Happy Birthday Dad (soon)

So things have been good for the past while. I guess the whole time. So, what Im trying to say is that things are still going really well. I got a package from my parents. It was nice getting the package. There really wasn’t anything for me. I got four pairs of black socks because I needed them. Also I got a money clip that TJ’s mom gave me for graduation. It is nice to have that because it is a good idea to keep money in my front pocket so I just keep a couple bills together. Also, I got four canisters of Moravian cookies because Dewey’s was probably having a sale because they couldn’t sell all 4 billion cans over the Christmas season. It is nice having stuff from home. Most of the newly arrived package was stuff for my host family. Dad got my host Dad and brother a leatherman knife. They were so thrilled about it. Its pretty cool to have something like that because that is one of those things that isn’t sold here. I got a leatherman when I was thirteen. I think I used one of my paychecks from summer camp on my first leatherman, but to be honest, I haven’t really used it all that much. Those leathermans that I just gave to my host family, now Im sure that they will get a lot of good use out of them. Honestly, Leatherman made a pretty solid product. It is very practical. My Mom got my host Mom and sisters earrings. They really liked them too. They didn’t really understand why they got this stuff so I just explained that my parents in America wanted to thank my host family here for getting me off of their hands... I guess my translation didn’t come across well because they gave me a blank look. (I went to the dictionary and I basically told them in the most literal sense “my parents wanted me off of their hands”... Anyway, they were really appreciative.

On Friday we took an old Soviet era train back from our central day. I actually ran into my family at the train station and we rode back together. Guess what happened when we got back to my village. God decided that he wanted to open up the clouds full throttle. After we got off at our stop, we waited for the train to leave and then we walked on the tracks to the house. By the time I got back to the house, I was completely soaked. It was nice because I got two showers in one week. Now that is something to get excited about. (too bad I didn’t have soap).

I bought a guitar. We went to Yerevan on Sunday to go to the Museums. I wanted to go to the art museum but we were forced to go to the history Museum. I don’t really care for history so I wasn’t too excited about it and I wanted a guitar really badly so I didn’t get a chance to go to the art museum. At the same time, I know that I am here for two years and Im sure that I will get a chance to go. Anyway, after the guided tour of the history museum provided by Peace Corps, Mike, Nick, Ani, and I went guitar shopping. There is an open market in Yerevan called the Vern-a-sage. Ani had gone earlier in the week to scope out what was there. She is my Health Tech Trainer and she is really nice. She went well out of her way to help me out. So we visited the two places that sold the guitars. The guitars were really cool. They couldn’t keep a tune and looked like crap but they had a lot of character to them. I wanted one just to look at. They were old Russian guitars about 3/4ths the size of a regular guitar and they were made for seven strings. Like I said, they couldn’t keep a tune so we took a taxi to a music shop that sold new guitars. I found a good enough guitar that was made in China for about 120 dollars. It played pretty well. I was really excited. Trust me, I played it a lot. A LOT. This was Saturday. Mike and I had a sleep over. Half because he came over to hang out and it was raining to hard and he didn’t want to walk back home. No biggie, we watched a movie and told manly stories but in the morning there was no waffle making (um, this last like would make sense if you saw the movie “Shrek.”)

Sunday was rather busy because we had to come up with two lesson plans. I was paired up with Mike and David and we did our lesson on drinking water and water purification. It went pretty well. Paul and I also had to plan our lesson for Thursday and Friday. We are going to do First Aid. Should be pretty fun. We also have our community project on Sunday. Its crazy how fast things are moving along. Can you believe that Sunday is going to be August 2nd. I JUST GOT HERE... or so it feels like.

I have a pretty good routine now. Another thing I got in my package was a new plug for my iHome and a power converter. If you can remember back to one of my first blogs, I had fried the plug to my iHome the first day I was here because I didn’t read the power voltage on the iHome plug. When I saw white smoke come out of the plug, I knew that wasn’t a good sign. Anyway, so I have enjoyed listening to the iHome that Mr. Dickerson gave me before I left. It really puts out a good sound. So I really am all set. I have a guitar to play, and music to listen to; plenty of books to read. I usually spend time with the family at night when they are all here.

