Sorry that it has been awhile, I have been pretty busy and haven't had much of a chance to catch you all up on things. So, here I go:
Got back on Sunday from a week-long international training conference. I think I told you about it, but didn't have very many details. It was about the EVS program (The European Volunteer Service, or the European equivalent to the PC) and was truly an incredible time. There were 22 participants total from the following countries: Moldova, Turkey, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and of course, Armenia. It was an incredible group of people, and amazingly we all got along and had a great time with one another. Since I am not so good at sitting still for long periods of time (without falling asleep, that is) I was nervous, but soon found out that falling asleep would not be a problem. The trainers were fantastic about keeping everything fun, and taking lots of short breaks to keep our energy up and our boredom level down. I learned a whole lot of new games along with the EVS information. Oh, and the official blog for the training can be found at http://evstcdilijan.wordpress.com/, just so I don't have to give a play by play of all the activities we did. Everything was especially interesting for me as a current international volunteer. I was able to answer questions and speak about challenges from a point of view that wasn't really in the mind set of all of the others there. Learning about the entire EVS program (or programme, as the British write it) was also interesting (boy, I like that word today). While the PC is far more structured and organized, EVS offers opportunities to those who haven't had a shot at higher education and are not specialists. The entire week was stitched up with a day in Yerevan. Most of us went to Vernasage (a large, open-air market) and I bought a ring and two scarfs (I know Mum, but I couldn't resist) and then the group of us met at Cascades. While some of us (me, included) decided to walk up the daunting set of stairs, others took the elevator and we met at the top for some great group pictures. We later a ate dinner (accompanied by LIVE, traditional music) that was peppered with frequent toasts and outbursts of songs. Pretty sure there was even some coffee grounds readings going on at the end. When we left the restaurant, around 11:30 a group of us went dancing and later to get some late night shawarma. All of the pictures are now up on my facebook, under EVS training or something close to that.
Had a day to recover, and then back to work. I am still working at the schools, and am teaching English and Biology with Sunchild. All of that, on top of the fact that I am taking a lead on Green Camps this year, and things are kind of iffy with them right now. We are for sure at a crossroads, and we are all hoping to find a compromise that lets us continue working with them on top of the program itself becoming even a little bit sustainable. I guess we will see.
Planning a trip to Egypt for the end of May, I am crossing my fingers that it all works out (c'mon Uncle Sam with a decent return) and can't wait to spend 2 days in Dubai and a week in Egypt.
Well, some more work just came up, and I still need to get my lessons in order for tomorrow. I promise I will try and get better at this.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Bari Luz!
That means good morning in Armenian, and it is how people greet each other when they wake up. I figure since it is still the morning my time, I can get away with using it here. It literally translates "Good light". I like it.
Things here have been going pretty smoothly in the last few weeks, I am maintaining the schedule that I set up a month ago, and that is making my life that much less stressful. English lessons at the school are getting better and better. Right now I help to teach a 4th, 5th, and 7th form class twice a week. It keeps my afternoons (and sometimes mornings) busy. I really love working with the kids. They have gotten over their initial shyness, and now, when I walk into the room before the start of class I am bombarded with "hello"s, "how are you"s and a number of different questions in a mix of broken English and Armenian. It is pretty overwhelming on the days I go to class for 9, but I am getting used to it. I talk in English with them as much as I can, anything to make them practice conversations. Luckily, I have enough Armenian now that I can translate for them if I need to, and they are learning that I want them practice their English with me.
Yesterday and today both went amazingly well. I played BINGO for the first time with my 7th form class, and oh boy was it a hit. They were practicing their colors, and also words from a story about aliens that they read in their text books. After the initial confusion (they like to copy off one another, and I had to explain many times that they couldn't copy each others sheets!) they really got into the game. Any time one of them would have the word, they would jump up and down and get all excited. Near the end, they would call out words they wanted me to say, it was hilarious. Walking out of school that day, I was serenaded by "bingo, bingo, bingo" in a melodious tune some of the more rambunctious boys had made up. I worry that every time I walk into the class they will want to play BINGO, but I guess we will see.
