May 25, 2010
School is over for this year, the students just have state exams to take, so they will be in and out for the next 3 weeks. Unfortunately I missed the last week of school because I was up in Yerevan helping plan for the new volunteers who are coming this Saturday.
Shannon and I took a taxi up on Friday, May 14. We had a committee meeting first thing Saturday morning and then I left for Ijevan, where I attended environmental camp counselor training. There were about 20 of us, including some Armenians, who had volunteered to be counselor. Of course, the other trainees were somewhat younger than me. We were lucky that the training wasn’t two weeks earlier because there had been a landslide on the road to Ijevan, which meant that you could take one marshutney up to the landslide, climb over the mud and trees, and then get into another marshutney. I’m not sorry that I missed that experience. During the training we went through a lot of the activities that the children will be doing and the overall curriculum for the camps. There are going to be 5 green camps this year, unfortunately all of them are in the northern part of the country. The Americans all stayed at the house of one of the sponsors and founders of the green camps. I was promised a bed, but that didn’t work out so I slept on the floor with the other counselors. But we did have a horovatz, their version of a BBQ. I got back to Yerevan Sunday evening and spent the rest of the week at the hostel.
I had volunteered to help with the planning for the new volunteers’ training, which is what I wound up doing the rest of the week. When I left Vachagan on Friday, I thought I would only be in Yerevan until Tuesday or Wednesday. However, once I got to PC office, I was asked to become more involved. Luckily I had packed extra clothes
I didn’t have to be at any meetings until Monday afternoon, so Shannon and I did some shopping Monday morning, which turned out to be my only free time. There were 4 of us who were asked to help with redoing the cross-cultural training curriculum. And we only had 2 days within which to do this. This meant using a generic workbook that PC put together, sequencing the topics, and coming up with lesson plans for each of the 7 sessions.
After we finished with that, since we were all English teachers, we were asked to help the new tech trainer in our sector. This again coming up with a revised curriculum, suggesting volunteers who could do each session, and coming up with TDAs (trainee directed assignments) for some of the sessions. The TDAs are a new addition to the training so we had nothing to draw from. The practicum for the English teachers is a model school the last 2 weeks of training. I was asked to coordinate that, which I’m happy to do.
While I was looking forward to being a camp counselor, unfortunately I had to give that up. But luckily, the camp I was going to help out at had a lot of counselors, so Katie the PCV in charge was fine with me not doing it. I might try it next summer. So my summer will be busy and a lot of it will be spent in Charentsevan, but I am looking forward to it.
Even though we were terribly busy last week, we did manage to get in some culture events. Tuesday night we went to a dance performance at the Opera House. It was very similar to “River Dance,” with a lot of Armenian folk dances. Some of them remind me of Irish step dancing. The costumes and dances were really amazing. Then on Wednesday we went to an opera, “Anush.” This is the most well-known Armenian opera. The sets were spectacular and the singing was extraordinary. They had some programs in English so we had a general idea of what was happening. I’m going to get the schedule for performances at the Opera House, so when I’m in Yerevan I can take advantage of this. The tickets are very reasonable so there’s no reason not to go. Another highlight of my week in Yerevan was going to dinner with another volunteer, Barbara, to a wonderful little Italian restaurant. This place is very small, with only 5 tables. However, the food is exquisite. Barbara had been there before and had raved about the steak, so that’s what I ordered. I don’t usually order steak in an Italian restaurant, but I am so glad that I did. The steak was one of the best I’ve ever had, it practically melted in my mouth. They cooked it exactly the way I wanted it and it was cooked with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. I will definitely go to this place again.
As I said school is over and the last day was Saturday, which I was very glad to back for. They all it “Last Bell,” since it is the last time the 11th graders will be there. They had a graduation ceremony of sorts. The hall was decorated with streamers and balloons, and a small stage was set up at one end. The first graders marched in with the 11th graders and during the ceremony they exchanged gifts. There was a slide show, showing the 11th graders throughout their school years. The PE teacher had made up poems about all the faculty, including me, and the students took turns reading them and presenting flowers to the appropriate teacher. Afterwards they had a luncheon for the graduates and their families. A lot of othere villagers came to watch, besides the families. As I said, I was very glad I made it back in time.
I also realized that spending an entire week in the hostel is a bit much for me. While I enjoy being with the younger volunteers, I also need some quiet time, which is not available there. It was like living in a college dorm, a co-ed one at that. But the place is reasonable, clean and has nice hot showers. I also found out they have an iron and a hair dryer we can use. It’s the little things that make it worth it.
This weekend the new trainees come and I will be going back up north on Friday. Friday night I will be staying with my host family from last summer, who are just wonderful people. I was even able to call them by myself and make the arrangements, so I am making progress with this language. But I will have to bring my dictionary with me.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
March 29, 2010
The past two weeks have been very busy and interesting. First, my counterpart and I were observed by the school director and one other teacher. I didn’t know they were coming, which was probably better, but my counterpart did, not that it would have made any difference in what we did. It was our 5th form class, which has 5 students in it. We did our usual routine, which helped relax the students, so we started out with 10 minutes of reading. Then we went to the curriculum and I must say the students were quite active in that lesson. During the debriefing, the school director asked why we have them read. My response was that reading helps build vocabulary and they seem to like it. I was a bit confused by the question, since I wasn’t sure if she was asking because she didn’t want us to do it anymore. For the most part they were pleased with the lesson and the way the two of us work together. I think they were also surprised by how much interaction I have with the students. The next day I read a report online that said that students who are learning a new language do much better if they have some reading time in that language. Needless to say I shared that with the school director. She actually is in favor of the reading, but was just interested as to why we were doing it.
I also met with the director of a youth center in Kapan who asked if I would do some English language classes there. It will be primarily for the staff, but will also be open to anyone else interested, between the ages of 18 and 30. It seems that in order for the people to take advantage of some European activities, they need to have a certain level of English proficiency. I will be starting those classes next Monday. It may work out that everyone will be in the same class with the same level of English. But I may have to split them into 2 groups, which I’ll do back to back. My hope is that we will get more English teachers from the new Peace Corps coming this year, and that one of them will take this over. I don’t relish the thought of coming down the mountain every week during the winter.
The weather up to that Thursday had been very nice, with temperatures getting up to the 50s. However on Thursday it started to snow. It snowed all day. By Friday morning we had about 18 inches of snow and it was still snowing. I was leaving on Saturday morning to go up to Yerevan in order to fly to Dubai on Sunday. The teachers from Kapan had to walk up to my village, since the taxis and marchutneys were not coming up the mountain. So I made arrangements to stay at Shannon’s on Friday night. After school, I called a taxi, but I had to walk down part of the mountain, since the taxis were still not able to get all the way up. I didn’t care what I had to do, but I was going on vacation!
It worked out well since Friday afternoon there was a writing Olympics in Kapan which I wound up helping to monitor and then judge. It’s amazing how well some of these kids write in what is basically a third language for them. They could choose from 3 topics and had one hour to write. There were a few who clearly had no idea what to do, but for the most part they were good. No one from my school participated, since the spelling bee had just happened, and we have a very limited pool from which to draw. Maybe next year.
The trip up to Yerevan Saturday morning was very interesting. We have to go over two mountains just outside of Kapan, with switch backs up and down. The side of the first mountain has a lot of shade covering the road, so it was a bit icy in parts. On one switch back going up the mountain, our van started to slide backwards. The driver got it to a point where it leveled off and was able to get up. It was slow going, but once we crossed the mountains, the roads were fine. The only trouble was that our van kept backfiring the whole trip!
Dubai is an extravagant place, to say the least. It was like going from one extreme to the other between Dubai and Vachagan. The highlight for me of course was seeing Kate and Andrew. Unfortunately though, they both had to work that week, but we would all have dinner together every night. For those of you who know them, their work schedules in Dubai are as bad as they were in London and New York, which meant we were going to dinner at 9 most nights.
