Can I have a glass of water please?

Last year as I was visiting Spitak in preparation to move here, I had a meeting with my counterpart to be at my host families’ house. She called about an hour ahead of time, informing me that she was on her way to meet me. I quickly threw on my best cloths, wanting of course to make a good impression on this woman who I knew would be everything in Spitak. After I got dressed I ran out to the porch to wait for her. I waited and waited and waited. Finally I gave up and went back inside; not knowing what was taking her so long.
About an hour later as I was taking my mid-day nap, I was woken up when my counterpart walked into my room, laughing. The first thing that I noticed was that her hair was wet, dripping in fact. When I shook her hand, I noticed it was not only her hair that was wet but she was completely drenched. I must have looked puzzled because she began to laugh as she told me that kids had dumped water on her. As she said this, I vaguely remember that I had heard about some kind of Armenian water holiday. She explained to me that it was Vardavar, a day when all Armenians celebrate by playing in water in general, but mostly by throwing water on each other. The greatest thing, she told me, was that you could even throw water on Tatiks and they don’t get mad.
At the time I was a little disappointed, I was staying with a host family and they had told me nothing about it. Not a single splash of water was made that whole day with my family. They never even mentioned it to me. I was sad that I didn’t get the opportunity to experience my first Armenian holiday.
So this year, now that I live in the city center, I was a little bit excited to finally get to experience this water day. The truth is it’s so hot here, that a bucket of water on your head actually sounds nice! As I prepared for my morning run, I wrapped my Ipod in plastic, prepared for the day. I walked to the park, and surprisingly enough I didn’t see a single person outside. I ran for an hour around the lake, and not a single soul was around, which is defiantly not the norm, usually I have groups of boys that sit and watch me run… It was actually a little bit eerie. It was so hot outside too! I began to walk up the stairs to go back to my apartment. There were two Armenian women in front of me dressed in nice cloths and high heels. I began to think that maybe this holiday wasn’t really celebrated in Spitak that much. Then I hear a splash of water hit and screams erupt from the women. I looked up and saw a group of boys waiting above the stairs with buckets of water, water bottles and plastic bags of water. The women began to yell at the boys telling them that they didn’t even know them so they couldn’t throw water at them. They were really pissed off, I had to laugh as it reminded me of my mom a little! She would hate this holiday!
So as I reached the top of the stairs, I braced myself for a splash of cold water, to tell you the truth after running miles in the hot sun, I actually wanted water to be poured on my head. But there was nothing. Just the group of boys standing there all looking confused. They had the water ready, but seemed as if they didn’t quite know what to do. Then I saw that they were looking directly at Sophie who was out in front of me on her leash. They began to walk away in the other direction, one asking the other, can we water the dog? Maybe it bites. So I had my first brush with vardavar but I came out un-scathed.
As I walked to my building, there was a 10 year old up on the balcony, waiting with a bucket of water. He politely waved to me and said hello Miss Alyssa. Once again he didn’t dare to dump water on me.
So I went on with the day as normal, me and Sophie came back home and took our mid-morning nap, but after awhile we were awoken by screams outside the window. I walk out to the balcony where I see a water war going on between kids below. On my neighbors balcony a group of my younger neighbors have gathered all with buckets of water. They say hello to me and ask if I know that it is a holiday. I laugh and say I do. They tell me that they feel the need to throw water on me. I laugh because I know I am too far for them to reach, and on the top story so there is no chance. They try anyways and waste bucket after bucket of water in hopes that it will hit me. Downstairs there is a commotion as a young man dumps a bucket of water on a mom who decided that she was untouchable because she had a newborn in a stroller. Apparently she wasn’t. They boy then begins to taunt me, telling me to come down and play with them. I laugh and decline. The girls on the balcony next to me attempt to throw water on me once more, I laugh at their futile efforts. As I am laughing cold water covers my head. I am drenched! I look behind me and see the back of one of my neighbors running out my front door. She had run into my house, out on my balcony, as I was distracted, and dumped a bucket on me. My door wasn’t locked! I had no idea that someone would just come into my house to get me. I am completely stunned, as I am standing there soaked. Everyone looking up at me, suspended, waiting for a reaction. I begin to laugh, and they laugh with me.
