Nothing really happened this past week or weekend. The weather was really gloomy this past week. I wasn’t really motivated to do much I guess. I went to school and did my normal thing I suppose. The difference came in the preparation of the poetry contest we had this past Sunday. So for the last two weeks, my English class, who are tenth graders, studied to recite poems. Three in English, and three in Armenian. For the three that did the poem-reciting in English, we went over pronunciation several times and practiced a lot. They did a lot of work.
Saturday, I did a whole lot of nothing which was great. I just sat around the house watched a movie, read a bit; I mean the weather was gross outside. Saturday was Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. I had to go to my neighbors house to practice some poem stuff and saw some of it on TV. In Yerevan, there is this nice Genocide Memorial dedicated to those that died in the 1915 events. It was a nice ceremony from what I could see. Michael went and then afterwards came over to my house. When he came it was raining and I had to go and meet him, so that was kind of lame to walk around the village to find him but it was nice to see him. It was a chance for us to just hang out without others around.
The next morning, Sunday, was the day of the competition. Mike came in as one of the Judges. We got all dressed up and took the bus into Martuni. Oh my was I like an obnoxious Dad, really excited about their kids in a play. I was telling them what to do, during their recitation, I took pictures of them, we sat in a group together. I was so proud of them. They all did really well. One of them forgot some of her lines, I think from sheer nervousness because she looked over that poem a bunch of times right before her event. Overall, in the Armenian, we came in Second, and in English we came in Third. There were a lot of kids so I was really happy about this outcome. They did really well. My excitement was burst when my school director came up to me today to ask me why we didn’t come in first. He said that we were lazy. Generally he is a really nice, helpful guy so I was taken back by this. I just stared at him and I think he got the picture that I didn’t appreciate that. After this, he said, there is a next year.
So, after the competition, we had a little meeting with the director there and talked. He was a really nice guy appreciating what we as volunteers were doing here and told us to ask if we need any help for anything. Mike and hung out at Vincent’s house for a little bit and then came back home.
We got back and my host brother who is in the army was at home for a visit. Always good to see him. He guards the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He was really upset because it was the first time he had been home without his Mom and brother here. Sad. I actually got to talk to my host mom and brother yesterday on the phone. It was interesting to talk to them. They sounded like they were doing really well up there. Hopefully my host brother, Aram, the one that lived with me here will have an opportunity at a nice life up there.
So after all this, Mike and I took the frisbee out to the garden and threw the frisbee around. My neighbor’s son came over and we taught him how to throw the frisbee. Seemed like he enjoyed playing, so thanks to Jeremy for sending me over a frisbee.
Exciting news to those that actually regularly read this blog. Ani, the pianist, my infatuation last fall, has passed the next round of exams, and all she has to do now is pass her German exam this summer. Very exciting. I am really happy for her. So, keep her in your thoughts and wish for the best.
Well, let me update you on what’s going on for the next week. This weekend, Paul is coming to my village to follow me around my village so that is another volunteer to come and hang out. Then, this weekend we have the annual North vs. South football game, where the northern part of Armenia and the Southern part play in a game of American football. Looking forward to playing even though I am probably in the worst shape that I have ever been in my life... It will be fun though. Next week I go down south, all the way to Kapan for about a week, then I have to do PST training. I am a Trainer for the new volunteers this year coming at the end of May. Whoa, where did the last 11 months go. Crap. Anyway, got that to do, then have to prepare for the FLEX stuff, and then finally finish my Grant stuff for my toilets. Speaking of, I need to wrap this up and go do some work.
Alright, so that’s what’s going on for the next month. Awesome.
Until next time...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
What sport is that? Hockey? maybe its Curling...
So, nothing happened last week as I mentioned in the last post. However, this weekend was great.
I went to school early on Friday to get my work done and to do my teachings and stuff. I left right when I could to meet my Georgian Volunteer friends in Yerevan. Tom and Lauren, both of whom I met in Ukraine, came down with two of their friends, fellow volunteers up there. Things were a little tricky because their phones didn’t work in Armenia. Fortunately while I was walking down the road, I saw them sitting at a cafe. Being “out of towners” they unknowingly sat down at one of the more expensive cafes. A beer there was 800 dram where its usually 500 dram. Now, that is 2 dollars compared to a dollar and twenty cents, but you have to realize you are on a Peace Corps budget. No you... me. Anyway, the day was really nice and it was really nice to see them. We went to the hostel to drop off our things and then went out to eat at Taco Maco, our favorite food place (first time). Then we walked around a little bit and then went to kharma which is an Indian food restaurant with no Indians working there. Only people that look Indian. There were about 20-30 volunteers there and so the Georgian Volunteers got to meet some of the people down here. It was fun. I wanted everyone to sit together, so I made everyone sit shoulder to shoulder so no one was left out. Mike was sitting in the middle of the table next to the wall, so when he had to get up, he had to either crawl under the table or get eight people to get up. Anyway, it was fun.
The next day, we awoke pretty early. This is my philosophy when traveling. When you are in another country or place for a limited amount of time, you don’t waste that time sleeping. Now, for those of you that know me well, know that I value sleep above all else, so you know that I’m serious when I tell you this. So on Friday night, we all got about 5-6 hours of sleep, maybe. We got up and Lauren wanted to go to “Yum Yum Donuts” which is a pretty good doughnut shop in Yerevan. If you saw my documentary, you saw that I bought doughnuts from this place. Anyway, Georgia/Tbilisi has three McDonald’s. We do not. But I think it balances out because we have an awesome taco place and a doughnut place. I never really ate at McDonald’s at home, and I never really ate doughnuts, but I really like a good Mexican place (like taco bell), so having Taco Maco is a nice addition.
After Yum Yum’s. I had to go to the office because I had an HIV/AIDS meeting. It went really well and we got a lot of good ideas. Im excited to see where this initiative goes within the next year. It certainly keeps me busy.
