Merry Christmas!!!

I am home, enjoying it, and hope you have some amazing holidays!

I am at the airport!!

Well..the day is finally here, at least in Armenia! I am sitting at the airport gate just counting down the minutes until my plane leaves for Paris. I have an 1 1/2 layover there, and then will be settling in for a nice 11 hour ride to Boston, where Mum and Danny P are meeting me! I am so excited I can barely contain myself, not really looking forward to the very long flights though. Countdown 16.5 hours until I land in Boston!

Can't wait to see you all tonight!

oh, a little sidebar..

when we were in the butcher shop, purchasing the meat for the baked ziti, the man picked up a piece that looked rather heart-like. I inquired to my friend if he agreed, and he said no. Only later did I find out that it was in fact a heart (and some other, unidentifiable organs) that the man ground up for us, my friend purchased, and that I unknowingly and thoroughly mixed into the fantastic homemade pasta sauce and delicious ziti. Thank you sir.

Oh, and the kicker, guess what leftovers we ate for lunch today?



next time we are going vegetarian...........................

a little bit more of my life, before I head home for vacation...

This weekend started out pretty fantastically. On Saturday, a friend of mine came to visit and cooked an Italian dinner for my family. We made baked ziti and garlic bread, from scratch(ish). Thanks Mum for the inspiration! It was a hit, and that is putting it pretty mildly. Not only did the entire family go for seconds, but that included my brother, Samson. He is not big on trying new foods, and he doesn't eat very much. When I saw him scoop a second heaping spoonful of ziti onto his plate, I really almost cried. I also knew that the meal was a big success because no normal hatz (bread) was placed on the table. Bread is on the table at every meal, every single meal...and this is the first time they haven't added it! Everyone was satisfied with the garlic bread that we had made. We had left over wine and vodka from Samson's party as well, so we had an amazing time eating, toasting, and talking (mostly in Armenian) to one another.

That night, after dinner, we played another round of Old Maid. While that might sound a bit mundane, or boring, what you don't know is that when someone loses, another player gets to draw on their face with eye liner. That right there ups the ante. We had only played a couple of hands (I had yet to be drawn on, but that didn't last) when some family friends came, and ended up sitting down and playing with us. Everyone was in an extremely good mood, and there was for sure some serious cheating (ooops..I mean hinting) going on! We put on some music, relaxed, and I don't think we stopped playing until one in the morning, when it was decided that it was time for bed!

The next day was just as fun. We went for a little walk and found the Rotunda in Dilijan. It is an old columned structure that they used in the soviet times for hosting parties. It is really, really run down now, but it was fun to walk around in the ruins. We came home to find a 'young people' party going on at the house for Samson. All of the neighborhood kids (when I say kids, I mean 16 to 23 year olds) and some of the cousins were here. We danced for a little, said a couple of toasts, and then the games started.

The first game we played was musical chairs, I know, sounds boring, but it was hilarious. After, we played a short lived game of duck, duck, goose that got a little out of hand in a very small space. I was then inspired to try and do a group sit. Turned out to be not such a great idea. While we had a great time falling on our behinds 5 or 6 times, we never did quite get the point. Oh well. My two favorite games came next.

The game involved 2 back to back chairs. A person sits and covers their eyes, while another points to different people in the room. The person sitting says 'yes' or 'no' to a person, and when they say yes..the picked person sits. The third person claps..and both people must turn their head. If they both face the same direction, you need to kiss each other on the cheek. Different directions, you slap one another. There was for sure some scheming and plotting going on during that one!

The second game was kind of like Marco Polo but without all the required talking. You basically blindfolded a person and they had to find and grab someone else in the room, then say who they thought it was. We were climbing on furniture, throwing pillows, and tackling each other to the floor. At one point I even crawled under a table.

While most of these games sound childish and corny, I actually had an amazing time playing them. It made me sad to realize that most people who have hit my age have stopped running around and playing stupid games (I lucked out as a counselor and ropes course facilitator!). The people that I was playing with were great, and despite the language barrier, that still does exist, I felt like just horsing around with my brother and sister brought us closer together.

When the kid's party was finished, some of my extended host family began to arrive to help us set up for Samson's last dinner at home before leaving for the army. Despite the event surrounding the dinner, everyone really was staying positive and having a good time. My host mum made dolma (mmm!)and there were leftover pastries for dessert. I must admit, I imbibed quite a bit during this dinner. I took advantage of the fact that I was American to skip the wine that the rest of the ladies were drinking (not a fan) and opted instead for the vodka that all the manly men were drinking! While I am pretty sure some of the older women there (read: I heard one lady mention to my host mother that I was drinking..dum dum dum)thought my drinking was a little amot (shameful) everyone else got a kick out of it. The men thought it was hilarious that I was drinking the vodka with them, and when things died down I had a great time drinking with Samson, Lilit, and my friend. There were lots of laughs going on throughout the entire dinner. At one point, two of my Armenian cousins said they were coming to America with me, and I think everyone was pretty impressed when I asked if they would be coming in my bag! Following Armenian protocol, we had to say a toast for every drink that we took. We toasted Samson, his health, and his time in the Army, but near the end we were running out of options. We ended up toast for the world, the vodka, and finally just 'us'. It was fantastic.

Unfortunately though, all of this celebration was in honor of an event that no one was looking forward to. This morning at 9am, we brought Samson to the main area of the town to meet with other young men that would be joining the Army today. Around 11, after lots of kisses and hugs, 8 young men got into a marshutney and drove away. They will serve in the Army for 2 years, with one 10 day vacation after 8 months in. I think I am done talking about it here though, volunteer blogs here are monitored by not only news agencies, but also the US embassy. I have lots to say, but my mother's empathy for others and my father's crazy temper mean that what I really think wouldn't go over to well. Ask me about it when you see me while I'm home.

Oh, 3 days...

Samson's Army Party

Well...after months of anticipation and weeks of preparation, Samson's party finally happened on the 15th. In the week ahead my mother began to acquire food and cleaning like a women possessed. A few days before, nuts were shelled and mixed, chicken cleaned, and vegetables cut. The day before, the day was spent baking all sorts of pastries (more then I have ever seen, actually) and making salads. My grandmother's sister and her granddaughter arrived a few days ahead of time, and when the big day arrived, other members of the family were at the house at 10 am to start everything rolling. It was family effort to get all of the tables set up (although mostly men) and an equally big effort to get the tables set (although mostly women). My small living room was lined with tables, with a small space left in the middle for the dancing that was sure to happen. We set the tables for around 60 people..although more plates were squeezed in as people arrived. The men took charge of setting up the horavats, and they cooked the chicken and cutlet that the women had prepped in the previous days.

Around 5 people began pouring in, and when it appeared that no one else could fit into my house, everyone began to pile into the living room and find seats and plates. Of course, along Armenian tradition, all of the men sat grouped together (to facilitate that great amount of toasting that would take place) and the women sat grouped together (to facilitate the great amount of gossiping that would take place). While most of the food was already placed on the very full tables, the horavats was brought in and staked on top of other food because there was simply no room left on the tables.

Within the first 5 minutes of sitting, vodka and wine were poured, and the toasts began. As a woman, I went a bit against the grain (oops) and poured myself vodka instead of wine. I don't think anyone really noticed though, they were all toasting for the person of the hour (or hours, really) my brother Samson. Toasts were given to his health, his time in the army, his mother and father, his family, and whatever anyone else could possibly think of. In case you were wondering, there were lots of repeats as well.

Unlike in America, when everyone was finished eating though, the food was not cleared. It stays on the table to snack on while people continue to talk and drink, and in our case, dance. The young kids took the initiative on this one. Large speakers appeared and music was blasted. The kids danced in a normal Armenian style, with the music occasionally shut off to accommodate another toast or two or three. Around this time, another round of food was brought out to re energize everyone. And, in case you were wondering, I did dance. It took one or two shots of vodka, but with lots of encouragement, I danced all Armenian along with the rest of them. There are pictures to prove it. Armenian dancing involves very little hip movement, and lots of arm and leg movement. You basically put your hands in the air and move your wrists and hands all around while moving your legs to the rhythm of the music. It is pretty amazing how quickly some of the Armenian's can move!

Around midnight, most of the guests began to file out, and the group of young kids, my tatik, host mum, and one drunken son-in-law was left at the table. Oops..just called by my family to have some coffee..so I am going to wrap this up for you quick. The drunken man was trying to talk to me in a mix of Russian and some crazy Armenian barbar (slang), and that left my very drunk brother to translate for me into Armenian that I would understand. The situation had me laughing to the point of tears. Cognac had come out at that time, and the man decided to toast me. The toast lasted about 20 minutes, with several class clinkings happening. He essentially wished a happy marriage and 5 children on me. yup. 5 kids. I made a face and quickly took another shot of cognac, my reaction had the rest of the table laughing, but I don't think the man got it!

Well..I am on my third 'ari' (come!) call from the kitchen, best get going!

7 days!

Satisfaction...

Well...as you know. I have not been up to much lately (work wise) and that had me pretty down. I started to question why I was here, was I really accomplishing anything? Would I even make a difference over the next 20 months? Today though, my family talked to a married couple that they hosted as Peace Corps volunteers over 3 years ago, and it was incredible. The wife still understood Armenian, and my family was so happy to see them and to speak to them. Watching them talk and be so happy to see one another, I realized that I was forgetting two of the Peace Corps goals as I worked through my doubts. One, introducing American culture to Armenian people, and two, introducing Armenian culture to Americans. Yes, maybe I am lagging a bit in the 3rd goal (passing on skills)..but my closeness with my family, neighbors, and club children here made me realize that I am still working, every day. Working on adapting myself to the customs here, and slowly making strange American customs and beliefs maybe not so strange. The kids no longer thing of me as the new, strange American (well..maybe when I do things like stand on chairs, or walk around without slippers) and my family has experienced a very American Thanksgiving along with many new meals (asian, tex mex, etc), heard about many traditions, and have become accustomed the the different ways of an American woman.


