The roughest day to date

Spring is here... finally



Bareyan (left) giving me the huge horse thing.



The nurses. I was apparently the only one happy about taking the picture.



After the party. The teachers at Verin Getashen School #2.



The teachers yesterday when the historian came. Did I mention that I am going to be in the village archives. Im going to be in a history book. Count it.

Although I finished the last blog emphasizing the fact that not all the blogs would be depressing, it would be a lie for me to say this one will differ. For those who read my blog regularly (thanks mom and dad) you will know that I usually try to post once a week. This time, I couldn’t wait.

(I feel like Doogie right now)…

Anyway, today was the last day of school. Unlike last year, there was no fanfare. I didn’t get that memo. There was no fanfare because Armenia decided to make the school system go til the 12th grade. This happened to be the year the hopeful 11th grade students would not get their prayers answered, unless they were praying for an extra year of school. So, this morning, I woke up and put on my suit and walked to school. Once there, I waited… for three hours. The teachers would not let me leave so I just walked around the school with just the ninth graders present for their mandatory PE test. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

I went to the polyclinic at 1 because I wanted to take a photo with the nurses. One o’clock is when the nurses change shift so I knew that the majority of them would be there. I sat and chatted with them for a while. The nurses will always hold a special place in my heart, especially a lady named Kima, because she was always so patient with me, as in explaining what the other nurses were saying. I got a picture with them and went to the school.

Much like my sentiments toward Grandma, how do you put into words the thanks a collective group deserves for taking care of you for two years. I honestly don’t know if the American culture could emulate the hospitality Armenians have shown me over the last two years. I should be more specific and say Armenians in my village. That is the beauty and the downfall of America. Here I stand out like a monstertruck in a field of lilies. It is awesome. They know I am the odd one out so they always look after me. I am “their American”. However, in the States, in our “salad bowl society” diversity is as common as a lily in a field of lilies…

So, all the teachers sat down and the school director, Bareyan, gave the first toast to the students and the teachers. Awesome. The second toast, he thanked me for coming to Armenia and “helping” out the school. He presented me with a large plastic horse. I have no idea how I am going to get that home. (I may do what Brandon and I did on our Ireland trip and take pictures of the horse mysteriously showing up randomly in pictures…). He said some really nice things. The thing that started to tear me up was when he spoke about my Mom and Dad. How they could let their only son come all the way to Armenia for two years to do what he could for the village. They just went on and on thanking my parents.

I swallowed hard. I stood up. It was my turn to say something. I stood up. Looked around and said “I want to say this without crything.” Then I started crying. When the tears came, I said “give me five minutes.” Laughter followed. The teachers said my tears said enough and they understood. I said no. I stood up again. I took a deep breathe. I started crying again. I sat down. Then another five minutes went by. Bareyan said, “Danny, I will say something, then you can continue”. My response… “no”. I stood up again and said “maybe if I smile I will not cry.” It worked. I thanks everyone; Vardan, Arpine, Melcida, Silva, and Gyulum for working with me and helping me. I also thanked the collective teachers for everything. I spoke of memories we had and how the teachers made my life in Armenia easy and how they made my two years here go by so quickly. Two years is a long time, but I can remember like it was yesterday, saying goodbye to Jon and Whitney, Jon saying “we are going to just pretend we will see each other tomorrow” as they both left. Its already time to come home.

I continued by saying that next year a volunteer was going to come and to remember how awkward and strange I was, and how horrible my language was at the time and to remember how patient they all were to me, and how helpful they were to me. I ended by saying thank you again and saying that I was going to miss everyone and wouldn’t and couldn’t forget my experience in Armenia with them. Then the floodgates up Niagara Falls opened. I lost it. The teachers lost it. Very emotional. The teachers started saying toasts of their own. Mainly about my Mom and Dad.

