The people are the best part...

Me and some Georgian Volunteers: Brian, Lauren, Johny, Laura, Danielle, Me



Mike and Lauren acting like Mike.



Me and all the oak barrels from the Cognac tour



Me and the rug lady



The rug. Mom and Dad, here is a preview... You will get it soon.

Thursday not too much happened. I went to school in the morning and figured out some things with the project. Funny thing, I told the school director that we couldn’t do the cafeteria project, but then they started. It is actually working out because he liked the idea of renovating the cafeteria. He is bringing in 3 new windows and 2 doors. The remaining amount from the bathroom grant was 123,000 dram or about 300 dollars. The doors each cost 75,000 dram and each window about 50,000. It is nice to see that he is interested in helping his own school out. Since he said he would be finished at the end of January, I told him that he had one month from Feb. 17th to get everything fixed or else I would tell the grant committee to never allow another grant to come to that school. This was an empty lie to get everything taken care of. Im tired of dealing with the grant. Anyway, he was so sure that everything was going to be finished that he wrote a letter, signed it, and stamped it showing that everything would be finished. I don’t think we are going to have kind of problem anymore.

That evening, I went to Yerevan and went back over to Jason’s house. Always a good time there. His and Elvira’s kid is pretty cool. He has the funniest laugh. Patrick and Meaghan were there. I have spoken about them before. Really like hanging out with all of them. Patrick and Meaghan are extending to Mongolia. A sure thing. They are flying though Seoul which is pretty cool, to get to Mongolia. Anyway, we just stayed in and talked. I started drawing and since Elvira is a professional artist, she gave me some pointers on how to make the drawings better.

The next morning, I left early and went to the Embassy to meet the Embassy medical officer. That was the first time I had been to the Embassy. It was pretty cool. Lots of security but it wasn’t too bad because I had an escort. So, I went to her office and we sat down and talked for about 80 minutes about her experiences working overseas and some of her colleagues. She told me that she has lived all around and gave me a lot of pointers. It was interesting getting her perspective. One thing that will stick with me are two things. First, she said when I am in medical school to take time and shadow nurses, practitioners, PAs, candy strippers, etc. to get various perspectives. Second, she said that if I pay attention, nurses will be my greatest ally if I let them.

She also spoke of some doctors who she worked with. Two specifically came to her mind, both living in Albania. Both American doctors. One of them works and teaches at a medical school there. Every year he takes about 20 students to do extra work and study. From these, usually 12 make it through to the end of the year. He gives them a certificate which shows they have an “American training” or more hands-on training. Then each year he chooses 2 students from that group and allows them to shadow him. Much like an apprenticeship.

The second doctor was very inspiring. He opened up a clinic and treats diplomats and high officials. He makes them pay a regular amount. He then uses that money to support the poor and unable.

This got all the more excited to start my education when I get back. She had more stories to talk about which were inspiring. A million thank yous to her for giving me so much of her time.

I went to the park and met with Jason and we went to the carpet factory. We picked up the carpet that I ordered. That was fun because we got a tour of the factory. We went into a room where women were sitting in front of looms making the carpets. I was asking her questions and they told me to sit down next to her. It was amazing watching the lady work. She was so fast with the knotting, it was almost unbelievable. She knew where to go. She could have been blind and still have done the same amazing job. Anyway, I sat down next to her and she tried to explain how to do it. Very interesting. It was funny because she didn’t think I knew Armenian and she told her supervisor “I’m going to redo that knot aren’t I?” The answer. Yes. Anyway, we got some pictures of the rug with the people and then we went back to the city.

We went to eat at a pizza place and then had a cup of coffee while I was waiting for the Georgian volunteers to come down. Lauren, who I visited last summer, came down with 4 other volunteers. We found each other pretty easily. They wanted to eat at KFC. Yes we have KFC but we aren’t sure if its a real KFC or not. We ate there, went to a supermarket and went to the bus stop. There we got on a bus and we headed to Martuni. That was a fun ride. The weather was really nice. Basically when you leave Yerevan all you see is white. So it was nice driving by the lake where there was the blue lake, with the white mountains behind it and then the clear blue sky. I don’t think the others really knew about the scenery because they were all asleep. We got to Martuni and it was really cold. They were complaining the whole time about the walk to the other side of the city. We just out and talked with some of the other volunteers and then came back to Yerevan the next morning.

