A Charlie Brown Christmas

So, since being back from my trip, not too much has been going on. This is just a Christmas edition posting so it won’t be too long.

Christmas here is not celebrated on December 25th like it is in the states but is celebrated on January 6th. In all honestly, my family didn’t know about our Christmas in the States and if came as a shock to them when i told them. From New Years till their Christmas, there is just a huge party going on. Honestly, for about six days. I think I already mentioned this. People go to everyone else’s house and eat and talk about whatever else. Well, since the death of my host father three years ago, my host mom really didn’t pay much attention to the holidays. However this year, they got out their Christmas decorations. My host mom says that its for the little baby, but I like to think that she got them out for me. I mean really, the baby isn’t going to know the difference.

So, we got the tree out. I know right now you are probably thinking of an 8 footer that scrapes the ceiling and you need a step ladder to step on to put the star on the top. Well, what we had was a barely three foot tree that frankly looked like crap. It was the Charlie Brown tree. However, the first thing we did was put lights on it. Its amazing how simple lights on a tree are, and its even more amazing how those lights just totally absorb your attention. In reality you are staring at a tree with lights on it. I mean you don’t just stand at a traffic intersection staring at those lights right? (Well maybe you do). Anyway, there is something really magical about it.

After the lights, we put up the seven ornaments that we had. Since Mom and Dad sent over some ornaments, I added my two to the tree and the family totally flipped out with excitement. The funny part about this was I was sitting down and my sister was putting up all the decorations and she kept asking me why I wasn’t helping. So I got up and tried to help. I am not making this up... every ornament that I put on the tree, she took off and said “here’s a better place for this”. Not a single ornament that I put on the tree is in its original place. The best part about this was that she had no idea that she was doing that.

So after the tree was decorated, it was beautiful, just like Charlie Brown’s. (Actually Charlie Brown’s tree still looked like crap, but ours didn’t). The little decorations that we had on the little tree that we had was good enough. This would be my first tree in two years and that made me happy. Tonight, we are having a Christmas party with some of the other volunteers. Last year, I spent Christmas in Korea spending it with people from Australia, Ireland, Kansas, Michigan, Virginia, and Korea. Who would have thought... And while I was in Korea, I would have never imagined that I would be spending this years Christmas with the people that I am about to spend it with. Its very interesting.

Thats not to say that I won’t miss the Moravian Love Feasts, Meatball night, and other traditions, but I guess this just gives me a deeper appreciation of those things. I’m looking forward to my first Christmas back but am thankful that I am here to spend it with the people that I am going to spend it with.

Merry Christmas. Drink some egg nog for me.

Until next time...

sour cream, chips, and a trip

So this week was a continuation of our break due to the Flu Pandemic here. Its been great. Hector, Pat and I decided that we were going to go to the southern part of Armenia to see some of the sights down there and to see some friends. We left on Tuesday and went down to Sisian and hung out with Ben. We threw the football around and we just walked around. We went to the Sisian stonehenge and walked around there. Actually what we did was just take pictures. I was really disappointed in the place because I thought it was going to be like the Stonehenge in England. It wasn’t. It was some stones in a row about 3 feet high with holes in them. Nothing really that impressive in my opinion. They are really old though. This is where I lost my telephone.

So about that. We got back to Sisian and I realized that I had lost my phone. Now, those of you that know me know that I don’t really lose things because I am paranoid about that kind of thing. So we called the taxi and we actually went to back to the Stonehenge place and I looked around in the snow for my phone, but to no avail. Honestly, I wasn’t really that bummed because the phone was old and didn’t really work that well. So we leave Sisian and we go to Goris. Goris is beautiful. We went over a ledge and the whole city is in this bowl. Its so pretty there. We got there and met up with some of the other volunteers. I found a viva-cell store which is one of their telecommunication companies here, and I asked them to cancel my numbers.

Yeah, the second I get out of the store, Hector tells me that my phone called his phone. Apparently a guy found my phone and called Hector because it was the last person I had called when I had the phone. So here I am with my phone now but without a number since I just cancelled them. Well, the vivacell people were really nice and after cancelling my number, they put my old number on the new cards. I have two phone numbers. One for the city and one for the village because its cheaper to have one for each place. If I use my village number in the city its much more expensive. Anyway, they actually cancelled someone else’s number because mine still works the same. There is someone out there with a phone card that just stopped working. I feel bad about that...

So anyway, everything with the phone is alright. Got everything squared away with the help of the people from vivacell.

While in Goris, there is Tatev. Its a monestary that dates back about 1000 years. Its still in excellent condition so we went there and looked around. It was really beautiful and I wish I had some pictures to show. The only way out there is by Taxi and its about ten dollars per person, so we got a taxi and we went out there for the morning. It was really nice. You have to go down into a valley and then come back up the other side to get to Tatev. Its funny because when you get there, you see this really big crane there right in front of the church. Apparently it has been there since the 1930s and there are people now that are protesting the removal of this crane because it has been there for such a long time, they say its now a historical monument. Yeah, you are right, it does not make any sense. So all my pictures do not have the crane, but if you buy any postcards, they all have this red crane in the middle of the pictures. Kind of kills the beauty of the picture.

Anyway, we got back and what do I do... I drop my camera on the pavement. Fortunately I had a UV filter on the lens because the 5 dollar UV filter shattered... the lens did not. This has been one hell of a trip so far. So Tatev was gorgeous.

Also, on the way back, there is this really nice gazebo that is placed at the edge of this peninsula in the mountains. By peninsula, I mean a gazebo on this path and on three sides there are just sheer cliffs. It is really nice. The interesting this about this is that all these old buildings are in line with each other. This gazebo, Tatev and three other structures are in a row with huge bells on them and back in the day they used this as a warning signal, kind of like in Lord of the Rings where they make the fires on top of the mountains. Maybe you can relate. Anyway, it is pretty interesting.

So, one of the greatest things about Peace Corps are the volunteers. We are spread out all over the country so no matter where you go, there will be a volunteer pretty close by. Its great. The first night we stayed at Brian's house because there was no room at Pat and Meaghan's. So Brian let us stay there. It was funny because everyone said that Brian's house was really cold. Hector and I laughed because we are from the Martuni region where its wicked cold. We had no problems at his house. I snored so loud that Brian got up, and moved to the other room and just slept on the floor. He was really nice to let us stay there.

Then, Patrick and Meaghan let us stay at their place for a while and it was great. Meaghan made this really good ramen soup thing for dinner and the following morning she made eggs and pancakes. PANCAKES. I know most of you in the states are like "oh pancakes" but people... I am in Armenia and Pancakes are a novelty here. Its fantastic. They were so good. We just hung out and saw Goris. It was great. This is probably the prettiest city I have seen in Armenia so far. Anyway, I know I have written about it before but the camaraderie here is unparallel. Its just great. These are people with the same cause but from different backgrounds so you can talk for hours about stuff and its so interesting.

Another great thing about Goris, is the Shwarma that they have here. It was delicious. It is bread, pork, mayonnaise, hot sauce, and cilantro. It was really really good. I like Mayo.

This morning, we went over to see Chris. He is working with a local TV studio making a show. Basically the show is about two puppets and the puppets interview people from different places. So since volunteers have been to different places and from different places, they come down to Goris and get interviewed. Hector was interviewed about LA because he is from there. Its a pretty good idea. The show is for little kids but is all in English.

Anyway, I really wish that I could put up some pictures because the places were really pretty. Im sorry if this blog seems spacey or is not how it normally sounds but I am battling a whole bunch of people talking and its hard to pay attention, but anyway, it was a great time.

Four more days of school, then vacation. Its actually three weeks from today and we will be going on our trip to India. Holy crap time is clipping along.

Until next time... and I will try to pay more attention.

Flu and Milking

So things have been great and let me tell you why. Well, its been great for me, maybe the little kiddies won’t agree. So, the Minister of Health of Armenia closed school because of the problems with children catching the flu. About a fourth of my school, which consists of about 450 kids, were at home because they “caught” the flu, or some similar sickness. Now, it is hard to gauge if the kids actually had the flu or they just wanted to stay at school. I know when I got back from my conference, my brother went up to spend about a week and a half with my sister in the other city and I was told to tell anyone who asked that my brother was home, sick. So the statistics are a little skewed I suppose. Anyway, from December 8th to December 20th, I don’t have school. When school does start back up, I will only have four days of classes before the winter break begins. So effectively for the months of December and January, I will work a total of sixteen days. Wow.

It has been great too. The wednesday after the announcement of the schools being closed, in all of Armenia, some of us went to Vardenis, which is a city about thirty minutes from here by car. There was a library opening and since we didn’t have much else to do, some of us went. It was funny because we were supposed to meet in Martuni at 10:30. The buses that came through my village were full so I walked the hour and a half to Martuni on the road. The PTO from Peace Corps was also going to come and I called him and told him “if you see an American walking on the road, pick him up.” Yeah, so the second I got the city, after walking ninety minutes, guess who pulls up next to him (i’ll give you a hint, it was the PTO). I said “you’ve got to be kidding me”. (He wasn’t kidding, he really showed up right when I walked to the city). It was kind of funny. Anyway, we all piled into the car and off we went. The opening was great. There was a little party afterwards and then after, we went to the opening of a kindergarten. Same deal. The man at the table just kept pouring more and more cognac. I mean you can’t say no, can you? So after that, we went to Vanessa’s house for a little while and Vincent made lunch. Some chicken thing with olives. Then we went back. Good fun.