As for the passing on of Armenian Culture to Americans..I know my friends and family have heard many stories about parties, dances, and the customs of Armenia. Hopefully more will be passed on during my visit home in 10 days..and more during my next 20 months here.




oh..and while I am here...10 DAYS!

I just ate...

some type of pig internal organ. When I asked what the mystery meat at lunch today was, I was told it was either the pig's heart, liver, or some other organ. Yay. Fantastic. I told them next time just to stop at pig meat and leave out the details.

Counting Down...

and not to what you are thinking either. Well, that to, but more importantly..my brother's 18th birthday/Army Party and 21st departure to a still unknown Army base for training. Planning and preparations are in full swing here, and I was informed today that we are expecting upwards of 60 guests. It is going to be crazy. My host Mum spent a long day making pastries yesterday, and a few days before cleaning and rearranging to make room for such a large number of people in a relatively small house. I still don't know where they are all going to fit!

Over the last week or so, daily trips are made to the khanut to stockpile food (example: 20 sticks of butter) for all the food that is going to be made. Yesterday, neighborhood ladies joined in the effort cleaning chicken bits while sitting around the vararan (wood stove) and gossiping. Today was shower day..with my host Mum doing her hair and everyone getting all 'pretty' for the big day coming up on Tuesday. Our first guests also arrived today. My tat's sister, and her grand-daughter. They are helping with all the preparations.

While we are all excited for the party, there is a crazy sad undertone that the whole ordeal has. After the party, my brother only has 6 more days in the comforts of home before he leaves for 2 years. My mother has been 'not good' for days and days..and now you can feel the sadness throughout the whole house. My normally upbeat and happy family is going to fall apart for the holidays this year..and I feel completely helpless to change it.

I'll give you the rundown on how the Army system works. All men are required to serve 2 years in the Army. After completing high school, all students (girls and boys) take a test. The test determines whether or not the government will pay for you to go to University, or if your family will have to foot the bill. Guys that score high enough on the test to go to school for free serve their 2 years after they complete their 4 year University education. Guys that don't score high enough go through normally two years of school, leave for the Army for 2 years, and then come back and return to University like they never left. It is a little insane to imagine. My brother left school last week, and 2 years later he will go back around the same time (in the middle of a semester) and jump into the same classes like he never left. It will be an interesting transition.

Oh, so the countdown, only 8 days until he leaves. We still have no idea where he is going either. My host mother says that it is unlikely he will stay in our marz (too close to home) and he could be placed anywhere in Armenia, including Karabach (the land that Armenia and Azerbaijan are currently at war over).

This may sound horrible, but I am very happy to be going home for the Holidays this year. I think it is going to be better for everyone. I am not sure I am in an emotional place that I could handle a depressing Holiday season, and I think my host mum, dad, sister, and tateak are going to need some time to deal with my host brother leaving. Time where they don't have to worry about how they act in front of their American. They say I am their daughter, 'their' Katie, but I really think they will need time to cope alone as a family. Like my mum says, everything happens for a reason' and I am glad that I made the decision (or more accurately convinced my Mum to make the decision) to come home for the holidays this year.

15 days...

a big deal..so I had to write about it. I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you when I get home, in 15 days. Did I mention only 15 days? Know what that is? 2 weeks and 1 measly day. And for me, that day is pretty much over, so lets just trim the fat and say 2 weeks. The weather is even cooperating with me, it is all snowy and Christmassy outside! Good stuff. Today, I gathered all of the gifts and assorted things that I absolutely needed to bring home. I thought it would be too soon to go further and actually start packing. Oh boy..15 days.

Thankfully, I am still teaching the teachers at the Art School English 2 or 3 times a week, plus I have my Armenian lessons 4 times a week..so I am not going to crazy yet. I think I am going to start my last knitting project tonight. I am branching out and making a hat. We will see how that goes down.

While I am counting down the days, my host mum is wanting the days to drag. Her son, Samson, will be turning 18 on December 15th. Then, on December 24th..he is heading into the Army for 2 years. She is not very happy about it. Following tradition, on the 15th we will be hosting an absolutely gigantic party. We volunteers refer to such parties as 'army parties' and they are notorious for being huge and lots of fun. My host mum has already started cooking food, and is slowly accumulating food in quantities that I could have never imagined. I have already been told that I will have all the work I ever wanted the day before and day of the party. It is going to be a good time.

On Monday (the day before the party) I am going into Yerevan for some last minute Christmas shopping and to have my stupid cavity filled. I am hoping that it will be all set the next day because my host mum bakes a fantastic cake, and I don't want to miss out on it.

Well...I am cold, and my cord wont stretch any closer to the heater..so just remember 15 DAYS!! mhmm!

miss you and love you!

An Unwanted Vacation

Well..got the news late last night that all schools in Armenia will be closed until the 21st due to seasonal flu. Sunchild, the NGO I work for, also canceled all of it's programs until then. This means that I have very little work to do. I can plan some of my lessons at home, and will teach the Art School teachers once or twice a week, but other then that...nothing. Pray for me. I am going to be bored out of my mind in the 3 weeks leading up to going home..not really a great combination.

Karenis Getaway

Well, I just got back a couple of hours ago from Karenis. I was there for 2 days to spend time with my old family before the holidays, and it was amazing. I didn't realize how much I missed them all!

I got to the house around 6 on Saturday. It was my first time taking the Yerevan bus, then getting off in Charentsavan and finding a taxi willing to travel the obnoxious road to Karenis. I was very happy that it went smoothly, and the cab driver knew my host dad which meant a discount for me!

When I walked into the house I dropped my stuff and went into the living room to say hi to everyone. My host brother had just come back from vacation in Egypt that day, and the women of the family (with the exception of my mother) were preparing for a welcome back dinner. The pictures were amazing, and everyone was in a great mood.

I gave everyone their gifts from my mum and Donna, and they were a big hit. Monay loved the skirt (it is going to be a part of her New Year outfit), Mariam made a bracelet right away, and the kids (along with a couple of my brothers) loved coloring the stuffed animals. At one point, the 4 (almost 5) and 2 year old were both handing me markers telling me where to color on their respective animals. I have some pretty amazing pictures of some pretty colorful hands, faces, and tounges that resulted. It was a good time.

Dinner was interesting. Pickled pig's feet were the big number of the night, but I settled (much to my host sister's disappointment)on some of the pasta I had helped to make, when I jumped all over the dough to knead it a few months ago. It was early to bed for everyone that night.

The next day was great, we ate a late brunch, and then I walked down with the kids to the ruined church in the gorge. We had a great time getting the 2 year old up and down the steep hills, but it was worth it. We all lit some candles, made wishes, and then we found some ice to skate on. Don't worry, it was a puddle! Hopefully I will get the pictures up sometime this week.

The rest of the day was mostly just hanging out and relaxing with my family. They are all fantastic, and the family is very fun to be around. Got up early this morning and caught the bus to Yerevan for my dentist appointment, I was sad to go..but left with gifts for the family (in America), some homemade pasta, and a big bag of some beautiful apples.

The dentist appointment put a bit of a downer on the day though. I have my first cavity, ever. I was not impressed. It is a little guy, and I am going to have it filled next Monday. I am not looking forward to having a shot in my face, or a numb mouth for hours. LAME. I came home to Dilijan without any issues. Then quickly announced to my family (after looking up the word for cavity in my handy dictionary), that I would no longer be eating anything sweet.

Oh! and we had our second snow in Dilijan today, I am in a better place mentally..and am really enjoying it!



16 days and counting...

A fantastic day I want to tell you about...

Well...today was an absolutely amazing day...and I thought that I should share.

This morning I got up and went (by bus) to my tutor's apartment. We were supposed to have a class but ended up eating borsht, drinking coffee, and just chitchatting. It was great. We have both been really busy, and that was the first time that we have just hung out together for more than a few minutes. I needed it.

Around 2, I took the bus back to my end of town and went to the Art School to teach an English lesson to the Sunchild Kids. Five showed up, and the class went very well...at least in my opinion. We reviewed the basics today. Basically, I was checking their pronunciation and speaking schools. Because of the rote memorization practices of the schools in Armenia (and all post-soviet countries) the children have a huge English vocabulary, and know how to technically use it..but cannot actually speak it and have a conversation. I had a whole lot of games and speaking activities for them to do. They were pretty quiet and shy at first, but once they warmed up..it was amazing. I used a lot of visuals, which I learn way better with..and had them writing or speaking for the whole class. My favorite was the 'run and touch' game I used as a review. I stole it from one of my PST teachers. I wrote a bunch of words in English randomly on the board, then split the class in 2 groups and lined them up. I would say the word in Armenian, and the first kid in each line had to run up and touch the equivalent English word. I had heard from other volunteers that they love competitive games, and they really did have a good time with it.

We finished up class after about an hour. Some of the kid's caught the bus home, but a few stayed to make some more recycled paper. I showed them how to make it colored (by adding paint or colored paper) and they were having fun with it. I had my laptop there, and so they chose to listen to some Shakira. Some of the girls were dancing around, and it was just a really fun atmosphere.

Left for home around 5, and when I got home went online to check my email. My host Mum has been using my account (and typing skills) to email back in forth with her Aunt (Netherlands) and her sister (Russia). She hadn't seen her aunt in 12 years, and today her Aunt emailed me her Skype information. Not 5 seconds after I added her to my contacts, my host Mum and her were seeing each other over a video phone call. Both of them were incredibly happy. Asking each other all sorts of questions, and twisting around the cameras (or laptops) in my case to see each others kids. It was amazing to watch. I am having a hard time not seeing my family or friends for 7 months, never mind 12 years. It made me feel good to see my family so happy.

Well..I have some homework to do for tomorrow, so off I go. Only 20 more days (well, closer to 19 for me) and I cannot wait to see you all!

Miss and love you!

ahhh...finally...

