I guess nothing new really happened during this week. I am completely over whatever I had. I am leaning toward food poisoning since I didn’t have any other symptoms than those related to food poisoning. For some reason I was hoping to have Giardia just to see what it was like. Weird huh?
Anyway, this weekend was really nice. After school on Friday I waited for Hector to walk to my village so that we could take the bus into Martuni and then to Yerevan since this past weekend was supposed to be initiatives. The bus is usually late. It takes Hector about an hour to walk from his village to mine. Well, Hector was really happy because he made it into my village for what we thought would be enough time. However, this particular day, the bus decided to be ten minutes early. I didn’t get on the bus without Hector, so I waited for him. He was five minutes late, and about ten minutes early from when the bus should have arrived. Oh well. We decided that we would just walk. Like I said before it is really cold in my village. I can see my breathe now when I breath and in the mornings there is a blanket of frost on the garden plants. That particular afternoon it was not that cold. In fact I was walking in just a t-shirt and long pants. So we got to Martuni and instead of walking all the way, Kyle persuaded the driver to just stop on the way and pick us up. Off we went...
It was a really nice drive to Yerevan. The marshutni was not overly packed and there was plenty of room to spread out. The whole backseat was just us three guys. We talked the whole way in. We got to Yerevan and walked to the Peace Corps office. There were some other people there and it was really nice to see them. It had only been a month and a half but there were so many stories to be told and new experiences to be shared. It was great. Some of the people, like Hector and Kyle, decided that they would go to their training village and see their old families. I decided to stay in Yerevan and all the volunteers from Solak stayed in one room together at the hostel. I was really surprised. The hostel was really clean, with a real shower, wireless internet, a TV with English channels, and it was well priced. It would be cheap for a tourist, moderately priced for a volunteer. I walked around with Sean and he showed me some things in the city and then we met up with one of his friends and we just talked. It was a good night. David was really loud that night so we didn’t get to bed until about 3am.
The next morning I woke up around 8, took a SHOWER and Mike and I headed to the Peace Corps office since we had our initiatives first. It is the HIV/AIDS initiative. It was a small group of people but it was all people I would like to work with and the group was small so i figured it would be efficient. I took on the task of talking to other organizations in Yerevan such as USAID or the embassies about collaborating on some ideas to spread the word of HIV/AIDS. I am really excited about this because I think this will be a good chance for me to practice relations skills. I am hoping that this will not be too hard of a task and from my understanding, other organizations are willing to support another on a similar cause.
Afterwards, I met with some of my friends for lunch near the opera. It was good, but a little pricey. I met one of my Armenian friends and we walked around the city and saw some of the sights. It was very nice. Afterwards, I met up with other volunteers and ate a pretty delicious dinner. At 8 we were going to meet with our LCFs, Anahit and Irina. It was so nice to see them. They asked us about how life was going in our villages and what we were doing. It really was a nice time. The group from Solak ate dinner with them at a Mexican restaurant. That was my second dinner but I decided that I would load up on non-potato-based-food while I had the opportunity, even if I was about to explode. No sense in wasting an opportunity. All in all, I probably gained 5 pounds that weekend. I met a Fullbright scholar who went to Mike’s University and since she had only been here for 3 weeks we walked around the city. We went to the fountains and saw the fountain show which was interesting.
Afterwards, Mike, Ashley and I walked around some more and then decided to call it a night. I had been walking around a lot so I was really tired.
Sunday came and I met with some of my other friends and a little church get together. It was nice. We met at a doughnut shop. The apple fritter I got was not as good as everyone said. I think my expectations were too high. Anyway, afterwards I went back to the office and said my goodbyes and off we went. This weekend was nice because we figured out how to do things without spending so much money. For example, we learned just to take the city bus to the bus station for 100 dram instead of getting a taxi and paying 1000 dram. Although the route is a bit more scenic, every little bit helps. Its nice figuring out how the native people live and emulating what they do. They certainly know how to live here much better than we do... After the two hour bus ride home, it was back to reality. Good thing that I really like my village. I met my host mom working outside. Her mom was flying into Yerevan that night, so at midnight, my brother and mother went in a neighbor’s car and they were to Yerevan to pick up her mother from a 5am flight. Im not exactly sure why they left so early, but they were back at 8am, when I woke up. Her mother is from Belarus. Interesting. I don’t have a clue how long she will be here but she is taking some of the other work off my host mom so I am appreciative of that. She is just way too overworked. (my host mom).
I guess that’s it for now. Things are starting to pick up now. The time is going by. I no longer have my lessons with a group trying to learn English, instead I have language class for an hour and a half every night but still with the same lady. For better or worse, I have homework now but I suspect it will expedite my language learning.
Ah its cold.
Shannon, when are you going to have your baby?
Until next time...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
There’s snow? Here? Already?
Last weekend, as you know, my host mom and brother left to visit my sister up in another city about two hours away. That left me here. Alone. It was nice to have the house to myself but it was getting a bit lonely. My neighbors however took really good care of me and made sure I was not left hungry. I was still recovering from my illness and each day I would explore a bit further away from the village to see if I could stomach the trip I had wanted to go on to my old village. I went into Martuni and did some errands and found that I was alright, so the following day, I decided that I was ready to make the two hour trip to my old village. I went by myself. It was rewarding to know that I could get on the autobus into the city, get on the right marshutni and then tell the driver when to stop. That’s right, when you want to get off the marshutni, you just tell the driver to stop. So, when I got close to Charentsavan, I told the bus driver to stop on the highway. I got out and luckily there was a taxi that was waiting for a passenger. I got in and off I went.
Now let me explain this. You know that phrase “all roads lead to Rome?” Well quite literally, all roads lead to Yerevan. It is a very inefficient way to travel because it literally uses the hub-and-spoke system of travel. You have to travel to Yerevan, get off, and then take another bus to the city where you want to go. So, this bus was going from Martuni to Yerevan and my stop was along the way.
Anyway, I got to my old house and my grandparents were there. The rest of the family was still at church, so I visited them and talked for a while and then went up to my old room and took a little nap until my family came home. You don’t realize how much you have learned until you have been away for a while but I actually felt like I knew Armenian. I spoke to my old host mom with little to no trouble at all. It was a great feeling. Of course they know what words I know and can use so that was helpful but what a great feeling. They were really excited that I had come back to visit and it was very obvious by how they were acting.
