Since last my last post, I haven’t really done anything. After the conference I just wanted to relax and not really do much. There is an AIDS/HIV poster contest that Peace Corps is holding and all the volunteers were asked to bring in posters from their schools. Well no one from my school wanted to do it, so during the first 30 minutes of my language class on Thursday, I brought some markers and paper in and asked them to draw whatever they wanted on the matter of AIDS. It was a disaster. I don't really know what they drew. They all drew an umbrella. Maybe this is something that they learned when they were studying AIDS, but I couldn't understand their explanation. I will have to ask someone about that. One girl drew a decent picture but I don't think that I will be submitting all the "posters". I will find out about those umbrellas though.
Friday was good. I went to school and I had my health class at school. My counterpart actually let me do something in the class. Actually I pretty much ran the whole class and she was there to support me and it was great. I thanked her a lot so that she would get the hint that this is the way its supposed to be. I wanted to prove to her that my language was good enough to run the class. With a small amount of difficulty, I managed to get through it. So that was Friday.
Saturday, I did a whole lot of nothing. I went to my basketball club in the morning and showed the kids how to do a lay-up. It was very difficult but I think that they understand the concept but just need to practice more. After the basketball club, I pretty much just read the rest of the day, caught up on some work and that's about it.
Sunday was really fun. Pat and I decided that we wanted to go to Hector's house. Always a good time there. We also decided that we wanted to walk. It was a beautiful walk. I wish I could load pictures to show people. So basically there is just one road connecting Hector's village to mine. Really nothing else. Just one road. Well the sky was this amazing blue color with no clouds and there was snow everywhere. All over the ground and the surrounding mountains. It was a really nice walk. There was a great view of the lake and from where we were this is what we saw. We saw the village, then just the white of the snow, then the blue of the lake, then the white of the snow on the mountains and then the blue of the sky. It was really nice. We met up with Hector because he wanted to meet us. So we all walked the rest of the way together.
Hector's family had company who were on their way out. After they left, it was about lunch time and we were about to eat. If you have been keeping up with my blogs you know about Hector's food nazi mom. Really sweet lady, but you just can't say no to her when she tells you to eat or else the wrath of God comes out of her eyes and you have to find somewhere to put more food. This time, I made sure that I was starving, but even though I was hungry, I still paced myself. This in addition to vodka. Of course. Can't have a meal at Hector's house without a bottle of vodka. So after all this, Hector, his host Dad, Pat and myself played dominoes. Then we played some other games and before we knew it, it was about 3:30. Time for us to leave before the sun went down. But. We had to eat again. So after stuffing myself with food three hours prior, we had to eat again. Amazing.
After finding that little amount of space in our stomachs and packing about 4 more pounds of food into that little amount of space, Pat and I left. The walk back was better than the walk there. The sun was going down and the sun cast this really nice mixture of red and orange all over the snow. Fantastic. But it was getting cold fast. I called my host Mom to let her know that I was almost home which then she replied with "we are going to Martuni". That was fine because Pat and I made an executive decision to go to Terri's house. We hung out there for about an hour and then I came home. It was a really fun day yesterday. Lots of walking but with good company.
I finally succumbed and got out my sleeping bag to put out on top of my bed. I am finally sleeping through the night without waking up from the freezing cold. I always have to wear long johns and I always wear my down jacket around the house. Its cold here but I figure if the Armenians are able to do it, then I shouldn't have a reason why I can't either.
This will just be a normal week. Nothing special to come. I guess only 25 more days till Christmas. Whoa.
Oh, did you guys see the STATE v. carolina game? Unbelievealbly amazing...
Until next time...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
liquid bliss
So since last time, which was quite a while ago, lots of things have happened. I guess the most notable is the “All Volunteer Conference” or “All-Vol” which was held in the city. However, before I get to that point, I will talk about events leading up to my departure.
The day before I left to go to Yerevan, I had a pile of clothes that were dirty and decided that I needed to do my laundry. Now, back at home, this is a no-brainer-decision. When you want to do it, you just do it. However here, there is a lot of calculations which must be weighed before undertaking the strenuous art of clothes bathing. First the temperature when you want to start doing your laundry because when you wash by hand, and its 40 degrees outside, its a bit painful. Secondly, you need to take into account what the temperature and weather will be like in the next 12 hours. This is where my story goes off-course. I asked my host mom if it was going to rain, which she responded to with a firm “no”. Then I looked at the sky and asked her if it was going to snow which she again reaffirmed with a firm “no”. Good enough for me, I started soaking my clothes. (as an aside, I have realized how disgusting the water is. The water is a true black when I rinse, and not only the first time, but also the second and third. Thats right I rinse four times before the water becomes somewhat clear.) Anyway, I finish my wash and I take my bucket outside. No rain. The second I put up the last clothespin, it starts to sprinkle. Half an hour later, rain. The next morning, the morning I was leaving to go to my conference, there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I went outside before I left and pushed one of my shirts. yes, it was a thin sheet of ice. Great. My host mom said she would take the clothes down when they dried and fold them, which she did.
