Mshkavank

Today was a great day. David Coe, a Peace Corps volunteer who has been in Noy for a year but is moving to a different site in a week, took Danelle, Susan and me on a hike to Mshkavank (Mishkvank?), an abandoned monastery up in the forests above town. It was foggy, it drizzled, it was muddy: everything you can ask for in a great hike.

The main event - what David called the fun route - was climbing up a steep gully of slippery mud and slippery wet leaves, maybe 200-300 meters in distance. It took us more than an hour. It wasn't just that you couldn't find a foothold in the mud or that it was so steep you could almost touch the ground without leaning into the slope; there was nothing to grab onto either. That old Bushwhacker hike leader in me came out again - slave driver and helping hand at the same time - but everyone survived.

After the gully it got just a little easier - it wasn't as muddy, but it remained steep. I did not mention the Blair Witch movie once.

Once at the top of the ridge David led us to a so-called road, barely discernible under the leaves and not much to drive on under the best of conditions.

But it led to the vank, which was maybe the best one I've seen in Armenia. It could be that the circumstances of the visit and the isolated location of the building, with a thicket of thorny bushes surrounding it, made the place seem extra mysterious.

The monastery is about two kilometers from town as the crow flies, but in more than four hours of hiking we saw one person - a man leading a donkey that was pulling a couple of small felled tree trunks out of the forest. It just didn't seem like the time and place to whip out a camera and take a picture of the bewildered guy.

The road home was easier, except for the mud. There were times we were sliding more than we were walking.

We made it home just before dark. There was barely enough light to see whether we managed to scrape most of the mud off our boots. Dinner was Annie's Shells - gourmet macaroni & cheese - straight from a recent care package. I think we'll sleep well tonight.

Moving Day and Other Events

We have now moved into our own apartment in town. We are very happy to be out on our own, but very sad to have to leave our wonderful host mom. I could go on for pages and pages about her, but I won't--at least not now. So our apartment is a one bedroom on the third floor of a soviet-era 5-story walk-up. We have a pretty big living room, a kitchen, enclosed balcony and bathroom. All our stuff is here (took two car trips and numerous foot trips) and we are slowly getting unpacked. The view from the balcony is pretty nice too.

One of our biggest challenges so far (aside from the usual lack of water issue) has been food. We have been so spoiled with our host mom doing all the cooking and shopping that we really didn't know what to do our first night here. Which store to go to? Where do we buy vegetables, meat, etc.? It's been a learning experience for sure. Tonight I made lentil soup for dinner with meltable cheese on top. The soup had carrots and onions in it, and some really nice spices thanks to our dear friend Deborah in San Francisco. We've been making oatmeal for breakfast and then just snacking when we come home for lunch. Thankfully Peace Corps gives us a wonderful cookbook. My challenge is getting American recipes out of my head and substituting Armenian ingredients. But again, the cookbook is invaluable because it lists the availability of ingredients by month. So for vegetables, we are quickly coming upon the season where the only things we can get are cabbage, potatoes, beets, carrots and onions. I am craving "green" food, but have to wait until spring when asparagus comes into season. In the U.S. you really do get so used to being able to buy anything you want at any time of year. Not so in Armenia.

So I was teaching a class the other day and another teacher walked in and asked four of the boys to leave the class for some reason or other. When class was over I was walking to the teacher's lounge and came across the boys from class (and a group of other boys) watching a classmate assemble and disassemble an army rifle. It was a timed contest too! Later in the afternoon, that same rifle was sitting in the teacher's lounge. This is probably very usual in schools here, but it was a bit alarming to me. Does this kind of thing happen in the states? It sure didn't at any school I went to, but then it's been a while since I was in school.

And speaking of school, we are about to start after school English clubs. The other volunteers have been really great sharing ideas and helpful hints. My school director wants the clubs open to all students, and it's going to be interesting to see how many students express an interest. I've asked them to write me a paragraph about why they want to be in the club, and then I'll conduct interviews with those who submit and narrow down the group after that. Lots to do for sure.