They made me horovats. They killed a lamb just for me. I know that’s weird, but it was a very warm feeling that they did all this for me. I had forgotten how much I liked that family. I was talking to the last guy that lived there, Jon, and he said there is no other family like them so I was really lucky and blessed to have been with them during my training. After we ate, I just hung out with them and talked about my site and what I was doing with my work. Later on that night, we watched Ben Hur. Its interesting watching that movie in Russian. I had no idea what they were saying but it was still a good movie. Maybe that’s what they should do to determine good movies. If it is still a good movie after you watch it in another language, it must be good... Maybe not.
That night I shared a room with my old host brother because my old room was too cold. It was funny because I have a bad habit of snoring and i think that annoyed him. In the middle of the night, I awoke to a pillow hitting me in the head. I got the point. The next morning, I got a good laugh out of it.
The next day I went into Charentsaven and met up with a friend. We talked for a while and then I had to leave around 4. I made it back to my village with no problem. I had gotten back thirty minutes after my new host family had gotten back. Since I was gone, they decided to extend their stay visiting my host sister in the other city. We conversed, but I was really tired so I went to bed early.
So speaking of the title. It is quite cold here. I already have to wear long johns. There is a lot of snow on the mountains behind our house. I’m beginning to worry what this winter will bring. From my understanding, the cold is about a month and a half early. And I don’t think its a front, because its been cold for quite some time now. For me, being from the South, this could be an interesting winter.
Until next time.
Now let me explain this. You know that phrase “all roads lead to Rome?” Well quite literally, all roads lead to Yerevan. It is a very inefficient way to travel because it literally uses the hub-and-spoke system of travel. You have to travel to Yerevan, get off, and then take another bus to the city where you want to go. So, this bus was going from Martuni to Yerevan and my stop was along the way.
Anyway, I got to my old house and my grandparents were there. The rest of the family was still at church, so I visited them and talked for a while and then went up to my old room and took a little nap until my family came home. You don’t realize how much you have learned until you have been away for a while but I actually felt like I knew Armenian. I spoke to my old host mom with little to no trouble at all. It was a great feeling. Of course they know what words I know and can use so that was helpful but what a great feeling. They were really excited that I had come back to visit and it was very obvious by how they were acting.
They made me horovats. They killed a lamb just for me. I know that’s weird, but it was a very warm feeling that they did all this for me. I had forgotten how much I liked that family. I was talking to the last guy that lived there, Jon, and he said there is no other family like them so I was really lucky and blessed to have been with them during my training. After we ate, I just hung out with them and talked about my site and what I was doing with my work. Later on that night, we watched Ben Hur. Its interesting watching that movie in Russian. I had no idea what they were saying but it was still a good movie. Maybe that’s what they should do to determine good movies. If it is still a good movie after you watch it in another language, it must be good... Maybe not.
That night I shared a room with my old host brother because my old room was too cold. It was funny because I have a bad habit of snoring and i think that annoyed him. In the middle of the night, I awoke to a pillow hitting me in the head. I got the point. The next morning, I got a good laugh out of it.
The next day I went into Charentsaven and met up with a friend. We talked for a while and then I had to leave around 4. I made it back to my village with no problem. I had gotten back thirty minutes after my new host family had gotten back. Since I was gone, they decided to extend their stay visiting my host sister in the other city. We conversed, but I was really tired so I went to bed early.
So speaking of the title. It is quite cold here. I already have to wear long johns. There is a lot of snow on the mountains behind our house. I’m beginning to worry what this winter will bring. From my understanding, the cold is about a month and a half early. And I don’t think its a front, because its been cold for quite some time now. For me, being from the South, this could be an interesting winter.
Until next time.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Home Alone 4?
So funny story, two nights after I had my bout of sickness, my host mom said that she was leaving to go to see her daughter in a city two hours away. My host brother went with her. She left me at home all alone. Oh sweet. So, they left around 2 o’clock and gave me a chance to just totally relax. First thing I did was I turned on my music and played them through my speakers compliments of Mr. Dickerson. I called my site mate, Terri, and told her that I was alone and the first thing she said was, “you should dance around your living room naked.” Interesting. Pat called me and told me he was walking to my village to get something from Terri and asked if I could bring over his harddrive, so while I was out that way, I went to get some tomato sauce to make some spaghetti. I got home and realized I didn’t know how to open the top to this jar. It is a cap for a jar that I have never seen before, so the first thing I did was call Terri, but she didn’t answer, so I called Cassie who is about 6 hours away from me. She has been here for a year, and I offered my query. This is how the conversation went:
Me: I can’t get the lid of this jar
Cassie: You should just get your Mom to do it
Me: Actually, my mom and brother left for two days
Cassie: You should totally dance around your house naked...
Anyway, I figured out how to open the jar and made myself the most awful plate of spaghetti I have ever made. Brandon knows that I cook pretty good spaghetti. I think it was the Russian tomato paste. Anyway, after I pondered for a while, I figured out that I had a really good opportunity here. I decided that I was going to take a shower and while the house was empty and I was naked already, why not turn up the music. Thats right, I danced around in the nude while listening to the pure and brilliant voice of none other than Sheryl Crow. Honestly though, I don’t really understand what all the hype was about. Really wasn’t that great.
So I went to school on Friday and did what I could. My stomach still hurt but figured I could make it to school. I got home around 2 and between the time of 2 and 9 I got no less than 8 visitors. All the neighbors knew that I was home alone and when you live in a village, you don’t leave a man down. I had people coming over cooking for me, telling me what I should be wearing, telling me that spaghetti isn’t good because it has tomatoes in it (which is true, my stomach did not feel very good after eating that crap), and making sure everything was all right. At first, I got really irritated by this because I just couldn’t enjoy my alone time and people kept coming over telling me (someone successfully lived alone-or with roommates-for 5 years, and alone for 6 months in Korea) that I needed to do things another way. Then the more I thought about it, I didn’t really know why I was getting irritated. My neighbors were coming over to help me. They were coming over to make sure their American hadn’t died of starvation. After my mindset changed, I really appreciated what they were doing for me. I mean, they would come over and have awkward conversation with me because they thought I was bored. This was fantastic. It is a great feeling to know that you are being looked after. So I want to say thank you to my neighbors who will probably not ever read this (which is good because they might never come and help me if they saw some guy jumping around naked in the living room).
This morning I decided that I needed to go into Martuni and get some stuff done. I took the 10:30 bus in and knocked out a good amount of stuff and made the 12:00 bus back. This was the first time I have gone and come from Martuni, so I felt a sense of accomplishment. I talked with this guy on the bus there and back (same guy). He is one of my aunt’s friends or something like that. He was really friendly. I always feel bad because everyone knows me and calls me by my name, but I have no clue who they are. I’ll work on that. After I got back, I didn’t do anything. I mean I didn’t do a single thing. I just sat around, took a nap, watched some shows, read, and that’s about it.