I got everyone up at 8, and we were on the bus ready to go at 9:00. We got to Yerevan around 11:30, went to the supermarket again, got some food, and then dropped our stuff off at the Hostel. There were several people we were meeting so Jason and Cheryl came to the hostel and we were off. We went to the Cognac factory tour. It was really nice of them to give us a private tour on a weekend. It was an hour and 40 minutes. It was really interesting to hear about the factory in soviet times and how it changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. They used to make wine but then stuck with just brandy. The coolest part was, we got to taste wine from 1924. We got about 2 oz. of the wine and it tasted like porto. They said that a bottle of that stuff would go for 2000-5000 dollars, but instead they let people taking the tour taste it and give bottles to dignitaries. It was pretty cool. As far as I know, they might be getting Porto and giving that to us, but that takes away from the coolness of it. Afterwards, we went to a brandy tasting area where we tried the 10 year and the 20 year brandy. Yes, there was a major difference, but honestly, in my opinion, the 10 year brandy from Ararat is leaps and bounds better than both the 10 year and the 20 year from Noy. And now I know. It was a really good tour, especially for 10 dollars.

Afterwards, we walked to the open market and walked around. Two of the Georgian Volunteers had to go to the bathroom so we went to Champions which is a Thai food sports bar. Yes, I know it makes no sense. We walked in and there was no one there, so while I was waiting, I spoke to the manager. I asked him how business was and he said that it was slow. I said that since he was so nice to let the girls use the bathroom I would try and bring people back to the restaurant later that night. He said that would be great if I could, but if not, no problem.

We went back to the hostel and rested for a while and then got ready to go out for the evening. We ended up going back to Champions. I walked in first and saw the manager and told him I brought some friends and he was happy to see about 7 people with me. As we were talking, more and more of my friends came in. In total we had about 16 people. He started dancing. That made my night. We had a really good time talking and eating. There were people from different groups. People from Kiva, Peace Corps Armenia and Georgia, Gayane came, and Cheryl, a girl who is here just volunteering. Im counting Jason as a Peace Corps Volunteer. So there was no stale conversation.

Afterwards, we left and we to a lounge. The waitress was really nice there. We had a small room. I asked her if I could bring tables from other rooms over. A room comfortable for about 10 people held about 20. More people met us at the lounge. We had a really good time there, and I regret not taking a picture of that.

We went back to the hostel and hung out for a while before going to bed. Around one, the Georgian volunteers made their way back. I made plans to see Lauren on my way back home so I will see her again. It seems like every 6 months I have seen her since last march.

I came home and got some work out of the way. I hung out with Grandma for a while. I spoke with Ameian, one of my best friends from scouting. This was the first time I have spoken to him in almost 4 years. He has a 3 month old now. Weird. It was really nice talking to him though. Tonight I am talking to Brandon. This will be the first time I will be speaking with him since my going away party. We email quite a bit but he is too afraid to answer call with a phone number he doesn’t recognize.

Today was great. (Monday). I had a health lesson today. I only have 2 more classes before I am finished with the health lessons. That is pretty much it. I will go back to helping with English classes but the health classes awesome. I have a really good time with those and the kids actually listen to me. I got in an argument with a kid today. We talked about Gender roles. I asked a kid if a man should help out around the house. He said no. I asked him if it would be fair if both the man and woman both worked as teachers and then the woman had to clean and cook and take care of the kids. He said yes. Moron. I was very pleased to hear some of the other guys think about their question saying that if both man and woman had to work, both man and woman have to equally take care of the house. Slowly I think my counterpart and I are getting to the kids. Some kids are just dumb... (yes, I said it).

This week should go by pretty quickly. I have some work to do in Yerevan on Thursday and Friday and then I leave for Spain to meet TJ, Will, Derek, Alex, and Kamran. I am really looking forward to it. Half because other than Will, I haven’t been in touch with the other guys. Kamran doesn’t count because he lives in Spain now. We will see how all that goes.

Until next time...

Why don't you just come up here and read...

Snow covered Volcano that is Mt. Aghmaghan



My house covered in snow



The village



The day I made eggrolls over at Vartan's house. His wife would not leave me alone but it was fun regardless...



Me, Marissa, and Hermano (Hector)

I would say there are things to talk about, but honestly there isn’t. Two weekends ago I just stayed in the village just finishing up my work and relaxing. Last week was pretty run of the mill, but I will say that I do really enjoy going to school now. Maybe because I know its my last semester? Or maybe its because I feel that I finally got the hang of this. I teach like I am another teacher. Maybe not as fluently, but I compensate by teaching with a more “hands-on” approach. I don’t raise my voice at them or anything if they misbehave. Instead I have learned that embarrassment is a rather good tactic. No, nothing outright embarrassing either. The boys in the village can’t read very well, or really at all. So, when the boys keep talking when Im talking, I get one of them to come to the front of the room and read in front of the class. This is already embarrassing, but when you have a 25 year old teacher who is from another country correcting your Armenian, that can get pretty embarrassing. If that doesn’t work, I pinch their arm...

School is going well. Really well. And really fast. I can’t believe that next week is the last week of February already. I understand, you, as the reader, must be getting tired of me writing that every time. That the time is flying, but it really is. It seems as though I can’t close my eyes or else I will be back home in the States waking up from a 27 month fantasy. I know that is what’s going to happen.

