Christmas in the Caucasus!

Oh my, oh my do I have a lot to tell you all about.

As you know, my November and early December were pretty crazy. I attended my second and last All Vol (All Volunteer Conference) in Yerevan during four days in November. All Vol is a conference that EVERY SINGLE Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia attends. While there are meetings and general programs, the most important part of the conference (for us Volunteers, of course) is getting together with friends that you never really get to see. We made (well, I set tables, other people cooked) a huge Thanksgiving dinner on the first night, for all of the PC volunteers and staff. It was amazing delicious this year! There were 27 pies! After dinner, there was a variety show. A few brave volunteers got up to sing and read poems and what have you. My favorite act was a compilation of popular songs, modified to be about our life here in Armenia. It was hilarious!

Another highlight of All Vol this year was the HIV/AIDS Day flash mob that almost all of the PCVs took part in. A couple of hardworking PCVs who head up the HIV/AIDS initiative organized the event. We all ordered HIV/AIDs awareness tee shirts, and on the last day of the conference walked together to the Opera in Yerevan. The opera is a pretty busy area of the city, with lots of people driving and walking through. Of course, we all had our tee shirts covered up while we met some Armenians (mostly students) who would join us as we walked toward another busy road. As we walked to this area, we straggled along, spreading the group out and trying to look as 'normal' as possible. When the first people reached the spot where we would 'mob', a whistle was blown and we all took off our coats (so people could see our shirts) and stood in a funny, eye catching pose until the whistle was blown a minute later. When that happened, we put back on our jackets and walked away in different directions like nothing strange had happened. It was pretty cool. We got A LOT of looks, which was the point, and while people stared, hopefully they got a chance to see the informative posters that some of the volunteers were holding. They were great..showing statistics about HIV/AIDS in Armenia (most people believe it doesn't exist here) and talking about condom use (most Armenian men think they are immune to disease...vodka kills everything, right?). After the mob, we all met up at a local club, yes, all 90 something volunteers..and had some pizza and hung out. It was an amazing experience, one I was glad to take part in.

The HIV/AIDS problem here is actually a pretty interesting one. While awareness of the virus is for sure getting more attention, and slowly people are becoming more knowledgeable, I think a number of things make it hard to spread information and awareness in the country. The first is the taboo associated with all things sex related here. Women DO NOT have sex before marriage, end of story. Girl and boys are taught that it is SHAMEFUL to discuss any type of sex related topic. Unlike the US, there are NO sex-ed classes in schools to give the children here the basic facts they need to know to keep themselves safe and healthy, and from what I gather children are for sure not able to ask their parents any questions that they might have. Condoms are not widely used, and are usually deemed unnecessary. Teenage boys here actually call each other 'condom' as an insult.

Another problem is the gender role situation. I am hugely generalizing here, but it is not uncommon here for men to cheat on their wives (whether it be while they are away for months or years working in Russia, or even just visiting local prostitutes in their towns or villages). The men more likely then not do not use condoms, and then come back home to their wives. Wives in these situations have very few options, as divorce here is still a huge deal, and most often divorced women are unable to find a man willing to marry them in the future.

Thankfully, sex ed and health information is becoming less taboo here, especially in Yerevan, and hopefully the information will continue it's spread slowly out into the regions. Already, many NGOs and youth organizations are incorporating sex ed and HIV/AIDS into their programs, and example being the GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) camp that I was a counselor at last year. The camp organizers invited a doctor to come and speak to the girls about basic sexual education, and later left a long period of time for the counselors to answer questions for the girls, especially in the area of HIV/AIDS. I feel like Armenia is the US, 20 or so years ago...and hopefully when I come back and visit later in life, the population will be much more open and aware and informed about sexual health.

After All Vol, myself and a few other volunteers hung around to work with American Counsels in Yerevan to design and plan a mini Project Design and Management program for returned FLEX students. FLEX is a program that allows Armenian High School students (who have good grades and speak passable English) to travel to America to live and study for a year. When the students return, they are eligible to write and receive grants for projects in their areas, but sadly, much of the available money goes unused. This year, hopefully our 2 day mini program (probably happening the 2nd week of January) will teach them the skills they need to start writing projects that will improve their lives and the lives of those around them. I have worked with some FLEX alumni before, and have a lot of hope for awesome projects that will come out of our workshops.

As most of you know, after All Vol I went on VACATION! Yay! It was needed after a crazy couple of months, and I had a great time! Myself and another volunteer spent two days in Tbilisi, Georgia and then 5 days in Munich, Germany. It was incredible. I loved Tbilisi, it had little things that reminded me of Armenia (like an open market) but was so different. It was cleaner, bigger, and had a McDonalds. Yup. I ate there and it was delicious. I might have been a little ill after, but it was worth it. I really loved the architecture there as well, we visited one large church at sunset, and it was unbelievable gorgeous with lights hitting it just the right way. The art in the church was also very different then in Armenia, with paintings covered in gold except for at the faces of the various saints and members of the Holy Family. It was beautiful. The devotion of the people there was fascinating as well. Women are generally not allowed to enter the churches without their hair being covered, and candle lighting (like in Armenia) is the main activity. People will also pray in front of the portraits and icons of the saints. There are so many in the church, 100 or more, and you can see two or three people at a lot of them, praying as they touch the painting, and then leaning forward to kiss the piece before they leave. It was very calming and serene.

We also visited some fortress ruins in Tbilisi, which were right next to some Roman baths and an old mosque. It was a sweet little area. The fortress itself was cool. You have to walk up this steep, cobble stoned street to get there, and then follow these very unsafe paths to walk all around the fortress itself. Definitely not something that would be allowed in the states, but I loved it. The views were fantastic, and I loved walking around on something that people had been walking on for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. It was cool.

After a short layover in Riga, Latvia we finally landed in Munich! It was COLD. The airport was huge though, and we were easily able to catch the train into the city. It was gorgeous. After the monotony of architecture in a post-soviet country, I walked around with my neck craned staring at all of the amazing buildings we passed. Of course, the famous Christmas Markets were set up and in full swing, and all of that added with the nearly constant light snowfall just instantly pushed me right into the Christmas spirit! Since we were there for only 5 days, we did not plan too many trips. We visited Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, on our second day there. It is kind of hard for me to describe how I felt while I was there, but it was intense and emotionally draining. We were able to walk along part of the route that the prisoners walked on their way to the camp, walked through the famous 'freedom through work' gate, and even walked through the 'cremation section' of the camp. That last part is what got me the most. Everything was well preserved and still in place. You could still read 'showers' above the door leading to the gas chamber and could walk right by the cremation ovens that were used. At one point you walk into a big, empty concrete room and as you read the signpost on the wall it informs you that you are standing in the 'body room' where hundreds of starved, emaciated bodies were found waiting for creation when the camp was liberated. After that last bit I was drained and ready to go, only to discover the museum set inside the large building that held the registration, showers, and kitchen areas of the camp. The museum was far more then I ever expected. It was put together and designed in a way that just drew you deeper and deeper in. The pictures and facts they display were nothing I had expected to ever see or hear. After reading (and seeing) information about the medical experiments that the prisoners were used for, I admitted defeat and just sat down. I could not emotionally handle anymore. We left in a sad and somber mood, and for the rest of my life I will not forget what I saw there.

Thankfully, the next day we joined a tour group to head to Neuschwanstein Castle, the castle that Disney's Cinderella castle is modeled after. The castle was quite a trip. We took a two hour train ride out to the town, and then walked up a big hill to the castle itself. The views and scenery were amazing, and the snow, once again, set the mood. Here, try this out...walking in a lazy snow up this large hill, sneaking peeks of a huge and beautiful castle around corners and through the trees. It was pretty amazing, and definitely the mood lifter that was needed. At the top of the hill, near the castle, you could buy sausages and pretzels, hot chocolate and mulled wine as you waited for your tour time. It was a typical 'German' setting. I had some hot chocolate, yum :) The tour itself only lasts about 15 minutes, but it was incredible. The castle was unbelievably detailed and intricate. In the finished areas (yes, the king was murdered so they didn't finish it, more on that later) there was not a bare space to be found. Walls were painted with intricate scenes from fairy tales and operas, and furniture was carved in such detail it was hard to take in. The headboard and canopy of the king took 1 1/2 years for 60 woodworkers to finish. Yes, that detailed. The story now? It is a good one. King Ludwig was not loved by his dad, who might not even be his real dad (oh, my) and spent most of his youth bored and daydreaming. He admired and idolized an opera writer (don't remember the name)and designed the castle based on his operas. Problem was they had no money, and the young King was blowing through his family's wealth. The people in the regions loved him, because his castle projects (there were at least 3) were giving them jobs, but the rich elites and his family didn't like his ways and were not impressed with his money spending (on frivolous, intricate castles) skills. So, one day they had a doctor who had never met him declare him insane and unable to lead the country...and then arrested him. The next day him and the doctor went for a walk all alone and unguarded around a huge lake(suspicious??) and then were found dead. They were shot, but the official story is that they drowned, even though no water was found in their lungs. Work on the huge, intricate castles stopped immediately, and the Nueschwanstein castle was opened 6 weeks later as a museum. Oh, and the castle was never finished, 70% or something like that is still unfinished to this day.

The rest of our time in Munich was spent walking around, visiting Christmas Markets and shopping around for my ipod touch (which is fantastic by the way). It was an incredibly relaxing vacation (despite some money problems) and I really would like to go back to Munich one day. Sadly, I don't have pictures since my camera is still broken..but hopefully my friend will put them on Facebook soon.

Since returning to Armenia I have done no work, which means Nor Tari (New Years) is right around the corner. It is about this time every year that everything and everyone shuts down and stops work to get ready for the crazy holiday that is New Years. Christmas here is celebrated on January 6th, but because of Soviet Era restrictions, most of the Christmas celebrations and traditions were hoisted onto New Years, and have remained there ever since. Since I am experiencing my first New Year here, I am nervous, but know what to expect. Days and Days (usually the 1st through the 5th) of visiting friends, eating, and drinking and repeating all over again. My family has already started preparations. The tree (fake and tiny, pretty normal here) is decorated and beautiful, garland is draped over every available space, and lights are up on the wall and some houses. We have bells hanging over the door handles (my personal favorite, when I came home and found them I walked in and out of the door several times) and the host mom is browsing magazines for interesting and pretty dishes to prepare for her guests. Now, keep in mind visiting here is in no way shape or form like visiting in the states. People have open houses, really, and people drop in whenever they can between 8 in the morning and 11 at night. I feel tired just thinking about it, but can't help but get excited when my family asks for the hundredth time if I will really, REALLY be around for the holidays this year. It will be fun! and I can't wait to give out my presents and take pictures of the festivities!