I quickly lock the door and change into my bathing suit. This is going to be messy. I sit out on my balcony and watch the festivities below as secretly I am preparing buckets of cold water in my house. I don’t throw a single bucket while I am on my balcony, as the kids are already soaked, and really I just have revenge on my mind. Everyone thinks I must not be into it. Finally the kids go inside and so do my neighbors. This is my chance, I know that my target will have to leave the apartment next door to go downstairs to her apartment. So I wait, bucket in hand at my peephole. Five minutes pass and nothing, then ten. I am about to give up, when I hear a door open. I look through the whole and see her plaid shirt. I throw my door open and release a whole bucket of water right on top of her dry head. She screams and begins to laugh and run away from me. She screams to me that she will get me back. Not likely I say.
So I lock my door and go back to doing whatever I was doing. I vow not to go outside for the rest of the day, which seems easy as it’s already 4 pm. I watch a movie and begin to make dinner all the time hearing splashes of water and bursts of screams. I laugh, knowing I am un-touchable. I realize I have no bread, but decide to do without it for the night. Then my cell phone goes off. My best friend sends me a text. Uh-oh I think when I hear the ring, I hope I have dram on my phone. I look at the text, it’s asking me if can meet her in Yerevan. The type of text you have to answer. I press *122* into my phone and wait for it to respond with the amount of dram I have left. It beeps and lets me know that there is 6 dram left on my phone. Not enough to send even a single text. So I drop call her, thinking she can call me back… She doesn’t call back; maybe she has no dram either.
So I have to go to the local hanoot to get a cell phone card. I listen at the door, and hear screams but they trail around to the back of the building. Everyone is at the back of the building playing, so I can simply go around to the front. Sophie intact, we sneak out of my door and go out the front of the building. Not a soul to be seen except an old tatik and the end of the pathway. She smiles at me, I take it as a sign of encouragement and quickly Sophie and I are off. As we are walking there are basically three rows of balconies that I have to look out for. I look up and all seem to be clear. Then I hear a splash behind me. It doesn’t hit me and when I look up I see nothing. So I walk faster, and splash splash splash, people fill the balconies and are laughing as I walk under them. Nothing hits me; I escape to the stairs un-scathed. I go into the store and they begin to laugh. I ask them why, and they tell me Sophie got jurvesed, or had water thrown on her. I look at her little face and water is dripping from her. She looks miserable. I laugh too. I buy what I need to and am on my way. I walk up the stairs, and the same tatik is there. She offers me a bowl of cherries, and tells me to go around the back. I decline her advice, not fully trusting her, as I had a feeling she was in on it last time. I tell her I will take the front, and she takes my bag of bread, wraps it tightly and turns it upside down. I look up and people are in the baronies laughing. I laugh back, they won’t hit me, their aim sucks, I think to myself. So I begin to walk very calmly to my apartment. Bags of water, essentially acting as water balloons come crashing down as I walk. Not a single one hits me. I look back and Sophie hasn’t moved an inch. She is in fact trying to get out the other way, back down to the store. Crap! I have to go back under the balconies to get her. One bag hits my foot, but doesn’t explode. I grab Sophie is soaked with water, tuck her under my arm and begin the other way again. Once again the bags are tossed but don’t hit. VICTORY is almost mine. One more door to pass and then I will be at my apartment. I begin to pass the door, almost home I think, prideful. And then I feel a crash upon my head. Cold water shocks me into confusion. I look up and see nothing. There is no bag around my feet or on my head. Then I sense movement behind me, a big fat man with a huge smile on his face is standing there laughing at me. I guess they learned they needed a new tactic. He had ran all the way down stairs and threw a bucket of water on my head. I begin to laugh and a little girl runs over and dumps a cup on Sophie’s head. I take off running, trying to protect my bread!
When we get to my apartment, Sophie runs under the bed, where she stays the remainder of the night. When I call out to her, she glares at me, as if I had thrown the water on her head. She made it very clear, she is not a fan of Vardavar, but in all honestly I am! I can’t wait for next year. Now that I know no one expects the water early in the morning, I am ready to wage water war!!

