May 1, 2010
This past month was a very busy one. The online course I’ve been taking, while not what I had hoped it would be, does take up some time. We have 2 sections which we do each week consisting of a series of online activities, reflections, and a little reading. I had hoped for more new information or at least some more in-depth readings, but that has not proved to be the case. There are only 3 more weeks left. The real challenge for me has been getting online. The best days for me to access the internet at school are Tuesdays and Thursdays, since the computer teacher is not at school those days. Unfortunately, the past two weeks the internet has been down more than it’s been on. So I’ve had to go down to Kapan more often. I’ll be glad when it’s over.
I made my monthly trip up to Yerevan 2 weekends ago. Unfortunately, it had to be a very short trip – Friday going up and Saturday coming back down. But, there were a lot of other PCVs in Yerevan that weekend so it was good to see them. Most stay at the hostel where I do, which turns into a Peace Corps dorm of sorts on those weekends. The committee I’m on, volunteerism in Armenia, and the reason for going to Yerevan is making some good headway. We are hoping to have some workshops for adults this month, a sort of training, and then have them run the camps for the younger children and forums for the young adults. It’s hard to imagine people not understanding the concept of volunteerism and how it’s good for one’s town, region, country. I know it will be a slow process and will take years before this is nationally recognized as beneficial for all.
The trip back to Kapan that Saturday was probably the worst I’ve had to date. There were 6 of us so we had a minivan, which picked us up at 2pm. Normally we would have been back in Kapan by 7:00 or 7:30. However, our driver made 10 stops for various reasons – to buy mushrooms on the side of the road, to buy wine on the side of the road, to buy lavash, to buy car parts. We finally complained to him that we didn’t want to make any more stops, so then he started to drive really fast. The last part of our trip is going over 2 mountains, which consists of a lot of switch-backs. The tires on the van were squealing on the turns, which shows how fast he was going. We all so nervous, that we just started laughing to relieve the tension. The next day Barbara phoned the taxi company to complain about the driver. We did find out there is another taxi company that goes to Yerevan, which we will now start using. It’s bad enough to have to spend 5 ½ hours in a taxi, but I don’t’ want to have to worry about how safe the driver will be on top of it.
The reason we had to come back Saturday was to help with the regional spelling bee on Sunday. The region I live in has a yearly spelling bee and that Sunday was the final. About 5 years ago a Peace Corps volunteer started this and so we are very heavily involved in running it. Although next year we are going to hand over some of the responsibilities to the Armenian teachers. The spelling bee is open to students in grades 7 through 11. I was amazed at how well these young people could spell in English. For the 8th graders we had to go to the 10th grade words before we had a winner. And for the 11th graders, we almost ran out of words. These are some serious spellers.
This past week was very hectic, with a lot of unexpected events happening. On Tuesday we had a ‘consolidation’ which is a safety procedure for PCVs. When a consolidation is called, we are to go to our warden’s house as quickly as possible, bringing with us our backpacks filled with clothes, laptops, etc. These are called when there is a threat to our safety throughout the country. This was just a practice one, but we still had to do it. I had just gotten out of the shower when I got the call to go to Joe’s, in Kapan. So I spent the day in Kapan, since we weren’t given the all clear to go back to our sites until close to noon. A few volunteers from other regions were visiting in Kapan, so I got to see them and spend the day with them. That afternoon Brent, a volunteer from up north, was putting on a seminar about AIDs for 8th and 9th graders. He had brought down about 8 students who facilitated the seminar. Seven of my kids came down for it, so I met them when they got off the marshutney. It was a great seminar and I was very proud of my kids participated in it. The next day they couldn’t wait to tell the rests of the faculty about it.
When I got into school on Wednesday, I found out from my counterpart that there was going to be a series of English teacher meetings in Kapan that afternoon and the next two afternoons as well. This meant that we had to have our schedule changed so we could make the meetings. During the morning it started to snow in the village and did so off and on for the next day. When I woke up on Thursday I had no electricity! I went to school early that day because I knew they would have the wood-burning stoves on and I could get warm by them. And I thought this was Spring. The meetings were okay, nothing very interesting or new. But it is a way to get to know the other English teachers in this area. One of them asked about getting a volunteer for her school, which I hope comes about. She might be too late in asking for this year, but hopefully next year she’ll get one.
The weather has been very erratic. A few weeks ago it was in the 60s and then as I said we had snow two days this week. But it also has been very rainy, when it’s not snowing. This makes my walk to school very interesting. There’s this area, which I call the mud flats, that is always an adventure crossing through. Some of the students had put down some roof tiling, but with all the rain the tiles are now sinking. I’m never quite sure if my shoe is going to stay on my foot or get stuck in the mud. It was actually easier when it was frozen. With all the rain the water is again getting brown, not as bad as it was in March, but close. I make sure that my water filter is filled,, along with a bucket I have.
We found out this week that we will end school on May 22, which means we only have 3 more weeks of school left. Of course we have to make up the extra week we’re still missing from December. This means that we’ll have extra classes most days for the next 2 weeks. The Ministry of Education realized that if they kept school open later into May a lot of the students wouldn’t attend because they’d be helping on the family farm. Plus, these kids haven’t had any time off since January. So now I will seriously begin to plan my summer.
May 4, 2010
Another Peace Corps moment: my gas balloon ran out of gas Sunday night as I was cooking my dinner. Luckily I have a countertop electric oven, so I could finish cooking my dinner in that. I didn’t realize that’s what had happened at first, since I only got the balloon in February and I did a lot of cooking on my wood-burning stove. However, today the electrician/handyman finally came to my house and told me that’s what it was. I will now have to wait until Saturday until it will be filled. Someone in the village works down in Kapan where they fill these balloons. He will pick up my balloon either Thursday or Friday and then return it on Saturday. In the meantime, I will have to bake everything. I just won’t be able to have tea or coffee until then. But I may go to Kapan tomorrow and buy an electric kettle. I’m sure this won’t be the last time this happens and I might as well be prepared.
Today Armenians celebrate the end of WWII. It’s very different living in a country that was involved in the war on its own soil. Because this was the 65th anniversary of the end of the war, the celebration was a bit bigger. The school prepared a presentation, including honoring the 89 men who lost their lives in that war with a slide show that had a picture of each of the men. That’s a lot for such a small village. There are still 2 veterans who are alive and they were present tonight and received special recognition. The kids did a wonderful job with recitation of poems, dancing and some singing of national songs. I was very proud of them all and was glad to have been present during the presentation.
Two of the boys just came to my house to get my balloon. One of them is a 10th grade student, who wasn’t in school today. When I asked him where he was, he just said he’ll be in school tomorrow. But I told him he doesn’t have English tomorrow and missed it today. He said he’ll see me tomorrow. I really enjoy seeing the students out of the classroom and being able to talk to them, a little, a very little.