Well, on that note I need to go finish up a gift for our American Christmas that is happening in Gavar (near Sevan) on the 24th and 25th this year. A bunch of volunteers are getting together there for our own little celebration, and I am very much looking forward to not being alone and lonely on our Christmas day.

Happy Holidays!

Apparently I Spoke Too Soon....

I really do suck at keeping this thing up to date. I am sorry. I pinky swear promise I will try harder this time.

Part of the problem is that I have been crazy, crazy busy in these last few weeks, and will continue to be so until January probably. I really need to learn to say NO. Actually, I lie, I like the busy...it makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing something AND makes the time absolutely fly by. 9 months and counting. Yup.

Let me tell you about some things that have been going on. A few weeks ago I spent the week in Robby's (another PCV) village of Վարդաբլուր (Vardablur). The village is a teeny tiny one, in between Vanadzor and Stepanavan. Robby, Rani (yet another PCV, check out the teamwork here people) and myself put on a 'mini Green Camp' for some of the younger kids in Robby's after-school clubs. Let me tell you, I was super excited to head back to the village, not only because the camp sounded fun, but also because Robby's host family ROCKS! There is a grandmother, mother, and 3 little kids (12, 9, and 4ish). I love them like whoa. I miss living with a big family (if you remember I lived in a family of 12 during PST) and enjoy having kids around. And if any Armenians are reading this..չէ ես չեմ ուզում երեխաներ հիմա!!! (NO I don't want children right now!)But moving on. The first few days that I was there were absolutely fantastic. We made some good food and had a good time. The camp was going pretty well even though the kids had the attentions spans of goldfish! We did some easy team building activities and played a lot of environmental games, including one where they were bees and had to run around collecting 'pollen' for their hive! Everything was going well, until the day I became insanely ill. I woke up and my stomach wasn't right, and then by mid day I couldn't stand up without almost passing out and had to run downstairs to the bathroom every hour. That was LAME! What was really weird about it was that by the next morning I felt better, but later in the day (after a great visit to Lori Berd, and old fortress) I felt horrible all over again. After staying one day longer then I was supposed to, I finally doled out the cash to take a taxi back to Dilijan because there was no way I was crawling into a crowded marshutka. After a few more days of sick in Dilijan, and starting some antibiotics, I finally felt better. Thank God. I can count the number of times I have been stomach sick in this country on one hand, and I don't want to kill that record!

The week after Robby's camp, I got my schedule for Sunchild and the 2nd School all worked out, which is nice. I work with 3 classes at the school (5th and 6th form) and am going to start an after school club their next week. I love those kids. They remind me of why I came to this country in the first place, even if I am teaching English :( . Oh well. I love playing games with them, and they love the fact that I don't make them memorize and read pointless stories out of their silly books. Note: Insert a much stronger word where 'silly' is. I just don't feel like talking about it.

My Sunchild classes happen three times a week, and are mostly becoming a mix of a lot of Environmental and a little bit of English. I have decided that until they pay for an Armenian to help me out (so I am not stealing a job in a country where they are desperately needed) I will not be teaching strait English classes, end of story. The kids don't seem to care that much, and I am much happier. My class today went fantastically! We had three new girls show up, and we learned about birds. The kids had a TON of fun, and I will follow up the class tomorrow with a little bit of bird watching..good times all around!

oOo..I almost forgot. On Saturday I spent $3000 bucks. Yup. $3000. That is more money then I make in a YEAR here! My director and I went shopping for all of the technology needed for our Dilijan Art Center. Our first class will happen on Saturday (a community art lesson) and from that day on there will be program every SINGLE Saturday. I am super stoked for this project! Tomorrow I will work on setting up the technology, and hopefully the men will get all the furniture moved around where we want it to be! Why the men, you ask? Because this is Armenia, of course, and moving heavy furniture is 'man's work'. duh!

Next week will also be my FIRST, yes FIRST, lesson with the Art School kids. Why now? after 1 and 1/2 years?? Because the teachers finally decided that it was a good idea, and honestly, I think my Program Director coerced them into letting me work with the teachers. I'm cool with it. Means to an end, right? So, on Tuesday of next week I will have an hour with EVERY SINGLE CHILD in the school. They will come up to the auditorium and watch a movie and slide show presentation about the ocean. I am going to talk about different ecosystems in the ocean, different animals that live there, and how OUR actions effect those creatures. It will be GOOD. It needs to be or it will never, ever happen again. As it was they killed a lot of ideas this afternoon during our meeting, I was basically told what to do instead of asked, but oh well...you have to start somewhere right?

Part of the busyness going on is things that I am involved with outside of Dilijan as well. I am heading this weekend to work on by-laws for the 'Environmental Action Initiative', in two weeks I will (cross your fingers) hopefully be a participant in an International Youth Fair. Which is basically a conference with teams representing their 'home' countries. We will cook some Thanksgiving dinner (yum), teach some baseball, and basically tell people all about America. Of course, we will be learning all about their countries as well. Like I said, keep your fingers crossed please! Right after that conference (or during, maybe) I have to meet with a bunch of volunteers to start planing our Woman's Day Expo and Poster Contest...and that is all before All Vol, which is the All Volunteer conference for 4 days in Yerevan.

Immediately after All Vol, I'm talking next day here, I will take part in a TOT (training of trainers) for a mini PDM (Project Design and Management) conference that I will help facilitate for FLEX students. Man, sorry for all of the acronyms. Peace Corps loves them, obviously!

After that?, you ask...well...drum roll please...GERMANY! Yup. I will have two days in Tbilisi, Georgia and then fly to Munich for 5 days. I am SUPER excited for this trip. Tbilisi activities are still up in the air, but in Munich we will be seeing a concentration camp, a castle, a Christmas bazaar, and more then a couple of beer gardens. It is going to be AMAZING!

Well, I think that is all for now. I am in a much better place then I was a few weeks ago, and hopefully will remain that way. It is amazing what a set schedule and plans and flying time can do for a girl : )

I love you all and miss you...

Look at me keeping on top of my blog : )

Wow, a second entry in just under two weeks...I am feeling proud, especially considering my horrible track record in keeping things up to date. Well, on with it...

This last week has been pretty ok. I am finally on my way to having a set schedule and routine, which will last at least until Christmas time. It's a start. I am going to be helping out with at least 2, if not 3, English classes at the secondary school...I am going to sit with the teachers next Tuesday to try and work out with the third class actually meets. Even they don't know for sure. I have already started back with the 5th form, which consists of all the amazing kids I worked with in the 4th form last year. They make me almost as happy as I make them. I love those kids to death. They were so glad to see me when I walked in there was cheering and applause and they all jumped up to give me a hug! It was great, an amazing feeling after a few weeks of feeling kind of crappy. I have also promised a few kids that I would be coming to their class this year too, hence the other 2 classes that I am trying to work out. Next week should get it all worked out, or at least I hope so.

Frankly, my Sunchild classes have kind of gone to hell. Because of the weather, a lot of the kids (90%) have not been showing up to classes, and a few of the older kids are being distracting and giving me some trouble. We make plans, they say they will be there, I do all this work to plan a great class and then no one shows up. Or, they show up and then refuse to do anything. It is mildly ridiculous, actually, scratch the mildly it is just ridiculous. It doesn't help that I am really not happy with Sunchild right now anyway. They basically see me as an employee that they can boss around..and more importantly as a way to get out of paying an Armenian to teach English and lead the classes. Yup, English classes...and I am NOT an English volunteer, I am an Environmental one. Basically, I am taking someone's job. Which, by the way, is against everything that the Peace Corps stands for. I told them about 5 months ago that I was going to stop teaching English unless they found someone to teach with me, and that has not happened and they have made it known that it will not. լավ չի (not good), what will happen when I leave in 10 months?? Totally unsustainable...which makes me think that they really have no idea what the Peace Corps program is all about. It is cool though, my program director and the Peace Corps know all about it, and are completely on my side about the situation. We will see what happens. Honestly, if it weren't for the awesomeness of most of the kids that I work with, I probably would have stopped working with them a long time ago.

Oh snap! The downpour just stopped...so I am going to run and pick up a package at the Post office!!

Miss you all!

And October Plays With My Emotions...

Well, I guess that really started in September, but most of the realization has come in the last couple of days.

According to official Peace Corps documents all of us A-17s (who are a little more then halfway through, with only about 10 months left) are experiencing what is called a 'mid-service crisis'. Catchy, no? While I would not go so far as calling what I am going through a 'crisis' (at least not compared to my entire first 6 months here, or my first few months back after last Christmas, or various other weeks of hellishness that I have experienced here), I would go as far as saying that it is unsettling and not even close to what I was expecting to feel at this point in my service.

Then again, what am I at this point if not used to watching my expectations fall through the drain? That came out very wrong, but the words work. Expectations here have a way of never really being met, most of us PCVs have come to terms with the fact that what we expect is never really what is going to happen during our service. For example, we came in with all these grand expectations of changing the world and making huge differences in our communities, and quickly realized that the changes would mostly be to small groups of people and largely to ourselves and the way we think about the world. On the other side though, I never expected to gain two new families while I was here, I never really expected to pick up the language, and I never EVER expected (at least not during my first 8 months in country) that I would dread leaving this place. So maybe it is not so much being used to failing to meet expectations, just very used to watching expectations change drastically and go in directions that were never thought of.