The first two days we were there, Shannon and I took the bus tour around the city. It was interesting as we drove around to see the different dress styles on the women. Some were in the full burka, others had the long robes on and some just had the head covering. The same with the men. Some wear the traditional Arab long white robe and head covering, and others are in suits. They have two different routes, one more in the center of the city and the other around the outskirts. We went to a great underground museum which told about the history of Dubai and the people who settled it. We got off and walked around a “souk” which is their outdoor malls, and this one was specializing in gold. We also saw the indoor “ski resort” they have in one of their malls. Like I said, Dubai is extreme!
On Thursday, Andrew took off from work and we drove to Abu Dabbi to visit the huge mosque they have their. It’s one of the largest in the world. They give tours, which took about an hour and a half, and explain a lot about their religion and rituals. Shannon and I had to wear veils and a long black robe in order to go in. The former president of the UAE planned and paid for most of this mosque. He died in 2004 and they have a separate building where his tomb is and they read from the Koran 24/7, which they’ve been doing for the past 6 years. This is their way of showing their respect and love for this man. We also went to the Palace Hotel, which is huge. You know it’s something special when they bring bus tours to a hotel.
Friday came all too quickly and we had to come back to Armenia. After having walked around in sandals all week, it was hard to get back into winter clothes. But the snow had melted and it’s almost spring-like here most days. I still light my wood burning stove at night to get the chill out of my house, but it’s nice not to have to wear multiple layers whenever I go out.
April 6, 2010
A belated Happy Easter! I decided to stay in Kapan for Easter, mainly because I would have had to take more time off from school in order to go up to Gyumri to attend the Catholic Church there. A few of us decided to try the Armenian Apostolic Church for Easter services. They had a Saturday night Mass, which we went to because I had heard that the Sunday Mass was always crowded. It was very different from the Mass I’m used to, the priest has his back to the congregation, and of course it was all said in Armenian. It reminded me of pre-Vatican II Mass, specifically a high Mass since most of this one was sung. Next year I will go to Gyumri.
Sunday we all had dinner together at Barbara’s apartment. It’s always nice to be with the other Peace Corps volunteers, especially on holidays. Shannon and I showed them our pictures, Barbara had hidden Easter presents (she couldn’t find the plastic eggs) so we had an Easter hunt.
The men in the village have started to plant their produce. The fields are all nicely plowed and after school the boys go to help. I’m hoping to have a small garden in my yard. Yesterday as I was leaving to go to town, one of my neighbors was in my yard, with two of her cows. Occasionally she lets them into my yard to, as she says, help fertilize the yard. I don’t have a big yard but there was some uncut grass that the cows were busily eating. I hope once I have the garden in she stops bringing her cows around.
The past two weeks have been very busy and interesting. First, my counterpart and I were observed by the school director and one other teacher. I didn’t know they were coming, which was probably better, but my counterpart did, not that it would have made any difference in what we did. It was our 5th form class, which has 5 students in it. We did our usual routine, which helped relax the students, so we started out with 10 minutes of reading. Then we went to the curriculum and I must say the students were quite active in that lesson. During the debriefing, the school director asked why we have them read. My response was that reading helps build vocabulary and they seem to like it. I was a bit confused by the question, since I wasn’t sure if she was asking because she didn’t want us to do it anymore. For the most part they were pleased with the lesson and the way the two of us work together. I think they were also surprised by how much interaction I have with the students. The next day I read a report online that said that students who are learning a new language do much better if they have some reading time in that language. Needless to say I shared that with the school director. She actually is in favor of the reading, but was just interested as to why we were doing it.
I also met with the director of a youth center in Kapan who asked if I would do some English language classes there. It will be primarily for the staff, but will also be open to anyone else interested, between the ages of 18 and 30. It seems that in order for the people to take advantage of some European activities, they need to have a certain level of English proficiency. I will be starting those classes next Monday. It may work out that everyone will be in the same class with the same level of English. But I may have to split them into 2 groups, which I’ll do back to back. My hope is that we will get more English teachers from the new Peace Corps coming this year, and that one of them will take this over. I don’t relish the thought of coming down the mountain every week during the winter.
The weather up to that Thursday had been very nice, with temperatures getting up to the 50s. However on Thursday it started to snow. It snowed all day. By Friday morning we had about 18 inches of snow and it was still snowing. I was leaving on Saturday morning to go up to Yerevan in order to fly to Dubai on Sunday. The teachers from Kapan had to walk up to my village, since the taxis and marchutneys were not coming up the mountain. So I made arrangements to stay at Shannon’s on Friday night. After school, I called a taxi, but I had to walk down part of the mountain, since the taxis were still not able to get all the way up. I didn’t care what I had to do, but I was going on vacation!
It worked out well since Friday afternoon there was a writing Olympics in Kapan which I wound up helping to monitor and then judge. It’s amazing how well some of these kids write in what is basically a third language for them. They could choose from 3 topics and had one hour to write. There were a few who clearly had no idea what to do, but for the most part they were good. No one from my school participated, since the spelling bee had just happened, and we have a very limited pool from which to draw. Maybe next year.
The trip up to Yerevan Saturday morning was very interesting. We have to go over two mountains just outside of Kapan, with switch backs up and down. The side of the first mountain has a lot of shade covering the road, so it was a bit icy in parts. On one switch back going up the mountain, our van started to slide backwards. The driver got it to a point where it leveled off and was able to get up. It was slow going, but once we crossed the mountains, the roads were fine. The only trouble was that our van kept backfiring the whole trip!
Dubai is an extravagant place, to say the least. It was like going from one extreme to the other between Dubai and Vachagan. The highlight for me of course was seeing Kate and Andrew. Unfortunately though, they both had to work that week, but we would all have dinner together every night. For those of you who know them, their work schedules in Dubai are as bad as they were in London and New York, which meant we were going to dinner at 9 most nights.
The first two days we were there, Shannon and I took the bus tour around the city. It was interesting as we drove around to see the different dress styles on the women. Some were in the full burka, others had the long robes on and some just had the head covering. The same with the men. Some wear the traditional Arab long white robe and head covering, and others are in suits. They have two different routes, one more in the center of the city and the other around the outskirts. We went to a great underground museum which told about the history of Dubai and the people who settled it. We got off and walked around a “souk” which is their outdoor malls, and this one was specializing in gold. We also saw the indoor “ski resort” they have in one of their malls. Like I said, Dubai is extreme!
On Thursday, Andrew took off from work and we drove to Abu Dabbi to visit the huge mosque they have their. It’s one of the largest in the world. They give tours, which took about an hour and a half, and explain a lot about their religion and rituals. Shannon and I had to wear veils and a long black robe in order to go in. The former president of the UAE planned and paid for most of this mosque. He died in 2004 and they have a separate building where his tomb is and they read from the Koran 24/7, which they’ve been doing for the past 6 years. This is their way of showing their respect and love for this man. We also went to the Palace Hotel, which is huge. You know it’s something special when they bring bus tours to a hotel.
Friday came all too quickly and we had to come back to Armenia. After having walked around in sandals all week, it was hard to get back into winter clothes. But the snow had melted and it’s almost spring-like here most days. I still light my wood burning stove at night to get the chill out of my house, but it’s nice not to have to wear multiple layers whenever I go out.
April 6, 2010
A belated Happy Easter! I decided to stay in Kapan for Easter, mainly because I would have had to take more time off from school in order to go up to Gyumri to attend the Catholic Church there. A few of us decided to try the Armenian Apostolic Church for Easter services. They had a Saturday night Mass, which we went to because I had heard that the Sunday Mass was always crowded. It was very different from the Mass I’m used to, the priest has his back to the congregation, and of course it was all said in Armenian. It reminded me of pre-Vatican II Mass, specifically a high Mass since most of this one was sung. Next year I will go to Gyumri.
Sunday we all had dinner together at Barbara’s apartment. It’s always nice to be with the other Peace Corps volunteers, especially on holidays. Shannon and I showed them our pictures, Barbara had hidden Easter presents (she couldn’t find the plastic eggs) so we had an Easter hunt.
