eco-camps and other assorted horrors

The past week and a half or so has been awash in new experiences, opportunities, craziness and sometimes general ridiculousness. The latter is mainly in reference to the time I spent at Eco-camps working with an NGO from Yerevan. I suppose that is as good a place to start as any….although I must add the disclaimer that because this is a website I must temper my thoughts and opinions (as well as the truth in some cases) so as not to cause trouble.

With that said, I have never witnessed the level of pettiness and mismanagement that I was privy to this week. At least not in a “professional” setting. This was mainly a problem of the Armenians from Yerevan not be able to play well with the Armenians from the village. This is not entirely surprising due to the huge dichotomy between the very separate capital of this country and everywhere else, but one would think there would still be some level of respect for ones fellow countrymen. Wrong.

The problems also extended to me and my fellow volunteers, or at least a couple of us. I managed to get myself kicked out of the kitchen and nearly out of the camp on the morning of the second day for the mere (vulgar) suggestion that if dirty water was boiled it would kill the germs… “Who are you? What is your background? Well, I’m sorry, but that’s just wrong.” Oh yeah, and I’m a terrible guest, didn’t belong at the camp, wanted to poison all of the children and blame it on the NGO, overcame my responsibilities, etc., etc., etc. I shouldn’t have opened my mouth as I had already witnessed some of the arguments these women had put forth, but as I just carried at least 40 liters of water and was watching people argue about whether or not they could use it to wash dishes, I thought I would be helpful and make a suggestion.

I spent the remainder of the week (outside of the kitchen….) watching complete chaos ensue as grown adults fought like children and one woman struggled for power over all the rest, demanding “subordination” and repeatedly outlining the power structure and indicating her status as “in-charge.” Names were called, threats were made, bridges were burned, someone was accused of throwing hotdogs….as far as we know this was a flase accusation, although hotdogs were placed on the table with a considerable amount of force at once point. Somehow, miraculously, the children still had a good time and the camp was a success in that one respect. I also spent the week with my first real case of, shall we say, intestinal problems. In a village with nothing but squat outhouses. Yes, if you are picturing an outhouse with a hole in the floor and a giant pit underneath, you are entirely correct. This was, of course (knowing my luck) compounded by the fact that I had managed to take a spectacular fall down about three stairs and sprain my ankle. Well, actually the ankle rolling cuased the fall…details. The important aspect lies in the inability to squat without pain. Ahhh…village life.

I also had the distinct pleasure of heating water in a tea kettle so that a fellow volunteer could pour it over my head on Charlie’s front porch while we pretended that it was sort of like showering. Charlie, as you may have guessed, does not have running water. Or a bathroom. He takes bucket baths in his living room, which was made difficult by the fact that there were eight of us living at his house for a week. I settled for washing my hair a couple of times and called it good.

Tatev is a true village (far more village-like than margohovit): very remote and without many of the amenities of the developed world. In places that were equipped for running water, it came for about 2 hours a day, usually 11-1. At this time people stop what they are doing to walk with buckets to the nearest water source and fill up all of the empty containers in their homes. Hot water is made on the stove and bathing, dish washing, and laundering is all done with buckets. Toilet flushing too if one is fortunate enough to have indoor facilities. I can only imagine what winter life is like in this region that certainly gets its share of cold weather. I am worried enough about winter in Vayk, which is supposedly very mild. Washing clothes by hand in below freezing weather just seems like severe punishment…

In a lot of ways I enjoyed the week-long stint in Tatev. I really felt like I was in the Peace Corps that week, living somewhere really remote and having to do everything by hand. It was also nice to cook some familiar meals with my fellow Americans-oatmeal for breakfast, quesadillas, spaghetti, and lentil soup for dinners, and no mountinas of bread, or hotdogs! Still, I was happy to return to Vayk which suddenly seems a lot more civilized. I mean, I can actually sit down to use the toilet inside of the house. I still have to fill a bucket up with water to flush it, but hey, how difficult is that?

Today I did laundry for the first time in Vayk. I had been putting it off due to fear of host family over-involvement, but all went beautifully. All they did was show me the buckets and bring me some hot water and then they left. I was so surprised, I actually waited for them to come back. My independence has been so much easier to gain here and for that I am eternally grateful. Still, my luck has not entirely changed. In Margohovit it seemed that no matter what day I did laundry, by the time I hung it on the line it would be getting ready to storm. I attributed this mainly to the fact that it was the rainy season and we were in the mountains. Now that I am living in the desert and it hardly ever rains it should be better right? Guess again. I have not seen a single raindrop or even in cloud in Vayk the entire time I have been here. This afternoon, almost immediately after I hung my clothes on the line…it started raining. I give up. The rain gods hate me.

Life in Vayk is picking up pace, although I don’t have any real work yet. Fortunately I was prepared for this and it is nice to have some time to unwind and settle in. My counterpart called the other day to say that when is extremely so we will meet next week. The schools start tomorrow (sept. 1), so I am going to go see what that is like. My tutor is also busy until next week, because of school starting, so I don’t have that to do either. Instead, I have mostly been hanging out with the Americans, doing some exploring of the natural wonders of the area, and getting organized in my room. Now, I have lots of pictures and maps on the wall, which makes it feel more like home, and since it is night 98% humidity in here, it is fairly nice to hang out in.

Anyhow, things are going well now that I settling back into Vayk again, and I should have more interesting things just around the bend. Hope all is well in the states.