This week was pretty fun. I went to Solak, my training village, for the Fourth. The trainees were there planning for their celebration. Last year, we made a lot of American foods... just American food. This year, they made Armenian bbq for the Fourth which I thought was pretty funny. It was very different from ours but it was still successful. Afterwards, we went out and played some games like “duck duck goose” and some other games. Its really funny trying to explain this stuff to Armenian kids because they have never played these games first. You would also seem like it would be a pretty easy game to follow. Not the case. The kids were running all over the place, smacking the kids on the head, would just stand there after saying “goose”, the kid who said “goose” would start chasing the kid instead of the other way around... It was really funny to watch. Also what was funny is, you don’t really notice how much language you have learned until you compare with someone else. Someone else being the trainees. I know I was in the same boat last year, but a year into service it was funny for me to listen to the Trainees try to talk because there was a lot of English mixed into the mix. Ha.
At the end of the summer last year, Kamran told me that I was 8.75% finished with my service, when in actuality I hadn’t even started my two year service yet. Anyway, at the end of June, I passed the halfway mark of my service. Weird.
Things are really easy now for the most part. I know enough of the language to hang out with people, I know how to get around, have friends to hang out with, my living situation is good and I am satisfied with what I do in the country as far as work and Peace Corps are concerned. I meet a lot of new people too. The reason for saying this is that this next year really is going to go by really quickly. Geez.
So Sunday night, after July 4th, I went back to Yerevan where I stayed at Sean’s fiance’s house with him and her family. That was fun just to have a quiet night. The next morning, I left to get some work done at the American Councils office but it was closed due to the Armenian holiday. Lame. So I just went to the hostel where I met a lot of my colleagues because Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was in Armenia and they got to meet her. I asked them if they got to touch her, and they said no and they just listened to her speak, so I didn’t count that as really “meeting” her but still thought it was pretty cool. Anyway, it was another slow day which was nice because I knew the upcoming days would be really hectic.
Tuesday morning, I went to the American Councils office to get some things printed out. The first trickle of kids started coming in and before we knew it, we were packing up the buses to go out to Lusakert, outside of Yerevan. We got out there and unloaded everything and pretty much started with everything. It was a lot of fun. The days were really long, especially the second day which went from 8:30am to about 11pm just filled with sessions. The whole time was very fun teaching. I really enjoyed working with my counterpart, Gayane, who was a ’05 FLEX alumni who went to Louisiana. I guess our personalities meshed well but our sessions went off without a hitch. (is that how the expression goes?) Anyway, the kids were really interesting to talk with. They will all have a great time in the states.
I guess some of the more interesting things were how they responded to questions. A lot of the lessons were a lot of questions about what they think America will be like. It was interesting to hear their ideas of what America would be like. There was a movie we showed “Ten things I hate about you” where it shows a California high school and all that happens in high school. Although the movie is not completely accurate, the baseline things are, and talking about these kind of things with the kids really blew their minds. Prom being one thing. It seems like internationally, whenever I talk about Prom, people don’t believe its a real thing and are very shocked to know that it is. Even the point of sports teams and that each school has so many sports teams to chose from. Just to see the excitement in the kids eyes that they would even have the opportunity to take part in these different activities was very exciting even for me. Comparing that with Americans, we expect to do these things. What would high school be like if there were no after school clubs and sports.
Its a nice way to understand your own culture when you have to explain it to someone else. Another thing that was interesting was talking about personal space. I guess being here, I have had to sacrifice that. But telling boys not to interlock arms with other boys in the States was an interesting conversation to have because here, no one would think anything if they saw a boy interlocked with another boy. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that I am starting to forget my English. When trying to explain some things, it takes me a while, and a lot of concentration, to try and come up with the right word to explain some things. Same thing for cultures, it took me a while to come up with some explanations because I honestly forgot.
The summer for me is wrapping up now. Now the FLEX is finished, I have one more session for Peace Corps and then I have my Mid-Service Conference and leave for my trip. Im really excited about it now that most of my obligations are behing me. However, last night I found out that there was some fraudulent activity on my credit card... about 1000 dollars worth. Its funny calling VISA in the States. Filling out the fraud paperwork was interesting to explain because they said there is about two weeks that I had to get the paperwork. I told them I was in Armenia and they thought it was some city in America. (I would have thought the same thing, except the first thing that I said was, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in another country”) Anyway, I told them just to get a letter to me would take two weeks or more, let alone being able to send it back. Then they said they would fax it to me, which I got irritated and responded by saying “yeah, let me turn on my fax machine in my village where only a handful of people have a flushable toilet”. Needless to say, the lady wasn’t very happy with that comment which I apologized for and hoped that she understood my frustration that some one in Bulgaria wanted to go buckwild with my credit card, somehow...
Anyway, just so that people back home understand, and I hope that some VISA representatives are reading my blog to gain some perspective, things outside of the US move a bit more slowly than back home and not everyone has a fax machine or reliable mail service for that matter. So, for those of you back home, please thank your postman or postwoman for getting that letter to you in a prompt amount of time.
