landlord. The house has 2 bedrooms, a living room, eat in kitchen, and bathroom. For the winter I have closed off the 2 bedrooms, so I don’t have to heat them, and have set up myself in the living room. The house faces east, so I see the sunrise every morning. It’s wonderful!
Moving day was very interesting. My village doesn’t really have roads, so I had to take the path I usually take to school, which goes behind houses, up rock inclines, etc. Four other volunteers helped me move, which made it a lot easier, luckily one of them being a strong young man. I started to move some of the smaller boxes myself in the morning. On one trip one of my students came along on his donkey and took the boxes from me and he and his donkey followed me to my house. On the next trip, two other students came along and carried the boxes. The other volunteers came around noontime, and we were able to carry the rest in two trips. On the last trip, my young friend on the donkey came along again and once more carried the heavier boxes. It was quite a sight to see 5 Americans loaded down with stuff trudging along these paths, especially when the donkey joined us. Barbara had made soup and brought it with her, so we had lunch in my new abode, of course with a wine toast for good luck.
The only heat I had for the first few days were my electric heaters, which the Peace Corps provided, plus one that the owner had left. So that night I plugged in the owner’s heater and went to bed. Some time around 4 AM the heater blew a fuse so I woke up to no electricity! I thought the whole village was out, but I soon saw lights in the other houses, so I knew it was just me. Luckily the electrician was working in a neighbor’s house and soon discovered what had happened. He came to school to get me, and after a few minutes I had electricity, except in the one outlet, which also affected my refrigerator. That night I blew another outlet when I mistakenly plugged a heater into a surge protector which is also a converter. The electrician and I are becoming fast friends.
There was supposed to be a wood-burning stove in the basement of this house, but when I went to check it out, it wasn’t there. One of the advantages of living in a small village is that everyone knows what’s going on with everyone, so that afternoon my neighbor offered me his extra stove. My counterpart’s father installed the stove for me on Wednesday, which meant I was finally going to have heat. My counterpart had also arranged for another of my neighbors to deliver a meter of wood to me. That night I went to light the stove and discovered that I didn’t know how. Once again back to the electric heaters. When I saw my neighbor the next day he asked how the stove was and I told him I couldn’t light it. He came over and showed me how. Finally a working stove and a very warm house. He also brought over some Cognac, to welcome me as a neighbor, so I was warm inside and out.
The only thing that remains to be fixed in this house is the hot water heater. The old heater had been ruined a few years ago when the pipes froze and burst. I’m supposed to find out today what size geiser I need and then my friend the electrician will come and install that and fix the other two outlets. It’s been adventure moving and settling into my new house, but it’s worth it. Paraphrasing Hillary Clinton, it takes a village to train a Peace Corps Volunteer.
This past week we had an All Volunteer Conference in the capital city, Yerevan. There are currently 79 Peace Corps Volunteers in this country. My group went to Yerevan on Friday for 2 days of meetings and the other group joined us on Sunday. It was great to see all the PCVs I had trained with and catch up with them and compare notes on how we’re doing. Some of the meetings were specific to each sector, so for instance all the TEFLs met as a group and discussed our common problems ad frustrations. There was also a development fair, with representatives from different organizations active in this country. My only problem is that not a lot of organizations come down to where I am. But it’s nice to know they have a presence in the country and maybe if we keep pressuring them, they will eventually come down.
The highlight of the Conference was Tuesday night when we celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. All of the volunteers participated in the preparations in one way or another. I was on the decorating committee, so we had a huge paper maiche turkey on the food table and small turkeys on every other table. We also made hats for everyone and placemats. The food was so good. We had 7 turkeys, stuffing, cranberry sauce, breads, a ton of different vegetables and of course pies. The night ended with a talent show that was a lot of fun. While I wasn’t with family and friends, I was with my new family and friends and all of you were remembered during our moment of silence. Yesterday at school, I brought in wine and chocolates to celebrate Thanksgiving with the staff (that’s how they celebrate things in my school). It was nice to be able to explain this holiday and share some of it with them. Last night 4 of us got together again for dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, not the least of which is the support of all my family and friends back home.