Yesterday it was my host parent’s 18th anniversary so they made “horovats” or Armenian Barbeque. The meat didn’t really taste like lamb meet so I asked what it was. They said it was heart, liver, and something else I didn’t understand. You know, it really wasn’t too too bad but after they told me what it was, I had somewhat of a gag reflex. Its just something that Im not used to eating. I kept eating it though. I got some boiled eggs, mashed them up, added that with some cilantro and onions and then cut up the lamb “meat” up and wrapped it in lavash (the armenian flat bread). I still tasted it but it wasn’t not as strong as it would have been alone. You gotta try everything at least once. At the same time, my host Mom makes this really nice cherry juice. Holy crap thats good stuff. They pick the cherries from their backyard, boil the water, add some sugar and voila, awesomeness.

Again, I want to thank everyone sending me emails. They are really nice to read. I have no clue whats going on in the states. Only the important stuff makes it to Armenia... like Michael Jackson’s death (and yes, that is important, after his death, I listened to his music- on my earphones because I didn’t have that plug yet-for two or three days).

Has anyone heard from Brandon? Is his leash already that tight? Will get back to me on that one.

Um, so that is about all Ive got right now. I will let you know how our community project goes. We have a week and a half left of the practica. Its not too bad once you get in a routine and figure out what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

Until next time.
I miss everyone. EVERYONE. Send me some chick-fil-a. (Actually, please don’t because over the course of three weeks, it will not be as good). Seriously don’t.

Jon, I called you, but I guess you were sleeping or doing something else; at least, if not more, unproductive. (I love you brother)
Mom, Dad, thanks for calling me on Saturday and Sunday. Talk to you again soon.

up and over the hill

Amanda, Im sorry I didn’t say Happy Birthday when it was your birthday last week but you are awesome and...HAPPY BIRTHDAY. (she turned the mighty 2-4). Anthony, I know you’re coming up sometime soon or you already did so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you soon. Sarah, you are a summer birthday too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I wrote you all a song and it goes like this: (sing it to the tune of “happy birthday”) Happy Birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... You smell like a monkey... You look like one too... (I don’t care who you are... that’s clever). Mrs. Dickerson, if you’re reading this, I know this is not the correct usage of the “ellipses.” Not really too much going on right now. The next big event other than teaching our classes is swearing in on August 14th. Im pretty excited about that. It will be sad moving away from where I am now because I have gotten pretty close with the family and the village as a whole. Speaking of, on Friday after class Mike, Megan, David, Victoria and I went to the supermarket in the nearby close city and bought some things. I had a conversation with my host mom here and she said that she wanted to learn how to make spaghetti. I told that I would teach her. So on Sunday, I made the spaghetti while the family was at church. They said they were going to be back around 5. I started preparing around 4:30 because I didn’t want the noodles to be over-cooked. This is something that Ares, Guillermo, Marco, and Massimo taught me when I lived with them in Sweden. To not overcook pasta... It seems like every time that I cook some kind of pasta I think about them since we had so much of it there. Anyway, I make the spaghetti, the fresh way with lots of garlic, and fresh tomatoes which were squished between my fingers (that was fun) and with cow meat. My family didn’t get home till 7:00 ...and they had already eaten. Great. On top of that, they sat down and we all ate a watermelon and cantaloupe together. They apologized for eating but said that they had to since they were at a church picnic. I understood. My host Mom ate the spaghetti anyway and even got seconds. I think she was just trying to be nice. The Grandmother ate some too, she really liked it (and I genuinely think that she did- either that, or she is one heck of a liar). I had it again this morning for breakfast with my host dad. I don’t think he liked it. To be honest, when I get back to the states, I don’t think I will ever buy the can. I really like it fresh. Moving on. This upcoming week we have three weeks of teaching in Armenian about healthy living. Mike and I are in a group for the first three sessions which are 45 minutes each and we are doing our presentation on the eye and eyecare. I will be talking about eye anatomy and how the eyes work and mike is going to give an eye test and talk about nearsightedness, farsightedness, and normal vision and the corrective lenses one would use to correct the different vision problems. The other groups are talking about nutrition and something else. Next week I am doing Anatomy and First Aid and the final week will be Dental hygiene. Supposedly the sessions go by pretty quick. We will see tomorrow. On top of this, we are to do a “community project” and based on the surveys we gave a while back we are going to make a pamphlet of health tips and what you should do if you, for example, have a headache. We are going to have a health day on August 2nd and hopefully have some doctors come and talk about healthy living and take people’s blood pressure and stuff like that. I am pretty excited about that but it will be exhausting to do all that while doing out teaching because our teaching doesn’t stop till August 7th. It is nice to know that we will have about a week of nothing because swearing in. That is what I think now, but I have a strange premonition that that will not be the case at all. I have been reading a lot. Will (if you are reading this), does your Dad want those books back or can I donate them to the library. Let me know what I can do with them because its a lot of weight to carry around, and also the other volunteers will probably want to read them. By the way, I really appreciate the email about whats been going on in the States. You’re a champion. So this is a continuation of what I have written above so sorry if I repeat myself. We have had our first three days of Practica. Mike and I chose to do healthcare of the eye and I think it went by pretty well. It is hard teaching stuff in Armenian and what makes it worse is teaching it in front of a live audience. Before Peace Corps I was wondering when my years instructing at Raven Knob, teaching guitar, and teaching English would come in. Well they came in handy. Real handy. The three forty-five minute sessions with the various age groups (7-10,11-13, 14+) went really well. We talked about eye anatomy, how the eye works, how the eye takes in light, and differences in eye problems. We also gave eye tests and some other activities. The time went by really quickly. Mike and I had to come up with some stuff on the fly, but thats what makes it fun. I think my Peace Corps group in my village is starting to feel the end. There is some sort of serenity. Even in the midst of our community project and our practica we aren't really getting at each other. There is a hill behind my house and it has a cluster of rocks that we went to the first couples days we were here and today was the first time since then we went up there. We just walked up there and just talked for a while. Tomorrow we are going to go back up there and watch the sunset. There's only three more weeks left of PST and then we all go our separate ways. I guess that's when the adventure really starts. Tomorrow is another central day and we go into Charensevan to learn more about policy and Peace Corps stuff and then saturday we are going into Yerevan to go see some museums. I hope to hone in and purchase a guitar. We'll see how that goes. So far I am 0 for 3 in trying to get a guitar. Thats ok though. One day. Dad, my package came. Thanks for the stuff. I really liked smelling the socks because they smell like home. Everything was in there. Mike really liked the cookies and he says thanks.