Back on task though...what brought about that nice mini rant about expectations is the fact that one of the bigger issues for me during this 'crisis' is that I am not sure that I have lived up to the expectations that my community had for me, that Peace Corps had for me, or that I had for myself. Although I have done a lot here, it doesn't really seem like I have done enough. I have for sure not done everything that I wanted to. I have done more English teaching then Environmental, I have put everything I had into one project and am waiting now for it's inevitable crash and burn, and I have failed in any way shape or form to bring about necessary change in the one organization I work the most with. As I settle in to deal with my last Winter here and start to think about my plans for when I go home, I think of more and more and more things that I would have loved to accomplish while I was here, and am beginning to realize that some of those things are really never going to happen. That hurts a little bit. What saves me from a total collapse is thinking about what I have accomplished here. I love the kids I work with to death, and (on most days) they feel the same way about me. I watched 184 kids go to a Green Camp, and know that while most of them will continue to throw their trash on the ground, 3 or 4 or 5 of them will not, and I had a part in making that happen. I know that a certain 5th form class of kids is waiting patiently for me to return to their English class so the monotony of memorization and ridiculous book reading is broken up with some songs and games and coloring. I know that my host families (Karenis and Dilijan) will genuinely miss me when I am gone. And, if I have failed (and will probably continue to fail) to pass on skills to any adult in my community, at least I will leave knowing that I made an impression the children here. They are the future, right?

During this 'crisis', I constantly weigh the 'accomplished' column against the 'failed' column, and am left to wonder whether I can make up the difference in the short time I have left here. I have just 10 months to make all of these plans that I have up in my head happen for real, 10 months to tip the scale so that I can leave this place knowing that I gave it my absolute all. It puts me into a planning frenzy...lists and lists of things to do and plans to make and meetings to hold. It is more then a little daunting.

During this time of planning and time lines and deadlines for myself, I am of course keeping track of how much time I have left in Armenia. While I am so so so happy when I think about going home and being able to see and hug everyone that I have missed SO much that it physically hurt for months at a time, the small part of my heart that keeps me happy and sane while I am here is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Imagine that scene at the end of 'The Grinch', where his heart outgrows it's frame, kind of like that. I sat out on the porch with my host mom the other day, and as we watched the sunset on one of the few warm days that we see now, she reminded me that this was my last Fall in Armenia. After that, we sat in silence for a few minutes, and then mutually decided to never bring it up again, since talking about it made us both so sad. I often refer to my time here as 'Peace Corps life' and time in America as 'the real world'. I always imagine my time here as some kind of other world experience, while the real world continues at home without me. While I always talk about, and HAPPILY count down to, the day when I will once again rejoin the real world...it didn't hit me until a few days ago leaving this Peace Corps world is going to break my heart almost as much as when I first left America.

When I watched the last group leave Armenia, and followed their later updates on Facebook, I wondered how people who seemed so unhappy here could possibly mourn the loss of the life that was so aggravating and frustrating as they returned to America, and (while I am nowhere near as unhappy as they seemed to be) I think get it now. As aggravated as I get here sometimes, I remember how aggravated I got at work in the states. The difference here is that my life IS my work. Peace Corps, and everything that comes along with it, is my life. Has been my life for the last 17 months. I eat and sleep and breathe Peace Corps Armenia. I have worked so hard to become integrated here to make changes and get work done, that I have done it...I have made this place my home. After traveling,that familiar sense of ease hits me as my marshutka passes through the tunnel signaling that I am a short 15 minutes away from home. Not away from Dilijan, away from home.

I have two homes now, and while the pull of one far outweighs the other, it is still going to hurt to leave my Armenian home. People say the home is where the heart is, and over the last few weeks I have realized that when I leave THIS home, a small part of my heart will stay here with it.

So, I leave you to get all my stuff together for work, knowing that all of these thoughts and contradictions and emotions will continue to swirl together and pester me. In theory, I will be through this 'mid service crisis' in just about a month, and it will all be pleasant feelings for the 9 months after...I will let you know how that works out.

But, I guess it's a true story, Peace Corps really is 'The hardest job you'll ever love'.

I'm Really Really Really Really Sorry...

That it has been so long since I posted a new blog. Again, I apologize. Sorry. I promise that I will get better, absolutely pinkie swear promise. On my honor.

Well, I guess the big question floating around is what I have been up to since I wrote that last blog. Well, the answer up until a month ago would have been Green Camps, and in the last month it could be any number of things, but mostly writing my SPA (Small Project Assistance) grant. Let me expand:

Green Camps took up my Summer. End of story. I participated in a total of four day camps and one overnight camp. The day camps happened in 3 different marzes (regions) and were held in Dilijan, Vardablur village, Nerkin Getashin, and Ijevan. While I did not participate in the Dilijan camp (I know, weird, since I live there) I did play administrator and/or counselor at the other three. Our final camp (the ADVANCED camp, if you will) included 4 exceptional student leaders from each of the other camps, plus twenty-four other campers from all around Armenia (OK, not all around, but 4 marzes). Not sure which camp I last blogged about, but let's just say that while everyone pulled through, the Ijevan camps were a little bit of a struggle. We are going to chalk it up to cultural differences and leave it at that. Would you like some Summer totals?? I thought you would..so here goes:

Total # of children participating in day camps (ELC): 160
Total # of children participating in overnight camp (ALC): 40
Total # of trained HCN (host country national) counselors: 16
Total number of trash clean ups completed: 5
Total number of 'don't litter' signs posted: 16ish
Total number of flowers planted: a whole lot
Total number of awareness signs made: 6

GRAND TOTAL OF CHILDREN WHO ARE NOW EQUIPPED WITH THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE TO PLAN AND LEAD THEIR OWN PROJECTS: drumroll please...

184!! Woohoo!

Not too shabby right? In the end, it was totally worth the arguments and hassles and late nights up developing new curriculum. Hopefully it was worth it to all of the people I harassed the crap out of too. They are still speaking to me, so apparently they thought it all turned out pretty OK to.

After a brief period of time (3 or 4 days, tops.) when I laid around all day doing nothing to recover from the above mentioned camps, it was time to start working with my organization (the Dilijan Art School) to write a SPA grant. SPA is a small grant program (max 5000 bucks) that is designed for PCVs. Ideally, the process of writing a SPA passes on grant writing skills to the host organization...mine did (I think) because I made them do most of the leg work, where I relied on my fluent English to make the thing sound pretty. I guess I also guided them in the right direction on a lot of things as well. When Armenians see limits, like say 5000 bucks, they want to reach those limits...and it was tough to impress on them the idea that we don't want to spend money just to spend it. And mother, so help me you make a crack here about my personal money spending habits! Anyway..It was also harder for them because there were rules to follow, rules that ABSOLUTELY had to be followed..that your position in society or friendship with another person couldn't get you out of. That is also something kind of odd here.

Our project, which I hinted at, is going to be to establish a Dilijan Community Art Center. I think the title says it all. It is going to be in two rooms in the school that are renovated but not used, and the community is going to pay all of the utilities and provide furniture and internet and the like (pretty great, no?..I was surprised)..we are going to buy a couple of computers, a scanner, and a projector. These various technologies will be used to do four different things every month:

1. A community art class, led by the art school teachers and open to only those people not attending the Art School or Art Academy already.
2. Guest lecturers, from Yerevan, talking about anything in the art world. We have people lined up to talk about their art projects, art history, and even ways in which they use art to call attention to other issues.
3. A public movie screening..which is pretty variable..but will include movies about the pyramids, about famous artists, and even animations and movies made by the Sunchild Eco Club in Dilijan.
4. Some type of computer program class. We were going to do Photoshop, but that is a problem..so we are searching for another program now. What is cool about this class is that we are going to make everyone that takes it come back and teach again, talk about sustainability!

So...that is my SPA in a nutshell...I am sure I will be talking about it a whole lot more now that it has been APPROVED! We just need to revise (see #4 above) and then we will be on our way. I am pretty pretty stoked for it!

Other then SPA, I have been working on (or very shortly will be working on) a whole bunch of side projects. My favorite is starting a Girl Scout Troop! Yep, you read it right, a Girl Scout troop in Dilijan, Armenia..but are you really all that surprised? I certainly am not. We are just getting started on the planning process now, but thankfully another PCV started one down south, so we can use a lot of the materials from hers. It is going to be a pretty good time, and as soon as the details are hammered out I will fill you all in.

I am also starting an 'English Corner' soon...basically it will be a little library chock full of easy English novels and books for people to borrow and use to increase their English skills. I am going to have a once/month conversation club as well, so people in the community who have fairly OK English skills can come and practice. Not like I really pick up on mistakes anymore, I can barely handle the language myself :).

One of the leading youth, well, leaders in the community is also working with me to create some EVS projects. This means that we are trying to get European volunteers (European Volunteer Service) to come to Dilijan. This is for sure just in the 'kicking it around' phase..but we have four of five project ideas that just need to be flushed out a bit more. Cross your fingers, this would be AMAZING for the community.

OH MY! How could I forget my Sunchild club? We are staring again in October (the kids are mighty excited!), but the format is going to be a tid bit different from last year. I basically told Sunchild that I needed someone to teach at least English with me..and it is getting worked on. This year though, I am only having club 3 times a week for an hour and fifteen minutes at a time. If you remember earlier blogs, you know that last year we met an insane 4 or 5 times a week for 2 or 3 hours at a go....TOO MUCH! The kids got bored, I got irritated, and it was fun for no one. So this year, I basically grew some and decided it wasn't going to be that way and let them know about it. I will be teaching one English class, one environmental class, and one 'connections' class once a week. I think the English and environmental are pretty strait forward..but the connections is probably the coolest of them all. Connections is when I am going to make the 'connection' (huh, get it?) between the kids everyday lives and what they are learning in the other two classes. This means that we will be doing nature related art projects, creating our own service projects, and writing letters (in English) to pen pals in the states.

Keep your fingers crossed that all of this works out according to plan for me...I have less then a year left (10 1/2 months exactly, but who's counting?) and a lot of things to accomplish in that time...

hajoutsyun dzes (Goodbye, plural!)

Green Camp Craziness

So, just a quick word or two or 100 about my last few weeks here in beautiful hayastan. Green Camps are going strong, and right now I am smack dab in the middle of our 3rd camp, in Martuni (near Sevan). It is going really, really well...and I get to be a counselor at this camp, YAY! The kids are fantastic and we are working with a really good group of Armenians and PCVs. Today we had our excursion, and since the theme was WATER, we used recently acquired water quality testing kits to show the kids how to look at and analyze their water. Right up my alley, I had a great time and the kids did to. Tomorrow, we do our camp community project, and all of the 40 kids are going to be doing a trash pickup by a local river, and then some will be making signs telling people not to litter. It will be a cool time. Well, it's late, and I am beat.