This weekend, we had the AIDS/HIV poster contest. Students from all over Armenia submitted posters to win a prize and the poster had to do something with AIDS. So, this gathering was on Saturday. My host Dad from my first village called me on Monday and asked why it had been two months since I had visited, so I decided that I would go and visit. Well holy crap...

When I left Martuni, the city closest to me, I told the marshutni driver that I wanted to stop close to Charentsavan, near the police station because my first families house is a kilometer from the highway and I could just walk. Well, we passed that road, and so i made my way through the crowded marshutni and tapped the driver on the shoulder and I asked him, “do you remember that you were supposed to stop?” and he said “yeah, I remember.” By the way, he gave me a really funny look when I asked him that like he was thinking “oh, shit, I forgot.” Yeah, so he drove to Charentsavan and dropped me off and he said this was the stop, I looked at him in the meanest look I could. Anyway, I walked to Charentsavan which was about an hour walk and waited went to the bus depot. I asked a bunch of people if the bus to Hrazdan went through my village, where I needed to go. From one man, I got this answer “Yes, crossroads”. I thought to myself, “what the hell does that mean?”. Another man told me to just sit on the bus because it was going to go to my village. So that’s what I did. Well, the second the bus got back on the highway, I knew something was wrong. We went to this other village and then I finally decided to talk to my host Dad. He told me to give the phone to someone else. I got to Hrazdan and the lady started yelling at me to get off the bus. I didn’t know where I was but she said that a marshutni would come and pick me up. So that’s what I did, I got off the bus and waited by the corner. So here was this American bundled up because it was snowing and really windy. I waited there for 45 minutes. That sucked. Finally a man driving a car, saw a poor sap standing at the corner of the road (the poor sap would be me) and asked me where I was going. At that point I didn’t care as long as I could sit somewhere warm for a little bit). I told him my village and he gave me a ride there. I got to my first village four and a half hours after I left. It should have taken two hours at the most. That was great.

So I got to my village and I hung out with my first family. It was a lot of fun. They thought I was staying the whole weekend, even though I told my host Dad that I had a meeting the following day. They killed two chickens on my behalf so I couldn’t just run out the door the following morning. So I stayed a while, got on the bus to Charentsavan but the bus from Charentsavan to Yerevan never came so I just got in a shared taxi and off i went. I got to the office with thirty minutes to spare. We had our poster contest and it went really well. Two of the organizations that I invited actually came so I was really happy about that.

After the poster contest, Hector and I went over to Ashley’s house and spent the night there. She is so nice to let us stay there. She is fun to hang out with too. Sunday morning I had to wake up at 7 to make it back to my village because my nephew had his first two teeth break through his gums. They celebrate that. Much like the Koreans celebrate the first 100 days of the babies life. So, here its the teeth, in Korea its a different story. So let me explain the Korea thing. Mom, you can correct me if I am wrong.

So, back in the day, Korea had tough times and babies didn’t really live past the first 100 days, so now, as part of tradition and for fun, a new born who has lived 100 days gets a party. Lots of food and whatever. After the eating, the baby gets objects like a pencil, candy, money, etc. placed in front of them and the baby gets to chose. I chose a pencil. That meant I was supposed to be smart. (Well, now we know the credibility of the Korean tradition). Anyway, today my nephew did the same thing, but instead of the 100 days thing, it is because he has teeth. Interesting.

Now, here is the weirdest part. About ten people came and of course my nephew was the center of attention. A neighbor came with her baby who is younger by three months. After eating it was the baby feeding time. Well talk about awkward. My host sister, who is 20 and this other girl who is 18 or 19 (and they both have babies), lifted up their shirts without hesitation and let the babies go to town. I let out a “holy shit” because that’s just awkward. I mean really, out in the open. I saw one baby go to town, and then I just stared at the ceiling. I stared at the ceiling all the way to my room. I haven’t been around babies that much so I don’t know the correct protocol, but is that normal, just for new mommy’s to whip out their boobs like that? I think not... So that was that. This upcoming week I am planning on going to Goris, a town in the south. Should be pretty nice. We’ll see.

The weather is still cold but I think I am starting to get used to it. I made a documentary and I sent one home and one to TJ’s house to be shown at meatball night. If anyone else would like a copy of my life here, let me know and I will send you a CD. Ok, thats all I got. Two more weeks till Christmas... YIKES
Oh, and Jon, getting off the phone with me after 5 minutes of conversation to eat your burrito is not ok...

Until next time...

Another Interesting Weekend

I know this is a bit unorthodox and I usually write every week or at least try to, but I had to write about my weekend because it was that interesting. So, if you are reading this one, make sure you read the one that I wrote four days ago too, because that ones a doozy too.

But before I talk about this past weekend, I forgot to mention what I did last Wednesday. I went to Terri’s school. I was pretty excited to go because some of the teachers at her school always stop me in the road and ask why I haven’t been there yet. I usually respond with “ who are you”. So finally I make my way out to the school. Its really nice. It was renovated last year so the structure of the building looks very good. However, I think there was some kind of compensation. Here’s why. I walked into the teacher’s lounge and they all just stared at me. How fantastic. No one said a word to me. The bell finally rang and I went with Terri and her counterpart out of there to their class. When I walked in the kids just looked at me. Terri and her counterpart started the class by letting me introduce myself and letting them ask me questions, all in English. Crickets. So that was what it was like for pretty much all three classes that I went to. It was really strange how in the same village, their personalities are so different from those at my school. You may be saying “well its because you’re new to the school”, yeah, Terri said that this is how the faculty and the kids are everyday to her, pretty much. So, with that said, I am really happy I am at my school. I feel bad for Terri now and can understand better what she is going through. We’re not going to even talk about her counterpart. I mean, she was nice to me...

So, on to the meat of this blog. So on Sunday I was supposed to go to Yerevan to have a meeting with American Council about training HIV/AIDS stuff to the Alumni there. I decided that I didn’t want to go because the guy I was corresponding with wasn’t going to be there either and they have meetings every month and I didn’t have all my information together anyway. So. that was that. Hector called me on Friday and told me that the “get together” was the next day and that his mom had spent the day cooking a bunch of stuff. This was news to me because I thought the previous weekend when we had talked about it, we were doing just that, talking about it. No set plans. So let me say again that when you go to Hector’s house it is like preparing for a marathon. Maybe not, I don’t know. I have never run a marathon and never plan to. Anyway, I need about a week to mentally ready my mind and my stomach for this kind of ordeal. I didn’t have that time to ready myself. Anyway, since Hector’s mom had made all this food and stuff, I had to go.

I didn’t want to walk this time since no one was going to be with me so I decided that I would wait and take the bus. So at 2:30 I left my house to go to the store to buy some things and then went to the bus stop. Nick texted me and asked where I was and told him I was at the bus stop which right after he informed me that the bus was just passing the last house of my village headed toward Hector’s village. Great. It was a really pretty day and I started my trek out to his house. It was about 3 in the afternoon. It wasn’t freezing cold, there were a few clouds in the sky and a some wind. It was beautiful again out there. This time, it was just me so all I could hear were my footsteps and the wind blowing over my ears. It was really nice. I enjoyed my walk. Then when I got to the village limits of Hector’s village, Pat calls and tells me that he is coming and he will pick me up in my village in the taxi he is in. I quickly inform him that I had already walked the distance to Hector’s house and to be honest, Im glad I did. So, Pat, Nick, Hector and his family started the food marathon. We ate for a good four hours or so. Then we played all sorts of games and by 10:00 I was really tired so I went up to Hector’s room.

We ended up just talking about stuff until 1am. It was good to catch up with those guys.

The next morning, we ate, more food. We actually had baby chickens, or “chicks” for breakfast. Talk about really tender meet. Very good.

So this is where things get a little off track. Hector’s mom came over and asked if any of us knew how to kill and skin a rabbit. Good thing I was a boy scout because I learned that stuff. So they asked Hector if he would kill the rabbit. This was really weird because they kill cattle and pigs and sheep all the time to eat. I didn’t understand why they had so much trouble killing the rabbit, until... I found out that the rabbit was the little boys pet. I don’t know why, but the family wanted to eat the little kids pet but they didn’t want to kill it. So, Pat and Hector killed the rabbit. I couldn’t watch the killing. I could hear the rabbit screaming... and then silence. It was a horrible high pitched squeal. It was horrible too because they “sharpened” the knife but Hector had to pretty much saw at the neck. Well anyway, after that, we had to skin it. I helped out with this part but that was weird too. They cut off the head. I had to grab the throat and try to pull everything out. The weird and most disgusting part was the fact that the rabbit was still warm. I took me a while to get over that part but when I did, we got the skin off. How interesting. Its funny because in America I probably wouldn’t have done this but here, it happens all the time. Its a way of life here. They butcher the cow right next to the school and polyclinic. So I guess I have just become used to it? Don’t really know the right words to use.

Anyway, two hours later, we ate Thumper. The meat was really tough. Good, but tough. Soon after that, Pat and I walked back. Again it was really nice and it went a lot faster because the road is sloped slightly downhill. I got back and hung out with my Grandmother and Mom until the rest of the family came back.

The house is warm once again and will stay warm until New Years. Thank God.

