That it has been so long since I posted a new blog. Again, I apologize. Sorry. I promise that I will get better, absolutely pinkie swear promise. On my honor.
Well, I guess the big question floating around is what I have been up to since I wrote that last blog. Well, the answer up until a month ago would have been Green Camps, and in the last month it could be any number of things, but mostly writing my SPA (Small Project Assistance) grant. Let me expand:
Green Camps took up my Summer. End of story. I participated in a total of four day camps and one overnight camp. The day camps happened in 3 different marzes (regions) and were held in Dilijan, Vardablur village, Nerkin Getashin, and Ijevan. While I did not participate in the Dilijan camp (I know, weird, since I live there) I did play administrator and/or counselor at the other three. Our final camp (the ADVANCED camp, if you will) included 4 exceptional student leaders from each of the other camps, plus twenty-four other campers from all around Armenia (OK, not all around, but 4 marzes). Not sure which camp I last blogged about, but let's just say that while everyone pulled through, the Ijevan camps were a little bit of a struggle. We are going to chalk it up to cultural differences and leave it at that. Would you like some Summer totals?? I thought you would..so here goes:
Total # of children participating in day camps (ELC): 160
Total # of children participating in overnight camp (ALC): 40
Total # of trained HCN (host country national) counselors: 16
Total number of trash clean ups completed: 5
Total number of 'don't litter' signs posted: 16ish
Total number of flowers planted: a whole lot
Total number of awareness signs made: 6
GRAND TOTAL OF CHILDREN WHO ARE NOW EQUIPPED WITH THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE TO PLAN AND LEAD THEIR OWN PROJECTS: drumroll please...
184!! Woohoo!
Not too shabby right? In the end, it was totally worth the arguments and hassles and late nights up developing new curriculum. Hopefully it was worth it to all of the people I harassed the crap out of too. They are still speaking to me, so apparently they thought it all turned out pretty OK to.
After a brief period of time (3 or 4 days, tops.) when I laid around all day doing nothing to recover from the above mentioned camps, it was time to start working with my organization (the Dilijan Art School) to write a SPA grant. SPA is a small grant program (max 5000 bucks) that is designed for PCVs. Ideally, the process of writing a SPA passes on grant writing skills to the host organization...mine did (I think) because I made them do most of the leg work, where I relied on my fluent English to make the thing sound pretty. I guess I also guided them in the right direction on a lot of things as well. When Armenians see limits, like say 5000 bucks, they want to reach those limits...and it was tough to impress on them the idea that we don't want to spend money just to spend it. And mother, so help me you make a crack here about my personal money spending habits! Anyway..It was also harder for them because there were rules to follow, rules that ABSOLUTELY had to be followed..that your position in society or friendship with another person couldn't get you out of. That is also something kind of odd here.
Our project, which I hinted at, is going to be to establish a Dilijan Community Art Center. I think the title says it all. It is going to be in two rooms in the school that are renovated but not used, and the community is going to pay all of the utilities and provide furniture and internet and the like (pretty great, no?..I was surprised)..we are going to buy a couple of computers, a scanner, and a projector. These various technologies will be used to do four different things every month:
1. A community art class, led by the art school teachers and open to only those people not attending the Art School or Art Academy already.
2. Guest lecturers, from Yerevan, talking about anything in the art world. We have people lined up to talk about their art projects, art history, and even ways in which they use art to call attention to other issues.
3. A public movie screening..which is pretty variable..but will include movies about the pyramids, about famous artists, and even animations and movies made by the Sunchild Eco Club in Dilijan.
4. Some type of computer program class. We were going to do Photoshop, but that is a problem..so we are searching for another program now. What is cool about this class is that we are going to make everyone that takes it come back and teach again, talk about sustainability!
So...that is my SPA in a nutshell...I am sure I will be talking about it a whole lot more now that it has been APPROVED! We just need to revise (see #4 above) and then we will be on our way. I am pretty pretty stoked for it!
Other then SPA, I have been working on (or very shortly will be working on) a whole bunch of side projects. My favorite is starting a Girl Scout Troop! Yep, you read it right, a Girl Scout troop in Dilijan, Armenia..but are you really all that surprised? I certainly am not. We are just getting started on the planning process now, but thankfully another PCV started one down south, so we can use a lot of the materials from hers. It is going to be a pretty good time, and as soon as the details are hammered out I will fill you all in.
I am also starting an 'English Corner' soon...basically it will be a little library chock full of easy English novels and books for people to borrow and use to increase their English skills. I am going to have a once/month conversation club as well, so people in the community who have fairly OK English skills can come and practice. Not like I really pick up on mistakes anymore, I can barely handle the language myself :).
One of the leading youth, well, leaders in the community is also working with me to create some EVS projects. This means that we are trying to get European volunteers (European Volunteer Service) to come to Dilijan. This is for sure just in the 'kicking it around' phase..but we have four of five project ideas that just need to be flushed out a bit more. Cross your fingers, this would be AMAZING for the community.
OH MY! How could I forget my Sunchild club? We are staring again in October (the kids are mighty excited!), but the format is going to be a tid bit different from last year. I basically told Sunchild that I needed someone to teach at least English with me..and it is getting worked on. This year though, I am only having club 3 times a week for an hour and fifteen minutes at a time. If you remember earlier blogs, you know that last year we met an insane 4 or 5 times a week for 2 or 3 hours at a go....TOO MUCH! The kids got bored, I got irritated, and it was fun for no one. So this year, I basically grew some and decided it wasn't going to be that way and let them know about it. I will be teaching one English class, one environmental class, and one 'connections' class once a week. I think the English and environmental are pretty strait forward..but the connections is probably the coolest of them all. Connections is when I am going to make the 'connection' (huh, get it?) between the kids everyday lives and what they are learning in the other two classes. This means that we will be doing nature related art projects, creating our own service projects, and writing letters (in English) to pen pals in the states.
Keep your fingers crossed that all of this works out according to plan for me...I have less then a year left (10 1/2 months exactly, but who's counting?) and a lot of things to accomplish in that time...
hajoutsyun dzes (Goodbye, plural!)