I don’t know who reads my blogs. It could be just you, Mom and Dad. Maybe not. But whoever is reading this, I want you to know how awesome my parents really are. I got home and called my parents at 6am EST. I spoke to both of them. Mom, I know you were on the verge of tears and that’s why you gave the phone to Dad. But just the immense amount of support you have given me has been unspeakably amazing. Thank you is just a collection of words, but I don’t know how to show it. How can I show it? But thank you Mom and Dad for words of encouragement not only over the last two years, but throughout my life. Ill buy you McDonald’s when I get home…

As you can see from these blogs, saying goodbye is not one of my strong suits. It is just going to get worse on Sunday.

Tomorrow I move out of the village. My stuff is packed (sort of) and tomorrow morning Patrick is coming out to help me move out. My room is empty with just a heap of stuff in the middle of the room. But. Life is all about moving on. The experiences of today made me realize how much of a connection I have with the people in the village. I will certainly never forget them. I can’t. To stop myself from rambling on, I will stop here as it is frustrating for me to put into words my feelings toward what is happening here. I am excited about coming home, but those sets of feelings will just have to wait until the future.

I will leave with some pictures of some of the amazing people I have met here.

Until next time…

Another year come and gone.

Grandma and her flowers from her garden... You wouldn't believe how hard I had to fight to get her into this picture...



The slow one...



Before the massive Chicken khorovats. About 13kg worth...



People at the Birthday Party. Complete awesome-ness



Michael, David, Kyle, Me, Grandma, Hector, Emily, Christa, Chris. Hector, your head looks huge... Goodbye Grandma.

This past Sunday was my birthday (Brandon, I expect a happy birthday email from you…). Another one which will certainly be memorable for years to come. I am fortunate to have memorable birthdays, such as my 16th when my parents threw me a surprise birthday party, or my 21st when the Dickersons’ and my family went to eat together at a restaurant, or last year’s when perfect strangers talked to me for three hours coming home from Yerevan and toasted me with candy due to the lack of vodka.

Friday, I went into Martuni to meet some other PCVs and to hang out a bit. Emily and Mike came in from out of town in addition to some other volunteers. Saturday, during the day, we stayed low, not doing much. We were going to climb the volcano but the weather had other plans. We instead got ready for the khorovats (BBQ) we were going to have. Around 5:00 we started preparing. Around 7:00, twenty volunteers showed up. They were not all there for my birthday, but I guess in a sense they were. It was really cool. These are volunteers from all around Armenia, some as far away as Goris, a 6-7 hour bus ride away. It was really great.

The BBQ came out really good as well. Brian and Chris made coleslaw and Emily made Apple Pie. No birthday cake, but honestly, when you have that many friends together with BBQ do you really need anything else… the answer is no. So, to all those who came out to Martuni, thank you. Also, thanks to all of you who posted on my facebook wall. It’s funny the people who come out of the woodwork to wish you a happy birthday, people I haven’t spoken to in years. Really cool.

Sunday morning, all the volunteers who stayed at our house, came to my village to wish my Grandma farewell. It was really nice of them to come out. Emily, Crista (Emily’s friend from the States), Kyle, Mike, Chris, David (even though he never stayed here) and Hector came over. I just wanted to drink coffee with Grandma, but she had different plans. She was running around making potato something and would not just sit down. Finally I got her to sit down. We took a group photo together. I was glad to hear that she was excited about going to Belarus. It has been great living with her, but I understand that when I have to go to Yerevan quite a bit for work its just lonely if you don’t have family around.

Monday and Tuesday of this week I was in Yerevan doing doctor school applications. It is not fun and rather draining. You know you have to individually type in all the classes you took in college. They want an official transcript too. I don’t understand why they don’t just look at the transcript to see your grades.

This week, thus far, has been rather weird. I just came back from school, and there are no more classes. It’s basically a teacher’s work day. Tomorrow there are some exams and then, that’s it.

Taking down photos off my wardrobe has been the hardest thing to do so far. Many of you may not quite understand this, but my room has been somewhat of a sanctuary for me. This is the one place where I feel comfortable all the time, where I get some of my strength back. The idea of this room and leaving it, is hard on its own. Definitely a mental thing, but nonetheless, something I will have to get over. Come this Friday, I will become a guest of the village, no longer a resident.