Until Next time

Beginning of the end of PST

This past weekend, I went to my new site. It was a lot of fun. Of course I was a little apprehensive because these are the people I have to live with for at least four months and then two years if all goes well. That is kind of a lot of pressure. So, the previous day we met our new host families. My new host mom’s name is Zo-ya and she has three kids. One of them is 13, one is in the mandatory two year service-army and the girl is married and has a two week old child. How exciting. Anyway, after our meeting, the following morning we had to get up really early and make our way to the hotel where we stayed our first couple days in Armenia. We got on one of two large coach buses and made our way into Yerevan. However, I had to urinate because I drank half a liter of water before I got on the bus because I felt the onset of a headache. There was no bathroom on the bus and I couldn’t wait so I decided that I needed to stop the bus. So if you can imagine a huge bus pulling over on a major highway and a person running out of it into the woods, that would be me. I have never suffered from stage-fright so that was of no concern even though I knew everyone was looking out the windows. lots of laughing when I got on the bus. I think the best part was trying to explain to the bus driver, in Armenian that I needed him to pull the bus over so that I could pee. At the same time, Im sure my new host mom was thinking “what nut did I get matched up with”. All is good. She has a sense of humor.
Anyway, since Pat and Nick were close to my village, we all rode the marshutni together to our village. I don’t really know how to describe a marshutni. It looks like a european courier van- the equivalent of a 15 passenger van in the states but not nearly as roomy. You are definately shoulder to shoulder to the people around you and being American, the body size is slightly larger, thus less comfortable. We made the two hour bus ride and got to our house.

While we were walking to the village, the school director pulled up and gave us a ride. A VERY energetic man. We got in his car (which happened to be a Jetta) and we drove to the school where i met with my counterpart, the english teacher, and some others. Oh what fun. They were very impressed with the amount of Armenian I had learned in one month although it still took me a very long time to convey my thoughts. (honestly if you think about it, languages are really complex. First you have learn the vocabulary, then the tense, then word order. I mean just to say “I have been learning Armenian for one month” requires knowledge of the vocabulary, tense, word order, and numbers.) After the meeting, I went to my host family’s house. Talk about nice. It was very very nice. I have hot running water with a shower. (who cares about anything else). The whole house is really nice with a large garden out in the front. Since I am the oldest male in the house (the father has passed away), I get to do all the manly things that males do. She said that I would be cutting the grass. (I thought I would get away from that when I left the states, but its even worse now because they don’t have lawnmowers but more of a sickle). I also noticed they had a cow and the last day I was there, with enough pleading, she let me milk the cow. It was actually a little scary because it was trying to kick me. I wasn’t very good at it but I sort of got the hang of it. Also what was gross was the tail would smack me in the face. I don’t know if you have looked at a cows backside but the butt is up at the very top of the point and Im pretty sure that the cow doesn’t really mind that its fecal matter get on its tail. Good thing I had purell because afterwards, I washed my face twice and then rubbed purell on my face. (Purell, if you are reading this blog, can you send a case of your product to Armenia-Thanks).