"I have the internet, I have the internet, I have the internet hey hey hey hey" is on repeat in my head. In fact, I am quite sure I am doing a little dancing to the tune. I have the internet ladies and gentlemen. In my house. Yea, the internet in my house. I am happy, beyond happy. I would even go so far as ecstatic. I am that happy. It is unbelivable. Went down with my host mum today (you need an Armenian passport to sign up for post-paid, unlimited plans) and signed up. Holy moly...I have the internet in my house. Yes, it may be 12000 dram (30 bucks) a month, but oh boy, will it cut down on my phone card expenses. Not only can I use Skype (which I am downloading as we speak) to talk to everyone in country, but I can also use it to call America unlimited for only about 6 dollars a month. That, my friends, will save me hundreds of dollars while I am here. I am excited like you couldn't believe. I will also no longer have to pay crazy amounts of money for internet cafes anymore, can upload all my pictures for a whole lot less then a small fortune. ahh...I am beyond excited.

Other things that I think you should know:

-This week we are making recycled paper with the Sunchild Eco-Club. The kids love doing it, and it is fun and easy to do. Good times.

-Also working on preparing a play version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' with the kids for a party we have coming up to end the year. I found a book and CD in English in Yerevan. It will be fun.

-I start English lessons with the Art School teachers tomorrow. It will help with my Armenian, and thier English will get better...we both need it.

-I am going to hopefully start doing an 'environmental art' program at the preschool in Dilijan, cross your fingers for me, I really want to.

-I also might start helping the English teachers at one of the schools with their classes, and I am going to try and start doing some type of program at one of the youth clubs in town.

-I came home to my mum making stuffing again, I brought stuffing to Armenia, my work here is done! haha...I love it! I don't think the peanut butter was a big hit though, oh well...more for me!



oh..and I am going to visit my old host family soon...I cannot wait to see them again!!

24 DAYS AND COUNTING!!




mum, thank you for the package, it was amazing...worth the wait!

THANKSGIVING!!!

Well...my first Thanksgiving here in Armenia was fantastic. While we were in Yerevan, a group of eager volunteers used the hotel kitchen to prepare a huge feast for everyone. They cooked 7 turkeys, lots of stuffing, and some fantastic pies. It was delicious. There was even home-made cranberry sauce. It was also great to eat and relax with all of the other volunteers. I think everyone was getting a little bummed about not being home for the holiday, and just being with everyone and seeing all the decorations (complete with placemats to color and turkey hats for everyone) and sharing the great food pushed everyone into the holiday spirit. It was funny. All of the food was set on this large, round table..and the vegetarians went first (less selection for them) and then less then 2 minutes later all of the non-vegetarian volunteers swarmed the table for a taste of traditional American food. After we were all stuffed and unable to move, they brought out some fantastic home-made pies. Pumpkin, Lemon, and chocolate mousse. We all found room to fit one or two pieces in. The variety show started after that. It was hilarious. I must say, I think my favorite act was when two of the male volunteers broke out "hit me baby, one more time" on thier guitars. They serenaded with such enthusiasm that I laughed until I cried. Another group of boys broke out in a rap, equally hilarious. When it was all over, everyone scattered. Either to go up to their rooms and fall into a 'turkey coma' or head out for a last night in Yerevan. A group of us though stayed and listened while some of the boys played songs on their guitars. The whole night really made me realize how many other people are here in Armenia. A lot of the time I feel pretty isolated, but there are over 80 volunteers in a country roughly the size of Maryland. It was nice to see that, and to feel like a part of something larger rather then just one crazy American thousands of miles away from home.

The next morning, I went with a few people to get some French Toast with REAL maple syrup and bacon. It was amazing. I was in a rush though, had to get back to site to teach for 3, so my friend David and I caught the marshutney at 12 back to Dilijan. I was very excited to get back home. I had missed my family, and really wanted to sleep in my own bed (despite the fact that it sags, it has become mine). The marshutney ride was beautiful. It has been pretty cold outside of Yerevan for the past week or so, and there was snow on all of the mountains as we drove by. For once I didn't fall asleep instantly on the marshutney, which I think my travel companion was happy about. Got back into Dilijan and grabbed a quick shwarma (meat wrap) before heading home. My host mum had cleaned my room while I was gone, and I felt pretty bad when we dumped all our bags in the middle of the floor and rushed out to go to my work.

Got there and found out official Sunchild classes had begun in my absence, which made me kind of sad. I did get to meet the Biologist I would be teaching with though, which was nice. Unfortunately, he speaks no English. Someone really wants me to master Armenian. I am excited to start working with him though. Still don't have the schedule down, but I am going to meet with my tutor and director soon, and hopefully work it out. I would really like a set schedule, it would make my life 100x less stressful.

Now to the good part, my Thanksgiving meal. My host mum successfully found a nice turkey for us to prepare. Sadly, here in Armenia turkeys are always boiled. Always. I had been warned in advance that my host mum would want to boil the turkey, would try her best to convince me to boil the turkey. Would tell me that the turkey wouldn't cook right, unless it was boiled. I was also told to stay strong and not boil it, despite the pressure. Letting the turkey be boiled, in fact, would be a HUGE mistake. Well...I held my ground. My host mum had asked neighbors, friends, and the women at the store. It had to be boiled or else it would be beand (tough) and we wouldn't be able to eat it. I held my ground. What if we just boiled it for an 2 hours or an even just an hour? It needed to be boiled. I held my ground (but boy, was it getting tough). Finally...I was told it was my problem. Ahh, sigh of relief. I had prevailed. So thanks Dad, for the stubbornness gene. It was put to the test, and passed. Not quite with flying colors though. To be honest, if a certain someone wasn't there, I probably would have given in the 3rd round in. Man, Armenian women are very convincing.

We finally decided to soak the turkey in water overnight. A cup of salt, a cup of sugar, and some spices went into the water. I was terrified deep down inside that my first ever turkey would come out tough, and then I would just die. The next morning David woke me up at 10, and the cooking began. There were lists, at least 3, and lots of planning to do. They don't have microwaves here, so things have to be planned carefully. What can be rewarmed in the oven? what needs to be cooked before the turkey? after? What can wait until last minute? We eventually decided to make the apple cobbler first. It was the most time consuming. Peeling and paring 12 cups of apples was not very fun, but it could sit all day and then be rewarmed.

Next was rubbing down the turkey. I left it to my friend to rub the outside, but somehow he skipped out to the hanut for tin foil and I was left with the inside. I even tried guilting him into doing it. We argued adamantly. All the time amusing my host mum and brother. Especially when my friend ordered me to "go inside the turkey" in Armenian. My mum told him that I wouldn't fit. Ridiculous. I lost anyway. We cooked the turkey for 3 1/2 hours. We were like anxious parents, checking up on our child. Every 30 minutes we would carefully remove it from the oven, baste it, add water as needed, and get it back in the oven as quickly as possible. The rest of our time here, possibly our lives, rested on this turkey. We had gone against all advice, not boiling it, and it NEEDED to be delicous.

While it was cooking, we made biscuits, steamed carrots, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

We were ecstatic when the turkey was done. It smelled amazing. And was crazy moist, no tough bits to be found. My site mate 'carved' the turkey with his hands. It was literally 'falling off the bone' and the knife wasn't sharp enough. The table was set, and the gravy (after 2 attempts) made.

I loved it. My family loved it (I think) and they were proud. Nothing was said about the way we cooked it, and the majority of it was eaten. The stuffing went as well. The biscuits were a little disappointing, but the boys liked them. The carrots were a no go. Only David and I ate them. And the other American only ate them because I told him I would be cranky if he didn't. OH well.

Overall, a big success. I loved the cooking, and the time with my family and friends.

Well...my fingers are freezing and losing mobility. Off I go. Miss and love you tons and tons!

26 days and counting...and I am already starting to listen to Christmas music!

City Life

Well, I have been in Yerevan for five days now, God only knows how much I will have to budget for the next month to make up for the expenses, but man, it has been worth it.

The first couple of days I was here to participate with some other EE PCVs and all of the Health PCVs in a 'Team Teaching Conference". I came with a teacher from the art school, but it was a very interesting experience for me since I have not been team teaching at all. The facilitator's knew this, and did an amazing job including me and I am hoping that some of the practices and benefits of team teaching that she will bring back to the other teachers will encourage them to do some teaching with me later on. I would feel much better having a host country national in the classroom with me, even if it is just in the Art classrooms, and not with Sunchild. I also enjoyed being around a smaller group of PCVs. I got to hang around with some PCVs I didn't really know all that well, and that was a good time. Of course, we did go out dancing...which was one of the hilights!

Yesterday and today were a little rough, I am on my fourth day of 'conferencing' and hate sitting down all day long. All of the A-16s are participating in our Early Service Training...which is some resiliancy and language workshops. Everyone was a little bit spacey on that first day (we were out late the night before) and it didn't help that we all got our flu vaccinations that day. Since I am under the age of 24, I am considered in the 'high risk' group for Swine Flue, and had to get that vaccination along with the seasonal flu shot. Not pleasent. I am not a big fan of needles and the Swine Flu needle was HUGE. It made things hazy for a few hours, but everything is ok now. Today was our language camp. Some of our old language teachers came back and had different workshops running all day. We could pick the ones that we wanted to go to, and it was pretty helpful. Since I have been teaching English, I jumped in on a TEFL workshope and learned some new classroom commands (be quite, finish the sentence, etc) which I know will be incredibly helpful when I get back to site. I also learned some new EE words, and practiced my Armenian small talk.

Tonight a group of went over to our Country Director's house for some Tex Mex. There were some bomb enchiladas..and tacos..and nacho cheese..and brownies. It was great, and it was a fun time just relaxing with some other PCVs while eating such amazing (and missed..) food. Since we are on our own every night for dinner, I have also experienced some amazing Thai food, and after a lot of walking with sketchy directions to a new resturant...some Italian food that was for sure on par with Olive Garden. I am hopeing that these few meals here, and whatever I eat when I am home in 32 DAYS (let's pause for a second to take that in...WOW) will get me through a winter filled with potatoes, and lacking any type of fresh fruit or vegetable. That is going to be tough.