Tomorrow, I am going back to my first village to see my host family there. Im really excited about it. Im nervous too because its been over a month now. Nah, i’ll be fine. This upcoming week should go by pretty quickly. We have Monday off again because its Independence Day. Don’t really know what that means. I certainly don’t think its going to be beer, hotdogs, hamburgers, and fireworks... Ill get back to you on that.
On last note, it snowed on the mountains behind our house. Now we have snow capped mountains. Its pretty cool. Also, since I wrote the blog “Its always sunny in...Armenia” it has rained about every day which makes for walking around wonderful because all the water creates a nice cow poop/mud paste. Great.
Oh, I attempted to cut my own hair. I got this 2 foot by 1 1/2 foot mirror off the wall and put it across from another wall mirror and cut my hair. Oh man is the back of my head really uneven. I have been wearing a toboggan...
Until next time...
Me: I can’t get the lid of this jar
Cassie: You should just get your Mom to do it
Me: Actually, my mom and brother left for two days
Cassie: You should totally dance around your house naked...
Anyway, I figured out how to open the jar and made myself the most awful plate of spaghetti I have ever made. Brandon knows that I cook pretty good spaghetti. I think it was the Russian tomato paste. Anyway, after I pondered for a while, I figured out that I had a really good opportunity here. I decided that I was going to take a shower and while the house was empty and I was naked already, why not turn up the music. Thats right, I danced around in the nude while listening to the pure and brilliant voice of none other than Sheryl Crow. Honestly though, I don’t really understand what all the hype was about. Really wasn’t that great.
So I went to school on Friday and did what I could. My stomach still hurt but figured I could make it to school. I got home around 2 and between the time of 2 and 9 I got no less than 8 visitors. All the neighbors knew that I was home alone and when you live in a village, you don’t leave a man down. I had people coming over cooking for me, telling me what I should be wearing, telling me that spaghetti isn’t good because it has tomatoes in it (which is true, my stomach did not feel very good after eating that crap), and making sure everything was all right. At first, I got really irritated by this because I just couldn’t enjoy my alone time and people kept coming over telling me (someone successfully lived alone-or with roommates-for 5 years, and alone for 6 months in Korea) that I needed to do things another way. Then the more I thought about it, I didn’t really know why I was getting irritated. My neighbors were coming over to help me. They were coming over to make sure their American hadn’t died of starvation. After my mindset changed, I really appreciated what they were doing for me. I mean, they would come over and have awkward conversation with me because they thought I was bored. This was fantastic. It is a great feeling to know that you are being looked after. So I want to say thank you to my neighbors who will probably not ever read this (which is good because they might never come and help me if they saw some guy jumping around naked in the living room).
This morning I decided that I needed to go into Martuni and get some stuff done. I took the 10:30 bus in and knocked out a good amount of stuff and made the 12:00 bus back. This was the first time I have gone and come from Martuni, so I felt a sense of accomplishment. I talked with this guy on the bus there and back (same guy). He is one of my aunt’s friends or something like that. He was really friendly. I always feel bad because everyone knows me and calls me by my name, but I have no clue who they are. I’ll work on that. After I got back, I didn’t do anything. I mean I didn’t do a single thing. I just sat around, took a nap, watched some shows, read, and that’s about it.
Tomorrow, I am going back to my first village to see my host family there. Im really excited about it. Im nervous too because its been over a month now. Nah, i’ll be fine. This upcoming week should go by pretty quickly. We have Monday off again because its Independence Day. Don’t really know what that means. I certainly don’t think its going to be beer, hotdogs, hamburgers, and fireworks... Ill get back to you on that.
On last note, it snowed on the mountains behind our house. Now we have snow capped mountains. Its pretty cool. Also, since I wrote the blog “Its always sunny in...Armenia” it has rained about every day which makes for walking around wonderful because all the water creates a nice cow poop/mud paste. Great.
Oh, I attempted to cut my own hair. I got this 2 foot by 1 1/2 foot mirror off the wall and put it across from another wall mirror and cut my hair. Oh man is the back of my head really uneven. I have been wearing a toboggan...
Until next time...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Oh, what a night... dun dun dun dun...
So far this week has been really good? Well for the ups there were some downs. Lets talk about the ups first. On Saturday the boys of the area (we call ourselves the “Martuni 6”) went up the extinct volcano. Before I left I had coffee with my host mom and one of her friends because they were making lavash, the national bread of Armenia. It is kind of like a tortilla. Anyway, last time I walked up the extinct volcano, named Aghmaran, Hector and I just went straight up the mountain. She didn’t find this out until Saturday morning and thought I was insane. It is about a 45% grade for most of it. So again this time, I had the same game plan. I met up with Pat from the next village and we walked to Hector’s village about an hour and a half away. The walk is really nice and really pretty. Flat the whole way. We were the last ones to get there and the others were just talking.
Now, if you knew Hector’s mom, you would agree that she is a food nazi. Not as in the sense of the “soup nazi” in Seinfeld. She does the opposite. Last time I walked up Aghmaran with Hector, his mom made me eat so much food and started yelling at me because I didn’t eat the food. It was actually a little frightening. Same thing happened this time around. She just kept bringing in plates of watermelon, pastries, and other foods. It was incredible. Let me clearify, she is a really sweet woman but you simply do not say “no” to her when she offers you food.
So, we finish eating and I am completely full. This time, since there were a bunch of us, we decided that we were going to make horovats at the top of the mountain. Horovats is the Armenian bbq. But what do you need to make any kind of food, besides the food. Yes, that’s right, wood. We carried all the wood, a crapload of chicken and potatoes, and some drinks up there. It was ridiculous. However, I must say it was totally worth it. It was nice to eat up there. Actually, the horovats we made wasn’t that spectacular but after a long hike up the mountain it was welcomed. We took some pictures and off we went back down the mountain. That was a good day.