The men in the village have started to plant their produce. The fields are all nicely plowed and after school the boys go to help. I’m hoping to have a small garden in my yard. Yesterday as I was leaving to go to town, one of my neighbors was in my yard, with two of her cows. Occasionally she lets them into my yard to, as she says, help fertilize the yard. I don’t have a big yard but there was some uncut grass that the cows were busily eating. I hope once I have the garden in she stops bringing her cows around.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
March 10, 2010
Armenia is an interesting when it comes to the holidays that they celebrate here. In January, we had Soldiers’ Day, which was a national holiday and so everyone was off. Last month, on Feb. 23, we celebrated Men’s Day, which was not a holiday. So to acknowledge it at school, we had our usual celebration of wine, candy and cakes at our longer break between classes. The school director also gave the three men on staff small gifts.
Luckily I’ve become familiar with how my counterpart runs her classes and we work very well together. Two weeks ago, she had to leave school in the morning due to a death in the family. Instead of cancelling the English classes for the day, I did them by myself. They actually went pretty well, mainly because the kids are used to me by now. With my limited vocabulary I was able to follow the lesson plans and get the main points across. I couldn’t do it all the time, but for one day it was fine.
In fact my speaking ability, while not stellar by any means, is getting better. I’m just a bit more confident now and not as hesitant to try. I can now call my hairdresser and make an appointment over the phone. The phone is hard because the line isn’t always clear, but I do my best. And I can order my own taxi, too. While these may seem like small things, with this language and my limited ability, they’re major steps.
The first week in March is Peace Corps Week. We were each encouraged to acknowledge this in some way at our sites. I decided, since I’m the first volunteer in my village, to have some of the other volunteers in the nearby town come up and speak about their jobs to the teachers and students. I invited an environmental educator and a business person. Unfortunately, at the last moment the environmental person couldn’t make it. However, I think it went very well. I had made a poster depicting the Peace Corps symbol and listed each of the sectors that Peace Corps works in. Andrea, the business volunteer, and I each spoke about our sectors and then about one of the other sectors as well. We also gave a general overview of what Peace Corps is all about, how long it’s been around and how long it’s been here in Armenia. We then opened it up for questions. The kids had some really good questions and overall were very attentive and well behaved. I had worn my Peace Corps pin all week and that drew a lot of attention and questions. The first day I think everyone in the school asked me about it. Next year is the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps, so we’ll plan something a bit bigger.
Last weekend we held a local spelling bee. Each of the schools around Kapan were invited to participate. A list of words for grades 7 through 11 were sent out in October and each school could send 2 per grade level. This was the first year that my school participated and we had 2 from both 8th and 9th grades. One of the 8th graders came in 4th, out of about 12. There will be a regional spelling bee next month, but only the top 2 from each grade go to that. Hopefully next year, we will do better. It’s good experience for the kids, to see how well some of their peers can spell. One of the volunteers,, Danya, from further south came up to help judge and she stayed with me for 2 nights. It was nice to spend time with her and I hope to visit her this spring and do some hiking down by her.
I will be taking an online course for the next 12 weeks. This is sponsored by the British Council, the educational arm of the British Embassy here. The course is for English as a foreign language teachers. I think it’s the first online course offered in Armenia. Since I have internet access at my school, I should be able to do most of the work there. If not, I’ll go down to Kapan and use the computers at Shannon’s office. My main interest in taking this course is to learn about new activities and tasks to use, as well as to interact with other English teachers I might not otherwise meet.
This past Monday, March 8, was International Woman’s Day, which is a national holiday here in Armenia. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend. On Tuesday we had our usual celebration at school: wine, cakes and pizza. They also celebrate Mother’s Day in May. Tuesday there was also a “party.” This is actually what they call their assemblies. This one was a competition of sorts between four sets of 2 students, a boy and girl in each pair. They had to recite a poem, do a dance number, make sentences out of scrambled words, make words out of a long Armenian word, have a fashion show (wearing clothes of the opposite sex), and make a salad. The fashion show was funny. Some of the boys had wigs on, heels, make-up, and earrings. They must have practiced walking in the heels because they did very well. The school director and two other teachers were the judges and a lot of the parents came to watch. I think this is one of the advantages of being in a small school. They can put on shows like this have most of the students participate.
The weather here has been constantly changing. Last week we had snow and cold weather. Over the weekend it was like Spring, with temperatures in the high 60s. In fact over the weekend, I really didn’t need to light my wood-burning stove. However, today it got cooler again and it feels like we might get more snow. I know I can’t complain, especially after reading about all the snow that some of you got this winter. However, your heating systems are a bit better than mine and so is the insulation in your houses, especially since there is no such thing as insulation here. But I know that the cold weather will soon be over and I made it through my first winter here. Things can only get better.out when I take a shower.
Armenia is an interesting when it comes to the holidays that they celebrate here. In January, we had Soldiers’ Day, which was a national holiday and so everyone was off. Last month, on Feb. 23, we celebrated Men’s Day, which was not a holiday. So to acknowledge it at school, we had our usual celebration of wine, candy and cakes at our longer break between classes. The school director also gave the three men on staff small gifts.
Luckily I’ve become familiar with how my counterpart runs her classes and we work very well together. Two weeks ago, she had to leave school in the morning due to a death in the family. Instead of cancelling the English classes for the day, I did them by myself. They actually went pretty well, mainly because the kids are used to me by now. With my limited vocabulary I was able to follow the lesson plans and get the main points across. I couldn’t do it all the time, but for one day it was fine.
In fact my speaking ability, while not stellar by any means, is getting better. I’m just a bit more confident now and not as hesitant to try. I can now call my hairdresser and make an appointment over the phone. The phone is hard because the line isn’t always clear, but I do my best. And I can order my own taxi, too. While these may seem like small things, with this language and my limited ability, they’re major steps.
The first week in March is Peace Corps Week. We were each encouraged to acknowledge this in some way at our sites. I decided, since I’m the first volunteer in my village, to have some of the other volunteers in the nearby town come up and speak about their jobs to the teachers and students. I invited an environmental educator and a business person. Unfortunately, at the last moment the environmental person couldn’t make it. However, I think it went very well. I had made a poster depicting the Peace Corps symbol and listed each of the sectors that Peace Corps works in. Andrea, the business volunteer, and I each spoke about our sectors and then about one of the other sectors as well. We also gave a general overview of what Peace Corps is all about, how long it’s been around and how long it’s been here in Armenia. We then opened it up for questions. The kids had some really good questions and overall were very attentive and well behaved. I had worn my Peace Corps pin all week and that drew a lot of attention and questions. The first day I think everyone in the school asked me about it. Next year is the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps, so we’ll plan something a bit bigger.
Last weekend we held a local spelling bee. Each of the schools around Kapan were invited to participate. A list of words for grades 7 through 11 were sent out in October and each school could send 2 per grade level. This was the first year that my school participated and we had 2 from both 8th and 9th grades. One of the 8th graders came in 4th, out of about 12. There will be a regional spelling bee next month, but only the top 2 from each grade go to that. Hopefully next year, we will do better. It’s good experience for the kids, to see how well some of their peers can spell. One of the volunteers,, Danya, from further south came up to help judge and she stayed with me for 2 nights. It was nice to spend time with her and I hope to visit her this spring and do some hiking down by her.
I will be taking an online course for the next 12 weeks. This is sponsored by the British Council, the educational arm of the British Embassy here. The course is for English as a foreign language teachers. I think it’s the first online course offered in Armenia. Since I have internet access at my school, I should be able to do most of the work there. If not, I’ll go down to Kapan and use the computers at Shannon’s office. My main interest in taking this course is to learn about new activities and tasks to use, as well as to interact with other English teachers I might not otherwise meet.
This past Monday, March 8, was International Woman’s Day, which is a national holiday here in Armenia. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend. On Tuesday we had our usual celebration at school: wine, cakes and pizza. They also celebrate Mother’s Day in May. Tuesday there was also a “party.” This is actually what they call their assemblies. This one was a competition of sorts between four sets of 2 students, a boy and girl in each pair. They had to recite a poem, do a dance number, make sentences out of scrambled words, make words out of a long Armenian word, have a fashion show (wearing clothes of the opposite sex), and make a salad. The fashion show was funny. Some of the boys had wigs on, heels, make-up, and earrings. They must have practiced walking in the heels because they did very well. The school director and two other teachers were the judges and a lot of the parents came to watch. I think this is one of the advantages of being in a small school. They can put on shows like this have most of the students participate.