The upcoming challenges will not be easy, but I have applications, and jobs to search and my Description of Service to keep me busy. Peace Corps says that the transition back to the US is harder than the transition to the country you are serving. I’m starting to believe it. Things are starting to feel numb. Too many emotions and not enough strength to deal with them.

(I assure you that the remaining blogs will not all be reflective and nostalgic. This will be my toughest transition week. It will get better.)

Until next time…

Saying Goodbye

Grandma is leaving May 29th. Although she has not bought her tickets, she has her papers to leave, she has squared away everything she needs to, and her granddaughter and her two children will have their papers together by next Wednesday. At the same time, I decided that I too will be moving out of the village. There is no work for me here and I would rather not be responsible for the house if Grandma is not here.

Monday, I was walking in from outside into the living room. Grandma was standing looking out the window and asked me to come over. She asked if she could give me something. I saw that she had some kind of necklace in her hand. It was an Eastern Orthodox silver cross. She said that she didn’t have much but she wanted me to have something that I could wear to always remember her by. This necklace, I think, is older than I am because she said it was from Ukraine and she hasn’t been there in over twenty years. She had been wearing the cross for years. She said that earlier the previous week she was thinking about it, and decided to take off and clean the blackened necklace and give it to me. Yes, I will always remember this lady whom I lived with for almost two years.

Afterwards, the mood was heavy. We started eating lunch and she started talking about ways we could keep in touch. I told her that I didn’t want to talk about it because it was sad and that we had a good two weeks together still. I had written a letter and had it translated into Russian. I wrote the translation on paper and attached some pictures of our time together. (Thank you Gayane for translating the letter). It was very difficult to write. How do you simultaneous give so much thanks while saying goodbye to someone who does not know how to use email, internet, or barely the phone? She does not read Armenian, I do not know Russian. I know her memory will be with me for the rest of my life but I dread seeing her off at the airport.

Tuesday, I headed into Martuni to say goodbye to Nick. He is the first out of our group to go home. He is heading off to grad school which starts in June. Slowly, one by one we will be leaving. Kyle is leaving mid-June, Hector mid-July. The remaining three of us will be here until August 13th when we officially close our service.

Likewise at school it has been rough going through the day. Kids constantly asking when I will be leaving, in addition to the teachers and nurses I used to work with. On a funnier note, it cracks me up when they say they will find me a nice Armenian girl so that I will stay here.

My mindset has changed from Armenia to the US. I have started planning my way home. Mike and I will do some traveling actually meeting up with friends we met on some of our other travels. The stress has turned from getting work in Armenia done to filling out Med school applications, cleaning up my resume, writing my “Description of Service,” and cleaning my room and packing my things up to move out.

I recently just finished reading “The Caucasus” by Thomas De Waal. It is an interesting book which I wish I had read earlier in my service which puts into perspective the struggles this area has endured. To learn more about this area which has been tossed around between Soviet, Persian, and Byzantine rule, pick up this book.

The area is green. Lots of rain. During the day, the weather is fine, but usually I still have to put on my down jacket inside the house because of the concrete block I live in. Im ready for the warm weather to come and stay...

Until next time...

The remaining potatoes

Khashi talking to his space commander...



Gayane and myself trying to look alive



Davit, who lived in Vermont, back in Armenia



Helen getting smothered by her mother after ten months being away.



Hovhannes, Gayane, me, and Christina at 6am. I look busted...

Since last Sunday, I guess nothing really extravagant has happened. A great way to start a blog...

School was pretty normal. Actually no it wasn’t and here’s why. Monday was a holiday, so no school. That was great. All I did was just sit around the house, read, and play some guitar. Tuesday I went to school and talked to my school director. It seems as though Peace Corps will be putting another volunteer here after I leave. They will be working at both my school and the other one. The school director also gave me my yearbook. It is awesome. For mine, there is a huge picture of myself on the front cover. Not only is a huge picture, but at the age of almost 26, I discovered that acne is still a ferocious adversary. In my picture, there is a nice red bull’s eye right under my right jaw line. Its a good one. Oh well. Pretty gross huh? Its really not that noticeable. Fortunately the small picture of me which is printed in all the yearbooks is too small leaving the small red headed friend undetectable. That was cool though and I am going to try to get everyone to sign it. (I mean the teachers).

