Friday morning, I went over to Vardan’s house, again, to fix his computer, again. I guess there is really nothing to report as far as that goes. I will say though that now Vardan and I wait for each other after school and walk back together. Its one of those things like you see in a movie. Maybe not, but at least one of those things I won’t forget. We usually just talk about village news... so basically we talk about nothing.
Saturday morning I left for Yerevan. It was much warmer in Yerevan that the last time I was there and much warmer than it was in Martuni. After an easy ride in, I got some errands done and then prepared for my AIDS meeting. It went really well. We started to really iron out preparations for the AIDS ToT. Afterwards, I met up with Jason. We took out time. That night we were to see the Russia/Armenia soccer game. Well it took a bit longer than I thought to get everyone together. We got to the game at 7:10. Mike thought the game started at 8:00, I thought it started at 7:30, but the game started at 7:00. Woops. Anyway, we walked around to the front of the Stadium and they had closed the gates, not letting anyone come in. So we were told to go to the other entrance where there, they also would not let us in. Arpine, one of my Armenian friends told me that they had oversold 300 tickets. Now, I have two problems with that.
1) Why would you oversell tickets to a game you know will be sold out. I mean really. Armenia vs. the motherland. Who wouldn’t not want to go to that game. Im an American and I wanted to go to that game. Really?
2) Several years ago, they built a nice stadium which holds about 4 times as many people as the stadium was played in. If you did want to sell more tickets, then why not play in the bigger stadium?
I mean that only makes sense right?
Needless to say, we were all bummed that we weren’t able to get in. Some of the volunteers that got there at 6:30 or earlier didn’t get into the actual game until 7:30 because they thought some of them were Russian. The Russian got a caged section together and they laid a fire hose in front of them just in case things got out of hand. I thought that was a bit ridiculous. And by “a bit” I mean, really ridiculous.
I was glad I didn't paint myself. That would have just been awkward...
So, heads hanging low, we walked to a hookah bar and just hung out. While there, I felt like calling home. Laura didn’t answer... no surprise, but Amanda did. Amanda, if you read this, don’t look into it too much, but I doubt that you still read my blogs so I am going to say whatever I want. Before I joined Peace Corps, I always thought there was something different about PCVs, or Returned PCVs. A bit more reserved. Don’t know. I wondered how they viewed the world after their service. During my trip to Spain when I met some of my friends from the States, I realized that a lot of my priorities changed, that to be in a usually uncomfortable situation, could be a blessing, that I had changed. I called Amanda on Saturday and she picked up the phone.
There was nothing to talk about. I didn’t want to talk about my experiences and basically just wanted to hear how life was going for her. Nope. Didn’t pan out. It was like a stranger talking to another stranger only though a letter. I don’t know how to better put it into words. In my mind when I don’t have connection to my friends back home, I feel like nothing has changed, but recently, in the last month, I am realizing that is not true. Things have changed. At the same time, I feel no regret, no sadness, no nothing really, just the realization that things have changed and I guess that’s just the way it is. So, I guess I need to prepare myself for some reverse culture shock.
The following day, I didn’t really do anything but sit at the office and see various volunteers coming in and out. It was actually pretty fun.
Later on in the evening, Mike and I went with Jason over to our Country Director’s house. I am working with his wife, Tiffany, because she got her PhD in behavioral change related to AIDS. We went over what she would be presenting at the ToT. Better yet, she and our CD made tacos, and chocolate chip cookies. Real ones. It was amazing. It was nice to get to know their backgrounds in a less professional setting. Really had a good time though.
Today, I had another meeting with Armenian Red Cross. This thing is taking shape and I think by our deadline of a month from now, we will actually be finished with everything. Im really excited to see how things turn out.
Driving to and from Yerevan I drive next to Lake Sevan which is decently big. On the other side of the lake lies a backbone of mountains. Its really pretty to drive down the road, look to the left or the right and see blue water, with snow-capped mountains in the background. It seems now that I get nostalgic driving down the road looking around. Time is slipping away. It seems like yesterday I was getting ready to go to Spain. It seems like last week that we were getting ready for the new group to come. Time really is an interesting thing. Regardless, its going by too quickly.
The weather is changing and the landscape is melting. Hector still has a white mountain next to his village but if you look closely a brown cap sits at the top. This is the beginning of the end of our last winter.
Mike is at the house until Thursday and then my friend Katherine, a PCV from Moldova is visiting this Thursday. Exciting.
Until next time...
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