PST 1

Barev Dzez! Bari Gulust Hayastan!
(Hello, welcome to Armenia)


Well I am exhausted but I have to get some of this down on paper before I forget all of the strange occurrences that last few days have held for me. After an uneventful flight we arrived at the Yerevan airport at 4:45 am local time and were greeted in the darkness by the country director and full time staff. We gathered our luggage---amazingly enough only two bags missing out of the 90+ that traveled with us and boarded what is quite possibly the nicest bus in all of Armenia. Even so, the small bathroom, located in the middle of the bus, was an adventure in itself….

Our first stop was Zvartnots, a historic temple shadowed by the gorgeous Mt. Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia, which happens to currently reside in Turkey. Waiting for us as we got off the bus was the remainder of PC staff as well as the vast majority of the current Peace Corps volunteers—both A11 and A12, cheering, waving signs and banners and welcoming us to this country. There were two men who were playing instruments that I still have yet to leanr the name of—very beautiful but eerie music. The whole event was quite overwhelming and enjoyable, and a wonderful start to our time here in Armenia. After coffee (the American kind) doughnuts, pictures and introduction we hopped back on our bus and headed to Vanadzor, our current home. Before moving in with host families we spent two days living at a “hotel,” which was really a pioneer camp (think soviet boy and girl scouts…but mandatory). The conditions brought on a bit of culture shock, which coupled with the Jet Lag (extreme Jet lag) was a bit trying at times. None-the-less, I had a great experience and made it through the few moments of anxiety and questioning of purpose with ease.

One of the first things we did after settling into our rooms and having a huge Armenian lunch—very good, was head into town to email or call family and friends to let them know we had arrived. The taxi ride was an adventure, maybe even an extreme sport. If nothing else, being a pedestrian in this country is an extreme sport, as pedestrians have no rights. People honk and keep driving, they drive in each others lanes, sometimes side by side, in the same lane. It is a bit disconcerting but I have found you get used to it… The instructions from peace corps staff and current volunteers were to keep going—they will swerve around you…unless you stop.

Back to the “hotel” where we found our showers without water, and then without hot water. I took the coldest shower I have ever, ever experienced. Refreshing. Bone chilling. The next day it better, thank God. Between the painfully tired state I was in, the lack of showers, and Turkish toilets (two ribbed foot steps without a hole between them and a trash can for you tp), I was about to break. I did my best to hold out until after dinner and then collapsed into my colorful bunk bed and slept like a rock.

The next day was full of language lessons, technical training and safety instruction. My brain is utterly full and I can sill barely carry on a conversation with a three year old. You think I am kidding? I actually had language lessons tonight at dinner from a three-year-old. Spoon, Fork, knife, plate, and various food items all courtesy of my new cousin, Arpi.

Anyhow, I am getting ahead of myself. The days flew by at our cozy little camp and before I knew it we were meeting our new host families, who will house, feed and take care of us for the next three months. Talk about nerves. After all the stories and warnings I was expecting quite the experience. Turns out my family is absolutely wonderful and doesn’t live up to many of the stereotypes of Armenian families. (they don’t smoke, they don’t drink excessively, there was no dancing, and only the nuclear family lives in the house, which is quite nice). They have their quirks of course, and I am still being made to eat about twice as much as I would normally in a given day, but the food is wonderful and it is all local, homegrown and handmade, so who is complaining? That is not to say I haven’t had my moments with food either. I think it is safe to say that before this morning I have never had a hot dog for breakfast, especially after having them for dinner and again for lunch, wrapped up in an extra large tortilla with summer sausage on the side. Fortunately for me, the amount of sausage and processed meats are only exceeded by the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, which are wonderful. Cucumbers, tomatoes and fresh fruit are in abundance right now and I am particularly enjoying them while they last. Tonight we had candied pears, which were amazing, so I suppose I things to look forward to in the winter months as well. As it turn out, people in this country buy something and eat it until it is gone. So I won’t be seeing hot dogs again for a while…on to something else.

So again, I am ahead of myself. I should talk a bit about my host family. I have a mom, dad, brother and sister. Dad (Ashok) is the principal of the school and thus the family seems to be fairly well off, especially for life in a village such as this. The name of my village is Margohovit, and it is the third largest village in Armenia. It is nestled in a beautiful valley between two large mountainous ridges, which I think are about 9-10,00 feet. The village itself is at least 7,000 feet, maybe 8,000, and I can certainly feel the altitude, both in physical exertion and dehydration. The scenery here is absolutely amazing. I wake up every morning and look out the window to see these lush green mountains, still snow-capped in June, and wonder if I am still dreaming.