Can a spotted elephant really ever blend in?

Sitting on a marshuka on my way to Vanadzor, Ipod held tightly in my hand, skipping amongst my favorite Adele songs I crouch into the window, trying to blend in, but knowing that it’s not really possible. The most I can hope for is that my music can carry me into oblivion, that when a group of girls standing nearby start laughing at me, that I won’t notice, that I won’t start to wonder what it is that I am wearing that they don’t approve of today. I stare out the window, and nod my head along to the music, tapping my feet, and enjoying the beautiful hills and wildflowers that have exploded all over the place just within the last few weeks. This is a trip that I make every few weeks, but the beauty of it never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes I feel like my dad, all those times we would go on long drives and he would point out the beauty in the world as I would roll my eyes; only I have no one to point it out to. So I smile to myself, aware that others are watching me, and most likely thinking I am a bit crazy, but I don’t really care. Purple, pink, yellow and green spin around me, filling my soul up with gratefulness, something I have been lacking lately. I look around the bus, wondering if anyone is sharing this feeling with me, wondering if their breath has been taken away by the beauty of their country. Hard stares return my glance, I don’t look away. I return their frown with a smile, trying to spread some of my cheer, but their reality starts to press upon me. The reality of trying to make a better life for yourself when you know there aren’t many opportunities for you because of where you were born. I can see the worries on their faces. The young mother worries about her husband working in Russia, wondering if he will send enough money for her to get by, and trying to suppress the emptiness she feels without him. The young man consumed with how he will make his life better, where can he work? Will he have to follow the many before him and go to Moscow? The middle aged mom thinks of her young son serving in the Army, he has been away for 4 months now and soon they will send him to his permanent assignment. She prays that he will be safe, and far away from the Azerbaijani boarder, and she hopes that he will be able to come home soon to visit, if she is one of the lucky ones. The middle aged man worries about the work that has to be done, his garden is calling him, he has no work, all he can do is make the best of the home that he owns and keep his family eating. The young girl thinks about the exams she must take soon, she hopes that she will do well because she must get into the University in order to make anything of her life. She is trying her best to learn English, but how can she learn when she has no one to practice with. She briefly wonders if she could befriend me, but soon her thoughts go back to her anxiety over her schooling, she has to get out of here, but what if she doesn’t pass? The Tatik worries about her many ailments, her back has been hurting more than usual, and she has been having heart problems, but there is too much work in the home and garden to be done for her to complain, besides her daughter in law doesn’t work hard enough so she must make sure the family has enough to eat.
Their worries and problems begin to make my heart feel heavy again. Armenian energy is often overwhelming; it has begun to have a pull onto my spirit. I turn my head and look out the window again, wanting to go back to the previous moments when life was only beauty, purple flowers and sunshine. I wish they would just take a moment to get out of their head and look out the window. To see the beauty of the world they live in. To see that tangled in the weeds and brush, there are beautiful flowers.
Today over coffee, ice cream and apricots I shared my observations with my counterpart. We spoke about everything I have been holding in. I explained to her that sometimes it feels like there is too much sadness here and that it affects me. We laughed about Spitak people thinking I am a little bit strange because I smile too much. I even told her that I hate to clean house and that I know that people say that I am messy, she laughed and agreed that it is true. I told her how I would rather read books and take long walks and go running and play with Sophie and visit my friends than to clean. How I don’t understand why Armenian women clean all day every day. Yes they have beautiful homes, but how is the quality of life? She laughed and said its true. She took a look around her house and a smile crept onto her face. Don’t tell anyone, she tells me, but I don’t like to clean either. Today I did not clean and I don’t think I will either. Your right, there are better ways to spend your time. We both laugh as I interject and say what about your husband… never mind she says, he gets home when it is dark tonight, he won’t notice! I love how I can find so many similarities with her. I always feel that though we come from different planets she really truly understands me, and I am beginning to understand her and her people. Though I get lonely here, I know that I always have her on my side and I couldn’t be more grateful!