Sunday, Hector, Kyle, and myself decided we would go into Yerevan to turn in some things and to see what we could see. We took the 2 hour marshutni (comparable to a 15 passenger van) to Yerevan and got to the city around 12:30. Sunday it is interesting to get around. First I had to take the autobus to the market because the regular buses don’t run on Sunday’s. When I got to the market, I waited about 40 minutes for Hector to get there from his village. That was an experience because here’s this American standing in the middle of the parking lot with an almost 30-foot parameter around him. Lots of very curious looks. Anyway, I finally met up with Hector and we walked to the other side of market. There we caught the bus into Martuni where we can get a bus to Yerevan. Being here i have learned punctuality does not exist. We asked the bus driver when he would leave. He said in five minutes. I told Hector that whenever they give me a number I just multiply it by three and that is probably when its going to actually happen. However, after 5 minutes, the driver turned on the bus, but not until another ten minutes had passed did he actually leave. I will continue to stick to my theory.
We met up with Kyle and off we went into Yerevan. First thing we did was take the metro to the other part of the city because we wanted to eat something. Now read this next sentence and let me know what you think about the place we ate. Near the market in Yerevan there is a restaurant called “Champions sports bar.” It has TVs and stuff like that playing sports, but it is a Thai restaurant. I guess this isn’t too odd, but think about if you went into a sports bar and all they had was Pad Thai and Ginger Sesame Chicken. Regardless, it was relatively cheap and it was delicious. DELICIOUS. We saw Sean there along with his Dad. His Dad was visiting for a week and the following day he was heading home. He said some really nice words about what we were doing there but mentioned it wouldn’t be for him and he was excited to get home to his wife. Either way, he was nice enough to pay for our lunch, so thank you.
Afterwards, we went to the office. I always feel so cool going to the office because it is like a fortress with a guard and everything. There are computers in the back that actually have super fast internet. Whether it actually is super fast or Im just used to my slow internet in my village, I don’t know, but it sure does feel fast. We hung out there for a while, got some books, and Hector and Kyle stayed there for a good three hours or so doing internet stuff. I went out to meet a friend and we walked around for a bit in the city. That was fun. When it was time for me to leave I took the taxi back.
Funny thing about taxi’s. The cab drivers always want to talk to you. They ask the basic questions like, where are you from, what are you doing here...are you married (that is a standard question here). Well, I had quite a lot of time with the taxi driver because we were driving around the whole city trying to find where Hector and Kyle were. They had left and had walked to the SAS supermarket. 1000 dram later, I found them. Kyle bought some cheese and off we were to the bus station to take the bus back. It had started raining so the 2 hour trip quickly became 3. We got back to Martuni and Hector and I got a taxi.
In Martuni, the taxi drivers think that they can take advantage of us so we have to do a good amount of finagling. The trip is usually 1500 or 2000 dram to take both hector and myself home. Well this joker decided he wanted to take the long way back and we knew about this. So Hector was dropped off and then he took me home. He said he was going to charge me 2500. This is the conversation that ensued:
driver: Im going to have to charge you more money, this taxi ride was cheap
Me: No, you took the long way back
driver: that is the regular way back
Me: No, its not, I live here and that is the long way
driver: well its still going to be 2500
Me: No, here’s 2000
And then I got out of the cab. (notice how I did not capitalize “driver”)
We got Monday off and I just did some work and laid around. School was fine on Tuesday, nothing new really and then...
All hell broke out Tuesday night. I think I got some food poisoning. I thought I was going to die. I am not going to go into the details but water was pouring out of every orifice of my body. I called my PC doctor and she called my host mom and my mom and my brother ran to the polyclinic and got me some medicine. I usually never have stomach problems but holy crap. However, I will say these are the times when you ask yourself, do I want to be here, when things are at the total pits. Not once was I thinking about going home and this morning, now that I feel much better, I can rest assure that even through all that pain, I still want to be here. I laid in bed today and had several visitors come by. One of them was my awesome aunt who just came to my bed, gave me a huge, and kissed me right below the eye. I feel like this was the breaking point because I got a lot closer to my host family here. My host mom really took care of me and kept checking up on me. It has been a great week and Im really looking forward to the next couple of weeks because there is a lot going on.
I wanted to thank Laura B. for finally letting me know she was still in existence. It was nice to finally hear from her.
I need to cut my hair.
Until next time...
Now, if you knew Hector’s mom, you would agree that she is a food nazi. Not as in the sense of the “soup nazi” in Seinfeld. She does the opposite. Last time I walked up Aghmaran with Hector, his mom made me eat so much food and started yelling at me because I didn’t eat the food. It was actually a little frightening. Same thing happened this time around. She just kept bringing in plates of watermelon, pastries, and other foods. It was incredible. Let me clearify, she is a really sweet woman but you simply do not say “no” to her when she offers you food.
So, we finish eating and I am completely full. This time, since there were a bunch of us, we decided that we were going to make horovats at the top of the mountain. Horovats is the Armenian bbq. But what do you need to make any kind of food, besides the food. Yes, that’s right, wood. We carried all the wood, a crapload of chicken and potatoes, and some drinks up there. It was ridiculous. However, I must say it was totally worth it. It was nice to eat up there. Actually, the horovats we made wasn’t that spectacular but after a long hike up the mountain it was welcomed. We took some pictures and off we went back down the mountain. That was a good day.
Sunday, Hector, Kyle, and myself decided we would go into Yerevan to turn in some things and to see what we could see. We took the 2 hour marshutni (comparable to a 15 passenger van) to Yerevan and got to the city around 12:30. Sunday it is interesting to get around. First I had to take the autobus to the market because the regular buses don’t run on Sunday’s. When I got to the market, I waited about 40 minutes for Hector to get there from his village. That was an experience because here’s this American standing in the middle of the parking lot with an almost 30-foot parameter around him. Lots of very curious looks. Anyway, I finally met up with Hector and we walked to the other side of market. There we caught the bus into Martuni where we can get a bus to Yerevan. Being here i have learned punctuality does not exist. We asked the bus driver when he would leave. He said in five minutes. I told Hector that whenever they give me a number I just multiply it by three and that is probably when its going to actually happen. However, after 5 minutes, the driver turned on the bus, but not until another ten minutes had passed did he actually leave. I will continue to stick to my theory.
We met up with Kyle and off we went into Yerevan. First thing we did was take the metro to the other part of the city because we wanted to eat something. Now read this next sentence and let me know what you think about the place we ate. Near the market in Yerevan there is a restaurant called “Champions sports bar.” It has TVs and stuff like that playing sports, but it is a Thai restaurant. I guess this isn’t too odd, but think about if you went into a sports bar and all they had was Pad Thai and Ginger Sesame Chicken. Regardless, it was relatively cheap and it was delicious. DELICIOUS. We saw Sean there along with his Dad. His Dad was visiting for a week and the following day he was heading home. He said some really nice words about what we were doing there but mentioned it wouldn’t be for him and he was excited to get home to his wife. Either way, he was nice enough to pay for our lunch, so thank you.