After the meeting, we went to Taco Maco (time number 2) to eat before the hockey game. Soon thereafter, we went to the hockey game which was in this awesome building. I forgot what the name of the place was, but it was so nice. It is an old Soviet building but the construction is really remarkable. First off, there are about a million stairs you have to walk to get to the entrance. Once you are inside, my first thought was “where is the hockey rink?” Well, you walk in and it is just black marble of granite or whatever and then stairs in a bowl shape which you walk up to get to the escalators. Then you take the really long escalators up to the floor of the rink. The view is really nice out of the large windows on the level of the rink. You can see all of Yerevan. Anyway, the hockey rink was small but really nice. We walked in to see the North Korea, South Africa game. It was absolutely horrible hockey but North Korea was pretty good. My friends kept asking me Korean words they could use to yell at the North Korean team. Seeing they are from a communist country and I look much more Korean than any of the other volunteers there, I figured that the North Korean team would quickly recognize where the translations came from, find me, and then take me back to mother North Korea to do whatever communists do...
Ani showed up which was nice. She didn’t know a thing about hockey so it was interesting to try and explain things to her because like her, I don’t know anything about hockey. I tried to tell her that the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. As you can imagine that didn’t go over so well. Between games we went to an outdoor cafe. It was very interesting because we walked into what looked like a 1950’s crappy diner. The waitress asked us if we wanted to sit outside. We took advantage of this. The outside was amazing. It was like walking up to a really crappy looking house and then seeing the backyard and it being the Biltmore Estates Garden. Ok, maybe not that nice, but you get the idea. So after some time passed we walked back.
The Armenia, Mongolia game had started and the place was packed. It was pretty fun. My friend Khashi came with his friends Poulia, Paria, Molsen, and Maria. They are my friends to. Anyway, it was the first time they had seen hockey too so it was really interesting for them. After the second period it was 11-0 Armenia so we decided to leave. Honestly, I don’t think a single Armenian who played on the hockey team was from Armenia. Im pretty sure they are all Diaspora. I say this with confidence because Pat (my sitemate) somehow got to talking with one of the players online and asked. So, after the game, Ani went home and thanked me for inviting her to come out. I don’t think she really gets a chance just to hang out so Im glad that she got that opportunity, but knowing her, she went back home at 10 and stayed up till 1am practicing and studying german until 3am. That’s just what she does.
So the Georgian volunteers, my Iranian friends and I went to an Iranian restaurant and hung out for a while and then we went to Taco Maco again at midnight. (time number 3). Oscar, who is awesome, stayed open a little later for us and even made something not on the menu, FOR FREE. I guess because it was late and because we always go there, he helps us out a little bit, but he is a really cool, nice guy. He is from LA. 3 miles away from Hector.
So, afterwards, we hung out a bit more and then the Georgians and I went back to the hostel. We hung out for a while. The next morning I woke them up early again. They got ready and left around 10:30 to go to the bus stop. It was a good weekend and it was really nice to hang out with them again. I hope to do it again when I go up to Tbilisi.
Half an hour later, Maria and Poulia picked me up and we walked to Maria’s apartment. That afternoon they were having a picnic. After the Persian New Year, they decided that every Sunday they would get together by the river and hang out. They were nice enough to invite me and off I went. It was so nice just to be next to rushing water, relaxing. We played dodgeball for a while and then I helped cook the barbecue. By help, I mean, I just sat there and watched and I moved the barbecue sticks from the prep-point to the flame. It was a lot of fun. One of the greatest things that people ask me which happened twice last week is “How do I become a Peace Corps Volunteer?” It makes me a little sad to say “actually you can’t, you have to be a US citizen.” Some of Khashi’s friend’s moms asked me what I was doing in Armenia and I think Khashi got a better understanding since he had to translate. He asked me how he could be a volunteer. Anyway, after an afternoon it was time for me to return to the village. Another great time with my Iranian friends. You can definitely learn a lot about hospitality and the importance of friendship from them. Ah.
Anyway, I got back to the village, hung out with Terri for a while and came back home to an empty house. Grandma went over to a neighbors because I hadn’t come home until later on. It was interesting coming home to lonely house. First time that has happened since I lived in Korea. Man.
A great weekend. Count it.
By request of my Dad, I am going to give a description of the pictures I posted. From bottom to the top
Me trying to fly (obvious)
The first night we were in Kiev. That is Gayane and Manet to the far left (my counterparts for FLEX training), then Me and Lauren (Lauren who just visited me in Armenia who serves in Georgia), Avto (a Georgian Native who is awesome) and Taras (a Ukrainian Native who is also very awesome).
If any of you studied Colonial American History, would be familiar with the “Dunce Cap. Well, the 37 or so, of us were divided into three groups. I was in the “Caucus region group.” We had a good time working together. I came up with the ingenious idea that if you said something stupid you had to wear this cap until the next person said something stupid. We had such derogatory terms as “Stupid head,” “Putz,” “Cleveland Native,” etc. It was a hit. I don’t think that American Councils will let me use it during the real thing though.
The night before we left we had a party. This is me, Monet, and Taras.
Lauren and I took 4 pictures before we got one right. Mainly Lauren’s fault. Actually, all Lauren’s fault
That is me and Kay, a volunteer from Maldova. This is the girl that I may meet in the Balkans this summer if she doesn’t bail. This is an the “cave church in Kiev”.
Kiev
Avto, myself, and Thomas (Georgian Volunteer) and my roommate. Cool guy, had a good time.
I think that is it for now. I do want to take this opportunity and call some people out. First, Kelly Gay for not telling me about how the documentary went. Second, Matt Gay for not writing me/ not harassing his wife to write me anything. I am in partnership with her to teach her class about Armenia.
Third, Brandon. What are you doing? Seriously
Fourth, Will. What are you doing? Seriously
Fifth, Anthony and TJ. TJ well done with the email. Anthony...
Lastly, Jon- Seriously?
So, last thing I want to say. I ordered one of those awesome little videocameras so be expecting more documentaries. I have a lot of ideas so they should be coming in quick increments.
Wait what? The new volunteers are coming in 45 days? That means Ive been here for almost a year? Where has the time gone? And its going to be nice not being the idiots of the country. Ha, freshmeat.
Until next time...