We knew that we would have a consolidation drill sometime this week. Basically, twice a year we have to practice consolidating in a location with the other surrounding volunteers just in case the Azeri’s bomb Armenia, there is an earthquake, or whatever. Friday, we were going to meet anyway in Gavar so I was hoping that the test was going to be on Friday, or even Thursday. Nope, it wasn’t, it was on Wednesday. I got the text at 7am and after some profane words, called Hector to make sure he got the good news. It took forever for the taxi to come so I started cleaning my room. I swept, and mopped with a handtowel and organized some of the things in my room. He came, got me at my house, and then we went to Gavar after picking up Pat. Gavar is 45 minutes away, but it is a huge pain to get everyone together and then move there. As soon as we walked into Bryan’s house in Gavar, the drill was called off and we were free to return to our sites. Great. So we hung out for a little while and then went back home.

Thursday, I went to school and just graded a bunch of papers. Wasn’t that fun but it was something to do at school.

Friday, we got ready again and headed up to Gavar for Peace Corps week. We got up there, ate lunch, and then headed to one of the schools to present to Armenians what Peace Corps does in Armenia. That was fun. When it was my turn to stand up and talk about the health program, I went into great detail about what it was, and then told everyone that the program was shut down the previous year. That was funny. Afterwards, I was interviewed by a local TV station. I hate doing that because it has to be in Armenian and usually they ask the weirdest questions such as “what does it mean to be a volunteer.” Geez. The interview went well. A lot better than when I was interviewed during my training after swearing-in.

We headed over to the orphanage to play with the kids over there. That was awesome. The kids there were so cool. They just wanted to play soccer. So in my loafers, Kyle, Genya and myself played soccer with the kids. I think I broke my big toe. We played for 5 minutes before we had to leave. I was getting a ride with PC to Yerevan. It was fun playing with the kids though.

I got to Yerevan, went to the office and got rid of some of my things that I wanted to donate, took a shower in the office and then went out to meet Mane and Gayane. We walked around for a little while and then went to a Taco place. They had never been. They said they ate lots of Mexican food when they were studying in the US. They said it didn’t taste the same. Ha.

I left them and walked to Khashi’s house. There I just read because Khashi was working on his Master’s Thesis, Mohson was redoing his Master’s Thesis after it was accidentally deleted and his younger brother, Ardalan, was doing his undergrad thing. Mohson had been working on his project for ten days before it was lost. So, they stayed up until about 4am. I went and slept on Khashi’s bed until 5:15am.

I got in a pre-ordered cab and went to pick up Gayane and Mane. We went to the airport to welcome back the FLEX students who we taught last year before they went to the States. It has already been ten months since we taught them last year. It was really exciting to see them. I almost started crying but kept it together. The kids running out the door to be greeted by parents and friends there to see them for the first time in 10 months. Really a site to see. I congratulated each them. Most of the time with such responses as: “you’re still here” or “how was Khazakstan?” I’ve never been to Khazakstan nor did I tell anyone I was going there... After about 30 minutes of that, we all went back to the city. That was really great.

I came back to the village. Grandma is definitely leaving May 28th. Either way, I am moving out. I signed my papers to leave the village and move into the city June 1st. I will be traveling around and don’t want to be responsible for the house. The time for me to eat mounds of potatoes is diminishing. It was really sad watching Grandma sign my “release” paperwork. Ah...

I am still wearing my sub-zero down jacket in my house... Its nice outside but living in a concrete house only proves to be useful in the middle of the summer...

Until next time...

Not a lonely planet

View from Lizzie's Porch

The rest of my time in Kapan was really great. I don’t remember what I said in my last blog, but Lizzie can attest to the fact that I just slept. The first two days, I slept. Anyway, hanging out was exactly what I needed. Lizzie and I decided to move her couch to the balcony she had; one of those big ones. Best idea we had the whole time we were there. It was great to just sit outside in the sun, on a couch, and just hang out with her and our other friends.

