Another central day in Charentsavan today!! It was nice to have a little break from our usual routine of 4 hour language lessons and studying. It has been very, very hot here the last few days...with no beach to cool down in. It is sad, but talking to people at home I know that it hasn't exactly been beach weather there. Our central day was a bit different today, there were no depressing medical or safety sessions, instead we talked about culture shock and gender roles in Armenia. I pretty much found out that my interaction with males is going to be very, very limited for the next couple of years. Yes, dad, I understand that probably makes you very, very happy. Basically, outside of my fellow male PCVs I will not really have any type of male friend outside of work acquaintences. That is going to be quite an adjustment for me considering I hang out with mostly guys at home. Talking to some of the female A-16s (volunteers that started last year) I found out that it women in genral do not 'hang out' in groups outside of the home, and that in most situations men and women do not interact with each other outside of the home and the workplace. It would not be ok for me to go out to eat with a man, even a fellow American, unless I wanted to 'date' that person for the next two years that I am here. Of course, they said it was ok for male and female PCVs to spend time with one another, except it is preferable that you do it in mixed gender groups. And if you do have solo hang out time with a guy, you have to go about it very carefully. ie no spending time in each other's rooms (even with the door open), and making sure to introduce and get to know each others host family so you are not some random girl coming over. That would get you a pretty shady reputation.
Host country nationals are an entirely different story. Making eye contact with a man in your age range (for me between 17 and 55), sitting next to them on a bus or marshootka, saying hello to them in the street and other small things like that are potentially dangerous and sending a very bad message. Let me just say now, I do not enjoy looking at the ground when I have to walk by a group of men, that is going to be an adjustment for me. Note: this is different inside my own family, I am expected to interact with my male family members, even if they do expect me to make coffee for them)
Now that we have got all of that out of the way, lets play a little catch up. After my last blog all of us piled into marshootneys (all seats filled) for a long, hot, fun ride to Ejmiatsine, the religious capitol of Armenia. Along the way we learned that when a khanut (store) owner gives you soda for free, it usually doesn't taste very good. We also learned just how much we missed AC, and that open windows don't help when you are driving through a cloud of smog. We also learned how much fun you can have...even when you are hot and cramped and sweaty and packed in a van. Ejmiatsine was a good time. It was nice to go when there were people to explain the background and some of the traditions to us. There was a Armenian-American Hayr (Father) that gave us a tour and gave us some of the history of the church and pointed out some things we would have never seen. Great example, there was one stone about halfway up the building that had a Greek inscription. Historian's say that since it is written in Greek, it was made before the creation of the Armenian alphabet (2000 years ago) and was therefore part of the original church structure. Amazing. It was also great to spend time away from Charentsavan and Karenis. It was like a mini vacation. Plus, the giftshop took creditcards (first time since getting here I have seen that...sorry mom)! So I was able to get a book of Armenian folktales, in English of course, and a postcard. It honestly felt very weird to slide the card, I havn't done that in more than a month.
We have another technical day tomorrow in our villages, and then our big celebration for our host families and the village on July 4th. In our village we are making pasta salad, potato salad, mac and cheese (yum!), hamburgers and a greens salad. I am very excited. We are also going to have tug of war, kickball, volleyball, and some other games for the village to play with us. I am very excited...even though I will be missing the traditions from home. I will miss the cookout at Mem and Gramps, the cookout and crazy fireworks at Uncle Louy's. Boys, behave yourselves and be careful! I am sure that I will be plenty distracted though.
On Monday we will be taking a trip into Yerevan to visit NGOs that we will be working with in our communities. It will be a nice trip, and hopefully I will be able to find some more postcards to send home. I am also excited to learn more about Sunchild, the NGO I will be working for in Dilijan.
The 8th is when we meet our permenant host families and go for a 6 day site visit. Still don't know who I will be living with, but I figure it is better to go with no expectations. I am hoping for at least running water and an inside bathroom though. I am very excited to meet my host family though, they have big shoes to fill. I am assuming that I will have no internet access during those days, just be warned.
OH YEA...had our mid-PST interviews on Tuesday, they went very well. Not sure what I was so nervous about. And then on Friday we have our mock LPIs (Language Proficiency Interviews) which I probably should be more nervous about. What will happen is language teachers from another village will sit individually with us and interview us for 20 minutes, and take notes on how well we do. Let's just say I will be studying like crazy for the next couple of days. Tonight I have a lesson with my language teacher at 8, which means we have to start walking home around 7:15. No worries though, we have walked home a few times since the rock throwing incident and have had NO problems, besides, now we know it would be fine to smack the little punks anyway.
Well...I want to grab some food at Belle Cafe before I head home, so Hayjo (Goodbye)!
No comments:
Post a Comment