The rest of the time I spent walking around. Some of the other close volunteers came over to my house because they were somehow related. Don’t know how but Im pretty sure that one way of another everyone in the villages are related. I hung out with Terrie who has been in my village (or in Peace Corps) for one year and she showed me around. I think I have mentioned this before but you have to have so much respect for the women in this country. The girls in Peace Corps do not have it easy at all expecially in the smaller villages because of gender roles and the stigma that they can get if they acknowledge a strange man they have never met before. Its a different here. I don’t really have any concerns really. Overall, I am really excited about my site and what Im going to do. Also, I went to the Polyclinic to introduce myself. The polyclinic is a small outpost of a hospital with maybe four rooms in it for the village. I was trying to help out there but I think there was a loss in translation because they think that I am a doctor. They told me that when they needed help they would contact me. I know what “doctor” is in Armenian and I just kept hearing them say that. If it isn’t cleared up by the time I get there in August, I will have to straighten that out really quickly.

PST is getting more hectic. We still have language classes although not as long but after language class we have a TECH training for several hours. Next week, on top of what we already have to do, we have to do our practicas, which entails practice teaching in Armenian to a group of children. For example, Mike and I are going to teach about eye care. We have to plan a thirty minute lesson in Armenian and we have to do that for ten days. But each day is a different lesson. Should be interesting. Thirty minutes isn’t that long... (crap).

I really can’t complain about anything. The weather is really nice here, everyone has been getting along and my bowels are in working order. There is less than a month before PST is over. I am excited because I know that we will get a little more freedom.

Overall, so far, Peace Corps was a really really good decision. That isn’t to say that I don’t miss family and friends but I have to figure something out if Im going to be here for two years...

Sorry about the lack of emails too...

Until next time

A mountain is a church

Saturday night, Jon, who is an A-16 who lived in my house last year came by and joined us in Solak for the July fourth thing. It was really nice meeting him. The guy that lived next door to him, Jay, also came and we three along with Zhora stayed up till about 2am talking. It was good to have Jay and Jon here because they both spoke the language pretty well after one year and I could get some conversation in with my host family. It was interesting talking to them about everything. Anyway, so I went to bed around 2:30am and the following morning which was a Sunday, I was to get up and be at the school at 10. We wanted to go up to the church that was at the top of the mountain. The picture should be included. If it isn’t then, it didn’t load. Crap. (again). The person Im with is Megan. She is from Montana. I always make fun of her because the whole state only has 800,000 people and she has spent the last couple months before Peace Corps helping move sheep. Ha, sheep. (no, Dad, I am not making fun of people from Montana or their lifestyle... just Megan). Anyway, so we told our LCFs that we wanted to do this and they said that we had to take a native with us, so we asked Armen if he wanted to go with us. Armen is a 22 year old that works at the school. Kind of like a handyman right now since it is summer and he doesn’t need to be at his university studying. Anyway, he agreed. Now, as an aside, I must add that there is regular time and then there is Armenian time. Armenian time is about an hour of 4 late. Fortunately, Armen was only an hour and ten minutes late meeting us at the school. He brought three of his friends. This was hilarious. We stopped at the store first to get some candles to light at the church. In addition to this, they each bought two bottles of beer (the 24 ounce kind). They looked at us with a funny look because they thought it was weird that we were drinking water. (In Armenia people don’t drink just water because they think it will make you fat. In a way this is correct because of the tremendous amounts of salt that they add to their meals which in turn bloats them and adds some water weight). Anyway, we were looking at them with weird looks because they were drinking beer and nothing else and they were looking at us because we were drinking water. Cultural differences.