Anyway, I get to Yerevan and feel fine. I did some errands because Wednesday was just a travel day. I got a cold. So the first three days of the conference, I was sneezing. I never felt really bad, but I definitely had a cold, but it passed pretty quickly. Actually it just morphed into a stomach dysentary type thing. Yeah, and thats what I had to deal with for the rest of my time there. The whole time I was in Yerevan, the one week when all the volunteers are in one place, I was sick. thats great.
So the title of this blog comes from this glorious item. A shower. For the first time in six months I got to experience something that was a pastime of my back in America. The shower. How wonderful it was. That was the first thing I did. I took off all my village clothes and ran to the sanctuary of warm water flowing from the showerhead. I don’t even know how to put it into words but for the first time, I didn’t have to use a bucket, and for the first time, I didn’t have to deal with the fear that the water might turn icy cold on me which I was caked with soap. It was magical. I don’t know how to describe it any other way. The only problem with that is, I took two or three showers a day and now my skin is really dry. No problem, its going to be another month before I get another shower... so.
It was really nice to see everyone, but being in Yerevan for that long made me really homesick. Let me clarify. Homesick for my village, not for America. Sorry. I just wanted to go back to my bed and just relax. There was no relaxing even when the conference was over because it felt like I was back in my Freshmen year when the floor downstairs wanted to have a party. Anyway, my week in Yerevan was not restful.
I did see Terri though. Terri mentioned that some of her family members or friends read this thing so I figure I should say something about her. She is doing well. Actually it was the first time in about two weeks I had seen her. She looks great. I gave her a big “SM” hug. (That means “site-mate-hug”).
Ok, so the last night of All-Vol, we had thanksgiving. It was pretty cool. The food was all prepared by volunteers who volunteered to help. I was not one of them because most of the people helping out had some experience and knew what they were doing. I just ate. Again, didn’t get to eat that much because I had been sick for a week so I got to see my friends walk up and get seconds and thirds while I barely finished my first plate which was barely full. How horrible is that. Anyway, Thanksgiving was really nice and we had a good time. There was so much food.
After the Thanksgiving meal, there was a talent show where a friend and I played a song together. We played our rendition of Brittney Spears’ song “hit me baby one more time”. It was great. People came up and said that they really enjoyed it. I could hear Terri yelling from the back saying “that’s my SM, that’s my SM”. Wonderful.
It is really cold here and I walked home today in a pseudo blizzard. I got home and the front of my jacket was all white with snow. Awesome.
Also another great thing. Remember last post I talked about cutting up cow legs. Well I got home yesterday and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and wash off and there on the floor next to the bathroom door was Wilbur’s head. Yeah that’s right, there was a pigs head next to the door. But you know what, doesn’t even phase me anymore... Isn’t that great.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a really good Thanksgiving. I remember a year ago today I spent Thanksgiving with Damien in a bar in Korea. We ordered quesadillas that tasted horrible and nothing like I have had in America. Damien loved them. One of these days Ill make it home for Thanksgiving and Christmas... Anyway, enjoy the day.
Until next time...
The day before I left to go to Yerevan, I had a pile of clothes that were dirty and decided that I needed to do my laundry. Now, back at home, this is a no-brainer-decision. When you want to do it, you just do it. However here, there is a lot of calculations which must be weighed before undertaking the strenuous art of clothes bathing. First the temperature when you want to start doing your laundry because when you wash by hand, and its 40 degrees outside, its a bit painful. Secondly, you need to take into account what the temperature and weather will be like in the next 12 hours. This is where my story goes off-course. I asked my host mom if it was going to rain, which she responded to with a firm “no”. Then I looked at the sky and asked her if it was going to snow which she again reaffirmed with a firm “no”. Good enough for me, I started soaking my clothes. (as an aside, I have realized how disgusting the water is. The water is a true black when I rinse, and not only the first time, but also the second and third. Thats right I rinse four times before the water becomes somewhat clear.) Anyway, I finish my wash and I take my bucket outside. No rain. The second I put up the last clothespin, it starts to sprinkle. Half an hour later, rain. The next morning, the morning I was leaving to go to my conference, there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I went outside before I left and pushed one of my shirts. yes, it was a thin sheet of ice. Great. My host mom said she would take the clothes down when they dried and fold them, which she did.
