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.