This weekend I am heading into Yerevan for several reasons. First, I am going to meet the embassy doctor and pick her head on your thoughts on international medicine. Second, I am going to go and pick up a hand made Armenian carpet. There was a problem with it last time so they were taking it back to the loom to get it fixed. Third, I am going to pick up Lauren and some of the other Georgian Volunteers. Lauren was the girl who I stayed with when I was in Georgia last summer. She is bringing some other people down. She wants to see the “village life.” We are going to go on the Cognac factory tour and hang out. Sunday I return. Next week should be pretty quick to go by as well.

Things I have been working on. Well. The other semesters, school was something that I had to do and I put most of my efforts into writing grants, designing and implementing presentations, doing the AIDS Initiative, etc. This semester, my primary focus is the school. I did finish writing a PEPFAR grant, or helped write it, to get money to fund AIDS presentations not only in Yerevan but all around the country. Also, it won’t be on the volunteer, but instead will train Armenians to teach other Armenians about this disease. I am pretty excited about it. Ill let you know if it passes.

Two days ago, it snowed. There is about 2 feet of snow here which makes walking in the village a challenge and a marathon-like-event. I am staying warm but am now rethinking things about sending all my winter stuff home with some of the guys I am meeting in Spain. Nah, it will be worth it.

My brother has not yet left and he is driving me crazy. I keep thinking that I only have a couple more weeks left before he leaves. They didn’t know that there was no train from Italy straight to Belgium, so I wrote down directions on how to switch trains, ask for directions, basically anything you need to make it from point A to point B. You may think that I am doing this out of the kindness of my heart. Wrong. I don’t want him to get deported. Not because that would be sad for his family and they would lose 4500 dollars, but moreso because if he gets deported, he will come back here, and if he comes back here, I am going to stab a pencil in my eye...

So that is the news there. I really can’t complain about anything. Everything else is pretty normal. I guess I am really in the swing of things and that is why I can’t write about anything. You know, your everyday life back in the States probably does not fluctuate that much from day to day, so you can understand this.

I think this is all Im going to write now. The next blog will probably be better because I will have events to write about.

Until next time...

I just took a shower...

So after a week I took a shower and holy crap, its amazing how light you feel after taking a bath. I can feel my clothes everywhere... This I guess is what is meant by “I feel clean...” I feel like I was always clean in the States, but taking two showers a day, I guess you don’t really appreciate it as much.

This week was interesting. We had an AIDS meeting this past Monday. It started at 4 because the new group was going to a conference on grant writing. The meeting went well and we got some ideas going. As an aside, its hard to stay focused. One of my six sitemates is leaving early to go to grad school. He is leaving mid-May. That really puts things into perspective. It’s already February. Superbowl time. Geez. Anyway, soon thereafter, another one of my sitemates may leave. The point I am trying to make is the transition I am going through where I am really starting to think about my future. Im almost finished with my applications, but I still have a year free to do something before Med school starts. But what to do. Yeah, that is what I am thinking about. There are options, but I have to decide on which of the options will best suite me for the time I have available. So, due to the fact that I am starting to go through this transition, things like the AIDS Initiative are becoming less important. Well, not so much that, I am not as passionate about it as much as I was, I should say.

Anyway, I was late catching the bus coming back to my site after the meeting. I ended up staying the night in Yerevan. Bad move. The next morning, I woke up to a cover of white on the ground. I made my way to the bus station and waited on the bus for two hours. That was not fun. We finally left and we got outside of Yerevan. At this point it was 11:30, or noon. The road was closed. We turned around and came back. I didn’t really know what to do so I called Peace Corps. They were really helpful once they believed me that the road was closed and that I was making an actual effort to get home. Anyway, I ended up going to the other bus station and waiting for about an hour. At this point it was 3pm once the bus started to leave the station. It usually takes me a little less than 2 hours to get home, but this time it took me about three hours. I got home and got dropped off at the road because I don’t like to pay the 3 dollars to get home by taxi. So, I walked the two miles back to the house, in the 16 inches of snow... in my tennis shoes. It took me a while and I was exhausted and my pants were white up to my knees. It wasn’t 16 inches the whole way but 6 at the minimum height. It was fun. Not really. Grandma couldn’t believe that I walked home and kept saying the equivalent of “oh my... oh my...oh my...” Probably at the same time thinking... “what an idiot...”

School this week was great. We really got into the health lessons and I did some English lessons. I had a really good time at school and now, my last semester here, I feel like I am really doing something, and the kids are actually responsive when I tell them to be quiet. Its a different ballgame here. Its fun though, which is sad because that means the time will go even faster.

