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.
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