Until next time...

waving is the same as saying Hi

So this week has been pretty normal. I really like being in my village. Although I was freezing my butt off, I guess I have just dealt with it. It is fine now. I use my little heater that Peace Corps gave me. Let me tell you how. So, in the morning, I get out of my bed, which is warm now thanks to the addition of my sleeping bag. I usually sleep with some fleece pants on and a long T-shirt. So when I get out of bed, the room is still pretty cold. There is ice on the windows, inside and out, and I can see my breath. I run over to my little heater and turn it on. Then as it is sort of heating up my room, I get my long underwear out and put it over the heater for about fifteen seconds to warm them up and put them on. I do that with the rest of my clothes and then put on my huge down coat. The same thing happens at night. My heater cord isn’t long enough to reach my bed so I have to jump into my bed and freeze for 5 min to heat it up. After that, its fine. All attempts to look “fashionable” or at least not look stupid have flown out the door. There is one, and one thing only that I concentrate on... keeping my body heat close to my body. I drink tea about 4 times a day. Its amazing how much warmer you can feel after drinking tea or eating hot soup. There is still snow on the group.

As I say this, today was the first day that I have been able to wear just my fleece with nothing else. I wouldn’t say its warm, but I got a chance to open my window and get some fresh air in my room. Also, I did my laundry. First time in about two and a half weeks. I had a good amount of clothes to wash and I prepared myself for it. As I started, my mom came in and asked “do you want to use the machine washer”. I looked at her with a look of “what the hell are you talking about... a “machine washer”. So apparently this whole time the family had a machine washer. Now I have heard through other volunteers that Peace Corps tells the family to make the volunteer hand wash everything for the first four months. Well, I certainly did that. The fact that there was a machine washer was like making a fire with flint and steel for months and then being given a lighter. My clothes were so much cleaner. The whites actually looked white, and not this weird grey/green color. I don’t think I should mention how dirty the water looked. Here’s a clue... black.

So, there is this lady at the culture house who is the librarian and she called me and asked me if I wanted to come to her house. I didn’t really want to go and told her that I had work to do. She kept badgering me, so I eventually gave up and I went. It was an interesting experience. When I got there I found out that there was a table with place settings for ten people. It was a party. So while the Librarian was preparing everything, I was left in the living room with the sister. The sister was Deaf and Mute. Well this was perfect because I don’t know Armenian anyway. Ok, thats not true, I think I have a pretty good mastery of the language now. All I have to do now is learn the vocabulary and learn the village language, or the village slang. Anyway, we somehow communicated. That is one of the greatest feelings in the world to be able to communicate with someone in that way. Hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. It reminded me of the time I was working at Dorthea Dix Mental Hospital. There was a lady there named Vicky who was deaf and mute. Somehow we managed to talk to each other for about 45 min. I remembered the sign language that I had learned when I was a cub scout years ago. It was great. So, with all that said, I will conclude this paragraph with this thought... language is overrated... (that is a joke).

I love my village. I don’t know how to specify one thing but I don’t really like to leave. I was going to go to Yerevan this weekend, but I decided against it. There was a meeting with American Council this Sunday, but the guy I was corresponding with wasn’t going to be there, so I decided that I didn’t want to make the two hour journey there and two hours back. I completely dreaded it. I am not really looking forward to going to my meeting this upcoming weekend but I actually have an active role in that one so I have to go, but I am really turned off by that whole idea. I think the big reason was the week that I was in Yerevan for the All-Vol conference. Everyday I was sick with either some cold or a stomach thing with 9 hours of conferences everyday for 6 days. I mean really who would like the city after all that?

There’s only 3 more weeks of school left before this semester is finished. Didn’t we just start?

Here’s a funny story. So my Grandmother here really wants me to get married. She saw a picture of Ani and assumed she was my girlfriend and she keeps asking me when we were going to get married. I frankly reply with a stern, “we’re not”. So she takes this to mean that I don’t like Ani which then she says, “well I know other girls and Ill bring them over to the house to meet you”. Can we say “awkward”. I know she is doing it out of good intention and it really is funny because she has this whole scheme in her head. This is what she says. “You can meet a nice Armenian girl, get married and then your parents will have to come here and we can meet them”. I looked at her laughing in my head because I can just hear my Dad saying, “yeah, we’ll see you two after the wedding when you get back to the states... we have dogs to take care of”.

Now this isn’t the first time this has happened. I don’t know. Maybe i already said this story before, but its worth repeating because its really awkward. I went to the post office to see if I had a package. I have a friend that works there so I usually stay in there and talk for a little while. Well, the older lady in there is really nice and she looks at me and she asks me if I am married. I said no. Then she asks me if I want to marry her daughter. I say no thank you. Little did I know that her daughter was sitting on the other side of the room. Then she tells me that she is sitting “over there” and points at her. Her daughter is just smiling at me. I mean really. What do you do in that situation? I told her that I had a girlfriend in America, which she responds with “that’s ok, she is over there”. She laughed as she was saying that, but you could tell there was some truth behind what she was saying. Oh the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

My little brother has been up in Ijevan for the last week where my sister lives with her husband and her little son, or my nephew. They are coming back tomorrow. I am excited for two reasons. One; they are coming back and I actually miss my brother. Two; because the baby will be here, that means the heater will be on fulltime and the house will be really warm. They are staying until New years. Thank God. That means that I will be warm for the next month and then I will leave soon thereafter to go to Dubai and India. Both places that don’t have snow or freezing temperatures.

I am leaving in about thirty minutes to go to Hector’s house. Oh Crap. I haven’t eaten at all today in order to prepare myself for the ingestion of 40 pounds of food.

Last thing that I want to say. This might be a little gross but maybe a bit entertaining if you want to read this. So, this week, there has been no water. They are fixing pipes or something. The water comes on for an hour a day. I usually usually use the indoor bathroom which looks like any bathroom back in the states. Well... no water... no flush. So I have to go out and use the outhouse. The thing about it is back in my first village there was an outhouse but with a chair with a hole cut out. So it was basically like a toilet. Well, the one here... there is no chair. There is just a hole. You have to squat. Well I have never done that before. So I went in there and stood there looking at this hole trying to figure out how to do my deed. I mean if you drop trou then you crap into your pants. Also guy’s thingy’s are not as close to the exit hole as girl’s thingy’s to that presents another problem. So I squatted, then stood up learning as I went along. So this is what I learned. 1) you do not pull your pants all the way down. 2) you squat with your heels touching the ground. 3) Guys have to tuck their thingy between their legs. If you don’t pee will go everywhere including on your underwear.

I guess I can’t leave here saying that Peace Corps taught me nothing... Don’t worry. I am a pro at it now... That’s all I got. I don’t even care anymore if the water turns on because everytime I go to the bathroom its like an adventure.

Until next time...

Another Adventure at Hector's house

Since last my last post, I haven’t really done anything. After the conference I just wanted to relax and not really do much. There is an AIDS/HIV poster contest that Peace Corps is holding and all the volunteers were asked to bring in posters from their schools. Well no one from my school wanted to do it, so during the first 30 minutes of my language class on Thursday, I brought some markers and paper in and asked them to draw whatever they wanted on the matter of AIDS. It was a disaster. I don't really know what they drew. They all drew an umbrella. Maybe this is something that they learned when they were studying AIDS, but I couldn't understand their explanation. I will have to ask someone about that. One girl drew a decent picture but I don't think that I will be submitting all the "posters". I will find out about those umbrellas though.

Friday was good. I went to school and I had my health class at school. My counterpart actually let me do something in the class. Actually I pretty much ran the whole class and she was there to support me and it was great. I thanked her a lot so that she would get the hint that this is the way its supposed to be. I wanted to prove to her that my language was good enough to run the class. With a small amount of difficulty, I managed to get through it. So that was Friday.

Saturday, I did a whole lot of nothing. I went to my basketball club in the morning and showed the kids how to do a lay-up. It was very difficult but I think that they understand the concept but just need to practice more. After the basketball club, I pretty much just read the rest of the day, caught up on some work and that's about it.

Sunday was really fun. Pat and I decided that we wanted to go to Hector's house. Always a good time there. We also decided that we wanted to walk. It was a beautiful walk. I wish I could load pictures to show people. So basically there is just one road connecting Hector's village to mine. Really nothing else. Just one road. Well the sky was this amazing blue color with no clouds and there was snow everywhere. All over the ground and the surrounding mountains. It was a really nice walk. There was a great view of the lake and from where we were this is what we saw. We saw the village, then just the white of the snow, then the blue of the lake, then the white of the snow on the mountains and then the blue of the sky. It was really nice. We met up with Hector because he wanted to meet us. So we all walked the rest of the way together.

Hector's family had company who were on their way out. After they left, it was about lunch time and we were about to eat. If you have been keeping up with my blogs you know about Hector's food nazi mom. Really sweet lady, but you just can't say no to her when she tells you to eat or else the wrath of God comes out of her eyes and you have to find somewhere to put more food. This time, I made sure that I was starving, but even though I was hungry, I still paced myself. This in addition to vodka. Of course. Can't have a meal at Hector's house without a bottle of vodka. So after all this, Hector, his host Dad, Pat and myself played dominoes. Then we played some other games and before we knew it, it was about 3:30. Time for us to leave before the sun went down. But. We had to eat again. So after stuffing myself with food three hours prior, we had to eat again. Amazing.

After finding that little amount of space in our stomachs and packing about 4 more pounds of food into that little amount of space, Pat and I left. The walk back was better than the walk there. The sun was going down and the sun cast this really nice mixture of red and orange all over the snow. Fantastic. But it was getting cold fast. I called my host Mom to let her know that I was almost home which then she replied with "we are going to Martuni". That was fine because Pat and I made an executive decision to go to Terri's house. We hung out there for about an hour and then I came home. It was a really fun day yesterday. Lots of walking but with good company.

I finally succumbed and got out my sleeping bag to put out on top of my bed. I am finally sleeping through the night without waking up from the freezing cold. I always have to wear long johns and I always wear my down jacket around the house. Its cold here but I figure if the Armenians are able to do it, then I shouldn't have a reason why I can't either.

