Nothing new

Honestly, I have nothing really new to write. We just came back from Tatev and rode the new cable car. The longest in the world. Who would have thought. It was really great. I went with Mike and Lizzie. We went on the back road which proved to be a bust as it wasn't as scenic as we thought it would be. Maybe we are just desensitized to it now. This country really is beautiful at least in the summer.

I wish I could write more but I have just been hanging out here working on secondaries. They aren't really fun. I still don't understand why a medical school would want to know your SAT scores but I guess they have their reasons. They seem to not review the primary applications as they ask the exact same questions asked on the primary. Redundant.

The weather has been pretty decent. Not too hot. It has been raining. Three weeks from today I leave from what I have called home for the last 26 months. Thinking about it, I just feel lost. A weird empty feeling. People have come and gone, I have learned a great deal about myself and what I want to do with my life, and most importantly (questionably) impacted some lives here.

Again, I apologize for this weak blog entry but I still can't figure out why I can't post any pictures and I have nothing else to write. Just enjoying my time here with the friends I have around me. Mike and I are preparing for our trip and once it starts, rest assured that I will be writing more interesting things.

Wherever you are, reading this blog, I hope things are going well in your life. Things are just fine where I am in southern Armenia.

More to come,

Until next time...

Wait... what's in that bag?

I have been trying to get pictures loaded but its just not happening. Once I figure out the problem, I will post about 100 of them. Not really...

About two weeks has gone by, but surprisingly, it has been a really busy two weeks. Lots to talk about. I have been trying to load about ten pictures but for one reason or another it won’t load, so tomorrow I will try and load some more pictures. Pictures are fun.

Anyway, soon after my last posting, Kamran came to Armenia. We are long time friends from high school. I met him in India last year when I went there with Mike and this past February I went to meet him in Spain. On his way home he decided to stop by Armenia because as he states it “I wouldn’t have another reason to come.” My concept of time has gone out the window. Khashi gets irritated because I keep forgetting what day it is and need to constantly ask him what the day is. Also, since I have nothing but time on my hands, I don’t do anything unless I have to. Its weird because the last two years has been super busy with work at school, projects, traveling, etc. Being a has-been is hard.

The reason I am going into expansive detail about this is because on Tuesday I went out to the airport. I was so thrilled because I took a bus out there. Kamran’s flight was supposed to come in at 8:55 so I took the last bus out there. Since I was the last one to get off, the bus driver took me all the way to the arrivals area. I got inside the, temperature-wise, cool terminal. I was about thirty minutes early. I was still proud of myself for taking the bus to the airport (which was great because I saw a side of Yerevan I had never seen before). Anyway, I went to the arrivals board. His flight wasn’t up there. I was a day early. Idiot.

I took the taxi back…

The following day since I am supposed to let PC know where I am at all times, I emailed my Program Manager to let her know my new plans. My email subject line said “I’m an idiot”. Her response “yes.” She laughed after that because as an Armenian, she understands the pain it is to get out to the airport.

Anyway, good practice. The following day I made my way out there. His flight, three hours delayed. Sweet. So I just waited there, reading my book and listening to some music.

Kamran and I made a scene as he came out of the arrivals area. Everyone was looking at me because I was taping him coming out of the doors. This will be included in my next documentary because he is the first non-PCV American to come and visit me.

We had a good time. The first night we stayed at Khashi’s house. The next morning we woke up early and headed out to Martuni. As soon as we got there, I made grilled cheeses and then went to the village. There we went to Vardan’s house and also to some other people’s homes. He got to see a glimpse of my life there. We were only there for two hours. We went back to Martuni and met Hector there. Kamran and Hector had met in India the previous year when we were there. There we just hung out. The following morning, we went back to Yerevan and stayed at Jason’s house. The following day was July 2nd and I had planned for us to go down to Yeghegnadzor where Emily lives. Jason had just bought a Lada which is a Russian car and wanted to take it out. So, I talked to Elvira and Jason and they were really nice enough to give us a ride down south. We went to Jermuk. Jermuk is also a well known sparkling water company here. Jermuk, the city, is just amazing. It is like a city from a story. You have to drive on desolate roads for what seems to be about 8 miles before going over a crest to see a modern looking city sitting around a beautiful lake. The city is surrounded by mountains. Really nice.

