Posh Corps?

I can’t get to the internet everyday as I am in Solak, a village in Armenia near Cheransevan. This entry is for Thursday, June 4th. It is night two in my host house. I will catch you up to this point from when I left Vienna.

Soon after my last post, we got in the plane and headed to Armenia. It was a flight starting at 10:35pm and landing at 4:55am in Yerevan, Armenia. Things up to this point were great and it still had not set in that I was going to move to Armenia. The flight was fine. I sat next to Bill (who was afraid of flying) and Jocelyn (who tried to convince herself that she was going to sleep but failed to do so). The flight was fine. We landed in Yerevan close to on-schedule. Customs took a while but with no problems. As soon as we got to baggage claim, there was another line of Peace Corps volunteers. It was to get our FREE SIM cards in order to make calls in Armenia. That saved me a whopping 1200 drams ( a little over 3 dollars). Anyway, I got my bags and suckered Jocelyn to let me use the baggage cart thing. Actually, she was nice enough to let me put my bags on hers. As soon as we left the airport, we were greeted with several Peace Corps people with signs showing us where to go. We put our bags on a white truck and we got on a bus. We all got a little “goodie” bag which consisted of a snickers bar( big size), banana (which was severely bruised- my dad would have eaten it), and a water). I sat in the second row of the bus because I wanted to see Armenia. The view was incredible. This country is so beautiful. It rivals my trip with Brandon to Ireland. This place is amazing. The bus took a short stop at an old Christian ruin which looks onto the tallest mountain in Armenia. I forgot what it was called but it was snow-capped and really nice to look at. We took a group photo in front of the ruin. We were supposed to wear business casual, but after all that flying and laying-over and a flight landing at 4:55am, we all looked like crap.
We ended up making our way to the “hotel”. I got to room with Ben (from Texas) and Hector (from LA- I called him Hermano, which means “brother” dad.) The hotel was beautiful too. We got to meet some of the staff in the morning and eat an Armenian breakfast. Basically a lot of eggs and potatoes in different varieties but good nonetheless. In the afternoon, we decided that we would go and climb the mountain behind the hotel. Basically straight up. It was really intense. I made it up to the top first. This was kind of a big deal to me. A lot of people turned back, but thinking about it, I told myself that if I could get to the top then I could handle the next two years. It was a great way to think about it, because I got to the top and now I have the total mentality that I can do anything. About ten of us made it to the top. We took a look at the amazing view and then we headed back down just in time for dinner. We ate and played volleyball. That was really fun. Early night.
The next morning we woke up to breakfast at 8:30 and then training starting at 9:30 and ending at 5:30. Dinner was at 7. After dinner we played volleyball again and then had a birthday party for ben. It was really cool. I really like the group that came on this adventure a lot. Its one thing to be forced to have friends, but its another to actually enjoy their company. My language class is really fun. There are ten of us in the CHE (community health education) group but seven are in my language class. My my my how fun is it to learn another language. (seriously). Its probably the people. Anyway, while at the hotel, its been only an hour long. Anyway, there was another day of training and then on June 3rd, it was time for the host family meeting. We woke up half an hour earlier and got an overview of what was going to happen, had an hour language meeting and then we got in our groups to meet our host family. There are six villages that the 47 of us are getting split up in. Each group got called out from the lobby to the outside where the families were waiting. We were introduced second to last. Before we met our family, we had to rip a piece of bread from a huge loaf and dip a bit of it into a dish of salt. It is a ceremonial thing of Armenia as the bread is a major staple of their diet. I don’t know what the salt is for, but it made the break taste like a pretzel. I met my host mother. Her name is Na-e-ra. We took a picture together and had awkward conversation. Then they had a traditonal Armenian dance show and then it was time to go to Solak (my village- Amanda, try to keep up).