Other than that, nothing new has really happened this week. The snow is not melting but is just being blown around. I went out and took some pictures that you have probably already seen. After I took the pictures, I went to Vardan’s house and made eggrolls over there. They really liked them and they are ready for the next batch to be made. We talked about all kinds of stuff, light stuff this time.

This morning around 11, the power went out because of all the wind. It was actually really relaxing. I am reading “Silent Spring” right now. Its about pesticides and herbicides and the negative impacts those have on the environment. Arguably a book which really started the Environmental Movement in the 70’s. I got a good amount read. Grandma is funny because she comes in and sits down. If she has no work, she sits close to me and we talk. She doesn’t care a bit that I am reading or working or whatever... she just starts talking. I still catch myself being in awe that she had lived a life that she has. It is apparent that she is tired of being around. A bit depressing but she says she just has nothing to live for. Regardless of the fact that I keep telling her she will live until she is 129, she laughs but then gets right back into talking about her life and where it has taken her. In her opinion... nowhere. Its a bit disconcerting to hear this.

At the same time, it seems like my host brother is actually going to ship out next week. All the papers are in order and they expect him to be out of here by next Sunday. Sweet. We will see how that goes. I feel a bit bad when they ask me what kind of processes I have to go through to get into a country. I say “I buy a plane ticket and I go there.” They look at me as if I am supposed to keep talking. Its hard. It’s horrible that Armenians can’t just pack up and go somewhere. Anyway, Grandma apparently has to settle some things with real estate here before she can leave and doesn’t want to have to deal with all the snow, so she is going to stay until at least April she says, which actually means that she will probably leave a week before I do, in August.

Things have been going really well here. Nothing to complain about at all. Its cold outside but with this new wood burning stove, I have no problem staying warm. Its amazing the contract between this year and last year.

I guess that’s all the updating I have right now.

Ok, I tried twice to upload the pictures but they won't go so I will upload the pictures tomorrow... if I remember

Until next time...

Back to the rhythm of things. This blog makes no sense

So after my month hiatus I hope to be regular again with my blog postings.

It was nice starting school. I had a lot of fun going to school, getting started with everything. I went to my English classes where the English teacher and I got things off to a really good start. Usually what I do is sit in the front and sit with the kids who don’t do too well with their English. I read passages and help to pronounce the words correctly. The best part about this is I get to speak in an outrageous British accent because they learn British English. The most enjoyable part is saying stuff under my breath about speaking in a British accent and not having anyone understand what Im saying. I do feel quite silly speaking in an accent which is not my own. Got to take it for the kids.

We also started our State mandated Healthy Living Curriculum this week. It went really well. I work with one of the two PE teachers, Silva. She is great because she really seeks out my input. One of the goals in Peace Corps is skills transfer. Finally, after a year being here, I can see the fruits of my labor. “Labor” is an understatement, but like I have mentioned in the past, how can you really expect to change the perceptions and ideas of people who have been thinking the same way their whole lives. However I have noticed two profound changes. One in each of the teachers I work with.

The English teacher doesn’t rush the kids anymore and goes over and helps the kids pronounce the words part by part. She also has started to ask the students more things in English. Before, everything was in Armenian. I told her that the more she talks in English, the more the kids will learn. So, she has started with that.

For my PE teacher, its the critical thinking that we have been working on. Last year I taught with Silva and she still remembered to always ask “why” the answer is correct. We had our first lesson and even after asking a question and getting the correct answer she always asks “why” the answer is the way it is. This was a great start to the week.

The cafeteria was not started because of some miscommunication but now everything is on track and in three weeks we should have a renovated cafeteria. The bathroom is still working well (thank God) and there have been no problems to this point.

Two weekends ago I came into Yerevan and went to Artbridge, a western style breakfast place. They have free internet and Mike likes eating there. I used the internet, he ate. Anyway, while we were there, we noticed a foreigner and much like Armenians starring at foreigners, we have started doing the same thing. Out of the blue, she asked if our internet was working, which at that point it was not. Anyway, we started talking. She is in microfinance and goes out into the regions to do her work. I don’t really understand what her work is, actually. Anyway, its always nice to have new people come through.

Saturday, I was in Yerevan because I am looking at carpets. After the carpet factory, we went to a coffee place and talked. It was Mike, myself, Jason, and our new friend. While we were there talking, another girl came into the coffee shop and just stood behind us. I think she was trying to figure out what language we were speaking. She stepped up and asked “Are you all Americans?” which we our reply was just a stare. We said yes, and she introduced herself. She has been here for about a month working for an NGO, doing things like teaching English and organizing exchange opportunities. You could see the relief on her face when she was explaining how great it was to finally meet Americans she could talk to. The best part was when she asked “if I give you all my cell phone number will you call me when you are in Yerevan?” So, we all talked to each other and spent about an hour getting to know different aspects of each others lives.

