The Winter that was slow to start is showing no signs of stopping. I am talking cold, ::brrrr:: cold!
What does that mean? I get an hour by my computer (tops!) before my frigid handsicles make it impossible for me to type. That is why 90% of my time (outside of classes) is spent within a 3 ft radius of my wood stove.
Those who know me know that I can't just SIT there with nothing to do. So I read a little, and write lessons, and then spend most of my time working on whatever knitting/crocheting project is available to me.
I just learned to crochet (thanks to some awesome Tavush ladies) and am working on improving my skills (since I only mastered the granny square) so I can make two very important ladies in my life blankets for their little spoiled ones-to-be.
In the knitting world, I am working on a simple scarf for a certain someone who wanted specific colors...and then I am moving on. To what? cables. Yes, cables. They intimidate me, but I will conquer them. First, in a scarf (check out ravelry.com) and then in a hat. Bring it. I am ready...
Sooooo here is the begging part! I am in desperate need of:
Knitting needles..I have 4,6, and 8...and the 4 is dpns, the other two normal. If anyone has any circular needles sitting around (I need smaller ones, for hats and mittens, since the only size found here is sweater big) or any other normal needles sitting around it would be GREAT if you could get them to my mom.
Also, a row counter, and those nifty little stoppers you put on dpns so your stitches don't fall off constantly would be pretty great too : )
As for crocheting. I have nothing. I am borrowing a hook from a friend. So ANYTHING that you have lying around and don't use anymore would be SUHWEET!
and, since I have already lost all of my shame; some peanut butter, fruit snacks/fruit cups, and some graham crackers would be amazing.
PS...I pinkie swear promise this is my very last desperate/begging blog, ever.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
like I said, long...
Since we got the longest and gnarliest ‘loose end’ out of the way first, there are just a few more. I have mentioned in a few posts already that the GAD (Gender and Development) Initiative has been working with Armenian Young Women Association (AWYA http://www.aywa.am/en/index) to plan a Woman’s Day Expo, which will happen (now really cross your fingers) on April 4th. What is Woman’s Day? You ask…well, it is what it sounds like. A day (or days, as there happens to be two in Armenia) that celebrates the amazingness and awesomeness and incredibleness of women. Can you see why I like it? On Woman’s Day(s) all the ladies get flowers from their families, or students, or friends. And there is usually some type of celebration with cake and wine and cognac. Last year, PCVs worked with AWYA to organize a poster and essay contest. The contest was open to anyone from 6th form to 1st year in University, girls and boys, and they had to create a poster or write an essay around the theme ‘Women in the Workforce’. This year, we are looking to build up the event even more. The poster/essay contest this year is ‘Women in Leadership’ (and you can bet my kids will be participating) and the winners of the contest will be invited to Yerevan for an award ceremony. The ceremony will take place in the middle of our planned expo. Hopefully, there will be different NGOs there, focusing on Woman’s health, domestic violence, education, etc. We will also have different dance groups and craft exhibitors (all women, of course) and will even have a ‘childran’s section’ where younger children can come and play games or do team building exercises. Quite frankly, I am pretty darn stoked for the whole thing! Right now, I am working as the coordinator between AYWA and the PCV team that is working on the whole organization aspect of the event. We will hopefully have a venue organized soon, and from there we can work on enlisting NGOs and crafters and dance groups for the event.
Of course, outside of these events, life in Dilijan continues on. Dilijan might be my LONGEST and thickest string. It is my home, my community. It still puts a smile on my face as I walk down the street and a bunch of boys from my classes yell ‘hello’ at me from across the river, or actually mean it instead of just being rude little brats. Or when girls that never spoke to me before will walk down the stairs with me and talk to me about class or what is going on. I can honestly say that I love them, and really, they love me. It never gets old to walk in the class and see the kids jump up in excitement as a big smile spreads across their face. My after school English Environmental club is going spectacularly well. I am alone in the classroom, and they listen. They legit listen. And when someone doesn’t, they self police and the ‘problem’ is told pretty quickly to cut it out. I love playing the games with them, watching them learn things without the standard screaming teacher, shaming, and rote memorization that happens in the normal lessons. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I am going to make valentines with the kids in my normal lessons, and then on Tuesday during club we are going to make some pretty valentines to give to one another.
