100 Days

Yesterday marked another milestone in our service. We have 100 days until we are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). On August 3, 2012 we will be winging our way back to the U.S. for the next phase of our adventure. Details to follow as we know them.

In the meantime, our sincerest thanks to everyone for their love and support these past two years. You have made our lives more comfortable with your care packages, and your cards, letters and e-mail have kept our spirits up when we most needed it. So thank you, one and all.

On April 24, we traveled to Yerevan with some of our students to pay our respects at the Genocide Memorial. The museum and memorial serve as a reminder to all Armenians of the 1915 Genocide in Turkey. It was wonderful to see it through the eyes of our students, and to be part of the remembrance activities. After a 3 hour marshutni ride, we took a subway, walked a few kilometers, and then joined a 2 1/2 hour solemn march with a few hundred thousand people to the monument itself. Once there, we placed flowers on a flower wall surrounding the perpetual flame. By the end of the day, the bank of flowers was more than 4 feet high. This will give you an idea of what it looked like.

The night before we had participated in a candlelight march with our schools through the town to our local church. We did it last year, and it was a silent march. This year was a bit different--there were chants of "recognize" and the students carried signs and flags. We're so glad we could be a part of both of these events. We are constantly asked why America won't recognize the Genocide, and must always find a way to tactfully respond. In truth, it's a political issue on which we can have no opinion.

That's all for this post. It's way past spring here. The lilacs have come and gone, and it's already hot. Can't wait to see what real summer is going to be like!

We will be seeing you soon . . . 

Close of Service Conference

There are numerous milestones in the career as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Completing your Pre-Service Training, Swearing In, All-Volunteer Conferences, Mid-Service Conference, and finally . . . Close of Service (COS) Conference. We just completed the last official conference in our 27 months of service, our COS Conference. This is where we learn about all the paperwork we need to complete before we can leave Armenia. And there is a lot of it. We have a 5-page checklist of things that we have to do, all of which require sign-off by someone at Peace Corps. These include medical, administrative, safety and security, language, program manager and country director signatures. A daunting task to say the least.

As for the conference itself, it was a wonderful opportunity to see people we don't usually get to see, and some we probably won't get to see again. The geography in Armenia makes visiting some PCVs difficult at best--some are a 2-day trip away, assuming everything goes as planned. So we spent 2 days at Arthur's Aghveran Resort near Arzakan, Armenia. It was one of the nicest places we've been to, at least for a Peace Corps-sponsored conference. In addition to day-long meetings on various administrative procedures, we had a visit from the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern (and his wife Libby), learned how to apply for jobs, how to prepare resumes, and had time for an engagement party, karioke, swimming, and just hanging out. We will miss being with these people in ways that we can't yet begin to comprehend.

I have a countdown timer on my computer. Today it says 102. That is 102 days until we are able to head back to the U.S. We still have 5 weeks of school to finish, English language camps, and many, many goodbyes. Plus we'd like to see a little bit of the country before we head home. Fred has discovered a unique way to see the south--he's going to be part of the Border-to-Border walk this summer. His group will leave with the far south near Iran and walk around 300 km to Yeghegnadzor in the middle. Over the course of three weeks, he will go up and down numerous mountains, stop to camp, teach children about healthy lifestyles, and see some amazing sites. I did this last summer from the north, and it will be interesting to see what it's like from the south.

So as we near the end of our service, it has been interesting to reflect on our time here in Armenia. We are the 18th group of volunteers here. We started with 58 volunteers and now are down to 47. Some left during training, some have left for medical reasons, others more recently for new jobs. And now those of us who are left are saying goodbye to each other, to communities where we have lived for the past two years, to children we have taught, and to families we have become a part of. It is bitter-sweet for sure.  It's exciting for us to listen to the plans of the younger (and older) volunteers too. Many will travel or go on to graduate school. One will be getting married in July. And all seem to have big plans for the future. We are excited for them!

What does the future hold for us? Right now, we have no idea. We have few possessions back in the U.S. and no real home. And currently, no jobs or job prospects (although we hope that will change soon). It's both exciting and a little unnerving at the same time. We do get a small amount of money from Peace Corps to "readjust" to our life back in the states, so hopefully we can make that last a little while as we figure out the next direction our lives will take.

Whatever happens, we have had an experience here that has changed our lives in ways we can't possible know right now. We look forward to sharing some of that with you when we get home. We'll try to keep it to 5 minutes or less when you ask us about what it was like to be in the Peace Corps.

In the meantime, here is a photo of our A-18 group at our COS conference.
See you all in 102 days . . .