The weather here has been constantly changing. Last week we had snow and cold weather. Over the weekend it was like Spring, with temperatures in the high 60s. In fact over the weekend, I really didn’t need to light my wood-burning stove. However, today it got cooler again and it feels like we might get more snow. I know I can’t complain, especially after reading about all the snow that some of you got this winter. However, your heating systems are a bit better than mine and so is the insulation in your houses, especially since there is no such thing as insulation here. But I know that the cold weather will soon be over and I made it through my first winter here. Things can only get better.out when I take a shower.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Last week we were at a “ski resort” learning how to write grants. They have a certain grant here that is only available through Peace Corps and needs a PCV in order to apply for it. Since I have never written a grant, I learnt a lot. We went up on Monday and the conference lasted until Friday morning. They broke us up into 7 groups, each group being led by a PCV and an interpreter for our counterparts. They were very long days, especially since I’m not used to sitting inside from 9to 5:30 every day. And I’m no sure I will ever write a grant while I’m here.
This resort is very nice and we were able to walk around the town at night. The last night we were there it snowed, and we found out the next morning it snowed in almost all of Armenia. Luckily I had planned on staying in the capital city of Yerevan for the weekend because the one road going south was closed. It did open on Saturday so people were able to get home then.
Unfortunately, two more of the group I trained with decided to go home. We all were, however, able to say goodbye to them in person. Victoria was in PC office on Monday when we arrived there, and Beth was there on Friday. I will miss them both, especially Beth who I had gotten to know a bit better than Victoria. They both gave the PC a good shot, 6 months at their sites, and realized that this was not for them. I admire them for at least trying it and being honest enough with themselves to make the decision to go home.
When I arrived home on Sunday, I found out that I didn’t have any water. My pipes froze, even though I had left the kitchen faucet running. So for the past two days, I have been melting ice on my wood-burning stove and then running it through my water filter. It’s a slow process, but at least there was the snow to melt so I wasn’t left completely without water. This is what I would call my first Peace Corps experience. Between my small school, wood-burning stove, and no water I keep thinking of the settlers in America who braved the frontier to help establish our country. I don’t know how they did it. I at least know that this is for a short period of time, and I keep reminding myself of that when things go wrong, or don’t go as I planned.
So I’m sitting here waiting for the snow to melt and for the water to get warm on my wood-burning stove so I can use it to wash out my clothes, by hand. Then I will put them on my drying rack in front of the stove to dry. Yet I’m also listening to music on my laptop. Talk about a mix of cultures!
It’s fairly easy here to be on a diet. Their normal plate size is our salad plate, so the portions are definitely smaller. And even if you back for seconds, it’s really only like our normal first portion. Of course during the winter no one looks like they’ve lost weight. We all wear multiple layers to keep warm. While I tend to stick with just 3 layers, some of the other volunteers wear up to 6 or 7 layers. They’ll really look like they lost weight come the spring!
Monday, February 22, 2010
The past two weeks seem to have just flown by. Having English club twice a week keeps me busy during the week and on the weekends it’s playing catch up with the housework. Two weekends ago I was snowed in up in my village. It had snowed during the week and then everything froze. The marshutnies were not coming up to the village and the taxis were only going half way up. Unfortunately it was another PC’s birthday, so I missed the celebrations. But it was nice for a change to just stay in my house, look out at the frozen landscape and keep warm by my stove. I got a lot of crocheting done and finished a book. I was also able to get a bit ahead with my lesson planning for my clubs and classes.
This past weekend I was once again up in Yerevan for a meeting for the volunteer initiative committee. There were a lot of other PC meetings going on as well so I got to see quite a few of the other volunteers, which is always nice. The down side is that the hostel was full and they were repairing the two upstairs bathrooms, so everyone had to use the downstairs one. I wound up taking my shower at midnight Saturday! The weather was incredibly warm, so it was nice to just walk around the city at night. Instead of going up on Saturday morning, Shannon and I went up Friday, so it was a bit more relaxing, and we came back down Sunday. The school faculty, especially my counterpart, are always happy to see me after my days off. I think they are afraid I’ll not come back one of these times.
Today I found out that my pen pal club received its first packet of letters from the Ukraine. Shannon picked up the package for me and I’ll get it this weekend. My students are still working on their first letters, but I hope to mail them on Saturday. It’s been a slow process getting this project off the ground, so I’m glad something has come of it. I only hope the students keep up their interest. I’m anxious to see how this goes.
The Armenian men take very good care of their cars. With the warm weather they are all out there washing their cars and trucks. On the drive up to my village we pass the local “car wash.” Actually there are two: one is a manmade lake they drive up to and bucket wash their cars. The other is a spring that runs down the side of the mountain and pools next to the road. They park next to it and use the water to wash their car.
Speaking of water, after my pipes unfroze I still could not use my shower. The water wasn’t going through the heater. Yesterday I finally saw the electrician (that’s what they call the plumber here) and asked him to look at it. After about a half hour, he discovered that the hose to the shower head was clogged, with dirt from the water. That’s how dirty the water is here and why we use a water filter for our drinking water. I’ll probably have to clear it out about every other month or so. I just won’t think about when I take a shower.
Last week we were at a “ski resort” learning how to write grants. They have a certain grant here that is only available through Peace Corps and needs a PCV in order to apply for it. Since I have never written a grant, I learnt a lot. We went up on Monday and the conference lasted until Friday morning. They broke us up into 7 groups, each group being led by a PCV and an interpreter for our counterparts. They were very long days, especially since I’m not used to sitting inside from 9to 5:30 every day. And I’m no sure I will ever write a grant while I’m here.
This resort is very nice and we were able to walk around the town at night. The last night we were there it snowed, and we found out the next morning it snowed in almost all of Armenia. Luckily I had planned on staying in the capital city of Yerevan for the weekend because the one road going south was closed. It did open on Saturday so people were able to get home then.
Unfortunately, two more of the group I trained with decided to go home. We all were, however, able to say goodbye to them in person. Victoria was in PC office on Monday when we arrived there, and Beth was there on Friday. I will miss them both, especially Beth who I had gotten to know a bit better than Victoria. They both gave the PC a good shot, 6 months at their sites, and realized that this was not for them. I admire them for at least trying it and being honest enough with themselves to make the decision to go home.
When I arrived home on Sunday, I found out that I didn’t have any water. My pipes froze, even though I had left the kitchen faucet running. So for the past two days, I have been melting ice on my wood-burning stove and then running it through my water filter. It’s a slow process, but at least there was the snow to melt so I wasn’t left completely without water. This is what I would call my first Peace Corps experience. Between my small school, wood-burning stove, and no water I keep thinking of the settlers in America who braved the frontier to help establish our country. I don’t know how they did it. I at least know that this is for a short period of time, and I keep reminding myself of that when things go wrong, or don’t go as I planned.
So I’m sitting here waiting for the snow to melt and for the water to get warm on my wood-burning stove so I can use it to wash out my clothes, by hand. Then I will put them on my drying rack in front of the stove to dry. Yet I’m also listening to music on my laptop. Talk about a mix of cultures!
It’s fairly easy here to be on a diet. Their normal plate size is our salad plate, so the portions are definitely smaller. And even if you back for seconds, it’s really only like our normal first portion. Of course during the winter no one looks like they’ve lost weight. We all wear multiple layers to keep warm. While I tend to stick with just 3 layers, some of the other volunteers wear up to 6 or 7 layers. They’ll really look like they lost weight come the spring!
Monday, February 22, 2010
The past two weeks seem to have just flown by. Having English club twice a week keeps me busy during the week and on the weekends it’s playing catch up with the housework. Two weekends ago I was snowed in up in my village. It had snowed during the week and then everything froze. The marshutnies were not coming up to the village and the taxis were only going half way up. Unfortunately it was another PC’s birthday, so I missed the celebrations. But it was nice for a change to just stay in my house, look out at the frozen landscape and keep warm by my stove. I got a lot of crocheting done and finished a book. I was also able to get a bit ahead with my lesson planning for my clubs and classes.