If that goes well, I am even going to bring the Valentine theme into my adult English class at the unemployment center. This class happens for 2 hours every Wednesday. There are 10 or 15 women at every class (plus one man) and they are great. They are totally enthusiastic for everything that we are doing, and love just talking to me. In fact, the only reason I know the class exists is that they sent their teacher looking for me, telling her that they want me to come and help with class. Last week, my third class with them, we worked on food words, and taking a page out of my own Armenian training, I had them prepare menus to share with the rest of the class. This week (if the Valentine thing doesn’t work out) I am going to have them write out recipes. That should be a good time. My other ‘adult’ class or ‘conversation club’ is still going just OK. It has gotten much better though. I have given them more dialogues, and they have stopped fighting me about reading Dr Suess’ The Lorax. A nice compromise, I think.
My new and exciting project, which I am SURE I mentioned before was the ‘Border 2 Border’ walk that I will be participating in during the ENTIRE month of June, or at least the great majority of it. For 20 days (or 23) two groups of PCVs will be walking the entire length of Armenia, one group (mine) starting in the south, and the other group from the north. We will meet in the middle, Martuni specifically. All along the way we will be stopping to teach healthy lifestyles classes for groups in the villages along the way, and in Martuni we will have a large ‘health’ celebration. Another PCV, well versed in the ways of long distance walking, has sent us all a training routine and we are just now beginning to cement our collaboration with the Red Cross and World Vision. This is going to be huge, a nationwide event that will hopefully draw attention to the need for change. Check out our blog (http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com) or find us on Facebook. Oh, and if you have any connections at UA or Nike or Adidas or anyplace like that, let me know…appropriate clothing for this marathon walk is pretty scarce in Armenia.
In other exciting news, my parents are coming to visit! Yes, after months and months of harassing (and threatening) my father passport applications (well, application, we were just waiting on his) have been submitted and plane tickets have been bought! No going back now! I am very, very excited for them to come and see me. Quite frankly, going more than a year without hugging your parents (at any age, and you know this) is pretty depressing. I miss them. I am also really happy that my two lives will finally meet. I have always referred to my life here in Armenia as my ‘Peace Corps Life’ and my life back in America as ‘the real world’ and I am pretty stoked that those two worlds will soon be coming together. For two years now, Armenia has been my ‘home’, and I have ‘families’ here that I feel like some part of the real world needs to meet and see and experience, or it won’t be real. I have talked about and explained and taken pictures of my life here, but honestly I want someone from home to experience it. So when I continue (as I will for many years) to talk about the people and places here, they will know what or who I am talking about. When I speak of my host family, to my parents they won’t just be some abstract family in Armenia that fed me (or overfed me, rather) but will be legitimate, tangible people that my mother has hugged and my father has taken shots with.
Bah. I have talked too much, if I keep going with all of these thoughts and random things swirling around in my head I won’t have anything to tell you about next time I write (which will be soon, I pinky swear promise).
Of course, outside of these events, life in Dilijan continues on. Dilijan might be my LONGEST and thickest string. It is my home, my community. It still puts a smile on my face as I walk down the street and a bunch of boys from my classes yell ‘hello’ at me from across the river, or actually mean it instead of just being rude little brats. Or when girls that never spoke to me before will walk down the stairs with me and talk to me about class or what is going on. I can honestly say that I love them, and really, they love me. It never gets old to walk in the class and see the kids jump up in excitement as a big smile spreads across their face. My after school English Environmental club is going spectacularly well. I am alone in the classroom, and they listen. They legit listen. And when someone doesn’t, they self police and the ‘problem’ is told pretty quickly to cut it out. I love playing the games with them, watching them learn things without the standard screaming teacher, shaming, and rote memorization that happens in the normal lessons. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I am going to make valentines with the kids in my normal lessons, and then on Tuesday during club we are going to make some pretty valentines to give to one another.
