The people are the best part...

Me and some Georgian Volunteers: Brian, Lauren, Johny, Laura, Danielle, Me



Mike and Lauren acting like Mike.



Me and all the oak barrels from the Cognac tour



Me and the rug lady



The rug. Mom and Dad, here is a preview... You will get it soon.

Thursday not too much happened. I went to school in the morning and figured out some things with the project. Funny thing, I told the school director that we couldn’t do the cafeteria project, but then they started. It is actually working out because he liked the idea of renovating the cafeteria. He is bringing in 3 new windows and 2 doors. The remaining amount from the bathroom grant was 123,000 dram or about 300 dollars. The doors each cost 75,000 dram and each window about 50,000. It is nice to see that he is interested in helping his own school out. Since he said he would be finished at the end of January, I told him that he had one month from Feb. 17th to get everything fixed or else I would tell the grant committee to never allow another grant to come to that school. This was an empty lie to get everything taken care of. Im tired of dealing with the grant. Anyway, he was so sure that everything was going to be finished that he wrote a letter, signed it, and stamped it showing that everything would be finished. I don’t think we are going to have kind of problem anymore.

That evening, I went to Yerevan and went back over to Jason’s house. Always a good time there. His and Elvira’s kid is pretty cool. He has the funniest laugh. Patrick and Meaghan were there. I have spoken about them before. Really like hanging out with all of them. Patrick and Meaghan are extending to Mongolia. A sure thing. They are flying though Seoul which is pretty cool, to get to Mongolia. Anyway, we just stayed in and talked. I started drawing and since Elvira is a professional artist, she gave me some pointers on how to make the drawings better.

The next morning, I left early and went to the Embassy to meet the Embassy medical officer. That was the first time I had been to the Embassy. It was pretty cool. Lots of security but it wasn’t too bad because I had an escort. So, I went to her office and we sat down and talked for about 80 minutes about her experiences working overseas and some of her colleagues. She told me that she has lived all around and gave me a lot of pointers. It was interesting getting her perspective. One thing that will stick with me are two things. First, she said when I am in medical school to take time and shadow nurses, practitioners, PAs, candy strippers, etc. to get various perspectives. Second, she said that if I pay attention, nurses will be my greatest ally if I let them.

She also spoke of some doctors who she worked with. Two specifically came to her mind, both living in Albania. Both American doctors. One of them works and teaches at a medical school there. Every year he takes about 20 students to do extra work and study. From these, usually 12 make it through to the end of the year. He gives them a certificate which shows they have an “American training” or more hands-on training. Then each year he chooses 2 students from that group and allows them to shadow him. Much like an apprenticeship.

The second doctor was very inspiring. He opened up a clinic and treats diplomats and high officials. He makes them pay a regular amount. He then uses that money to support the poor and unable.

This got all the more excited to start my education when I get back. She had more stories to talk about which were inspiring. A million thank yous to her for giving me so much of her time.

I went to the park and met with Jason and we went to the carpet factory. We picked up the carpet that I ordered. That was fun because we got a tour of the factory. We went into a room where women were sitting in front of looms making the carpets. I was asking her questions and they told me to sit down next to her. It was amazing watching the lady work. She was so fast with the knotting, it was almost unbelievable. She knew where to go. She could have been blind and still have done the same amazing job. Anyway, I sat down next to her and she tried to explain how to do it. Very interesting. It was funny because she didn’t think I knew Armenian and she told her supervisor “I’m going to redo that knot aren’t I?” The answer. Yes. Anyway, we got some pictures of the rug with the people and then we went back to the city.

We went to eat at a pizza place and then had a cup of coffee while I was waiting for the Georgian volunteers to come down. Lauren, who I visited last summer, came down with 4 other volunteers. We found each other pretty easily. They wanted to eat at KFC. Yes we have KFC but we aren’t sure if its a real KFC or not. We ate there, went to a supermarket and went to the bus stop. There we got on a bus and we headed to Martuni. That was a fun ride. The weather was really nice. Basically when you leave Yerevan all you see is white. So it was nice driving by the lake where there was the blue lake, with the white mountains behind it and then the clear blue sky. I don’t think the others really knew about the scenery because they were all asleep. We got to Martuni and it was really cold. They were complaining the whole time about the walk to the other side of the city. We just out and talked with some of the other volunteers and then came back to Yerevan the next morning.

