Vayk, my real site assignment

As promised, I am going to attempt to explain the situation I have found myself in this week. It is strange to be posting entries that happened so far in the past (a week is a really long time) it is like looking at my life from outside of myself. I just returned from a visit to Vayk, my actual permanent site. And I am comfortable in saying that I think I have landed in a good situation. The question is how exactly I got there.

As you are already aware, I was originally assigned to a small called yernjatap, which although wrought with problems and challenges, I had talked myself into going. we arrived in yerevan on Tuesday afternoon to attend a counterpart conference (the people we will be working with directly for the next two years), and then to travel to our sites to visit our new host families, places of employment, etc. I had been told when we were given our site assignments that I didn’t have a host family yet, but wasn’t too concerned because there were several other people in the same boat. We were all told that our program mangers were working hard to fix the situation and we should have host families by the time we arrived in Yerevan on Tuesday. Well, when I arrived in Yerevan on Tuesday my program manager didn’t tell me I had a host family, he told me “we need to talk.” This by the way was happening at 7:00pm, which was the exact same moment that everyone was meeting their counterparts. Only I didn’t have a counterpart....or a host family.

As it turns out, my PM (program manger) had been in yernjatap that afternoon to figure out what was going on and found that they weren’t ready for a volunteer and didn’t have a homestay for me—something that the counterpart were supposed to help ascertain. because of this, he made a last minute decision to move to a new site: Vayk. This, I have learned, has its advantages, although at the time I was feeling pretty discombobulated. I had talked myself into a different site and had started to figure out what the advantages were, etc. Not only that but everyone was having a counterpart conference but me. My counterpart didn’t know I was coming either, and she happened to be in Yerevan that day but had headed back to Vayk before anyone could get a hold of her.

I spent the evening trying to warp my head around my new situation ( as well as catching up on CNN in English and rediscovering that showering can not only be easy but also enjoyable) Gotta love the nice hotel we were staying in. Now I have completely bought into my new arrangement. So, here comes the second description of where I will be for the next two years:

Vayk, unlike Yernjatap, is in the desert portion of the country. It is located in the second to last marz, called Vayadzor, and looks quite a bit like Utah. It is very hot there right now with no humidity, but mornings and nights are breezy and pleasant. I am now going to have invest in a floor fan instead of more wool socks. The winters are still cold, but they only last for 3 months as opposed to six in some other parts of the country, which shall remain nameless. I am told that spring and fall are very pleasant and there are lots of opportunities for hiking and exploring nearby.

I have some very wonderful sitemates, a definite advantage of this new site. They have really taken me under their wing and helped to learn about my town and adjust to the peculiarities of it. At this point they both have their own apartments and it is nice to see that PCV’s can live almost normally in this country. The facilities are a little less than desirably by US standards but I have hopes of eventually enjoying the kind of life (read freedom) that I have been accustomed to. As for my host family, I have had the good fortune of inheriting one of my sitemate’s (James) host family, who seem really really cool. They are very kind, very laid back and didn’t try to force food down my throat once! they have one son who is 15 and also very enjoyable. The father has a great sense of humor and the family doesn’t seem so entrenched in typical Armenian gender roles, which is very refreshing. The son even cooks sometimes! It also helps that James has already broken them—they know what to expect from living with an American, and James knows them very well, so I can ask him questions as needed. I also have some place to go when I have just have enough of Armenian hospitality and lifestyle.

I got to enjoy this a little on my visit this week as well—Renee, James and I made tacos and brownies for dinner one night and hung out listening to music. It felt so normal....finally. So, there is hope, and when I move out on my own there will be even more hope. I am looking forward to that day, but think that I can wait it out with this family. The trade-off in this situation is that I will be enjoying less luxuries, but luxury is less important than a comfortable family to live with. I will remember that as I am flushing the toilet with a bucket....taking a shower with a bucket...and well, thats all with a bucket probably. This family does not have what my current family has in terms of wealth, but they make up for it in other ways.

My counterpart also seems like a great woman to work with. She is a doctor and is also very involved with her town. This includes starting her own NGO, which is now my organization as well. My last assignments also included a school, this will be just an NGO, but I think it will be okay. The NGO is actually more of a youth development type of organization but she wants to start some environmental work and lessons. The biggest challenges I foresee at this point area alack of time on behalf of my doctor counterpart, and what one of the PC staffers calls “mission creep.” I other words, this organization is really spread out and not focused on any one specific thing. regardless, my counterpart (Nune) has lost of ideas and I think is feasible to grab on to one or two of them to begin with and start strengthening the organization and the community,. With time, of course. And better Armenian.

Which, brings me to challenge number 2. James didn’t actually start with this host family, he moved there after two moths at site in a really bad situation with a different family. Therefore, his family (now my family) didn’t meet him until her had studied and spoken the language for almost 5 months. They met me after I have studied and spoken the language for 5 weeks. And they are wondering why I don’t speak as well as James does, who is very good with the language at this point, probably one of the better ones in his group. They don’t understand the differences between the times they met him and me. Time to hit the books even more... chem haskanunem...I don’t understand.

So, there you have it. A purely informational email. I will try to put up a more exciting one soon. Lots of love to all.