I guess this blog turned into more of my complaining more than anything else but thank you for letting me vent. Its hotter than all get out here. I am now in Artik, Mike’s site hanging out with him for a couple days before I go back to give my last session for Peace Corps. Its been nice seeing him and hanging out. At least relaxing a bit. So Mike, Thanks for letting me stay at your house and hang for a little bit. I guess that’s all for now. People stay cool back at home. Awesome...
Until next time...
At the end of the summer last year, Kamran told me that I was 8.75% finished with my service, when in actuality I hadn’t even started my two year service yet. Anyway, at the end of June, I passed the halfway mark of my service. Weird.
Things are really easy now for the most part. I know enough of the language to hang out with people, I know how to get around, have friends to hang out with, my living situation is good and I am satisfied with what I do in the country as far as work and Peace Corps are concerned. I meet a lot of new people too. The reason for saying this is that this next year really is going to go by really quickly. Geez.
So Sunday night, after July 4th, I went back to Yerevan where I stayed at Sean’s fiance’s house with him and her family. That was fun just to have a quiet night. The next morning, I left to get some work done at the American Councils office but it was closed due to the Armenian holiday. Lame. So I just went to the hostel where I met a lot of my colleagues because Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was in Armenia and they got to meet her. I asked them if they got to touch her, and they said no and they just listened to her speak, so I didn’t count that as really “meeting” her but still thought it was pretty cool. Anyway, it was another slow day which was nice because I knew the upcoming days would be really hectic.
Tuesday morning, I went to the American Councils office to get some things printed out. The first trickle of kids started coming in and before we knew it, we were packing up the buses to go out to Lusakert, outside of Yerevan. We got out there and unloaded everything and pretty much started with everything. It was a lot of fun. The days were really long, especially the second day which went from 8:30am to about 11pm just filled with sessions. The whole time was very fun teaching. I really enjoyed working with my counterpart, Gayane, who was a ’05 FLEX alumni who went to Louisiana. I guess our personalities meshed well but our sessions went off without a hitch. (is that how the expression goes?) Anyway, the kids were really interesting to talk with. They will all have a great time in the states.
I guess some of the more interesting things were how they responded to questions. A lot of the lessons were a lot of questions about what they think America will be like. It was interesting to hear their ideas of what America would be like. There was a movie we showed “Ten things I hate about you” where it shows a California high school and all that happens in high school. Although the movie is not completely accurate, the baseline things are, and talking about these kind of things with the kids really blew their minds. Prom being one thing. It seems like internationally, whenever I talk about Prom, people don’t believe its a real thing and are very shocked to know that it is. Even the point of sports teams and that each school has so many sports teams to chose from. Just to see the excitement in the kids eyes that they would even have the opportunity to take part in these different activities was very exciting even for me. Comparing that with Americans, we expect to do these things. What would high school be like if there were no after school clubs and sports.
Its a nice way to understand your own culture when you have to explain it to someone else. Another thing that was interesting was talking about personal space. I guess being here, I have had to sacrifice that. But telling boys not to interlock arms with other boys in the States was an interesting conversation to have because here, no one would think anything if they saw a boy interlocked with another boy. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that I am starting to forget my English. When trying to explain some things, it takes me a while, and a lot of concentration, to try and come up with the right word to explain some things. Same thing for cultures, it took me a while to come up with some explanations because I honestly forgot.
The summer for me is wrapping up now. Now the FLEX is finished, I have one more session for Peace Corps and then I have my Mid-Service Conference and leave for my trip. Im really excited about it now that most of my obligations are behing me. However, last night I found out that there was some fraudulent activity on my credit card... about 1000 dollars worth. Its funny calling VISA in the States. Filling out the fraud paperwork was interesting to explain because they said there is about two weeks that I had to get the paperwork. I told them I was in Armenia and they thought it was some city in America. (I would have thought the same thing, except the first thing that I said was, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in another country”) Anyway, I told them just to get a letter to me would take two weeks or more, let alone being able to send it back. Then they said they would fax it to me, which I got irritated and responded by saying “yeah, let me turn on my fax machine in my village where only a handful of people have a flushable toilet”. Needless to say, the lady wasn’t very happy with that comment which I apologized for and hoped that she understood my frustration that some one in Bulgaria wanted to go buckwild with my credit card, somehow...
Anyway, just so that people back home understand, and I hope that some VISA representatives are reading my blog to gain some perspective, things outside of the US move a bit more slowly than back home and not everyone has a fax machine or reliable mail service for that matter. So, for those of you back home, please thank your postman or postwoman for getting that letter to you in a prompt amount of time.
I guess this blog turned into more of my complaining more than anything else but thank you for letting me vent. Its hotter than all get out here. I am now in Artik, Mike’s site hanging out with him for a couple days before I go back to give my last session for Peace Corps. Its been nice seeing him and hanging out. At least relaxing a bit. So Mike, Thanks for letting me stay at your house and hang for a little bit. I guess that’s all for now. People stay cool back at home. Awesome...
Until next time...
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