Afterwards, we went to the office. I always feel so cool going to the office because it is like a fortress with a guard and everything. There are computers in the back that actually have super fast internet. Whether it actually is super fast or Im just used to my slow internet in my village, I don’t know, but it sure does feel fast. We hung out there for a while, got some books, and Hector and Kyle stayed there for a good three hours or so doing internet stuff. I went out to meet a friend and we walked around for a bit in the city. That was fun. When it was time for me to leave I took the taxi back.
Funny thing about taxi’s. The cab drivers always want to talk to you. They ask the basic questions like, where are you from, what are you doing here...are you married (that is a standard question here). Well, I had quite a lot of time with the taxi driver because we were driving around the whole city trying to find where Hector and Kyle were. They had left and had walked to the SAS supermarket. 1000 dram later, I found them. Kyle bought some cheese and off we were to the bus station to take the bus back. It had started raining so the 2 hour trip quickly became 3. We got back to Martuni and Hector and I got a taxi.
In Martuni, the taxi drivers think that they can take advantage of us so we have to do a good amount of finagling. The trip is usually 1500 or 2000 dram to take both hector and myself home. Well this joker decided he wanted to take the long way back and we knew about this. So Hector was dropped off and then he took me home. He said he was going to charge me 2500. This is the conversation that ensued:
driver: Im going to have to charge you more money, this taxi ride was cheap
Me: No, you took the long way back
driver: that is the regular way back
Me: No, its not, I live here and that is the long way
driver: well its still going to be 2500
Me: No, here’s 2000
And then I got out of the cab. (notice how I did not capitalize “driver”)
We got Monday off and I just did some work and laid around. School was fine on Tuesday, nothing new really and then...
All hell broke out Tuesday night. I think I got some food poisoning. I thought I was going to die. I am not going to go into the details but water was pouring out of every orifice of my body. I called my PC doctor and she called my host mom and my mom and my brother ran to the polyclinic and got me some medicine. I usually never have stomach problems but holy crap. However, I will say these are the times when you ask yourself, do I want to be here, when things are at the total pits. Not once was I thinking about going home and this morning, now that I feel much better, I can rest assure that even through all that pain, I still want to be here. I laid in bed today and had several visitors come by. One of them was my awesome aunt who just came to my bed, gave me a huge, and kissed me right below the eye. I feel like this was the breaking point because I got a lot closer to my host family here. My host mom really took care of me and kept checking up on me. It has been a great week and Im really looking forward to the next couple of weeks because there is a lot going on.
I wanted to thank Laura B. for finally letting me know she was still in existence. It was nice to finally hear from her.
I need to cut my hair.
Until next time...
Friday, September 11, 2009
its always sunny in... Armenia
So, funny I should name my blog that because in fact it has been sunny and just sunny for the past month I have been here. This has been nice because the roads are not paved and they are just dirt so due to the dryness they are not muddy. Obviously. however, since they are just dirt, they are also very dusty so everyday I get back from school, my dark brown loafers are a nice beige color and everyday I have to go out to the little well and get enough water to wipe off my shoes. Fantastic. Oh, and speaking of being sunny in Armenia, it rained the last two days. Its been great. Today I didn’t have to wipe off my shoes. (this was a waste of a paragraph).
Anyway, the first full week of school has been good. Like I mentioned before I am a PE teacher. This is how the classes go. Every class too. The girls change out of their dresses in their classrooms and meet the boys outside (the root of my beige shoe problem) and then stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder. Then they practice different army drills and then they start marching. Honestly, you would see the same thing in an army movie. Then they do a couple laps around this little area and then get in different marching patterns and do some more marching. After all this, they will do some kind of relay race and that is the end of class. Two days ago they did the whole marching thing and then decided to see how far they could hurl this metal bar. PE class has been interesting to say the least. I really want to introduce some other games to them, with maybe... a ball. Also, when they did play volleyball, they weren’t really playing volleyball. Some of the kids would catch the ball and then throw it over and the teacher would praise them for doing it right. Maybe they weren’t playing volleyball. Maybe the joke’s on me. But they called it volleyball but they were certainly not playing volleyball. Goal #2 (after playing more sports with balls), teach the real game of volleyball. You know what, the kids are having fun so why mess with things.
I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, I got to school and the PE teacher wasn’t there so guess what I had to do. I had to teach the PE class. First thing I told the class: “I don’t know Armenian.” Actually that strategy worked because when I spoke to them in Armenian they helped me out a lot. I taught them how to play kickball. Like in my last village, this was not an easy task. I asked them “do you know baseball” and all of them would say “yes, of course” and then I would say, “well, kickball is like baseball but without bats and tight pants”. They didn’t get the tight pants reference. And you want to know what else they didn’t get... the concept of baseball. They had no clue how to play. Which was fine. I got to teach them. After all the explaining and making myself look like an idiot they just started to understand how to play and they were actually really into it. Even when the bell rang, they didn’t leave, they kept playing. That was a really good day. What I learned that day: Persistence pays off...
Things at the polyclinic have been good too. On Wednesday and Thursday, the first graders had to go there to get a check up. Blood work, eye test, everything that’s in a physical. I got to help out. It was pretty fun. Not as fun as watching the babies get shots in their tush but pretty close. When they got their blood tests there was a lot of crying. I don’t know why I laugh so much when little kids cry. I think its their faces right before the flow of tears. Cracks me up everytime. And just as fast as it starts, it stops. Amazing. I am creating a good repoire with the nurses and doctor and look forward to going there. I feel very welcomed there. I have moved up to the coffee maker which they get a huge kick out of because that is just simply something that men do not do in this country. I have translated all the forms they have. They didn’t ask me to do it or anything, it was just something for me to do there and so now I have a clue what their doing, or more precisely what they are filling out. Overall really good.
Language class is coming along too. Im starting to understand the tenses and am actually using them. Its just weird because this is the first language where I have actually had to think about tenses. There are a lot of them out there too. Just like English, Korean I just picked up because Mom’s Korean, so just like English, I didn’t have to actively think about tenses. Its hard though. There are about 8 tenses or something like that. Think about it. Anyway, its starting to come along and i know that these classes are helping me because I understand a lot of what my colleagues cannot when we are at a bar or restaurant in town and the owner or other patrons come and talk to us. Can’t complain.