I think that’s the most interesting thing. Sometimes its just nice to know someone from your own country. We often joke about it here, about Peace Corps friends, and how you would never be friends with some of the people here but because there are only a limited amount of us, we are friends, genuine friends. This is what I look forward to the most, meeting a group of new people who don’t know each other. That’s all I have to say about that.

I wanted to talk about one of my other friends too. Lately, when I have been in Yerevan, I have tried to hang out with Khashi, my Iranian friend. He and Molsen are here studying Architecture, working to get their masters. Khashi may questionably be one of the most open-minded, most intelligent people I have ever met. He and Molsen were talking about politics. They were talking about the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, Assyria, Mongols, Barbarians, Ahmadinejad, Obama, etc. Really interesting. Khashi has a really strong sentiment against Media. His sentiments which I agree with. He said that Media makes an effort to focus on the differences and negative aspects of groups, not ways that they are similar. These differences become exacerbated by these different groups and gives points of unrest. This and several other things he said made a lot of sense. Additionally, these debates were all done in English. Almost flawless English. Oh, he is also fluent in Armenian and Farsi. Always really interesting meeting with both Molsen and Khashi.

Snow has been falling, but its not too terribly cold. I love being at home now because its really warm and I feel comfortable walking around just wearing a T-shirt even though Grandma thinks Im nuts. Interestingly, I don’t know how she can live with so many layers on because I am usually sweating sitting next to the furnace.

In about 4 weeks I meet my friends Will, TJ, Derek, Alex, and Kamran in Spain. I am really excited about that since it has been almost 2 years since I have seen the first four. I will be packing some of my things and taking it to them to take back to the US. Some of my winter things. Its surreal really. One of my sitemates is leaving mid-May to start grad school and another one may leave mid-June. Its starting to happen and I don’t know how I feel about it. Its already the end of January. This spring is going to fly by.

I feel like this blog is probably the worst written. Don’t know.

Until next time...

Ukraine, Christmas, New Years, Volunteers

Yerevan at night. The cascade in front of the Opera. I wish I knew more history on it, but I don't.



Jason, the gardner (Stingray), Khashi (Iranian Awesome-ness), and myself.



Me, Marissa (Hector's fiance), and Hermano. They.Are.Awesome.



Jason (again), Gevorg (Hostel Man), and me.



Normal...

Its been a long time since I have written and I realize that. Several people to my amazement have asked where my blog went, if I stopped writing, etc. There have been some things that have happened lately that warranted me to wait until I figured out what I was going to say. Strangely enough, I wrote two separate blogs, one about Ukraine and then one after Ukraine.

Ukraine:
My original blog stated much more but when I thought about it more, there was no need to expel endless pages of details that you probably wouldn’t want to read, nor me, really want to explain. But here is a brief summary.

Well, I met a girl last March in Kiev. I saw her and knew I had to get to know her. I did the lame-o middle school thing and got ten people to write on a piece of paper their contact details so it wouldn’t look so obvious I was already infatuated with an absurd idea. We kept in touch for 8 months through countless emails and the use of video skype. When Iryna got a job with Peace Corps as a language teacher, we moved to writing hand written letters and talking Thursday on the phone. The next step... to meet again.

I flew to Ukraine.

It was a fairytale. It was perfect. I loved every minute of it. I honestly felt like I was living a dream. We went to a museum, the Ukrainian Philharmonic, talked hours in cafes, took at 4 hour train ride, I met her awesome parents, her sister, many of her childhood friends, had Christmas dinner at her sister’s house with her family, exchanged presents, rode on a shortbus back to Kiev which lasted 6 hours, ate a nice dinner, went ice-skating, held hands, and then got on a dreaded plane back to Armenia with no real answers. I got home and she didn’t want to talk to me and requested I not contact her until I got a handwritten letter from her, explaining “everything.”

It was a disaster coming home. Mike is an amazing guy and sometimes he really surprises me with what lengths he will go to make sure I am ok. He picked up the pieces at the airport. He was there at my lowest hour. He even made me a sign that read “WELCOME BACK! I’ll still love you even if Iryna doesn’t (you know, in a friend sorta way) Don’t vote for Sarah Palin!”

We took a taxi into Yerevan and stayed at Jason and Elvira’s. Elvira was an A-13 volunteer and Jason is her husband who is the head gardener at a park in Yerevan. Really interesting guy. He owned a church until just recently. I mean, how many people do you know who have owned a church. Really... Anyway, he helped with the damage control. Jason was ready. He had my favorite beer in the fridge and we ordered American Style Pizza. It was amazing. After that Mike came back to the village with me. We had a good time here hanging out.