I got my HUGE water filter and medical kit and loaded up a van full of my groups stuff and headed on the thirty minute drive to Solak. I got to sit shotgun. The driver started by rolling backwards and popping the clutch. I just stared at the driver. The windsheild was cracked into about 30 peices and my window didn’t roll down. Mike (who’s from Texas and who is one of my new good friends) yelled from the back “turn on the AC.” Yeah. Anyway, we rode down the road with one member of the host family in the back with us. I was the only one to not have my host mother next to me. Anyway, I was the first one to get off the bus. The house was awesome. I don’t really know how to describe it but it just felt right. There were chickens and sheep running everywhere. The downstairs is separate from the upstairs. The bedrooms of the family are upstairs; so is mine. The grandparents live downstairs. The family consists of Zora (George-the dad), Na-e-ra (the mom), Annie( oldest sister 14), Ha-Cheek (13), and Anahit (12). They are awesome. The painting or the moulding on the walls are really cool. Apparently an artist used to live in this house. It is really beautiful. My room is huge and my bed is pretty comfortable (much better than the hard “mattress” bed that I had in Korea). I hung out with Ha-cheek. he showed me around the town and showed me where the school (de-prots) was. Life here is just slower and that’s ok. There is nothing taken for granted. Life in America is COMPLETELY different but family is key. They all seem really happy. Zora (the dad), was at work and when he came home, you could tell he was a really nice man. He was really helpful and went way out of his way to make sure that I was comfortable. Fortunately, they had a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) last year so they knew what was going on. Armenian families tend to force feed guests and try to pressure them to drink, but I got neither one. I don’t even think this family drinks and they don’t make me eat. They always ask (doo-koosht-em)- are you full? And if I say yes, then that’s it. The family is great. I went to bed early yesterday around 10:30 and woke up at 8. I was exhausted. That was the first night that I have had any decent sleep.

Let me tell you about the bathroom situation. It is an outhouse. It is an outhouse with just a hole in the ground. If you have to take a deuce, there is a chair you move over the hole with a hole in the seat. Charmins has apparently missed Armenia in its conquest to be competitive because for toilet paper, I have to use old cut up school papers. yes, notebook paper. Apparently, I didn’t use the bathroom correctly because you’re not supposed to throw the paper into the hole, but into a bucket next to the bathroom. Last night I made that mistake. This morning, when I went, I saw that there was trash in the bucket which made me realize that I messed up. No big deal. Its great though.

Today I woke up at 8, had breakfast with Zora and then went to school from 9 to 1:30. This was just language. We have two teachers Irina and Anahit and seven students including me. Its awesome. I love learning Armenian. After school, I came home, had lunch with Ha-cheek and Na-e-ra and then hung out with Ha-cheek in the garden making some sort of bracelet. I helped carry water to the house as there is no running water. Women (by the way, do all this kind of work), so Na-e-ra was really happy that I was helping. At 4, I met up with the other PCTs and we walked around the village. It was really fun. We were out for 3 hours. There are a lot of reminders of the Soviet empire. There are random statues on hilltops. We went to explore. We ran into some sheep herders and talked to them. I made the mistake of saying “Turkey” which made this really awkward because Armenia and Turkey have always had some kind of trouble with each... probably that genocide thing of 1915. Anyway, I got back at 7 and hung out again with Ha-cheek until 8. There was a really bad wind storm that came through which blew a window out of the kitchen, actually two. Neither of the parents were home so the children and I tried to clean it up. Then it started thunderstorming. Fortunately the parents came home. Zora is really resourceful and got a glass cutter out and cut glass to replace the window. I guess since Armenian’s don’t have that much, they are really resourceful. I hope I can learn this skill in two years. To be honest, it really makes me realize how wasteful I was in the US.

We ate dinner together and then I got my books and studied while the rest of the family was watching TV (yes, they do have electricity- even though it goes out pretty easily). Annie, ha-cheek, and Na-e-ra helped me study. It was really fun tonight.

I had a hard time the first day I was here because I think it was the first time it really hit me that I was really here but I know this is a good thing and will take away from it the most I can. The people here are really happy we are here and they automatically know what “peace corps” is. Peace Corps does go way out of their way to make sure that their volunteers and trainees are safe and healthy. For Example. They pay the host familes about 4000 duams a day which comes out to be about 800 dollars in two and a half months. A police officer gets about 100 dollars a month here. So, the family here makes sure that I have everything that I need. Either way, even without the money, the culture here is to be very hospitable. I can tell with ease they are not doing this because of the money. It is also a status symbol to have an American staying at your house.

Overall, Im really excited about what’s to come. Im still on a high but so far, everything has been far exceeding my expectations. For anyone that has read this far, I miss you and love you, but I hope you know that I am happy and safe. Until next time.

I love you mom and dad.