Anyway, I get to Yerevan and feel fine. I did some errands because Wednesday was just a travel day. I got a cold. So the first three days of the conference, I was sneezing. I never felt really bad, but I definitely had a cold, but it passed pretty quickly. Actually it just morphed into a stomach dysentary type thing. Yeah, and thats what I had to deal with for the rest of my time there. The whole time I was in Yerevan, the one week when all the volunteers are in one place, I was sick. thats great.
So the title of this blog comes from this glorious item. A shower. For the first time in six months I got to experience something that was a pastime of my back in America. The shower. How wonderful it was. That was the first thing I did. I took off all my village clothes and ran to the sanctuary of warm water flowing from the showerhead. I don’t even know how to put it into words but for the first time, I didn’t have to use a bucket, and for the first time, I didn’t have to deal with the fear that the water might turn icy cold on me which I was caked with soap. It was magical. I don’t know how to describe it any other way. The only problem with that is, I took two or three showers a day and now my skin is really dry. No problem, its going to be another month before I get another shower... so.
It was really nice to see everyone, but being in Yerevan for that long made me really homesick. Let me clarify. Homesick for my village, not for America. Sorry. I just wanted to go back to my bed and just relax. There was no relaxing even when the conference was over because it felt like I was back in my Freshmen year when the floor downstairs wanted to have a party. Anyway, my week in Yerevan was not restful.
I did see Terri though. Terri mentioned that some of her family members or friends read this thing so I figure I should say something about her. She is doing well. Actually it was the first time in about two weeks I had seen her. She looks great. I gave her a big “SM” hug. (That means “site-mate-hug”).
Ok, so the last night of All-Vol, we had thanksgiving. It was pretty cool. The food was all prepared by volunteers who volunteered to help. I was not one of them because most of the people helping out had some experience and knew what they were doing. I just ate. Again, didn’t get to eat that much because I had been sick for a week so I got to see my friends walk up and get seconds and thirds while I barely finished my first plate which was barely full. How horrible is that. Anyway, Thanksgiving was really nice and we had a good time. There was so much food.
After the Thanksgiving meal, there was a talent show where a friend and I played a song together. We played our rendition of Brittney Spears’ song “hit me baby one more time”. It was great. People came up and said that they really enjoyed it. I could hear Terri yelling from the back saying “that’s my SM, that’s my SM”. Wonderful.
It is really cold here and I walked home today in a pseudo blizzard. I got home and the front of my jacket was all white with snow. Awesome.
Also another great thing. Remember last post I talked about cutting up cow legs. Well I got home yesterday and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and wash off and there on the floor next to the bathroom door was Wilbur’s head. Yeah that’s right, there was a pigs head next to the door. But you know what, doesn’t even phase me anymore... Isn’t that great.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a really good Thanksgiving. I remember a year ago today I spent Thanksgiving with Damien in a bar in Korea. We ordered quesadillas that tasted horrible and nothing like I have had in America. Damien loved them. One of these days Ill make it home for Thanksgiving and Christmas... Anyway, enjoy the day.
Until next time...
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Death and the things involved
Maybe I shouldn’t talk about this subject on Friday the 13th...
I always have these great ideas for blogs and things that I want to talk about but when I get to my computer to get ready to type, I forget everything. This is a problem for two reasons.
I cannot inform you, the reader, all the experiences I have gone through here.
Sometimes I forget what I have already written, so I assume that I have already written it and either repeat myself or don’t get a chance to write about whatever...
h’ok so... if I already mentioned this, well, you get to re-experience it.
One of the many things I like about this culture is the people and how they respond and live with each other. To even compare it with “southern hospitality” is a slight understatement. Like I have mentioned before, they have gone well out of their way to make me feel at home here, and my family has tried to incorporate this strange, American into their home. My mom now introduces me to strangers as “im amena-mets tegha” or “my oldest son”. When I heard that, I was overjoyed. Anyway, onward to my point.
Being in a community where everyone is related to someone else somehow, its not strange to see that when one of them passes away, everyone will morn. After the death, there is a three day mourning period where people will come to the person’s house and pay their respects. The day the body is moved to the cemetary, the road is lined all the way, with white flowers. Now, as a disclaimer, I want to explain that this is my understanding. I could be totally wrong but from what I have seen and what people have told me, this is true. Im sure there is more to it. Even the village school will end a little early so that people can go to the funeral.