Things with the family are going really well too. With the mom here, I try and help her out as much as I can. We went out into the garden which is pretty big here. I would say about the size of two average property sizes in the states. We are now pulling out all the dead plants and weeds. Its not really that easy because its all done by hand. She really appreciates it because I cut her work in half. My mom here works really really hard. She can barely keep her eyes open at night because it is non-stop physical labor from sun-up till sun-down. But as you all are saying “awww” and “geez” you work really hard when its warm and then when its cold, all you do is try to stay warm. Also, I still help my brother with his math homework. There is another little boy that comes over and gets English help from me. I don’t know how old he is but he must be about 7 or 8. Really nice kid.
The weather here is getting cooler. I can’t just wear a T-shirt or just a button-down anymore. I have to wear a jacket and sometimes that’s not enough. I think it will be time to break out those long-johns. They say this year I should expect about 6 feet of snow on the ground at a time. This is going to be awesome. (Im going to totally eat my words).
So apparently Terri, my site-mate, is going to share my address to some of her friends because she never updates hers so... I hope you like reading it? I will try and give some general updates too.
Tomorrow I am going up Aghmaran, the extinct volcano, again with the other volunteers in the area. We are going to attempt to make some horovats (Armenian bbq). Should be interesting. Then for the first time in a month, I am going to go into Yerevan to get some work done and meet some Armenian friends. Should be a good and tiresome weekend.
Until next time...
Anyway, the first full week of school has been good. Like I mentioned before I am a PE teacher. This is how the classes go. Every class too. The girls change out of their dresses in their classrooms and meet the boys outside (the root of my beige shoe problem) and then stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder. Then they practice different army drills and then they start marching. Honestly, you would see the same thing in an army movie. Then they do a couple laps around this little area and then get in different marching patterns and do some more marching. After all this, they will do some kind of relay race and that is the end of class. Two days ago they did the whole marching thing and then decided to see how far they could hurl this metal bar. PE class has been interesting to say the least. I really want to introduce some other games to them, with maybe... a ball. Also, when they did play volleyball, they weren’t really playing volleyball. Some of the kids would catch the ball and then throw it over and the teacher would praise them for doing it right. Maybe they weren’t playing volleyball. Maybe the joke’s on me. But they called it volleyball but they were certainly not playing volleyball. Goal #2 (after playing more sports with balls), teach the real game of volleyball. You know what, the kids are having fun so why mess with things.
I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, I got to school and the PE teacher wasn’t there so guess what I had to do. I had to teach the PE class. First thing I told the class: “I don’t know Armenian.” Actually that strategy worked because when I spoke to them in Armenian they helped me out a lot. I taught them how to play kickball. Like in my last village, this was not an easy task. I asked them “do you know baseball” and all of them would say “yes, of course” and then I would say, “well, kickball is like baseball but without bats and tight pants”. They didn’t get the tight pants reference. And you want to know what else they didn’t get... the concept of baseball. They had no clue how to play. Which was fine. I got to teach them. After all the explaining and making myself look like an idiot they just started to understand how to play and they were actually really into it. Even when the bell rang, they didn’t leave, they kept playing. That was a really good day. What I learned that day: Persistence pays off...
Things at the polyclinic have been good too. On Wednesday and Thursday, the first graders had to go there to get a check up. Blood work, eye test, everything that’s in a physical. I got to help out. It was pretty fun. Not as fun as watching the babies get shots in their tush but pretty close. When they got their blood tests there was a lot of crying. I don’t know why I laugh so much when little kids cry. I think its their faces right before the flow of tears. Cracks me up everytime. And just as fast as it starts, it stops. Amazing. I am creating a good repoire with the nurses and doctor and look forward to going there. I feel very welcomed there. I have moved up to the coffee maker which they get a huge kick out of because that is just simply something that men do not do in this country. I have translated all the forms they have. They didn’t ask me to do it or anything, it was just something for me to do there and so now I have a clue what their doing, or more precisely what they are filling out. Overall really good.
Language class is coming along too. Im starting to understand the tenses and am actually using them. Its just weird because this is the first language where I have actually had to think about tenses. There are a lot of them out there too. Just like English, Korean I just picked up because Mom’s Korean, so just like English, I didn’t have to actively think about tenses. Its hard though. There are about 8 tenses or something like that. Think about it. Anyway, its starting to come along and i know that these classes are helping me because I understand a lot of what my colleagues cannot when we are at a bar or restaurant in town and the owner or other patrons come and talk to us. Can’t complain.
Things with the family are going really well too. With the mom here, I try and help her out as much as I can. We went out into the garden which is pretty big here. I would say about the size of two average property sizes in the states. We are now pulling out all the dead plants and weeds. Its not really that easy because its all done by hand. She really appreciates it because I cut her work in half. My mom here works really really hard. She can barely keep her eyes open at night because it is non-stop physical labor from sun-up till sun-down. But as you all are saying “awww” and “geez” you work really hard when its warm and then when its cold, all you do is try to stay warm. Also, I still help my brother with his math homework. There is another little boy that comes over and gets English help from me. I don’t know how old he is but he must be about 7 or 8. Really nice kid.
The weather here is getting cooler. I can’t just wear a T-shirt or just a button-down anymore. I have to wear a jacket and sometimes that’s not enough. I think it will be time to break out those long-johns. They say this year I should expect about 6 feet of snow on the ground at a time. This is going to be awesome. (Im going to totally eat my words).
So apparently Terri, my site-mate, is going to share my address to some of her friends because she never updates hers so... I hope you like reading it? I will try and give some general updates too.
Tomorrow I am going up Aghmaran, the extinct volcano, again with the other volunteers in the area. We are going to attempt to make some horovats (Armenian bbq). Should be interesting. Then for the first time in a month, I am going to go into Yerevan to get some work done and meet some Armenian friends. Should be a good and tiresome weekend.
Until next time...
Saturday, September 5, 2009
like father... like son
Being in a family where its just a Mom and a 13 year old son, you can imagine I have to balance the role of friend, brother, father, and weird American at the same time. The funniest things I have noticed being here are the things that I do similarly to my father. Somehow when the Mother can’t get my brother to eat, I just stare at him and keep asking him to eat and then he finally does without all the fuss. I also help him with his math homework every night. It has been a long time since the days of Algebra. It is really racking my brain. I think the most important thing that I have taught my younger brother that I learned from my Dad is how to put the toilet seat up when you pee and how to put it back down after you’re done. I noticed there were little yellow spots on the toilet seat and decided that I needed to have a little Man to Man with my brother. I’m starting to do quite nicely in Armenian but I don’t really know the vocabulary for toilet seat, raise, pee, etc. So there was a lot of pointing and me saying “yellow water.” Then I had to explain why you have to put the toilet seat back down... All in a days work of a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Things are picking up quite nicely here. I go to school in the morning and help with the PE class. (that’s right, Im a PE teacher while I learn Armenian and get to know the kids). I then observe some of the other classes and then I go to the Polyclinic still for a couple hours. I explained I wanted to create a healthy living class to the Doctor there and she said it was a really good idea. One of the nurses that works at the Polyclinic, her Dad is the mayor so I got a red carpet entrance to see him. It was pretty easy. Terri and I went in and talked to the Mayor (as I write this I think I have already addressed this in the other email) and now we have an English class and a healthy living class for the village to come to if they want to. Its pretty exciting. I still have my language classes but only three days a week. So I am staying pretty busy. This is in addition to teaching my little brother to not pee all over the toilet seat.