Well...I am going to go and have another bath, had one last night too, but tubs are tough to find in Armenia!

Looking forward to a variety show tommorrow, and Thanksgiving dinner the night after. Then off to site to cook my first ever turkey (wish me luck!). Oh, and FYI, you can't just go and buy a turkey at the store here...we are getting it from a neighbor, my tateak is cleaning it (I made it very clear I was not up for that) and then I will cook it in the oven that has no temperature control. Hopefully it will be good!

Miss you all and love you tons!!

and in case you missed it before 32 DAYS!!!

34 days and counting....

That is right, just 34 short days until I get to visit home and see everyone again!! Very exciting stuff, I know. Well...a few things to share with you since the last time:

I started the wood stove all by myself the other day. I have a new appreciation for my tateak that can do it in like 5 seconds. I can start a fire in the open, no problem, but when you have to cram all the wood nicely in the little box and start it with no kindling and a match...it is frustrating. But I was cold and home a lone...It needed to happen.

I made banana bread for the first time!! Actually, I baked for the first time in Armenia. It was delicious if I do say so myself, and was pretty fun to cook. There is no Vanilla extract here, you use little packets of powder vanilla flavor stuff instead. It was still tasty though!

I not only got a FREE ride from Dilijan to Yerevan, but then my timing worked out and I got a separate FREE ride from the PC office to the hotel...amazing. Unfortunately, that was probably my luck for the next year, I guess we will see.

My conference is going pretty well. I am having fun in Yerevan (and staying at a hotel!!). Last night I showered and almost cried over the amazing water pressure that we had. You forget about things like that until you experience it again...It was fantastic!

I have also had some great food..we go out for dinner every night (don't worry mum-we get reimbursed by the PC) and I had some great Thai food last night. Then, we tried out a new Italian place tonight. Unfortunately, they didn't have a meatball sub, but they did have a chicken alfredo on par with Olive Garden.

Since I went out last night dancing, tonight is going to be a night in for relaxing and some reading. Mabye a movie.

Love you all!!

thank you mem and gramp!

I got 3 of your letters today, they made me very happy on a not so good day. I appreciate it and wanted you to know!

I love and miss you tons and tons!

Off to class now, my second English class..we are learning colors, numbers, and telling time...plus 10 new verbs in the present tense. It will be a good time!


37 days ladies and gentlemen, 37 days!

quickly

well...today I am teaching my first English class for Sunchild. We are going to cover greetings, personal pronouns, and the present tense of 'to be'. Hopefully, it will be a review for most of the kids, but I want to start with the basics because while they may have the vocab, they can not really speak what they know. Interesting stuff. I have a lot of visuals and games for them, well, because that is how I learn the easiest. We will see how it goes. I was supposed to have to groups, one at 1 and one at 3, only two kids showed at 1, so we are all waiting around until 3 for the other kids to show up. From now on, only one group at 3.

Things are going pretty well, except for the fact that it is very cold. We have the wood stove going pretty continuously, I am wearing long johns on a daily basis, and today I even felt the need for mittens and a scarf. Honestly, if it is going to be this cold, I want it to snow. A lot of my Snowflake training is coming in pretty useful to. For example, I defiantly sleep with my clothes for the next day in bed, so they are nice and warm the next morning. I already hate getting up in the cold, nevermind if I had to put on frozen clothes. I am a bit worried about some of my medicines though, I hope that they don't freeze in the cupboards!!

Well..I left two very curious Armenian children in the room playing games on my laptop so I could come and type this up real quick, better go make sure they haven't screwed with it at all. Oh, and I am going to try and start some computer classes as well!!

Love you all and miss you tons...only 40 days!!!! I can not wait!!!!

Sarah- your kool aid reminder made my day, really...

Taylor- Happy Birthday, sorry for being late with it, the service here has been sketchy lately

Aunt Mary- size 11, and mum is picking up a bunch of thinner, every day ones..I think some thick ones for winter under the boots would be nice!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

I apologize...

I know it has been awhile, but things here have been a little bit crazy. Good, but crazy. I have been busy working on upcoming English lessons, and planning for a big end of the year party that we will be hosting at the school. The party includes two contests that we are trying to announce and organize now. One is a Thanksgiving essay contest. It is open to all the school children in Dilijan, and they have to write an essay telling what they are thankful for. and yes, it is based on the American Thanksgiving, which I am excited to bring here. We are also having an 'Art from Trash' contest open to the Art School and Sunchild children. They are going to work in groups to take everyday trash (Vivacell cards, plastic bags, soda bottles, egg cartons, etc) and make a piece of art out of it. All of the art will be displayed at the party, and the essay winners will read their essays for everyone that attends. We are also planning on having the Sunchild children use recycled paper to write their 'thanks' and display that as well at the party...I am pretty excited for the whole shindig!!

On the downside, found out that my brother here is leaving on December 21st for his mandatory 2 year stint in the Armenian army. It is very sad, my Mum is not very happy. He is in the middle of his studies at the University in Yerevan, and we are all going to be sad to see him leave right before Christmas. I am planning on giving him a huge package of socks before he leaves.

Well...I am off to observe one of art classes...I am going to start teaching a little bit in the art classes, about the ocean and stuff.

I love and miss you tons!!!

44 days and counting...

Halloween Happenings

Friday morning I was escorted to the appropriate corner to wait for the marshutney to Berd. It was a good thing I was had company to, because it would have been a close call for me to read (in Armenian) the destinations of the passing marshutney as it flew by, in enough time for me to flag it down and pick me up.

I will be honest. The ride was pretty horrible. It took 2 1/2 hours, and 2 children got sick on the floor. It was a very, very twisty ride, as we were going up and down and around a whole lot of mountains. I did meet a nice Armenian boy though, we even had a conversation. It is a little on the shameful side here, but I am American and can get away with it a bit. OH, then I fell off of the marshutney as I was getting off. Made a great impression. The nice boy did catch me though, and then helped me to find a taxi.

When got to Artsvaberd in enough time to catch the last couple hours of the Green Camp that a few volunteers had been running for a week. It was great. The kids did a trash clean up, made masks for Halloween (which isn't celebrated here) and then spent a couple of hours playing games. It was a great time, even though it was freezing.

Friday night was spent just relaxing and hanging out at a PCVs house. It was interesting to see. She had no gas or running water, and had a squatty potty outhouse as a bathroom. She lived in one room of the house, and used a wood stove to heat it. The town had no paved roads, just dirt, which were slippery hills of mud since it had rained. It made me feel incredibly spoiled to be living where I am.

On Saturday we all just hung around relaxing for the first part of the day. It was great to spend time with other PCVs. Around 4 we all changed into our costume, and shortly after all sorts of people began arriving. It was amazing. I loved seeing everyone again, and considering we can't run to iParty, there were some great costumes. I went 80s. Also present were David Bowie, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, a dog show enthusiast and her groomer, a Bride-to-Be, and a couple of not so scary looking bank robbers. Halloween candy had been compiled, and the spider rings my mum sent were a big hit!

The next day we took a very squished, long, and bumpy bus ride to catch our respective marshutneys home. I went up to Noyembriyan with my friend David. I slept for the majority of the ride, and when we got there it was decided that we would go hiking. We ended up going over a couple of mountains to see an old monastary. It was a great hike, despite the large amounts of mud. We got to right below the monastary, and it was a pretty steep and rocky hike up. I sat out since I wasn't wearing boots and didn't want to leave Armenia with a snapped ankle. David went though, and we are going to try and go again, a little more prepared.

The hike had some amazing views, we could actually see Azerbaijan from the mountains. Oh, and we also found this great little horavats (BBQ) place/ picnic area in between the mountains. It was great, and we are going to try and plan a winter BBQ/camping trip there.

We got back to his house around dark, and made an amazing dinner. It was garlic stir fry on top of rice, and included the best ground hamburger I have ever had in Armenia. Between David, his host mom, and I, a 1/2 kilo of meat was polished off. In our defense, we had a pretty good hike, and did not eat much that day.

Also learned to play chess, again, that night. I am not very good at it, but held my own. Mostly because my moves were so random and made so little sense, that David had a hard time planning any strategy. He ranted for a solid 10 minutes about it, it was hilarious. It was an early night though, we were tired, and the next morning I was on my home to Dilijan for work.

The weeks are absolutly flying now that I am pretty busy every day. Only 51 days until I visit home, and there are tons of things going on before that. I am going to start teaching on the 15th (for real this time), and for the next few days someone from Yerevan is coming up to help my Sunchild group work on a video about water. It will be a great time. Money is pretty tight right now, but I am going to try and get more pictures up this week. Miss you all!

thanks Aunt Mary for the card!

VICTORY!!!

Well, the fate gods smiled on me today, I found my flashdrive. I left it in the computer at the cafe yesterday when I put up the hiking pics. I walked in looking very sad, and when the guy handed it to me, I pulled an American and threw my arms up in celebrations. Armenians don't really do that, and all of the other people in the cafe promptly started laughing. I was ok with it though, I had my flash drive back.

That also means that I have now posted ALL of the pics from the festival on Facebook. There are lots of them...enjoy!

and I am sooo in trouble with my tateak for being late for lunch...ooops!

Welcome to my life...

I lost my flash drive. Working on finding it. Hopefully I will. I am going away for a few days and probably won't have internet, but will have it bright and early tuesday morning.

OH! and carved a pumpkin yesterday. It was great, made my day. My host mum got a kick out of it to.

56 days ladies and gentlemen, 56 days...

Post Incredible Weekend Blues and News

Well, obviously I was going to have a hard time coming down from such a great weekend. I was a little bummed, but got myself back on track after finishing my first scarf in Armenia!! Yay! I also had some really great people to call and talk to, who pulled me out of my slump.