I got everyone up at 8, and we were on the bus ready to go at 9:00. We got to Yerevan around 11:30, went to the supermarket again, got some food, and then dropped our stuff off at the Hostel. There were several people we were meeting so Jason and Cheryl came to the hostel and we were off. We went to the Cognac factory tour. It was really nice of them to give us a private tour on a weekend. It was an hour and 40 minutes. It was really interesting to hear about the factory in soviet times and how it changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. They used to make wine but then stuck with just brandy. The coolest part was, we got to taste wine from 1924. We got about 2 oz. of the wine and it tasted like porto. They said that a bottle of that stuff would go for 2000-5000 dollars, but instead they let people taking the tour taste it and give bottles to dignitaries. It was pretty cool. As far as I know, they might be getting Porto and giving that to us, but that takes away from the coolness of it. Afterwards, we went to a brandy tasting area where we tried the 10 year and the 20 year brandy. Yes, there was a major difference, but honestly, in my opinion, the 10 year brandy from Ararat is leaps and bounds better than both the 10 year and the 20 year from Noy. And now I know. It was a really good tour, especially for 10 dollars.

Afterwards, we walked to the open market and walked around. Two of the Georgian Volunteers had to go to the bathroom so we went to Champions which is a Thai food sports bar. Yes, I know it makes no sense. We walked in and there was no one there, so while I was waiting, I spoke to the manager. I asked him how business was and he said that it was slow. I said that since he was so nice to let the girls use the bathroom I would try and bring people back to the restaurant later that night. He said that would be great if I could, but if not, no problem.

We went back to the hostel and rested for a while and then got ready to go out for the evening. We ended up going back to Champions. I walked in first and saw the manager and told him I brought some friends and he was happy to see about 7 people with me. As we were talking, more and more of my friends came in. In total we had about 16 people. He started dancing. That made my night. We had a really good time talking and eating. There were people from different groups. People from Kiva, Peace Corps Armenia and Georgia, Gayane came, and Cheryl, a girl who is here just volunteering. Im counting Jason as a Peace Corps Volunteer. So there was no stale conversation.

Afterwards, we left and we to a lounge. The waitress was really nice there. We had a small room. I asked her if I could bring tables from other rooms over. A room comfortable for about 10 people held about 20. More people met us at the lounge. We had a really good time there, and I regret not taking a picture of that.

We went back to the hostel and hung out for a while before going to bed. Around one, the Georgian volunteers made their way back. I made plans to see Lauren on my way back home so I will see her again. It seems like every 6 months I have seen her since last march.

I came home and got some work out of the way. I hung out with Grandma for a while. I spoke with Ameian, one of my best friends from scouting. This was the first time I have spoken to him in almost 4 years. He has a 3 month old now. Weird. It was really nice talking to him though. Tonight I am talking to Brandon. This will be the first time I will be speaking with him since my going away party. We email quite a bit but he is too afraid to answer call with a phone number he doesn’t recognize.

Today was great. (Monday). I had a health lesson today. I only have 2 more classes before I am finished with the health lessons. That is pretty much it. I will go back to helping with English classes but the health classes awesome. I have a really good time with those and the kids actually listen to me. I got in an argument with a kid today. We talked about Gender roles. I asked a kid if a man should help out around the house. He said no. I asked him if it would be fair if both the man and woman both worked as teachers and then the woman had to clean and cook and take care of the kids. He said yes. Moron. I was very pleased to hear some of the other guys think about their question saying that if both man and woman had to work, both man and woman have to equally take care of the house. Slowly I think my counterpart and I are getting to the kids. Some kids are just dumb... (yes, I said it).

This week should go by pretty quickly. I have some work to do in Yerevan on Thursday and Friday and then I leave for Spain to meet TJ, Will, Derek, Alex, and Kamran. I am really looking forward to it. Half because other than Will, I haven’t been in touch with the other guys. Kamran doesn’t count because he lives in Spain now. We will see how all that goes.