So we start on our way after we buy our “supplies”. We start following them at a snails pace. Jeremy, if you’re reading this, you would not have been happy at how slowly they were going and how many stops they made. You would have been proud that I brought water? (I didn’t know how to finish that thought). Anyway, it took us about 2 and a half hours to hike maybe 4 miles. Maybe 5. And the terrain wasn’t too bad. We just took so many breaks because Harry, Larry, and Moe decided to drink beer while they were hiking. The best part was when we got close to the top and they started to argue with each other on which way to go. We got lost... We basically went straight up for about 100 yards. Like to the point where if I didn’t use my hands, I would have fallen backward. (Dad, don’t worry, it was a bunch of vegetation and it wasn’t dangerous). So after we hike up this thing we get to a road. Paul decides he doesn’t want to take the long route and goes straight up. The three guys with us (Harry, Larry, and Moe) started freaking out so we just left Paul to go up another steep grade. I personally would have followed Paul but didn’t want to piss of the guys leading us up there. Finally I told them politely (believe it or not Amanda), that I was going to up another steep part and told them when I got to the top whether it was a better method than going all the way around . I thought it was so they followed me and we were at the top. It was pretty funny because everyone made it to the top except for one of the three Armenia guys who was kind of rotund. The other guys were making fun of him because Megan made it up with little to no trouble and in a culture were women are supposed to be fragile, it was cool that Megan made it up and the guys had some problems. It kind of breaks that ideal. At least in their minds. We got to the top of the mountain and there was the church. I don’t remember the exact date but I think I remember mentioning before that it was built in the 8th century. It was still standing. We lit our candles and admired the view. Then we saw that some people were having a picnic. The three guys explained there was holy water so we followed them over to the picnic area. It was a nice fountain with really nice cold water flowing from a man made structure. I pretty much took a shower in the cold water because a) it felt really cool, b) I got all the sweat off my body c) what better way to make new friends then washing yourself off in front of new friends. Anyway, they invited us to sit down and eat. That was probably the best pork barbeque I have ever eaten. In Armenia, Vodka is kind of way to join a circle so we all had to drink. Again we all thought this was strange because who drinks hard liquor on top of a mountain behind a church on sunday with another 2 hours to walk down the mountain. Well, ill tell you... we did. (Dad, don’t worry I didn’t get drunk, or close to it). After a couple more bites, we walked the rest of the way down the mountain and made it down in time to get railed by really cold wind and rain. Ironically, we found refuge in the Solak church. We stayed there for a long while and then finally made it back home. I was exhausted. I ate and then pretty much went to bed.

This morning we left at 830 to go into Yerevan. We were going to go to learn about some of the NGOs mainly supported by USAID. It was really interesting. We went to one that worked to try and help Armenians see. They actually have a mobile surgery room to do the operations in the different regions of Armenia. They had a really touching documentary about their program. It was a bit of a tear jerker to see grandparents able to see their grandchildren for the first time. Or a school boy who couldn’t see finally get to see because he was given a pair of eye glasses. Again, things that we Americans take for granted, Armenians don’t have. Really interesting. Our next NGO was NOVA and basically what they do is educate women on pregnancy. I was really excited about this. They gave us a lot of information on the subject matter. Apparently, village people think that all Americans are more liberal about things (which we are compared to Village Armenians) and will come up to an American (male or female) and talk about this kind of thing because they know they can get good reliable information from us in addition, they don’t really have to worry about us gossiping to someone else because a) we don’t really know anyone to gossip to and b) our language sucks. I was pretty psyched about getting a guitar today but one of the girls got sick and we thought it would be better to get her home. She really wasn’t that bad but I was tired too.

I did laundry today. You never really know how dirty your clothes are until you wash them and look at the color of the water. When the water is a green/brown color you know you are working hard (or you’re just really gross). Probably the second.

Tomorrow is another central day and then Wednesday we meet our permanent site host families. On Thursday we go to our permanent sites with our new host family and we start to integrate. We meet our counterparts and start to figure out what the hell we are supposed to do in the next two years. Oh my. Im excited about it but know that there is a slim chance that my next family will be as good as the one that I have now. I totally lucked out, but who knows.

I guess thats it for now. Ill let you know how things go in five days. You better be prayed that my bathroom situation is not as bad as it is here. Honestly though, I would rather have a great family and a crappy (no pun intended) bathroom than a nice bathroom and a crappy family. A hot shower in the morning would be nice though...