This past weekend I was once again up in Yerevan for a meeting for the volunteer initiative committee. There were a lot of other PC meetings going on as well so I got to see quite a few of the other volunteers, which is always nice. The down side is that the hostel was full and they were repairing the two upstairs bathrooms, so everyone had to use the downstairs one. I wound up taking my shower at midnight Saturday! The weather was incredibly warm, so it was nice to just walk around the city at night. Instead of going up on Saturday morning, Shannon and I went up Friday, so it was a bit more relaxing, and we came back down Sunday. The school faculty, especially my counterpart, are always happy to see me after my days off. I think they are afraid I’ll not come back one of these times.
Today I found out that my pen pal club received its first packet of letters from the Ukraine. Shannon picked up the package for me and I’ll get it this weekend. My students are still working on their first letters, but I hope to mail them on Saturday. It’s been a slow process getting this project off the ground, so I’m glad something has come of it. I only hope the students keep up their interest. I’m anxious to see how this goes.
The Armenian men take very good care of their cars. With the warm weather they are all out there washing their cars and trucks. On the drive up to my village we pass the local “car wash.” Actually there are two: one is a manmade lake they drive up to and bucket wash their cars. The other is a spring that runs down the side of the mountain and pools next to the road. They park next to it and use the water to wash their car.
Speaking of water, after my pipes unfroze I still could not use my shower. The water wasn’t going through the heater. Yesterday I finally saw the electrician (that’s what they call the plumber here) and asked him to look at it. After about a half hour, he discovered that the hose to the shower head was clogged, with dirt from the water. That’s how dirty the water is here and why we use a water filter for our drinking water. I’ll probably have to clear it out about every other month or so. I just won’t think about when I take a shower.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Today is Army Day in Armenia, a national holiday. However, they were having some activities at the local army base, so the schools were taking the boys to see that. It’s a way to get interest in the army as a career. There is mandatory two year army service for all boys once they turn 18. But it seems that less and less are making the army a career.
Well winter seems to have finally arrived in southern Armenia. This week has been cold and snowy. On Tuesday we had snow all morning, but then it rained for a while. However, it turned to snow agaityping this I’m sitting in my house with a hat on to help keep me warm. I haven’t lit my wood burning stove yet today and am relying on my fan for heat. My wood supply has run low and I’m not sure when I’ll be getting more. I haven’t seen my wood man in a few days, so I don’t want to take any chances of running out. I just bring the fan with me as I move from room to room. I’ll light my stove tonight. Since I didn’t make arrangements for the wood until the middle of November, I’m not sure how much I’ll actually get this winter. Rest assured that I will make arrangements for wood for next winter in plenty of time. I’ll also try to get a meter and a half for each month. I am a spoiled American used to a good heating system and it’s hard to get used to a chilly house. And I refuse to wear my coat in my house, the hat is one thing, but I draw the line at the coat. Besides this, my geyser, hot water heater, isn’t working either. It seems that in the cold the water pressure decreases and there isn’t enough pressure for the geyser to work. Oh well, I’m used to bucket baths anyway.
At school we have been having extra classes every day. Not only do we have to make up for the 3 weeks we missed in December, but my counterpart and I will be out all next week. We will be going to a conference on grant writing. Luckily the school is small and it’s fairly easy to change the schedule and make up the classes. In fact, it’s rare that the schedule isn’t changed at least once a week. With the snow on Wednesday, I had to go in early Thursday morning because the teachers who live down in the town (11 out of 14) were having a problem getting up the mountain. The buses weren’t running and they couldn’t find a taxi either. This also meant that some of our students couldn’t get to school. The teachers were finally able to get a ride most of the way up the mountain and classes were juggled to accommodate all. Flexibility is a needed asset here.
Our computer teacher is out on mandatory maternity leave since Dec. 1. We finally hired a part time replacement, who works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means that since she is trying to make up for the whole month of Dec., the three days she’s in the computers are never free. So my access to the internet is severely limited. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is generally at least one class using the computer/faculty room for a class. So for the next 2 months I will be lucky to get online once a week, unless I go to town on Saturdays and use the computers down there.
I finally started some clubs after school. I have one on Tuesday afternoons in which we are part of a pen pal program with other former Soviet Union countries that also have Peace Corps volunteers. Eleven of the students showed up for our first meeting and I think most of them will stick with it. We will be writing to students in Romania, Macedonia, and the Ukraine. There is also a project as part of this. Each group will put together a packet of information about their village/town and share it with the others. It’ll be a great learning experience for the students.
On Thursday afternoons I have a tutorial club for the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. It’s kind of a wide range of students, but they all expressed an interest so I’ll see how it works. Yesterday I gave them a placement test of sorts to help me see what they’re having trouble with. I plan to use a lot of different approaches, including games, in order to keep their interest and make it enjoyable for them. Since I am doing these clubs by myself, I’m hoping that my Armenian will improve. I told the students that I will help them with their English and they need to help me with my Armenian. We’ll see how this works.
Thanks to some very generous family members I have started a library of sorts in our English room. I have received a lot of pre-readers and readers, as well as some picture dictionaries on various subjects. When we started back after the holidays, I decided that the upper grades would start journaling and the 4th and 5th graders would start reading at the beginning of each class. Both ideas have been very well received by the students, especially the reading. Most of the books, both school and reading, in Armenia are primarily text, with little or no pictures, and very small print. Once they saw the illustrations and size of the print in these new books, they were excited to read them. We give them at least 5 minutes at the beginning of class and sometimes we extend it because they are so engaged in their books. At the end of the club on Tuesday I mentioned to those students that they could also take the books. It’s like I’m giving them money or candy, they can’t have enough of it. Each of the older students took a book. I just told them that they had to return the book when their done with it.
The journaling is also going quite well. It was hard at first for them to just write, even though we supplied them with a topic. They’re just not used to thinking in English. But after a few classes, they are doing very well. I told them their journals will not be graded, but I will look at them every now and then to see how they’re doing and correct mistakes. Some of the students are so serious about it that they go home and continue writing. Of course some of the other teachers are complaining that all the students want to do is their English homework.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I had to get a new gas bubble for my stove. Somehow I broke the on/off nozzle, luckily in the on position so I could at least heat up the kettle in the morning for my tea/coffee. However, I was a little worried that some gas might be leaking. So someone from Peace Corps drove down to Vachagan today and switched the gas bubbles.
I also went to visit my wood man this afternoon and explained that I needed more wood. I also asked if he could deliver more at one time. I think he understood, I’ll soon find out. Just as I was leaving, his wife came out and invited me in for a cup of tea. She also admired my Yaktrax and asked if I had gotten them in Armenia. I explained, as best I could, that the Peace Corps handed them out to all the volunteers. They’ve really come in handy this week. I know that by visiting people I will have to speak Armenian more, so it’s good for me to do this. And I do enjoy getting to know my neighbors.
Today is Army Day in Armenia, a national holiday. However, they were having some activities at the local army base, so the schools were taking the boys to see that. It’s a way to get interest in the army as a career. There is mandatory two year army service for all boys once they turn 18. But it seems that less and less are making the army a career.
Well winter seems to have finally arrived in southern Armenia. This week has been cold and snowy. On Tuesday we had snow all morning, but then it rained for a while. However, it turned to snow agaityping this I’m sitting in my house with a hat on to help keep me warm. I haven’t lit my wood burning stove yet today and am relying on my fan for heat. My wood supply has run low and I’m not sure when I’ll be getting more. I haven’t seen my wood man in a few days, so I don’t want to take any chances of running out. I just bring the fan with me as I move from room to room. I’ll light my stove tonight. Since I didn’t make arrangements for the wood until the middle of November, I’m not sure how much I’ll actually get this winter. Rest assured that I will make arrangements for wood for next winter in plenty of time. I’ll also try to get a meter and a half for each month. I am a spoiled American used to a good heating system and it’s hard to get used to a chilly house. And I refuse to wear my coat in my house, the hat is one thing, but I draw the line at the coat. Besides this, my geyser, hot water heater, isn’t working either. It seems that in the cold the water pressure decreases and there isn’t enough pressure for the geyser to work. Oh well, I’m used to bucket baths anyway.