If that goes well, I am even going to bring the Valentine theme into my adult English class at the unemployment center. This class happens for 2 hours every Wednesday. There are 10 or 15 women at every class (plus one man) and they are great. They are totally enthusiastic for everything that we are doing, and love just talking to me. In fact, the only reason I know the class exists is that they sent their teacher looking for me, telling her that they want me to come and help with class. Last week, my third class with them, we worked on food words, and taking a page out of my own Armenian training, I had them prepare menus to share with the rest of the class. This week (if the Valentine thing doesn’t work out) I am going to have them write out recipes. That should be a good time. My other ‘adult’ class or ‘conversation club’ is still going just OK. It has gotten much better though. I have given them more dialogues, and they have stopped fighting me about reading Dr Suess’ The Lorax. A nice compromise, I think.
My new and exciting project, which I am SURE I mentioned before was the ‘Border 2 Border’ walk that I will be participating in during the ENTIRE month of June, or at least the great majority of it. For 20 days (or 23) two groups of PCVs will be walking the entire length of Armenia, one group (mine) starting in the south, and the other group from the north. We will meet in the middle, Martuni specifically. All along the way we will be stopping to teach healthy lifestyles classes for groups in the villages along the way, and in Martuni we will have a large ‘health’ celebration. Another PCV, well versed in the ways of long distance walking, has sent us all a training routine and we are just now beginning to cement our collaboration with the Red Cross and World Vision. This is going to be huge, a nationwide event that will hopefully draw attention to the need for change. Check out our blog (http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com) or find us on Facebook. Oh, and if you have any connections at UA or Nike or Adidas or anyplace like that, let me know…appropriate clothing for this marathon walk is pretty scarce in Armenia.
In other exciting news, my parents are coming to visit! Yes, after months and months of harassing (and threatening) my father passport applications (well, application, we were just waiting on his) have been submitted and plane tickets have been bought! No going back now! I am very, very excited for them to come and see me. Quite frankly, going more than a year without hugging your parents (at any age, and you know this) is pretty depressing. I miss them. I am also really happy that my two lives will finally meet. I have always referred to my life here in Armenia as my ‘Peace Corps Life’ and my life back in America as ‘the real world’ and I am pretty stoked that those two worlds will soon be coming together. For two years now, Armenia has been my ‘home’, and I have ‘families’ here that I feel like some part of the real world needs to meet and see and experience, or it won’t be real. I have talked about and explained and taken pictures of my life here, but honestly I want someone from home to experience it. So when I continue (as I will for many years) to talk about the people and places here, they will know what or who I am talking about. When I speak of my host family, to my parents they won’t just be some abstract family in Armenia that fed me (or overfed me, rather) but will be legitimate, tangible people that my mother has hugged and my father has taken shots with.
Bah. I have talked too much, if I keep going with all of these thoughts and random things swirling around in my head I won’t have anything to tell you about next time I write (which will be soon, I pinky swear promise).
And it's a long one since it has been soooo long....
Holy moly. I have just about 5 months left in Armenia. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by, especially when it seems to drag through the cold, cold winter months. I have begun the ‘wrap-up’ process of my service, searching for all those physical and emotional loose ends that need to be tied up nice and tight before I can begin to leave this place that has been my home for the last 2 years. I am happy, and sad, and nervous, and excited all at the same time, and all of the emotions swirling around are taking up WAY too much space in my head. Thankfully, I have a lot of ‘loose ends’ to keep me busy. Well, that and the new projects that I am involved in. Whoops.