We walked to Hector’s village. Marissa is here spending time with Hector. Marissa is Hector’s Fiance and just finished her service in Turkmenistan. She is really cool. Perfect for Hector. We went out there and hung out with them and Hector’s host Dad. We played a lot of dominos. It was good.

Mike and I came back for New Years. New Years was great. We did the normal New Years thing. This year wasn’t as nuts as last year. Last year, everyone wanted to have the American at their house. My 13-year old brother took me everywhere and we got back at 4am. Memorable. This year, Mike and I walked around and came back around 2am. It was fun though. We went over to Vartan’s house. There his sons were trying to get me to dance, and some of the Armenian dance moves are a bit tricky so I just ran in place. Mari-ne, Vartan’s wife, I think, may have shot some juice out of her nose she was laughing so hard. I mean, what else was I supposed to do. It was fun.

We then went over to Arpine’s house. No one was home except for the Granddad and Grandma. They were in their PJs. Awkward. They got out of bed and I very awkwardly stood there while Granddad was putting on his pants. I don’t know where Mike. He was probably watching Grandma put on her clothes. Anyway, I kept saying that I would come back later, but Granddad would have none of that and had three glasses of vodka ready to go. Down the hatch. So, around 2pm, we came back home and just fell asleep.

The next morning, we didn’t do much. Just hung out around the house. Mike and I watched some movies. We decided that we would watch “Marley and Me”. Horrible idea. Basically the movie is about the life of a white labrador and how it is a menace but the family really does love the dog. Its about how the dog transforms a family. Anyway, Mike and I were watching this movie. I live in a village, more specifically in a concrete house that holds the cold better than Whirlpool’s top of the line refrigerator. So, Mike and I were on my bed. I was in my sleeping bag and he was under a lot of blankets. Remember this is a twin sized bed. The timing could not have been better. At the end of the movie, Marley is put down. A real tear jerker if you have ever had a pet. So, Mike and I were sobbing in my bed, huddled together, when Grandma walks in, stares at us for a moment, and then just starts laughing the most hearty laugh I think I have heard coming from her. She didn’t have the breathe to ask any questions. She laughed and turned around and left. Picture perfect moment.

Well, I wasn’t about to wait around for this letter. That would be dumb. Mike and I went on an epic journey, starting in Madina. There we again hung out with Hector and Marissa before embarking onward to other places. It was great. Its times like these when you know who your friends are. They were trying to figure things out, willing to listen, they supported me, they were just great. Mike, Hector, Marissa, Pat Findler, his wife Meaghan, Alex, Beckie, Emily. They were all great. I don’t really know how to explain it, its a different world here. I know that I had mentioned this before but I guess other volunteers here and my close Armenian friends are my family here. How to repay them for their awesome-ness is beyond me.

I went to Yerevan last week. I needed to be out of my village; just for a change of pace. I went to Yerevan and met with Gayane. Gayane is the smartest, coolest, most beautiful (Gayane, what else did you want me to say?) person I know. HA. No, but in all seriousness she has been awesome in all this. She and I worked together for PDO when we were teaching students preparing to go to America for ten months. We met at a tea house and hung out for a while before she had to go and learn how to drive. Disaster. When I talk to her it always sounds like she is either in a really large hall or in the bathroom. Weird. After that, Jason came to the tea house and we hung out for a while, before going to another place, and then eventually over to Gevorg’s house. Gevorg is another one of my friends who lives in Yerevan. He runs the hostel that volunteers sometimes stay at. There we hung out and talked. Gevorg recently got married and has several great ideas of starting businesses in Armenia. It was fun talking about business to him with Jason. Another one of those friends that you are fortunate to run across in life.

The following day,I just laid around their house. That night was fun. There was a new shipment of Embassy people that came from the States and they wanted to go to a real barbeque place in Armenia. So, they contacted Elvira and she told Jason to take them to a barbeque place. Jason asked me to go with him. I was a bit concerned, because I wasn’t in the mood to hang out with older people and not be able to relax. I mean, these are Embassy people right? Well, they were wicked awesome. At first I was still a little hesitant but after a while, they were really cool. They were in their early thirties and did Peace Corps in Ukraine. They talked about their Peace Corps experience and asked me about mine and it was great.

After an awesome meal, we were getting ready to pay. I started getting out my wallet when they told me to put it away, stating that they remember what it was like being a volunteer and when they ran into RPCVs the RPCVs would pay, so they wanted to do the same. It was a bit awkward, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They also said anytime I was in Yerevan and needed a place to stay, to let them know. They went way out of their way that night. On top of that, they were all really cool. So we hung out for a couple more hours and that was it.

The weird thing is, people think of Peace Corps as one thing, and generally it is. You have Americans living in random places all over the world. But one of the things I will take away from this are all the amazing people I have met during my adventure here. People from my village who would do anything for me, to people I just meet who are willing to open up their door to let me stay at their home. Im excited to be able to do the same after several years... many many years...