Sophie's got a friend!

This is by far my favorite neighbor in Spitak maybe even my favorite neighbor ever! Every day around 5 I go and sit outside and read while Sophie runs around causing problems and having adventures. My neighbor always comes and sits right by me. We don’t talk so much, but I think she feels that I am alone and should have company. She doesn’t ask me nosey questions about my life and when I am going to get married. She doesn’t complain about me, or come knock on the door to tell me I am doing my laundry the wrong way. She simply sits by me and relaxes.
She also happens to be Sophie’s favorite person in Spitak!!! Sophie loves her so much, every time she sees her she comes sprinting down the hill and jumps all over her. Most Armenians would probably kick Sophie if she jumped on them, but not this neighbor, she simply says Sophie incha, incha. Mernem kez. Sophie what, what, I die for you!! It’s so cute to watch them together!! She always brings bread for Sophie to eat and even comes to tell me when she thinks Sophie is thirsty and needs some water!
When other neighbors get angry at Sophie or scared of her, she defends her. She even told a group of kids who would come to sit with me but were afraid of Sophie not to come anymore. She told them that 5 is Sophie’s time to be outside and if they are scared and are going to cause problems they need to go play somewhere else!!
I am very lucky to have such a kind person in my building, because mostly I feel that my neighbors hate having me here.

The Top Ten Things I Miss about America

So I have been in Armenia for over a year now and in this time my life has completely changed as is to be expected. For the most part I am used to the changes and hardly think about what life was like before. However there are things that about America and being back home that I do miss more than anything. And I am not talking about my family. Obviously I miss my family and my dog more than anything else. I am talking about the little, taken for granted things here.

