It's Been a While...

Sorry guys, it has been quite some time. Things have been a little crazy since I last entry, but I will give you the quick and dirty run down.

Dilijan was amazing, my host family was great. I am the fifth PCV to stay with them, so they know the ropes and are used to my crazy American ways. I met the people and some students who I would be working with, and got a tour from them as well as one of the PCVs currently living there. I visited an old KGB vacation home. It was amazing, you could see the grandour underneath the falling apart floors and torn out wires. I got some great pictures. I am very, very excited for my assignment, and as icing on the cake, there is a sit down toilet!

Promptly after returning from Dilijan I got quite sick. It was not pleasent. at all. Still not sure why I got sick, but it lasted 4 or 5 days and I was in general not a happy camper. My family was amazing about it though. I didn't eat for three days, other then an egg, and they kept giving me this special tea (made out of crushed greens) and feeding me raspberries, both which help a sour stomach. It was great, because even with the language barrier and me being stubborn about not wanting anything, they would look at me and say lav (good) and point to their stomach, so endearingly that I could not say no. It was good in the long run though, I probably would have wound up pretty dehydrated without the tea every few hours. I slept a lot, and when I finally was showing signs of getting better, they made me a rice soup for dinner, which was also good for stomach issues. After 4 days, I was finally able to have an egg for breakfast and eat potatoes and pasta again, which was nice. I thought it was a pretty good sign that I was actually hungry.

Shortly after recovering, my family began to harvest all of their trees. Mem, close your eyes. I climbed up a pretty shaky, nailed together wooden ladder...then grabbed onto a gasline for leverage...and hauled myself onto my neighbor's roof to pick cherries. Don't worry there are pictures. side note...I am working on loading them. Back to trees, that is nothing compared to my host mother/grandmother (depending on who you ask) here, who climbed up the tree so we were eye to eye as nimbly as I could ever climb trees. It was amazing. My favorite to harvest by far though was the mulberry tree. My uncle/brother (depending on who you ask) climbed up into the tree while us ladies (all the females in the house, including the 2 year old) held open a big tarp under the tree. He then proceeded to climb the tree, jumping on all the branches to shake the berries into the tarp...it was hilarious. It was literally raining berries and I ended up with quite a few down the back of my shirt. We then ate our fill, putting the rest into bowls to be given away and sold. Same with the cherries and apricots, we eat some and sell the rest.

Part of the reason I have been so busy lately is that we have been completing our training practicum. Myself along with the rest of the EE volunteers have team taught 6 - 1/2 hour environmental courses to some children in my village. They have been in English (Thank God!) and we have had a translator...plus the lessons have been going very, very well. In Armenia, teachers do not do 'hands on' anything, and the kids absolutely love doing anything active...which is right up my ally. On monday, I teach a 1/2 hour in English by myself and then the week after that I teach two 1/2 hour lessons IN ARMENIAN. Not quite sure I am ready for that yet, but I know I will be writing lots of things down beforehand. One lesson is on fish parts...which I am pretty excited for.

Today we had our first central day in 2 weeks. It was great to see everyone again! The best part was a lawyer from the embassy came to talk about the legal system in Armenia. He gave away American snacks (cheetos, fritos, etc) for right answers...and I got a package of chips ahoy cookies. I was pretty stoked. You don't realize how much you miss certain foods until you see them. Example...Roni hosted a 'taco night' the other night. Everything looked and smelled absolutely amazing. Unfortunately for me it was while I was sick, so I didn't eat much at all. I have been assured that there will be another one though.

OH, and to explain the change in title, Peace Corps asked us to remove the word 'Armenia' from our titles...so I did. Sorry for the confusion.

A few shout outs:

Jodi...thank you sooooo much for the almonds. They made my day...and I am not going to lie, I probably won't share them very much!

Mem and Gramp...Thank you for the letters, they make me smile! And I will work on my timing for calling you.

Brit....I can't wait for GREECE!

Mum...thank you for the packages, and for being my cheerleader!

DP...thanks for always picking up the phone (with the exception of the last week) and talking me down..although you will probably not see this, I really appreciate it.