I went to school early on Friday to get my work done and to do my teachings and stuff. I left right when I could to meet my Georgian Volunteer friends in Yerevan. Tom and Lauren, both of whom I met in Ukraine, came down with two of their friends, fellow volunteers up there. Things were a little tricky because their phones didn’t work in Armenia. Fortunately while I was walking down the road, I saw them sitting at a cafe. Being “out of towners” they unknowingly sat down at one of the more expensive cafes. A beer there was 800 dram where its usually 500 dram. Now, that is 2 dollars compared to a dollar and twenty cents, but you have to realize you are on a Peace Corps budget. No you... me. Anyway, the day was really nice and it was really nice to see them. We went to the hostel to drop off our things and then went out to eat at Taco Maco, our favorite food place (first time). Then we walked around a little bit and then went to kharma which is an Indian food restaurant with no Indians working there. Only people that look Indian. There were about 20-30 volunteers there and so the Georgian Volunteers got to meet some of the people down here. It was fun. I wanted everyone to sit together, so I made everyone sit shoulder to shoulder so no one was left out. Mike was sitting in the middle of the table next to the wall, so when he had to get up, he had to either crawl under the table or get eight people to get up. Anyway, it was fun.
The next day, we awoke pretty early. This is my philosophy when traveling. When you are in another country or place for a limited amount of time, you don’t waste that time sleeping. Now, for those of you that know me well, know that I value sleep above all else, so you know that I’m serious when I tell you this. So on Friday night, we all got about 5-6 hours of sleep, maybe. We got up and Lauren wanted to go to “Yum Yum Donuts” which is a pretty good doughnut shop in Yerevan. If you saw my documentary, you saw that I bought doughnuts from this place. Anyway, Georgia/Tbilisi has three McDonald’s. We do not. But I think it balances out because we have an awesome taco place and a doughnut place. I never really ate at McDonald’s at home, and I never really ate doughnuts, but I really like a good Mexican place (like taco bell), so having Taco Maco is a nice addition.
After Yum Yum’s. I had to go to the office because I had an HIV/AIDS meeting. It went really well and we got a lot of good ideas. Im excited to see where this initiative goes within the next year. It certainly keeps me busy.
After the meeting, we went to Taco Maco (time number 2) to eat before the hockey game. Soon thereafter, we went to the hockey game which was in this awesome building. I forgot what the name of the place was, but it was so nice. It is an old Soviet building but the construction is really remarkable. First off, there are about a million stairs you have to walk to get to the entrance. Once you are inside, my first thought was “where is the hockey rink?” Well, you walk in and it is just black marble of granite or whatever and then stairs in a bowl shape which you walk up to get to the escalators. Then you take the really long escalators up to the floor of the rink. The view is really nice out of the large windows on the level of the rink. You can see all of Yerevan. Anyway, the hockey rink was small but really nice. We walked in to see the North Korea, South Africa game. It was absolutely horrible hockey but North Korea was pretty good. My friends kept asking me Korean words they could use to yell at the North Korean team. Seeing they are from a communist country and I look much more Korean than any of the other volunteers there, I figured that the North Korean team would quickly recognize where the translations came from, find me, and then take me back to mother North Korea to do whatever communists do...
Ani showed up which was nice. She didn’t know a thing about hockey so it was interesting to try and explain things to her because like her, I don’t know anything about hockey. I tried to tell her that the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. As you can imagine that didn’t go over so well. Between games we went to an outdoor cafe. It was very interesting because we walked into what looked like a 1950’s crappy diner. The waitress asked us if we wanted to sit outside. We took advantage of this. The outside was amazing. It was like walking up to a really crappy looking house and then seeing the backyard and it being the Biltmore Estates Garden. Ok, maybe not that nice, but you get the idea. So after some time passed we walked back.
The Armenia, Mongolia game had started and the place was packed. It was pretty fun. My friend Khashi came with his friends Poulia, Paria, Molsen, and Maria. They are my friends to. Anyway, it was the first time they had seen hockey too so it was really interesting for them. After the second period it was 11-0 Armenia so we decided to leave. Honestly, I don’t think a single Armenian who played on the hockey team was from Armenia. Im pretty sure they are all Diaspora. I say this with confidence because Pat (my sitemate) somehow got to talking with one of the players online and asked. So, after the game, Ani went home and thanked me for inviting her to come out. I don’t think she really gets a chance just to hang out so Im glad that she got that opportunity, but knowing her, she went back home at 10 and stayed up till 1am practicing and studying german until 3am. That’s just what she does.
So the Georgian volunteers, my Iranian friends and I went to an Iranian restaurant and hung out for a while and then we went to Taco Maco again at midnight. (time number 3). Oscar, who is awesome, stayed open a little later for us and even made something not on the menu, FOR FREE. I guess because it was late and because we always go there, he helps us out a little bit, but he is a really cool, nice guy. He is from LA. 3 miles away from Hector.
So, afterwards, we hung out a bit more and then the Georgians and I went back to the hostel. We hung out for a while. The next morning I woke them up early again. They got ready and left around 10:30 to go to the bus stop. It was a good weekend and it was really nice to hang out with them again. I hope to do it again when I go up to Tbilisi.
Half an hour later, Maria and Poulia picked me up and we walked to Maria’s apartment. That afternoon they were having a picnic. After the Persian New Year, they decided that every Sunday they would get together by the river and hang out. They were nice enough to invite me and off I went. It was so nice just to be next to rushing water, relaxing. We played dodgeball for a while and then I helped cook the barbecue. By help, I mean, I just sat there and watched and I moved the barbecue sticks from the prep-point to the flame. It was a lot of fun. One of the greatest things that people ask me which happened twice last week is “How do I become a Peace Corps Volunteer?” It makes me a little sad to say “actually you can’t, you have to be a US citizen.” Some of Khashi’s friend’s moms asked me what I was doing in Armenia and I think Khashi got a better understanding since he had to translate. He asked me how he could be a volunteer. Anyway, after an afternoon it was time for me to return to the village. Another great time with my Iranian friends. You can definitely learn a lot about hospitality and the importance of friendship from them. Ah.
Anyway, I got back to the village, hung out with Terri for a while and came back home to an empty house. Grandma went over to a neighbors because I hadn’t come home until later on. It was interesting coming home to lonely house. First time that has happened since I lived in Korea. Man.
A great weekend. Count it.
By request of my Dad, I am going to give a description of the pictures I posted. From bottom to the top
Me trying to fly (obvious)
The first night we were in Kiev. That is Gayane and Manet to the far left (my counterparts for FLEX training), then Me and Lauren (Lauren who just visited me in Armenia who serves in Georgia), Avto (a Georgian Native who is awesome) and Taras (a Ukrainian Native who is also very awesome).