On the plus side, I finished minimizing all of my photos, which means that I will be able to get them up on facebook soon. Very exciting. I am actually trying to do it now, but it is taking a very, very long time, and I am not sure it is working. We will see. If not, then I will definately do it tomorrow.

Since the kids are in Yerevan every day this week (for other festival activities), I have been trying to get some of my English and Armenian lessons planned for when I start teaching in November. My first lesson will be about HALLOWEEN. Thats right, I am bringing it here, exciting stuff. We will be decorating pumpkins (paper or real, not sure yet) and playing some Halloween themed English games. Which will be my frist official English lesson. I am ready for it.

I am also heading up to visit a Green Camp that one of my friends is running this week. My site mate and I hope to have one here in Dilijan next year, and it will be good for me to take a look at how it is done. I am staying there on Saturday (Halloween) night and will probably head to visit my friend David after. I am pretty excited to see all these volunteers and spend time with them.

Speaking of spending time with people, only 57 days until I come home!! woot woot! I cannot wait to come home. Both of my families here are planning on sending me home with all sorts of preserves that they have made. This will include the pasta I described making in Karenis, some pickled carrots and cauliflower, and lots ofI need to decide if being 'red lined' in Boston on Christmas Eve at customs is really worth it. I don't know, I change my mind every day. I think it would be sweet to bring stuff home, and mailing it would be awfully expensive. We will see I guess.

So, you should all be proud of me, I just used my limited Armenian skills to ask the owner about installing JAVA so I can load my pictures. With a lot of pointing and a little charades, he is now phoning a friend to ask him about it. OH, he is talking now, and I understand most of what he is saying, except for when he switches to russian. It is looking good. YES!!!! We are doing it, after all that conversation, I had to show him how, but it is installing as we speak. I am going to leave you know so it runs faster. I miss you all and love you lots! Enjoy the pictures!

Katie's Incredible Weekend: Pt 2

We finally made it home and shopped for some food for dinner. I had decided earlier that I was going to make some Mexican food for the other volunteers and my family. After catching some curious stares as the sweaty, muddy Americans speaking Armenian and shopping for food, we broke for showers, which were desperately needed. David and I had a great time making the tortilla chips, and the rest was as simple as chopping tomatoes and browning meat. Dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself. My family seemed to enjoy it, and there weren’t any leftovers. My host mother, sister, and tateak sat with us all for coffee. It was hilarious. I am pretty sure I haven’t laughed that much in a very long time. It was decided that one of the other volunteers was going to read all of our coffee cups and tell us our fortune. Someone, I think my sister, had a lot of stuff going on (read: teller rambling on), and in the middle of the telling my tateak announced pretty firmly that after that sentence the cup was finished, it was time for the teller to move on. I about died. The entire table, both Armenians and Americans, erupted into a laughter that lasted at least 5 minutes. It was a quick trip to back to my site mate’s that night, for a few hands of cards until David walked me home. I had an early morning (again, after a late night) and wanted to be nice and rested for the much anticipated Animal Carnival in Yerevan the next day.

Woke up, without hitting snooze, Sunday morning and cooked up some oatmeal before heading to school. It took us about 1 ½ hours to load all the costumes and all the kids onto the bus, and it was off to Yerevan for the Dilijan Sunchild Eco-Club. We had worked on these costumes for months, and you could tell that everyone was very excited for the big day to finally be here. It took us a couple of hours to get to Yerevan, and when we did everyone was stoked to scramble off the hot bus. A few of the mum’s brought us to Grand Candy for a funnel cake type food. I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate it, but I figure I had to eat it at least once while I am here. When we finished eating, we went back to the square where all the groups were congregating and everyone mingled until we were called a few hours later to get some lunch. We were one of the last to eat, and that made the changing clothes situation on the bus right after just a bit frantic and chaotic. But we did it; I even managed to get pictures of all the animals grouped together. They lined the individual groups up in groups of two, with some type of musical act in between each. We were lucky to be placed near a group of Germans, who were playing some great Brazilian beats the entire time. They were fantastic, and one of my favorite moments was when this little Armenian boy walked up to the drum as large as himself and just started wailing on it, much to the amazement of the large German man holding it. I think everyone was impressed.

When we finally started walking, it was incredible. Between the music surrounding us and the enthusiasm of the children and the crowds, you could tell that we were having an impact. We walked through Yerevan, stopping traffic and drawing crowds. Parents and newspeople scrambled to get pictures, myself included. I was very proud of all of the work my children had done, and it was clear to see the children were proud of themselves. It made the last few months of frustrations worth it.

We walked through Yerevan until we all congregated around three large animal sculptures made entirely of plastic bottles. It was impressive day, but the kids were hot and tired and getting cranky…it was time to go. We walked back to the meeting point and sat for a while waiting for the bus. After everyone was changed, I handed out dinner to all of the very tired children, and their just as exhausted parents. After eating, everyone was feeling much better, so we decided to walk to Republic Square to take some pictures before heading back to Dilijan. It was a gorgeous night, and everyone had a lot of fun. We even ran into some Philipino men, who just as enthusiastically wanted pictures with Armenians as the Armenians wanted pictures with them. After overcoming the initial shock (We are spoiled by the diversity in America), I played translator. Found out that most of the Philipino men thought I was Armenian with great English skills, and boy, were they shocked when I told them I was American. After giving one of the men my email address so he could send me the pictures, we all scrambled back to the bus for the long ride home.

On the bus I had time to sleep, but also to reflect on weekend. The big realization was that it was worth it. All of the frustration over communication issues, time schedules, and costume preparation was worth it. All of the every day frustration of missing my family and friends, the amenities of home, and having a normal life is worth it. Living in another country where I have control over so little, and deal every day with trying to fit and adjust is worth it. Just to see the sense of accomplishment in the children while they were walking in their costumes, to see the amount of people stopped on the street and watching us. I know that being there made a difference that day, even if it made just a few people think a little differently about their trash, or the environment around them. I was proud to be a part of that.
And as always…some shout outs:

Brit F- I miss you and I am here for you, even if I can’t call you every day. Much love lady.

Eric- You are a rock for me. Know that, and know that you are awesome and I love you.

Mem and Gramp- Thank you for the letters, they are one of the few regularly scheduled things in my life, and I cherish them. And yes, I will keep them all until I come home.

Mr. and Mrs. T – I, and my fellow volunteers, thank you for the candy, again. Keep an eye on the kiddies for me, and I thought, Mr. T, that I was in first place when I left? What happened to that?

Sarah Z- Did you get my letter yet??? Ugh.

Lor- Thanks for the talk, I needed it. Don't kill Rosco, and enjoy planning your wedding. It should be a good time, don't forget that!

Katie's Incredible Weekend: Pt 1

Well…I am very excited to tell you about the amazing weekend that I had, but I am equally disappointed knowing that there is no way I will be able to express how amazing it really was. Inevitably, I will forget some incredible detail, some feeling or just not be able to find the words that I need to tell you about everything. But I am going to give it my best shot.

Friday was the 23rd, Kellie’s 21st birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I being the complete space case that I am, thought about calling her at noon here, when it was 3am her time. So I did not call…then I got all distracted by the arrival of my friend David and some others who were coming to Dilijan for the weekend to go hiking. I did in fact remember, the next day unfortunately, and apologize again Kel, for being a lousy older sister on your 21st birthday. And I promise I will take you out for dinner and drinks when I visit in only 59 days.

Back to how great the weekend was. David and a couple of the other volunteers got into Dilijan around 5ish, and were met with a big smile and hug, and also coffee and dinner at my house. OH, and I should mention their enthusiasm when I offered up some Halloween candy I had received. When I presented David with my last Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, he joked that he was going to carry it close to his heart for a few weeks before eating it. Despite his emotional words, I am pretty sure it didn’t last 15 minutes. Dinner was a loud and full of laughter, as most get-togethers of PCVs tend to be. After David did the dishes for me, thanks again for relieving me of my duties ; ), we all walked to my site mate’s apartment, where the boys would be spending the night. We started to try and plan our hike, and got as far as a meeting time when the ladies called it a night and we walked back to my house. It was late enough for the street lights to be off (they do that in Armenia) and it did not take very long for me to fall asleep.

While the original plan was to get up at 9 and meet at 10, I hit snooze a solid 3 times before we were able to rouse ourselves. At 10:10 the men called and said they were fed and ready to go. We laughed, made some feeble apologies, and told them to pick up the lunch food and meet us at the house, because we were just starting to make breakfast. While my mother scoffed at the amount of food we were preparing, I explained that we were going to be hiking all day, and needed a lot of energy. And, in case you doubt, we ate it all (with a few spoonfuls handed to the newly arrived boys). After cleaning up, we went outside (looking truly American with our dirty boots and heavy packs), picked a mountain, and started walking.

After obtaining help from several strangers, we finally got to the base of the mountain in front of the one we wanted, and started going. There were a few roads, and some cow trails along the way, but we were mostly making our own trail. At one point, a very fun one if I might add, we were walking on the muddy edges of a stream, surrounded on both sides by the gorge walls. It was absolutely gorgeous. We went up and down 2 mountains, and ran into many amazing Fall scenes. David was enthusiastically pointing out mushrooms, while I would get distracted by the amazingness of where I was. We had one of those moments on the way down, where it hit us… We were PCVs in Armenia, hiking of the trail on a random mountain, taking in some of the most beautiful scenes we had ever seen.

I am not going to lie, it was a challenging hike. Due to the lack of trail, we did a lot of precarious ‘up’ climbing. Many times we had to lean all the way over onto our hands to keep our balance. My poor host mother was probably dismayed by the state of my nails when I got back. The hike also gave me a new appreciation for the balance of cows. We followed a lot of their small trails going around the mountains, and they were very, very narrow. Walking behind me, on a particularly steep hill, David even commented “I wish you would stop leaning so precariously over the edge, it would make me feel a whole lot better about this”. We had a laugh, which in retrospect probably didn’t help our balance, but defiantly helped our attitude.