On Monday, my 4th form children were learning winter words, such as snowman, hat, sled, mittens, etc. For class today, I cut out pieces of a snowman (and some accessories) and wrote the words in English. There are only 10 kids in the class, so I made sure to have a piece for everyone. The child that could give me the correct translation of the word, got to decorate the piece, then at the end we glued it all together and hung the snowman on the wall. It was nice to see the kids all excited about learning, instead of just sitting and copying words for the whole class. The teaching methods here still get to me sometimes, but I do what I can to get everyone to participate, and hopefully the teachers will pick up as much from me as I do from them.
My Sunchild classes are going pretty good as well. We just finished a set of English classes (which the kids love), and are now in the middle of a set of four Ecology/Environmental classes (which the kid's love most days, and tolerate others). I teach the English classes alone, and we usually introduce a new topic and 10 new verbs or words each class, then do some hands on practice and activities. Recently, we learned the days of the week and months of the year. For the months, I had written out all the months and then cut them into pieces. As I handed it out to the kids, and it dawned on them that they had to arrange all the names correctly and then in order (Jan to Dec) I got many bursts of "lav eli" (the direct translation doesn't work, but it is really and exasperated "be good")...they worked it out though, and hopefully picked up on the pronunciations of the words (I cut them by how you sound it out, if that makes sense in anyone's head but mine).
I 'co-teach' the Environmental lessons with a Botanist/Biologist that works here in Dilijan at the National Park. Co-teach is in quotations because there is really nothing 'co' about it. He starts off with his lecture and when the kids get obviously bored and intolerant after an hour or so, he leaves (I mean walks out the building leaves) and I take over with a hands on game or activity. While I am not really passing on skills to the man like I am supposed to, I figure the kids are at least getting something out of the activities, and I am being sustainable in that way. I enjoy the activities at the end, and the kids like the mix up after the lecture. I also try to do activities that can later be hung on the walls, so the kids can remember and be proud of what they are doing. The activity that has been my favorite so far was when I split the class into three teams. They each had 10 minutes to draw the water cycle from memory, and then on margin of the paper write what they as children and students could do to help the water pollution situation in Armenia. While I couldn't understand everything that they wrote, I am sure a lot of good ideas were brainstormed and now hang taped on the wall.
I am very excited because the International Training Conference that I told you all about earlier starts on Sunday. It lasts a week, and while it is held in Dilijan, I will be staying at a hotel the entire time (Yay central heating and shower!!!). It is going to be interesting, because I am attending not as a PCV, but as a volunteer for a local youth NGO (YCCD), which I still don't know much about, but will be getting involved in during the upcoming months. It is being funded and hosted by EVS (European Volunteer Service, the European equivalent of the PC) and will focus on critical thinking and working within the EVS programs. We will see how it all goes down, but I am very excited because there will be people there from 9 other countries including Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, and Georgia. All of them have some English skills (I hope, the training IS being presented in English) and it will be nice to meet some new people and make connections. Unfortunately, I will not have internet that week (unless I sneak home one night!), but I think the shower situation will make up for it, especially if there is a bathtub!!!!!
Well, Angela (my host mum) just called me for lunch (Ari, hats ootenk) and I am going to go eat some mashed potatoes and pasta. Oh boy, do I want it to be Spring again!
Love you all and miss you lots!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNA!!!!!! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Take lots of pictures and have a blast!
Aunt Mary and Aunt Jen: Thank you for the cards! They were great!
Mum- Thanks again for the package!