Miss you all!

Done and Done...

Sorry for the delay, but that is my Egypt trip in it's entirety. It was amazing, and a perfect way for me to escape for a little while into a whole other world. I loved it, and if you haven't checked out the pictures yet on Facebook, I strongly recommend that you do. They are fantastic : ).

Since returning from Egypt, my crazy summer has officially begun. I participated as a counselor at GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp last week. While it was exhausting and frustrating at some points, the whole experience was totally worth it. There were a total of 66 girls, split into 6 home groups complete with a Armenian and American counselor. We covered everything from sexual education and HIV/AIDS (my favorite session) to journal making and personal reflection. Sexual education is basically non-existent here. Girls are expected to remain virgins until they are married, and in fact can be publicly shamed and 'returned' to their families if they are not. A complete double standard when a lot of young men grow up believing that it is fine to openly stare at and/or harass young women, and prostitution is abundant. While the broader sexual education was covered in a large group by a guest speaker, it fell on us to talk about HIV/AIDS and all that came with it. After playing a game where they spread of HIV/AIDS is shown by the exchange of fluids (non-condom users) and the clinking of glasses (condom users) to the tune of a drama, I asked the girls if they had any questions. Their openness totally surprised me. I was asked about using condoms (a not so popular thing to do here), more detailed questions about the spread of STDs, and even pregnancy. One girl asked me if using condoms at one point in your life would prevent you from getting pregnant later. I am not going to lie, when children here ask me questions like that due to the lack of basic sexual education, it makes me angry that there are groups in the US that want to push us back to the state that Armenia is in right now, where 16 year old girls have no idea how to use a condom or protect themselves. It is fairly ridiculous. Learning about condoms and STD prevention is not going to make kids go out and want to have sex, they naturally want to do that anyway. If anything it is going to scare the bejesus out of them and encourage them to wait even longer. Off track though, let's get back to it...

Nutrition (my second favorite) was especially interesting for me to teach, since so little of it is covered in school courses here. It was a favorite for a number of reasons, a) I happen to know a little bit about it b)it was a way for me to address the crazy unhealthy weight loss beliefs here and c) it was the perfect place for me to slip in a little bit about anorexia and bulimia. While it was hard to tell a bunch of young girls that have grown up on bread and potatoes at every meal that those foods aren't really the best for you, it was nice to be able to teach them easy ways to remember portion sizes and to dispel the belief that potatoes are vegetables and ice cream is dairy. If you have read some of my previous posts, then you probably remember some of the crazy dietary beliefs that are floating around this country. The first thing I crushed was the belief that drinking water makes you fat. I made sure to point out that 8 glasses of water was an integral part of the food pyramid. I also explained that no matter how many times you chew your food before swallowing, it was not going to change the nutritional make up of that particular food. I think I saved some jaws a LOT of work, and some families and additional 20 minutes at the table waiting while their daughter chewed each morsel 100 times trying to turn the 'bad' fat into 'good' fat (her words, not mine). I then asked them if they had questions or comments, and that led smoothly to the healthy weight loss and eating disorder discussion. We talked about nutrition labels and daily calorie intake. One girl told me in all seriousness that she only ate 500 calories a day. I told her she was counting wrong. She insisted, and I jumped into healthy calorie intake and anorexia. Another girl (who we had already brought to the director for not eating) asked me what would happen to her if she stopped eating for 3 days. I reiterated the problems associated with anorexia, and then did it again. The girls really seemed to be taking it all in, and I can only hope that I had some impact on how they eat...anorexia runs rampant in this country and is generally not seen as a problem.

Gender roles was also covered, but it was interesting, the girls seemed to know that things should be better, but really had no idea of what they wanted. After teaching them the difference between gender and sex, they seemed to kind of pick up on the fact that gender roles have nothing to do with physical capability, and that they can be changed and molded. Of course, my dreams were shot when I asked them to draw what they see as gender roles 15 years from now, and the entire picture existed of a young girl in truly slutty clothes and a man crying in the corner with some words like 'equality' written all around them. I like to think that a lot of that was lost in translation...

Outside of the classes, we also had mandatory exercise every morning. An experience in itself. As counselors, we led the sessions, and the girls were exposed to yoga, kickboxing, aerobics, volleyball, kickball, and running/walking. I led the walking a few times, and it was hard to get them anywhere past a easy paced stroll, which was aggravating. Kickball went much better though, they really got into the game, and it was fun to play with them. I did participate in a couple of yoga classes as well. At one point we were asked to touch our toes, and the PCVs were the only ones that could do it. Exercise is just not a big thing here, but I am hoping that these girls took something away from it. I was glad it was built into the morning too, since I was too busy at night to do my own routine and not exercising would have just made me that much more stressed out all week!

It was pretty great to watch the girls grow and bond during their 8 days at camp. I loved watching the quiet girls get loud, and the shy girls become involved. Night activities included dancing, and I was that annoying counselor that went up to all the girls not dancing and pulled them in. oh well. We also had a campfire, talent show (see mermaid pictures on facebook) and scavenger hunt. For most of these girls it was the first time they had ever been away from home, and while the first few days we struggled with homesickness, during the last few we struggled with getting them to go to sleep and STOP interacting with one another at 1:30 in the morning (exercise was at 8 sharp!). Each counselor pair was on duty during one night, and that involved making sure girls were in their assigned rooms (we had one girl lay on top of another to try and hide her), that lights were off (my favorite was when they shut the light off AFTER we knocked and told them to open the door), and that they were not on their balconies hanging out, but legitimately laying in bed. One night, this somehow turned into all the girls on their porches (which all faced the same direction) screaming and chanting all of the counselors names...while of course it was WAY past lights out, we let this one slide ;)

It was great to be involved in such a great camp, I really do believe the week had a positive impact on every single participant, camper and counselor alike.

After GLOW, I went to lake Sevan to celebrate the 4th of July. Somewhere around 27 PCVs were there at different points during the week, and it was fantastic to get together and see everyone. Despite a bout of sadness (always happens on the holidays), after some time at the water park, some great burgers complete with homemade bbq sauce, and some vodka it turned into a pretty great weekend. We had some good times around the campfire, and there was some pretty entertaining arguments over the hammock that one volunteer had thought to bring. It was a pretty chill weekend, which is exactly what I needed to unwind after GLOW.

On the 10th I head off to a Green Camp in Vardablur, my first of four. Cross your fingers for me :)...

Egypt pt 4

After another night in Alexandria, we were back on a train (yes, again) to Cairo. During our last 3 days we did a little bit of everything. There was some shopping, some good food at Hard Rock, and some touring of Coptic Cairo and other sites. Hard Rock offered up a delicious strawberry shake (yum!) and walking through Cairo was interesting and quite the adrenaline rush. Crossing the streets is really like playing Frogger, you are dodging cars at every lane. Coptic Cairo was more interesting than I expected. After visiting Ben Ezra synagogue (which was absolutely gorgeous), we were able to see the place where it is rumored that baby Moses was picked out of the reeds. On a visit to an older Christian church, we were also able to look down into the rooms where the Holy Family stayed when they fled to Egypt to avoid Herod. There was not nearly as much hype as I expected there… just a rope to block the entrance, and one sign explaining what you were looking at.
After more good food (at one point I seriously considered taking up a dishwashing job and sleeping under the tables of one restaurant so I would not have to leave) and, yes, even more shopping…we met up with an Egyptian friend of Sarahs, Ahmed…who gave us a quick tour of Islamic Cairo. He pointed out some fantastic places, that we would never have found ourselves, and even spent 20 minutes arguing with a mosque caretaker to try and convince him to allow Sarah and I inside after visiting hours. Sadly, he lost, but we got in as far as the door, and even just looking in from there was interesting. After walking through the open markets, we went to eat at this great restaurant on the Nile, and ate some amazing chicken alfredo. Conversation with Ahmed was great, and we were able to ask him a lot of the cultural and religious questions we had stored up in our head for weeks. He was very cool and open about answering our questions, even the ones that got a little bit uncomfortable. We discussed gender roles (very similar to Armenia), marriage (not at all similar!), politics, and (being PCVs) food. It turned into a late night, and we crashed into bed, knowing that tomorrow was our last day.
We spent our last half day at the Egyptian Museum. The museum was easy to find, since it was right down the street from our hostel, and is painted pink. Inside the museum was a neat freak’s nightmare. After a few minutes getting over to the chaotic system that reigned, I finally gave in and just starting taking in the thousands of years of history that surrounded me. Of course, I had to see the mummies first, and that was SPECTACULAR. I couldn’t believe that I was looking at the kings and queens that reined so so many years ago. A certain sadness hit me in this room too though…these men and women had gone through so much to protect their bodies for the afterlife, and they had been buried in pyramids and maze like tombs dressed in fancy clothes and gold jewelry and elaborate costumes..And here we were…staring at their stripped naked, preserved bodies. No worries, though, I swallowed that feeling and got on with the rest of my whirlwind visit.
After the mummy room I searched out King Tut’s hall. Spent an hour or two in there. The completeness of the collection was absolutely amazing. Like I mentioned earlier, King Tut wasn’t a great and mighty king, he gets most of his fame and accord for being one of the only complete and preserved tomb collections. All of the others were raided and robbed, and his only stayed untouched because another tomb had been built on top of his, blocking the entrance. Some of my favorite pieces included the gold lion bed and elaborate copic jars (the jars that hold the organs), as well as the crazy jewelry and of course the famous head mask.
The hour or two that I spent in the museum after King Tut is really a blur of sarcophagi and statues. It was all really interesting, but now it all kind of blurs together. Sorry.
The time finally rolled around for us to lug our bags down 4 flights of stairs and negotiate a taxi to the airport. That all went fine and well, and check in was a breeze. I don’t really remember much of the Cairo airport, except that it was early and I was cranky. Oh, and we ate cinabon. I slept through the flight to Dubai, and when we arrived (finally) at our hotel, it was bed time once again.
The next morning we woke up bright and early…then went to the mall. We spent 11 hours at the Dubai mall. That is correct, 11 straight hours at a mall. In my defense though, those 11 hours included 3 meals, 2 hours at an aquarium, and a 3 ½ hour long movie (Robin Hood). But yes, the rest of the time was spent browsing and shopping. It should be noted that the mall had an ice skating rink and waterfall (very cool) and just in case you missed it the first time, an AQUARIUM. That was amazing. I saw 3 new species there that I had never seen before, and probably some of the best exhibits ever. My favorites included a tank of Giant Spider Crabs (we are talking about 3’ across here) and a bamboo shark egg progression, which showed LIVE eggs from laying to hatching. I must have spent 30 minutes in front of that window, staring at all the little bamboo sharks in their different stages of development. SWEET.
On the way to the airport the next morning, we did get to see the world’s tallest building, and then a short wait at the Dubai airport (complete with another round of DD) and we were on our way back to Armenia. I was sad that our vacation was over, but excited to be going back to what has become my familiar. In Egypt I realized that not knowing the language is annoying, and I was happy to get back to not only my own bed and host family, but also to the place where I knew what was going on around me, and could truly relax again.
Egypt was an incredible experience, and I really don’t think what I have written about it does it any justice. It is for sure not a vacation for the light hearted, but despite the ups and downs, it was a blast for us. A truly once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget : ) .