I got back to the village. I basically went straight home and went to bed for a while. The following day I went to the post office because I knew that Dad had sent me a Christmas card. Also, that letter from Iryna came. The Christmas card was nice. It had a lot of pictures in it. There was one picture of Snow, Raven, and Heidel (Dad, how do you spell her name?) Snow passed away on January 14th at the age of 14, so it was a bit hard to see that picture as it was probably one of the most recent ones. I smiled though. I remember the Sunday, 14 years ago when I saw puppies over at our neighbors house. I wandered over there talked with the lady and then carried one of the puppies back for my parents to see. And... we got a dog. Snow was a great dog. Although I reneged on walking the dog all the time, and basically taking care of it, I loved the dog. My Dad was the closest to it and more than anything, I was sad for my parents. I had already said my goodbyes to Snow when I left for Armenia. She was definitely one of a kind. Fortunately the other two dogs at home will keep my parents occupied... until I come home.

Then I opened the letter from Iryna. It was exactly what I was expecting so it was no shock to me that she couldn’t handle a long distance relationship... and there was another guy. Ouch. Although it would have been nice to know that before I went to Ukraine, I will always have that experience. I really learned a lot from this. This was the first time where I was completely honest and didn’t hold anything back. It was a very strange feeling because after I read this letter, I had this amazing feeling coming over me. I was finally at peace with everything and honestly, I was happy for her. Yeah, it sucks that it didn’t work out, but as my Dad said, I have a really long road ahead of me and it just wasn’t in the cards. It just wasn’t in God’s plan.

Its all over. I was at home and just hung out with Grandma and my host brother. Nothing new really. Just relaxing. I went back into Yerevan on Friday night because I wanted to get some things for home. I went with Jason and Mike to the Vernisage, which is an open market. We figured that now would be a good time to go because Armenians tend to spend a good portion of their money on New Years and its cold so tourists aren’t here. It worked out well. We looked at some handmade rugs, chess sets, and some other hand goods. Its amazing how cheap things are here, that are hand made. I bought a handmade chess set for about 80 dollars, and a hand carved “khachkar” which means stone cross. It wasn’t made out of stone but it was a hand carved piece of walnut that had a cross on it. Really hard to describe, but I bought it for about 35 dollars. The rugs were a bit more expensive. Obviously. I might have to go back and do some more shopping. It was fun though.

I hung out with Mane and Gayane too. The two girls I went to Ukraine with last March. Mike came with me and Megan met up with us later. We just all walked around the city, took pictures, went to cafes. Just took it easy. Mike and I went back to Jason’s around ten. Jason and I stayed up and watched “Horsemen”. Horrible ending, but now Jason has now been dubbed “stingray”. Nicknames are fun.

Anyway, I have attached some pictures. I hope you enjoy and again my apologize for not writing sooner but things have been a little rough here. I want to thank everyone who was there to support me. My parents, and my really good friends here in Peace Corps. Really. Especially Mike for basically picking up all the pieces. Its been great. Six more months. Its going to be wild.

Until next time...

For you Dad

This is Rubik. He is actually a teacher at the other school where Terri used to work. Im not exactly sure how we became friends but he is a really good guy. He always makes things awkward because when we are at the same party or something, he will make a toast to friendship. He will say “I am happy for friendship and my friendship with Danny. I want to have a friendship with him but I don’t know if he wants to have one with me, but that’s his business.” Never fails. We joke about it now but at first, a bit awkward. Now I just yell across the table at him and we get a good laugh.


Me and the illustrious Vardan. I can’t say enough good things about this guy. He cracks me up and is always willing to help me out.


Zaria is the Grandmother and Karine is the other lady in the picture, her daughter (in-law, maybe). If she is hanging out outside of her house, she always stops me on my way to school and always tries to convince me to come to her house for coffee. This time with Emily, I thought it would be an interesting experience if we went inside. Coffee turned into mounds of food...


Me and Grandma drinking coffee. Our ritual which starts everyday for us. I enjoy these sit down moments because if gives us some time to talk about stuff. Sometimes we just sit in silence.


This is the picture for the following blog. Read to find out more... These pictures were taken by Emily Haas. So Thank you Emily for coming to my village and capturing my life here. Or a part of my life here.

A computer, a goat, potatoes, and friends...

Last time I wrote I was just coming back from our All-Volunteer’s Conference. I had just gotten home and had less than one day to myself. On Saturday, Emily, another volunteer from my group who lives in Yeghegnadzor (the place I visited with Mike over Halloween), came to visit. She is in charge of the 50th Anniversary and wanted to film my life here. Or at least some aspects of it. It was pretty fun. The day she got here, we just laid low and just walked around a bit. Sunday was pretty awesome. We woke up and went to the Market. Like I said before, its just so draining to go there because you have to take the bus which is packed full of people, get to the market, where again it is packed full of people, and then ride back on a bus... again packed full of people. Its just a lot of things going on at the same time. Lots of noises, smells, sights, people staring. Yeah. Overwhelming.

