volcanic adventures

I know I promised a day or two before this entry, but, well, the internet just really sucks. There is no pretty way to put it. I have been to the internet every day (either in Vayk or Yegheghnadzor) and every day there is some problem. Usually just no connection, but sometimes no power, or it simply randomly closed. Anyway, here is another late entry. I plan to be in Yerevan this weekend and I hope to have another up by then...but no promises!

It has been eventful week, replete with adventure, Armenian tutoring, and cold bedrooms. Yup, its cold now. Well, at least in my bedroom, I was actually wearing gloves earlier today. I have to take OFF layers to go outside—its sunny and warm out there. This worries me. I finally broke down and turned on one of my heaters this afternoon. It seems so illogical, when it is still so nice outside but I had to do it. I have also been trying to get myself used to the cold and to conserve electricity. When the bedroom temperature dropped below 60, however, I decided it was time. What I learned through this exercise is that one of my heaters makes so much racket that you can hear it throughout the entire house, and the other on consistently smells like something is burning. Tough choice.

On a happier note….this weekend I climbed a volcano!!! And then learned exactly how out of shape I have become while sitting around in Armenia eating bread. Regardless, I made it, and was only minorly sore the next day. We started the day at an old Armenian church, with the dome of our volcano looming in the distance. The closer we got to the actual cone, the bigger it seemed. Located near Vayk, the vegetation was similar, but with the addition of volcanic rocks, giving the area a moon-like essence. The weather was crisp and breezy, more so the higher we climbed. I strated the day with a t-shirt on while hiking and ended up with a fleece and stocking cap.

Once above the villages on our approach hike, we were awarded with spectacular views of nearly all the neighboring villages, towns and cities, as well as the mountains of Karabagh (a disputed area claimed by Armenia, but located in Azerbaijan to the East) and the newly snow-capped Mt. Ararat (located in Turkey to the west). Here, more than ever, it was evident that winter was on its way.

On the way to the summit we stopped for a rest break near some hay fields and grazing lands below the cone proper. Fresh haystacks dotted the landscape, and it soon became evident exactly how comfortable it is to lounge in the hay…and so warm. We snacked on power bars and commented on our newfound understanding as to why cartoon characters lounge in haystacks and smoke pipes. (and yes, this is representative of the educational discussions had by all peace corps volunteers in the midst of their service…)
We reached the summit by mid-afternoon to discover a huge crater, nearly the depth of the exposed cone. We circled the top, marveling at the views and the cold winds, but decided against descending into the cone via an established trail due to the late hour (and the fact that if we go down we have to come back up! Something none of us wanted to do after the grueling climb). The crater itself was mostly uninteresting, save for the remains of a church built inside the volcano. Strange place for a church if you ask me, but then, nobody did.

The descent was supposed to be an uneventful downhill walk back to the village we started from. Little did we know that in a land of seemingly rolling hills and scattered farmland, we would get cliffed out—repeatedly. Finding our way up was fairly simple compared with trying to get back to the village that we could always see but never quite reach. We finally made it to the outskirts of the village near dark, only to find ourselves on a road that paralled the village but had no connector roads with which to enter the village. We ended up walking the entire length of the village (which, mind you, is much longer than it is wide) until we were able to get to the next parallel road and walk back into the village. I’m not so sure about the engineer that designed this one…. I had nearly resigned myself to walking in zig-zag patterns up and down village roads until we were able to find the center, when we stumbled across a house with a Lexus SUV in the driveway and a satellite dish! Nice cars show up from time to time in the big cities, but to have one in a village is a completely different story. We decided that this was our house—we chose our best Armenian speaker and sent him in to ask if we could use their phone to call a cab. Low and behold, not only did this particular house have a Lexus and a satellite dish, but it had a fluent English speaker who had lived in Washington state for a while. Even more bizarre for a village. Before we knew what was going on we were drinking coffee, eating pears and walnuts (both heavily in season right now) and being offered free rides back to Vayk. Free? Are we still in Armenia?

We finished up our coffee break, much to the delight of our newfound audience (one or two Armenians sat and talked with us, the rest—nearly 10 I’d guess—lined up on the balcony above us and watched). Not only is drinking coffee a national pastime, but it is a spectator sport as well…who knew? I suppose seven Americans is a sight, especially ones who had just wandered into a village after climbing that rather large thing looming in the distance. Not only that, but we were dirty and covered in hay from our afternoon breaks. Like monkeys we hastily groomed ourselves in an attempt to look presentable…

Finally, we loaded into a Russian Jeep and a Niva ( a Russian 4-wheel drive hatch-back car thingy) and headed into Vayk. There we learned that not only did we get free rides, but we were left with grocery sacks full of walnuts and fruit. What a wonderful reminder of the capacity for hospitality and kindness in Armenia. It is not often that it comes out in a display such as this, especially for those of us who live in cities and towns (it is generally more common in the villages). This is the part of Armenian that keeps me here.

Beyond the occasional excursion up the flanks of a volcano, the past few weeks have been fairly uneventful. I have tried unsuccessfully for ten days in a row to access the internet, both in Vayk and in Yegheghnadzor. I finally had success today, but this particular entry was not ready yet. Figures. Maybe tomorrow (here’s wishing).

I have started meeting with my counterpart a bit more frequently, although I am realizing that our meetings are fairly fruitless until my language is better (she hasn’t yet grasped the concept that if she speaks slowly and clearly and uses common words I am more likely to understand…) Lord only knows what all I have agreed to lately. “Just smile and nod” has become my new philosophy in life. And, strangely enough, it usually works. I have learned when to insert the obligatory nod, uh-huh, and hmmm, in order to feign understanding. It is often easier than looking confused or saying that I don’t understand—then the speaker will launch into a rapid explanation of the word I don’t understand, using at least 6 more words that I don’t understand. It is sort of an otherworldy experience to be involved in a conversation and yet have no idea what is going on. Of course, this backfires when the statement I nodded yes to turns out to be a question, or I am asked if I understand and I haven’t followed the last twenty minutes of the conversation, save for a few words here and there. That can be awkward…. With any luck my understanding of the language will catch up with me soon.

Tutoring is actually going fairly well, now that I have two marathon sessions under my belt. We are learning the things I need to know, only at a rapid pace and for 2 to 2 and a ½ hours at a time. Its rough—especially the last half hour—but I already notice improvements. My teacher speaks English fluently and is used to working with Americans, but is also intensely demanding. In our last lesson we covered simple past, past progressive, past perfect and present perfect, all of the exceptions for each tense, and we used new verbs to boot! I walked out feeling like I had been kicked in the head. I have another lesson tomorrow, but am still working on sorting out the last one. Perhaps I can convince her to slow down a smidgen…

At least it gives me something concrete to work on. I can schedule my days around studying shifts and lessons. Throw in a few meetings with the counterpart, a trip or two to the post-office, some daily yoga and/or work-out sessions and of course, the obligatory reading, and I pretty much have a full week. Time is flying by now. I’m not sure how, but it is. I have now officially been at sight for almost as long as I was in Margohovit. PST seemed so much longer. Light years longer. Of course, I still have the winter to contend with, but I am content with my newfound schedule and ability to ease slowly into some more meaningful work while still being able to tend to myself and my personal growth. And hopefully I’ll be able to crank out a few more of these entries…if you’re lucky and the internet cooperates (that can be a big “if”)…..