Let’s start with all of those pretty little loose ends. My time here has come full circle, and I am working now on Green Camps (or Environmental Leadership Camps) 2011. While on one hand I am happy that at least year I won’t be just tossed head first into the deep end and forced to learn how to swim, I am also disappointed that a lot of what we worked so hard on and for last year never came about. I guess that is the nature of these projects. What is that saying? ‘Reach for the moon and you will land among the stars’. The PCPP grant that we worked on has fallen a little bit short, and so in the last few days another volunteer and I have been working to cut and adjust and wheedle every single thing that we can out of the money that we did receive. So far, it looks like we will be having 3 small-scale day camps in 3 different regions of Armenia (Tavush, Gheghardgunik, and Syunik if you want to check out a map). Which means about 120 Armenian children will be able to attend. We will have the same(ish) curriculum, which hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to go through and adjust to not only reflect the reviews from last year, but to also account for the fact that there will not be any ‘advanced environmental leadership’ camp this year. On the up side, we will be working very hard this year to increase the visibility and sustainability of the ‘Green Camp’ program. A group of us, as part of the newly established Camps Initiative (which I co-chair, proud moment right here mom and dad, wipe that tear from the corner of your eye) have developed a sustainability plan which will allow future volunteers working with NGOs to transfer skills in a way that is logical and sustainable for the NGO and local community. These skills include budget management, curriculum development, logistical support, and evaluation along with a few others. Hopefully, the step by step plan is also flexible and clear enough that it can be easily passed off between volunteers as old ones leave and new ones come. With this plan, and a new memorandum of agreement, we will be approaching new NGOs in different regions of Armenia, offering our assistance in the planning and implementation of a ‘Green Camp’ in their area. Cross your fingers for us! While I am not doing nearly as much work as I had to do last year, just hearing the words ‘Green Camp’ tend to push my mind into a state of anxiety and exhaustion…but I know that in the end the reward will be worth it. Even if I only go to one camp this year : )
Oh, and if by any chance you would still like to donate to the ‘Green Camp’ cause, you can learn more about the project here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-063
Let’s start with all of those pretty little loose ends. My time here has come full circle, and I am working now on Green Camps (or Environmental Leadership Camps) 2011. While on one hand I am happy that at least year I won’t be just tossed head first into the deep end and forced to learn how to swim, I am also disappointed that a lot of what we worked so hard on and for last year never came about. I guess that is the nature of these projects. What is that saying? ‘Reach for the moon and you will land among the stars’. The PCPP grant that we worked on has fallen a little bit short, and so in the last few days another volunteer and I have been working to cut and adjust and wheedle every single thing that we can out of the money that we did receive. So far, it looks like we will be having 3 small-scale day camps in 3 different regions of Armenia (Tavush, Gheghardgunik, and Syunik if you want to check out a map). Which means about 120 Armenian children will be able to attend. We will have the same(ish) curriculum, which hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to go through and adjust to not only reflect the reviews from last year, but to also account for the fact that there will not be any ‘advanced environmental leadership’ camp this year. On the up side, we will be working very hard this year to increase the visibility and sustainability of the ‘Green Camp’ program. A group of us, as part of the newly established Camps Initiative (which I co-chair, proud moment right here mom and dad, wipe that tear from the corner of your eye) have developed a sustainability plan which will allow future volunteers working with NGOs to transfer skills in a way that is logical and sustainable for the NGO and local community. These skills include budget management, curriculum development, logistical support, and evaluation along with a few others. Hopefully, the step by step plan is also flexible and clear enough that it can be easily passed off between volunteers as old ones leave and new ones come. With this plan, and a new memorandum of agreement, we will be approaching new NGOs in different regions of Armenia, offering our assistance in the planning and implementation of a ‘Green Camp’ in their area. Cross your fingers for us! While I am not doing nearly as much work as I had to do last year, just hearing the words ‘Green Camp’ tend to push my mind into a state of anxiety and exhaustion…but I know that in the end the reward will be worth it. Even if I only go to one camp this year : )
Oh, and if by any chance you would still like to donate to the ‘Green Camp’ cause, you can learn more about the project here:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-063
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