There we met with some other PCVs and hung out for a couple hours. Jason and Elvira wanted to stay in Jermuk so Kamran and I went with the other PCVs back to Yeghegnadzor. The way we got back. Coincidentally, one of the PCV’s schools was having a teacher retreat and gave us a ride to the road. The whole eight miles back. It was a great help because if we had taken a taxi from Jermuk it would have been really expensive. We got back to Emily’s house where we hung out a bit before having the worst night of sleep I had ever had. Mike and I ended up sleeping on a thin blanket on the floor of Emily’s kitchen. Ha. Peace Corps memories.

The next day we took out time getting up and made our way to the river. We hung out by the river the whole day. We would walk up a ways and float down and do it again a couple times. On their way back to Yerevan, Jason and Elvira stopped to hang out a bit. That was cool. I should really give a lot of thanks because they were really cool taking us around. They even took us to Noravank, a church several miles off the main road, and let us join them for lunch at this interesting cave restaurant.
So, Jason and Elvira, again, many many thank yous.

The last day Kamran was here we came back to Yerevan and hung out with Khashi and some of his friends. Later on Jason came to join us. We stayed up a while since July 5th is a holiday here. We talked about several things until about 3am when Jason went back home. Really a good time. Kamran and I went to bed around 5am and then woke back up at 7am so that I could take Kamran back to the airport.

At the airport, Kamran drove me crazy. Basically, he had two bags and packed one bag to be 37kg and the other 13kg. His limit 23kg for one bag. Since he has some kind of status with Delta because he flew to Salt Lake when he had a real job, he said that he could take 2 bags. He flashed his status card. This card meant nothing to the Armenian check-in counter lady. She just said “what is this?” I tried to explain it but then she called her supervisor over. She came and got it sorted out and explained that he just gets a second bag for free. Regardless, his 37kg bag was way over the allotted weight limit.

So there were in the middle of the airport floor repacking his bag. He took a couple shirts out and put them in the other bag and asked me to take the bag up to the front again and have it weighed. Clearly not under or remotely close to the 23kg limit. I did it anyway. We weighed the bag. It was 29kg. The lady was being super patient and I said “please ma’am, please just let me friend go, I want him to leave.” Her response “I want him to leave too.” She said if we could get the bag under 25kg, that it was fine. So, there we were going through all this things, Kamran’s things flying everything. Whatever, I just wanted to go back and sleep. Anyway, finally we got the bag to be suitable enough to appease everyone. With 50 minutes left before the flight left and after all the hassle and the cool lady working with us, Kamran wanted his lounge access. Again Kamran showed another card which they had no idea what it meant. Her supervisor just said “give him whatever he wants.” So we waited there another five minutes for them to fill out some kind of lounge ticket. At this point, probably 20 minutes before boarding time. Sweet. He left, I went home and slept. Whatever.

The following day, I went out to Nor Hachyn, the new training center for the soon-to-be volunteers. It was site announcement day. It was weird being there because I remember when I got my site placement and remember last year when the A-18s got theirs. Actually quite a few memories came back from my time here.

Between site announcement and site visit, I went over to the US Embassy to help out with the re-entry seminar for the FLEX kids whom I taught last year that had already returned from their ten month study abroad. That was really crazy to see how much the kids had changed. They looked so different and were so much more confident. Some of the kids I couldn’t even recognize. I had this great sense of being so proud of these kids. I am excited to see what they get accomplished now that they are back. Elvira made it clear that just because they did their FLEX stint overseas, their obligations are not finished yet.

So I just hung out Martuni for a while and then when the new volunteer came, I waited and went straight to Madina, Hector’s village. There I hung out with him and his family as that was the second to last night he would be there. He leaves Armenia on June 13th. Its weird thinking about that. So we went around and hung out with his neighbors. One neighbor, his name which escapes me, is an artist (painting and wood carving). Really nice guy. Then we went over to his other neighbor’s house. After enough drinking to take down an elephant, we went back and passed out.

That evening I had also called Grandma. It is so nice talking to her because no one tells her that it is me calling. So when she answers the phone she starts screaming and I can hear the excitement in her voice. We chatted for a while and then she told me that her house had burned down in Madina. No one was living there but since the village people were storing hay and because of the intense heat, the hay had caught on fire. She didn’t seem that irritated by it because there was really nothing inside. It was just sad for her because that was where she had raised her children.

The next morning, I took the walk from his village to mine, maybe for the last time. I took pictures along the way. It still amazes me how beautiful this place is. I went to the school where I met the new volunteer, Noah, my director, Arpine, Vartan, and Arpine’s daughter. We talked about the new volunteer. Having only been here for one month, he was pretty clueless as to what was going on.