If any of you studied Colonial American History, would be familiar with the “Dunce Cap. Well, the 37 or so, of us were divided into three groups. I was in the “Caucus region group.” We had a good time working together. I came up with the ingenious idea that if you said something stupid you had to wear this cap until the next person said something stupid. We had such derogatory terms as “Stupid head,” “Putz,” “Cleveland Native,” etc. It was a hit. I don’t think that American Councils will let me use it during the real thing though.
The night before we left we had a party. This is me, Monet, and Taras.
Lauren and I took 4 pictures before we got one right. Mainly Lauren’s fault. Actually, all Lauren’s fault
That is me and Kay, a volunteer from Maldova. This is the girl that I may meet in the Balkans this summer if she doesn’t bail. This is an the “cave church in Kiev”.
Kiev
Avto, myself, and Thomas (Georgian Volunteer) and my roommate. Cool guy, had a good time.
I think that is it for now. I do want to take this opportunity and call some people out. First, Kelly Gay for not telling me about how the documentary went. Second, Matt Gay for not writing me/ not harassing his wife to write me anything. I am in partnership with her to teach her class about Armenia.
Third, Brandon. What are you doing? Seriously
Fourth, Will. What are you doing? Seriously
Fifth, Anthony and TJ. TJ well done with the email. Anthony...
Lastly, Jon- Seriously?
So, last thing I want to say. I ordered one of those awesome little videocameras so be expecting more documentaries. I have a lot of ideas so they should be coming in quick increments.
Wait what? The new volunteers are coming in 45 days? That means Ive been here for almost a year? Where has the time gone? And its going to be nice not being the idiots of the country. Ha, freshmeat.
Until next time...
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
здравствуйте
So I don’t really have anything to talk about in this blog. Things have been really good lately and I think that’s because of the decent weather. Now its just rain that comes instead of snow but it is still chilly. That is one nice thing about being here in the summer. It doesn’t get too hot. It is really nice and there is a nice breeze off the lake.
Since the last time I wrote honestly nothing has changed. We had to go to Gavar and have a meeting up there. This past weekend, Hector and I were supposed to give an AIDS presentation at a University. It got cancelled the night before. Crap. I had already made arrangements to get some other things done so I had to go to Yerevan anyway. Then yesterday (Wednesday) we finally got to do the presentation but I did it with Mike instead. It went really well. We were on “Armenian time”. It was supposed to start at 1. People didn’t show up until 1:05. We started at 1:30. The room was filled. Maybe 40-50 people. There were 38-48 girls and two boys. Ha. We had a good time and afterwards we ate at Taco Maco.
That place is awesome. A guy who lived pretty close to Hector in LA moved to Armenia to start a Mexican Restaurant. It is really good. On a PC salary, it isn’t that cheap but every once in a while, its nice going to. I usually eat all my meals there when I have an extended weekend there. Pure bliss.
Anyway, I got back home to the village and... well nothing new. Everything at school is going well. I really like my living situation now. My Grandmother here is awesome. I have so many things to say about her but I can’t describe how my experience has changed. I feel like my personality has changed. I don’t want to make it sound like living with my host mother and brother was bad, its just totally different. Completely different.
The subject line is “hello” in Russian. Russian is going well, for the most part. My Armenian tutor is just amazing. Her husband, my Russian teacher is not the best teacher. This is how our lesson went today:
Me: Ok, I think I’ve done enough (2 pages in)
Him: you’re lazy
Me: No, this is just our third lesson, and we keep going from one thing to another without really studying it
Him: ok, lets practice then
-an hour later-
Him: I think we studied too much, we should stop because if there is too much to study then you won’t want to study
Me: Yeah, that’s what I said but then you called me lazy
Him: That’s exactly right, we should stop now so there isn’t too much to study.
I miss my Armenian tutor. She is just totally awesome. You know those people you are going to miss when you come home... she will definitely be one of them.
Speaking of, there is a program in America where a teacher from here gets to go over for 6 weeks and study American style teaching and everything is paid for. I think that she would be perfect for this position because she speaks English really well. So, send over hopeful thoughts that she gets it.
There is a hockey game this weekend in Yerevan that a lot of us are going to. If you have facebook you would know about this. Anyway, a bunch of us are going to it including some of my friends that I met in the Ukraine. Some Volunteers from Georgia. I am going to show them around. Should be fun. The hockey games are free and this is why... Have you ever heard of the South African, Mongolian, Armenian, or North Korean hockey teams? Yeah... Ill let you know how that goes.
Until next time...
Since the last time I wrote honestly nothing has changed. We had to go to Gavar and have a meeting up there. This past weekend, Hector and I were supposed to give an AIDS presentation at a University. It got cancelled the night before. Crap. I had already made arrangements to get some other things done so I had to go to Yerevan anyway. Then yesterday (Wednesday) we finally got to do the presentation but I did it with Mike instead. It went really well. We were on “Armenian time”. It was supposed to start at 1. People didn’t show up until 1:05. We started at 1:30. The room was filled. Maybe 40-50 people. There were 38-48 girls and two boys. Ha. We had a good time and afterwards we ate at Taco Maco.
That place is awesome. A guy who lived pretty close to Hector in LA moved to Armenia to start a Mexican Restaurant. It is really good. On a PC salary, it isn’t that cheap but every once in a while, its nice going to. I usually eat all my meals there when I have an extended weekend there. Pure bliss.
Anyway, I got back home to the village and... well nothing new. Everything at school is going well. I really like my living situation now. My Grandmother here is awesome. I have so many things to say about her but I can’t describe how my experience has changed. I feel like my personality has changed. I don’t want to make it sound like living with my host mother and brother was bad, its just totally different. Completely different.
The subject line is “hello” in Russian. Russian is going well, for the most part. My Armenian tutor is just amazing. Her husband, my Russian teacher is not the best teacher. This is how our lesson went today:
Me: Ok, I think I’ve done enough (2 pages in)
Him: you’re lazy
Me: No, this is just our third lesson, and we keep going from one thing to another without really studying it
Him: ok, lets practice then
-an hour later-
Him: I think we studied too much, we should stop because if there is too much to study then you won’t want to study
Me: Yeah, that’s what I said but then you called me lazy
Him: That’s exactly right, we should stop now so there isn’t too much to study.