Emily got some good shots there of the Market. She gave me money to buy some mandarines because she wanted some and needed some film of me having interaction with Armenians. We got back and rested for a short while. Then we went over to Vardan’s house. The proceedings are not made up. It is so wild I can’t make it up. Its really not that crazy.

So, in my area where there are a lot of potatoes, we have this thing called “poor.” The “r” is rolling and the “oo” is pronounced like you would the “oo” sound in “sue.” Anyway, to refresh your memory, you take dried cow feces which has been baked in the sun for weeks and burn them down to coals and then take potatoes and baked the potatoes under the cow feces coals. It may be a mental thing, but the taste is like no other. Its really good. Vardan wanted Emily to experience this, so we went over to his house. Then we went to an abandoned neighbors house which is all fenced in and made the fire. Interestingly enough, inside the gates, there was a goat. Livestock isn’t that dangerous, but when you have grown up in the city, anything bigger than a mouse can be intimidating. Especially things with horns.

As an aside, its always funny watching 7 year old kids with sticks herding cows that are measured in hundreds of pounds and how afraid the livestock are of these kids armed with sticks.

Back to the story. We were having our potatoes and Vardan wanted to play with the goat so he kept putting his foot up so that the goat could ram it. Obviously, the goat was playing too because it wasn’t charging. It would just up on its hind legs and just fall over. They had some kind of relationship... “relationship.” After eating, I told Vardan that I would be back in half and hour because I needed to talk to my parents. He said, bring your computer out here. I didn’t really think too much about it but he said that we could show my parents this “poor” experience... and the goat. What a great idea. So, Emily has all her cameras with her and she was filming me sitting on the ground talking with my parents via skype with Vardan and his wife crouching over behind me, with our other neighbor fighting the goat in the background. I will post a picture. But, this kind of event you can’t plan. Nope.

So, now that Emily had that experience, we went back home and hung out with Grandma. On Monday we went to school, and she filmed some stuff at school. My bathroom, the teachers, some classes we went to. It was fun. We didn’t do much after school. On Tuesday, we went back to school because I needed to take care of some business with the school director and then we came back to the house, rested a bit and walked around the village. I introduced her to some people in the village. Tuesday was interesting because I took her to one of my neighbor’s house down the street. A really sweet grandma who always yanks me into her house. Well, usually when an Armenian says coffee, it really means feast. So Emily and I went inside and sat with the Grandma. At 11:00am we had quite a bit of vodka, wine, and coffee along with too much food. So, that is why we needed to rest. Always an interesting cultural experience.

That evening, Emily and I were walking to the other side of the village because she wanted to take some village shots. Vardan saw us and gave us a ride. That was fun.

Wednesday, I went with Emily to Martuni to find her a ride down to her town. Then I came back and went to the last two classes on Wednesday. Wednesday is kind of a down day anyway, so no big deal.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. Nothing new really happened. On Saturday, I went to Vaghashen because there was supposed to be a meteor shower. Clouds came so I came back home.

Sunday, nothing really happened. I just laid low, did some reading, prepared for the upcoming week. This is my last week of school...already.

This evening I went to bed early because I had to get up at 2:45 for a phone interview with Dr. Hogarty. An Osteopathic Physician who agreed to write me a letter. So I prepared myself for our 3:00am phone conversation. It went really well. We spoke for 30 minutes. As I write this though, I am in a daze. This weekend’s sleep cycle was not conducive for productive behavior. Ill be back on track by tomorrow. I guess it’s already time to start thinking about the future. Only one more semester. Weird.

Overall, the weather here has been pretty good... until recently. I have a friend in Ukraine who I tell the weather to. I do it in such a way that seems instigating. Ill say “it’s really warm here”... the next day... freezing. This has happened pretty much on the button everytime I have said it. From this, I have learned to keep my mouth shut. My point is... its cold here now.

However, Peace Corps gives us two heaters. One that just blows hot air, also known as a space heater, and a radiator. A lot of the other volunteers always say that the radiator does not work, so I never tried plugging the thing up. However, within the last week, it has occurred to me that the volunteers who I talked to also have really large rooms. I plugged my radiator in, and in 15 minutes my room (which is the size of a moderately sized walk-in closet) heats up. Heats up to the point where I just need to wear a sweater. This would have made my life a lot easier if I thought about this last winter, but I guess its better late than never.

This week will be pretty regular.

I hope everyone is having a good time getting ready for Christmas and the New Year. I’m very much looking forward to Christmas in Ukraine. New Years Im still trying to figure out.

Until next time...