Go ahead and take a break because there is still a lot more you have to read. Matt, take Kelly out to get a cookout milkshake. Brandon, go ahead and keep reading because Im sure you are just waiting in an airport for your next flight. Mom and Dad, you should go and order Papa John’s Pizza and have that for dinner. I think that covers all the people that read this blog now…

That day I went around the village telling different people I was leaving and saying my last goodbyes. It was a lot easier than I thought. Probably because I broke up the goodbyes into segments.

I went to go see my host aunt and she said that she wanted me to meet someone. I met my host Dad’s brother. As a refresher, my host Dad was murdered when he was working in Moscow. It was like meeting a ghost. He didn’t even shake my hand but just hugged me thanking me for taking care of his brother’s family. Apparently I had missed something. I wish someone was there filming this event. I am a bit curious to know what my facial expression was like…

I picked certain people to see. There are so many people that I would like to say goodbye too but there are just too many. I picked those that did something to change, or better my experience in Armenia. Although I didn’t really get to know Alpert, I went over to his house. He was the man that really encouraged me and helped me when I was about to shoot someone over the bathroom project. He said that he had quit drinking which is a pretty huge deal here. He told me he was off the stuff for about 4 weeks. He used to be perpetually hammered and one day he said he woke up and realized that’s not how he wanted his grandchildren to remember him.

I continued my walk around the village stopping into several houses and saying goodbye. I called up Manok. He is one of the teachers at the school and we never got to hang out but he was always great from the beginning. When I didn’t know the language, he was really patient with me, trying to learn English words. He also told kids to behave themselves around me and to use simple words at first. He really went out of his way to help me out. I called him and said that I needed to see him. I met with him by the river. He was toting a bottle of vodka and three half-liter beers. Not what I needed. I was just thankful that Marine fed me before we met.

It was really nice though because we sat by the river and just talked about random things here and there. After a while a storm came so we had to go, but then the heavens opened and we just ran to Manok’s house. Vardan was worried about me so he sent his son to pick me up in his car since that was the first time I had been to Manok’s. It was really tough saying goodbye to him. He had been a good friend.

I went back to Vardan’s house. The new volunteer was already asleep so Vardan and I talked for a while. Its weird knowing that one more time I will be coming back to the village as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I don’t know when I will be back to Armenia next.

The next morning I woke up early and got on the bus with Hector. It was his last night in the village. He is going home. We went to Yerevan together and that’s when he said “I guess this is the last time I’ll be on this road.” It’s hard saying goodbye to a place, mainly the people. Hector was my closest sitemate and a good friend and its weird seeing him leave.

It has been great though spending more time with Khashi. Last night we just hung out, sitting around, talking about random things. Dad, I told him the story of when you were a student at Carolina and told him about the night you took your friends to a movie theatre and saw on of them as a shadow on the movie screen. Khashi really laughed about that.

Today, I went to get my toe X-rayed. Incredible. Twenty dollars for the whole thing. The US taxpayers (thank you) paid the twenty dollars, but I was thinking “wow, how fantastic”. That same X-ray in the States would have been about 500 dollars with about 500 sheets of paper to fill out. From the time I walked into the hospital I was out in less than 20 minutes with X-ray in hand. Amazing. Don’t worry everything is fine Dad. I just wanted to make sure my toe had healed correctly from when I hurt it a while back.

So from now on out, I will be down in Kapan hanging out in the south seeing some AIDS seminars. I am looking forward to that. After that, I will finish my PC paperwork, go stay with my training village family for a couple days, make a run out to my village one more time, and then get ready to hit the road. Looking forward to it.

Update on schools. I submitted all my applications and have now gotten back three secondaries. Really excited about starting school the following fall.

Sorry this update was a bit longer than the others but it has been more hectic than I thought it would be. Armenia as a whole is uncomfortably hot now… Geez.

Until next time…

Khashi leaves the city

So during my down day in Martuni, after the PDO, I basically just laid around, that is until my Regional Manager asked me to go back to Yerevan to talk to the host families about living with a volunteer. These were going to be the families who were going to permanently host the new A-19 volunteers. Vardan, my neighbor, was there. It was good to see him there. I picked on him quite a bit during my talk about experiences in the village but he was a good sport about it and laughed.