Unfortunately, this past week, one of my teacher’s brother died. He was in his fifties. We had a small get-together at school. We ate, drank, talked. Everyone stopped what they were doing and came together to remember this teacher’s brother. I thought that was great. The community really is a community here and its nice to be incorporated.
Now, this is a totally separate idea, and I kind of hate to put what I am about to say with the aforementioned blot, but I guess it is fitting because it deals with the similar idea.
There is this national food called “hash” with a long “a” sound, not to be confused with marijuana. It is a soup. The broth is really good and garlicy. I tried this for the first time with my family in Solak and I wrote about how as I was eating it, I found a cow’s hoof in it. That killed my appetite, for obvious reasons.
Anyway, my sister has been visiting us for the last two weeks with her little son, and I suppose my little nephew and tomorrow she will leave so we are having a little celebration. We made hash. Not only did we make it, I helped. I cut the legs into more managable, bite-sized pieces. Make no mistake, you can, without a doubt recognize that it is very much a cow leg... Anyway, I have pictures and next week, when I am in the city, I will be posting those. Fantastic. At first it was a little weird. But after you start sawing (yes, you use a saw) and you start to smell the flesh and bone from the friction of the blade, you eventually get used to it. (that last sentence was really gross).
On brighter news, which does not have anything to do with death or cow legs, I started another club. Actually I didn’t start anything. My Armenian tutor, which is also the English teacher asked if I could do an hour club after school. So, I went for an hour. Six girls. Awkward. Actually it turned out alright. So every Tuesday and Thursday, I will be having an hour long English club after school. Hopefully more people will come. Hopefully the word will spread that my club is not boring so more people will come to my health club. I feel like this is a good way to build up my street cred. (Mom and Dad, “street cred” means, “respectability and credibility in the community”).
Also, after that club, I had my health club at the culture center. This is where the Soviet weight room is. Anyway, the kids sat down for about half an hour and we talked about health. It was great because the weightroom overseer man, and this other guy really helped me out. When I said something, they would add more explanation. Also, what was really great was at the end of my lesson, the weight room overseer told the kids to listen to me and not to make fun of my Armenian. That I was learning. He told the kids that I was trying to learn their language and that I wasn’t trying to get them to learn English. He also said that if he heard of anyone making fun of me or the way I talk, they wouldn’t be able to come to the weight room. I thought that was funny. I want to add though that in general I haven’t had any problems here with the kids and I think that I get along with them pretty well. Of course there are some kids who are not as welcoming, but that can be said about any place.
Its already Friday... I am excited about this weekend because I don’t have much of anything planned. Should be pretty relaxing. I hope.
Lastly, I want to say Happy Birthday to Jonathan, who is the closet thing I will ever have to a brother...
Until next time...
I always have these great ideas for blogs and things that I want to talk about but when I get to my computer to get ready to type, I forget everything. This is a problem for two reasons.
I cannot inform you, the reader, all the experiences I have gone through here.
Sometimes I forget what I have already written, so I assume that I have already written it and either repeat myself or don’t get a chance to write about whatever...
h’ok so... if I already mentioned this, well, you get to re-experience it.
One of the many things I like about this culture is the people and how they respond and live with each other. To even compare it with “southern hospitality” is a slight understatement. Like I have mentioned before, they have gone well out of their way to make me feel at home here, and my family has tried to incorporate this strange, American into their home. My mom now introduces me to strangers as “im amena-mets tegha” or “my oldest son”. When I heard that, I was overjoyed. Anyway, onward to my point.
Being in a community where everyone is related to someone else somehow, its not strange to see that when one of them passes away, everyone will morn. After the death, there is a three day mourning period where people will come to the person’s house and pay their respects. The day the body is moved to the cemetary, the road is lined all the way, with white flowers. Now, as a disclaimer, I want to explain that this is my understanding. I could be totally wrong but from what I have seen and what people have told me, this is true. Im sure there is more to it. Even the village school will end a little early so that people can go to the funeral.
Unfortunately, this past week, one of my teacher’s brother died. He was in his fifties. We had a small get-together at school. We ate, drank, talked. Everyone stopped what they were doing and came together to remember this teacher’s brother. I thought that was great. The community really is a community here and its nice to be incorporated.
Now, this is a totally separate idea, and I kind of hate to put what I am about to say with the aforementioned blot, but I guess it is fitting because it deals with the similar idea.
There is this national food called “hash” with a long “a” sound, not to be confused with marijuana. It is a soup. The broth is really good and garlicy. I tried this for the first time with my family in Solak and I wrote about how as I was eating it, I found a cow’s hoof in it. That killed my appetite, for obvious reasons.