My family has a two-story house, complete with indoor plumbing and a real sit-down toilet! I was very happy to discover this as my knees were already balking at the squatting from the Turkish toilets. I have been given quite a large room, with a big bed, and even bigger pillows, as well as a table to work at, a few chairs and some book shelves. I have finally been able to unpack and feel like I have a home! My room is quite cozy, although a bit cold, and is starting to feel like my own. My sister is wonderful and has been very helpful in my language lessons—teaching me how to write my letters and helping me with new words. I sometimes feel like I will never master this language with its foreign alphabet, and yet I am amazed at just how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. At this point we have probably covered half a college semesters worth of material in about 6 days (4 hours of lessons, plus homework and practice with my family). Yesterday we played table tennis, and I learned to count to 21 to keep score. My sister is a good match for me and we have a lot of fun. I can’t wait until my language is better and I can actually carry on a real conversation with these kind people. In the mean time I have perfected my acting, miming and gesturing skills, as well animal noises. I can’t wait to play charades when I get back to the states—I will be quite a match!! It is amazing much you can actually communicate with people without knowing their language.

My brother is 17 years old, and speaks the most English in the family, which is still fairly minimal. We have had a few conversations, but he is more interested in the male PCT that lives at his uncles house. Eric has been a constant source of comparison for me, which has been fairly funny and fortunately not too overbearing. I have gotten used to listening to what Eric can do and laughing at the irony of the situation. It is actually good that Armen is with Eric most of the time, as it is easy to rely on him for help in communicating, but better to try and figure it out on my own.

Anyway, I am trying to finish up this synopsis of what I have been up to so that tomorrow I can post it at an internet café when we go to Vanadzor. The village I live in is large, but it has no internet and the phones do not call out of the country, so my communication is limited to days in Vanadzor, of which we have two class days there (Wednesday and Thursdays), which will be jam-packed, with little time for personal items, and Sundays, which are off days. I have plans with several other volunteers to go to Vanadzor by bus or taxi this coming Sunday to hopefully do some shopping, emailing and calling to our families.

I have been extraordinarily busy lately between language lessons, sector (environmental education) assignments, and every day life. Two days ago my host mother taought me how to do my laundry by hand. I came here knowing that I take a lot of things for granted, but it has been interesting to see just how much. It took me over an hour to wash, rinse, wring and hang about 4 pairs of underwear, 4 pairs of socks, 2 t-shirts, one long-sleeve shirt and one pair of pants. It is quite a process, and then things take about 2 full days to dry. My favorite part of the laundry however is that the soap is called barf. You can have liquid barf, or powdered barf, and there is also scouring powder called extra powerful barf. I am laughing just thinking about it—I washed my clothes in barf…

The key to success here is having a good sense of humor, and I am laughing a lot! Both at my situation and at myself, especially in my language attempts. I have two wonderful language instructors:Hasmik and Anna, and we have been laughing a lot lately. At this point, and maybe for the next 27 months, I am a commodity to be paraded around, talked about, stared at and wondered about. Children stop everything to stare at us “Amerikatsi” as we walk by, and when we say hello “Barev Dzez”, they all giggle. People point at my blue eyes and tell me how pretty they are, and ask me to say things in their language. For the most part, I think people have no idea why these Americans are in Armenia, and especially why they are living in a village, and not in Yerevan. It is difficult for them to understand why would leave the comforts of the US to live in Armenia. And, I suppose it is difficult for many Americans to understand this as well. All I can say is that so far it has been a worthwhile experience. I am learning so much and it is wonderful to be a part of another culture. Peace Corps is taking very good care of us and seem to have our every need accounted for before it arises. We have plenty of money, more than enough food, and our families are extremely attentive. Too much so at times, but that will lessen as they feel we are prepared to live here. Right now, my host mother wakes me up in the morning, starts my shower (the water heater has to be lit each morning), makes my breakfast, packs my lunch, and then my host sister walks me to school. As of tomorrow, I will start walking by myself, which is quite an accomplishment. It is about a 20 minute walk (30 minutes, because we stop to have second breakfast at Eric’s families house on the way). Food is a very important part of society here, and people are always served food when they visit others, which is very often… I am eating about 7 meals a day right now! I am getting antsy to gain some more independence, and I know it will some with time. Until then I will appreciate the hospitality and care these people show towards me.

It is very difficult to even begin to describe the things that have happened in the past week. Hopefully this gives you some idea. I will attempt to continue to elaborate and appreciate from you all and miss you all very much! Hope all is well in the U.S. of A.