Now Vardan is not the most cultured of people, a good guy, but in social settings, he could learn a couple things. I was standing in the back of the room watching our RM tell the future host families about whatever. My RM said that the volunteers could range from age 21 to 70. As soon as my RM said 70, Vardan yells from the crowd “70?” (awkward silence, then me slapping my forehead). RM “yes”. Vardan “there are 70 year olds who come to Armenia?” This was very awkward for me. But I spoke to him later and it was fine.

There is something that you (as the reader in America) should understand, is how excited older volunteers get when they see trainees because they are new blood. I don’t know what happened, but as we were leaving the PC Office, I saw one of the PC vans pull up and I ran after it like a dog running after a meat-covered car. I swung open the door and said “HEY” really loudly. I just got blank stares.

I think I over did it…

Anyway, after that, I went to meet Lizzie and Mike. We then walked to meet Khashi. Together we went out to Martuni. It was fun. We hung out for a couple days and then they headed back. Khashi and I hung out in Martuni for a couple more days with Hector. That was great.

The first full day, we went to my village and I showed them around; views of the village, my family (or those still around), and then I called Vardan and asked if we could come over. So we bought 2kg of chicken and went over to Vardan’s house. We helped Vardan make the khorovats (bbq-seriously, if you don’t know what this is by now…). It turned out really well. We basically just ate, drank, and talked for six hours. It was great. Around 11, we left the village to head back to Martuni (by taxi). Really a great time, another one of those great memories.

The next day, Lizzie and Mike left, so Hector, Khashi, and I went out to Tsovinar. My friend who is a A-14 came and visited my first winter in Armenia. David. Anyway, he lived in that village during his service and has had some trouble getting in touch with them, so we went out there. It was a lot of fun to go out there. So beautiful. So amazingly beautiful. We sat with them for about an hour or so and then walked back, taking pictures along the way. I don’t know why, but Khashi found some brown audio tape from the 80’s flapping in the wind and held onto one end of it as we walked back. Whenever we got too close to him, we were reprimanded. I wish I had a picture of that, but I don’t.

Tonight Kamran comes in to Armenia. I am excited. Because Kamran is Muslim, I have been giving him a hard time saying that Armenians will kill him and throw rocks at him. Khashi is Muslim. No problem. I’m going to see how long I can milk this…

It is so hot in Yerevan.

I will get some pictures up soon...

Until next time…

I changed my shirt

The sunsetting over the mountains behind my village. This was taken in Martuni from the apartment I live in now.



Every year the kids spell out "FLEX". Last year, the kids did this at 7am and started yelling all the Staff people's names. This year, they did it in the midday heat, so I took my time taking this picture.



Chris's Class



My Class



My TA, Diana, and myself.

Free time seems to always elude me. I have been meaning to catch you all up (by “all” I mean probably just Mom and Dad, unless Brandon is still reading this thing) for a while now but time has not decided to let up a bit. It has been pretty busy so I’m hoping that July will relinquish some free time so I can breathe. Maybe it’s good though that there are so many things to do.

Two weekends ago, I came into Yerevan to do my final prep work with Diana on planning this year’s Pre-Departure Orientation for the FLEX high school exchange students. It was fun and by Sunday the 12th, we were finished with everything. Chris and I took some time to hang out ourselves. After planning we went with Diana to a book reading flashmob. This actually makes no sense conceptually. I mean, a flashmob, you get a group of people together and at a predetermined time you stop what you’re doing and you do some kind of collective activity. When I read, it’s when I am by myself, somewhere quiet, quite the contrary to a flashmob. I honestly think that Chris and I may have messed this thing up. I’m almost certain we were the only foreigners there. Since we didn’t really know anyone, we sat down by the large statue in the middle of everything and started to read. We noticed that everyone else started reading too. Then random people started taking pictures of Chris and myself reading. We were about fifteen to thirty minutes early. We were just bored. After a short amount of time everyone started to leave. So it’s either we messed things up, or someone spread the word around the “reading flashmob” was to begin about a half hour early.

After that, we hung out a little bit with some other PCVs in Yerevan and then we got hungry. It was about 11:30pm when we started walking back to Jason’s, so we went back to the American Councils office and got some old pizza out we had ordered for lunch a couple hours back. It was nice. We just sat there in the office talking about stuff and eating cold pizza before walking home.

I went back to Martuni on Monday and hung around Martuni for the week hanging out with Pat until some volunteers came over. They needed a place to stay. I left the following day which was Thursday, early in the morning and headed back to Yerevan. There I finished up my school applications and then met with Diana. Before we met, I went to the post office.