Until next time...

Why don't you just come up here and read...

Snow covered Volcano that is Mt. Aghmaghan



My house covered in snow



The village



The day I made eggrolls over at Vartan's house. His wife would not leave me alone but it was fun regardless...



Me, Marissa, and Hermano (Hector)

I would say there are things to talk about, but honestly there isn’t. Two weekends ago I just stayed in the village just finishing up my work and relaxing. Last week was pretty run of the mill, but I will say that I do really enjoy going to school now. Maybe because I know its my last semester? Or maybe its because I feel that I finally got the hang of this. I teach like I am another teacher. Maybe not as fluently, but I compensate by teaching with a more “hands-on” approach. I don’t raise my voice at them or anything if they misbehave. Instead I have learned that embarrassment is a rather good tactic. No, nothing outright embarrassing either. The boys in the village can’t read very well, or really at all. So, when the boys keep talking when Im talking, I get one of them to come to the front of the room and read in front of the class. This is already embarrassing, but when you have a 25 year old teacher who is from another country correcting your Armenian, that can get pretty embarrassing. If that doesn’t work, I pinch their arm...

School is going well. Really well. And really fast. I can’t believe that next week is the last week of February already. I understand, you, as the reader, must be getting tired of me writing that every time. That the time is flying, but it really is. It seems as though I can’t close my eyes or else I will be back home in the States waking up from a 27 month fantasy. I know that is what’s going to happen.

This weekend I am heading into Yerevan for several reasons. First, I am going to meet the embassy doctor and pick her head on your thoughts on international medicine. Second, I am going to go and pick up a hand made Armenian carpet. There was a problem with it last time so they were taking it back to the loom to get it fixed. Third, I am going to pick up Lauren and some of the other Georgian Volunteers. Lauren was the girl who I stayed with when I was in Georgia last summer. She is bringing some other people down. She wants to see the “village life.” We are going to go on the Cognac factory tour and hang out. Sunday I return. Next week should be pretty quick to go by as well.

Things I have been working on. Well. The other semesters, school was something that I had to do and I put most of my efforts into writing grants, designing and implementing presentations, doing the AIDS Initiative, etc. This semester, my primary focus is the school. I did finish writing a PEPFAR grant, or helped write it, to get money to fund AIDS presentations not only in Yerevan but all around the country. Also, it won’t be on the volunteer, but instead will train Armenians to teach other Armenians about this disease. I am pretty excited about it. Ill let you know if it passes.

Two days ago, it snowed. There is about 2 feet of snow here which makes walking in the village a challenge and a marathon-like-event. I am staying warm but am now rethinking things about sending all my winter stuff home with some of the guys I am meeting in Spain. Nah, it will be worth it.

My brother has not yet left and he is driving me crazy. I keep thinking that I only have a couple more weeks left before he leaves. They didn’t know that there was no train from Italy straight to Belgium, so I wrote down directions on how to switch trains, ask for directions, basically anything you need to make it from point A to point B. You may think that I am doing this out of the kindness of my heart. Wrong. I don’t want him to get deported. Not because that would be sad for his family and they would lose 4500 dollars, but moreso because if he gets deported, he will come back here, and if he comes back here, I am going to stab a pencil in my eye...

So that is the news there. I really can’t complain about anything. Everything else is pretty normal. I guess I am really in the swing of things and that is why I can’t write about anything. You know, your everyday life back in the States probably does not fluctuate that much from day to day, so you can understand this.

I think this is all Im going to write now. The next blog will probably be better because I will have events to write about.

Until next time...

I just took a shower...

So after a week I took a shower and holy crap, its amazing how light you feel after taking a bath. I can feel my clothes everywhere... This I guess is what is meant by “I feel clean...” I feel like I was always clean in the States, but taking two showers a day, I guess you don’t really appreciate it as much.