Feeling Safe
I miss the sense of security that I always had in America. I lived in Long Beach which a lot of people consider to be a little bit or a lot (depending on who you talk to) ghetto. Yet I always felt safe there. I could sit in my living room with my door wide open and never once had a worry about it. I could wear whatever I wanted to wear and not be afraid that it would draw negative attention to me. And most importantly I could be outside after dark and not worry about it. I would run at 10 pm with no problems and walk Lucca at 2 in the morning without a single fear in my mind. I miss that feeling.
Drug Stores
Most of you have no idea what it is like to be sick and not be able to get the medicine you need when you need it. Something as simple as cough drops you take for granted. Here if I get sick I pray to God that what I need is in my medical kit, because if it is not I will have to make a 2 hour trip to the Doctor’s office in the Capital. 2 hours on a public mini bus is not exactly how you want to be spending your time when you are sick, especially not if you are nauseas. There are ways to have medicine sent to your town or village but it involves a lot of work and coordination and a long walk to get to the meet up point where you look for a random stranger carrying a brown bag of your medicine, which is often awkward. So yes I miss the convenience of Longs and Walgreens very much when I am sick.
Window Screens
In the summer it gets very hot here. As you may have guessed there are no air conditioners so we make due by opening our windows and praying for a nice breeze. In Spitak we get nightly rain storms which help cool things down, but only for awhile. Besides the fact that sometimes keeping your windows open does nothing in the middle of the day, the other major problem is that by leaving your window open you are sending out an invitation to all the flies, mosquitoes and moths in the area to come on in. I really hate bugs, especially mosquitoes so most of the time I am inclined to keep my window closed and deal with the heat, but sometimes it’s just too much and I have to open it. Inevitably it means that I spend much of my time in the summer chasing down flies that get into my apartment and then cleaning up their guts… I know gross!
Dates
I miss going out on dates. Yup I said it. Tommy and I always had the best date nights to look forward to back home. He always thought of amazing places to take me to and romantic things to do. Whether it was teaching me how to surf or taking me to a basketball game, or setting up a romantic fondue dessert station in my living room, we had so much fun! Here dating is nonexistent unless you are in Yerevan. I live in Spitak, people don’t date in Spitak at least not in the sense that Americans do. First of all I am not quite sure what the cultural implications of dating are in my town. Second even if I knew it was 100 percent fine, there is still nothing to do. There are no cafes, no restaurants, no coffee shops, no theaters, no concerts… nothing. Not unless you want to go into Yerevan, which with the last bus leaving from Yerevan to Spitak means you would have to plan an afternoon date, which is kind of weird. You can’t even do dinner nights at your house. My neighbors would never stop talking if a man showed up at my door with flowers in his hands for a dinner date. It’s a very very very conservative culture and it makes being in a relationship very difficult and frustrating and sneaky.
The Ocean and everything that comes with it
I have not been in the ocean for over a year. I use to live a mile from the beach, a mile. Now I live in a land locked country. Armenia is a beautiful country, but my heart can never fully belong to a place that is Ocean less. There is something very soothing about the ocean, and in long beach I use to walk to the beach just to sit near the waves and write in my journal. I miss that serenity. I miss swimming, being emerged in warm clean water and having waves move your body. I miss floating and being weightless, and sun bathing and the smell of the sea.
I also really really really really miss seafood. Seafood has to be my favorite food in the world, especially in the form of Sushi and crab legs. When you grow up in California you are use to some of the best Sushi you can get in the states, because the fish is so fresh! I miss it and crave it and can’t wait to go home in November if for no other reason than cheap delicious sushi and crab legs.
Happy Hour
I miss happy hour, not because I miss drinking and getting cheap drinks, but because I miss getting together with friends at the close of a stressful work day and sharing your stories and bitching and relaxing and laughing together. I miss sipping on a margarita and watching the Laker game as the whole bar cheers and goes crazy together. I miss that part of American culture where friends are just as important in your life as family, and getting together with them outside of work is normal. Here people stick to their families. They don’t really have dinner nights with their friends, or girls nights or any of the cute little nights we have in the US. None of my Armenian friends have ever come over to my apartment for dinner, though I have invited them many times. Dinner is a time spent with their family here. Also women don’t really have friends outside of their family and co-workers so maybe they don’t feel a need to spend time outside of work with their friends. It’s a hard adjustment to get use to, especially when I don’t have the choice of eating dinner with my family, as I don’t have a family here.
Shopping
I have always been something of a shopper. I had my first job at 16, and really had nothing to do with my money other than buy cloths. My friends in highschool would tease me because my closet was impossible to sort through, even though it was color and season coded, because there was so much stuff in it. Even in college when I worked 2 jobs at least, and was always broke, I would find time to go shopping. I know most people would consider it bad, but it has always been comforting to me to wander around in a store and carefully select the things you want and need. I even enjoy the process of choosing between two things that you really want, when you can only afford one. Everything about shopping is comforting to me. I have always been one who believes that when you have a really bad day, or you break up with a boyfriend or when you have a great day and accomplish big goals, that there is nothing better than going and buying yourself something nice. I’ll be honest, I still get the urge here and find myself shopping online, but nothing is as rewarding as being in the store itself.
Being Anonymous
I have always wanted to be the center of attention, maybe it has to do with me being a middle child, so you would think I would love that everyone here always is paying attention to me. I guess this is a lesson in being careful what you wish for. While it’s nice to walk down the street and have people want to help you and talk to you, and invite you into their homes, it’s not so great when they talk about what you are wearing, how you look, how strange you are, or how you hang up your laundry. It’s also not cool that you can get in a small argument with the water lady and how everyone in the whole town will know about it. It has come to the point that now as I walk down the street I simply keep my head down. I don’t want to have to see everyone staring at me. I especially hate it on days when I don’t wear make-up. People always feel the need to tell me that I look sick, or even worse talk to others around them about me looking sick… Yes I miss the days of running to the store in a baseball cap and pj pants and no one caring whatsoever!
Variety
I now fully realize just how amazing California is. There is so much diversity there, that no one really ever stands out for being different because we are all so different. I never have a problem back home remembering names or faces or how I know people. Here in Armenia, people that I have met often come up and talk to me, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how I know them, because they all start to blend together. There really are no ethnicity differences here and it’s strange to me. The lack of cultural diversity means a lack of food diversity. Diversity brings about amazing food combinations and varieties. There was always something new for me to eat in Long Beach. I didn’t even have to go to a restaurant to benefit from the variety of food because the grocery stores always featured new ethnic foods to try. I never got into food slumps in America, never. Here I feel like everything is always the same. No matter who it is that invites me over for dinner or to a party, I know what the dishes will be. I’ve been here a year and I think that by November or December I had tasted all that Armenia has to offer. I am not saying that the food is not delicious, because it is. I love dolma, spas and khorovots, but when you eat those things all the time, they lose their appeal.
Being treated like an Adult-
I don’t think I have been treated like an adult from the moment I have stepped foot into this country. Not by the Peace Corps, and not by host country nationals. Wherever I go I get scolded and reprimanded as if I am a little child. My least favorite words to hear in Armenian are Chi Karali which means you are not allowed. I cannot imagine telling an adult that in America!! However among my neighbors it is their favorite phrase to say to me. Sometimes it’s not even that people are doing anything mean or disrespectful, such as at my school, it’s just that they see me as a little girl. I often have to remind them that I am 27 years old and no matter how many times I tell them that, it shocks them. I think mostly it is because I am not married and do not have children which is unusual here. They don’t know quite how to deal with me because I am not exactly a woman yet to them because I have no family or husband. I think they equate this with me needing to be taken care of. Also the guest culture in Armenia is very prominent, and even though I have been here for a year they still feel as if I am a guest and need to be taken care of. Even when I go to the grocery store I have people follow me around trying to help me because they think that I cannot shop on my own. It’s funny when I tell them back in America I lived on my own, and drove a car and had a job. They honestly find it strange.