Anyway, my sister has been visiting us for the last two weeks with her little son, and I suppose my little nephew and tomorrow she will leave so we are having a little celebration. We made hash. Not only did we make it, I helped. I cut the legs into more managable, bite-sized pieces. Make no mistake, you can, without a doubt recognize that it is very much a cow leg... Anyway, I have pictures and next week, when I am in the city, I will be posting those. Fantastic. At first it was a little weird. But after you start sawing (yes, you use a saw) and you start to smell the flesh and bone from the friction of the blade, you eventually get used to it. (that last sentence was really gross).
On brighter news, which does not have anything to do with death or cow legs, I started another club. Actually I didn’t start anything. My Armenian tutor, which is also the English teacher asked if I could do an hour club after school. So, I went for an hour. Six girls. Awkward. Actually it turned out alright. So every Tuesday and Thursday, I will be having an hour long English club after school. Hopefully more people will come. Hopefully the word will spread that my club is not boring so more people will come to my health club. I feel like this is a good way to build up my street cred. (Mom and Dad, “street cred” means, “respectability and credibility in the community”).
Also, after that club, I had my health club at the culture center. This is where the Soviet weight room is. Anyway, the kids sat down for about half an hour and we talked about health. It was great because the weightroom overseer man, and this other guy really helped me out. When I said something, they would add more explanation. Also, what was really great was at the end of my lesson, the weight room overseer told the kids to listen to me and not to make fun of my Armenian. That I was learning. He told the kids that I was trying to learn their language and that I wasn’t trying to get them to learn English. He also said that if he heard of anyone making fun of me or the way I talk, they wouldn’t be able to come to the weight room. I thought that was funny. I want to add though that in general I haven’t had any problems here with the kids and I think that I get along with them pretty well. Of course there are some kids who are not as welcoming, but that can be said about any place.
Its already Friday... I am excited about this weekend because I don’t have much of anything planned. Should be pretty relaxing. I hope.
Lastly, I want to say Happy Birthday to Jonathan, who is the closet thing I will ever have to a brother...
Until next time...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Amazing
This week was really good. I have been trying to save money so I haven’t really left the village at all... for anything. Terri and I meet up at the culture house now about everyday to play a couple games of chess. Its a good way to be seen in the village and not just stay at home. It gives a chance for the Americans to unwind a little and talk. Its nice. The clubs we started have been interesting as well. We have three people in our English club but only one of them really takes it seriously and comes and studies. Her laugh is really funny. On Thursdays, I have a thirty minute health lesson with the people that use the Soviet style weight room. We talk about nutrition and stuff like that. Oh, wait, it hasn’t happened yet because everytime I tell them a time, they always forget and come thirty minutes late. Anyway, this Thursday its going to happen one way or another.
Also, every Friday I have a lesson at school. I really like this particular class. They are really nice and help me the best they can. Overall, everyone at the school is really nice and have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, this includes the students. Funny story, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. Terri thought that this would be a nice way for the kids to show respect because kids here just call their teachers by their last name. Well, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. When I say “Terri”, people don’t know who Im talking about, but when I say “Miss Terri”, they know immediately. Its kind of funny. So, for that reason, I have just stuck with Danny. However, that has had its own problems because some people know me as Daniel, some as Danny, some as Dan. So if someone asks “do you know Danny?”, they may respond, no but I know the American named Daniel... Well done.
Also, here is a little cultural lesson. “Jan” is a term of endearment, so my host mom here calls me “Dan jan”. Which is “dear Danny”. It is a pretty often used term. Even people that just know my name and have never seen me before may call me that. Or they will call me “aghbare jan” or “dear brother”. “Aghbare” is slang for brother.
Thats one thing that I really like about Armenia as a whole. Neighbors are like neighbors you only read about in fairytales where they all know each other and just come and go as they please with no regard to intrusion. I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but I have accidentally insulted my counterpart and neighbor because I just don’t show up at their house. When they asked me why I hadn’t come over, I finally explained to them how things in America are different. You just don’t come over uninvited. But its nice. At the same time, it can get aggravating because you may make plans to come over to someone’s house at 7. I did this with my neighbor, but when I got to his house, he was doing something else. I eventually ran into him, but in general, its just a different mindset that I have to get used to. It still boggles my mind how nice everyone here is. People in the street will just yank me into their homes for food or coffee.
Also, the mountains have snow on them and its absolutely beautiful. I need to figure out this picture thing so I can post some pictures... Soon to come, I promise.
