End of the Year Update

Hi everyone. Thanks for reading our blog! It's hard to believe that we have been here for 7 months now. The time has gone very quickly, at least most of the time. We spent Christmas with 27 other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in a town near Lake Sevan. We were spread around the 4 apartments of the PCVs who live there, sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. It couldn't have been more fun! We ate incredibly good food (home-made egg rolls, meatballs, cheese, fruit, chicken with dressing, beet salad, and yummy desserts), went for walks, slept late and really enjoyed our time. For some of us, it was the first time to be away from our families. It was just so nice being with other Americans to celebrate this very special holiday. The weather was quite cold (well below freezing), which made it feel very much like Christmas.



We came home for two days and then set out for a small vacation in Tbilisi, Georgia. It's only 70 km from here, but not the easiest place to get to. Our neighbor was kind enough to give us a ride, but we had to wait in a long line of cars for more than 2 hours because the computers were down and couldn't read any passports. Very frustrating to say the least. There are 4 different checkpoints, 2 on the Armenian side (to check passports and visas) and 2 on the Georgian side (to check visas and passports). And both sides stamp your passports. Finally, we made it to Tbilisi. It has the feel of a big European city, but is very easy to get around in. We stayed at a "homestay" (people rent out rooms in their homes), and they advertised 24-hour hot water and heated rooms. Well, not exactly. There was indeed hot water for showers, but the bathroom was around 40 degrees. We passed. And our room, while quite large, was impossible to heat. We slept with our clothes on and barely managed to stay warm. But that was the only downside.



We absolutely loved Tbilisi. It is a very walkable city, but also had a good subway system. Our homestay was very near a subway stop, so it cost about a quarter to get downtown to the sites. There is a beautiful old town, with cobblestone streets and unique architecture that makes it look somewhat like the French Quarter in New Orleans.






And the Georgian cuisine is fantastic. We ate grilled eggplant and roasted tomatoes, an excellent beef soup, and several different kinds of dumplings (called khingali). Although there was a McDonalds's, we avoided the golden arches. Some of the PCVs we met lived there, but we ate local food where we could. We also found some excellent cafes with good tea and coffee. Not to mention the local hachipuri (sort of an inside out pizza with yummy cheese on the inside).

As far as sights, there is a beautiful fortress on the hill that offers incredible views of Tbilisi. We climbed up there one day, and wandered through the botanical gardens too. We spent much of our time wandering around the old town, and went to the sulfur baths where for $20 we got a private room with a dressing room (complete with couches, sink, and bathroom) and a bathing room with a very hot sunken tub, a marble slab to cool off on, and a shower. We haven't been that relaxed in quite a while.








Our second night there we ran into 10 other PCVs from Armenia. That was a lot of fun and we all ate dinner together at a pretty good Thai place. Best we've had so far. We also met two volunteers who are serving in Azerbaijan. It was really interesting talking to them about how their host country nationals view Armenia, and vice versa. As you can imagine, both countries see the same events quite differently. At our homestay, we also met a guy from Turkey. Again, it was really interesting to talk about how his country sees Armenia, and some of the issues faced by both countries.



There are lots of amazing things about Tbilisi, but perhaps the best thing we saw is the Christmas decorations. Truly beautiful and over-the-top lights everywhere. There is one main street (Rustavelli) with lights both overhead and on all the buildings. Every square also was decorated. We never saw Yerevan when it was all decked out, but it's hard to imagine how anything could be better than Tbilisi. Too bad we couldn't stay for New Years! But maybe next year.

We are now getting ready for New Year's here--Nor Tari. It it the biggest holiday so far, and people spend days cooking sweets, salads, dolmas, and a variety of other things. We will go to Fred's counterpart's home at 11:30 tonight to ring in the new year. Our neighbor just brought us a chicken to eat (freshly killed and plucked, thank you very much), and I was over there watching her make dolmas. Now I will go upstairs to see what our other neighbors are making, and then it's time to do a little cooking of our own. I will attempt to make some sort of blonde brownie thing that requires baking powder. Alas, there is no baking powder anywhere within 200 km of our town. So, it will be another experiment. Hopefully this one will turn out ok!

The Nor Tari tradition is still a bit of a mystery. It seems that today and this evening is for family, and starting tomorrow and for the next week (thru January 6) is a full scale party where everyone visits everyone else. We will report back in our next blog.

This has been a year full of changes and adjustments and more changes. We look forward with much anticipation to what the next year will bring. Until the next blog, we wish everyone a very happy New Year.

Some Things to Love About Armenia

On any given day, there are lots of things we could point to as being difficult in this country. But perhaps the better way to look at it is to focus on the things we love. With that attitude, everything seems to look just a little bit brighter. So, for example, we could complain because we don't have hot water at all. The better way to state this is to say how grateful we are that we have water every few days and can fill up our bottles, buckets and bathtub. It is with this attitude in mind that I write this update.

I love that I have the opportunity to experience something new every few days. I love that the marshutni driver can effortlessly pass five cars (I counted) going into a blind curve while talking on his cell phone and having a conversation with the person in the back row. I love that the version of winter we are having right now has temperatures hovering in the 50s during the day. I love that on our visit to our first host family this weekend they welcomed us with open arms. I love that the neighbors in our apartment building actually notice when we are gone and seem to miss us. I love that so far we are the only people in town who have put up Christmas lights on their balcony for everyone in town to see, should they be looking. I love that I no longer want to yell out in panic when someone is tailgating so closely that I can read the very small print on the back of the car in front of me. I love that I can listen to music on my iPhone rather than succumb to panic because I am not driving. I love the challenges we face in just living here.

