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...
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...
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