Things here have been going pretty smoothly in the last few weeks, I am maintaining the schedule that I set up a month ago, and that is making my life that much less stressful. English lessons at the school are getting better and better. Right now I help to teach a 4th, 5th, and 7th form class twice a week. It keeps my afternoons (and sometimes mornings) busy. I really love working with the kids. They have gotten over their initial shyness, and now, when I walk into the room before the start of class I am bombarded with "hello"s, "how are you"s and a number of different questions in a mix of broken English and Armenian. It is pretty overwhelming on the days I go to class for 9, but I am getting used to it. I talk in English with them as much as I can, anything to make them practice conversations. Luckily, I have enough Armenian now that I can translate for them if I need to, and they are learning that I want them practice their English with me.
Yesterday and today both went amazingly well. I played BINGO for the first time with my 7th form class, and oh boy was it a hit. They were practicing their colors, and also words from a story about aliens that they read in their text books. After the initial confusion (they like to copy off one another, and I had to explain many times that they couldn't copy each others sheets!) they really got into the game. Any time one of them would have the word, they would jump up and down and get all excited. Near the end, they would call out words they wanted me to say, it was hilarious. Walking out of school that day, I was serenaded by "bingo, bingo, bingo" in a melodious tune some of the more rambunctious boys had made up. I worry that every time I walk into the class they will want to play BINGO, but I guess we will see.
On Monday, my 4th form children were learning winter words, such as snowman, hat, sled, mittens, etc. For class today, I cut out pieces of a snowman (and some accessories) and wrote the words in English. There are only 10 kids in the class, so I made sure to have a piece for everyone. The child that could give me the correct translation of the word, got to decorate the piece, then at the end we glued it all together and hung the snowman on the wall. It was nice to see the kids all excited about learning, instead of just sitting and copying words for the whole class. The teaching methods here still get to me sometimes, but I do what I can to get everyone to participate, and hopefully the teachers will pick up as much from me as I do from them.
My Sunchild classes are going pretty good as well. We just finished a set of English classes (which the kids love), and are now in the middle of a set of four Ecology/Environmental classes (which the kid's love most days, and tolerate others). I teach the English classes alone, and we usually introduce a new topic and 10 new verbs or words each class, then do some hands on practice and activities. Recently, we learned the days of the week and months of the year. For the months, I had written out all the months and then cut them into pieces. As I handed it out to the kids, and it dawned on them that they had to arrange all the names correctly and then in order (Jan to Dec) I got many bursts of "lav eli" (the direct translation doesn't work, but it is really and exasperated "be good")...they worked it out though, and hopefully picked up on the pronunciations of the words (I cut them by how you sound it out, if that makes sense in anyone's head but mine).
I 'co-teach' the Environmental lessons with a Botanist/Biologist that works here in Dilijan at the National Park. Co-teach is in quotations because there is really nothing 'co' about it. He starts off with his lecture and when the kids get obviously bored and intolerant after an hour or so, he leaves (I mean walks out the building leaves) and I take over with a hands on game or activity. While I am not really passing on skills to the man like I am supposed to, I figure the kids are at least getting something out of the activities, and I am being sustainable in that way. I enjoy the activities at the end, and the kids like the mix up after the lecture. I also try to do activities that can later be hung on the walls, so the kids can remember and be proud of what they are doing. The activity that has been my favorite so far was when I split the class into three teams. They each had 10 minutes to draw the water cycle from memory, and then on margin of the paper write what they as children and students could do to help the water pollution situation in Armenia. While I couldn't understand everything that they wrote, I am sure a lot of good ideas were brainstormed and now hang taped on the wall.
I am very excited because the International Training Conference that I told you all about earlier starts on Sunday. It lasts a week, and while it is held in Dilijan, I will be staying at a hotel the entire time (Yay central heating and shower!!!). It is going to be interesting, because I am attending not as a PCV, but as a volunteer for a local youth NGO (YCCD), which I still don't know much about, but will be getting involved in during the upcoming months. It is being funded and hosted by EVS (European Volunteer Service, the European equivalent of the PC) and will focus on critical thinking and working within the EVS programs. We will see how it all goes down, but I am very excited because there will be people there from 9 other countries including Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, and Georgia. All of them have some English skills (I hope, the training IS being presented in English) and it will be nice to meet some new people and make connections. Unfortunately, I will not have internet that week (unless I sneak home one night!), but I think the shower situation will make up for it, especially if there is a bathtub!!!!!