At school we have been having extra classes every day. Not only do we have to make up for the 3 weeks we missed in December, but my counterpart and I will be out all next week. We will be going to a conference on grant writing. Luckily the school is small and it’s fairly easy to change the schedule and make up the classes. In fact, it’s rare that the schedule isn’t changed at least once a week. With the snow on Wednesday, I had to go in early Thursday morning because the teachers who live down in the town (11 out of 14) were having a problem getting up the mountain. The buses weren’t running and they couldn’t find a taxi either. This also meant that some of our students couldn’t get to school. The teachers were finally able to get a ride most of the way up the mountain and classes were juggled to accommodate all. Flexibility is a needed asset here.
Our computer teacher is out on mandatory maternity leave since Dec. 1. We finally hired a part time replacement, who works Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means that since she is trying to make up for the whole month of Dec., the three days she’s in the computers are never free. So my access to the internet is severely limited. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is generally at least one class using the computer/faculty room for a class. So for the next 2 months I will be lucky to get online once a week, unless I go to town on Saturdays and use the computers down there.
I finally started some clubs after school. I have one on Tuesday afternoons in which we are part of a pen pal program with other former Soviet Union countries that also have Peace Corps volunteers. Eleven of the students showed up for our first meeting and I think most of them will stick with it. We will be writing to students in Romania, Macedonia, and the Ukraine. There is also a project as part of this. Each group will put together a packet of information about their village/town and share it with the others. It’ll be a great learning experience for the students.
On Thursday afternoons I have a tutorial club for the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th graders. It’s kind of a wide range of students, but they all expressed an interest so I’ll see how it works. Yesterday I gave them a placement test of sorts to help me see what they’re having trouble with. I plan to use a lot of different approaches, including games, in order to keep their interest and make it enjoyable for them. Since I am doing these clubs by myself, I’m hoping that my Armenian will improve. I told the students that I will help them with their English and they need to help me with my Armenian. We’ll see how this works.
Thanks to some very generous family members I have started a library of sorts in our English room. I have received a lot of pre-readers and readers, as well as some picture dictionaries on various subjects. When we started back after the holidays, I decided that the upper grades would start journaling and the 4th and 5th graders would start reading at the beginning of each class. Both ideas have been very well received by the students, especially the reading. Most of the books, both school and reading, in Armenia are primarily text, with little or no pictures, and very small print. Once they saw the illustrations and size of the print in these new books, they were excited to read them. We give them at least 5 minutes at the beginning of class and sometimes we extend it because they are so engaged in their books. At the end of the club on Tuesday I mentioned to those students that they could also take the books. It’s like I’m giving them money or candy, they can’t have enough of it. Each of the older students took a book. I just told them that they had to return the book when their done with it.
The journaling is also going quite well. It was hard at first for them to just write, even though we supplied them with a topic. They’re just not used to thinking in English. But after a few classes, they are doing very well. I told them their journals will not be graded, but I will look at them every now and then to see how they’re doing and correct mistakes. Some of the students are so serious about it that they go home and continue writing. Of course some of the other teachers are complaining that all the students want to do is their English homework.
Friday, January 29, 2010
I had to get a new gas bubble for my stove. Somehow I broke the on/off nozzle, luckily in the on position so I could at least heat up the kettle in the morning for my tea/coffee. However, I was a little worried that some gas might be leaking. So someone from Peace Corps drove down to Vachagan today and switched the gas bubbles.
I also went to visit my wood man this afternoon and explained that I needed more wood. I also asked if he could deliver more at one time. I think he understood, I’ll soon find out. Just as I was leaving, his wife came out and invited me in for a cup of tea. She also admired my Yaktrax and asked if I had gotten them in Armenia. I explained, as best I could, that the Peace Corps handed them out to all the volunteers. They’ve really come in handy this week. I know that by visiting people I will have to speak Armenian more, so it’s good for me to do this. And I do enjoy getting to know my neighbors.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
December 27, 2009
Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all had a very blessed and joyful Christmas. While I wasn’t with my family, I thought of you all often throughout the day. Spending Christmas in a different culture has been very interesting. But first let me catch you up on what’s been going on here since I last wrote.
There was a lot of sickness, seasonal flu they called it, in November and early December. There were some reported cases of the H1N1 flu, mostly in the capital city. So, on Dec. 7th, the Minister of Education announced that all schools would be closed for 10 days, reopening Dec. 21. This meant that I basically had 10 days off. While it was nice to have some unexpected time off, that isn’t exactly why I joined the Peace Corps. However, I decided to use the time as best I could to plan for the next half year. I had found that not knowing the curriculum and not having had a chance to look at all the books being used was getting harder the more we got into the school year. So, I’ve been going through the books used in each form (grade), picking out the grammar being introduced and making up exercises and activities for it.
I’ve also had lots of time for crocheting. I am so thankful that I know how to crochet, for it has been a real time filler for me. So far I have made 6 afghans, a scarf, hat and a placemat. Four of the afghans were for other PCVs who had bought the yarn and I just supplied the labor. I have one more afghan to make for another PCV and then I’ll move onto something else. Luckily there are quite a few yarn stores in the town near me, and a great one in the capital city that I go into whenever I’m up there. I might even try to learn how to knit, since that’s more popular among volunteers so I’ll have access to more patterns.
Each day I tried to take a walk, sometimes down to the town, other days just around the village. The people in the village have gotten used to seeing me walking around. They don’t walk just for the sake of exercise, but in order to go some where. At first they couldn’t understand why I was just out walking, but now they just accept that that’s what I like to do. Besides good exercise, it’s a good way to meet some of the villagers.
One of the other PCVs, Shannon, moved into a new apartment last weekend, so we helped her move her stuff. It’s very interesting seeing the looks on people’s faces as we walked from one place to the other with all her stuff. We only had to make two trips, which was good because she moved into an apartment on the 5th floor, with no elevator.
I found out on Sat., Dec. 19, that the schools were not reopening until Jan. 11th, so I will have had 5 full weeks off. I was disappointed that schools were not reopening, since I came here to help in the schools, but I realize that for health reasons it’s better to keep them closed. So I have decided to take a road trip next week, with Shannon, to visit some of the other volunteers in the northern part of this country.
I used this past week to get ready for Christmas dinner and my overnight guests and to relax a little. It was strange not having any last minute Christmas shopping to do, or any crowds to hassle with. In Armenia they celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6th, but their really big celebration is on New Year’s Eve/Day. That is when they exchange presents and gather at people’s houses, and have fireworks. So their last minute shopping is happening now. They are also just putting up their decorations, when I know in the States some are already taking down their decorations.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turned out really nice. 25 of us gathered at Barbara’s apartment for Christmas Eve dinner and then they all came up to my house for Christmas dinner. For most of the younger volunteers this was their first Christmas without any family, so it was good for them to be with the rest of us. I had 4 stay at my house and we sang Christmas carols Friday morning while we got everything ready. We had a grab bag so everyone got a gift and they could exchange among themselves if they wanted. Not too many did. While we didn’t have a lot of Christmas decorations, we did have some. Thanks to Jackie and Brendan, I had a stocking and a small Christmas tree, to which we added a reindeer. Actually the reindeer had started out as a paper maiche spider for Halloween, then was transformed into a turkey for Thanksgiving, and now is a reindeer. A little imagination and good old US ingenuity go a long way here.
In some ways for me it was like being with my family. Most of the younger volunteers are the ages of my own children and some of them even call me Mom. I enjoy being with them, as I enjoy being with my own children. Having them here definitely made it easier on me not to be with my family. The one thing I really missed, besides my family, was being able to go to Church. There are no Catholic Churches in Armenia, at least in the part where I am. So I have decided that next Christmas I will visit Georgia or someplace where I know there are Catholic Churches.
As New Year approaches my wish for all of you is peace and happiness.
January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year’s celebration.
I’ve been on a road trip since last Monday, when Shannon and I left to head north. We had a meeting at PC Headquarters on Tuesday, Dec. 29 about volunteerism in Armenia. This initiative is new here and one that PC would very much like to see take hold. I’m on the planning committee for that and we hope to have some definite ideas and activities in place by April. The area I’m specifically involved in is camps for young people (ages 11 – 16) and Forums for young adults (18 – 25). It will be pretty intense for the next few months, but hopefully we will be successful. I’ll keep you posted. By being involved on the planning committee it will mean that I’ll be making regular trips to Yerevan.
