December 9, 2010
Thanksgiving dinner turned out much better than I anticipated. Luckily the turkey just fit in my oven (which is more like a toaster-oven). I had bought a 7 kilo bird, about 15 pounds and after using wooden spoons to form a rack in my roasting pan, I was just able to squeeze the bird in. Just to be on the safe side, I put it in at 10 AM, not knowing exactly how long it would take. My oven is very old and cooks very slow. I didn’t realize it until I was ready to cook it, but the turkey had a pop-up timer in it. However, since I had to squeeze the wings down, one of them prevented the timer from popping up. It only took 6 ½ hours to cook and it was delicious. Once the turkey was done I was able to put the stuffing in, which I had made from scratch, since I couldn’t find Pepperidge Farm. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, cauliflower, and carrots. The gravy also came out good, with no lumps. This was the first time in a long time that I made gravy from scratch.
There were 7 of us celebrating Thanksgiving together. Robin had brought bread, Bryan and Chris brought cheese and crackers, Sam brought wine, Paul brought fruit, and Shannon had made the carrot soufflé. We had a wonderful time talking about how we each celebrate the day at home and sharing funny stories. It was a good day, but I’m sure next year will be even better when I’m home.
That Saturday was another joyous day for the Fullam family. Brendan proposed to Jackie and she said yes. We are all very happy and excited for them. Now I have 3 weddings, my niece Heather is also engaged, and a new baby to go home to. It almost sounds like a movie, “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” There is much joy and excitement in our family.
We had our All-Volunteer Conference the next week. The new volunteers had to be there Saturday night and we had to be there Monday night. I went up Saturday in order to visit with my host family in Karashamb, my training village. I enjoy seeing them and spending time with them and this gave me a good opportunity to do so. I had to be in Yerevan on Monday in order to help with the cooking for Monday night and to do a workshop for the new volunteers.
Monday night we celebrated Thanksgiving with all 96 PCVs in country and about 20 Staff members and their families. We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rice, green beans, carrot soufflé, and we even had yams. And of course there were pies: apple, pumpkin, lemon meringue. Afterwards there was the annual talent show, which is a lot of fun. A good time was had by all.
The Conference was good, better than last year’s. On the second day, we split up into sectors and met with specialists in that field. For the TEFL sector, we met with some people from the National Institute of Ed., one of the author’s of the text books, a man from British Council and someone from an agency that accredits colleges and universities. We had a very good discussion with the NIE people, although they didn’t agree with all our ideas. And the author actually agreed to setting up a standing committee to work with her on revising the textbooks. We’re hoping to do the same with the other authors.
Since we were all together for World AIDS Day, a few of the PCVs had arranged for us to get t-shirts with an AIDS message on them and to participate in a flash mob event to mark the day. I had never heard of this before, but I was eager to do it. We walked from our hotel to the center of the city where we met up with some other groups. There is a pedestrian mall nearby and so we walked over to that and spread out up and down it. At a specified time someone blew a whistle, at which we all took off our coats, so everyone could see our t-shirts and then we struck poses for a minute. It was interesting to watch the faces on those walking by as they threaded their way through us and tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually they got it and stopped to read the signs that some were holding up. It was a very moving experience.
Friday night was probably the highlight of the week for me. A group of us had gotten tickets for a concert by Placido Domingo. The tickets were a bit expensive, but they were worth every dram we paid. The concert was in a huge sports and concert arena, that was packed. It started at 8:30 and didn’t end until after 11:00. He sang about every other song, with three other singers rotating in and out, and sometimes he sang a duet with one of them. The acoustics in the place were great. After three encore songs, a group of disabled singers came out onto the stage and they sang with him. It was very moving. They closed the concert with everyone singing the Armenian national anthem. I never thought that I would get a chance to hear Placido Domingo in person, especially in Armenia. One never knows what will happen in the Peace Corps.
We have been very lucky so far with the weather, it has been unseasonably warm. Most of November it was in the 60’s during the day and didn’t get much below 45 at night. Even now the days are fairly warm, about mid 50s, but the nights do get a bit colder, probably in the 30s. They keep saying that it will turn colder soon and we’ll have snow, but I’m enjoying this weather as long as it lasts and it’s helping to preserve my wood supply. I do have to light my wood stove at night, but I also cook on it and it helps to dry my laundry over night.
I can’t believe that we only have two more weeks of school before Christmas. I’ll be going up north to another volunteer’s house for Christmas and then I’m off to Egypt for a week or so. I hope everyone has a very blessed Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.