The hike back was taken at a much slower and carefree pace. We stopped many times just to take in the scenes of the mountains, and I am not going to lie, we for sure were a little bit lost. Not sure if lost is really the word though, since we weren’t really following a path. After some scoping and meandering, we ran into an old Armenian man picking berries who led us down the road back into Dilijan. We tried to talk to him, but after a few words in Armenian, he would switch back into Russian. Oh well. On the way down the road, being lead by this sturdy old man, we ran into a few puppies and a little girl that was more than eager to talk to us and have us take her picture. Also, another man threw us some walnuts to snack on.

New Pictures

put up some new pics on myspace today, but man, is it a hassle. More tomorrow, I am running late to work!

OH, and Mum, Sarah Z, and the Thorns..THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I got all 3 packages yesterday, and I will not lie, I cried a lil bit. Absolutly made my day!
Mum- unfortunatly the hairdryer is on the fritz, but my dad is working on it, the slippers are amazing, and the rings and lotion will be a hit!
Sarah Z- your card was awesome, and that lotion smelled amazing
Thorns- thanks for all the Halloween stuff!! I reluctantly am sharing the candy!
Mrs T- your letter was great..I loved the play by play of the cook out!!

I miss you all and love you lots!!

back to Dilijan...

Well, I have been back in Dilijan for about 3 days now, and am enjoying the relaxed pace of life, as well as the fact that I am not spending crazy amounts of money! But just a little ketchup:

Saturdays Bird trip to Martuni (near Sevan) was great! We saw a lot of birds, and I didn't do to shabby at identification. It also helped that most of them were waterbirds. My favorite views of the day were the Ruddy Shelduck and the buzzards, that was cool. The area was gorgeous. We had a picnic in the trees and the weather was very relaxing. A good time all around.

After, we were dropped of in Charentsavan and took a cab to Karenis. I was sooo excited to see my family again! It was my sister's birthday, so we had horavats (yum!). It was also funny because I am no longer living there, I have reverted back to guest, even though I am there daughter. At one point my host mother reached over my sisters plate to put more food on mine, and told me that I was hungry, and needed to eat. On the sly I slipped half the meat to my sister. It was funny. After all the guests had left, it was time to start making the pasta for the Winter. My mum broke out a tub, literally, and mixed an insane amount of dough (about 3 or 4x the size of my head) and then laid out a cloth tarp. The dough was placed on the tarp and covered, and guess what happened next...WE JUMPED ON IT. Yes, that is in fact the trick to 'kneading' such a crazy amount of dough. We all took turns jumping around on it, and it was such a great time!! oh, and when it was all 'rolled out', it had about a 5 foot diameter. I asked, and was told it would make about 20 kilos of pasta. I was also told that some was being sent to family in Russia, and to my family in America. I was sad when Sunday morning rolled around and it was time to leave for the hike.

My hike in Tzhakadsor on Sunday was amazing. The trail was beautiful, and the company was fun. We even saw a fox!! My first mammal wildlife in Armenia. We were all pretty excited. Also practiced our birding skills. Saw a lot of jays and a buzzard or two. The picnic was also amazing. PB&J sandwiches on wheat bread and homemade chocolate chip cookies. OH boy, were we all excited. It all caught up to me on the cab ride back to Yerevan, I slept the whole way.

Thankfully I only had to wait about 45 minutes for the marshutney back to Dilijan. I got home and started on my scarf (bought needles and yarn in Yerevan) and it was an early night to bed.

I was stoked to get back to work. Although my room is a mess, the costumes look amazing. Well..free internet time is over...more tomorrow!

miss and love you!

Yerevan: Day 5

Well, I have been in Yerevan for 5 days now, and it is a blast here. An expensive blast, but one none the less. In my 5 days here I have had Indian food, French toast with REAL maple syrup AND bacon (something I don't eat a lot of in the states, but when it is not an option, it is craved), home cooked thai food (including some amazing homemade peanut sauce) and 1/2 a Wetzels Pretzel. I have also purchased a pair of trail shoes, and some leg warmers (for the upcoming Halloween party). I plan on getting a fall scarf tomorrow. I would like to find a purty yellow one, and mabye some socks, but we will see.

I have also experienced the crazy-packed streets of Republic Square during Yerevan's 2791st birthday on Sunday (pretty sure the entire population of Yerevan was there, no exaggeration) and even got a pin that flashes and says "I love you Yerevan" in Aremenian. Pretty great. I have ridden on a Soviet Era subway all by myself (with directions), gotten stuck in a very sketchy soviet era elevator (for all of 3 minutes before a nice Armenian man rescued me), and have gone dancing at one of the local clubs.

It may be needless to say, but I am not getting much sleep while I am here. I am staying at an apartment that belongs to a pilot from Spain, and a University student from Iran has been our main 'tour guide' and host. 2 other Americans are also here, both in the midst of world travels. 4 other PCVs are staying here with me, and a lot of other people have been through too, all very interesting to talk to. If we don't go out, we sit in and play cards, watch a movie, or listen to music. In all honesty, it has been absolutely amazing and totally worth the sleep deprivation.

The bird class is going pretty good as well. It has been a lot more interesting than expected, and I even bought a guide book because this is something I want to get more into while I am here. I guess gram pointing out all the birds to me in the backyard while I was little had some subconscious impact after all. While I breezed through waterbirds (for obvious reasons), raptors (despite their coolness) and forest birds are giving me issues. I'll get it though, and if not, I will only bring my kids to Sevan to check out waterbirds and pretend the rest don't exist! Tomorrow is the last day of class, and on Saturday we are supposed to go to Sevan for a bird watching trip, which will be nice.

On Saturday I am also going to head back to Karenis!!! I am very excited to see everyone, and will stay until Sunday morning. Sunday I am going on a hike with a few other PCVs and the Country Director. We won a hike and picnic during the auction at the end of PST. I am hoping for some PB and J sandwhiches, or mabye tuna fish. Either would be delicious! It is supposed to be good weather for our hike, and I am excited for breaking in my new trail shoes. I will be taking lots of pictures!

Well...I think we are going to make some grilled cheese before heading off to Kareoke tonight. I am sleepy, but got a small nap in. Hoping that I get my second wind soon, it is a school night!

I love and miss you all very much!

and to wrap things up...

Brit F - you rock. thanks for being on your game with everything! Sorry I was cranky last time, next time I call I will be in a great mood, I promise.

Brit C - enjoy the new house, I will call you soon...miss you and give Elijah a big ol' hug for me!

Sarah D - I miss you! give everyone a hug for me and have fun in school! I can't wait until I see you at Christmas! How's the puppy??

Mum- sorry I only call you on the bad days..I am going to try and call more on the good ones too, I guess except for when I am in Yerevan.

Kickin' it in Yerevan

Well, I have been in Yerevan for like 3 hours now. After my host mum and sister did my hair and got me all 'dolled up' and presentable, I took the Marshutney (by myself, even though my brother called ahead) and took a taxi to the apartment I will be staying in tonight. I was proud. I am staying in the apartment of a young guy that knows most of the EE volunteers, and he has a few roomates. One is mid world biking trip, and the other is traveling the world and doing volunteer stuff. It is pretty sweet! And don't worry Mum, there are a whole bunch of other EE volunteers staying here to. Man, this week is going to be absolutely amazing. We are going for waffles (with bacon AND maple syrup!!!) tomorrow before school, and are going to go dancing at some point this week. Indian food is on the menu for tonight. The bird class starts tomorrow, which will be fun. I just realized this is a huge run on...and it is just me being distracted. Too much going on, well..the last of us just got here and we are going to grab food. love you!

oh Hayastan....

Well...I am going to start by saying that I was going to load a whole bunch of pictures to facebook today, but, as my luck (or yours) would have it, facebook has decided to not work right now. Slightly obnoxious, I guess it will be a few more days...

I am happy to say that for two entire days I was greep free. That was amazing. I could breathe through my nose (something I think we all take for granted), had my energy back, and didn't have to drink insane amounts of raspberry tea every day! I felt great, and then I woke up today. I could no longer breathe through my nose, I was forced to use a napkin as a tissue, and am coughing up a storm. Lovely. Even my host mother commented, "greep again?", I told her I didn't want to talk about it. And yes, Sarah Z, I can say that in Armenian! When I am finished with this post, I will be walking my sick behind to the store to buy another package of sandpaper-esq napkins, and pray to the Post gods that my Mum's package with the Puffs Plus with Lotion arrives in a timely manner.

Fortunatly for me my host mother's birthday fell on one of my 'healthy' days. It was a very good time. When I got home from work I helped her and one of our neighbor's to make these ravioli/periogie like pasta things. First, I watched my host mum grind the meat. It was beef and pork fat ground together. Don't ask about proportions, I really don't want to think about it. Then she rolled out some dough and put it over this honeycomb shapped cookie cutter thing. Our neighbor and I then filled each little hole with some meat, and another sheet of dough was placed on top. My host mum then rolled out all the freshly made pastas, which we later boiled. These little things (the name starts with a B, but I don't remember it) are actually one of the few things I eat matsoon (the popular yogurt) with. It is tasty enough to almost forget how horrible it is for you.

Her family arrived around 8:30, and we all sat down to eat around 9. The food was good, but what I really looked forward to was dessert. I had helped my mum to decorate her cake earlier in the day, and wanted to try it, but what I really wanted to get my hands on was the grapes. They looked amazing!! and they were...I will miss them in the winter time.

Speaking of..the weather here is still amazing. I will take a day of snow for a week of sun anytime. Despite the fact that my winter clothes have still not arrived..

In more exciting news, on Sunday I head to Yerevan for a week of bird training! While it is going to be very, very expensive...I am excited for a chance to spend time with all my EE friends again, and for a chance to explore. Also, the weekend after I will be going back to my old village for a few days and then for a hike that me and 3 other girls 'bought' during the PST auction. It is with the country director, and includes a picnic that may or may not have peanut butter or chicken salad. Lets cross our fingers for the former.

