Work during fall break... But my understanding was fall break meant vacation. I was wrong. Monday, I went into Martuni because a lot of the volunteers were going there for a sports conference. Because there were so many volunteers there, I decided that this would be a good time to invite the other health volunteers to come to get some stuff done. In one of the previous writings, I explained how the Health and Environmental Programs have been cancelled in Armenia. However, Health is still a major concern in Armenia and as PC Volunteers we wanted to keep this idea still alive. So, the formerly known Health Volunteers got together and we wrote up one-sheet, really easy health lessons that anyone could do. For example. One thing we decided to do is to get water-based paint and poster paper and have kids dip their hands in the pant and stick their hands on the posterboard. Then, we would wash our hands and while we were washing, we would show the correct hand washing methods. We did that and we came up with an AIDS T-shirt design for the flashmob. Surprisingly, we got a lot of stuff done.
Mike came on Monday to hang out this week because he didn’t have school and because there was no more room at Kyle’s house, Ashley came and stayed too. The next morning, I was woken by my school director who called at 8:00am and said that they needed to talk about the grant. So I was at the school by 9:00am and we talked about grant stuff. Currently they are almost finished with the septic tank and drainage system and they have taken off the old plaster material which lays on the walls now. We bought the toilets and sinks and some other things so that should start this upcoming week. So, when I walked to school, I found out that we had school. There were kids going to school. Things are like the States here. The previous Friday, it was announced that there would be no school and then without telling me, Saturday there was an announcement that there would be school the following week. Well, I had this conference, so I ended up not going to school. On Wednesday, after we did our work, Ashley, Mike and I walked out to Hector’s village. It was a nice day to take a walk. We went out there, ate, and then came back.
Thursday, Ashley left and Mike and I walked to Kyle’s house to make sure that everything was clean and that nothing was broken because when you have that many people in one house, something is bound to break. Nope, not this time. Nothing broke and everything was clean. However, as Alex (a new volunteer) was packing, he threw his sleeping bag to his backpack and the drawcord caught on a picture frame and the frame fell to the floor and broke (just a corner). We were so close so we left some money for that. Not a big deal. But we were just so close. Afterwards, we walked back to Martuni and put some people on buses. Mike and I went back to the village.
The following day, I decided that I would go down to Yeghegnadzor where Emily lives. I had promised her for about ten months that I would visit her. So I took the bus to Martuni. There is a pass that connects Martuni to Yeghegnadzor and that is how people from Yeghegnadzor trade their fruit with the people of Martuni who sell potatoes. If you go through Yerevan, it would take about 5 hours. However, this pass allows you to go from one place to the other in less than an hour. There is no public transportation between the two places so you have to know someone to drive you. Its called the “Selim Pass” and it used to be part of the real Silk Road. There is even an old Persian Hotel there and it looks over the whole valley and its gorgeous.
One of my relatives said that they knew someone that worked for the Army and could drive us down the pass. We met him on the road. He said he was going to Yeghegnadzor. So, I noticed this when I opened the door, but next to the center console was an automatic machine gun pointed up at the ceiling. This guy had army fatigues on. As I was getting in, he said, “don’t step on that.” I thought that was a given...
Anyway, the Selim Pass was just as advertised. It was absolutely gorgeous and it was a really quick ride. We talked about different things on the way down the road. He asked if we wanted to stop at the old Persian Hotel. So we stopped and took some pictures and we were back on our way. While we were riding, Hovik (the driver) got an apple out of his center console and handed it to Mike in the backseat and then got a knife out and handed him a knife. But, it was no ordinary knife. It was a military issue bowie knife that had a footlong blade on it. I really wish someone was there to take a picture of our facial expressions as he whipped that thing out. I mean really, who pulls out a blade that size to cut an apple?
By talking to him, I found out that this guy was right below a General. I don’t know what that is here but he said he controlled the different regimes here. A pretty high up guy. We got to Yeghegnadzor and he took us to a cafe and we sat down and drank coffee and talked some more. After some time, I found out that he owned the cafe. It was a really nice cafe, like to American standards nice. Emily, Meag, and Beckie met us and we talked with the guy for a while and then left after several thank you’s. Hovik said that if I needed a ride back, he would give me a ride and gave me his phone number. He said he really appreciated what we were doing for his country.
We went to Emily’s house, which is really cool, and we made pizza. Kind of. Whatever it was, it was good but it wasn’t really pizza. We then walked Meag home and went by this tank. Like a real blow-things-up tank and we played around in it. Mike went inside and moved the barrel around. We got back and went straight to bed.
Mike and I got to share the futon which was great since it was so big... (just in case you missed the sarcasm, it was really small).
The next day some other volunteers came by and we hung out. Nothing really that interesting, they left in the morning, and I helped Emily’s host family make vodka. It was awesome. I know how to distill vodka. Really easy actually. If you are a US Government official, don’t worry, I know the laws about distilling alcohol. But while Im in another country, Im taking advantage of it. Emily had work to do, her host mom had work to do and so did her dad, so I got to keep an eye on the vodka. I sat by the distiller and played guitar while I waited for one jar to fill up before I put another jar under the tap. It was 160 proof but it didn’t burn your nostrils and smelled really good. However, taking it, the vodka burned and probably took all the color off of my insides. The whole distilling process was cool.
That day, Emily and I went to Noravank, which is an old chuch somewhere in the mountains. She studied photography in school and took a lot of pictures of me which I have posted. She also taught me ways to better take photos. Really interesting. We got a ride to the top and then walked the 8km back down the mountain. We got back to Emily’s house and had barbeque at the family’s house. It was really good.
The next day, it was back to the distiller in the morning and then the next day we went to a 4th century bridge. It is part of the Silk Road and still has Arabic written on the side. We then walked the long way through a village and came back to make chili, cornbread, and apple pie for Halloween. Some other volunteers came over for dinner and watching some movies. We watched “the uninvited” and “Rosemary’s Baby”. “Rosemary’s Baby” is probably the worst movie ever made. “The Uninvited” was alright, but if any of you know me, you know that I don’t do well with scary movies. I think it all started when I watched the Stephen King “It” when I was in second grade with my Dad. Thanks Dad for scaring the crap out of me when I was so young.
It was a nice weekend. I came home and my Grandma said that we didn’t have gas and we hadn’t had water for the last 9 days. So we didn’t have gas to heat up our igloo house, or water... I know most of you are like "oh, you're in Peace Corps, thats suppused to happen" but see the problem with this is, I live in a really nice house and for the last 15 months, I have had 24/7 electricity, water, and gas. When the water goes out for 5 hours, it is a bit of a panic. There are a lot of places in Armenia where this is not possible, such as my training village but I learned to make due without running water. Now being here, I have learned to have all these "necessities" so not having water and gas is a big deal for me.
Fortunately, the water came on yesterday but we are still without gas and it leaves me to wear my marshmallow jacket around the house. The long underwear has come out and I guess this means it will stay out until next May. Sweet. The winter is here. The mountains all around us are covered completely with snow. It snowed here while I was in Yeghegnadzor on Saturday. It has begun.
On a separate front. The bathroom is coming along really nicely. Hopefully to be completed in two weeks. One thing off my mind.
Now the flashmob is my biggest stressor. Sweet.
Alright, that’s about all I have. I hope people are doing well and had a good Halloween.
Done and done.
Until next time...
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