Done and Done...

Sorry for the delay, but that is my Egypt trip in it's entirety. It was amazing, and a perfect way for me to escape for a little while into a whole other world. I loved it, and if you haven't checked out the pictures yet on Facebook, I strongly recommend that you do. They are fantastic : ).

Since returning from Egypt, my crazy summer has officially begun. I participated as a counselor at GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp last week. While it was exhausting and frustrating at some points, the whole experience was totally worth it. There were a total of 66 girls, split into 6 home groups complete with a Armenian and American counselor. We covered everything from sexual education and HIV/AIDS (my favorite session) to journal making and personal reflection. Sexual education is basically non-existent here. Girls are expected to remain virgins until they are married, and in fact can be publicly shamed and 'returned' to their families if they are not. A complete double standard when a lot of young men grow up believing that it is fine to openly stare at and/or harass young women, and prostitution is abundant. While the broader sexual education was covered in a large group by a guest speaker, it fell on us to talk about HIV/AIDS and all that came with it. After playing a game where they spread of HIV/AIDS is shown by the exchange of fluids (non-condom users) and the clinking of glasses (condom users) to the tune of a drama, I asked the girls if they had any questions. Their openness totally surprised me. I was asked about using condoms (a not so popular thing to do here), more detailed questions about the spread of STDs, and even pregnancy. One girl asked me if using condoms at one point in your life would prevent you from getting pregnant later. I am not going to lie, when children here ask me questions like that due to the lack of basic sexual education, it makes me angry that there are groups in the US that want to push us back to the state that Armenia is in right now, where 16 year old girls have no idea how to use a condom or protect themselves. It is fairly ridiculous. Learning about condoms and STD prevention is not going to make kids go out and want to have sex, they naturally want to do that anyway. If anything it is going to scare the bejesus out of them and encourage them to wait even longer. Off track though, let's get back to it...

Nutrition (my second favorite) was especially interesting for me to teach, since so little of it is covered in school courses here. It was a favorite for a number of reasons, a) I happen to know a little bit about it b)it was a way for me to address the crazy unhealthy weight loss beliefs here and c) it was the perfect place for me to slip in a little bit about anorexia and bulimia. While it was hard to tell a bunch of young girls that have grown up on bread and potatoes at every meal that those foods aren't really the best for you, it was nice to be able to teach them easy ways to remember portion sizes and to dispel the belief that potatoes are vegetables and ice cream is dairy. If you have read some of my previous posts, then you probably remember some of the crazy dietary beliefs that are floating around this country. The first thing I crushed was the belief that drinking water makes you fat. I made sure to point out that 8 glasses of water was an integral part of the food pyramid. I also explained that no matter how many times you chew your food before swallowing, it was not going to change the nutritional make up of that particular food. I think I saved some jaws a LOT of work, and some families and additional 20 minutes at the table waiting while their daughter chewed each morsel 100 times trying to turn the 'bad' fat into 'good' fat (her words, not mine). I then asked them if they had questions or comments, and that led smoothly to the healthy weight loss and eating disorder discussion. We talked about nutrition labels and daily calorie intake. One girl told me in all seriousness that she only ate 500 calories a day. I told her she was counting wrong. She insisted, and I jumped into healthy calorie intake and anorexia. Another girl (who we had already brought to the director for not eating) asked me what would happen to her if she stopped eating for 3 days. I reiterated the problems associated with anorexia, and then did it again. The girls really seemed to be taking it all in, and I can only hope that I had some impact on how they eat...anorexia runs rampant in this country and is generally not seen as a problem.

Gender roles was also covered, but it was interesting, the girls seemed to know that things should be better, but really had no idea of what they wanted. After teaching them the difference between gender and sex, they seemed to kind of pick up on the fact that gender roles have nothing to do with physical capability, and that they can be changed and molded. Of course, my dreams were shot when I asked them to draw what they see as gender roles 15 years from now, and the entire picture existed of a young girl in truly slutty clothes and a man crying in the corner with some words like 'equality' written all around them. I like to think that a lot of that was lost in translation...

Outside of the classes, we also had mandatory exercise every morning. An experience in itself. As counselors, we led the sessions, and the girls were exposed to yoga, kickboxing, aerobics, volleyball, kickball, and running/walking. I led the walking a few times, and it was hard to get them anywhere past a easy paced stroll, which was aggravating. Kickball went much better though, they really got into the game, and it was fun to play with them. I did participate in a couple of yoga classes as well. At one point we were asked to touch our toes, and the PCVs were the only ones that could do it. Exercise is just not a big thing here, but I am hoping that these girls took something away from it. I was glad it was built into the morning too, since I was too busy at night to do my own routine and not exercising would have just made me that much more stressed out all week!

It was pretty great to watch the girls grow and bond during their 8 days at camp. I loved watching the quiet girls get loud, and the shy girls become involved. Night activities included dancing, and I was that annoying counselor that went up to all the girls not dancing and pulled them in. oh well. We also had a campfire, talent show (see mermaid pictures on facebook) and scavenger hunt. For most of these girls it was the first time they had ever been away from home, and while the first few days we struggled with homesickness, during the last few we struggled with getting them to go to sleep and STOP interacting with one another at 1:30 in the morning (exercise was at 8 sharp!). Each counselor pair was on duty during one night, and that involved making sure girls were in their assigned rooms (we had one girl lay on top of another to try and hide her), that lights were off (my favorite was when they shut the light off AFTER we knocked and told them to open the door), and that they were not on their balconies hanging out, but legitimately laying in bed. One night, this somehow turned into all the girls on their porches (which all faced the same direction) screaming and chanting all of the counselors names...while of course it was WAY past lights out, we let this one slide ;)

It was great to be involved in such a great camp, I really do believe the week had a positive impact on every single participant, camper and counselor alike.

After GLOW, I went to lake Sevan to celebrate the 4th of July. Somewhere around 27 PCVs were there at different points during the week, and it was fantastic to get together and see everyone. Despite a bout of sadness (always happens on the holidays), after some time at the water park, some great burgers complete with homemade bbq sauce, and some vodka it turned into a pretty great weekend. We had some good times around the campfire, and there was some pretty entertaining arguments over the hammock that one volunteer had thought to bring. It was a pretty chill weekend, which is exactly what I needed to unwind after GLOW.

On the 10th I head off to a Green Camp in Vardablur, my first of four. Cross your fingers for me :)...