In Yerevan I’ve been staying at a hostel, my first venture into hostels. This one is actually quite nice and very clean. They have a wonderful shower and computers that are online. And we get a breakfast each day. By staying in the hostel, I save about 1500 drams each night.
Tuesday afternoon after the meeting, we headed to Gyumri for a few days. We arranged to stay with another PCV, Staci, who we really just met when she came to my house for Christmas. Gyumri is a large city in the northwest part of Armenia. There was a major earthquake there in 1988, and some of the rumble is still visible. The earthquake destroyed a majority of the buildings in Gyumri and they put the displaced families in “temporary” housing – old railroad cars. They scattered these around the city, wherever they could find a flat, clean spot. There are still about 7,000 families living in this housing around the city. We walked around Gyumri quite a bit and it’s astonishing to see these “homes” right next to newer housing. In one of the city’s squares, there are 2 big churches, one of which was destroyed in the earthquake. The other was saved by the fact that it’s spires were built so as to absorb the shock and shoot off onto the ground. It’s amazing to see the remains of such destruction. Barbara, one of the PCVs stationed in Gyumri only since August, has done an incredible amount of research on the city and was very helpful on our walks. There is also somewhat of a walking tour, with explanations of the buildings and their history throughout the city. I hope to go back to Gyumri in the summer.
There is a wonderful fish restaurant in Gyumri where we ate Tuesday night. It’s called “The Fish House,” at least by the PCVs. It is attached to a fish hatchery and right on a river. The fish was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. There were 10 of us at dinner and we had a good time. On New Year’s Eve, we all, 14 of us, met at Amanda’s for dinner. She made a wonderful Greek chicken meal. Some of us, myself included, didn’t make it til midnight. But we were all together again the next day for dinner, which Staci and Barbara had made – ham, potatoes au gratin, garlic bread. It was nice to celebrate with the other PCVs. New Year’s is very big here, with most of the stores were closed and some will not open until tomorrow or even next week.
Saturday, Shannon and I left Gyumri and headed to Karashamb, the village I lived in during the summer, to visit my old host family. Of course the road network in Armenia is almost non-existent, so we had to come all the way back to Yerevan and then head to Karashamb. We wound up taking a taxi, because the marshutneys were all too crowded. We must have gotten the only taxi driver who didn’t know where Karashamb is. As it turned out, we met some of my family in a town before Karashamb, at a cousin’s house. One of the customs here surrounding New Year’s is that you visit your relatives and eat at each house. Each house has a table full of food: fresh ham, 3 or 4 vegetable salads, bread, small egg roll like things, nuts, pastry, fruit, and of course wine, vodka, and cognac. We wound up going to 3 houses and by that time I was stuffed. I was so glad we went, because it meant so much to that family. Some of the extended family had come to see me, and others called while we were there. They wanted us to stay the night, but I knew we would be putting someone out of their bed, so we declined. I will definitely go back to visit them this summer.
We got back to Yerevan and the hostel about 7:30 last night. It was nice to see all the lights and decorations in the city. These will stay up until sometime after Jan. 6th, their Christmas. Today as we walked around the city, we saw that most of the stores and even the restaurants are closed. Most will reopen tomorrow, but some take the whole week off. Tomorrow we head back to Kapan, to our own houses. It’s been nice to visit different areas and people, but it’ll be nice to be home again. Hopefully schools will reopen on Jan. 11th and I’ll get back to work.
January 8, 2010
Our trip back to Kapan was a bit nerve-wracking since they had had snow in some of the areas we had to drive through. The road in some places was icy and snowcovered. We passed one snow plow and a sander. Actually the sander consisted of 2 men in the back of a truck throwing shovels full of sand alternately on the road. But it worked and we made it safely back. I was glad to see that there wasn’t any snow on the 2 mountain roads just outside of Kapan, since they are a series of switch backs, which I’m not too sure I want to do on ice and snow.
This has been a very relaxing week, especially since a lot of the other PCVs are still away and a lot of the stores are closed. I spent most of the week either reading, crocheting, or doing jigsaw puzzles. We had snow most of Tuesday so it was a good day to stay inside. However, it has almost all melted since the weather got warmer again. This has been an unseasonably mild winter.
I’ve also had time to do some cooking, which is another adventure here. While their diet is not that spicy or that unlike our own, there are certain spices that they don’t have here, so I’ve had to improvise with some recipes. I did make applesauce the other day, which was really good with the French toast I made this morning. They don’t have syrup here, so I substituted the applesauce for it. They also don’t have tomato sauce or marinara sauce, but have tomato paste. So when I could still find fresh tomatoes and green peppers, I would add those to the paste, sometimes with carrots, and make a marinara sauce. However, I can no longer find either, so I’ll have to find another way to doctor up the tomato paste.
I spent most of today outdoors, since it was so nice out. This morning I broke apart one of the trees that my neighbor had taken down and laid outside my basement door. I’ll use the small pieces for kindling to start my wood stove. This afternoon I went for a hike and again foraged for kindling. It’s amazing the amount of wood that I use without even having it get too hot. My supply of fire wood had gotten pretty low, which has made me realize the value of forests and the value of rationing what I do have. And I’ve found that using different size kindling helps to start the fire. I am learning so much about fires and wood stoves! But it was a nice day and it was a good excuse to be outside. I’ll probably look for some more tomorrow, especially if it’s nice out again.
I have also realized these past few weeks that I had gotten used to being able to check my email on an almost daily basis. However not being in school and with most of the businesses closed in Kapan, I haven’t been online in over a week. It made me think of the Peace Corps volunteers who served before the advent of email and cell phones. My admiration for what they must have experienced, the loneliness and sense of isolation from family and friends, has grown considerably. When I came to Armenia in June, I didn’t expect to have such regular access to an online computer, but I quickly became spoiled and used to it. Some things we just take for granted as part of everyday life, when in reality they are anything but in a large part of the world.
Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all had a very blessed and joyful Christmas. While I wasn’t with my family, I thought of you all often throughout the day. Spending Christmas in a different culture has been very interesting. But first let me catch you up on what’s been going on here since I last wrote.
There was a lot of sickness, seasonal flu they called it, in November and early December. There were some reported cases of the H1N1 flu, mostly in the capital city. So, on Dec. 7th, the Minister of Education announced that all schools would be closed for 10 days, reopening Dec. 21. This meant that I basically had 10 days off. While it was nice to have some unexpected time off, that isn’t exactly why I joined the Peace Corps. However, I decided to use the time as best I could to plan for the next half year. I had found that not knowing the curriculum and not having had a chance to look at all the books being used was getting harder the more we got into the school year. So, I’ve been going through the books used in each form (grade), picking out the grammar being introduced and making up exercises and activities for it.
I’ve also had lots of time for crocheting. I am so thankful that I know how to crochet, for it has been a real time filler for me. So far I have made 6 afghans, a scarf, hat and a placemat. Four of the afghans were for other PCVs who had bought the yarn and I just supplied the labor. I have one more afghan to make for another PCV and then I’ll move onto something else. Luckily there are quite a few yarn stores in the town near me, and a great one in the capital city that I go into whenever I’m up there. I might even try to learn how to knit, since that’s more popular among volunteers so I’ll have access to more patterns.
Each day I tried to take a walk, sometimes down to the town, other days just around the village. The people in the village have gotten used to seeing me walking around. They don’t walk just for the sake of exercise, but in order to go some where. At first they couldn’t understand why I was just out walking, but now they just accept that that’s what I like to do. Besides good exercise, it’s a good way to meet some of the villagers.
One of the other PCVs, Shannon, moved into a new apartment last weekend, so we helped her move her stuff. It’s very interesting seeing the looks on people’s faces as we walked from one place to the other with all her stuff. We only had to make two trips, which was good because she moved into an apartment on the 5th floor, with no elevator.
I found out on Sat., Dec. 19, that the schools were not reopening until Jan. 11th, so I will have had 5 full weeks off. I was disappointed that schools were not reopening, since I came here to help in the schools, but I realize that for health reasons it’s better to keep them closed. So I have decided to take a road trip next week, with Shannon, to visit some of the other volunteers in the northern part of this country.