Until next time.

Happy 4th of July

First off, I know that a lot of you have sent me emails and I have not responded. Even left me messages on facebook. I know it is very frustrating to write all that and not have anything returned. When I get to my permanent site, I will have internet at my school so I should be able to be better at responding to messages. I do appreciate the emails and the facebook messages so at least know that I am reading them, even if it is on my phone. As I mentioned before the internet here is unreliable and it takes me about thirty minutes to even load my blog. Anyway, I just want to send out my apologizes now.

Moving on. Today was July 4th. The birth of our country. We had to plan out and execute a July 4th party for the village. We had to cook the food and come up with games to keep them entertained. It turned out really well. It took about three weeks to plan. I mean, think about a regular party that you would have on the fourth, then factor in the fact that you have to invite key people like the major, the Peace Corps country director, and other key people. Most of the people we invited don’t speak English so that is another obstacle to overcome. We invited our families and some closer friends. In all we probably had over 50 people. Maybe even seventy. And what an adventure it was.

Time has really been going fast and in the month I have been gone, I have already become acclimated to what Armenia has to offer. Yesterday (friday the 3rd), we took the bus into Hrazdan (one of the larger cities in Armenia) and we went to a supermarket. Like one that is comparable to one in the states. After a month, it was weird to find myself overwhelmed at the choices and selections there were. I saw milk for the first time in a month. There was air conditioning in the building (even though it is a comfortable temperature outside- I don’t really sweat here; the reason behind the need for only one shower a week... ha, “shower”). Honestly, being here and not having to buy my own groceries and being used to the corner shop, it really was a bit daunting to go into a much much larger supermarket. I got excited when I saw that they had more than one variety of shampoo... and that I could actually read the bottle. (Head and Shoulders has made it to Armenia). I was also very excited when I saw that there was toilet paper. Real “soft” white toilet paper. I had to touch it. It was everything I thought it would be and more (even though there was a barrier of plastic between me and the actual feeling part). Anyway, with the 65000 dram we were given (200 dollars), we spend about 52,000 of it (180 dollars). It was awesome. We made such things as deviled eggs, potato salad, mac and cheese, and I made hamburgers and hotdogs. I would like to say Thank you to Brandon for grilling out so many times when we lived together, but I have lived with him long enough to know that he is dating a girl now and when he is dating a girl, the blinders go on and the only thing he sees is that girl, so, if someone wants to tell him “thank you” for me, that would be great. Brandon, if you have actually been reading my blogs, My bust... you must have changed...
Anyway, it was a success. We played games after the meal. One of the games we played was kickball. One thing I learned. In America, when you say “kickball is just like baseball” everyone understands how to play really quickly, but when you don’t know what baseball is, then disaster happens. It actually turned into a game of dodgeball and just kicking the ball. Whatever it was, it turned out well.
Yesterday before we went shopping in Hrazdan, we had our language test. It was a ten minute conversation that you had to have with one of the LCFs. I think it went pretty well although I was paired up with the LCF that I didn’t like. The LCFs that we had our interviews with were not from our village. I really like my LCF. She is hilarious.

One of the major things we are supposed to do in our host family’s homes is to try and break the traditional gender roles. Now, some of you may be offended when I say this, but Im going to say it anyway. In America, if the lady of the house decides to stay home, she cooks and cleans and does the stereotypical “womenly” things, while the man goes to work. If the man didn’t have a job, then the man would help out. Here it is not exactly the case. If the man doesn’t have a job then he doesn’t do anything. The lady still does everything. If a pregnant lady is sitting out, as soon as the man comes home, the pregnant lady stands up. Now this is not true in every family, such as mine but apparently it is rather prevalent here. At the same time, some women don’t want things changed because it gives them purpose. Remember just because it doesn’t fit the American mold doesn’t make it wrong. That is what we are trying to learn here. Anyway to get to the point. To see a man cooking (me) is a rather interesting site. So, since i was cooking the hamburgers and hotdogs, I took the family’s little portable stove and sat right at the door where everyone had to come in to see that I (a man) was cooking. I got some weird looks. Secondly, I was over at Lisa’s house before the party helping her cut the vegetables (apparently a very unmanly thing) and got some weird looks doing that. Lastly, and the most funny, was when I tried to clean a pan. I had to take the pan from Lisa’s mom’s hands and I cleaned it myself. She laughed the whole time because a man was cleaning the dishes. They can’t really imagine that a man can do the things the women do. Even in my own house, my host mom doesn’t believe that I can cook something for myself. She was very impressed (she didn’t believe me at first) that I cooked the meat for the party. interesting, but a fact.

