This week has been a bit abnormal. I’ve sincerely enjoyed it, but a bit abnormal. In a good way.
So Monday I finally got a chance to meet with the major and we went over the grant project. It went really well. This major is awesome. To show how corrupt politics can be here, he has been major for 26 years, lives in a really large, really nice house, drives a nice car, and has a neighbor who pretty much lives in a shack. (comparatively). Anyway, he is a really nice guy how seems to understand me and my point of view. Part of my grant is I have to find 25% of the total budget which needs to come from the village. It can be “in-kind” donations or money from different people, or money from the major. The major really liked the idea of my project and said “whatever you need, I will supply. If I have to give you 25%, 35%, 50%, I will give you that in workers, money, whatever you need. I just want to give the students a place to use the bathroom that’s clean and indoors so its warm during the winter.” I think some of his strong feelings to this project come from the fact that some of his school children go to my school, and one of his middle daughters I teach English to. Ha.
Anyway, when his contractor tried to rip me off, and I called him out on it, Mr. Major man had a few words with his contractor and ever since, things have been really good.
After that, meeting, I really got to work on my grant, but not for too long because on Wednesday I had to go to Yerevan to start planning for Pre-Service-Training with Peace Corps. It was so nice because I met up with Ani again (not the piano Ani, but my trainer from last year, Ani, who lives in California who is contracted to come here to do PST. She is fluent in both Armenian and English and has a Masters in Public Health, and is really cool). Anyway, seeing her, I couldn’t believe that 10 months had already gone by since I last saw her. Honestly, I saw her and it seemed as though I had just seen her yesterday. Weird.
It was an intense two days. All Thursday and Friday we went over the training and started planning. Grueling. Thursday night though, Susanna, my program manager, took us out for dinner. It was really good. It was nice getting to talk to both Susanna and Ani in a non-work setting. Both of them are really great and Im looking forward to this summer.
The new volunteers come in one week.
Coming back to my village from Yerevan, I left on the last bus and had to take another bus which would just drop me off on the way. It is a bit nicer because there is much more leg room which is great. Another thing that was great were the people. I sat in the back (as I normally do) and one of the guys started talking to me. I started to talk to him which inspired other people to talk to me. It was AWESOME. There were about 4 guys that I talked to on the way back and I haven’t laughed that hard since I have been in Armenia. We talked about so many things but it was one of those things I will never forget. They asked me to come to their house to stay the night, but told them that the next day was graduation and I needed to be there for that. I also told them it was my birthday and they freaked out. They almost told the bus driver to pull over so one of them could buy a bottle of vodka to make a toast. I convinced them not to do that, so one of the guys had a hand full of candy and we cheers-ed with candy. They said some really nice things and that was that. I won’t ever forget that. The best part was the fact that the normal 2 hour ride was 3 and a half this time because of detours, getting gas, and leaving from a different bus stop. What normally would have been a horrible situation, turned out to be potentially one of the best memories I will have here.
So, it is still the morning of my 25th birthday. I guess I can go ahead and reflect what I have done in my life and say that I really happy where I am in my life (I don’t mean actual location, but I am happy to be in Armenia). I have learned a lot, met a lot of people, experienced things that I don’t think many people have experienced, but I wouldn’t be able to do any of this, or be who I am today without all the support and help of my parents. So to Mom and Dad, I want to send you a million thank yous. I don’t tell you enough, I know, but thank you for everything. I miss you guys and love you tremendously.
If you are my age and are reading this, I strongly suggest you think about your parents and how they have made you who you are.
It was last year at this time we had our little get together outside in the patio. Over a year ago that I saw a lot of you until next year. Weird.
I got some messages on facebook and wanted to say thank you to those people who wrote me a message. One of them was especially nice from someone that I have just recently met. I was shocked to read it. That person doesn’t know about my blog, but a general thank you to everyone who said happy birthday.
So that is that. I will write again soon to let you know about graduation and what’s going on next week now that school is finished. Weird.
Until next time.
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