I miss my Armenian tutor. She is just totally awesome. You know those people you are going to miss when you come home... she will definitely be one of them.
Speaking of, there is a program in America where a teacher from here gets to go over for 6 weeks and study American style teaching and everything is paid for. I think that she would be perfect for this position because she speaks English really well. So, send over hopeful thoughts that she gets it.
There is a hockey game this weekend in Yerevan that a lot of us are going to. If you have facebook you would know about this. Anyway, a bunch of us are going to it including some of my friends that I met in the Ukraine. Some Volunteers from Georgia. I am going to show them around. Should be fun. The hockey games are free and this is why... Have you ever heard of the South African, Mongolian, Armenian, or North Korean hockey teams? Yeah... Ill let you know how that goes.
Until next time...
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Peace Corps... gateway in meeting great people
I am looking out my window right now and its snowing... again... Usually that means that the sun will be out tomorrow and it will be nice... maybe not...
This post is a bit long but I think pretty interesting... but that is a biased opinion. Enjoy.
So, I ended the last post on a sad note, but now I will share my experience that I had in Ukraine. That is something to think about. A lot of people say “the Ukraine”. Why does it need that article before the country’s name? It does sound a bit dodgy when you just say “Ukraine” though. Its kind of like those people that take about about Ohio State. Why would you call it “The Ohio State”? I mean, true, there is only one, but that is dumb...
Anyway, I went to the Ukraine last week. And this blog is devoted to the trip and the people who I met there. So, I left Mike’s town on Tuesday around 3 and got to Yerevan around 5. Not too bad of a drive but somehow I ended up spilling super glue all over my bag and pants. Weird huh? No biggie. Anyway, I got to Yerevan and then I went to the office to take care of some business and leave my big bag there in the storage room we have there. I also ate dinner with a Peace Corps Volunteer, Joe, that I had only seen a couple times. Really nice guy. He took me to a Syrian restaurant. Pretty good. Then I made my way out of there to the hostel which American Council decided to put me up in. I had never been to that part of town. It took me about two hours and a handful of calls to the lady that organized all this to find this place. I found the place finally. It was behind these buildings and there was a really small sign describing what this place was. I rang the doorbell and Artur came and got the door. Really friendly guy. We went upstairs and he gave me the tour of this place. It lasted a mere 20 seconds. He said, this is the bedroom, this is the bathroom, this is the kitchen, and this is the showerroom...Then we just stood there because I was expecting him to take me somewhere else and he was expecting me to get ready for bed or something. The place was nice enough but not anything like the hostel I usually stay in. I got really irritated because I had already spent half the day trying to find the place and now there were no towels that I could rent to take a shower. There was no internet, and the door to the bathroom didn’t lock. The size of the whole place was the size of half the downstairs of an average home in the US. Interesting. It was about 10pm and I was ready to go to sleep. I met a French guy who was staying there who worked for the French Embassy in Russia and was in Armenia just to visit. Nice enough guy... A bit later is when Ani told me her father had passed away. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I mean here I was in a non-familiar hostel, which already irriated me, and I was trying to get some sleep before my flight. I finally did fall asleep and the next morning I was woken up by my alarm clock... at 4am. The guy next to me... Artur... Good morning.
I washed up pretty quickly and then Gayane called me saying the taxi was outside waiting for me to take me to the airport. Gayane and Monet were the two TAs who will be working with me this summer. So I went downstairs and Artur and I made small talk and off we went. We picked up Monet and then headed to the airport. Our flight was at 7. We checked in and talked a little bit. I shaved at the airport... not a good idea because there was only cold water. My face looked like I had the chicken pots and scratched all the itchy spots for 3 minutes. The girls got a kick out of that. We got on the plane. I passed out the second I got on, pretty much for the whole three hours there. I did stay awake long enough to have my “meal” which was a croissant. That’s pretty much it. We got to Moscow. What a crappy airport. Nothing to do. The girls and I talked for a while and after the 3 hour layover, we boarded to go to Kiev. An hour and a half later, and an hour and twenty minutes later of more sleep, we arrived. The weather was really nice. At this point in the trip, I went from being regular-other-person-Danny, to paranoid-father-like-Danny. I made sure the girls were always with me. (it gets worse later). So, we met our driver and Allen, an older gentleman who just flew over from the States to start working for American Councils in Ukraine. We drove to the office. I was starving.
At this point, I met some people, but you know how it is, you don’t want to be overly friendly, and all I was thinking about was McDonald’s. It’s amazing how much you appreciate this gourmet restaurant when you go overseas. So, no one was really helping me find this place so off I went... on my own. I heard someone say that I had thirty minutes so I knew that if I didn’t find the place in 12 and a half minutes, I needed to come back. So I went down the street, withdrew some money and then found the McDonald’s. I went to the front of the line. I am really glad I learned how to read Russian, because the menu said “Big Mac” in Russian, but I wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t know the language. So I got one of those, very awkwardly and then walked back. Apparently, everyone was looking for me because I just disappeared. I became an instant celebrity. I was loading my bags and someone asked me who I was, and I said that I was Daniel and everyone said “so you’re Daniel” like I had known then for years. If you were there you would better understand the situation and the circumstances.
So we got on the vans and off we went to the hotel outside of Kiev. Not too far out, maybe 30 minutes away. We got to see a good amount of the city (yeah, one road). We got to the hotel and had a little welcome session and what to expect. Afterwards, it was about 8 and so a group of people went to the store to buy some goods. We socialized for a while which was really fun. The people that were there were Peace Corps Volunteers from all over; Maldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, and Armenia. I think that’s all of them. So it was really interested talking to them. Apparently I was the only health volunteer there so they were really fascinated with what I was doing. Mostly everyone else was a Business or a TEFL volunteer. The TAs were awesome too. Taras, who is a FLEX alumni from Ukraine, was awesome. So was Avto from Georgia.