And even though life has changed there are some things that are still the same. For example I still walk outside of my apartment in the middle of summer and wish that I could bring my sleeping bad outside to sleep in because it’s hotter in my apartment than it is outside. I am still car accident prone even though I don’t have a car to drive anymore. I still have a boyfriend that I fight with all the time because we don’t understand each other, only this time it’s due to language and not differences in personality, and still the number one fight we get in is over him being late… in fact sometimes life here feels exactly as it was at home. The key difference is I am happy here. I am happy with the work that I am doing and feel satisfied that I am making a difference. In fact I am happier at work now than I am when I am at home whereas in America I was only happy when I wasn’t at work.

An Armenian Excursion.

Excursion: A short journey or trip, esp. one engaged in as a leisure activity. At least that is what the dictionary defines it as.
When my counterpart asked me if I wanted to go on an excursion (the Armenian word is the same as the English) to Desgh with our fifth form class, I was excited for the chance. Who wouldn’t want a Khorvots in a beautiful meadow with their favorite students? Great, she tells me, be at my place at 8:00 am we are leaving at 8:30. 8:30 am?!?! What have I gotten myself into, I wonder. You have to understand Armenians are not known for being morning people, like at all. Neither of the host families I lived with ever went to bed before 1 am and neither ever woke up in the morning before 10 am. They like to stay up late and get up late, it’s just the way they are. In fact when I get up at 7 to go running Spitak is a ghost town! I don’t see a single person which is in fact why I choose to go at that time. Even if I wake up late and go at 9, I don’t see very many people out. So I knew that a call time this early could only mean trouble. I mean Desegh is only about a 45 minute drive from Spitak, so I couldn’t see a single reason to leave that early.
Skip forward to the day of our little “Excursion”. I was told not to bring anything that I wouldn’t need a single thing. So I grab Sophie and go! When the Marshotka pulls up to my counterparts house I notice that she has a huge day bag packed full… that is strange I think to myself. We pile into the mini bus, and the children’s parents immediately start to complain that I brought Sophie. I just smile and pretend not to understand. She sits on my lap and behaves perfectly the whole car ride, until about minute 43 when she pukes everywhere… great! When we get to Desegh, we go to the Armenian poet’s museum. It was actually his family’s old house that they turned into a museum. It wasn’t very notable. We then get back in our van and an argument breaks out between my counterpart and the driver. Something about driving to a river, and him saying the car wouldn’t go that far. Soon enough we begin to drive up a rough dirt road. After about twenty minutes the van stops in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. Everyone heads out of the van and begins to unpack the bags and bags of food. We begin to hike to a place my counterpart says is perfect for a picnic. After ten minutes of hiking, I realized I should have brought sun screen, who would have known that we were actually going to have a sunny day?!!? After 30 minutes of hiking we arrived at a spot with trees. One in our party ran into the forrest to check it out. He came back after a few minutes to report that there was no lake there. So we went the opposite direction to another patch of trees. After about 15 more minutes of hiking we discovered there was not a river in that patch either. A few of us threw our stuff down and sat in the shade. I have to admit I was one of those few. I figured I might as well wait till they hiked to the next place because they would most likely be back in our direction soon. As it turned out I was right and the next place didn’t have a river either. So we hiked back down, a whole 45 minutes to where we began. At this point I will admit, I wanted to murder someone. As I have stated before in this blog, I am not so much of a hiker, especially in the heat when there are mosquitos everywhere!!!