Next week is a vacation week and schools are closed, at least for the students. Teachers still have to go in, but we have the week off. We're hoping to travel to some other places next week and see a bit of the country before winter sets in and travel becomes difficult (ice, snow, etc.). But more about that in another post.

Rain, Rain, and More Rain

There's something very comforting about listening to the rain beating against the rooftops, especially when you are warm and snuggled beneath a blanket. Add a good book and a cup of tea, and sitting close to someone you love, and it's just about perfect! With those criteria all checked off, today was pretty much perfect. It's been raining for two days now, and two more are expected. The first of many as we head into fall and then winter. Our street is now a river of sand and mud and walking to school is pretty treacherous. We live on a small but pretty steep hill, and it's all downhill to our schools. The town did add some gravel to our road earlier this fall, but much of that has now washed down the hill with the heavy rains. I haven't ventured out in this storm as I have been sick with yet another bad cold (2nd one in just inside a month). Not sure where these colds are coming from. Could be we are trading it back and forth, could be from the kids at school, or could be just different viruses here that we haven't adjusted to. Know knows.

Our school schedules have been revised again. This seems to be a pretty constant event at both of our schools. There is a handwritten schedule that you must check every afternoon to see which classes you will teach the next day. My work schedule is now down to 16 classes a week, and Fred teaches about the same. In the next month or so we will start our after-school English clubs. Still lots of work to do in deciding how many clubs and which students we will teach. And then there are at least two adult English classes in town that we will participate in. Lots to do for sure.

Last weekend we went to Yerevan for the weekend to have meetings with other volunteers about the various Peace Corps Initiatives here in Armenia. There are a lot of them. The V2 initiative is geared toward increasing voluneerism in the country, and there is a PR initiative focused on promoting Peace Corps and celebrating the 50th anniversary next year. There also is an IT initiative that works to increase IT skills (community and schools), an Environmental initiative (green camps and the like in the summer), an HIV-AIDS initiative, and one that deals with youth programs (summer camps for girls and also for boys). There are so many opportunities and it's hard to choose which program to get involved in. But involved we shall get in something before next spring.

Yerevan was lovely and it was nice to experience the city with Fred. We stayed at one of the local hostels and ours was filled with other volunteers. One of the guests was a really nice young guy from Mill Valley, CA who is traveling around the region before ending up in Israel for a few months of study (he is a student at Swarthmore in Pennsylvania). It was good to talk to someone who knew where we had lived and could appreciate some of the things we hold so dear about Marin County. We also got to hang out with lots of other volunteers, which is always fun and very entertaining.

This has been the week for PC volunteers to be in car accidents it seems. While there are driving rules in the country, they are mostly ignored. And people seem to drive as fast as they possibly can regardless of road and weather conditions. One volunteer was riding in a taxi that was in a rear-end collision. She is sore, but mostly ok. The other was in a taxi when a big truck cut in front of them for no apparent reason and they slid partially under the truck. The volunteer sitting in the front seat fortunately was wearing a seatbelt. The pictures make you wonder how he survived, but he did, with only minor cuts and bruises. One of his passengers wasn't quite as fortunate and now has many stitches across her forehead. Very sorry for all concerned. We are told in our safety classes to wear seatbelts, and now I know why. As winter approaches, we also will be checking the condition of tires on the vehicles in which we ride. And also whether they have seat belts, as many cars do not.

So we are staying in Noyemberyan for the next few months, although we may be tempted to visit other parts of the country during our fall break. We are well for the most part, and continually adjusting to new things. One of these days we will be settled, at least we hope so. Language classes continue, and we are moving at glacial speed toward fluency. That's all for now.

Pictures

I've posted some pictures on a different page, mostly just from around town. Didn't want to clutter up this blog.

All of them were taken with an aging iPhone, so the quality isn't the best.

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