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!