You wonder what these kids will do with their lives. I always ask these FLEX alumni what they want to do. I ask them if they want to study or get a job in western Europe or in the States. Taras had a very interesting thing to say. Actually he answered with a story:
There were twelve different governors of China who ruled the twelve different provinces a long time ago. Every month they would come together and meet and each one had to bring a bottle of wine. They would bring this wine and pour it into one big barrel and then sit and drink the barrel and talk until it was dry. As time passed, some of the rulers realized that if they brought a bottle of water instead of wine and mix it in with everyone else’s wine, no one would be able to tell the difference. One day, the rulers had a meeting. They all added their bottle of wine. They all sat down and started drinking. What they were drinking was straight water, but no one could say anything because everyone had the same idea to bring water instead of wine.
The point Taras was trying to make was that, if he got educated in another country, what kind of person would he be if he went to somewhere else and wasn’t helping his own country. If everyone had the opportunity to go elsewhere and took that opportunity then what would be left behind? Taras is in Law school right now and wants to stay in the Ukraine doing what he can to help his country. He grew up in a small, poor village but wants to change things for his country... What can you say to that?
That is a major problem I think that Armenia is facing now. Everyone wants to leave as you all saw from my family when they went to Germany. Lately I have been talking to a lot of people talking about the Soviet times and how great it was. I understand that Armenia right now is going through a slump between generations. A communist one and a socialist one but if everyone leaves, what will Armenia become?
Anyway, back to Ukraine and my time there. We had a lot of sessions on how to teach the lessons of integrating into American culture. It was interesting. We got about half a day to plan lessons and the following day we got to work with our counterparts, mine being Monet and Gayane, to practice how we would present and afterwards, we would get feedback on what we needed to do to better our sessions. It was a lot of fun. The days were long going from 8 or 9 in the morning till 7 or 8 at night. I would usually stay up until 1 or 2am so that I could talk to some of the other volunteers and FLEX alum. I was exhausted.
It was eventually time to say goodbye and on Sunday we went into the city. Since there was no flight back to Yerevan on Sunday, I got to stay in Kiev for a day with some other people. I walked around with Kay, a volunteer from Moldova and we went to see some churches. It was interesting because none of us spoke any Russian. I now know how to read Russian but can’t really speak it at all. We got lost trying to get back to the hotel. We got off on the wrong bus stop and had to take the metro. We had to figure that out. We finally found our way back after a lot of pantomiming.
Then, I went with Kay, Lauren and Ashley (the last two serving in Georgia) to a sushi place. Holy crap how awesome was that? It was so amazingly good. Seriously, its definitely the variations of food that I miss from the states. That and Chick-fil-a and mario’s pizza. (Mom and Dad, make a mental note that on the way back home, we will need to stop at a Chick-fil-a and try to have a mario’s pizza waiting at home. Doesn’t matter if its cold). So we walked back and met some other volunteers at a bar and talked there for a while.
Monday was the day we all had to leave. In the morning, we walked around and went to ‘old Ukraine” and did some shopping. That was fun. I went with the Georgian group. My two ladies left the night before to Odessa so I said my goodbyes the night before. We walked around the city and saw the sites. Kiev is such a beautiful city. Really nice buildings. What I didn’t like were all the drunk people drinking in the streets starting around 4pm. A bit depressing and really took away from the ambiance of the city.
Anyway, around 1, I walked back to the hotel, packed my stuff and got a big mac meal from the McDonald’s next to the hotel. A driver came and picked me up and during the whole 50 minute drive to the airport, I passed out. I bet that was better for the driver too because he didn’t know any English, so we didn’t have to try and make awkward conversation.
I checked into the airport and boarded and basically slept the whole way to Moscow. There I went through the transfer gate thing and while I was waiting in line I heard some Armenian and asked the man if he was speaking Armenian. It was great. I apparently made friends with the number 1 tennis player in Armenia and her coach. So, I got to practice my Armenian in the Moscow airport for 2 hours. That was interesting. Much like Ani, I realized that there is so much sacrifice that needs to be made. This tennis player, whose name is also Ani, had to chose between University life and tennis. She still has a year to decide. However, her father had to give up everything to coach her. Ani’s father is her coach. Ani is ranked in the top twenty in Europe but she has no sponsors so their family has to pay for everything. They went to a 3 week tournament that cost about 4000 dollars but the family has to pay so that she gets the exposure that she needs. I asked her father why they don’t try and get sponsorships from Vivacell or other major Armeian corporations, and he said, “these companies give money for the betterment of Armenia. They pay for school supplies and food supplements to villages and small towns. How can I ask those same companies to support us with tennis when there are people who don’t have jobs?” Ani’s father was a very kind man. He told me how there is a lot of money in Armenia but black money. Money that he won’t get involved with and won’t touch. He was obviously a man of principle.
So, in the customary Armenian way, Ani’s father, Ruben, asked me “where are you staying in Yerevan? Surely you aren’t going all the way back to your village.” I said no, and Im pretty sure he offered for me to stay at his house. Maybe not. I told him that I had a friend who is letting me stay with her. He then asked “how are you getting into the city?” I answered that I was taking a taxi and he said “no, you are riding with us”. Ha. So, when we got to Yerevan, I waited for them to get their bags and they gave me a ride into Yerevan. How great. I am staying in touch with tennis Ani via facebook and she said she would let me know when there was a tournament in Armenia, probably this summer. Interesting what kind of people you will meet.
As I said before, I don’t know Russian. The only thing I really know are the usual things like hello, how are you, good, bad, yes, no, thank you... etc. So in order to have something to say, no matter what someone asked me, or told me, I would always answer in what I knew and the word that would most likely fit the conversation. For example:
Stewardess: Try and put your bag in that overhead bin
Me: Spaseeba (thank you)
Stewardess: No, its not going to fit
Me: Spaseeba
Stewardess: blank stare
Me: blank stare right back at her... then Spaseeba
The trip to Ukraine was awesome. A trip is always successful when you can at least make one new friend. I made several and I hope that at the end of the summer I can go on a trip with one of the new people that I made on this trip. We will see.
I got back to the village. It was so warm in Yerevan and nice. I got back and boom... it was snowing. It was ok because the next day the sun was out. Its been nice being back in the village. School has been really good.
Due to my trip and my lack of Russian, I have started learning Russian. I started last night at my neighbors house. Then my Grandma asked me what I learned so we spent about an hour and half going over what I had learned. She is from Belarus so she knows Russian really well. It was interesting talking to her. Im excited to see how much I can learn in the next year.