This will just be a normal week. Nothing special to come. I guess only 25 more days till Christmas. Whoa.

Oh, did you guys see the STATE v. carolina game? Unbelievealbly amazing...

Until next time...

liquid bliss

So since last time, which was quite a while ago, lots of things have happened. I guess the most notable is the “All Volunteer Conference” or “All-Vol” which was held in the city. However, before I get to that point, I will talk about events leading up to my departure.

The day before I left to go to Yerevan, I had a pile of clothes that were dirty and decided that I needed to do my laundry. Now, back at home, this is a no-brainer-decision. When you want to do it, you just do it. However here, there is a lot of calculations which must be weighed before undertaking the strenuous art of clothes bathing. First the temperature when you want to start doing your laundry because when you wash by hand, and its 40 degrees outside, its a bit painful. Secondly, you need to take into account what the temperature and weather will be like in the next 12 hours. This is where my story goes off-course. I asked my host mom if it was going to rain, which she responded to with a firm “no”. Then I looked at the sky and asked her if it was going to snow which she again reaffirmed with a firm “no”. Good enough for me, I started soaking my clothes. (as an aside, I have realized how disgusting the water is. The water is a true black when I rinse, and not only the first time, but also the second and third. Thats right I rinse four times before the water becomes somewhat clear.) Anyway, I finish my wash and I take my bucket outside. No rain. The second I put up the last clothespin, it starts to sprinkle. Half an hour later, rain. The next morning, the morning I was leaving to go to my conference, there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I went outside before I left and pushed one of my shirts. yes, it was a thin sheet of ice. Great. My host mom said she would take the clothes down when they dried and fold them, which she did.

Anyway, I get to Yerevan and feel fine. I did some errands because Wednesday was just a travel day. I got a cold. So the first three days of the conference, I was sneezing. I never felt really bad, but I definitely had a cold, but it passed pretty quickly. Actually it just morphed into a stomach dysentary type thing. Yeah, and thats what I had to deal with for the rest of my time there. The whole time I was in Yerevan, the one week when all the volunteers are in one place, I was sick. thats great.

So the title of this blog comes from this glorious item. A shower. For the first time in six months I got to experience something that was a pastime of my back in America. The shower. How wonderful it was. That was the first thing I did. I took off all my village clothes and ran to the sanctuary of warm water flowing from the showerhead. I don’t even know how to put it into words but for the first time, I didn’t have to use a bucket, and for the first time, I didn’t have to deal with the fear that the water might turn icy cold on me which I was caked with soap. It was magical. I don’t know how to describe it any other way. The only problem with that is, I took two or three showers a day and now my skin is really dry. No problem, its going to be another month before I get another shower... so.

It was really nice to see everyone, but being in Yerevan for that long made me really homesick. Let me clarify. Homesick for my village, not for America. Sorry. I just wanted to go back to my bed and just relax. There was no relaxing even when the conference was over because it felt like I was back in my Freshmen year when the floor downstairs wanted to have a party. Anyway, my week in Yerevan was not restful.

I did see Terri though. Terri mentioned that some of her family members or friends read this thing so I figure I should say something about her. She is doing well. Actually it was the first time in about two weeks I had seen her. She looks great. I gave her a big “SM” hug. (That means “site-mate-hug”).

Ok, so the last night of All-Vol, we had thanksgiving. It was pretty cool. The food was all prepared by volunteers who volunteered to help. I was not one of them because most of the people helping out had some experience and knew what they were doing. I just ate. Again, didn’t get to eat that much because I had been sick for a week so I got to see my friends walk up and get seconds and thirds while I barely finished my first plate which was barely full. How horrible is that. Anyway, Thanksgiving was really nice and we had a good time. There was so much food.

After the Thanksgiving meal, there was a talent show where a friend and I played a song together. We played our rendition of Brittney Spears’ song “hit me baby one more time”. It was great. People came up and said that they really enjoyed it. I could hear Terri yelling from the back saying “that’s my SM, that’s my SM”. Wonderful.

It is really cold here and I walked home today in a pseudo blizzard. I got home and the front of my jacket was all white with snow. Awesome.

Also another great thing. Remember last post I talked about cutting up cow legs. Well I got home yesterday and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and wash off and there on the floor next to the bathroom door was Wilbur’s head. Yeah that’s right, there was a pigs head next to the door. But you know what, doesn’t even phase me anymore... Isn’t that great.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a really good Thanksgiving. I remember a year ago today I spent Thanksgiving with Damien in a bar in Korea. We ordered quesadillas that tasted horrible and nothing like I have had in America. Damien loved them. One of these days Ill make it home for Thanksgiving and Christmas... Anyway, enjoy the day.

Until next time...

Death and the things involved

Maybe I shouldn’t talk about this subject on Friday the 13th...


I always have these great ideas for blogs and things that I want to talk about but when I get to my computer to get ready to type, I forget everything. This is a problem for two reasons.

I cannot inform you, the reader, all the experiences I have gone through here.
Sometimes I forget what I have already written, so I assume that I have already written it and either repeat myself or don’t get a chance to write about whatever...

h’ok so... if I already mentioned this, well, you get to re-experience it.
One of the many things I like about this culture is the people and how they respond and live with each other. To even compare it with “southern hospitality” is a slight understatement. Like I have mentioned before, they have gone well out of their way to make me feel at home here, and my family has tried to incorporate this strange, American into their home. My mom now introduces me to strangers as “im amena-mets tegha” or “my oldest son”. When I heard that, I was overjoyed. Anyway, onward to my point.

Being in a community where everyone is related to someone else somehow, its not strange to see that when one of them passes away, everyone will morn. After the death, there is a three day mourning period where people will come to the person’s house and pay their respects. The day the body is moved to the cemetary, the road is lined all the way, with white flowers. Now, as a disclaimer, I want to explain that this is my understanding. I could be totally wrong but from what I have seen and what people have told me, this is true. Im sure there is more to it. Even the village school will end a little early so that people can go to the funeral.

Unfortunately, this past week, one of my teacher’s brother died. He was in his fifties. We had a small get-together at school. We ate, drank, talked. Everyone stopped what they were doing and came together to remember this teacher’s brother. I thought that was great. The community really is a community here and its nice to be incorporated.


Now, this is a totally separate idea, and I kind of hate to put what I am about to say with the aforementioned blot, but I guess it is fitting because it deals with the similar idea.

There is this national food called “hash” with a long “a” sound, not to be confused with marijuana. It is a soup. The broth is really good and garlicy. I tried this for the first time with my family in Solak and I wrote about how as I was eating it, I found a cow’s hoof in it. That killed my appetite, for obvious reasons.

Anyway, my sister has been visiting us for the last two weeks with her little son, and I suppose my little nephew and tomorrow she will leave so we are having a little celebration. We made hash. Not only did we make it, I helped. I cut the legs into more managable, bite-sized pieces. Make no mistake, you can, without a doubt recognize that it is very much a cow leg... Anyway, I have pictures and next week, when I am in the city, I will be posting those. Fantastic. At first it was a little weird. But after you start sawing (yes, you use a saw) and you start to smell the flesh and bone from the friction of the blade, you eventually get used to it. (that last sentence was really gross).

On brighter news, which does not have anything to do with death or cow legs, I started another club. Actually I didn’t start anything. My Armenian tutor, which is also the English teacher asked if I could do an hour club after school. So, I went for an hour. Six girls. Awkward. Actually it turned out alright. So every Tuesday and Thursday, I will be having an hour long English club after school. Hopefully more people will come. Hopefully the word will spread that my club is not boring so more people will come to my health club. I feel like this is a good way to build up my street cred. (Mom and Dad, “street cred” means, “respectability and credibility in the community”).

Also, after that club, I had my health club at the culture center. This is where the Soviet weight room is. Anyway, the kids sat down for about half an hour and we talked about health. It was great because the weightroom overseer man, and this other guy really helped me out. When I said something, they would add more explanation. Also, what was really great was at the end of my lesson, the weight room overseer told the kids to listen to me and not to make fun of my Armenian. That I was learning. He told the kids that I was trying to learn their language and that I wasn’t trying to get them to learn English. He also said that if he heard of anyone making fun of me or the way I talk, they wouldn’t be able to come to the weight room. I thought that was funny. I want to add though that in general I haven’t had any problems here with the kids and I think that I get along with them pretty well. Of course there are some kids who are not as welcoming, but that can be said about any place.

Its already Friday... I am excited about this weekend because I don’t have much of anything planned. Should be pretty relaxing. I hope.

Lastly, I want to say Happy Birthday to Jonathan, who is the closet thing I will ever have to a brother...

Until next time...

Amazing

This week was really good. I have been trying to save money so I haven’t really left the village at all... for anything. Terri and I meet up at the culture house now about everyday to play a couple games of chess. Its a good way to be seen in the village and not just stay at home. It gives a chance for the Americans to unwind a little and talk. Its nice. The clubs we started have been interesting as well. We have three people in our English club but only one of them really takes it seriously and comes and studies. Her laugh is really funny. On Thursdays, I have a thirty minute health lesson with the people that use the Soviet style weight room. We talk about nutrition and stuff like that. Oh, wait, it hasn’t happened yet because everytime I tell them a time, they always forget and come thirty minutes late. Anyway, this Thursday its going to happen one way or another.