Well, Angela (my host mum) just called me for lunch (Ari, hats ootenk) and I am going to go eat some mashed potatoes and pasta. Oh boy, do I want it to be Spring again!
Love you all and miss you lots!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNA!!!!!! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Take lots of pictures and have a blast!
Aunt Mary and Aunt Jen: Thank you for the cards! They were great!
Mum- Thanks again for the package!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sorry for the delay...
I am failing at this updating the blog thing. Well..it is late and I am tired (you'll find out why in just a moment) so I am going to keep it short and sweet and hopefully get my act together this week and write a nice long one for you guys. Where to begin?
HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY SARAH!!! I hope that you had a fantastic birthday, I miss you and love you!
Last friday, I traveled with a fellow volunteer to visit some friends in Sisian, which is a town located in Syunik Marz. That is the big, long marz in Southern Armenia. It is about 5 hours from Dilijan..including a 2 hour marshutney ride and 3 hour taxi ride. I was crazy tired by the time I got in, but had a pretty good weekend. Saw a couple of beautiful old monasteries and churches (pictures coming to Facebook soon) and even hiked around the Armenian version of Stonehenge. We call it Stonehinge, and I thought that it was pretty cool. The views were worth it.
The first full week of February was spent in Tsaghkadzor, a ski town in Lori Marz. That is the marz to the left of Tavush (my Marz). All of the A 17 volunteers spent 3 days there. We spent our days learning about writing grants, and our evenings partying, going for coffee, and sledding. It really was a great time. There is one cafe there called Jazzve, and they have American style coffee and some tasty, cheap desserts.
After our workshop, a few of us stayed and rented a house for 2 nights near the mountain. We all went up to the lifts on Saturday and went skiing and snowboarding. Since I haven't had the opportunity to try either, and all of my friends snowboard, I chose to try snowboarding. It was an adventure to say the least. I hurt today, but it was worth it.
Well, returned to Dilijan today to find that a package I was waiting on had come in, It was a nice end to the week.
I am very tired and want to drag my sore body to bed, up for my English classes at school tomorrow, and maybe my Eco-club in the afternoon.
I miss you all! Keep warm, and think of me as you turn up your thermostats to ward off the cold!
HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY SARAH!!! I hope that you had a fantastic birthday, I miss you and love you!
Last friday, I traveled with a fellow volunteer to visit some friends in Sisian, which is a town located in Syunik Marz. That is the big, long marz in Southern Armenia. It is about 5 hours from Dilijan..including a 2 hour marshutney ride and 3 hour taxi ride. I was crazy tired by the time I got in, but had a pretty good weekend. Saw a couple of beautiful old monasteries and churches (pictures coming to Facebook soon) and even hiked around the Armenian version of Stonehenge. We call it Stonehinge, and I thought that it was pretty cool. The views were worth it.
The first full week of February was spent in Tsaghkadzor, a ski town in Lori Marz. That is the marz to the left of Tavush (my Marz). All of the A 17 volunteers spent 3 days there. We spent our days learning about writing grants, and our evenings partying, going for coffee, and sledding. It really was a great time. There is one cafe there called Jazzve, and they have American style coffee and some tasty, cheap desserts.
After our workshop, a few of us stayed and rented a house for 2 nights near the mountain. We all went up to the lifts on Saturday and went skiing and snowboarding. Since I haven't had the opportunity to try either, and all of my friends snowboard, I chose to try snowboarding. It was an adventure to say the least. I hurt today, but it was worth it.
Well, returned to Dilijan today to find that a package I was waiting on had come in, It was a nice end to the week.
I am very tired and want to drag my sore body to bed, up for my English classes at school tomorrow, and maybe my Eco-club in the afternoon.
I miss you all! Keep warm, and think of me as you turn up your thermostats to ward off the cold!
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