So as we got back to our starting point we saw a man on a horse and we asked him where the lake was. It turns out it was about a 30 minute walk in the only direction we hadn’t tried, so off we were again!

Finally we got to the place my counterpart had meant for us to go all along, and as we laid our stuff out, we noticed a bus driving up a perfectly fine road… turns out our bus could have driven us there I the first place!!! So after about 3 hours of hiking and being in the sun I was already worn out. I had expected the trip to really only be 5 hours in all so I figured it was fine that we would eat and be home soon. I laid out my blanket and Sophie and I fell asleep. I think we slept for about an hour. When I woke up a fire was being built. Yess, lunch time I thought… only they were only preparing coffee. The moms sat around and drank coffee and the kids played. I kind of just sat on my blanket, the only thing that I did bring, and read.
After another hour or so, they began to BBQ. It was finally time to eat! At this point it was about 3pm, the time I had expected to be on our way back to Spitak. But we had an amazing meal and so I couldn’t complain. After lunch I played volleyball with my kids for awhile until the heat was too much for me. When I sat down, it was apparently time for dessert. Another round of plates were set out and everyone once again sat down to eat. After dessert a group of people made a walk to the water, but I was feeling a little bit sick so I went back to sleep. I woke up at around 6 thinking it must be time to go now, but to my surprise not a single thing was cleaned up. Everyone was just sitting around talking. I went over to my counterpart to ask her if we were leaving soon, she smiles at me and tells me know, thinking I would be glad. A little part of me screamed inside! When are we going to leave!! Aggggh. Basically we didn’t even begin to pack up our stuff to leave until 8pm.
Finally we were on our way home and all I could do was put on my IPOD and try to block the singing kids on the bus out. I thought they would be tuckered out, but somehow they had so much energy still! As we are driving I start to drift off to sleep. I don’t know how long I slept but I woke up when the car stopped. I look around expecting to be back in good ole Spitak, but no. We are at a park. I guess it was time to eat the remainder of the Khorovots and to play again. I don’t really know because I was done. Fed up. I felt as though I had been kidnapped and would never return home. I hate to admit it, but I sat in the car the whole time as the children ran around playing and the adults ate. I basically pouted. I know it’s not cool, and that grown ups shouldn’t throw fits, but like a child, I was tired and had a headache and had about 30 bug bites that were beginning to itch, and no water to drink. I was miserable.
Finally at about 10:30 we got home. I have never been so happy to be back in Spitak in my life. Though Desegh was a beautiful place, I have to say, I would have been good with 2 or 3 hours there, not 14!! I may never go on an Armenian excursion again!

If You Give a Little Girl a Camera!

Last Friday was my last day I had to be at school. The children don’t come to classes, but teachers spend the day grading. It was actually pretty boring for me, as you really only need one teacher to grade and though I helped make final decisions about students who were on the edge of a grade, I didn’t really do much. So I spent my day with Larissik! Larissik is the daughter of one of my favorite teachers at my school Manush. She is 5 years old and adorable! We spend most of our time coloring and drawing pictures, but after a few hours she got bored. That is when I took out my camera to show her the pictures from her Kindergarten party. After we looked through the pictures, she wanted me to take more pictures of her…. After I took more pictures of her, she wanted to take pictures of her herself…. After she took pictures of her herself, she wanted to take pictures of everyone and everything! If you give a girl a Camera this is what you will end up with!