Egypt pt 3

After a good night’s sleep we woke up and ate some breakfast, and then got on another train down to Aswan. 3 hours later we arrived and found our taxi and hotel pretty easily. We took the suggestion of the man behind the desk and went to a restaurant where for 10 bucks each we got enough food to feed a small army. I ordered stuffed chicken and quite literally got an entire chicken, stuffed with rice. Robby ordered pigeon (a local delicacy) and Sarah some lamb. Our meals all included lots of hummus, salad, bread, and even desert. The guy came by 20 minutes later and we admitted defeat and asked for a bag. He laughed at us, and brought our desert out ‘to go’. We walked back through the market (with surprisingly little harassment) and spent the rest of the night on yet another amazing roof, this one with a POOL!! Which we swam in (at least Sarah and I).
The next morning (I use that word loosely) we were woken up at 2:45a by a wakeup call from the hotel staff. We dragged our tired behinds out of bed, zombie walked down the stairs, grabbed a boxed breakfast (who can really eat that early in the morning??) and climbed onto the Egyptian version of a marshutka (15 passenger van). We (or at least I) slept pretty soundly through the next 3 hours…only being woken a few times by the force of the sand storm winds pushing our van a few inches to one side. Sadly, we missed the sunrise by half an hour…but we still arrived to Abu Simble Temple around 7 in the morning, and it was absolutely amazing. I was surprised by the number of tourists there, but not sure why I was…since on the way there we were in a ‘caravan’ of at least 30 buses and vans. The temple was incredible, the scale was amazing, and the inside of the temple was in great condition. It was hard for me to believe that not only had the temple had been around for almost 3000 years, but it had been completely relocated in the 60s to make way for the high dam! Yes, an entire temple built into the side of cliffs had been relocated and moved, and you really could not tell. We spent 1 ½ there, and it was worth the early morning wake up and fairly steep entrance fee. After Abu Simble, we continued on our way to the high dam, which in all honestly was not worth the money to get it. The view was blocked by the sandstorms that had rocked our marshutka earlier, and we stayed for all of 5 minutes. Philos Temple, next on the list, was a bit better. We paid to get in, and then had to haggle (turns out pretty unsuccessfully) for one of the 30 private boat captains to take us over to the island that the actual temple is located on. This temple too had been moved, and a new island (exactly replicating the original, including foliage) was rebuilt for it to sit on when the dam waters started rising. This temple was cool…but by this time they had all started blending in with one another! After almost leaving a couple behind, there was a brief and mildly heated exchange with the driver over whose responsibility (not mine!) it was to count heads…then it was more sleep on the 3 hour ride back to Aswan.
We bought our train tickets pretty quickly (thank you Muslim country with female only lines : ) ..and then it was relaxing (read: nap) time for the rest of the night. The next morning Robby and I went off to explore Elephantile Island (named for the rocks on the end that supposedly look like elephants bathing, I don’t see it though), starting with a half successful haggle for a reasonable water taxi. The island is not a big one, and in just a few minutes we made our way to the Aswan Museum. The inside of the museum was not that impressive, but we did have our own tour guide (mandatory guide, mandatory tip) which was ok. Then we went to the outside bit, which is an active archaeological dig site. SWEET! This bit also required a mandatory tour guide, and this one was a touchy one (see Facebook pictures)…but it was worth it, since he decided that the ‘do not enter’ signs did not apply to us. It was cool, we walked on the walls of old Roman houses and held thousand year old pottery. I loved it! There was one scary bit though, the man asked to ‘pray’ with me, and I reluctantly agreed and listened to him chant for a solid 3 minutes while holding his hands over mine, the whole time hoping that he was not binding us in marriage in some ancient Egyptian ritual. My fears were eased though when he repeated the same process with Robby. After catching the local water taxi back to mainland Aswan, we had some pool time, and then got on the train for the 16 hour ride to Alexandria.
I should mention here that for the first 2 hours of our train ride Sarah read to me. Yes, she read to me. Stories and tidbits and tips out of one of our guidebooks. It was fantastic, I forget how soothing it is to have someone read to you, and Sarah kept it interesting with voice changes, strategic editing, and eternal patience for my lack of attention span and ‘rewind’ requests. Thanks again Sarah! After that we ran into some obnoxious Australian people. No offense to any Aussies out there, but damn, these people were no good for your image, no good at all. In fact, they pretty much plagued the rest of the train ride, with their loudness at ungodly hours of the morning and constant complaints and trips to the bar. LAME. No worries though Mum, I embraced your patience and lack of temper genes, and successfully avoided causing the scene that I imagined in my head so many times that night!
After switching trains in Cairo (seamlessly, I might add), we arrived in Alexandria around 2pm. After showering (a must after an all night, crowded train ride) we went off to explore the streets in search of a bar that sold beer. Specifically a bar that served beer AND seafood. For those of you that know me well, you must be wondering, why?? I don’t like beer, or very much seafood for that matter. Robby and Sarah, the other 2 volunteers were just so excited for it though, and I had to try some seafood in Alexandria, even if it was just a little bit. We ran into a few issues though. A) We could not find the place to save our lives. After finally stopping for directions at a tourist information center, we walked in the general direction and stopped when a man on the street pointed out the fact that we were all about to walk right by the place we were looking for. Whoops. At least the lady at the tourist place had thought to call ahead and tell the owner to be on the lookout for 3 lost-looking American tourists! B) We assumed that like in the States, a restaurant would offer options other than seafood. Not so much. So I ate some salads (hummus, etc) and had a few pieces of calamari. The salads were disappointing, but the calamari was wicked fresh and pretty delicious. Not delicious enough that I could eat more than 4 or 5 pieces, but delicious enough for me to not cringe and stop mid bite of the first one. We hit a Pizza Hut and Baskin Robbins on the way back to the hotel. Oh my goodness, how could I forget? Our hotel was just one teeny, tiny block away from the sea. The Mediterranean Sea. There was even a breeze coming off of it! It felt so good to be that close again, breathing in the salty air!!!! I could have sat there staring at it for hours and hours…
After our dinner excursion, we called it a night. The next morning we set off to find the catacombs of Alexandria. Being too cheap to pay for a taxi (remember now, we don’t have real, money making jobs!) we decided to walk. Not such a good plan. We got lost and (Mum, close your eyes here) ended up walking through not only the industrial part of Alexandria, but also the slums and shipping areas. Awful, but interesting at the same time. After near constant harassment, we ran into a few gregarious little girls that pointed us in the right direction (thank you mandatory English and hand gestures!) and not 3 minutes later we were there. The catacombs were pretty sweet. They were built during the Roman times, and had a crazy mix of Roman and Ancient Egyptian influence on the art and architecture. Prime example, the Egyptian god of death all bulked up and dressed in Roman army garb. While it was cool to walk around and explore, the pull of the beach won out and I was anxious to get back and be on my way to the white, sandy beaches.
After some running around and unsuccessful haggling with a mean taxi man, Sarah and I finally made it to the ONLY affordable beach in Alexandria…well, the only affordable beach where it would be ‘acceptable’ for us to walk around in our Western style bathing suits. As we walked in we noticed a group of other Western women (they were speaking English, and did not have their hair covered) and decided that we were going to sit by them, just for safety in numbers. Turns out they were a group of Canadian Airline workers on vacation, and they were hilarious. No sooner had we sat down though, did things turn a bit to the worse. We were surrounded, quite literally, by Egyptian men. The men openly stared, whistled, and snapped pictures on their phone. This lasted for hours, and at times there were at least 50 men all around us. It was ridiculous, and further tainted my view of Egyptian men. If I was not a little bit used to extra attention like I get in Armenia, I probably would have snapped, and someone would have left the beach hurting. While the water was nice, and the ocean beautiful, the audacity, ignorance, and lack of respect of the men sort of put a dark ring around the cloud that is Egypt…while men in Armenia have never been obnoxious in such large numbers, at least here the women would have shamed them.