Also, every Friday I have a lesson at school. I really like this particular class. They are really nice and help me the best they can. Overall, everyone at the school is really nice and have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, this includes the students. Funny story, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. Terri thought that this would be a nice way for the kids to show respect because kids here just call their teachers by their last name. Well, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. When I say “Terri”, people don’t know who Im talking about, but when I say “Miss Terri”, they know immediately. Its kind of funny. So, for that reason, I have just stuck with Danny. However, that has had its own problems because some people know me as Daniel, some as Danny, some as Dan. So if someone asks “do you know Danny?”, they may respond, no but I know the American named Daniel... Well done.

Also, here is a little cultural lesson. “Jan” is a term of endearment, so my host mom here calls me “Dan jan”. Which is “dear Danny”. It is a pretty often used term. Even people that just know my name and have never seen me before may call me that. Or they will call me “aghbare jan” or “dear brother”. “Aghbare” is slang for brother.

Thats one thing that I really like about Armenia as a whole. Neighbors are like neighbors you only read about in fairytales where they all know each other and just come and go as they please with no regard to intrusion. I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but I have accidentally insulted my counterpart and neighbor because I just don’t show up at their house. When they asked me why I hadn’t come over, I finally explained to them how things in America are different. You just don’t come over uninvited. But its nice. At the same time, it can get aggravating because you may make plans to come over to someone’s house at 7. I did this with my neighbor, but when I got to his house, he was doing something else. I eventually ran into him, but in general, its just a different mindset that I have to get used to. It still boggles my mind how nice everyone here is. People in the street will just yank me into their homes for food or coffee.

Also, the mountains have snow on them and its absolutely beautiful. I need to figure out this picture thing so I can post some pictures... Soon to come, I promise.

So I don’t know if I have talked about Ani much, but she is one of my Armenian friends here who is a professional pianist. She is great. I went to her concert last night “saturday night”. I went by myself, went up to the balcony like she said and I had the best seat in the house. Balcony, looking straight down the keyboard, first row. Fantastic. It was about twenty players who each played maybe one or two pieces. It blew my mind. They were so talented it was amazing. Some of them had won international awards. There were also singers, cellists, violinists, along with pianists. Some trios and quartets. Just amazing. Ani played incredibly. You could barely see her little fingers flying around the keyboard, just utterly amazing. And... it was free. I think it was an invite only type thing, but there were maybe 200 or more people there. Did I mention it was amazing?

So after the concert, I gave her flowers and met her Mother. She introduced us and then Ani just left me and her Mom there alone. Fortunately her mom is an English teacher and has traveled around the US. She didn’t seem too excited to have met me, but after about five minutes, she started to smile and laugh so it wasn’t quite as awkward. Awkward, but not as awkward. She was nice though. I wonder what was going through her head... American, coming two hours from his village to see her daughter play, just to go back the next day. Mmmhmmm. It was great though.

One of the great things about America that I have noticed that everyone takes for granted, is opportunity. These kids that are so talented and "amazing" will only go so far. Im not saying that things are easy in America. God knows that I have struggled to get where I want to go, but it is so much easier in America. I see the dedication that Ani has (as Im sure for the others) and it blows my mind. She practices about 8 to 9 hours everyday of the week. It is apparent that this is true by her playing, but its sad to know that things may not work out and all this work may not pan out. I guess that's life, but same goes for some of the people in the village. They are so bright and could go so far but they just can't do it. The government infrastructure is not the same as in the states. The government doesn't have the same lending power so the potential is wasted. Not only does Ani want to get accepted to a school in Germany, but she has to learn German to a certain degree, and then she has to do so well to get a scholarship. All Im saying is, is that I think as Americans I think we take our country for granted for what opportunities it gives, and being here, I understand how great our government really is and how fortunate I, as well as we, are. But, at the same time, I have confidence that Ani will achieve her dreams and she will be wowing people in Germany...

I got back to Ashley’s apartment and we made spaghetti. Mike and David came over too and we just hung out for a while. This morning I left Yerevan early because the Martuni guys wanted to get together. We talked about some things, but then we made pizza over at Kyle’s house. It was really good. Then after that, his family made us Horovats. That was really good too. We then took a walk to church ruins. It was really pretty up there. I took a good amount of pictures. There are so many church ruins from a thousand years ago all over Armenia, and they are always located in such beautiful places. After that, we walked back to Martuni from his house and then I came home.

It was a really good week. In about a week and a half we have All-Vol, which is the “all-volunteers conference” should be fun. Its in Yerevan and we are staying in a hotel. The hotel part doesn’t excite me. Being in Yerevan doesn’t excite me. The fact that I am going to have a proper shower for the first time in five months excites me greatly. Every morning when you folk are taking a nice hot shower, appreciate it. Oh, by the way... Mom and Dad, when I get home, your water and electric bill is going to be through the roof because I am going to camp out in the shower.

Speaking of, before I forget. I got my flu shot, so Dad you don’t have to keep asking me every time I talk to you if I got my flu shot. H1N1 soon to come. Probably at All-Vol.

Hope things are going well with everyone else. Brandon, don’t worry, this blog is going to keep going for another 21 months so don’t you worry...

Alright, be well people. Stay warm... Im trying too.

Until next time...

The Moon

I guess its getting to the point now that missing people is starting to become inevitable. Of course I still love it here, but it gets harder and harder to say goodbye to my parents during our weekly conversation on the phone. The people here always ask me if I miss my friends and family back and home and I always say “no” just because, although I do, saying “yes” wouldn’t help anything. They also say that for my parents, its a lot harder for them, than it is for me. (I can see my Dad reading this and rolling his eyes). At the same time, while I do miss my friends and family back home, I still don’t want to go back. I have established my life here. I have a job to do and that makes life here really easy. Time literally flies by. November 2nd. It is already November 2nd. It is hard to believe that. My neighbor next door said, “wow, you only have 21 months left.” Thanksgiving is only three weeks away and I can remember my Thanksgiving last year like it was yesterday. I could give you a minute by minute play back of what I did. I was in South Korea teaching English and after classes finished at 8. Damien and I went to “GartenBier,” The newest bar in the area and we ate “fajitas” and we drank some beer. That was my Thanksgiving last year but I guarentee that I won’t forget it.

Looking out my window, I can see a lot. The plants in the garden have been cut down and I can see to the road. I can also see the stars like I have never seen before, except maybe when I was in New Mexico at Philmont, a Scout Ranch where you backpack around the area... Anyway, tonight we have a full Moon and you can’t help but think about the Moon and what its been through. All the people that have seen the Moon. The same Moon that I see, is the same Moon that you see and in that respect, people are always connected, in a way, to everyone else who stares at the Moon. Its an interestingly simple idea.

Halloween was interesting this year. A lot of other volunteers went up to Berd in the north country to go to a party. I didn’t want to spend the money or the time to get up there because travel here is not like just hoping in a car and going where you want to go. So, instead, I went to Martuni and met some of my friends there. Hector, Pat, Terri, and Ashley from Yerevan came out to meet us. Earlier that day, my friend Vahram called me and said that his parents were in Yerevan for the night so we went to his house to just eat dinner. He cooked us dinner. It was great. We hung out with him and talked for a bit and then we came back home. It was a good night. I’m not a huge Halloween person so I was ok keeping things low key.

This week, nothing new is going to happen, which is nice. Nice and low-key. I have some work I need to keep up with, but other than that, things are good. My Armenian teacher’s husband came back from Russia. He has been away from home for 6 months so they were very happy to have him back. He is really nice and tonight I went over to their house to hang out for a bit. The whole family, including him speaks English rather well so one way or another, we understand each other.

There is this really interesting article that I read by the Washington Post if you are interested in reading it. Its called “Pearls Before Breakfast” written by Gene Weingarten, April 8, 2007. It is about being too busy in life to take notice of one in a lifetime experiences. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I guess that is it for now. Nothing really new to report. It is cold and windy here and my host mom finally decided to turn on the heater and now its warm. My host sister came down from her city to show my grandma her baby that she had in July.

Hope things are going well in the states. You jackasses that haven’t emailed me (you know who you are), write me back...

Until next time...

Staring Contest with an Ambassador

This past week went by pretty quickly. Actually I sometimes catch myself wondering when the last time it was that I wrote a blog. It is getting harder and harder to find time to write a blog. Although it doesn’t take that long to write one, it is still something that I need to sit down and do. For better or worse, time is becoming a hot commodity for me. Actually, I recently watched one of Chris Rock’s stand up acts and he talks about this exact situation. He says that there is a difference between a job and a career.A career, time is always valuable; you never have enough of it. Its 5 o’clock before you know it and you have to stay late and come in early to do what you want to do. However, a job, once you get there, you look at your watch and when you think that two hours has gone by, its only been ten. I remember when I worked at The GAP or when I sold cell phones for Christmas vacation jobs. I remember looking at my watch and seeing that I still had 7 hours and 45 minutes left before I could leave. However now, I start my work, and there is still so much to do, the days are literally flying by. I hope by reading all this, you are understanding that I still love my time here and I try and cherish every minute of it.

So, this is why time has been flying by. Last week was pretty good. I met with my counterpart and we planned our lesson plan out for our class on Friday and again, she didn’t let me teach anything and I just sat there even though half of the class time was supposed to me mine. Its alright, because this upcoming Friday I am going to force my way in there and will stop her. Yup, I have already decided that. This Friday’s curriculum will be about dental hygiene. My toothbrush and floss will be ready.

Saturday was great. I slept in (an extra hour) and then just hung around the house and helped my host mom dig up the yard trying to find something. What exactly, I don’t know, but we were moving massive rocks and stuff out of the way. If you had just come across us digging in the yard, you would think both of us were crazy because the yard looked like pictures of the Moon. That night, I went into Martuni and hung out with my friends there for a while. Then on Sunday, Hector and I went into Yerevan. We got there super early. Probably because the Marshutni driver had to pee or something. We were flying down the road.

