Winter in Armenia

We were beginning to wonder whether winter would ever arrive. November and December had been pretty mild, with temperatures in the 50's, and we thought "hey, winter here isn't so bad here!" Well, I have learned to be careful what you ask for! Since school started back on January 10 (actually the 11th, because the school was closed the first day when the boilers and heating system wouldn't work), it has been downright cold here! For us, that means temperatures in the teens and 20's at night, and 30's and 40's during the day. People were remarking about how we hadn't had snow yet, and I'm happy to report that all that has changed. While we haven't had feet of snow, we definitely have had several days of inches of snow. Enough so the kids could make small snowmen and have snowball fights. They are definitely happy!




This is the view from one of my classrooms in School No. 1 after our first snowfall. Not a lot of snow by New England standards, but it really made everything very pretty. The next photo is from my walk home from school. Many of our fellow volunteers have had snow that you can measure in feet, so we're feeling pretty lucky. Still, it's been cold enough to put long underwear on (tops and bottoms) when we go to school, and even break out the mufflers and down coats, boots and gloves. Now, I'm really glad we made room for them in our suitcases!

We are staying warm in our apartment, so that's nice. And our big treat every week is going to the bath house for a hot shower. It's interesting how our needs have changed in the nearly 8 months since we left the states. I can remember during our first weeks of training wondering how I would live without a daily shower and hair washing. And now, it's . . . well, different. Our needs are much more basic now I think. Not that we don't remember what life was like in the U.S., but we are I guess really adjusting to the reality of our lives here. So that's a good thing.

The worst weather is when it is cold, damp and foggy--like today. You just don't feel like you can get warm, no matter what you do. At least outside anyway. Our schools do have heat, thankfully, but when the sun isn't out, our classrooms and pretty darn cold. Most of the kids stay in their winter coats, and so do many of the teachers. In the winter, we only use the classrooms on the sunny side of the building too. For anyone who wonders, no, we don't have central heat in the schools. But we do have a boiler (for both schools) that runs heated water through pipes. Some of the classrooms have radiators, and some have only the heated pipes on the floors. Most classrooms are at least 55 degrees, so we can't complain.

I can't believe I've written an entire post about the weather! But weather and food are just about all anyone talks about, so there you go. In my Armenian class today I learned how to ask a neighbor how to be quiet after 11 p.m. at night. It is likely going to come in very handy, and probably soon. I don't want to put in too many details, but I'm sure everyone has faced this situation at one time or another. And now I have the language to politely ask them to quiet down. Now we'll see if I actually do it!

It's hard to believe we're nearly a third of the way through our service! We're already talking about where we're going to go for vacations this summer. The nice thing about being a teacher is that you aren't in school for three months. But we've already found a few things to occupy our time, or at least I have. Many of you know that I have long been involved in the Breast Cancer 3-Day walks. Well, I found a walk to do here in Armenia!!

Several of our volunteers have organized a "Border-to-Border" walk to raise awareness for healthy lifestyles and the benefits of not smoking or drinking to excess. In June sometime, I will be part of a 12-person team that will walk across all of Armenia. Half of our group will leave from near the border with Iran in the south, and the other half from the border with Georgia in the north. And with any luck, after about 150 miles or so for each team, we will meet in the middle. Our plan is to walk a few days, stop and teach a class on healthy lifestyles, and then continue walking. I'll update the blog as we get a bit further in the planning. In the meantime, I'm putting my walking shoes back on and starting to train.

We hope everyone is having a great January. Thank you for the care packages and Christmas packages, which have finally started arriving after everything shut down for the holidays. We are very, very grateful. We love hearing from everyone, so write often, tell us what's new and existing in your life, or even what is just the usual everyday. We miss you all.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all who are reading our blog. The "Nor Tari" holiday is now almost over as we all go back to work tomorrow. We have been away from school since December 24, and I'm afraid it may be a bit of a shock going back to work. No more of this staying up til 3 a.m. and sleeping til noon, and then staying in PJs for the rest of the day! But our laundry is done, books are all lined up, and we're ready to go.

So many of you are wondering what all the Nor Tari fuss is about. Essentially, the entire country shuts down from December 30 until January 10. Completely. Fire and police still work, but the post office, schools, and most government offices do not. We started our celebration on December 31 with dinner at Fred's counterpart's house. We arrived around 11:30 p.m. and started with drinks and appetizers. Then a full meal, after appropriate toasts, at midnight. And fireworks, of course. Lots of them. Not the big kind you'd get in the U.S., but still pretty good by my standards. It also was really nice being with a family to celebrate the new year. Mother, father, children and grandchildren. We really felt we were part of the family too.

As for the food, the dinner table was loaded with two different kinds of dolma (one cabbage, one grapeleaf, both stuffed with yummy rice and meat), a roast of some kind of pig, several different salads, bread, cheese, tomato and cucumber. After we couldn't eat any more, we had dessert (home made pastry and cake) and coffee/tea. THEN we danced! I love dancing to Armenian music. Wish I had a video to post, but it seems very exotic. The music has a wonderful flute-type instrument and the singers match the notes of the flute. So it was fun.

At around 2:30 a.m., we left because we still had other places to visit. Everyone seems to stay up most of the night visiting friends and relatives, so that's what we did. Apparently, our apartment building is quieter than most as we only found one family still up. But even then, we were invited to sit and eat and drink, which of course we did. The next day, January 1, we continued visiting friends, our host family, and neighbors. Again, at each stop we continued to eat, until around 4 p.m. that afternoon. By this time, we're pretty full and went home to rest up for the next day.

The week continued with pretty much the same pattern--go and visit, eat, drink, dance, go home and rest. January 6 is the traditional Christmas here, and the parties have been winding down since then. It was wonderful to be in our small town and experience this holiday as it is the most celebrated time in the entire country. Next year, we may travel as we always have 2 weeks off. But that's another year from now, so who knows.

Tomorrow it's back to reality and our daily routines of getting up early, heading to school, going to class, meeting with our English clubs, etc. This week we will start an evening conversational English club for adults, so that will be a lot of fun. And hopefully another one or two English clubs for the kids. The kids don't get enough opportunity to practice speaking English, so that's what we can provide for them. And we absolutely love the kids here. We are often asked why we don't have children of our own, and my response now is "so we can have all the children here in Armenia." It makes people happy that we love the kids, and we definitely do. So Monday morning I expect we will be greeted with choruses of "Hello Mr. Linden" and "Hello Miss Susan". Definitely looking forward to that part.

We have been spared a cold and snowy winter so far. Other volunteers have been getting all the snow, and I know ours will come. Perhaps not until February, but it will come. Until then, we will enjoy not having to turn on our heat all the time.

We send you every good wish for 2011. Keep those e-mails and Facebook posts coming. It makes our time here go so much faster, and also makes you seem closer. And hopefully the packages that we know have been sent will start arriving, now that the mail is starting to flow again. Until the next post . . .