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. :)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
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.
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.
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