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...