Same lady. This lady who helped me before is pretty funny. Somewhat in an annoying kind of way. She was really nice last time, being really patient as I weighed everything out. This time, she just wanted to argue with me. Everything I wanted to sent was 2.10 kg, so I had to take some things out. Well, she decided what she wanted taken out. I told her which things to take out. She didn’t listen, and kept saying its going to be too heavy. I asked her to humor me. It wasn’t. My item stayed in. The box weighed 1.98kg.

Then she decided that she didn’t want to send it with the box and wrap things up in paper and ship it that way. I said that I would rather her send it in a box. She asked me “what do you know about this? I have been doing this longer than you have”. My response “ longer, but probably incorrectly….” She laughed and said it will get to America… Yes, but will it get there unbroken? So Mom and Dad, expect to receive a brown wrapped thing with about a roll’s worth of clear packing tape all around it.
I’m not sending more things home…

Diana and I then met and went through our lessons. It was fun. We made more flipcharts and other necessities we needed for our lessons starting the following day. That day night we got some sleep, readying ourselves for the following day.

Friday, we woke up early and headed to the American Councils office. We were there at 9:00am getting ready for the influx of kids. It is always a really exciting time. We loaded up and headed to Lusakert. It was great. This year, only 24 kids came compared to the 37 last year due to budget cuts and the increase in credentials needed by host families in the States. I had a great time and I took it to heart too. Nostalgia started creeping in. I started thinking about last year’s PDO and the time since then and that I will soon be in the same country as these kids in a couple months.

The sessions went well, the kids were great, the barbeque was great, we had a great time. The funniest thing about the PDO was this. The last day, there is a male/female gender break-out session where we talk about sexual harassment and how to act in the States. You wouldn’t believe how many times we had to tell the kids not to fight if there was a problem. In Armenia, the kids defend “their honor” by throwing punches. In America, we had to explain that people in America solve problems in a more civilized way… you know, in court, where we will sue someone if it makes the other person feel uncomfortable. Yeah.

Ok, so the best part. So, as conservative as Armenia is, the guys are very close. They do not have an open mind to homosexuality, but sometimes if you saw two guys walking down the road, you would see their arms interlocked, or a guys head in the lap of another guy if they were watching TV. They greet each other by kissing on the cheek (just a cultural difference, Armenians believe hugging to be more intimate). Anyway, when we told the kids not to do any of those things and that Americans value their personal space, one of the boys in the front row said in Armenian “oh, we are all gay….” Smooth. Ok, guess you had to be there.

This year’s PDO was great. Hard to compare with last year because last year I had to do a lot of things myself. This year, Chris was there and he made for a great PDO. Also, since Jason and I had become friends since the last PDO, it was fun hanging out with him whenever he wasn’t sleeping.

So as soon as I got back to Martuni yesterday, I received an email asking for me to come back to Yerevan to talk to the host families about how to welcome their new volunteers, so here I am back in Yerevan. Tomorrow morning, I am going to the airport again to meet the FLEX kids arriving from the US. This will be a much larger group. Very exciting. Then I have some friends coming out to Martuni for the weekend and then Kamran will be coming to stay for a week or so. I don’t have a clue what I am going to do to keep myself entertained for the month of July and August…

I forgot, I got to see the lunar eclipse. Really cool.

Until next time…

A Martuni Resident

Kyle, Hector, Me, Pat with the Volcano behind us.



Goodbye Kyle. He is number 2 of six to leave the Martuni 6 group



Playing Ball at the top of the Volcano



Church, lake, snow...



Yes, there is a road that goes to the top. Instead, all the times we have made it to the top, we have gone up this incline. Not easy...

As an official resident of the local town to my village, I feel like nothing has really changed. As far as my work is concerned, it is easier to get “home” now. I don’t have to walk through the dingo infested field before getting to my village, I don’t have to haggle with the taxi drivers about taking me home, and I don’t have do all this while carrying usually a cumbersome load on my back. Now, I let everyone get off of the marshutni and then the driver drives up basically to where I live now. Very easy.

This does have its down sides. Grandma is gone now. For sure. She is gone. She called and she is in Belarus. I know that she was supposed to leave last December, but it is a fact now, she is in Belarus. I have been busy so I haven’t really noticed it too much except for the few things here and there. I don’t have someone yelling at me to have coffee so now I don’t drink coffee in the morning. No one to drink it with. When I get back home now, my clothes are not clean on my bed. This year, when I would get back from wherever I was, all my clothes would be clean. Ignoring my requests, Grandma would go into my room, take all my dirty clothes, wash them, dry them, and have them in my room. Also, I have to go to the grocery store or market and buy my own food, and then make it. I know these things may seem trivial but she really did take care of me. I have to incorporate time out of my day now to do those necessary things that I never had to think about in the past. Mainly, I miss the coffee and the conversation associated with that ritual. I live a different life now. I feel like I am a freshman in college after being taken of by my parents in high school. Ok, maybe not so much.

