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!