Tuesday night, Lizzie had couch surfers. A guy from California and his girlfriend of four years from St. Petersburg, Russia. It was really interesting to have them there. I told about my misfortunes with a girl from Russia/Ukraine. Great story. Anyway, I made spaghetti and we stayed up and spoke about I don’t know what. The next morning, they made little pancake banana crepe things. It was really good. Then they left. They said they might come back.

Lizzie and I went out to do some errands. Some other volunteers came over for a little bit and left to go to a mental ward in Kapan to take pictures or something. Soon thereafter, a writer from Lonely Planet, the guide book, called Lizzie. We met him at the square. It was a lot of fun. We got in the taxi with him and went on a ride into the country side. His name is Mike Kohn. He is from San Francisco, lives in Ulaan Batuur, Mongolia, and writes the Lonely Planet guidebooks for Armenia and Israel. Maybe some other countries, but those I know for sure. A guy in his mid-thirties, he travels around for 5 weeks at a time and writes about the countries. It seemed like a cool job. He knew a limited amount of Russian, but had been in touch with Peace Corps Volunteers the whole way, just getting numbers from one, connecting with another. Good way to travel.

Lizzie was funny, because Mike also wrote the last edition of Lonely Planet Armenia and compared Kapan to Pittsburgh and made it seem like Sisian was a better city than Kapan, which it’s not. So, while we were waiting for the taxi to get gas, Lizzie went on and on about how much better Kapan was than Sisian, and why Mike would chose to compare Kapan to Pittsburgh. Kapan is a mining town. So is Pittsburgh. The comparisons end there apparently. Mike told us about his life as a traveling writer and what its like. Really interesting.

We got to a Nature Preserve and Lizzie and I translated for Mike. So, on Lonely Planet’s dime, I got to see some really beautiful parts of Armenia. Armenia really has some breathtakingly beautiful places. Really. Some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, but you really have to know where to go to see this stuff. As a tourist, it would be hard to see the same things, unless you had some local or PCV going with you. Amazing.

Afterwards, we returned to the city. We invited Mike to come over for dinner. I reheated some of the eggrolls we had made earlier, and I helped Lizzie make Burritos since her mom sent over 7 packages of taco seasoning mix. There were roughly seven people there. Mike Anderson came down that day from Artik to hang out too.

Mike is a funny guy. I left Sunday from the conference and rode down with Lizzie and Sue to Kapan. A six hour drive which isn’t too terribly bad. Mike decided that was going to go back to Artik because he had to go to school, or felt guilty he wasn’t going to be at school. I spoke to Mike on Monday, he didn’t go to school. I talked to Mike on Tuesday. He went to school for two hours. He really wanted to come down to Kapan so I pointed out that he wasn’t doing anything at school anyway, so on Wednesday, he made his way down to Kapan. Eight hours, by himself. He could have saved a lot of trouble.

The couch surfers came back to Lizzie’s that night, but there were six people sleeping there that night. They didn’t seem as thrilled about that, but a free place to sleep is a free place to sleep. And it wasn’t that bad. They left at 9am while most of us were still asleep.

We made breakfast and packed our things and headed to Goris to go to Patrick’s birthday. Lots of random volunteers hanging out. We had some really great food. Like last year, Chris and I stayed behind with the help of Mike and Ashley and we washed the dishes. Last year, the women there were doing the Armenian thing of saying “no” when they really meant “yes” when we asked them about dishwashing. This year, I really don’t think they wanted us to help. We are much slower than they are. They were appreciative that we helped. We headed to where the other volunteers were. We hung out and then came back around 11pm in the rain.

That was it. Mike, Patrick, his wife, and I got a cab back to Yerevan. Mike and I hung out with Gayane and Mane and then we went to bed early. The following day, I came back home. It is nice to be home, but it is still cold. Come on. When I spoke to my parents yesterday, I was wearing a sweater, a fleece, and scarf, along with my fleece pants. Its turning greener, but the temperature hasn’t gone up. Soon, I hope.