I used this past week to get ready for Christmas dinner and my overnight guests and to relax a little. It was strange not having any last minute Christmas shopping to do, or any crowds to hassle with. In Armenia they celebrate Christmas on Jan. 6th, but their really big celebration is on New Year’s Eve/Day. That is when they exchange presents and gather at people’s houses, and have fireworks. So their last minute shopping is happening now. They are also just putting up their decorations, when I know in the States some are already taking down their decorations.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day turned out really nice. 25 of us gathered at Barbara’s apartment for Christmas Eve dinner and then they all came up to my house for Christmas dinner. For most of the younger volunteers this was their first Christmas without any family, so it was good for them to be with the rest of us. I had 4 stay at my house and we sang Christmas carols Friday morning while we got everything ready. We had a grab bag so everyone got a gift and they could exchange among themselves if they wanted. Not too many did. While we didn’t have a lot of Christmas decorations, we did have some. Thanks to Jackie and Brendan, I had a stocking and a small Christmas tree, to which we added a reindeer. Actually the reindeer had started out as a paper maiche spider for Halloween, then was transformed into a turkey for Thanksgiving, and now is a reindeer. A little imagination and good old US ingenuity go a long way here.
In some ways for me it was like being with my family. Most of the younger volunteers are the ages of my own children and some of them even call me Mom. I enjoy being with them, as I enjoy being with my own children. Having them here definitely made it easier on me not to be with my family. The one thing I really missed, besides my family, was being able to go to Church. There are no Catholic Churches in Armenia, at least in the part where I am. So I have decided that next Christmas I will visit Georgia or someplace where I know there are Catholic Churches.
As New Year approaches my wish for all of you is peace and happiness.
January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year’s celebration.
I’ve been on a road trip since last Monday, when Shannon and I left to head north. We had a meeting at PC Headquarters on Tuesday, Dec. 29 about volunteerism in Armenia. This initiative is new here and one that PC would very much like to see take hold. I’m on the planning committee for that and we hope to have some definite ideas and activities in place by April. The area I’m specifically involved in is camps for young people (ages 11 – 16) and Forums for young adults (18 – 25). It will be pretty intense for the next few months, but hopefully we will be successful. I’ll keep you posted. By being involved on the planning committee it will mean that I’ll be making regular trips to Yerevan.
In Yerevan I’ve been staying at a hostel, my first venture into hostels. This one is actually quite nice and very clean. They have a wonderful shower and computers that are online. And we get a breakfast each day. By staying in the hostel, I save about 1500 drams each night.
Tuesday afternoon after the meeting, we headed to Gyumri for a few days. We arranged to stay with another PCV, Staci, who we really just met when she came to my house for Christmas. Gyumri is a large city in the northwest part of Armenia. There was a major earthquake there in 1988, and some of the rumble is still visible. The earthquake destroyed a majority of the buildings in Gyumri and they put the displaced families in “temporary” housing – old railroad cars. They scattered these around the city, wherever they could find a flat, clean spot. There are still about 7,000 families living in this housing around the city. We walked around Gyumri quite a bit and it’s astonishing to see these “homes” right next to newer housing. In one of the city’s squares, there are 2 big churches, one of which was destroyed in the earthquake. The other was saved by the fact that it’s spires were built so as to absorb the shock and shoot off onto the ground. It’s amazing to see the remains of such destruction. Barbara, one of the PCVs stationed in Gyumri only since August, has done an incredible amount of research on the city and was very helpful on our walks. There is also somewhat of a walking tour, with explanations of the buildings and their history throughout the city. I hope to go back to Gyumri in the summer.
There is a wonderful fish restaurant in Gyumri where we ate Tuesday night. It’s called “The Fish House,” at least by the PCVs. It is attached to a fish hatchery and right on a river. The fish was delicious, as was the rest of the meal. There were 10 of us at dinner and we had a good time. On New Year’s Eve, we all, 14 of us, met at Amanda’s for dinner. She made a wonderful Greek chicken meal. Some of us, myself included, didn’t make it til midnight. But we were all together again the next day for dinner, which Staci and Barbara had made – ham, potatoes au gratin, garlic bread. It was nice to celebrate with the other PCVs. New Year’s is very big here, with most of the stores were closed and some will not open until tomorrow or even next week.
Saturday, Shannon and I left Gyumri and headed to Karashamb, the village I lived in during the summer, to visit my old host family. Of course the road network in Armenia is almost non-existent, so we had to come all the way back to Yerevan and then head to Karashamb. We wound up taking a taxi, because the marshutneys were all too crowded. We must have gotten the only taxi driver who didn’t know where Karashamb is. As it turned out, we met some of my family in a town before Karashamb, at a cousin’s house. One of the customs here surrounding New Year’s is that you visit your relatives and eat at each house. Each house has a table full of food: fresh ham, 3 or 4 vegetable salads, bread, small egg roll like things, nuts, pastry, fruit, and of course wine, vodka, and cognac. We wound up going to 3 houses and by that time I was stuffed. I was so glad we went, because it meant so much to that family. Some of the extended family had come to see me, and others called while we were there. They wanted us to stay the night, but I knew we would be putting someone out of their bed, so we declined. I will definitely go back to visit them this summer.
We got back to Yerevan and the hostel about 7:30 last night. It was nice to see all the lights and decorations in the city. These will stay up until sometime after Jan. 6th, their Christmas. Today as we walked around the city, we saw that most of the stores and even the restaurants are closed. Most will reopen tomorrow, but some take the whole week off. Tomorrow we head back to Kapan, to our own houses. It’s been nice to visit different areas and people, but it’ll be nice to be home again. Hopefully schools will reopen on Jan. 11th and I’ll get back to work.
January 8, 2010
Our trip back to Kapan was a bit nerve-wracking since they had had snow in some of the areas we had to drive through. The road in some places was icy and snowcovered. We passed one snow plow and a sander. Actually the sander consisted of 2 men in the back of a truck throwing shovels full of sand alternately on the road. But it worked and we made it safely back. I was glad to see that there wasn’t any snow on the 2 mountain roads just outside of Kapan, since they are a series of switch backs, which I’m not too sure I want to do on ice and snow.
This has been a very relaxing week, especially since a lot of the other PCVs are still away and a lot of the stores are closed. I spent most of the week either reading, crocheting, or doing jigsaw puzzles. We had snow most of Tuesday so it was a good day to stay inside. However, it has almost all melted since the weather got warmer again. This has been an unseasonably mild winter.
I’ve also had time to do some cooking, which is another adventure here. While their diet is not that spicy or that unlike our own, there are certain spices that they don’t have here, so I’ve had to improvise with some recipes. I did make applesauce the other day, which was really good with the French toast I made this morning. They don’t have syrup here, so I substituted the applesauce for it. They also don’t have tomato sauce or marinara sauce, but have tomato paste. So when I could still find fresh tomatoes and green peppers, I would add those to the paste, sometimes with carrots, and make a marinara sauce. However, I can no longer find either, so I’ll have to find another way to doctor up the tomato paste.
I spent most of today outdoors, since it was so nice out. This morning I broke apart one of the trees that my neighbor had taken down and laid outside my basement door. I’ll use the small pieces for kindling to start my wood stove. This afternoon I went for a hike and again foraged for kindling. It’s amazing the amount of wood that I use without even having it get too hot. My supply of fire wood had gotten pretty low, which has made me realize the value of forests and the value of rationing what I do have. And I’ve found that using different size kindling helps to start the fire. I am learning so much about fires and wood stoves! But it was a nice day and it was a good excuse to be outside. I’ll probably look for some more tomorrow, especially if it’s nice out again.
I have also realized these past few weeks that I had gotten used to being able to check my email on an almost daily basis. However not being in school and with most of the businesses closed in Kapan, I haven’t been online in over a week. It made me think of the Peace Corps volunteers who served before the advent of email and cell phones. My admiration for what they must have experienced, the loneliness and sense of isolation from family and friends, has grown considerably. When I came to Armenia in June, I didn’t expect to have such regular access to an online computer, but I quickly became spoiled and used to it. Some things we just take for granted as part of everyday life, when in reality they are anything but in a large part of the world.
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