Egypt pt 2

The train station was an experience. Everything was written in Arabic, and it was a pain to figure out not only which platform you were supposed to be on, but where that platform actually was. Once you found the platform after being misdirected once or twice (ok, that only happened once…but hauling my big suitcase up and down those stairs was NOT a good time) you had to wait and hope that you could figure out which car you were in. The numbers were all in Arabic. Thank God for nice people willing to help the poor, confused tourists out. The sleeper train was not how I imagined. Much more modern than expected, and I was severely disappointed in the lack of dining car. You ate in your room, with little plastic trays that pulled out from the wall. The food wasn’t too bad though, once I traded Sarah my lamb for her rice. Sarah and I ‘roomed’ together, and Robby was in the room adjacent to ours. There was this little handy door that opened between the two though, and it was kind of like we were eating together. The guy came to pull our beds down (you needed a special tool, we figured out after a half hour of pushing every button and touching everything) and we fell asleep pretty quickly. You all know me, and therefore really don’t need me to tell you that I slept like a baby.
We arrived in Luxor at 7 in the morning (or 8, I don’t know) and the guy from our hotel met us at the stop. He was super nice, probably the nicest person I met in all of Egypt. Well, except Sarah’s friend of course...but he comes in later. Our hotel was a quick 3 minute walk from the station, but we were on the fourth floor and there were no elevators. I can tell you that I didn’t feel guilty at all skipping my nightly workout once while we were there. The manager gave us a few minutes to get settled, then we went upstairs for our ‘welcome drink’ (Hibiscus or regular tea, always choose hibiscus, yum : ) and to give us the low down on Luxor and things to do there. He was wicked sweet, and very understanding of our budget. Here is my shout out…if you ever go to Luxor on a budget, stay at the OASIS hotel. After some chit chat, he arranged for us not only to get student discount cards (which paid for themselves in no time-50% off most entrance fees-and boy is there a lot of those) but to also leave in a few hours for a Falluka (sail boat) trip. We showered and got ready to go. The falluka was one of my favorite things in Egypt. It was fantastically relaxing and low key. We sailed around for a little bit, had some tea, and then took a tour of Banana Island. We saw all sorts of fruit trees and animals, some irrigation techniques, and of course…a baby crocodile. When I say baby I mean it was only about 5 feet long. Then we ate bananas and were back on the water for a fantastic view of the sunset. Once we docked, we tipped the men and were on our way.
I was going to skip right to the next day, but there are some things that can’t be skipped. We were harassed, constantly, everywhere we went. We could not walk down a street without getting yelled at by some vendor, horse and carriage driver, or man. Of course, we did not help the situation by travelling in a group of one guy and two girls…but the harassment was way more than we expected. If I had 5 dollars for every time some Egyptian guy yelled ‘Casanova (to Robby), lucky man, you have two wives, give one to me’ then this trip would be paid for in full. Taxi and carriage drivers would also stop traffic, following slowly behind you for 5 minutes asking if you wanted a ride…even if you had already said no 1000 times. We are used to staring, used to getting unwanted attention (we do live in a foreign country and stand out quite a lot most of the time) but man, it got on our nerves after awhile. Walking down the streets was probably the most stressful part of the trip. Oh, and the cheesy pickup lines were abundant. The best of the trip: ‘I think you dropped something, it was my heart’. Oh yea, the Egyptian men had game.
After walking home (and being denied entrance to Luxor temple because we didn’t have small bills) we ended up just chilling out and reading on the roof, which was beautiful. It is where we ate breakfast every morning, and spent at least an hour or two there later on in the night. There were cushions spread out on the ground, and a nice canopy for sitting under during the day. The next morning was an early one; we hopped on a tour bus at 8am to head to West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings and Queens.
Valley of the Kings was the first, and most impressive, stop. We had a great guide and went into 3 tombs; Ramses I, Ramses III, and Ramses IV. Each of the tombs had their own ‘story’. The first was empty, except for the actual stone ‘tomb’ part, because it was too heavy for robbers to steal (like they did everything else). The second had immaculate paintings on the wall (including hieroglyphics and incredible colors) and it is also famous because it is the tomb that covered King Tut’s, effectively hiding it from tomb robbers. The third was known for being crooked. The engineers started digging it and halfway through ran into an older tomb, and then had to start digging at an angle to finish. Whoops. The Valley of the Queens was cool because of the stories. We were told about the insane amount of inbreeding that occurred. Kings married their daughters, Grandfathers their granddaughters, and so on. One king married his sister, had 100 kids, and 54 of them died of genetic defects. There was also a lot of murdering for power. One second wife poisoned the current king and his 4 children who were in line to take the throne before her son. Of course, she got away with it, because her son was then King. Oh and then the first wife was so sad about the deaths that she miscarried her 6 month fetus, and they mummified it (you can see it in the tombs). It could really be a soap opera.
The temple of Hasteput (I think that is it?) had the best story of all though. This woman had married her brother (see Inbreeding above) and didn’t have any children with him. When her dad died, she was the only child of the queen and had to marry her half brother to continue the line. Well, when he died, she was left to rule in place of her step son (who her brother had with his other wife) until he was old enough to take power. Well, she ruled. She took to power well, and to assert her legitimacy as ‘King of Egypt’ she began to dress like a man and wear false beards. She never did hand over the reign to her step son, and ruled until the day she died. When she was alive she had a large temple built for herself in the Valley of the Kings (of course, she is a King, so why should her tomb be in the Valley of the Queens?) and killed the architect who built it so he wouldn’t build a better one for a later King or Queen. After her death, her step son finally came to power, and destroyed everything she ever built. I would call that one heck of a hissy fit. It was only a few years ago (10 or 15) that the temple was restored and completely rebuilt.
After the temple we made our way to the Colossi of Memnon, of course with a quick pit stop to an alabaster store. The Colossi were cool, but couldn’t hold a light to everything else that we had seen that day. We took a quick hangist (relax time) on the roof before heading to Luxor Temple, this time with smaller bills. Like everything else in Luxor (besides our beloved roof) it was packed with tourists, but for sure still worth seeing as it was lit up for the night. Rumor has it that the current Luxor was actually built on top of the temple, and when it was discovered they moved everything out of the way and excavated it. Everything but a mosque that the people refused to let them touch. The mosque now sites on top of one piece of the temple. Not too much else to say about the temple, pictures are amazing though. Oh, and that night we walked to the British Pub, and ate some amazing fish and chips.
The next day was set aside for the East Side of Luxor. We came downstairs after breakfast and asked the same nice manager about renting bikes for the day. He brought 3 over and I took a quick ride down the street and was ready to go. Sadly though, Robby needed some practice. At one point, Sarah even ran behind him holding him steady as the hotel manager, street vendors, and I laughed. I was in tears, it was hilarious, but it was decided that the bikes were probably not a good plan. We, rather stupidly looking back, decided to save money and walk to Karnak Temple (about 2 miles away from our hotel). While two miles isn’t very long…it becomes quite horrific when you are walking in the middle of the day in the heat of Egypt. We were all heat drunk by the time we got there, and while I remember it being quite beautiful, I don’t remember much other than the fact that there was an A/C’d visitor’s center right next to it. The whole experience wore us out, and I couldn’t tell you what we did for the whole rest of the night.

Egypt pt 1

So..I started writing this blog about 3 ½ weeks ago..it’s lateness being posted is a testament to how crazy busy I have been : )
It should keep you busy for awhile…

Oh man, oh man do I have a lot of catching up to do. I have officially been back from Egypt for a week now, but my brain has for sure switched into summer laid back mode. Oops. I am sure that Environmental Leadership Camps (which are starting in 2 weeks, yikes!) will get me right back on track.
Egypt was fantastic. Incredible. Amazing. There are other words, but I am sure you get the gist. The plane ride to Dubai was not bad at all; I slept (surprise, surprise) the entire time. Once we landed in Dubai though, we had a 3 or 4 hour layover (I don’t remember exactly) and we spent our time walking around and enjoying all of the wonderful things the airport had to offer. And I am not exaggerating, there were some WONDERFUL things. First and foremost, there was a Dunkin Donuts. An actual, real live Dunkin Donuts. I spotted it when we were on one of those moving sidewalks heading to the Post Office (Yes, there was a post office in the airport, and yes, I was very late mailing out Danny Pryor’s birthday card… Ooops). Honestly, I just about stopped myself from jumping over the moving railing. Instead, I embraced my mother’s genes and waited patiently (or walked rather quickly actually) to the end of the sidewalk and booked it over to the familiar orange sign and Styrofoam cups. The words “Medium French Vanilla Iced Coffee, please” never sounded so sweet : ). It was beautiful. Tasted like home. I sucked it down in 5 minutes flat (on the way to and from the post office), and got another one before getting back on that darn moving sidewalk heading toward our gate. Other amazing things to mention (and remember, I have been in Armenia for a year now, eating potatoes.) were a great visit we had to the Cold Stones, the massive Duty Free section, the waterfall, the reclined chairs, the smoothie shop, and who can forget, the free internet access. The airport was like a warm up to our actual vacation…which started when we landed in Cairo 3 hours later.
The first impression was fantastic. Since we spend more than three nights at the first hostel, they came to pick us up at the airport for free. That was nice. We were sleepy, and kept answering the taxi guys automatically in Armenian, so trying to secure transportation ourselves would have been a nightmare. The ride from the airport was about 30 minutes, and we were all kind of in awe over the massiveness of the city. Armenia has 3 million people total. Cairo has 20 million. The tall apartment buildings, huge highways, and tons of people were a little intense. Not surprisingly, after getting to the hotel, checking in, and showering we all laid down for a ‘nap’ before going out and exploring a little bit. I put quotes around the word nap because we ended up not waking up until the next morning. Before falling asleep however, we did manage to arrange a driver to take us to Saqqara, Dahsour, and Giza the next morning.
The next morning we woke up bright and early (we had been sleeping for 15 hours) and had some breakfast before experiencing our most ‘touristy’ and expensive vacation day. The first stop was Dahsour, or the ‘red pyramid’. It is called that because it is red, easy to remember, no? It was one of the oldest pyramids, and one that was cheaper to go into. So we did. You had to go up the pyramid halfway (oh boy, did my behind get fit) and then go into this tunnel. The tunnel was at a 30 to 40 degree angle, and you descended on the equivalent of a boat ramp. I should also mention that it was only about 4 feet high, so you did this all hunched over. I counted my blessings for inheriting the ‘short’ genes of the family. After doing this for 30 or so meters you get into a big room. And that was basically it. There was another big room behind it, but nothing except for the bare walls and floor. We were inside for 10 minutes tops and then headed out. Going out was easier then getting in, since you didn’t feel like you were going to fall over all the time. It was still cool though. I was in a pyramid. From Dahsour you could also see the ‘bent’ pyramid. I’ll give you one guess to the origin of this name. Yup, it is bent. This was the first attempt at a ‘pyramid pyramid’ and the angles were a bit off. It was a solid first try though. Next we traveled to Saqqara, which is the first pyramid like structure to ever be built by man, on earth, ever. It is also called the ‘step pyramid’ because the sides look like steps; kind of like those toys you buy for kids to stack one on top of the other. That one was pretty cool. We also went into some tombs near Saqqara. The painting and carvings in them were absolutely magnificent. I had a hard time believing that they were really 3,000+ years old, and not just painted a few years ago. The colors were still bright in some places, and the carvings were immaculate and unbelievably detailed.
Next we were off to our last, and biggest, and MOST expensive spot of the day, Giza. But of course, on the way, our tour guide had to bring us by some shops for traditional papyrus and oils. He dropped us at the door, and at both places (which happened to be right next to each other) we had mini presentations and some crazy buying pressure. I had no intention of buying anything at either place…and we held out for long enough that the papyrus guy got nervous and cut us an incredible deal, or at least an affordable one. He offered Robby 4 small papyrus pieces for free if he bought a big one. So of course I jumped in on that and picked out 2 for myself. One has a depiction of ‘the honeymoon’ and the other is a person praying under a palm tree. I am keeping the second…and the first will be a gift. I held out at the oil store though…I wanted none of that…but left smelling like a whole bunch of different things. We finally got to Giza though (after the presentations and buying stuff we were at the shops for an hour or two) and it was in the next three hours that I decided that my father could never, EVER visit Egypt. EVER. So, the driver passed us off to some shop owner dude who sat us down and quickly ran through our ‘tour options’. There were 3 (short, medium, and long) with an array of prices (expensive, very expensive, and unbelievably expensive). Of course, we haggled a little and then chose the short. This did not make the guy happy and he kept reminding us that this is a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip etc. etc. We still said no, explained that we were volunteers and didn’t have that kind of money. Then spent another 20 minutes pushing the price down even further, until the man came up with a price for the long trip that we could afford. Sort of. We selected camels (our other option was horses, and who would choose horses in Egypt?) and thought we were done with the drama and ready to go. Of course not. The guy then introduces us to our ‘guide’ and tells us that he, in fact, does not pay the guide. And, if we think he should get paid then we need to pay him ourselves. Lovely. We just spent 3 days worth of budget and now we need to pay more. AY KEZ BAN. Little did we realize how much this foretold the rest of the trip. Well…we got on our camels and were off. It was a pretty fantastic time. We saw the 9 pyramids in Giza (3 big for the kings and 6 little for the queens) and then the housing and tombs of the workers. We also got off the camels to take some cheesy tourist pictures (see Facebook) and to see the Sphinx. Despite the hot and the flies, it was a really fantastic time. The pyramids were beautiful, and the camel was for sure an experience. On our way back to the office, we discussed what we would tip (in Armenian) and handed our guy the tip as we were getting ready to go. He was not impressed, and told us so. Not only would the haggling have driven my father crazy. But OH MAN. Would there have been a scene. The man basically stood there scolding us and trying to make us feel bad the entire time we waited for our car. What crap. I think we were all too shocked to really react appropriately. So we just stood there. Now back to the dad thing. If you know my dad at all, I want you to sit back and close your eyes and imagine THAT scene would have unfolded if he had been there. Very, very differently. While the whole obnoxious guide kind of put a downer on the next hour or so…we got over it pretty quickly after some KFC (Remember, we live in Armenia) with a nice South American guy we met at the hostel. After that we were off to catch the sleeper train to Luxor.