As an aside, there is a detour because the lake overflows sometimes near Sevan, another city. Anyway, while we were on this dirt detour road, the kid in front of me starting yarking (throwing up). It was great. I told Hector that it reminded me of the time my family and I were in Africa and we were on this road. I was 5. We were in this van that had seats on the sides and then a bench seat in the very back. So there was an aisle down the center and I was in the center with either parent to the left and right of me. Anyway, we are driving and out of nowhere... projectile vomit. I clearly remember that and now, looking back on it, I must have been one hell of a kid because that stuff got everywhere. So, thanks to that kid that was sitting in front of me, this memory came to mind...

Anyway, we got to Yerevan really early and Hector and I went to our favorite shwarma place (shwarma is a wrap with pork or chicken, sauce, veggies,etc.) Anyway, they are less than a dollar each and it is a cheap way to get full, and that is exactly what we did. We met up with Ashley and we walked around the city. We bought a pumpkin for Ashley to carve and we met up with Michael and others as well as my LCF, Anahit. It was fun walking around with everyone. We went to a cafe and we chatted a while. Then afterwards, we walked around because I wanted this “something.” Now, I can’t tell you what it is because I am going to surprise my parents with this awesome-ness. Yeah, that’s right, you have to wait another 2 years upon my arrival to see what it is. Ha.

Anyway, afterwards, Hector, Ashley, Mike and I went to this Italian Restaurant. It was a bit pricey but it tasted just like Italian food did in Italy. It was really really good so it was worth every dram. (don’t worry, it was like 6 dollars, but to me thats like 50). We went back to Ashley’s house (because she is nice enough to let us crash at her place) and we just hung out.

The next day was awesome. First off, unlike Korea, Armenia observes Day light savings time. That totally threw me off on Sunday and it did the same for Monday. I had other work to do on Monday so I was in Yerevan. First thing in the morning, we went to the Indian Embassy to get our visas. They were more than nice there. The lady knew about Peace Corps Volunteers and knew we lived in the villages. She said it was too early for the visa application process, but after we told her what we did, she said she would make an exception. Also, when we didn’t have passport sized pictures, she called an embassy driver to take us to a place to get it done and then brought us back. It was great. It took a little longer than I hoped but I still got all my work done. Oh, another little funny tidbit. I was the first one to finish my application so I was waiting outside for about 15 minutes. During my little waiting period outside, the Indian Ambassador came outside and it was just him and myself just standing there. He was waiting for the car to come around and pick him up. We literally just stared at each other for 5 min. I mean, what do you say to the Ambassdor of India to Armenia? I just smiled like a moron and half-assed a hello.

Afterwards, work began. I had meetings all that afternoon to meet with the organizations for the HIV/AIDS project that Im doing. It was insane. The taxi drivers didn’t know where anything was. I was late to about every meeting, but everyone understood and still met with me. UMCOR, my first meeting, kept me for an hour and a half. One of the ladies I will be working with had her birthday so I ate cake and drank coffee with them for a while. Talk about super nice. Counterpart International were really helpful too. They gave me some really good contacts, people that when I tried to meet them, didn’t respond to my emails but now, by referral, they do want to meet with me. Great. The Armenian Red Cross were having budget cuts in the area of HIV/AIDS but said they would support in any way they could. And lastly the American Council. The director was a Peace Corps volunteer three years ago and basically said that she would help in any way she could. She also gave me a lot of great insight to people I should contact and different programs and so so much more. It was a great day. I was exhausted and passed out on the marshutni ride home but I was really excited about everything. I was so glad to be home. Im getting to the part now where I don’t like sleeping anywhere else except for in my own bed. Even being in the village. I start to miss it when I am away for too long. The city is starting to drive me crazy. There is so much to do in so little time in Yerevan and it is just so much more busy compared to here that it starts to get to me.

Also, yesterday, all the volunteers in the Martuni area met with the police chief so that he knew us and could better give us support if we needed it. Ill tell you what, Peace Corps does a good job to make you feel safe, even though we are in a country that really doesn’t have much crime anyway. But it was great. Hector asked a lot of questions about snow plows and problems associated with snow. He lives in a village that is kind out out there and from what we have heard, we probably won’t be seeing him until March when it starts snowing. Im sure he will be fine. It was just funny because the Police Chief people were making fun of him saying “good luck out there” and laughing at his questions.

This weekend is Halloween. I was going to go up to Berd, a city in the North but I didn’t realize how far away it was and how expensive it would be for me to head up there. So I will be having my own little party.

I guess that’s about it. It seemed like it was yesterday when I was talking about the soccer game we went to, but now its already almost November. Geez. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I guess being five months in, I can say that I miss you all. Sweet.

Brandon, Happy Birthday this Friday. If you actually read this, let me know. Also, Jeremy, did you return from your backpacking trip? Did a bear eat your food? I hope you have learned by now.

Oh, speaking of camping, a Giardia update. It has now been three weeks and no symptoms.

Until next time...

Timing is everything

First off, I would like to clarify exactly where I am. There seems to be some confusion because I got a couple emails from people who thought I was in Algeria, and Romania. I am in ARMENIA. It is an ex-soviet country just north of Iran, east of Turkey, west of Azerbaijan, and south of Georgia. Now, I know by adding this little aside, that I am inviting all my friends to send me emails that say "I thought you were in Thailand" or "didn't you say you went to Senegal" or "Wait, you left the country..." Yeah, real cute. Anyway... Like I said before, I am in ARMENIA.

This past week was rather uneventful I suppose. Not too much happened. But before I get to that, I will have to give an update on something I was trying... So one of my friends here, Pat (really interesting guy, went to VT), anyway, he doesn’t ever use his water filter and he only got sick once way back in the summer. So I thought, hey, maybe the water is clean. I was over at my language tutor’s house really thirsty and I just asked for a glass of water from the tap. No filter. While I was drinking it, I realized that this was unfiltered water. At first, I said to myself “oh (expletive)” but then I thought that maybe I could turn this into a little experiment. Knowing my past problem with the food poisoning I got, I figured it couldn’t be worse than that, and I got through it so I drank probably half a gallon of water just to make sure that if there were little Giardia bacteria floating around in the tap water, that I would get it. Well, its been two weeks and I feel fine. They say it takes about 2 weeks for the bacteria to take full form, but it has been over two weeks and still no sign. (I say that today, and watch it hit me with full force tomorrow). Im sure Peace Corps is going to read this and really be thrilled that I am trying to get a disease that they strongly try to keep you from getting. But if you think about it, you can’t avoid it. The fruit is washed in tap water, you bath in the tap water, I brush my teeth with the tap water. I mean it has been 2 months in site and I haven’t gotten sick... from the water. So, Dad, I know you’re totally thrilled to be reading this, but I’m fine.

Anyway, Terri and I decided that we wanted to start a health club. Actually it started out as an English club, but Terri thinks that’s a waste of time so we are doing a health club. We (and by we, I mean Terri) made signs and we (and this time, I mean Terri and myself) went around the village and put these posters up. Wednesday came and from a village with around 5000 inhabitants, zero people came. ZERO. I mean you can’t help but laugh at that. So we walked around the culture house. Since Terri was a dancer way back when, she was trying to teach me how to do the “moonwalk,” the signature dance move that Michael Jackson does in “Billie Jean” where he glides backward and it looks like he is floating. It was awesome...until the weightroom guy came in and just stared at me. (I’m getting it down- if I take anything away from the Peace Corps, its going to be learning how to do the moonwalk... Mom, Dad, I’m just kidding)

There is a weightroom in the culture house and if you can conjure up an image of what a Soviet weight room would look like, you would be right. It looked just like that. Anyway, the man that runs the weightroom actually wanted to sit in on our little class. Well, the weightroom man took us to meet the culture house director. At this point, Terri and I were thinking “huh, maybe we should have talked to this guy before we decided to have a class in his building.” Anyway, he was really nice and was really supportive in what we wanted to do. He said that our timing was all wrong. Right now it is still harvesting time so they can’t just leave their work to come to a health class, so we changed the day and time. After this, the director, his friend, the weightroom specialist, Terri and I went to the culture house director’s house and we ate a whole crapload of food. It was really good. It was tolma, one of my favorites. We stayed until about 10 and then I came home. What great fun.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Nothing really new happened. I had to go back to Yerevan on Saturday to do some errands. That journey is getting long. I just want to get there now instead of wait the two hours. I know the different landmarks though, so when I look out the window, I know pretty much exactly where I am, which if you think about is pretty useless because regardless, you are still on a little bus.

I did some initiative stuff there for the HIV/AIDS thing. So far, I have three organizations that want to meet and a couple more that are willing to help. Its really hard organizing this thing because I am in the village, the organizations are in Yerevan. Day trips are hard to do because the first bus from my village is at 9 and by the time I get to Yerevan, its 12 and the last bus leaves at 6 to come back. So I have a good 6 hours to get stuff done but its hard when you have to walk around the whole city... But you got to do something to keep yourself busy right? Regardless of the problems I may encounter, I still have two years here and Im sure within that time, I will figure all this out. Just in time for me to probably leave. This is what happened when I was in Korea. As soon as I figured out the ropes, met friends, found out how to better do things, I had to leave.