So I don’t know if I have talked about Ani much, but she is one of my Armenian friends here who is a professional pianist. She is great. I went to her concert last night “saturday night”. I went by myself, went up to the balcony like she said and I had the best seat in the house. Balcony, looking straight down the keyboard, first row. Fantastic. It was about twenty players who each played maybe one or two pieces. It blew my mind. They were so talented it was amazing. Some of them had won international awards. There were also singers, cellists, violinists, along with pianists. Some trios and quartets. Just amazing. Ani played incredibly. You could barely see her little fingers flying around the keyboard, just utterly amazing. And... it was free. I think it was an invite only type thing, but there were maybe 200 or more people there. Did I mention it was amazing?
So after the concert, I gave her flowers and met her Mother. She introduced us and then Ani just left me and her Mom there alone. Fortunately her mom is an English teacher and has traveled around the US. She didn’t seem too excited to have met me, but after about five minutes, she started to smile and laugh so it wasn’t quite as awkward. Awkward, but not as awkward. She was nice though. I wonder what was going through her head... American, coming two hours from his village to see her daughter play, just to go back the next day. Mmmhmmm. It was great though.
One of the great things about America that I have noticed that everyone takes for granted, is opportunity. These kids that are so talented and "amazing" will only go so far. Im not saying that things are easy in America. God knows that I have struggled to get where I want to go, but it is so much easier in America. I see the dedication that Ani has (as Im sure for the others) and it blows my mind. She practices about 8 to 9 hours everyday of the week. It is apparent that this is true by her playing, but its sad to know that things may not work out and all this work may not pan out. I guess that's life, but same goes for some of the people in the village. They are so bright and could go so far but they just can't do it. The government infrastructure is not the same as in the states. The government doesn't have the same lending power so the potential is wasted. Not only does Ani want to get accepted to a school in Germany, but she has to learn German to a certain degree, and then she has to do so well to get a scholarship. All Im saying is, is that I think as Americans I think we take our country for granted for what opportunities it gives, and being here, I understand how great our government really is and how fortunate I, as well as we, are. But, at the same time, I have confidence that Ani will achieve her dreams and she will be wowing people in Germany...
I got back to Ashley’s apartment and we made spaghetti. Mike and David came over too and we just hung out for a while. This morning I left Yerevan early because the Martuni guys wanted to get together. We talked about some things, but then we made pizza over at Kyle’s house. It was really good. Then after that, his family made us Horovats. That was really good too. We then took a walk to church ruins. It was really pretty up there. I took a good amount of pictures. There are so many church ruins from a thousand years ago all over Armenia, and they are always located in such beautiful places. After that, we walked back to Martuni from his house and then I came home.
It was a really good week. In about a week and a half we have All-Vol, which is the “all-volunteers conference” should be fun. Its in Yerevan and we are staying in a hotel. The hotel part doesn’t excite me. Being in Yerevan doesn’t excite me. The fact that I am going to have a proper shower for the first time in five months excites me greatly. Every morning when you folk are taking a nice hot shower, appreciate it. Oh, by the way... Mom and Dad, when I get home, your water and electric bill is going to be through the roof because I am going to camp out in the shower.
Speaking of, before I forget. I got my flu shot, so Dad you don’t have to keep asking me every time I talk to you if I got my flu shot. H1N1 soon to come. Probably at All-Vol.
Hope things are going well with everyone else. Brandon, don’t worry, this blog is going to keep going for another 21 months so don’t you worry...
Alright, be well people. Stay warm... Im trying too.
Until next time...
Also, every Friday I have a lesson at school. I really like this particular class. They are really nice and help me the best they can. Overall, everyone at the school is really nice and have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, this includes the students. Funny story, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. Terri thought that this would be a nice way for the kids to show respect because kids here just call their teachers by their last name. Well, everyone in the village calls Terri, “Miss Terri”. When I say “Terri”, people don’t know who Im talking about, but when I say “Miss Terri”, they know immediately. Its kind of funny. So, for that reason, I have just stuck with Danny. However, that has had its own problems because some people know me as Daniel, some as Danny, some as Dan. So if someone asks “do you know Danny?”, they may respond, no but I know the American named Daniel... Well done.
Also, here is a little cultural lesson. “Jan” is a term of endearment, so my host mom here calls me “Dan jan”. Which is “dear Danny”. It is a pretty often used term. Even people that just know my name and have never seen me before may call me that. Or they will call me “aghbare jan” or “dear brother”. “Aghbare” is slang for brother.
