I need to stop promising that I will get better at this writing more often thing, I have had 2 years to follow through and clearly that hasn't happened yet. Sorry.
So, the last two months:
In early April I finally had the chance again to perfect my ravioli and lasagna recipes. A few volunteers got together in Martuni, and I spent 3 or 4 hours in the kitchen grating cheese, mixing curds, chopping tomatoes, simmering sauce making dough and filling ravioli (special shout out to Nick and Kyle for helping me to roll out all of the dough!). Thankfully, the recipes for both are pretty similar, and use the same ingredients...so it didn't get too crazy. Armenians make a meat ravioli like dish called plimini, and so I used the form for those to make the raviolis. It is a honeycomb shape and you stretch dough over the form, spoon in the cheese/curd mixture, stretch more dough over the top and then use a rolling pin (or wine bottle) to fix the two pieces of dough together. Let me tell you, MUCH easier then wrapping the ravioli by hand! If I do say so myself, the dinner was a big success, and I will for sure be bringing the form home to America so I can continue making all of my favorites from scratch! Other food that I will try to never buy again? pie, pie crust, cookies, spaghetti sauce and pizza. I have also had pretty good luck here with chicken pot pie, curries, and and other baked goods.
This year the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps was celebrated all around the world. PC staff encouraged the PCVs in each marz (or region in Armenia)to prepare some type of event for the community. In Tavush, the best marz ever..BEAR MARZ!, we decided to have our event in Ijevan along with the poetry contest that was scheduled to happen there. The poetry contest happened along with contests all over Armenia (a PC project, I organized one in Dilijan for the next week but more about that later) and at ours 13 of the 14 PCVs in Ijevan came to help out. Just under 60 children participated in the recitation contest, and a lot of them brought along family and friends. There was a short speech in the beginning talking about the PC and some of the work they had done in Armenia, and then the real work started. As the different forms (grades) presented their poems, the majority of the volunteers manned different stations aimed at keeping parents and kids busy! There was snacks and an information booth, as well as a mini health lesson, an English activity, an couple of arts and crafts project and of course (my favorite) a sports/team building 'corner'. The kids and the PCVs had a fun time alike, and it was nice to see all of the volunteers and to work with them on such a successful day!
The week after the 50th anniversary celebration/poetry recitation contest in Ijevan, I hosted the Dilijan local poetry competition. 25 children from 3 of the secondary schools in town picked an English language poem to recite for the contest, and in the weeks before I went around to the schools, helping the children with pronunciation and understanding their poems. On the day of the competition 3 other PCVs came down to help me judge and to write certificates, I served as the partial MC (with questionable Armenian skills, of course). Despite a small scheduling conflict and having to start 30 minutes late, the contest went off without a hitch and the kids were all pretty happy. In May, the 6 winners from my contest will join other children from all over the country in Hrazdan for the national contest.
The 2nd week of March also included an impromptu trip down south to Syunik Marz. I went with 3 other volunteers from up north and had a 4 day, 3 nights, 5 village/town tour. I took and incredibly nauseating 5 hour marshutka ride down to Kapan and stayed with another PCV in the village of Davit Bek. That night included some shenanigans in the newly renovated (thanks to the PCV) school gym and a delicious chicken khoravats! The next day we took a not so disgusting ride up to Sisian and stayed in a village outside of that with another PCV. That night included some delicious pasta and a group effort to 'Walk off the Pounds' in a very small living room. Hilarity ensued and there are pictures of us all acting ridiculous somewhere. The next day we took another not so good ride (see a pattern? this is why the North is WAY better then the South) to Goris to stay with another PCV host. Highlights of Goris included exploring the old caves around the town. Before Soviet times, most of the Gorisites built their homes against the mountains, using caves carved into the rock as cold rooms or cellars and even sometimes housing. When the Soviets came, they built the road in the mountain valley, causing a relocation of the town (and houses, brick by brick) into the valley and out of the mountains. This means that there are tons of these old caves left to explore, and some are still used as storage or animal barns. I know barn isn't the word I am looking for here, but the right word just won't come to me. Closing off the trip that night, we made some awesome stew (thank you boys) and some tasty lemon squares (us ladies)...then the next morning we crawled hesitantly back into taxis for the long ride back up to Yerevan.