Speaking of Korea, I mention this because my uncle Wan-Young in Korea reads my blog. I miss that place. Don’t know if its because its my birth city or what, but my cousin sent me pictures from there and I miss it. Weird. I guess I miss it there more than America because in the back of my mind I know that I am going to go back to America, whereas Korea, I may visit but then I have to go back home. Its hard, yet interesting having family all over the world. I guess you just have to value the time you have with the people you want to be with...

I guess that’s it for now. This week should glide through pretty easily. I hope (unless Giardia strikes).

Until next time...

Shannon, if you’re reading this, have you had your baby yet?

Spain vs. Armenia

This past weekend was pretty good. Thursday Hector had a birthday party at his house. It was nice to get together with all the other people in the area. Well, Pat and I got to Hector’s house around 3 and already when we got there, food had already been prepared. We basically went straight to eating. Now, if you have been good, and have been keeping up with my blogs (not Will, Brandon, TJ- oh wait, basically most of my best friends) you may remember that Hector’s mom is like the Food Nazi but in the way that she forces food on you. Well, that night, Hector’s family made my two favorite foods, khorovats (Armenian bbq) and Tolma (cabbage or grape leaf wrapped meat/rice and spices- really good). So, basically, I ate from 3, when I got there, till 9, the time when I honestly felt like i was going to pop. I have never been so full in my life. After the food, we had coffee and paklava (not baklava, but paklava- basically the same thing). Probably the most delicious pastry I have ever had, even though things don’t taste nearly as good as when you are starving. I was just the opposite, super full and it still tasted amazing. No. I didn’t eat one, or two, I ate 3 pieces of this paklava and a slice of cake that tasted like s’mores and a piece of Hector’s birthday cake. Yes, as you are, I too was wondering where the space was forming for me to stuff all this desert even after I was already about to burst. Needless to say, I slept like a champ that night. I just couldn’t move off the couch for two hours. Awesome.

The following day, I didn’t go to school, but went into Yerevan to get some work done at the Peace Corps office. I had a lot of high hopes to collaborate with the various organizations and all but two said they weren’t interested. This was great news. Both of those organizations had good reason too. The British Embassy asked, “well, how would you like us to help” and I told them that any information they had would be great... They didn’t have any information but they said if there was another way they could help, they would, even with other projects. The other organization... well lets just say, I don’t really know why I called them. That organization was about pregnant women. Actually, we (myself and the person I was speaking with) got a good laugh out of that).

However, there was one conversation that was pretty funny. At least to me and really awkward. Apparently I had called the same organization twice, which was impossible because they said I called an hour ago but I was just calling down a list. Anyway, just trust me when I say it was impossible but it went like this:

Me: Hello, Im Daniel calling for Peace Corps... blah blah blah
Lady: Yes, you already called
Me: When?
Lady: an hour ago
Me; Are you sure you spoke to me?
Lady: yes
Me: who did you talk to
Lady: what is your name
Me: Danny
Lady: yes, Danny called
Me: Danny who? From Peace Corps? I don’t think I called before
Lady: Yes, you did
Me: I don’t think I did, are you sure it was Danny and not someone else
Lady: Danny called
Me: (totally confused with Vanessa laughing in the background) Uh, Im really sorry then.
Lady: just send an email
Me: ok, thank you bye

So I think there was some major miscommunication because he English wasn’t that great, and neither is my Armenian. You can see how this can be a problem. The actually conversation was a lot funnier now that I look back on it, but I was so terribly confused...

Anyway, that went well. I got a good amount of work done and a lot of organizations are interested in working with Peace Corps. Now I just have to meet with them and get stuff solidified.

So, then Saturday. I went to the market, and met up with Ashley who is here on a Fullbright and we ate lunch together with Michael. Then Michael and I walked around together. I met with Ani that night and we walked around the city and then... SPAIN VS. ARMENIA.

This was awesome. So the “Martuni 6” (that is what we and other people call us because there are 6 guys in the Martuni area). Well, Vincent didn’t want to come so it would have to be the Martuni 5. Hector got tickets way in advance. There are 3000,4000, and 5000 dram tickets. 5000 dram is about 15 bucks. It was awesome. We were basically on the field. we were between the corner and the center of the field and there was no one between us and field. Now, let me explain about security. For a country that is so nice and a country were there are no guns, there was a whole crapload of security.

So while we were walking to the stadium, it began to rain, and I was hungry, so I stopped at a little stand and bought a shwarma (its kind of like a gyro). Really good because it was fresh. I saw the guy put the raw meet onto the skewer and cook it. So, I walked alone to the stadium in the rain. When I got close, there were so many people there and i was like “crap, what a line”. Actually, it was people just standing outside. They just didn’t have tickets. It was weird because the stadium was not even close to being sold out. Anyway, I just walked myself up to where the police were forming a barricade and the police man said “ticket” and I showed him my ticket. Now, this is just a barricade. It didn’t have anything to do with the real ticket place where they rip your ticket but there was just a string of police forming a barrier. Crazy. Then i walked about 50 feet and I was met by another barricade where I had to show my ticket again. This is where they ripped it and I went through a huge gate. Then on the other side of the gate, there were more police EVERYWHERE. I met up with Kyle and we walked to our seats. You know those tunnels that lead you into the stadium, there were huge iron gates in the tunnel where there would be 5 or 6 police people there and they wouldn’t let you in unless you had the correct seat for that area. It was crazy. The police were really nice though and when I got lost trying to figure out the stadium, they helped me out and one guy walked with me.

The game itself was really cool. I had never been to a professional soccer game before and it was so nice being so close to the game. You could almost smell the grossness of the players. Actually you couldn’t at all. But anyway, the game was 2-1 Spain. Spain won on a PK. It was a pretty good game. After that, we left and walked back to the center of the city.

Sunday was the 2791 birthday of Yerevan so the center of the city was completely closed down. So no taxis, no buses, no nothing really. It was cool though because the whole place was really decorated. I would like to come back in 8 years and be here for the 2800 birthday. That is really old. I spent a lot of time at the office, but sitting on the couch. I really like the couch there. I take a lot of naps there when I am waiting for people to finish with their computer work.

All in all a really good weekend. This week with be nice and relaxing. Nothing I have to do this upcoming weekend so that is nice. Should be pretty nice.

Anyway, hope all is going well in the states. Just wanted to say in general because some people have expressed interest in sending me stuff. There is a flat rate box if the contents are going to be heavy. 52 dollars for 20 pounds shipped anywhere in the world by USPS. Definitely put insurance on it because I still have not received a letter I should have gotten a long while back. Also, NO chick-fil-a sandwiches please. It takes a month for packages to get here and meat will not hold for that long.

Oh, and someone tell Brandon to email me back. Preferably TJ since you are the closest. On that note, Im going to need someone who knows him to call him and tell him to tell Brandon to write me back.

Ok, until next time...

The world has turned and left me here

I don’t know if the title is a bit of a pejorative, but if it is, I certainly don’t mean for it to be one. Its actually lyrics from a Weezer song. Um, actually its a title of a Weezer song. One of the many choice songs TJ, Will, and I played countless times in Will's basement in high school. Anyway...

Life in the village. This past Tuesday my Program Manager, Susanna, came to my village and saw my life here. I met her at the school and she spoke to my school director and to my counterpart and some of the other teachers. I then took her to the Polyclinic and had coffee with the nurses. Afterwards, we came back to my house and we did some more talking. She saw my room and the house and gave me my heaters. Peace Corps gave me two heaters. One is a radiator and the other is a heat fan thing. That heat fan is awesome. Especially since my room is so small. It heats the whole thing up in about 8 minutes. Yes, 8 minutes, I timed it. I wanted to see how long I had to suffer before my room was warm. Anyway, Susanna said it seemed like things were going well and I was adapting well. She had other nice things to say which boosted my confidence. We had some lunch and then she left. We did talk about the HIV/AIDS initiative. I have been talking to people from my village and elsewhere about this and I feel like this is something I can become really passionate about. I have some meetings with some organizations on Friday and Im excited to see how they turn out. More to come in the next posting...

While we are on the same subject, I told my host mom what I was doing and from time to time she asks me about my work and exactly what else I do other than my work at the school and the polyclinic. I told her about the initiative and she was very curious about it. She didn’t really know anything about it so I explained it to her and how the disease gets here and how it works. She asked a lot of questions and I felt like she was being really supportive in what I was doing.

Fortunately now, the weather has become much nicer. Its warm outside. The problem with that... In the villages we have what are called “gardens”. Yes, they are not the nice gardens people have in their backyards in the States but in fact, basically a farm. Well, in my particular area, potatoes the way to go, and really, the only way to live. Potatoes don’t pick themselves and there are no John Deere tractors to make life easier, everyday, we (my mom, brother, myself, and my grandmother-who is here visiting from Belarus) go out and we dig up potatoes. Apparently we did a good job on Saturday because she said we did 4 days work in one day. I felt pretty good about that. I was so sore but felt good being outside working, exercising and helping my host mom. Here’s the best part. Here is this seventy/eighty year old grandmother carrying out 50 pound sacs of potatoes. Now, I played lacrosse for several years and over that course of time, I accrued some muscle on my forearms, but honestly, if you look at her forearms, you would think that she was pop-eye (the sailor man- after he ate the spinach). She is strong... to say the least. Also probably the sweetest lady you will meet. If I have been gone for a while, she will come up to me, grab my face with her treetrunk forearms, and pull me down (because I have no choice) and kiss my cheeks. Ill tell you what, its one of the greatest feelings in the world (not being pulled down, but feeling like you apart of their family). Potatoes are awesome...