Learning to fly

The other day, someone in my village (I think it was victoria) said that we needed a Solak song). Personally, I think this is a great idea because everytime you hear the song, you will be thrown back to those memories associated with the song. I have songs for Korea (Coldplay- viva la vida), Sweden (destination unknown), and others that I can’t recall as of this moment. London (move- by ross golan). Anyway, I don’t think there is a better way to put things in the Peace Corps right now through training, than through the words of Tom Petty and his song (learning to fly).

“well i started out on a dirty road. I started out all alone and the sun went down across the hill, and the town lit up, the world got still..

Im learning to fly. But I ain’t got wings. coming down. is the hardest thing.”

Now, Mom and Dad, if you have ever seen Tom Petty you will probably jump to the conclusion that he used lots of drugs. In fact, you’re right, but just as fortune tellers use very generic, broad conclusions to tell your fortune, through this song, I feel like it shares a generic, broad conclusion of what this is like. Though I don’t want you to think that I feel like I am alone, it is like I started alone on a dirty road and now, although I don’t have my wings yet, I feel like Im learning how to fly.

Training has been intense. I have gotten over my cold now and its only mucous in my throat that from time to time decides to get coughed up. (your welcome). We went into Yerevan on thursday to visit a women’s help group. They are an NGO that moves toward equality. It was interesting but the way I was feeling and the hot temperature made it less interesting. I don’t really like Yerevan too much. It just has way too many cars and I always get a sore throat from breathing in the exhaust of the cars. Its an interesting city and once the summer heat passes, it may be manageable

Yesterday (the 27th) we went to Ae-ch-mee-ot-see. It is the center of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church. Basically it is the Vatican City of this religion. It was interesting to go to this place as it had a lot of history. We had a Father who showed us around. He is actually from the states and is doing a one year stint in Armenia. He goes back next February. The church was very old but beautiful inside. The whole monastery was nice. It was huge too.

I got to take a shower yesterday.

Michael cracks me up. Everyday he wants to hang out. After school I will tell him that I am going home to eat and then take a nap and that I will call him later, but about an hour after school, he will call me and try to convince me not to go to sleep. There have been two occasions when he has actually come over to my house, walked in my room while I was sleeping and woken me up. Now, if any of you know me, you realize how important sleep is to me, but due to my new surroundings I have tried to be more patient with mike.

This is pretty funny. So David wanted me to cut his hair. Basically give him a buzz cut. Then I said that it would probably be a good idea if I got a hair cut too. So I shaved Davids hair. It took forever because the electric razor he had wasn’t meant for all that hair cutting. After David, Mike went. By this time, there wasn’t enough energy left in the razor so the following day before we went to Ae-ch-mee-ot-see I did some trim work on Mike and then Paul wanted his hair cut. Well. When David went home to charge the razor, he didn’t read the voltage on the charger because it said 120v. Basically, the razor didn’t charge, but it had enough charge to finish Mike’s hair and then start on Pauls. (I emphasize the word “start”). So I started on Paul’s hair and I got the top part of his head shaved and then we could all hear the power of the razor go out...and then it stopped. There was a moment of pause and then Paul asked “what just happened.” We tried to recharge the razor but this is when I made the discovery that we needed a 120v power source. So for the next thirty minutes, during what should have been my lunch time, I got the scissors out and started cutting Paul’s hair. Actually no one noticed that i cut his hair and actually I got some people asking me if I can cut their hair for them.
Today was Sunday and Megan, Mike and I went to the local church which was of the Armenian Orthodox denomination. It was pretty cool. Mike and I were the only guys in there other than the Priest and the Deacon. Everyone else was a Grandmother age person. We got a lot of looks. Everyone was really nice but what else can you expect when there are only 20 people in the whole church. It was nice but really long. About an hour and forty minutes which seems longer when you have no idea what they are saying. This church was very similar to the Catholic Church and thanks to Laura Helen for taking me to the Catholic Church for so many Sundays because I didn’t freak out. The whole service was sung in some kind of Gregorian chant. I don’t think there was any speaking at all. The guys voice was really nice.