Thats one thing that I really like about Armenia as a whole. Neighbors are like neighbors you only read about in fairytales where they all know each other and just come and go as they please with no regard to intrusion. I don’t remember if I mentioned this before, but I have accidentally insulted my counterpart and neighbor because I just don’t show up at their house. When they asked me why I hadn’t come over, I finally explained to them how things in America are different. You just don’t come over uninvited. But its nice. At the same time, it can get aggravating because you may make plans to come over to someone’s house at 7. I did this with my neighbor, but when I got to his house, he was doing something else. I eventually ran into him, but in general, its just a different mindset that I have to get used to. It still boggles my mind how nice everyone here is. People in the street will just yank me into their homes for food or coffee.
Also, the mountains have snow on them and its absolutely beautiful. I need to figure out this picture thing so I can post some pictures... Soon to come, I promise.
So I don’t know if I have talked about Ani much, but she is one of my Armenian friends here who is a professional pianist. She is great. I went to her concert last night “saturday night”. I went by myself, went up to the balcony like she said and I had the best seat in the house. Balcony, looking straight down the keyboard, first row. Fantastic. It was about twenty players who each played maybe one or two pieces. It blew my mind. They were so talented it was amazing. Some of them had won international awards. There were also singers, cellists, violinists, along with pianists. Some trios and quartets. Just amazing. Ani played incredibly. You could barely see her little fingers flying around the keyboard, just utterly amazing. And... it was free. I think it was an invite only type thing, but there were maybe 200 or more people there. Did I mention it was amazing?
So after the concert, I gave her flowers and met her Mother. She introduced us and then Ani just left me and her Mom there alone. Fortunately her mom is an English teacher and has traveled around the US. She didn’t seem too excited to have met me, but after about five minutes, she started to smile and laugh so it wasn’t quite as awkward. Awkward, but not as awkward. She was nice though. I wonder what was going through her head... American, coming two hours from his village to see her daughter play, just to go back the next day. Mmmhmmm. It was great though.
One of the great things about America that I have noticed that everyone takes for granted, is opportunity. These kids that are so talented and "amazing" will only go so far. Im not saying that things are easy in America. God knows that I have struggled to get where I want to go, but it is so much easier in America. I see the dedication that Ani has (as Im sure for the others) and it blows my mind. She practices about 8 to 9 hours everyday of the week. It is apparent that this is true by her playing, but its sad to know that things may not work out and all this work may not pan out. I guess that's life, but same goes for some of the people in the village. They are so bright and could go so far but they just can't do it. The government infrastructure is not the same as in the states. The government doesn't have the same lending power so the potential is wasted. Not only does Ani want to get accepted to a school in Germany, but she has to learn German to a certain degree, and then she has to do so well to get a scholarship. All Im saying is, is that I think as Americans I think we take our country for granted for what opportunities it gives, and being here, I understand how great our government really is and how fortunate I, as well as we, are. But, at the same time, I have confidence that Ani will achieve her dreams and she will be wowing people in Germany...
I got back to Ashley’s apartment and we made spaghetti. Mike and David came over too and we just hung out for a while. This morning I left Yerevan early because the Martuni guys wanted to get together. We talked about some things, but then we made pizza over at Kyle’s house. It was really good. Then after that, his family made us Horovats. That was really good too. We then took a walk to church ruins. It was really pretty up there. I took a good amount of pictures. There are so many church ruins from a thousand years ago all over Armenia, and they are always located in such beautiful places. After that, we walked back to Martuni from his house and then I came home.
It was a really good week. In about a week and a half we have All-Vol, which is the “all-volunteers conference” should be fun. Its in Yerevan and we are staying in a hotel. The hotel part doesn’t excite me. Being in Yerevan doesn’t excite me. The fact that I am going to have a proper shower for the first time in five months excites me greatly. Every morning when you folk are taking a nice hot shower, appreciate it. Oh, by the way... Mom and Dad, when I get home, your water and electric bill is going to be through the roof because I am going to camp out in the shower.
Speaking of, before I forget. I got my flu shot, so Dad you don’t have to keep asking me every time I talk to you if I got my flu shot. H1N1 soon to come. Probably at All-Vol.
Hope things are going well with everyone else. Brandon, don’t worry, this blog is going to keep going for another 21 months so don’t you worry...
Alright, be well people. Stay warm... Im trying too.
Until next time...