Two more weeks of school starting Tuesday. Apparently tomorrow is some kind of holiday. Another one. Happy Mother’s Day Mom. Hope you and Dad do something fun. Dad, don’t take her to McDonald’s.

Grandma is not leaving when I thought she would be leaving. We don’t know when she is going to leave. Yeah.

Planning for our COS trip is going well. We have bought our tickets for all the places. We are meeting Cormac in Riga and traveling around the Baltics with him. Looking forward to seeing some of my friends I hadn’t seen in three years.

Until next time...

The life of a Peace Corps Volunteer

The A-17 group which came with around 49 is left with 37. Only 3 more months of service and then its back to US Soil.



We walked to a WWII memorial looking over the city of Kapan. I don't know who the man was...



The volunteers who came to the AIDS Conference.



Proof that I worked on the AIDS conference.

A smile from ear to ear for many reasons...

The finished product of the left over money of my bathroom project, which paid to renovate the cafeteria in my school. Before there were holes in the floor and holes in the walls. Holes where you could see outside. Not conducive when you are in the 1st-4th grade and you're trying to each lunch during the winter months...



The finished bathroom outside of the toilet area.



A toilet. One of four.



Where the bathrooms currently are... 7 months ago.



The outhouse... almost falling over with crap reaching the top of the hole.

Three weeks ago Vardan really wanted me to get my picture taken in the yearbook. So much so, that he called the photo man to come back on a Tuesday as pictures were taken on Thursday and Friday and my schedule didn’t sync up with those dates. I got my suit on and went to school and got my picture taken. (I think I already talked about this in a previous blog). The week of April 18th, we got our photos. It was in a yearbook. Yearbooks are not the same as they are in the States, but only have the pictures of those in your class, or those who share the same year as you. I was in the 9th grade yearbook. Don’t know why it was the 9th grade. It probably had to do with the fact that Vardan is the 9th grade “teacher.” So there I am on the teachers page with my photo and my name under it. Everyone else shows no smile and has their full name written under their photos... My photo has a picture of me smiling from ear to ear with just “Deni” written under it in Armenian. I don’t think they know my last name... Oh well, its cool to be in a yearbook.

The weather is warming up, or at least it was until I called Grandma during my conference. She said that it had snowed the night before but it had already melted. Geez. However, Yerevan has been really nice and I enjoyed walking around in sandals there. The summer has finally come. Or... the winter has finally left.

I left my site over ten days ago.

On April 22nd I left the village to go to Yerevan to get the things for the AIDS conference taken care of. Before I left, I wrote a letter and got it translated for Grandma. She can’t read Armenian but knows Russian so the letter is in Russian. I just have to find the time to hand write it out. A one page letter written in a language you are not familiar with takes longer than you may think. It was a strange feeling leaving her, almost like a trial run. We hugged longer than usual probably realizing this was going to be one of our last.

Everything for the conference was ready to go, except one thing, one of the workers at the Red Cross didn’t have all her things ready to go even though I had given her over two weeks to prepare her things. She had not finished, nor was the presentation translated into English. She said that since the presentation was for Armenians, that it didn’t need to be translated. But what about the Peace Corps Volunteers?

Friday night I stayed at Khashi’s house. He and Mohson made Persian food for me. It consisted of rice and chicken where the chicken was cooked in a pressure cooker. It was really good. You had a choice of putting pomegranate sauce, yogurt sauce, or some kind of pickled sauce on it. I think I ate way more than I should have, but Khashi assures me that it is insulting if you don’t eat a lot. In that case, I must have complimented him well... That night we just stayed up and talked a bit. Then Khashi called his girlfriend in Iran, Sepideh.

Its similar to some kind of forbidden love story. They were speaking on skype. Khashi and I were speaking to her and she was typing back. We could see each other but she couldn’t make a sound. Really interesting. It is obvious how much they miss each other. Probably because Khashi is talking to her on gchat while he is supposed to be working on his thesis for four hours every night. Khashi, if you’re reading this, don’t pretend like it isn’t true.