My roommate Pat, has actually been a great roommate. He is not here because of Green Camps, but when he was here last week, it was good.

Last Tuesday, we hiked up the volcano again, for one last time… at least for Kyle. It was nice getting up there. We woke up early, took the bus to Hector’s village, walked up the mountain, thought I was going to die, and then walked down. Really fun. Ill attach some pictures. I wore the shirt I got at Kamran’s gay bar in Barcelona when we inadvertently scheduled the wrong night to go to the normally straight club. (Yes Kamran, this will haunt you for the rest of your life…)

Last Thursday, Hovik, our new Regional Manager came to my village. He picked me up and we went in to meet my school director and the director at the other school. My village is the only village in this area that even applied for a volunteer. Last year there were 8 volunteers just in the Martuni area, next year…one, two at most. Both in my village. Our marz, or state, went from being the largest consolidation point to one of the smallest.

It was fun though, going through the village and locating host families. More than likely Vardan will be hosting the new volunteer. I had to laugh. I am planning on going back to the village when the new volunteer is there to show them around.

Speaking of, since my last writing, the new group of volunteers, A-19s, have arrived in Armenia. I think yesterday they went to their training village host families. It is a bit nostalgic thinking back now because I can picture being dropped off at my training village host family two years ago. Surreal.

Anyway, after that, I went into Yerevan and met with Chris and our new Pre-Departure-Orientation group. Like last year, I will be teaching Armenians about American life and culture. During a very intensive 3 days, the Armenian students will learn about integrating, customs, culture, etc. I loved it last year and I expect to share the same thoughts this year.

I was introduced to my new Teaching Assistant, Diana. She finished her last University exams ever yesterday. Congratulations. So, we planned on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sporadically in the mix, I managed to finish my school applications. I have yet to start on my Description of Service. Whatever. It is weird working with Diana as her style is very different from Gayane’s. I also think Diana doesn’t understand my sense of humor and views me more as an authoritative figure than as a colleague. I’ve always wondered when that magic age is. I found it… 26. Regardless, we are having a good time planning and I’m certain that the PDO will go very well next weekend.

After we planned on Saturday, Diana went with me to the post office as it was right next to her house. I had two boxes I wanted to send home. One was 3.1kg and the other about 4.3kg. To send a 3.1kg box home would be about 27,000 dram or about 80 dollars. As with most Armenian places, Armenians get very excited if they notice a foreigner speaking their language. I spoke to the post lady for a while and she asked me if the things in my boxes could be broken up. I said yes, and she got out several boxes. Apparently, if you can send a box weighing 2kg or less, its 7,000 dram or about 20 dollars. So we sat there, working together to package and weigh the boxes, going back and forth from the scale to the box, taking things out, adding other things in. So, right now, there are 4 boxes on their way to America and it cost me just 90 dollars or so.

I got home from Yerevan and I hung out with Hector and Kyle. Kyle is leaving on Saturday to go home to start studying at Syracuse. It is a shame he is leaving. So we made burritos. Very good.

Tuesday I went to Gavar to help judge the spelling bee. Some of those kids were amazing. Even though they probably just know how to spell the word and don’t know how it is used in a sentence, it was really impressive to hear these students spell these really difficult words. The funny part was, Katrina and I were assigned for the 11th and 12th graders. Some of those words, I had never heard before, so we were looking up the pronunciation of them. Katrina had the hardest words and during the word read out, she would lean over and discuss how to pronounce the word. We had a good time though. Really impressed with the kids.

On my way back, since there is no direct route from Gavar back home, I had to take a bus to the road, and then flag down another bus going toward Martuni. As I was walking around trying to figure out which bus to take, I asked people on a bus if this bus went by the intersection I needed to get to. Some of the kids heckled me and kept saying “oui, oui”. Naturally, in Armenian, I said “oui” was French and that I was an American, then while walking away, adding “moron” for good measure.

I saw another bus coming, the one I needed to be on. It pulled up next to the bus of kids who heckled me. I sat down on my bus and started reading. Those kids came over and apologized for giving me a hard time. They said the bus driver heard them and that they got yelled at. We spoke for a while and off they went. That made me feel a lot better about things.