I getting more and more privileges given to me. Well everyone in my PC class. This weekend I am aloud to leave the village/area. We can travel anywhere in the country now. Im excited now. This upcoming weekend I am going to the Capital and meeting a new friend for them to show me around. Only two more months till I am aloud to leave the country. Then i will have all the privileges. I guess not too much more to write about now... But things are better everyday Im here as I get integrated into my community. All the men wear suits. I wore a suit the first day but I don’t want to wear it out. Weird.
I talked to my cousin, Rosyln, from Austalia today on Skype. It somehow worked. I hadn't talked to her in about 2 months. That was probably the highlight of my day.
Until next time.
Things are picking up quite nicely here. I go to school in the morning and help with the PE class. (that’s right, Im a PE teacher while I learn Armenian and get to know the kids). I then observe some of the other classes and then I go to the Polyclinic still for a couple hours. I explained I wanted to create a healthy living class to the Doctor there and she said it was a really good idea. One of the nurses that works at the Polyclinic, her Dad is the mayor so I got a red carpet entrance to see him. It was pretty easy. Terri and I went in and talked to the Mayor (as I write this I think I have already addressed this in the other email) and now we have an English class and a healthy living class for the village to come to if they want to. Its pretty exciting. I still have my language classes but only three days a week. So I am staying pretty busy. This is in addition to teaching my little brother to not pee all over the toilet seat.
I getting more and more privileges given to me. Well everyone in my PC class. This weekend I am aloud to leave the village/area. We can travel anywhere in the country now. Im excited now. This upcoming weekend I am going to the Capital and meeting a new friend for them to show me around. Only two more months till I am aloud to leave the country. Then i will have all the privileges. I guess not too much more to write about now... But things are better everyday Im here as I get integrated into my community. All the men wear suits. I wore a suit the first day but I don’t want to wear it out. Weird.
I talked to my cousin, Rosyln, from Austalia today on Skype. It somehow worked. I hadn't talked to her in about 2 months. That was probably the highlight of my day.
Until next time.
like father... like son
Being in a family where its just a Mom and a 13 year old son, you can imagine I have to balance the role of friend, brother, father, and weird American at the same time. The funniest things I have noticed being here are the things that I do similarly to my father. Somehow when the Mother can’t get my brother to eat, I just stare at him and keep asking him to eat and then he finally does without all the fuss. I also help him with his math homework every night. It has been a long time since the days of Algebra. It is really racking my brain. I think the most important thing that I have taught my younger brother that I learned from my Dad is how to put the toilet seat up when you pee and how to put it back down after you’re done. I noticed there were little yellow spots on the toilet seat and decided that I needed to have a little Man to Man with my brother. I’m starting to do quite nicely in Armenian but I don’t really know the vocabulary for toilet seat, raise, pee, etc. So there was a lot of pointing and me saying “yellow water.” Then I had to explain why you have to put the toilet seat back down... All in a days work of a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Things are picking up quite nicely here. I go to school in the morning and help with the PE class. (that’s right, Im a PE teacher while I learn Armenian and get to know the kids). I then observe some of the other classes and then I go to the Polyclinic still for a couple hours. I explained I wanted to create a healthy living class to the Doctor there and she said it was a really good idea. One of the nurses that works at the Polyclinic, her Dad is the mayor so I got a red carpet entrance to see him. It was pretty easy. Terri and I went in and talked to the Mayor (as I write this I think I have already addressed this in the other email) and now we have an English class and a healthy living class for the village to come to if they want to. Its pretty exciting. I still have my language classes but only three days a week. So I am staying pretty busy. This is in addition to teaching my little brother to not pee all over the toilet seat.
I getting more and more privileges given to me. Well everyone in my PC class. This weekend I am aloud to leave the village/area. We can travel anywhere in the country now. Im excited now. This upcoming weekend I am going to the Capital and meeting a new friend for them to show me around. Only two more months till I am aloud to leave the country. Then i will have all the privileges. I guess not too much more to write about now... But things are better everyday Im here as I get integrated into my community. All the men wear suits. I wore a suit the first day but I don’t want to wear it out. Weird.
Until next time.
Things are picking up quite nicely here. I go to school in the morning and help with the PE class. (that’s right, Im a PE teacher while I learn Armenian and get to know the kids). I then observe some of the other classes and then I go to the Polyclinic still for a couple hours. I explained I wanted to create a healthy living class to the Doctor there and she said it was a really good idea. One of the nurses that works at the Polyclinic, her Dad is the mayor so I got a red carpet entrance to see him. It was pretty easy. Terri and I went in and talked to the Mayor (as I write this I think I have already addressed this in the other email) and now we have an English class and a healthy living class for the village to come to if they want to. Its pretty exciting. I still have my language classes but only three days a week. So I am staying pretty busy. This is in addition to teaching my little brother to not pee all over the toilet seat.
I getting more and more privileges given to me. Well everyone in my PC class. This weekend I am aloud to leave the village/area. We can travel anywhere in the country now. Im excited now. This upcoming weekend I am going to the Capital and meeting a new friend for them to show me around. Only two more months till I am aloud to leave the country. Then i will have all the privileges. I guess not too much more to write about now... But things are better everyday Im here as I get integrated into my community. All the men wear suits. I wore a suit the first day but I don’t want to wear it out. Weird.
Until next time.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Schools back from summer
So that was my lame attempt at a Pink Floyd reference because instead of the title I have for this blog, it should be “schools out for summer.” Anyway. Things have been good. School started on Tuesday. Actually school started, classes didn’t. I got to meet all the other teachers and introduce myself in the “awesome” Armenian that I know. Oh and by the way, my school director told me that I had to make a speech in front of the whole student body. Cool. So with my 5 minutes of prep, I stood in front of the student body, about 300 some odd kids and talked about what I was going to do there, who I was and who my counterpart was. So I think this is what it may have sounded like but translated:
Hello, how are you. I am Danny. (so far so good, but wait, there’s more). I work healthcare teacher in school. My hometown is here two years. I am happy.
