The pace is picking up and its hard to imagine that its almost November. Already. Geez. Last Friday, the new country director came to my house with Mariam the “executive assistant.” It was really fun. Diana the new CD wanted to visit some volunteers and see how we lived at site. It was a welcomed visit. After they visited Nick in the next village they called me and I told them I would meet them on the road and that they would see me. Well, I figured they would ride on the main road, surely to see me. Not the case. They called and asked where I was, and I responded by asking where they were. The PC drivers usually go to the same regions of the country so they are familiar with where we live. We have to submit a map and an emergency plan to PC when we first get here. When I first got to site, about 14 months ago, I drew in another road. A road that I thought was the main road but apparently was not. So, they had passed me on the other road and I didn’t see them because houses blocked my view. Honestly, I don’t know why I wrote all that, because its not that interesting...
Anyway, they came to my house. Diana used to be a PCV in Ukraine a number of years back and still knew her Ukraine/Russian pretty well. She had also finished as the CD in Ukraine this past spring so it was still at the forefront of her brain. Grandma was thrilled about this because usually PC Staff comes just to talk to the volunteers and she just does stuff. This time she was an active participant in all conversation. It was much more interesting that way. I may have already said this, but when Grandma speaks Russian/Ukrainian, she always gets a big smile on her face. That may because, to her, its funny to hear me try and speak it to her. She still had the smile on when Diana was talking so Im thinking that she just likes to hear it.
One of my students made me a box of baklava the previous day. I had tutored her for three weeks as a FLEX crash course review session thing. She wanted to pay me but as volunteers its against the rules to accept money, so she made me baklava instead. So we sat in the kitchen and ate baklava, drank tea, and just talked. It was a really good visit and I really appreciated the effort she made to come and see me and the other volunteers.
After our meeting, I asked if I could get a ride to Gavar because I hadn’t seen Bryan in a long while. Gavar is the next biggest town on the way to Yerevan, about 45 minutes up the road. We went the opposite way to Vaghashen to pick up Kyle because he was going into Yerevan to meet his parents at the airport the following day. Exciting. So, we picked up Kyle and off we went. We got to the Gavar Bridge and I got out and started walking the 30 minutes into town. Its just what you do as a volunteer. I did some filming of the walk and Ill include that in my next documentary that I am going to start making soon. Soon-ish. (Speaking of, those of you that still read my blog and said you were going to make a video last December, where is it... Matt, Kelly, and Laura?)
Usually walking, people will ask for a ride. People in cars. This time, there was a dump truck that started honking and I thought he wanted me to get off the road even though there was no one else in sight. As the truck was coasting, the driver was pantomiming, trying to ask if i wanted a ride to Gavar. (I wish I got that on film). I nodded so he stopped and I got to ride in a dump truck (I don’t know why that excites me so much). Anyway, it was fun, and I talked to the driver as we headed into town. Conversation was good and I forgot where I needed to get off, so when the truck stopped, I got out and had to backtrack about ten minutes to get to where I needed to go.
I got to Bryan’s and hung out there. He made Sloppy Joes and it was really good. Remember that my diet mainly consists of potatoes and potatoes... That night, I talked with Bryan and his site mates who are all new volunteers, Genya, Danna, and Chris. A good bunch.
The next morning, I wanted to take the bus back. Hmm, no bus anymore. The man said that the bus didn’t run anymore because not enough people were taking it, so I waited for a shared Taxi. The bus is usually 500 dram and a private taxi is 4000. But with a shared taxi its 2000 dram, 500 dram per person. I didn’t understand the math but whatever. So, I waited with the taxi driver and two people showed up going in my direction. We waited another another hour and then the driver said, “listen, how about you pay 1000 dram. That is what everyone else is paying and we can go.” I knew he was lying but I went along with it and pretended that I didn’t know what he was talking about and we left. The taxi driver and the other two passengers planned some kind of conspiracy against me. I wasn’t born yesterday. So we started riding and we got to a village outside of Martuni and the two ladies got out. The lady made it very obvious that I see that she handed the driver 2000 dram. Then the driver for some reason got out and I looked back and the driver was giving 1000 dram back to the lady. The driver got back in the car and we started going. I was a little peeved at this. I told him that I wanted to go to this road that connects my village to the road. I said that he didn’t need to go all the way into Martuni and instead of going all the way there, he could make up the differing distance by turning onto the road. When he turned, I asked if we had gone far enough and I said, “no, turn left here... we are almost to my house,” so he kept driving and asked again if that was far enough. Again I told him that the house was just a little bit further. So we got to my house and I gave him 1000 dram and he said that it wasn’t enough. I told him I saw him give back 1000 dram to the ladies. That was the end of that conversation.