I have also become better friends with my other neighbor who is also a school teacher at my school. Basically his whole family is in the medical area. His daughter is a nurse, his brothers are all doctors and he is a teacher. His brother works at the local hospital as a surgeon and he told me that I could go and watch him do surgeries and whatever else I wanted. I was very excited about this. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was, he told me to come over whenever I want (cultural lesson #467- when an Armenian says to come over whenever you, he actually means it. Even if you come over everyday, thats ok- not like in America where you say that but know that person won’t actually come over all the time). This man came over a lot when i was at home by myself and he kept telling me that I would never be lonely because if I ever felt lonely, I should just come over to his house. Its a good feeling when you know you have been, or are starting to, become accepted.

I don’t really know what else to talk about. This week is just going to be more potato picking, regular work, and language lessons. My Aunt gets mad at me (in a kidding way) all the time because she doesn’t understand why I can’t understand her, even when I have told her everytime I see her that if she stopped using so much village slang then maybe I would have a chance. Even to that, she responds in even more slang and still wonders why I can’t understand her. My host mom here has gotten really good about being patient and listening to me and helping me with my language. She tells other people to stop interrupting me when I am speaking so that I can finish what Im saying. People will keep trying to guess what Im saying even when I am in mid-sentence. So, thats good.

Brandon, Matt, Will. I would just like to say that its good that I didn’t hold my breath for those emails you were going to send me because I would have been dead about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I really like it when you guys send me several emails explaining that you’re going to email me later. Well done fellas, well done.

Alright, I think that about wraps it up. My Mom is back from Korea so the family is back to being on just two continents instead of three. She had a good time.

To Terrie’s friends. Terrie is doing well and we are starting an English and Health Club in the Culture house sometime in the next two weeks. She said to say Hi. (Actually that is a complete lie, but I feel that she would want to say Hi, so that is why I said it- I will ask her tomorrow, and if she doesn’t want to continue to say hi, I will add a correction in the next blog.

Until next time...

All roads lead to Yerevan

I guess nothing new really happened during this week. I am completely over whatever I had. I am leaning toward food poisoning since I didn’t have any other symptoms than those related to food poisoning. For some reason I was hoping to have Giardia just to see what it was like. Weird huh?

Anyway, this weekend was really nice. After school on Friday I waited for Hector to walk to my village so that we could take the bus into Martuni and then to Yerevan since this past weekend was supposed to be initiatives. The bus is usually late. It takes Hector about an hour to walk from his village to mine. Well, Hector was really happy because he made it into my village for what we thought would be enough time. However, this particular day, the bus decided to be ten minutes early. I didn’t get on the bus without Hector, so I waited for him. He was five minutes late, and about ten minutes early from when the bus should have arrived. Oh well. We decided that we would just walk. Like I said before it is really cold in my village. I can see my breathe now when I breath and in the mornings there is a blanket of frost on the garden plants. That particular afternoon it was not that cold. In fact I was walking in just a t-shirt and long pants. So we got to Martuni and instead of walking all the way, Kyle persuaded the driver to just stop on the way and pick us up. Off we went...

It was a really nice drive to Yerevan. The marshutni was not overly packed and there was plenty of room to spread out. The whole backseat was just us three guys. We talked the whole way in. We got to Yerevan and walked to the Peace Corps office. There were some other people there and it was really nice to see them. It had only been a month and a half but there were so many stories to be told and new experiences to be shared. It was great. Some of the people, like Hector and Kyle, decided that they would go to their training village and see their old families. I decided to stay in Yerevan and all the volunteers from Solak stayed in one room together at the hostel. I was really surprised. The hostel was really clean, with a real shower, wireless internet, a TV with English channels, and it was well priced. It would be cheap for a tourist, moderately priced for a volunteer. I walked around with Sean and he showed me some things in the city and then we met up with one of his friends and we just talked. It was a good night. David was really loud that night so we didn’t get to bed until about 3am.

The next morning I woke up around 8, took a SHOWER and Mike and I headed to the Peace Corps office since we had our initiatives first. It is the HIV/AIDS initiative. It was a small group of people but it was all people I would like to work with and the group was small so i figured it would be efficient. I took on the task of talking to other organizations in Yerevan such as USAID or the embassies about collaborating on some ideas to spread the word of HIV/AIDS. I am really excited about this because I think this will be a good chance for me to practice relations skills. I am hoping that this will not be too hard of a task and from my understanding, other organizations are willing to support another on a similar cause.

Afterwards, I met with some of my friends for lunch near the opera. It was good, but a little pricey. I met one of my Armenian friends and we walked around the city and saw some of the sights. It was very nice. Afterwards, I met up with other volunteers and ate a pretty delicious dinner. At 8 we were going to meet with our LCFs, Anahit and Irina. It was so nice to see them. They asked us about how life was going in our villages and what we were doing. It really was a nice time. The group from Solak ate dinner with them at a Mexican restaurant. That was my second dinner but I decided that I would load up on non-potato-based-food while I had the opportunity, even if I was about to explode. No sense in wasting an opportunity. All in all, I probably gained 5 pounds that weekend. I met a Fullbright scholar who went to Mike’s University and since she had only been here for 3 weeks we walked around the city. We went to the fountains and saw the fountain show which was interesting.

Afterwards, Mike, Ashley and I walked around some more and then decided to call it a night. I had been walking around a lot so I was really tired.

Sunday came and I met with some of my other friends and a little church get together. It was nice. We met at a doughnut shop. The apple fritter I got was not as good as everyone said. I think my expectations were too high. Anyway, afterwards I went back to the office and said my goodbyes and off we went. This weekend was nice because we figured out how to do things without spending so much money. For example, we learned just to take the city bus to the bus station for 100 dram instead of getting a taxi and paying 1000 dram. Although the route is a bit more scenic, every little bit helps. Its nice figuring out how the native people live and emulating what they do. They certainly know how to live here much better than we do... After the two hour bus ride home, it was back to reality. Good thing that I really like my village. I met my host mom working outside. Her mom was flying into Yerevan that night, so at midnight, my brother and mother went in a neighbor’s car and they were to Yerevan to pick up her mother from a 5am flight. Im not exactly sure why they left so early, but they were back at 8am, when I woke up. Her mother is from Belarus. Interesting. I don’t have a clue how long she will be here but she is taking some of the other work off my host mom so I am appreciative of that. She is just way too overworked. (my host mom).

I guess that’s it for now. Things are starting to pick up now. The time is going by. I no longer have my lessons with a group trying to learn English, instead I have language class for an hour and a half every night but still with the same lady. For better or worse, I have homework now but I suspect it will expedite my language learning.

Ah its cold.
Shannon, when are you going to have your baby?

Until next time...

There’s snow? Here? Already?

Last weekend, as you know, my host mom and brother left to visit my sister up in another city about two hours away. That left me here. Alone. It was nice to have the house to myself but it was getting a bit lonely. My neighbors however took really good care of me and made sure I was not left hungry. I was still recovering from my illness and each day I would explore a bit further away from the village to see if I could stomach the trip I had wanted to go on to my old village. I went into Martuni and did some errands and found that I was alright, so the following day, I decided that I was ready to make the two hour trip to my old village. I went by myself. It was rewarding to know that I could get on the autobus into the city, get on the right marshutni and then tell the driver when to stop. That’s right, when you want to get off the marshutni, you just tell the driver to stop. So, when I got close to Charentsavan, I told the bus driver to stop on the highway. I got out and luckily there was a taxi that was waiting for a passenger. I got in and off I went.

Now let me explain this. You know that phrase “all roads lead to Rome?” Well quite literally, all roads lead to Yerevan. It is a very inefficient way to travel because it literally uses the hub-and-spoke system of travel. You have to travel to Yerevan, get off, and then take another bus to the city where you want to go. So, this bus was going from Martuni to Yerevan and my stop was along the way.

Anyway, I got to my old house and my grandparents were there. The rest of the family was still at church, so I visited them and talked for a while and then went up to my old room and took a little nap until my family came home. You don’t realize how much you have learned until you have been away for a while but I actually felt like I knew Armenian. I spoke to my old host mom with little to no trouble at all. It was a great feeling. Of course they know what words I know and can use so that was helpful but what a great feeling. They were really excited that I had come back to visit and it was very obvious by how they were acting.

They made me horovats. They killed a lamb just for me. I know that’s weird, but it was a very warm feeling that they did all this for me. I had forgotten how much I liked that family. I was talking to the last guy that lived there, Jon, and he said there is no other family like them so I was really lucky and blessed to have been with them during my training. After we ate, I just hung out with them and talked about my site and what I was doing with my work. Later on that night, we watched Ben Hur. Its interesting watching that movie in Russian. I had no idea what they were saying but it was still a good movie. Maybe that’s what they should do to determine good movies. If it is still a good movie after you watch it in another language, it must be good... Maybe not.

That night I shared a room with my old host brother because my old room was too cold. It was funny because I have a bad habit of snoring and i think that annoyed him. In the middle of the night, I awoke to a pillow hitting me in the head. I got the point. The next morning, I got a good laugh out of it.

The next day I went into Charentsaven and met up with a friend. We talked for a while and then I had to leave around 4. I made it back to my village with no problem. I had gotten back thirty minutes after my new host family had gotten back. Since I was gone, they decided to extend their stay visiting my host sister in the other city. We conversed, but I was really tired so I went to bed early.

So speaking of the title. It is quite cold here. I already have to wear long johns. There is a lot of snow on the mountains behind our house. I’m beginning to worry what this winter will bring. From my understanding, the cold is about a month and a half early. And I don’t think its a front, because its been cold for quite some time now. For me, being from the South, this could be an interesting winter.

Until next time.