Work is still going ok. I have decided that teenagers are teenagers no matter what country they grow up in. Yesterday I stood on a chair to get their attention. They may think their new American is a little of her rocker, but you bet they listened to me (pretty much) after that. The language is by far the most frustrating part. I usually am the last one to find things out, and have a hard time getting across what I need to say. I have gotten to the point where I called my teacher before, but am trying to avoid that. What is amusing though is that there are certain children that get my crazy, gramatically incorrect, out of order Armenian and actually translate it into actual Armenian for the other children. My host mum does it with visitors sometimes as well. Thinking about it, it is pretty great.

I also have a running joke going with one of the young boys. He is one of those little boys that just looks like he would hurt himself. One day he picked up the box cutter and I told him to be careful about 8 billion times. Then, in some contorted Armenian I told him that I did not want him going home with just 9 fingers. Now whenever he gets the chance to use the boxcutter (or anything sharp for that matter), he comes and tells me he will go home with one less finger. Kids.

Oh, and pretty sure I might have horrified my host mum the other day when after a particularly harrowing day I said that I didn't want to have children. She didn't respond. I should also mention that at her birthday party one of the guests asked me if I was going home after 2 years or if I would stay in Armenia. I said I will be returning to America, of course. Then he said, "what if you get married?". I told him that if that happened, my mother would come to Armenia and not only kill me, but also my new husband. That caused a few laughs, and successfully changed the subject of the conversation...



well...the power died as I finished typing that last sentence yesterday..and a few things have changed since then. Most importantly...I GOT MY WINTER CLOTHES!! I was very excited, and my host mum went with me to lug it all home. It is now all put away neatly, and I feel like it came just in time because today is pretty chilly.

Also, work yesterday was a million and one times better. whew.

As always, a few shout outs:

Mem- the volunteer in Charentsavan just emailed me, I just got a letter that you sent on July 8th. I think the term 'snail mail' really does apply here!

Dad- thanks for the red hat, I am going to look very unstylish and American, but I will be warm!

Soakin' Up the Last Rays of Sun...

Well, the keyboard on this computer is really, really obnoxious...and drivin me a bit insane, so this is going to be a short one.

The sore throat I woke up with turned in a full blown Flu, despite the ample amounts of rasperry tea that I drank. About the 3rd day in I made a comment to a fellow PCV that I would gladly trade my normal toilet for a squatty potty in exchange for just one, that's right, just one box of Puffs plus with lotion. I meant it to. Tissues are just not used here, everyone has a handkerchief. I thought about investing in one, but honestly...despite years of seeing my grandparents use them, I just can't do it. So what am i using instead?? napkins. thats right. napkins and the notebook paper tough toilet paper that is available here. If you saw my nose, you would understand my desperation for the Puffs with lotion. But vochich...the cold is thankfully on it's way out (cross your fingers for me).

The weather has been amazing here lately..after the freak snow storm that had everyone in a tizzy, the days have been super warm. I even had capris on yesterday and let my legs have a little sun!

Well...i can't stand this keyboard anymore...next time it will be longer i promise, and hopefully pictures...

I miss you all and love you lots!


Sarah Z- the swedish fish are gone, they made it 2 days, and i didn't share either. your box made me super happy...thanks!!!

Brit F- loved talkin to you the other day...very excited for your new apartment..you 3 will have fun, and i can't wait to be there when I visit in only 80 days...you should have a countdown on your fridge or something!

Lor- give me your days off when you get a chance, i'll give a call again. I miss you, and don't stress about the wedding! save your pennies..you have 2 years...

oh, winter....

Well...It snowed here two days ago. I was very, very sad. I am not ready for the winter yet, my warm clothes package has not yet arrived. Oh, and yesterday morning when I woke up I could see my breath in my room. It takes an act of God to get me out of bed in the morning anyway, never mind when I know that it is frigid on the other side of the blankets.

Speaking of blankets, when my host mother gave me my heavy winter blanket, she also gave me clean sheets to put on the bed. Guess what was on them....WHALES! That is right, it is destiny for me to be here. The landlocked Marine Biologist ends up in a house where they have whale sheets. I love it, hopefully I will have pictures of them (and the snowy mountains) put up on Facebook next week sometime.

Oh! I had my first visit back to Karenis last weekend. It was amazing, I missed my family sooo much, it was hard for me to leave again! I stayed there one Saturday night, and on Sunday there was a big church holiday (somthing about a disciple) and there was a big feast and a bunch of people over. We started the day by walking down into the old church in the gorge. The town had cleaned it up for the holiday, and they had found some old cross stones in the process. We lit candles in the church (I have some sweet pictures) and then walked back to the house. My family slaughtered a lamb for the event (I heard it baaing the night before, he knew it was coming), but I don't like lamb and thankfully they BBQ'd pork meat as well. The veggies were amazing too...and the pears that were tiny when I left a month ago were all big and huge and super tasty. My tateak gave me a big bag to take back to Dilijan with me! I ended up leaving on Sunday night and a friend of mine arranged for his shared taxi from Yerevan to pick me up on the highway. It was quite a process, and I will probably stick to marshootneys from now on, I just need to plan my times better.

Work is going well. My language skills are getting better, and we have thankfully moved on from paper mache. We are now working on the actual costumes for the festival in Yerevan at the end of October. We will be representing bats, eagles, butterflys, porcuepines, and frogs in the animal parade. It will be a good time and I am sure worth all the work we are putting into it. I am slipping in as much English and Environmental lessons as I can in the process. The children are very eager for both, so it has not been too hard. I am very much looking forward to November, when I can start teaching actual English and Environmental lessons. It is interesting, because the children know crazy amounts of English words, but cannot actually have conversations, at least I know what to focus on for the lessons. If any of you know any good 'teaching english' websites or materials, let me know..I am a rookie at this stuff.

A few more little things back on the subject of the quicly approaching winter. Canning here is at full swing. Yesterday I helped my host mum to put together jars of baby tomatos and cucumbers. That was a good time. The tomatos were red, yellow, and orange, so we spent most of the time arranging them to make them look 'pretty' in the jar with the cucumbers. Also, whenever I walk down the road people have apple, pepper, and assorted fruit slices hung out there window to dry for the winter. The strings are pretty, but unfortunaly also a sign that the window to eat fresh fruit and veggies is rapidly coming to a close. That, I am not at all excited for.

Oh, and last night a sore throat kept me up. I have what the people here refer to as 'the greep', basically a cold. It is no fun though, but upon hearing my voice this morning my host mother opened up a jar of raspberry muraba, and assured me that if I drank two cups of 'raspberry tea' (basically raspberries in hot water) a day, I would be fine in a few days. I know that my days of leaving the house with wet hair are over here now too...and wearing slippers without socks is going to be an absolute no no. At least I know my family cares...I am sure that eases the mind of my family at home.

Well, I want to take advantage of this beautiful day and walk home. I miss you all and love you lots! 85 days and counting...


oh, and a few final shoutouts:

Aunt Mary-thank you for the letter, I can't wait to see pics of Jonathanjan!

Sarah Z- I got your package today!!! yay!! hope your foot is getting better, miss you!

Mum- Thank you for everything, and I hate to be a pain, but if you could possibly include real tissues (puffs with lotion, specifically) in my package it would be great. I am wasting all the 'on the go' TP you sent me!

Pictures....

OH....and quick little blurb about pictures. They take an insanly long time to load onto the blog. And as most of you have met my father, you know that I inherited his amount of patience. Basically...I don't have it. If you have facebook, more will be posted there because it is quicker. And both mum and dad have it now, so you can ask them to show you. I will load them all when I am home for Christmas.

Sorry...

Quick update

Man, I am pretty bummed. I had a whole nice long blog written out, but this was an unplanned internet trip and I left my flash at home. Way to go Katie, way to go. I don't really have the time to type it now, so I guess I will post it later.

Things are still going well. Work is mostly paper mache, making masks and costumes and getting ready for the big film festival that is coming up in a month. The kids are fairly excited for it, and I am just ready for it to be here!

Things with the host family are going very well. They are amazing. Recently, my host brother discovered the amazingness of my Nintendo DS and has since completely kicked my behind in Mario. Whatever. Also taught most of my family some new card games, one of which resulted in me learning the Armenian word for 'Rat'. My sister did not like it when I won!

This Monday was a holiday here as well. Independence Day. Interestingly enough it was not celebrated nearly as much as the church holiday last weel. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about that one.

Answered my host family's phone today when everyone was out. I normally don't, but it wouldn't stop ringing (They don't have answering machines here). It went surprisingly well. It was the Post Office calling to tell me that I had a couple of letters waiting. The crazy thunder storms had cleared up, so I decided to walk down there. Thank you Gramp and Phyllis and Aunt Jen and Uncle Henri for my birthday cards! I also found a new internet place on my walk, resulting in this very unplanned blog! I didn't ask about the price though, so I am hoping it is not too expensive!

Next weekend I go to Yerevan on Saturday, and then back to Karenis on Sunday!! I am very, very excited. I can't wait to see my old host family. I miss them very much. Actually, just thinking about it makes me super happy. It should be a very good time, there is some sort of village wide celebration.

Well, it is cold today, and the owner has the door open. My hands are kindof going numb, so I am going to cut this one short.

I miss you all and love you lots! 93 days and counting!

VICTORY!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been confirmed. On Thursday my mother mailed out all of my winter clothes for me (yay!) and guess what was included??? THE RED HAT! That is right, I am getting the red hat! Very, very excited, and I would like to thank you all for your support during my long and strenuous campaign.