So Saturday, I just laid low, relaxed a bit. Studied my Russian and I think watched a movie. Sunday, I was going to go to Hector’s house just to take a walk out there, but the clouds looked ominous, and Grandma wanted me to help out with some other things, so I just hung out again at the house. It was fun. We had a good time.
Monday, I didn’t go to school. I had some work to do in Martuni and I met up with Hector. I needed to get some software from him to install a language program on some of the school computers. We had some time to catch up and then I came home.
The following day, after my classes, I went out to Vaghashen to meet Kyle’s parents with some of the other volunteers. Kyle was taking his parents out to the lake with some kids to do some water quality tests. Since I had class, I went out there a bit late and walked from Martuni to Vaghashen. Then I turned and took a road out toward the lake. It was beautiful (footage will be included in the documentary). The area out there was clean and the trees were changing colors and you could see the lake in the distance. It was really nice. I took the wrong road though and walked through the field into the forest when I realized that there were no footprints of the dozen kids and volunteers and parents on the road. I called Kyle. I was on the wrong road. So with some cows as companions I walked to the right road and met up with everyone. We came back to Kyle’s house, talked there for a while and walked to Kyle’s host family’s house. Kyle moved out...
There we talked with everyone and then had a dinner. It was funny because here were Kyle’s parents from the States and Kyle’s family made pizza. Yeah, that’s all I ate. I ate nothing else but the pizza. It was pretty good. Around 9, with Pat, Vincent, and Nick, I walked back to Martuni. It was really nice out. I got my package from Vincent’s house along with his 15 pound heavy duty plastic lockable case and rode the taxi back home.
I got home and Grandma just stared at the plastic case then looked at me and then went back to watching her show. Priceless.
Two or three of the homes around my house had been broken into. This concerned Grandma. She said that, yeah we have a TV and dvd player, but she was worried about my computer, camera, whatever else in my room. A bit of paranoia set in because now she won’t go somewhere unless Im at home. Apparently the windows are easy to break into with a knife and that is the kind of window I have in my room so her uneasiness was understandable. I really didn’t have any concerns, but I emailed our safety and security director who decided that he would just call the Martuni police and then call me afterwards. He called me and said that the Martuni police hadn’t gotten any police reports or calls about the robberies but that they could come to the house.
Well news spreads like wildfire and the village talks, so when they saw a police car come to the American’s house, there was some speculation and talk. I love it... Grandma and I were drinking coffee yesterday (Wednesday) when we heard the outside door open. Grandma went out there. The police asked if Zoya (my host mom who moved to Germany) lived here. Grandma said no, that she moved to Germany but that was her daughter. Then they asked if the American lived here. She said yes as I was peaking my head out the door. Suhweet...
So the policemen came into the house and we talked about some things. They heard what Grandma had to say and they listened to me and my concerns. I just said I didn’t want Grandma to worry. There is someone on patrol every night in the village and he said that the police person would come to the area around the house to keep an eye out. I also bought a heavy duty lock for that case that Vincent got me. Doubtful that they would go into that much trouble to take whatever is here. Usually when I leave my house, I take my computer and camera with me anyway.
When the policemen left, Grandma asked why they came and I told her that they were here to take me to jail but I convinced them not to. Grandma just started hitting me and pushed me into the house laughing.
I went to school yesterday and talked with the school director and it looks like we are going to start on the bathroom tomorrow. We have the workers and the mold for the concrete now. I was on the phone yesterday for about six hours calling the volunteers and talking to other people and I woke up this morning with a non-existent voice. I tried talking this morning and nothing. This was hilarious for Grandma because I didn’t realize this until I tried to say Good Morning to her and all that came out were cracks and whispers. After she asked what was wrong, I told her I lost my voice. It must have really amused her because she would ask me a question, just to hear me speak, then she would mock me and make fun of me and then laugh. Five minutes would go by before the same thing would happen. I think she got tired of it now. I still don’t have a voice which is going to make my meetings tomorrow nearly impossible and probably embarrassing. Yeah.
So tomorrow, I am going to Yerevan for meetings and staying there until Saturday. Then on Sunday, the young ladies that I worked with this summer are going to come to my village to see what village life is like. There is a really big disconnect between those that live in Yerevan and those that live in the village and I think it would be good for them to see what’s on the other side of the bridge. They said I had to cook something, so Im still trying to figure out what to make.
Next week is fall break and we don’t have school. We are having a sports conference here. By “we” I mean not me, but some of the other volunteers. I have other things I need to be doing so Im just going to sit around.
If this is the last message before Halloween, have a Happy Halloween. Brandon, if you still read this, Happy Birthday on the 30th boyo. Mom and Dad, don’t buy crappy candy. Buy something good for the kids, like snickers, or twix, or skittles...
That’s all for now.
Until next time...
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