chickens

Today I sat down to dinner in front of a cast iron skillet full of organs. An organ medley if you will—hearts, lungs, and livers, if I’m not mistaken. It has been a good way to learn the Armenian words for organs anyway… My host family got scared recently about bird flu and decided to slaughter their chickens, all 19 of them, yesterday. While still on the small side, they all seem in good health so I am not too worried. We had a big chicken feast last night and then tonight they ate all 19 of the chickens’ organs, sautéed with onions. There was also a plate full of chicken necks. I stuck to the relatively safe chicken with noodles. I kind of feel like Forest Gump….chicken, baked chicken, boiled chicken, chicken soup, chicken hearts, chicken lungs, chicken wings, chicken necks. Well, you get the picture. The remaining 17 or so chickens are being preserved with solidified fat and salt. I have eaten beef preserved in this manner and it looks pretty gross, but doesn’t taste too bad—somewhere between beef jerky and pot roast.

Just to put everyone at ease, as of now there have been no reported incidences of bird flu in Armenia. Of course, with Turkey being our neighbor people are getting a bit concerned. Now every time the news covers the bird flu my host family all stops what they are doing and turns up the volume. I have a sneaky suspicion however that it was the Jehovah’s Witness magazines that convinced them to slaughter all of their poultry in one day. No more eggs for me. Regardless, the Peace Corps has issued a travel advisory: we are no longer permitted to travel to Turkey. I am still not sure if was only my family that took this measure, but it is comforting to know that there is at least an awareness and a desire to comply with measures to prevent the spread.

All chicken business aside, the New Year is officially over—all 7 days, and the old New Year too, and it back to work for everyone except the teachers and administrators at the schools. Snow began falling steadily soon after the New Year. We have been getting several inches at a time on and off for the past few weeks, with quite a dumping over the last several days. I spent a few days in Stepenavan working on the eco-camp manual and then attempted to return to Yerevan this past weekend for some initiative meetings. The weather had other plans, and even nestled in our 4-wheel drive Niva taxi, the ride was, shall we say, harrowing. We made it safely, although we missed our meeting, thanked our lucky stars that we hadn’t tried to travel via marshurtnie and camped out in Yerevan that night. The roads were clear down south the next day, so I headed home, and I am now snowed-in down here.

Even the Vayk desert has turned into a winter wonderland. The snowcapped mountains are quite pretty, especially at twilight as they reflect the setting sun. Fortunately for me, that time of day is getting later and later. It is completely dark around 6:30 now. The icy sidewalks have had me quite thankful for my newly acquired yak-traks, which allow me to get around with relative ease. There is no salt, no snowplows, and very few shovels, which usually consist of a square board attached to a stick, or a dustpan. Sometimes people sweep snow with brooms as well, but usually only in front of their own house, rather than on the sidewalks.

Kids have been out by the dozens with their sleds and their friends. There are a number of runner sled that look like they would do fine job of impaling a small child in just the instant. Of course, if the sled doesn’t do it then the busy roads they sled into and on might just do the trick. Traffic is scarce right now, but cars don’t slow down when trying to get up icy hills or sometimes when trying to stop…. My new favorite winter pastime however has to be the pointy-shoe slide. School-age boys seem to have this down to an art form. They squat and slide down hills on their little pointy shoes—they can even turn and sometimes stop. I can hardly squat standing still on a sunny day!

I learned a new interesting fact yesterday: if you drink tea and then drink cold water, you will get sick. My host father (who is sick right now) asked for a glass of water after we finished tea last night, and he was denied. He and my host mother argued and finally deferred to me. I said that it is okay to drink water after tea. “What are you, a doctor?” says my host mother. I figured this was as good of a time as any to tell them I was an EMT in the US. Soon thereafter my host father has a glass of water. Hopefully he doesn’t get sick….at least they listen to my advice.

I don’t want to jinx myself, but I have some leads on a few possible projects for Vayk and I am feeling good about their prospects. It just suddenly all came together today. I have youth development background, I work for a primarily youth development related organization, and my counterpart wants me to work with these two youths that she brought to our meeting today. Hmmmm… Ironically, I was thinking about approaching these two youths on my own to see if they wanted to work with me. I am thinking that maybe we can start a youth group and focus on English, and easy thing to do that everybody wants to be involved with and then also do environmental and health related lessons.

Other than that, I have been keeping myself entertained while counting down the days until I get to move out into my own apartment (two weeks as of right now). I bought a guitar from another volunteer this weekend, which thus far has been the highlight of my week. Finally I have the time and I am developing the patience to actually teach myself how to play. My previous attempts in the states were often thwarted by impatience. In other words, if I can’t play well NOW, then I am just not going to do it. So there. I am hoping that by the time I leave here I will be able to play well, and for now it provides a wonderful creative outlet that only music seems to be able to fulfill.

School will be starting again soon, I will be moving out, we have some upcoming conferences, and eco-camp stuff is getting more pressing, so I am thinking I will be busy in short while. Until then I am enjoying the reminder of my time with my host family and working on my language skills while I still live with people who can help me out.