This week was interesting. We had an AIDS meeting this past Monday. It started at 4 because the new group was going to a conference on grant writing. The meeting went well and we got some ideas going. As an aside, its hard to stay focused. One of my six sitemates is leaving early to go to grad school. He is leaving mid-May. That really puts things into perspective. It’s already February. Superbowl time. Geez. Anyway, soon thereafter, another one of my sitemates may leave. The point I am trying to make is the transition I am going through where I am really starting to think about my future. Im almost finished with my applications, but I still have a year free to do something before Med school starts. But what to do. Yeah, that is what I am thinking about. There are options, but I have to decide on which of the options will best suite me for the time I have available. So, due to the fact that I am starting to go through this transition, things like the AIDS Initiative are becoming less important. Well, not so much that, I am not as passionate about it as much as I was, I should say.

Anyway, I was late catching the bus coming back to my site after the meeting. I ended up staying the night in Yerevan. Bad move. The next morning, I woke up to a cover of white on the ground. I made my way to the bus station and waited on the bus for two hours. That was not fun. We finally left and we got outside of Yerevan. At this point it was 11:30, or noon. The road was closed. We turned around and came back. I didn’t really know what to do so I called Peace Corps. They were really helpful once they believed me that the road was closed and that I was making an actual effort to get home. Anyway, I ended up going to the other bus station and waiting for about an hour. At this point it was 3pm once the bus started to leave the station. It usually takes me a little less than 2 hours to get home, but this time it took me about three hours. I got home and got dropped off at the road because I don’t like to pay the 3 dollars to get home by taxi. So, I walked the two miles back to the house, in the 16 inches of snow... in my tennis shoes. It took me a while and I was exhausted and my pants were white up to my knees. It wasn’t 16 inches the whole way but 6 at the minimum height. It was fun. Not really. Grandma couldn’t believe that I walked home and kept saying the equivalent of “oh my... oh my...oh my...” Probably at the same time thinking... “what an idiot...”

School this week was great. We really got into the health lessons and I did some English lessons. I had a really good time at school and now, my last semester here, I feel like I am really doing something, and the kids are actually responsive when I tell them to be quiet. Its a different ballgame here. Its fun though, which is sad because that means the time will go even faster.

Other than that, nothing new has really happened this week. The snow is not melting but is just being blown around. I went out and took some pictures that you have probably already seen. After I took the pictures, I went to Vardan’s house and made eggrolls over there. They really liked them and they are ready for the next batch to be made. We talked about all kinds of stuff, light stuff this time.

This morning around 11, the power went out because of all the wind. It was actually really relaxing. I am reading “Silent Spring” right now. Its about pesticides and herbicides and the negative impacts those have on the environment. Arguably a book which really started the Environmental Movement in the 70’s. I got a good amount read. Grandma is funny because she comes in and sits down. If she has no work, she sits close to me and we talk. She doesn’t care a bit that I am reading or working or whatever... she just starts talking. I still catch myself being in awe that she had lived a life that she has. It is apparent that she is tired of being around. A bit depressing but she says she just has nothing to live for. Regardless of the fact that I keep telling her she will live until she is 129, she laughs but then gets right back into talking about her life and where it has taken her. In her opinion... nowhere. Its a bit disconcerting to hear this.

At the same time, it seems like my host brother is actually going to ship out next week. All the papers are in order and they expect him to be out of here by next Sunday. Sweet. We will see how that goes. I feel a bit bad when they ask me what kind of processes I have to go through to get into a country. I say “I buy a plane ticket and I go there.” They look at me as if I am supposed to keep talking. Its hard. It’s horrible that Armenians can’t just pack up and go somewhere. Anyway, Grandma apparently has to settle some things with real estate here before she can leave and doesn’t want to have to deal with all the snow, so she is going to stay until at least April she says, which actually means that she will probably leave a week before I do, in August.

Things have been going really well here. Nothing to complain about at all. Its cold outside but with this new wood burning stove, I have no problem staying warm. Its amazing the contract between this year and last year.

I guess that’s all the updating I have right now.

Ok, I tried twice to upload the pictures but they won't go so I will upload the pictures tomorrow... if I remember

Until next time...