Egypt or Bust!

Well, it is 11pm on Wednesday night here in Armenia, and at this time tomorrow I will be at Zvartnots International Airport, waiting patiently (or probably not so patiently) for my flight to Dubai to depart! From Dubai, we (2 other PCVs and I) will fly from Dubai, to Cairo Egypt...spend 2 weeks traveling around Egypt...and then a couple of days in Dubai before heading back to home, sweet, home (Armenia that is). Why the sudden love for this place that I live?? Because, Summer, yes Summer!, is finally rearing her pretty little head...and I am one excited little sun baby!

As for our time in Egypt..we are going to cheap route, mostly, but will be spending 2 or three days in Cairo, Alexandria (beach..what?!?), Luxor (pyramids), and Answar (big ol' damn that I never remember the name of). I am mostly excited for Alexandria and Luxor. Plus visiting the Qatar (City of the Dead) and Egypt Museum in Cairo. Dubai will be equally astounding, but in a different, modern sort of way. I am dragging the other volunteers to the Atlantis aquarium (I NEED some marine life)and we are also going to get our good food (ie fish and chips) and shopping on. Yes, a mall, or many of them actually are on our list of things to do. We will probably have mild panic attacks when we go inside and experience the overwhelming massiveness, but my excitement for a new pair of jeans and some shoes will for sure get me over that right quick.

Back to Armenia though, the country has been treating me well in the last few weeks. In case you didn't hear my shouts of excitement last week, our Environmental Leadership Grant was APPROVED!!!!! I jumped up and down, and probably scared the crap out of my host family (they don't really do that here). I was incredibly, incredibly happy and relieved, it was a huge weight off my shoulders. We are now well on track to implement 5 camps in 4 different villages/towns this Summer...with 40 kids and 10 counselors at each camp. Oh baby, I am stoked! We have been working on the new curriculum (Team Building, Leadership, and Project Management) and have finalized the English versions...we are now working on the translations...which should be done well before the first camp starts the last week of June. We also had our Counselor Training already. Which was quite a success. All of the Armenian counselors showed up this year, which was a 100% increase from last years training! Also had about 20 PCVs staying in on house. It was actually the house of the Green Tavush (our partner NGO) Director's house. We horavats. It was an AMAZING night..and everyone was ready to go the next morning despite the appearance of some homemade nicknamed the 'nuclear bomb'. Good, good times. And an experience the Armenians won't forget for quite some time!

Well..I am off to do some last minute packing, and to work on my arguments for convincing the marshutka driver to let me, and my large suitcase, on board. Wish me luck, and be on the lookout for pictures!

I Apologize...

It has been a long time, I'm sorry. In my defence, my computer was broken for just over a week and just got fixed! This is probably how the Summer will be, I don't see myself having lots of time to sit down and write here, which makes me sad..and kind of happy for the business (ie lack of homesickness/flying time).Truly, I am really looking forward to it, especially if this constant rain ever lets up. Yes, it is still raining just about everyday. Not even just in Dilijan (which is known for rain) but all over the country. Places in the south were even getting snow as late as last week. Craziness.

There have been no big changes here, still chugging away at English and Environmental classes, and Green Camps (oops...Environmental Leadership Camps) are taking up more and more of my time. I hope you still have your fingers crossed for us so that our grant will be approved!

Went to Yerevan last weekend, for a meeting, and some fun. A lot of volunteers where there, and it was a nice time. Since it was sunny there for a few hours every day, a lot of time was spent at the many outdoor cafes that can be found all over the place in the city. We also checked out a new night club that had opened, I love dancing.

Another volunteer and I traveled on Sunday from Yerevan to Ijevan for another ELC meeting, which means I got to cross the landslide that has blocked the road for just about a month now. It had been raining for days, and we really didn't think about what a gigantic mud pile the landslide would have become. It was d i r t y. Of course, men were trying to 'rent' us wellies to cross, and many clever Armenians had plastic grocery bags to tie around their shoes. Us Americans, not so much. We rolled up our pants and went to town. We were accompanied by two young girls, each wearing a pair of 3" heels, wrapped in plastic bags. Don't worry, pictures were taken, and as soon as I get them from the other volunteer, they will be up on Facebook. One of the girls kept muttering 'vay mama jan', which is basically the Armenian equivalent of 'oh my goodness'. It was cute. When we finally reached the other side, I dug in my bag for my extra shoes, and the other volunteer was directed to a stream to clean off his shoes before we could get in the waiting marshutka and go the rest of the way.

Things are really coming together for the camps this year. We are working really, really well as a team..and the Armenians we are working with are fantastic. Their house has become my home away from home away from home (Dartmouth, Dilijan, Ijevan). We are all waiting like expecting parents for the grant to come through, so like I said before, keep those fingers crossed.

We are having the Counselor training on the 15th and 16th and for the first time all counselors are required to attend. We are hoping that will help the quality of the camps increase, as well as demand a certain level of commitment from the HCN counselors.

In only 15 days I leave for Egypt!!! I am so excited there are really no words! The other volunteer traveling with me keeps me updated on the weather reports. Egypt is already seeing days over 95, hello tan, here I come.

OH, and in just 20 days, it will be my and Armenia's one year anniversary! Time has flown.

Love you all!

Happy Birthday Uncle Allen!

More April Showers

It rains just about every day here in Dilijan, nothing that I didn't expect. I was warned by any and all before I moved here that Dilijan was warm, but rainy. Today, was a perfect example of typical Dilijan Spring weather. It started out warm and beautiful, turned amazingly sunny mid-afternoon, and by the time I was leaving work at 5, it was dumping buckets of rain during a thunderstorm. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed the storm, sat on the porch reading through the whole thing. How did I stay warm? With my Red Sox blanket, that arrived today in my package from Mum and Dad, along with a number of wonderful things!

Well, the school year is winding down, and everyone is busy getting ready for the craziness that will be this summer. Why crazy? I will be particpating in at least 5 week long camps. Yes, you read that right. You are probably thinking, is she crazy? Maybe I have, but at least I will stay busy. Unlike most volunteers, Summer is probably the hardest for me to be away from home. Who cares if I am missing out on blankets of snow and intense Nor Easters during the winter, Dilijan has a much milder climate. It is the Summer, when I am here in this lovely landlocked country, that home (ie days at the beach) really call out to me. My theory, if I am insanely busy, I won't have time to think about home!

The camps this year will be GLOW and ELC (Green Camps). I am a counselor at the GLOW camps, which I have written about before, and am the PCV Project Coordinator for the ELC (Green Camps). Basically, myself, along with 2 other amazing PCVs are arranging and planning everything for the newly developed Environmental Leadership Camps. The other 4 camps will be those. I am truly looking forward to them though, they are going to be a fantastic time, and I feel like the program Green Tavush and us came up with is a solid one. OH, and if anyone knows a church or diaspora group looking to become a sponsor for an amazingly fantastic environmental leadership camp in Armenia, please please please give them my information. :)

Well, today was EARTH DAY. You would think it would be a big deal for an EE Volunteer, but not so much. I had planned a big, Dilijan-wide scavenger hunt for the Sunchild and Artschool kids, but it became evident in the few days leading up that the art school was not planning on participating. Bummer. I was banking on the regular 15 to 20 Sunchild kids, but apparently another group was playing a movie downtown, and most of the kids went to that instead. I don't really blame them, I kept the activities a secret, but man, when only 4 kids show up it kind of sucks. Those 4 had a blast with it anyway though, and were very very happy that I decided to give them 5 STARS for coming and participating. Yes, I am not above bribery! The stars are still working like a charm if you haven't noticed. The closest kid is at 15 (they need 20) and he normally gets one or two minuses during a normal class. I give it till the middle of next week before they make it. I am planning on either bringing in some American candy for them (thanks again Mum for the awesome package) or baking them MnM cookies. We will see what kind of mood I am in.