It is weird being back in Martuni. Last night was the first night I had slept alone. I can count on one hand how many nights I had slept in a house by myself. Weird feeling. This month is busy, but July is soon to come and things will surely slow down.

The weather here is nice, but if you can believe it, in the middle of June, there is still snow on the surrounding mountains. Last year at this time, there was no snow anyway around mid-May.

Until next time…

The roughest day to date

Spring is here... finally



Bareyan (left) giving me the huge horse thing.



The nurses. I was apparently the only one happy about taking the picture.



After the party. The teachers at Verin Getashen School #2.



The teachers yesterday when the historian came. Did I mention that I am going to be in the village archives. Im going to be in a history book. Count it.

Although I finished the last blog emphasizing the fact that not all the blogs would be depressing, it would be a lie for me to say this one will differ. For those who read my blog regularly (thanks mom and dad) you will know that I usually try to post once a week. This time, I couldn’t wait.

(I feel like Doogie right now)…

Anyway, today was the last day of school. Unlike last year, there was no fanfare. I didn’t get that memo. There was no fanfare because Armenia decided to make the school system go til the 12th grade. This happened to be the year the hopeful 11th grade students would not get their prayers answered, unless they were praying for an extra year of school. So, this morning, I woke up and put on my suit and walked to school. Once there, I waited… for three hours. The teachers would not let me leave so I just walked around the school with just the ninth graders present for their mandatory PE test. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

I went to the polyclinic at 1 because I wanted to take a photo with the nurses. One o’clock is when the nurses change shift so I knew that the majority of them would be there. I sat and chatted with them for a while. The nurses will always hold a special place in my heart, especially a lady named Kima, because she was always so patient with me, as in explaining what the other nurses were saying. I got a picture with them and went to the school.

Much like my sentiments toward Grandma, how do you put into words the thanks a collective group deserves for taking care of you for two years. I honestly don’t know if the American culture could emulate the hospitality Armenians have shown me over the last two years. I should be more specific and say Armenians in my village. That is the beauty and the downfall of America. Here I stand out like a monstertruck in a field of lilies. It is awesome. They know I am the odd one out so they always look after me. I am “their American”. However, in the States, in our “salad bowl society” diversity is as common as a lily in a field of lilies…

So, all the teachers sat down and the school director, Bareyan, gave the first toast to the students and the teachers. Awesome. The second toast, he thanked me for coming to Armenia and “helping” out the school. He presented me with a large plastic horse. I have no idea how I am going to get that home. (I may do what Brandon and I did on our Ireland trip and take pictures of the horse mysteriously showing up randomly in pictures…). He said some really nice things. The thing that started to tear me up was when he spoke about my Mom and Dad. How they could let their only son come all the way to Armenia for two years to do what he could for the village. They just went on and on thanking my parents.

I swallowed hard. I stood up. It was my turn to say something. I stood up. Looked around and said “I want to say this without crything.” Then I started crying. When the tears came, I said “give me five minutes.” Laughter followed. The teachers said my tears said enough and they understood. I said no. I stood up again. I took a deep breathe. I started crying again. I sat down. Then another five minutes went by. Bareyan said, “Danny, I will say something, then you can continue”. My response… “no”. I stood up again and said “maybe if I smile I will not cry.” It worked. I thanks everyone; Vardan, Arpine, Melcida, Silva, and Gyulum for working with me and helping me. I also thanked the collective teachers for everything. I spoke of memories we had and how the teachers made my life in Armenia easy and how they made my two years here go by so quickly. Two years is a long time, but I can remember like it was yesterday, saying goodbye to Jon and Whitney, Jon saying “we are going to just pretend we will see each other tomorrow” as they both left. Its already time to come home.

I continued by saying that next year a volunteer was going to come and to remember how awkward and strange I was, and how horrible my language was at the time and to remember how patient they all were to me, and how helpful they were to me. I ended by saying thank you again and saying that I was going to miss everyone and wouldn’t and couldn’t forget my experience in Armenia with them. Then the floodgates up Niagara Falls opened. I lost it. The teachers lost it. Very emotional. The teachers started saying toasts of their own. Mainly about my Mom and Dad.