I wanted to thank Mrs. Lockwood for sending me an awesome care package. It was filled with American foods such as Nutter butter cookies and pringles. Oh my. I will have to share this stuff with Terri because if she knew that I had this stuff and didn’t tell her, my life would be over...
Also, wanted to thank Dr. Feduciary for sending me a package as well. Thanks for the little football and the frisbee. Now I can eat the dried fruit, play frisbee, and work for Peace Corps... did I mention that I only wear tye-dye now?
Until next time...
This post is a bit long but I think pretty interesting... but that is a biased opinion. Enjoy.
So, I ended the last post on a sad note, but now I will share my experience that I had in Ukraine. That is something to think about. A lot of people say “the Ukraine”. Why does it need that article before the country’s name? It does sound a bit dodgy when you just say “Ukraine” though. Its kind of like those people that take about about Ohio State. Why would you call it “The Ohio State”? I mean, true, there is only one, but that is dumb...
Anyway, I went to the Ukraine last week. And this blog is devoted to the trip and the people who I met there. So, I left Mike’s town on Tuesday around 3 and got to Yerevan around 5. Not too bad of a drive but somehow I ended up spilling super glue all over my bag and pants. Weird huh? No biggie. Anyway, I got to Yerevan and then I went to the office to take care of some business and leave my big bag there in the storage room we have there. I also ate dinner with a Peace Corps Volunteer, Joe, that I had only seen a couple times. Really nice guy. He took me to a Syrian restaurant. Pretty good. Then I made my way out of there to the hostel which American Council decided to put me up in. I had never been to that part of town. It took me about two hours and a handful of calls to the lady that organized all this to find this place. I found the place finally. It was behind these buildings and there was a really small sign describing what this place was. I rang the doorbell and Artur came and got the door. Really friendly guy. We went upstairs and he gave me the tour of this place. It lasted a mere 20 seconds. He said, this is the bedroom, this is the bathroom, this is the kitchen, and this is the showerroom...Then we just stood there because I was expecting him to take me somewhere else and he was expecting me to get ready for bed or something. The place was nice enough but not anything like the hostel I usually stay in. I got really irritated because I had already spent half the day trying to find the place and now there were no towels that I could rent to take a shower. There was no internet, and the door to the bathroom didn’t lock. The size of the whole place was the size of half the downstairs of an average home in the US. Interesting. It was about 10pm and I was ready to go to sleep. I met a French guy who was staying there who worked for the French Embassy in Russia and was in Armenia just to visit. Nice enough guy... A bit later is when Ani told me her father had passed away. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I mean here I was in a non-familiar hostel, which already irriated me, and I was trying to get some sleep before my flight. I finally did fall asleep and the next morning I was woken up by my alarm clock... at 4am. The guy next to me... Artur... Good morning.
I washed up pretty quickly and then Gayane called me saying the taxi was outside waiting for me to take me to the airport. Gayane and Monet were the two TAs who will be working with me this summer. So I went downstairs and Artur and I made small talk and off we went. We picked up Monet and then headed to the airport. Our flight was at 7. We checked in and talked a little bit. I shaved at the airport... not a good idea because there was only cold water. My face looked like I had the chicken pots and scratched all the itchy spots for 3 minutes. The girls got a kick out of that. We got on the plane. I passed out the second I got on, pretty much for the whole three hours there. I did stay awake long enough to have my “meal” which was a croissant. That’s pretty much it. We got to Moscow. What a crappy airport. Nothing to do. The girls and I talked for a while and after the 3 hour layover, we boarded to go to Kiev. An hour and a half later, and an hour and twenty minutes later of more sleep, we arrived. The weather was really nice. At this point in the trip, I went from being regular-other-person-Danny, to paranoid-father-like-Danny. I made sure the girls were always with me. (it gets worse later). So, we met our driver and Allen, an older gentleman who just flew over from the States to start working for American Councils in Ukraine. We drove to the office. I was starving.
At this point, I met some people, but you know how it is, you don’t want to be overly friendly, and all I was thinking about was McDonald’s. It’s amazing how much you appreciate this gourmet restaurant when you go overseas. So, no one was really helping me find this place so off I went... on my own. I heard someone say that I had thirty minutes so I knew that if I didn’t find the place in 12 and a half minutes, I needed to come back. So I went down the street, withdrew some money and then found the McDonald’s. I went to the front of the line. I am really glad I learned how to read Russian, because the menu said “Big Mac” in Russian, but I wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t know the language. So I got one of those, very awkwardly and then walked back. Apparently, everyone was looking for me because I just disappeared. I became an instant celebrity. I was loading my bags and someone asked me who I was, and I said that I was Daniel and everyone said “so you’re Daniel” like I had known then for years. If you were there you would better understand the situation and the circumstances.
So we got on the vans and off we went to the hotel outside of Kiev. Not too far out, maybe 30 minutes away. We got to see a good amount of the city (yeah, one road). We got to the hotel and had a little welcome session and what to expect. Afterwards, it was about 8 and so a group of people went to the store to buy some goods. We socialized for a while which was really fun. The people that were there were Peace Corps Volunteers from all over; Maldova, Macedonia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia, and Armenia. I think that’s all of them. So it was really interested talking to them. Apparently I was the only health volunteer there so they were really fascinated with what I was doing. Mostly everyone else was a Business or a TEFL volunteer. The TAs were awesome too. Taras, who is a FLEX alumni from Ukraine, was awesome. So was Avto from Georgia.
You wonder what these kids will do with their lives. I always ask these FLEX alumni what they want to do. I ask them if they want to study or get a job in western Europe or in the States. Taras had a very interesting thing to say. Actually he answered with a story:
There were twelve different governors of China who ruled the twelve different provinces a long time ago. Every month they would come together and meet and each one had to bring a bottle of wine. They would bring this wine and pour it into one big barrel and then sit and drink the barrel and talk until it was dry. As time passed, some of the rulers realized that if they brought a bottle of water instead of wine and mix it in with everyone else’s wine, no one would be able to tell the difference. One day, the rulers had a meeting. They all added their bottle of wine. They all sat down and started drinking. What they were drinking was straight water, but no one could say anything because everyone had the same idea to bring water instead of wine.