That is the general gist. Had I had more time and not been speaking in front of a whole bunch of people in a language I have known for 3 months, im assuming I could do a bit better than that. Either way, its over and I got a good round of applause.
School is fine. I don’t really work that much. I just go to the classes and see how the teachers teach. They don’t really. They do but there is such a scarcity in the materials its really hard to do much of anything. I don’t know how the kids do it. Its just so boring. Maybe it was the same way in the states and I just can’t remember. Actually... no, Im pretty sure the classes were more engaged. Ill tell you what though, these kids can memorize stuff. Don’t really know about their critical thinking skills but they can remember stuff. I have already thought of some projects that I can do at the school so I am excited about that. I think I am going to better the physical education part as well as create some kind of new sports team. Anthony, you would be proud.
The kids here much like in Korea go to school for 6 days a week. However, unlike Korea, the kids here go from 9 to 2, if they even have classes for all those sessions. This is a contrast to Korea where they go to school for pretty much the whole day. And when I say whole day, I mean they leave at 7 or 8 in the morning and get back around 11 at night. Its brutal.
Still after school I go to the Polyclinic. It is actually a place of refuge for me. Even though the place is filled with a bunch of women, I have become accepted and I sit in there for 2 hours or so and chit chat and learn of the Armenian healthcare system. Some of the children had to get vaccinations and it was hilarious watching that needle go into their butts which was followed by a whole lot of crying. You just have to crack up at that. About ten seconds later, the kid has already forgotten what has happened. Hilarious. The ladies there have really helped me out with the language. They go way out of their way and I am in such gratitude toward them. Now multiply that by about 2 years and I will be in way over my head. I really look forward to going there and the 2 hours just really fly by.
Today Terri and I went to the Mayor’s office because we are going to have some “meetings” at the culture house. I am going to host some healthcare classes which will focus on hygiene, first aid, food nutrition, anatomy, and some other things. Things that the village needs to know. There are some incorrect ideas floating around that may need to be corrected. Also, Terri and I are going to open up some English classes for conversation. Maybe of these kids are really good at grammar and book stuff but the second you talk to them, they have no idea whats going on. So. Maybe we can be of some assistance. Anyway, the Mayor was really nice and told us that he would help in any way he could and that if we ran into any problems he would take care of it. Im pretty sure he is in the mafia. If I do have a problem, I worry that the person causing the problem might all together disappear. (the last two sentences are a joke, so don’t tell someone that my major is in the mafia)...
Nothing else really to report. Things are going really well and I have more than enough stuff to keep my busy. I am really excited about starting projects and seeing how they turn out. I am keeping in mind that everything I want to do will not work but I’ve got two years time so I have to keep finding stuff to fill it.
This weekend everyone is getting together should be a good time.
To my parents. Mom can you email me the address in Korea where you will be so that I can mail you some pictures. You can leave the pictures in Korea because I am going to send Dad the same ones. Internet is too slow to send pictures so...
Also, people reading this, please pray for my Mom as she is flying to Korea soon and pray for my Dad because he's going to have to cook his own food...
Until next time.
Hello, how are you. I am Danny. (so far so good, but wait, there’s more). I work healthcare teacher in school. My hometown is here two years. I am happy.
That is the general gist. Had I had more time and not been speaking in front of a whole bunch of people in a language I have known for 3 months, im assuming I could do a bit better than that. Either way, its over and I got a good round of applause.
School is fine. I don’t really work that much. I just go to the classes and see how the teachers teach. They don’t really. They do but there is such a scarcity in the materials its really hard to do much of anything. I don’t know how the kids do it. Its just so boring. Maybe it was the same way in the states and I just can’t remember. Actually... no, Im pretty sure the classes were more engaged. Ill tell you what though, these kids can memorize stuff. Don’t really know about their critical thinking skills but they can remember stuff. I have already thought of some projects that I can do at the school so I am excited about that. I think I am going to better the physical education part as well as create some kind of new sports team. Anthony, you would be proud.
The kids here much like in Korea go to school for 6 days a week. However, unlike Korea, the kids here go from 9 to 2, if they even have classes for all those sessions. This is a contrast to Korea where they go to school for pretty much the whole day. And when I say whole day, I mean they leave at 7 or 8 in the morning and get back around 11 at night. Its brutal.
Still after school I go to the Polyclinic. It is actually a place of refuge for me. Even though the place is filled with a bunch of women, I have become accepted and I sit in there for 2 hours or so and chit chat and learn of the Armenian healthcare system. Some of the children had to get vaccinations and it was hilarious watching that needle go into their butts which was followed by a whole lot of crying. You just have to crack up at that. About ten seconds later, the kid has already forgotten what has happened. Hilarious. The ladies there have really helped me out with the language. They go way out of their way and I am in such gratitude toward them. Now multiply that by about 2 years and I will be in way over my head. I really look forward to going there and the 2 hours just really fly by.
Today Terri and I went to the Mayor’s office because we are going to have some “meetings” at the culture house. I am going to host some healthcare classes which will focus on hygiene, first aid, food nutrition, anatomy, and some other things. Things that the village needs to know. There are some incorrect ideas floating around that may need to be corrected. Also, Terri and I are going to open up some English classes for conversation. Maybe of these kids are really good at grammar and book stuff but the second you talk to them, they have no idea whats going on. So. Maybe we can be of some assistance. Anyway, the Mayor was really nice and told us that he would help in any way he could and that if we ran into any problems he would take care of it. Im pretty sure he is in the mafia. If I do have a problem, I worry that the person causing the problem might all together disappear. (the last two sentences are a joke, so don’t tell someone that my major is in the mafia)...
Nothing else really to report. Things are going really well and I have more than enough stuff to keep my busy. I am really excited about starting projects and seeing how they turn out. I am keeping in mind that everything I want to do will not work but I’ve got two years time so I have to keep finding stuff to fill it.
This weekend everyone is getting together should be a good time.
To my parents. Mom can you email me the address in Korea where you will be so that I can mail you some pictures. You can leave the pictures in Korea because I am going to send Dad the same ones. Internet is too slow to send pictures so...
Also, people reading this, please pray for my Mom as she is flying to Korea soon and pray for my Dad because he's going to have to cook his own food...
Until next time.
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