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Moon
I guess its getting to the point now that missing people is starting to become inevitable. Of course I still love it here, but it gets harder and harder to say goodbye to my parents during our weekly conversation on the phone. The people here always ask me if I miss my friends and family back and home and I always say “no” just because, although I do, saying “yes” wouldn’t help anything. They also say that for my parents, its a lot harder for them, than it is for me. (I can see my Dad reading this and rolling his eyes). At the same time, while I do miss my friends and family back home, I still don’t want to go back. I have established my life here. I have a job to do and that makes life here really easy. Time literally flies by. November 2nd. It is already November 2nd. It is hard to believe that. My neighbor next door said, “wow, you only have 21 months left.” Thanksgiving is only three weeks away and I can remember my Thanksgiving last year like it was yesterday. I could give you a minute by minute play back of what I did. I was in South Korea teaching English and after classes finished at 8. Damien and I went to “GartenBier,” The newest bar in the area and we ate “fajitas” and we drank some beer. That was my Thanksgiving last year but I guarentee that I won’t forget it.
Looking out my window, I can see a lot. The plants in the garden have been cut down and I can see to the road. I can also see the stars like I have never seen before, except maybe when I was in New Mexico at Philmont, a Scout Ranch where you backpack around the area... Anyway, tonight we have a full Moon and you can’t help but think about the Moon and what its been through. All the people that have seen the Moon. The same Moon that I see, is the same Moon that you see and in that respect, people are always connected, in a way, to everyone else who stares at the Moon. Its an interestingly simple idea.
Halloween was interesting this year. A lot of other volunteers went up to Berd in the north country to go to a party. I didn’t want to spend the money or the time to get up there because travel here is not like just hoping in a car and going where you want to go. So, instead, I went to Martuni and met some of my friends there. Hector, Pat, Terri, and Ashley from Yerevan came out to meet us. Earlier that day, my friend Vahram called me and said that his parents were in Yerevan for the night so we went to his house to just eat dinner. He cooked us dinner. It was great. We hung out with him and talked for a bit and then we came back home. It was a good night. I’m not a huge Halloween person so I was ok keeping things low key.
This week, nothing new is going to happen, which is nice. Nice and low-key. I have some work I need to keep up with, but other than that, things are good. My Armenian teacher’s husband came back from Russia. He has been away from home for 6 months so they were very happy to have him back. He is really nice and tonight I went over to their house to hang out for a bit. The whole family, including him speaks English rather well so one way or another, we understand each other.
There is this really interesting article that I read by the Washington Post if you are interested in reading it. Its called “Pearls Before Breakfast” written by Gene Weingarten, April 8, 2007. It is about being too busy in life to take notice of one in a lifetime experiences. Just wanted to throw that out there.
I guess that is it for now. Nothing really new to report. It is cold and windy here and my host mom finally decided to turn on the heater and now its warm. My host sister came down from her city to show my grandma her baby that she had in July.
Hope things are going well in the states. You jackasses that haven’t emailed me (you know who you are), write me back...
Until next time...
Looking out my window, I can see a lot. The plants in the garden have been cut down and I can see to the road. I can also see the stars like I have never seen before, except maybe when I was in New Mexico at Philmont, a Scout Ranch where you backpack around the area... Anyway, tonight we have a full Moon and you can’t help but think about the Moon and what its been through. All the people that have seen the Moon. The same Moon that I see, is the same Moon that you see and in that respect, people are always connected, in a way, to everyone else who stares at the Moon. Its an interestingly simple idea.
Halloween was interesting this year. A lot of other volunteers went up to Berd in the north country to go to a party. I didn’t want to spend the money or the time to get up there because travel here is not like just hoping in a car and going where you want to go. So, instead, I went to Martuni and met some of my friends there. Hector, Pat, Terri, and Ashley from Yerevan came out to meet us. Earlier that day, my friend Vahram called me and said that his parents were in Yerevan for the night so we went to his house to just eat dinner. He cooked us dinner. It was great. We hung out with him and talked for a bit and then we came back home. It was a good night. I’m not a huge Halloween person so I was ok keeping things low key.
This week, nothing new is going to happen, which is nice. Nice and low-key. I have some work I need to keep up with, but other than that, things are good. My Armenian teacher’s husband came back from Russia. He has been away from home for 6 months so they were very happy to have him back. He is really nice and tonight I went over to their house to hang out for a bit. The whole family, including him speaks English rather well so one way or another, we understand each other.
There is this really interesting article that I read by the Washington Post if you are interested in reading it. Its called “Pearls Before Breakfast” written by Gene Weingarten, April 8, 2007. It is about being too busy in life to take notice of one in a lifetime experiences. Just wanted to throw that out there.
I guess that is it for now. Nothing really new to report. It is cold and windy here and my host mom finally decided to turn on the heater and now its warm. My host sister came down from her city to show my grandma her baby that she had in July.
Hope things are going well in the states. You jackasses that haven’t emailed me (you know who you are), write me back...
Until next time...
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