After a pretty relaxing night in Yerevan, I woke up the next morning pretty stoked for the big Armenia-Russia soccer game that 40 of us PCVs had bought tickets for! Most of us had Armenian flag hats, compliments of a super knitter PCV, and I had made a scarf to go along with it. A Fulbright scholar that we know painted our faces with Armenian flags and we left on our way to the stadium, arriving about an hour and a half before game time. Oh my, was there craziness at the stadium. The crowd control was a little bogus (and dangerous) and more than once myself and another volunteer had to stop and talk to the policemen, asking them to let the rest of our group through the barriers. Our most common excuse was that they didn't speak English, and that we had to have them with us so we could translate. Then, when we finally worked our way through the crowds of big, drunk Russian men, we made it to our gate (about 20 of us in our one group) to find that it was closed. Another PCV and I worked our way through the angry, shouting men to the front of the gate to talk to the policemen guarding it. They told us that the gate was closed and wouldn't open again, at first telling us because they didn't want to let any more Russians in (we quickly pointed out that if we were Russia fans we wouldn't have the Armenian flag sported in so many ways and/or wouldn't be speaking only Armenian to them)and then later saying that we were too late (45 min before the game) and that the gates were closed for good. While the other PCV with me tried to call the football federation that had arranged our tickets, I decided to try to make friends with one of the policemen and convince him to let us in. After a lot of questions and pleading and playing the volunteer card (all in Armenian, mind you), and not a little bit of flirting and well practiced puppy dog eyes...45 minutes and a few phone calls to other officers later he finally was able to unlock the gate to let us all in! Victory! Sometimes it pays to be a girl ;)
The game was incredible, we were all so pumped up and Armenia (surprisingly) was able to hold their own. It was great to be a part of that, and more then a few Armenians were shocked to see a bunch of Americans cheering right along with them! Throats sore 1 1/2 hours later, the game ended in a tie, making this the furthest that Armenia has ever made it in the series (is it a series?)!! The Armenians left very, very happy. And the one lone section of Russians left with little fanfare. One more thing crossed off of my Armenia bucket list!
After all of the traveling, it was nice to have a solid week and a half in Dilijan. It still amazes me how much I miss my host family and sagging bed and ever-constant children when I am not there for a few days! My classes went really well, since most of my students are learning about animals, I made good use of the paper, stickers, string, and crayons I have to create 'animal books' with the kids. I had them talk about different biomes (desert, ocean, forest, rain forest,etc.) and we discussed what kinds of animals live where. After they had written out all of the vocab on the right pages, I gave them some cool fish and rain forest pop up stickers that my mom had sent (omg did that cause a mob) and let them go to town drawing all of the other animals. It was a pretty fantastic class, and it made me sad to think about leaving those kids in just 2 short months. They have lately been asking me when I am leaving, and whenever I tell them they ask when I will be back. It is hard to explain that it won't be very soon, and I have been promising to come back in 5 years to visit. Hopefully I will be able to make that happen, as all the kids have been telling me what class they will be in then and telling me to make sure I find them when I come back.
Today I came back from a weekend trip to Talin (in Aragatsevan Marz) to visit David, another PCV. This was the first time I visited him at his new site and also the first time that I have gone to see another volunteer still living with a host family. His family was amazing, and we stayed up pretty late playing Dorak (or 'stupid' in Russian) which is a card game that I am not a big fan of. It was still a good time though, with lots of laughs over some attempts (and some blatent)cheating and hissy fits by losing PCVs. Yesterday, we spend a good part of the day exploring a persian era fort (or 'berd' in Armenian). Our explorations (aided by David's host brother and some friends) had us crawling through stone tunnels and over some questionable stairs. It was pretty awesome. It also had me breaking out my teacher voice with the boys as they tested their rock climbing and jumping skills. On the walk home we stopped by a man made lake and laid in the sun relaxing for a bit, and later caught a ride back to David's house in time for some dolma for lunch. Yum!
Now, back in Dilijan until next Monday (when my COS, or Close of Service, conference starts..yikes!) I am looking forward to a paper crane folding event (to benefit those still suffering in Japan) with the local schools, and Easter lamb dinner with other volunteers, and finally..in 14 short days!...my mom and dad coming to visit!
And I am sure they will make sure I update my blog while they are here :)
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