Other then that, not too much has gone down since the last time I wrote. Things are still going fairly well here. I have some semblance of a normal schedule. I go to my tutor 3 times a week, and work at 3 every day (except saturdays, when I work at 12). Other then that, my time is filled with strolling around, writing letters, and playing my DS. It is a good life, really. Also, my sister told me the other day that my Armenian is much better, which made me very happy! They told me that it would get better once I get to site and speak Armenian constantly, but I did not believe them. Excited that people have noticed a difference. Still a bit perturbed by what happened the other day though. As I have mentioned, I can usually pass for Armenian through introductions and greetings, and can definatly pass when I am just walking down the street. Well, the other day, I had barely walked into this woman's store when she pegged me for American. I still want to know how she did it!

Had yesterday off, which was exciting. It was some type of chuch holiday, where all of the Armenian people go to the cemetaries to visit their loved ones. My entire host family went to their grandmother's house for a bit of a feast. It was a good time. The food was good, and everyone was very nice. Funny story though, I saw them pulling meat out of a big pot, and because of the consistency figured it for lamb (which I really don't like) so I avoided it. Well, I guess they noticed, because they started discussing my avoidence of meat in Armenian. Thankfully, I understood, and quickly explained that I don't like lamb. Well...they started laughing, turns out it was just a really fatty beef. So I took a piece, which made them happy. I don't think they were so happy when I pulled all the fat off of it though! but oh well.

Well..a small child broke the chain on my locket yesterday, so off to find a new one before work. Today my tutor is coming to class with me to help me talk to the kids about expectations and plans, which will be nice. Essentially, it will turn into 20 questions for the new American.

I miss you all, and love you lots!

ps...ANSWER YOUR PHONES!

some more pictures

These are just a few pics, I am out of time, my friend's marshootney has just arrived. The pic of me is at Garni, and at Gerhard you throw rocks for luck. The moon pic was taken off my porch in Dilijan. OH, and the monks carved Gerhard out of caves, it is beautiful.

My excursion and beyond...

Huh, I had a whole bunch to talk about when I sit down and wrote this, and now I am having a hard time coming up with anything. Wait for it…

I feel like I have already talked about my birthday, so we are going to skip that and move on. I went on an ‘excursion’ Sunday with all of the teachers from my school. It was huge. We put 17 people in a marshootney and drove around from 9:30 in the morning till 12:15 the next morning. It started out well enough. We first stopped at Hirpsime Church. That was interesting because I had never been before, and was pretty beautiful. They keep the body of Hirpsime there (in a tomb, of course) and you can go and visit it and leave flowers and stuff. It was a busy place. Then we made our way to Edjmiatsine. It was the same as the other few times that I have been, with one exception. They were handing out a type of communion that day. It looked like the Catholic communion, but all broken up into little bits and pieces. The ceremony was also very different. It was short and performed by a priest (I am assuming) and then after he leaves an alter boy like person stands at the front of the church and people walk up to receive it. There is no order to it though, and anyone can walk up and ask for it. Something else that was interesting was that it could only be put on the back of your hand, and not in your palm like the Catholic communion. I asked the server why (that’s right, in Armenian) and he said that it was because you work with the palms of your hands, so they are dirty, while the backs of your hands are clean. Now granted, he also answered me in Armenian, but I am pretty positive that was what he said.

After Edjmiatsine we walked to another church (I don’t remember the name) and here we crashed a wedding. Yea, you read it right, we crashed a wedding. Apparently it is not a big deal in Armenia though, because other people walked in right along with us. That got kind of awkward for me though, especially when we had to walk out as all the wedding guests were lining up outside the doors to through rice and flowers as the newly married couple walked out. It was also at this church that my migraine started. Granted, it is partly my fault because I did not eat much for breakfast, but the heat and the bumpy rides were also contributing. The next place we went to was Garni. I had been before and so knew the background about it being the only Hellenistic temple left in Armenia. It was nice to look around again, but the group picture taking got a little out of hand and that combined with my migraine made me a bit cranky.

After Garni, we drove to Gerhard and parked the marshootney around 6 pm. We, after much deliberation, picked our picnic spot and sat to eat. Now, this was the first time we had anything real to eat all day, and I was starving. The problem…all of the food had been sitting in the sweltering marshootney all day. I settled on eating a couple of slices of potato and one piece of chicken. The salads and other food I just could not bring myself to eat, knowing I would regret it later. After eating, we went into Gerhard and walked around for a bit. As always, Gerhard was amazing, but by the time we left around 9:30 my head was pounding again and I was very excited to get home and crawl into bed.

I fell asleep 10 minutes after we pulled away from Gerhard, despite the bumpy ride. Unfortunately for me I woke up a little less then an hour later to the action of the driver pulling the marshootney over, why?, because it had run out of gas. I almost cried. After waiting about 20 minutes, a big construction truck came and towed us to the gas station. This is not like filling up your tank in America though. When you fill up tanks in Armenia, everyone needs to get out of the car and wait outside. Well, it was cold…very cold. After about 20 minutes we all piled back in, and I finally walked up to my doorstep around 12: 15. My head hit my pillow and I was out…the next day of work when anybody was asked ‘how are you?’, their response varied from ‘very tired’, to ‘sore’, and ‘sick’.

Despite all of the mishaps, I am very glad that I went. It gave me a chance to get to know the teachers that I will be working with and it was my first big outing where I was the only English speaker. I feel like that day alone helped bump up my Armenian skills.

I should also mention that since Monday I have also been ‘teaching’ the Sunchild children everyday from 3 to 5:30ish. We have been making paper mache masks to get ready for the big festival that is coming up in October (pretty sure I already mentioned it) and thankfully, working with paper mache doesn’t require too much Armenian. I think that the kids have been enjoying it, and have discovered that children all around the world behave the same, no matter what language they speak.

Hopefully I will be getting some pictures up today (I am working on sizing them) and as usual, I miss you all and can’t wait to see you at Christmas. 103 days and counting…

Oh, and to all my family…thank you very much for all your birthday cards and presents. I loved the cards and the presents are already coming in handy! I miss and love you tons!

And as a final note, no work today! We have a meeting where all the volunteers in my area get together and talk safety stuff. Very exciting. Myself and another volunteer are going to cook lunch. You can bet we are making somthing without salt or ghee!


Brit F- Thank you for the birthday box! The fish bracelet is great! Reading the letters made me laugh out loud. I love it!

Lor- We need to get better at this game.

Sarah Z- lady, you best email me in the next few days...I am going to try and give you a call to

Aunt Mary- not sure what happened because the address was right, if it happens again I will talk to the PC

An Amazing 23rd Birthday!

I am not going to lie, I was a little bit depressed in the days leading up to my birthday. I was homesick and not really looking forward to being a year older, but oh boy did my new friends and family in Armenia make me feel 100x better! I woke up late on my birthday, but still managed to make it to my Armenian lesson on time. My class went very, very well...and my tutor (who is amazing) gave me a pomegranite necklace! It is very cool. Pomegranites are a symbol of Armenia, and bring health and good fortune. Also fertility, but I have no use for that at this point in my life much to the dismay of many Armenian friends! After my session, I stayed at her house and we had coffee and talked for quite some time. It was very interesting, and we got on the topic of cultural money and gender differences. A very enlightening conversation. In Armenia if a new bride is found to not be a virgin, she is literally returned by her in laws. If that applied in America, the divorce rate would be even higher than it is now!

After my lesson I went home and helped my host mother and a friend prepare some of the food for my party. I helped to make the 'salad' before I got distracted. Around 2:30, my director called and asked me to come in to work. I walked there (it takes about 2 minutes) and she was in a meeting, so I sat and waited. Another teacher came into the teacher room (where I was waiting) and asked if I wanted to watch her class...of course I said yes! The class was a painting class with about 6 students, all who were very talented. After about 10 minutes another teacher came and told me that my director was ready for me, so I went back downstairs. As I walked into the teacher's room, all of the other teachers were there saying happy birthday, and there was a spread of wine, chocolate, watermelon, and one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen. I almost cried! It was gorgeous! They sang Happy Birthday (1/2 Armenian, 1/2 English) and then we all sat down to eat. There were toasts of course..to me, my parents, and my health..and it was a good time all around! They also surprised me with a few gifts. The last time I was at work, my sandal broke, so I wore my director's slippers for a few hours. Well, they gave me a pair of super soft slippers. Also, a beautiful cell phone pouch and a book about Dilijan in English. It was great!

When I got home, my brother was putting the finishing touches on another amazing cake! I helped to set up a little bit more, and when my sister got home she had eyeshadow and mascara for me. Somehow both of those things didn't make the cut to be brought from America, and they were both neccessary! They were amazing, so of course I stopped to get dressed and all made up! When I had finished everyone was there and we sat down to eat. My mother had made my favorite Armenian dish, dolma, and there was also fried eggplant, 'salad', tomato and cucumber, and of course bread and cheese! It was delicious and a good time. They had also prepared some raspberry vodka, which was flowing all night. More toasts were given, and after enough of the vodka, I even gave my first toast in Armenian. It wasn't bad, only one small mistake! It was a great night all around!

Stayed up late for some phone calls, and when I woke up this morning (around 11), my host mother told me that the post office had called, and one of my birthday packages came in! I was super excited. Walked to the office and back, the whole time rushing so I could get home and open it! Made my day when I finally did. I am not going to lie, all of the cards made me cry a little bit and I want to thank all the kids for making them for me! The jeans fit great, thank you Mem and Gramp, and my host mother has said she can hem them for me since they are still a bit long! The sewing kit is great and I am very excited for the crayons and markers! The calenders will also come in very, very handy. All of this stuff on top of my DS and the other box is pretty overwhelming. I feel like I hit the lottery! So, thank you again for everything!!!

The knitting book made me laugh! I love that it was my mum's so many years ago, I am going to hang onto it, but I am nowhere near skilled enough to make anything in it! I guess I will stick to my scarfs!! They will come in handy in the cold, Armenian winter!

Well..off to work. Today the kid's are deciding what kind of animal costumes they want to make for the big carnival coming up in Yerevan. Exciting stuff!

I miss you all and love you lots! Thank you for the birthday wishes!!

and p.s...I recently found out that I am in fact getting the red hat. Thank you for your support!!