A picture of my eyeball...
Me and the Director of my School.
This teacher begged Larissik not to take the picture, but of course the little imp did anyways
The director of my school and Larissik's mom
This by far was the picture that pleased her the most. She took about 20 of them and giggled about it forever afterward.

This is self portrait number 18...
I had one English club that day and during the middle of it Larissik walked in and began to take pictures!!


I actually really like this one she got of my counterpart grading

And this blury one of our P.E. and Army teacher
This one shows the chaos of the teacher's room


And lastly another self portrait of my little doll!


Overall, I think we just may have a little photographer on our hands!

Happy Anniversary Armenia!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today is my one year anniversary with Armenia. One year is a pretty huge milestone in any relationship, and to me it signals the end of the honeymoon phase, well at least as far as shorter relationships go. This anniversary is especially important to me because one year and five weeks ago I sat on my best friend Betsie’s living room couch. It was a Monday, and I hadn’t even received my official invitation yet, but I had found out on Friday that I would be leaving in just over a month’s time. I had known for about two years that I was going to be in the Peace Corps, but my official invitation always got delayed or rescinded so at one point it stopped being real to me. When I was told that I’d be leaving so soon, I had expected to leave in September; I just about had a panic attack. Fear overcame me, and for a few days I just shut down completely. I remember Betsie and I talking about the future and me admitting to her that I wasn’t sure I could leave. I had a “what the heck am I doing” moment, and was frozen with fear. With only about a month to get my affairs settled, and say goodbye to my job and my family, I really didn’t have time to freak out. So together Betsie and I decided that I would go and give it a try, worse comes to worse it would just be a vacation. Even in the best case scenario we decided that after a year I would most likely come back home. I just remember thinking, I can give up everything for one year, but two years and three months, it’s just too much!

So today is the mark of when I told myself I could quit if I wanted to, I have officially been in Armenia for one whole year. I haven’t seen the faces of any of my friends or family for a whole year!! For a girl that went home to see her parents every other week, and would call her sister and brother on a daily basis begging them to come hang out, this is a huge deal to me. It’s hard to even remember what the life that I use to live was like.

The one that included taco Tuesday’s with my co-workers, fro yo date nights with my best friend, weekly dinners and game nights with my sister, concerts with my brother, movie nights with my dad, lunch with my mom, and unconventional date nights with my boyfriend. I remember that I use to complain that I was an obsessive compulsive planner. All I would want was a day where I could stay home and read but somehow I always ended up making plans.

Now here I am in Armenia a year into my service and I see Americans about once every other week, sometimes once a month. Pretty much after Sophie and I go for our evening walk at about 5 all face to face social interaction is done for the day. I interact with students more than I do with adults now, and most of my conversations take place on facebook chat. My life now is about as different as could possibly be from my life a year ago. And while there are days when I miss my family and old life so much that every breath feels labored as if all my love for them is on top of me, putting pressure on my chest, suffocating me and forcing me to feel their absence, most days I am perfectly content here. People always ask me why I am here and don’t I get bored here, and the truth is of course I get bored but sometimes it’s nice to be bored when you compare it with the overload of activities that keep us constantly moving back home.

So here I am one year into my service and I am surprised to discover I have absolutely no intentions of going home anytime soon. I’ve been told that the second the plane set down in Armenia other volunteers had a bet that I would soon go home. I think it mostly had to do with me having dislocated my jaw and being completely miserable my first week in country, but the truth is the moment I got here I feel in love and have never looked back. I feel blessed to be able to live the life that I am living now, to have made the friends and family that I have made here, and to work where I am working now. The truth is I can leave at any time I want to, but as I have recently found out, even if I was asked to leave, I would fight with everything I have to stay here because this is my home now, at least for the time being.

So thank you Armenia for being an amazing place for me to call home in this past year. The memories I have made and will make here will never be forgotten.