I don’t know who reads my blogs. It could be just you, Mom and Dad. Maybe not. But whoever is reading this, I want you to know how awesome my parents really are. I got home and called my parents at 6am EST. I spoke to both of them. Mom, I know you were on the verge of tears and that’s why you gave the phone to Dad. But just the immense amount of support you have given me has been unspeakably amazing. Thank you is just a collection of words, but I don’t know how to show it. How can I show it? But thank you Mom and Dad for words of encouragement not only over the last two years, but throughout my life. Ill buy you McDonald’s when I get home…

As you can see from these blogs, saying goodbye is not one of my strong suits. It is just going to get worse on Sunday.

Tomorrow I move out of the village. My stuff is packed (sort of) and tomorrow morning Patrick is coming out to help me move out. My room is empty with just a heap of stuff in the middle of the room. But. Life is all about moving on. The experiences of today made me realize how much of a connection I have with the people in the village. I will certainly never forget them. I can’t. To stop myself from rambling on, I will stop here as it is frustrating for me to put into words my feelings toward what is happening here. I am excited about coming home, but those sets of feelings will just have to wait until the future.

I will leave with some pictures of some of the amazing people I have met here.

Until next time…

Another year come and gone.

Grandma and her flowers from her garden... You wouldn't believe how hard I had to fight to get her into this picture...



The slow one...



Before the massive Chicken khorovats. About 13kg worth...



People at the Birthday Party. Complete awesome-ness



Michael, David, Kyle, Me, Grandma, Hector, Emily, Christa, Chris. Hector, your head looks huge... Goodbye Grandma.

This past Sunday was my birthday (Brandon, I expect a happy birthday email from you…). Another one which will certainly be memorable for years to come. I am fortunate to have memorable birthdays, such as my 16th when my parents threw me a surprise birthday party, or my 21st when the Dickersons’ and my family went to eat together at a restaurant, or last year’s when perfect strangers talked to me for three hours coming home from Yerevan and toasted me with candy due to the lack of vodka.

Friday, I went into Martuni to meet some other PCVs and to hang out a bit. Emily and Mike came in from out of town in addition to some other volunteers. Saturday, during the day, we stayed low, not doing much. We were going to climb the volcano but the weather had other plans. We instead got ready for the khorovats (BBQ) we were going to have. Around 5:00 we started preparing. Around 7:00, twenty volunteers showed up. They were not all there for my birthday, but I guess in a sense they were. It was really cool. These are volunteers from all around Armenia, some as far away as Goris, a 6-7 hour bus ride away. It was really great.

The BBQ came out really good as well. Brian and Chris made coleslaw and Emily made Apple Pie. No birthday cake, but honestly, when you have that many friends together with BBQ do you really need anything else… the answer is no. So, to all those who came out to Martuni, thank you. Also, thanks to all of you who posted on my facebook wall. It’s funny the people who come out of the woodwork to wish you a happy birthday, people I haven’t spoken to in years. Really cool.

Sunday morning, all the volunteers who stayed at our house, came to my village to wish my Grandma farewell. It was really nice of them to come out. Emily, Crista (Emily’s friend from the States), Kyle, Mike, Chris, David (even though he never stayed here) and Hector came over. I just wanted to drink coffee with Grandma, but she had different plans. She was running around making potato something and would not just sit down. Finally I got her to sit down. We took a group photo together. I was glad to hear that she was excited about going to Belarus. It has been great living with her, but I understand that when I have to go to Yerevan quite a bit for work its just lonely if you don’t have family around.

Monday and Tuesday of this week I was in Yerevan doing doctor school applications. It is not fun and rather draining. You know you have to individually type in all the classes you took in college. They want an official transcript too. I don’t understand why they don’t just look at the transcript to see your grades.

This week, thus far, has been rather weird. I just came back from school, and there are no more classes. It’s basically a teacher’s work day. Tomorrow there are some exams and then, that’s it.

Taking down photos off my wardrobe has been the hardest thing to do so far. Many of you may not quite understand this, but my room has been somewhat of a sanctuary for me. This is the one place where I feel comfortable all the time, where I get some of my strength back. The idea of this room and leaving it, is hard on its own. Definitely a mental thing, but nonetheless, something I will have to get over. Come this Friday, I will become a guest of the village, no longer a resident.

The upcoming challenges will not be easy, but I have applications, and jobs to search and my Description of Service to keep me busy. Peace Corps says that the transition back to the US is harder than the transition to the country you are serving. I’m starting to believe it. Things are starting to feel numb. Too many emotions and not enough strength to deal with them.

(I assure you that the remaining blogs will not all be reflective and nostalgic. This will be my toughest transition week. It will get better.)

Until next time…