The point Taras was trying to make was that, if he got educated in another country, what kind of person would he be if he went to somewhere else and wasn’t helping his own country. If everyone had the opportunity to go elsewhere and took that opportunity then what would be left behind? Taras is in Law school right now and wants to stay in the Ukraine doing what he can to help his country. He grew up in a small, poor village but wants to change things for his country... What can you say to that?
That is a major problem I think that Armenia is facing now. Everyone wants to leave as you all saw from my family when they went to Germany. Lately I have been talking to a lot of people talking about the Soviet times and how great it was. I understand that Armenia right now is going through a slump between generations. A communist one and a socialist one but if everyone leaves, what will Armenia become?
Anyway, back to Ukraine and my time there. We had a lot of sessions on how to teach the lessons of integrating into American culture. It was interesting. We got about half a day to plan lessons and the following day we got to work with our counterparts, mine being Monet and Gayane, to practice how we would present and afterwards, we would get feedback on what we needed to do to better our sessions. It was a lot of fun. The days were long going from 8 or 9 in the morning till 7 or 8 at night. I would usually stay up until 1 or 2am so that I could talk to some of the other volunteers and FLEX alum. I was exhausted.
It was eventually time to say goodbye and on Sunday we went into the city. Since there was no flight back to Yerevan on Sunday, I got to stay in Kiev for a day with some other people. I walked around with Kay, a volunteer from Moldova and we went to see some churches. It was interesting because none of us spoke any Russian. I now know how to read Russian but can’t really speak it at all. We got lost trying to get back to the hotel. We got off on the wrong bus stop and had to take the metro. We had to figure that out. We finally found our way back after a lot of pantomiming.
Then, I went with Kay, Lauren and Ashley (the last two serving in Georgia) to a sushi place. Holy crap how awesome was that? It was so amazingly good. Seriously, its definitely the variations of food that I miss from the states. That and Chick-fil-a and mario’s pizza. (Mom and Dad, make a mental note that on the way back home, we will need to stop at a Chick-fil-a and try to have a mario’s pizza waiting at home. Doesn’t matter if its cold). So we walked back and met some other volunteers at a bar and talked there for a while.
Monday was the day we all had to leave. In the morning, we walked around and went to ‘old Ukraine” and did some shopping. That was fun. I went with the Georgian group. My two ladies left the night before to Odessa so I said my goodbyes the night before. We walked around the city and saw the sites. Kiev is such a beautiful city. Really nice buildings. What I didn’t like were all the drunk people drinking in the streets starting around 4pm. A bit depressing and really took away from the ambiance of the city.
Anyway, around 1, I walked back to the hotel, packed my stuff and got a big mac meal from the McDonald’s next to the hotel. A driver came and picked me up and during the whole 50 minute drive to the airport, I passed out. I bet that was better for the driver too because he didn’t know any English, so we didn’t have to try and make awkward conversation.
I checked into the airport and boarded and basically slept the whole way to Moscow. There I went through the transfer gate thing and while I was waiting in line I heard some Armenian and asked the man if he was speaking Armenian. It was great. I apparently made friends with the number 1 tennis player in Armenia and her coach. So, I got to practice my Armenian in the Moscow airport for 2 hours. That was interesting. Much like Ani, I realized that there is so much sacrifice that needs to be made. This tennis player, whose name is also Ani, had to chose between University life and tennis. She still has a year to decide. However, her father had to give up everything to coach her. Ani’s father is her coach. Ani is ranked in the top twenty in Europe but she has no sponsors so their family has to pay for everything. They went to a 3 week tournament that cost about 4000 dollars but the family has to pay so that she gets the exposure that she needs. I asked her father why they don’t try and get sponsorships from Vivacell or other major Armeian corporations, and he said, “these companies give money for the betterment of Armenia. They pay for school supplies and food supplements to villages and small towns. How can I ask those same companies to support us with tennis when there are people who don’t have jobs?” Ani’s father was a very kind man. He told me how there is a lot of money in Armenia but black money. Money that he won’t get involved with and won’t touch. He was obviously a man of principle.
So, in the customary Armenian way, Ani’s father, Ruben, asked me “where are you staying in Yerevan? Surely you aren’t going all the way back to your village.” I said no, and Im pretty sure he offered for me to stay at his house. Maybe not. I told him that I had a friend who is letting me stay with her. He then asked “how are you getting into the city?” I answered that I was taking a taxi and he said “no, you are riding with us”. Ha. So, when we got to Yerevan, I waited for them to get their bags and they gave me a ride into Yerevan. How great. I am staying in touch with tennis Ani via facebook and she said she would let me know when there was a tournament in Armenia, probably this summer. Interesting what kind of people you will meet.
As I said before, I don’t know Russian. The only thing I really know are the usual things like hello, how are you, good, bad, yes, no, thank you... etc. So in order to have something to say, no matter what someone asked me, or told me, I would always answer in what I knew and the word that would most likely fit the conversation. For example:
Stewardess: Try and put your bag in that overhead bin
Me: Spaseeba (thank you)
Stewardess: No, its not going to fit
Me: Spaseeba
Stewardess: blank stare
Me: blank stare right back at her... then Spaseeba
The trip to Ukraine was awesome. A trip is always successful when you can at least make one new friend. I made several and I hope that at the end of the summer I can go on a trip with one of the new people that I made on this trip. We will see.
I got back to the village. It was so warm in Yerevan and nice. I got back and boom... it was snowing. It was ok because the next day the sun was out. Its been nice being back in the village. School has been really good.
Due to my trip and my lack of Russian, I have started learning Russian. I started last night at my neighbors house. Then my Grandma asked me what I learned so we spent about an hour and half going over what I had learned. She is from Belarus so she knows Russian really well. It was interesting talking to her. Im excited to see how much I can learn in the next year.
I wanted to thank Mrs. Lockwood for sending me an awesome care package. It was filled with American foods such as Nutter butter cookies and pringles. Oh my. I will have to share this stuff with Terri because if she knew that I had this stuff and didn’t tell her, my life would be over...
Also, wanted to thank Dr. Feduciary for sending me a package as well. Thanks for the little football and the frisbee. Now I can eat the dried fruit, play frisbee, and work for Peace Corps... did I mention that I only wear tye-dye now?
Until next time...
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