Saturday was a slow day but I did get to see some of my friends in Yerevan. Kyle and Mike Kim were around and I never hang out with them because they are always with their girlfriends. Always. It was nice to be able to hang out with them and Jason at the same time. Sunday, Easter, I walked around with Khashi and then hung out with Jason and Elvira at the house.

Monday, I got some last minute things finished for the conference and moved from Jason and Elvira’s to the hotel where we had our Close of Service Conference. Can you believe that, its already here.

Mike was my roommate, as usual, and we had a good assortment of people come over and hang out with us in our room. It was fun. One of our A-17 girls recently got engaged to an A-18, so the girls decided to throw her a bachelorette party. Mike, Paul, and I were the strippers. It was awesome because Megan, being from rural Montana, didn’t know how to handle three guys dancing half naked around her. Either way, she had a good time. Mike should truly look into going into that profession.

The Conference was fine. It was fun. Many of the sessions explained how to check out of the country. It was funny because, for example, the medical session was scheduled to be ninety minutes long, but the Doctors only spoke for twenty minutes. That is basically how all the sessions were. We were there to hang out. Many of us probably won’t see each other again between now and when we actually leave.

The second night we all got a coach tour bus and rode it for 15 minutes to the Ambassador’s house. Nice house, but I thought she would say something. Basically, we got to her house, she had lots of hors devours, but that was it. I figured she would make a speech or something, but it didn’t happen. However, (and mom and dad, you will be proud of what I am about to say), there were napkins there with the US Seal on it. Fancy. So, as we were saying goodbye, I asked if she would sign my napkin. She looked at me and asked “are you serious?”. Absolutely. She said that I was flattering her. She didn’t know where to write it so I turned around and told her to just write it on my back. She found a table instead and signed the napkin there. I know what many of you are thinking, but she was smiling and laughing the whole time, so we had a good time with this. And, I have a napkin with the US seal and the US Ambassador to Armenia’s signature on it. Yeah, true story. I have the napkin to prove it.

So, the COS Conference finished. Mike and I had to switch rooms because of the AIDS conference. Different budget, smaller rooms. There were five guys sleeping in one hotel room, but it was a big room and all of us had beds. It was decently comfortable. The conference went really well, but I slept about three hours each night. Half from stress, but also because of other things I had to do. On Friday night, I went out with Jason and Michael to Caree’s going away dinner. It was strange because I realized that I had met her the last weekend of January and here we are already at the beginning of May. She is gone now, traveling the area before heading back to the US for grad school to start. That was the start of many goodbyes to come. It was like a PC friend leaving. We ate dinner and went to a Karaoke Bar and sang for a while. We sang Aerosmith’s “Don’t want to miss a thing” and then she left. But honestly, the conference went really well and the evaluations were really good. I am excited about what will come of all this. Most of the work is on the Armenian’s with the PCV just giving support. In this way, in a couple years, it will be more sustainable. It was really nice to have that behind me and finished. Still work to do, but not nearly as much. Saturday night, Mike and I headed over to Jason’s to say goodbye to Elvira and Jason as they are going back to the States for a couple weeks. They are staying in Turkey for 4 days and heading to their hometown for the rest of the time. They return on my birthday.

Right now, I am down in Kapan with my friend Lizzie. She is from California. She will be the next AIDS chair so I wanted to come down and talk about the upcoming year with her. It has been a lot of fun hanging out with her. Maybe one day, she will make it up to Martuni. She is full of lies and doubt it will happen even though she assures me that it will.

I am here until Thursday and then I go to Goris for my friend Patrick’s Birthday. Then back to the village to teach for two weeks and then its all over. All my responsibilities are finished with Peace Corps. At that point, I will have to start planning for the American Councils stuff.

Mike and I are now planning for our trip after we finish here. Yes, early, but when I tried to buy our plane ticket from Istanbul to Riga, the prices jumped 50 dollars.

Ok, so that’s about it. Things are winding down, but the weather is becoming more and more awesome.

Until next time...