We do have it better than most. We have a pretty nice 2-room apartment. We are in good health, and have access to good health care if we are not. We are warm, and we have food in the cupboards. We are supported by a whole staff of Peace Corps professionals who go out of their way to make sure our needs are met. We generally like our jobs and the people with whom we work. We love the kids in our town. Actually, we love all the kids here. And we truly love the people. They are a continuing source of inspiration on so many levels.

So this weekend we went "home" to visit our first host family. I had forgotten how much I loved the simplicity of life in a small (750 people) village. Much like the old TV show "Cheers", it was nice to go back where everybody in fact knew our name, not just our business. Our host family recently suffered a terrible loss--our host dad's brother was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Yerevan. The driver has not been found, nor is he likely to be. Apparently this happens pretty regularly in Yerevan, and is a reminder to be very careful crossing the street. Last week two people were killed in separate incidents across from the Peace Corps office, on a street we regularly cross. Sort of like dodge ball, but with cars and much more serious results if you don't judge things exactly right.

So it is an incredibly sad time for the family, and we are so grateful we could be there to spend time with them. In the midst of their grief, they were happy to have us come stay with them. They prepared a feast in our honor, and we got to sit and watch some of the video from their oldest daughter's recent wedding. And we all paused when that favorite uncle was in one of the pictures, to remark on how much we loved him, and how much he loved life.

We left our first host family for the trip back to our current home and it was a quick trip. But how nice to be asked why we had to leave to early, and when we could come back. Our first marshutni ride was quite an adventure--mostly because everyone wanted to know about the Americans (Amerikatsi) on the bus. Why did we leave the U.S. to come to Armenia, when most Armenians want to go to the U.S.? We even had a mini-English lesson with one of the passengers. After a while, they were satisfied that we were in our right minds, and they really seemed to appreciate that we loved their village, their country, and their people, and could communicate (sort of) in their language. The driver didn't even charge us for the ride, as acknowledgment of the relationship with our host family. Pretty unheard of in the U.S. I think.

The rest of our trip home was pretty uneventful, and we are now back working on preparing tests for our 10th and 11th grade students. We are back to school tomorrow. Then school is out for two weeks for the New Year ("nor tari") holidays. We plan to celebrate Christmas with some other volunteers, which will definitely be a lot of fun. Although we will both miss being with our families and friends.

To all of you back home (in the U.S. and Europe) reading this, we wish you the best of holiday seasons. We will celebrate here without you, but you will be close to us in our hearts.

Thanksgiving in Armenia

Thanks to the hard work of a number of fellow volunteers, we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner in Yerevan last week. All the volunteers got together for meetings and socializing, and Monday night we celebrated Thanksgiving together. Added bonus was staying in a hotel with hot, running water and a view of Mt. Ararat (smog permitting).

[Fred's photo caption: one view from our hotel room; in the other direction we overlooked the presidential residence and the Hrazdan River Gorge.]

I got to be on the pie committee, and we made 25 pies in just over 4 hours--apple, lemon meringue, pumpkin and walnut (excellent substitute for pecan by the way). Other volunteers brined the turkeys, cut up bread for stuffing, boiled sweet potatoes, carrots and potatoes, and all the rest that made up our yummy dinner. Dinner was turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin souffle, roasted sweet potatoes with brown sugar glaze, and green been casserole. We also had "sweet" butter for the bread that was made with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.

[Fred's photo caption: volunteers eating turkey, or as it's called here, Indian chicken.]

[Fred: More volunteers - the other side of the room.]

The evening was capped off with a volunteer talent show, and some of our PCVs are pretty darned talented. I particularly liked Joel's Brittany Spears sing-along! Evenings were full of optional activities like knitting, photography, media sharing, movie night and games. Lots of fun just sitting around with other volunteers talking about what they've been doing and what they're planning. So while things are difficult in many areas of our lives, this was one chance for PCVs to be very thankful for what we have--our families back home, and our Peace Corps family here in Armenia.

Being in Yerevan allowed us the opportunity to go shopping for things we can't get here, including an amazing nut, dried fruit and spice shukah (market) where things are sold by the kilogram (nuts and fruit), or glass (large or small). We were able to buy some good curry powder, ground ginger and flax seed, none of which we can get locally. We also found soy sauce (Russian for around $2 v. the Kikkoman at $15 for a small bottle) and a few other goodies. Still searching for Q-tips instead of generics. And we also got flue shots, and had dental appointments and the like.

[Fred's photo caption: Plastic Christmas trees for sale outside Rossia, a big market and bus station in Yerevan. Most Christmas decorations we saw for sale in Yerevan were, fortunately, at the other extreme of the tacky-vs-sophisticated spectrum.]

But it's nice to be home after being gone for a week. We arrived around 5:30 last night, and neighbors came out of their doors to welcome us home, invite us for dinner and tea. There's a lot to be said for our community here. We're back at school tomorrow, and it will be good to be back in our regular routines. Still not terribly cold here, although it's pretty drizzly and gray. Our trip back on the minibus (marshutni) yesterday was through pea-soup fog at just about the same time as the herds of sheep, cows and goats were heading home. Very interesting how our driver didn't brake much and still managed to miss every single animal.

Speaking of animals, winter is particularly difficult for all the homeless dogs and cats. How I wish there was a local shelter, but there just isn't. It's heartbreaking at times to see the animals and how they have to live. Some will make it through the winter, others will not. Unfortunately we don't have the resources to address the issue. With unemployment at over 50% (or so it seems), there are more important things to do here. Like teach English! So for tonight, I will start working on lessons for tomorrow.