Holy Moly, I almost forgot to tell you all about last weekend. It was simply amazing. There was a International Hockey tournament happening in Yerevan, and a solid 25 volunteers (including 4 from Georgia) took over Yerevan from Friday to Sunday night! The hockey games were fantastic, a lot more fans came out then expected, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The first game was South Africa (Hello Boys!) vs North Korea. Sadly, North Korea won. The second game was Mongolia vs Armenia, and boy, did the crowd get loud and rowdy (ok, so the rowdy part was mostly the Americans, oops)..but Armenia smothered the Mongolians 17 or 19 to zero, I can't really remember. It is best if you don't ask why.

While the hockey games were a great, 'wow this is almost like we are back home' experience, it was mostly spending the time with such a large group of volunteers that was fun. We spent lots of time sitting at outdoor cafes and just catching up with one another. I forget how lonely it gets here sometimes until I have a weekend with a bunch of people. That kind of event is always worth the time to get into Yerevan!

Well, I have to scour the internet for some good leadership activities...and finish up stuff for tomorrow's classes. It is off to Martuni, then Karenis, then Yerevan for the weekend...so no work will get done then. :)

An Amazingly Fantastic Week...

Despite being dead broke. Oh well! It was still a great time. Why? you ask. Well...I think the main thing is that I finally found a way to control my Sunchild kids. Really, I have come up with a system that makes them WANT to participate, WANT to behave, and WANT to not make fun of the silly American trying to teach them in not-so-good Armenian. It is B E A utiful!

It is very basic. I made a chart that had all of their names on it (with lots of open space after each name) then explained to them that from now on, I will be awarding stars for participation and good behavior, and would be drawing minus's for not-so-good behavior. When one person reached 20 stars, I would bring something in for the whole class.

When I first introduced the system, I thought they would laugh and think it was stupid, but oh no sir...they LIVE for stars, they BREATHE for stars. Even the 16 year old boy has become enraptured by the prospect of earning stars! hahahahaha i love it! Even the minus's do their job, just the threat of a minus or a gesture toward the chart with a not-so-happy look on my face brings about the immediate fixing of whatever behavior I did not like. I LOVE IT!

It is going to make my classes that much more effective and that much less chaotic (and stressful!).

Other things that are probably contributing to my happiness:

The amazing time I had hanging out at the Marine house last weekend. It included a real grill, with REAL burgers, and REAL cheese. We also relaxed playing pool and Guitar Hero. It was a nice, all-American night!

The upcoming hockey game on Saturday night, or more correctly games. It is going to be a great time with a large group of PCVs going...what fun! and who doesn't love a hockey game!

36 days and counting to EGYPT and DUBAI!!! That is right, the tickets are bought and (almost) paid for..which means I can officially start my countdown! Myself and 2 other volunteers will be visiting Dubai, Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor, and more than a few places in between. If anyone has suggestions for places to go...let me know!

Well..I just found a free ride to Yerevan tomorrow, but my host mum has to call and let them know..that means internet time for me is over for a little bit.

Enjoy the beach!

April Showers...

Hello again my friends. It is 11pm here, and I figured I would accomplish something today and update my blog. Not to say that today hasn't been a great day (it has) but I really didn't accomplish too much.

Started out with an English class at 10:40, there was a quiz, so I did nothing except for to give the 7th form kids someone strange looking to stare at in between openly cheating on their quizzes. As I sat there and watched, it was literally like a Whack-A-Mole game, with kids heads popping up once every few seconds and looking at their neighbors papers. There was also chit chat, despite the empty threat of taking quizzes away. On the plus side, the teacher and I took this time to pre-plan a little bit for the next lesson. It is about Notable American Presidents, and she pointed out that Obama is not included. I took the hint and then promised I would bring in some information about him for the next class. We are also talking about health words (I know, random, but we are all tied to the book) and after a discussion we decided that the kids did not need to learn words like 'ophthalmologist' or 'Cardiogram'. Seriously? Why are words like that even included it the book? Insanity.

After class I walked home in the sun, climbed my steps, dropped my bag, and took a glorious nap on the sun lit porch couch. Like a cat, I curled up in the sun. THAT was fantastic. My tatik decided I would get cold, and covered me with her sweater, then my host mum (I think) decided it wasn't enough, and covered me with my sleeping bag. You can imagine, between the warmth of the sun, sleeping bag, and sweater combined...it was very, very hard to wake up.

But I did, in time for my Sunchild class. I got there early enough to find out that a photography teacher from Yerevan was there, and I wouldn't be teaching. Worked for me though. I got a few things printed out (GLOW applications and whatnot) and then left a whole 45 minutes later. Walked to the Post. Picked up my waiting letters (Thank you Mem!) and mailed out the package. Mailing the package was a painful experience. Possibly one of the most painful experiences I have had in Armenia. Apparently, all packages must be wrapped in brown paper, which wouldn't be bad..except for they don't wrap gifts here, and the woman took a solid 25 minutes to wrap the small box. P A I N F U L. I suggested several times that she let me do it, but that was a no go. I died as she struggled, died. If you know me, you know that it took everything I had not to take the package physically from the woman, and then wrap it to my perfectionist standards. Oh and the kicker, she wrapped it upside down, yes, upside down. Finally, it was all wrapped up (not pretty by a long run, but wrapped at least) and then she handed me a book in Armenian with prices and started speaking to me in Russian. I reminded her that I didn't speak Russian a few times, and finally just told her (in Armenian) to mail it whichever way was cheapest. After taking my money, she told me it would reach American in 8 or 9 days. I barely suppressed a laugh. I am banking on maybe a month, if it doesn't get held up in customs and opened, or sent to China accidentally. We will see.

After the Post, I bought some spinach (yum!) and walked home. It was such a gorgeous day. Came home and sat on the porch again, reading, until I was called in for dinner. Spinach and pasta for summer. The spinach was cooked in garlic, egg, butter, and oil but good. I will soon enough introduce my family to the wonders of a spinach salad...but that will have to wait a few more weeks until the tomatoes and peppers come into season.

Moving on, Easter went well. It was a great time. A group of us went down to Yerevan a night early, and stayed at a volunteer's new house. Later, we braved the masses to catch a marshutka to Gyumri. That was a crazy experience. You needed to push and shove to get on the marshutkas, I, as a 5'2'' lady, had too push my way (with fellow PCVs hanging onto my bag) through 250 lb men, elbowing tatiks, and everyone else to get us onto the 4th marshutka that came through. The men underestimated me, and that was their weakness. I was not above pushing through groups of men, or ducking under arms unexpectedly. The determination of the swarm of Armenians was insane. They wanted ON the marshutka, it was chaos every time an empty one rolled up. I was mildly proud of myself for making it on, even though there was nothing left to sit on. Chairs were already being shared, and it was a 2 hour ride, so no one was up for standing. I impressed the driver with my ingenuity as I cleared a spot in the aisle and sat on my stuffed up sleeping bag. A few of the old ladies probably gossiped about my shameful behavior, but oh well.

Gyumri was rainy and cold, but I have come to expect nothing else from places outside of Yerevan and Dilijan. Most everyone was already there, and we had a great night hanging out, reading out of date cosmos, dying eggs and playing games. There was even a dance party when the drinks started flowing. We went to a new pizza place for dinner, it was great, despite the fact that they wouldn't make the pizza without mayo unless you ordered 3+ pieces. Worth it. Even had a tasty Chicken Ceasear Salad. YUM!

The next day was Easter, and it was a good one. Visiting volunteers were split between 3 houses, and my house was responsible for a green salad. We got up and went for breakfast then did some last minute shopping. We washed, chopped, and peeled for hours, which included last minute deviled eggs. Collectively, we sucked at peeling eggs, and so while the eggs were tasty, they were for sure not very pretty. Oh well. The salad was amazing. Since Gyumri is the 2nd largest city in Armenia, we had tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, mushrooms, and carrots to put in the salad. Not going to lie, I ate while I peeled!

Around 4 (only an hour late, not bad for PCVs) we lugged our food across town to meet everyone else and eat. It was delicious. Beyond delicious. There was leg of lamb, chicken, potato salad, traditional Armenian Easter rice (with raisins and veggies), and spinach/cheese deals that were great! Dessert was lemon squares, apple cobbler, funfetti cake, and vanilla ice cream. We were all soooo stuffed after eating, we could barely move. Like turkey coma, but without the turkey.

After digesting enough that we could comfortably walk again, a group of us left. Some of us to buy plane tickets to Egypt, some of us to play Battlestar Galactica. Guess which group I was in???? I will give you a hint. The game lasts about 5 hours, do you think I have that type of attention span, for a space game?? Nope. But my friends did, and my credit card didn't work...so I didn't get my tickets, but did have some quality internet time.

Around 1 am, after a on-the-fly baking (on my random half-joking request) of banana bread, another volunteer cooked up some amazing banana/chocolate/raisin bread. It was heaven, on a plate. And was accompanied by watching a cheesy, very cheesy, SciFi horror movie.

Finally in the wee hours of the morning, we walked home in the coldness and after talking to my mum and various other family members, I crawled into my warm sleeping bag and fell asleep. A comfortable end to a good Easter. Next year though, I will have to experience it with my host family...


The trip home was easy, and the weather sunny when I got in. Then I woke up this morning to have a great day. It has come full circle though, and I am more then ready to have my work out, then crawl into my bed and fall asleep.

I hope that you all had an amazing Easter with family and friends. One thing that I have learned here is that in the States we all take our family for granted. We think that they will always be a drive or phone call away or that it is just too much of a hassle to get everyone together. Believe me, the minute that those things are no longer an option, you wish you had spent more time with your family. You realize that no matter how frustrating those holidays might be, or how many small arguments might happen, it is worth it...because family is what holidays are all about.