This last week has been a blur. We started off on Tuesday with a two day conference where each volunteer met his or her counterpart. That's the local person who is supposed to be your colleague at the new workplace. Mine is a bright committed 28 year old woman who reminds me of the pioneering feminists. She has already forged a good career path for herself. Without regard to the fact that few jobs are available in Armenia, she has "made her own luck" and found opportunities where none existed.
After two days filled with planning for the future, we took off for Gyumri, the 2nd largest city in Armenia. I spent the rest of the week there. On Friday and Saturday, my counterpart, Zhanna, took me to some of the villages Caritas (our NGO) has worked with on a community building project. We attended the dedication of a new church and a service at the old one which the community restored. This village was one that was c
ompletely destroyed by the earthquake of 1988 - only the bare bones of the old church remained. The village rebuilt itself about 2 kl from the original site. This is a pic of the church that was rebuilt. The fields surrounding the church allowed for a couple of Wyath type pics. That one comes next.
ompletely destroyed by the earthquake of 1988 - only the bare bones of the old church remained. The village rebuilt itself about 2 kl from the original site. This is a pic of the church that was rebuilt. The fields surrounding the church allowed for a couple of Wyath type pics. That one comes next.
Doesn't this look like an impressionist painting? Its amazing how a site of such destruction can be so beautiful. The wildflowers are gorgeous now. Everywhere I ride these days, my vision is filled w/ a blur of white, yellow and purple against a bright green background. The area where I live now is especially pretty. While this shot of the Gyumri area looks nice now, the hills are without trees and I understand the area looks pretty grim once the winter gets its grip. My new host family is very nice. I am living on a street in the middle of town (short walks to everything important) and about 20 yards from the entrance to my house is my worksite. Such a deal! And the work is going to be challenging and rewarding - at least as far as I can tell after two days with work colleagues. I'll expand on this after I move there mid-August.
My host family has a lavash bakery on the first floor of their house. Wonderful smells and hot lavash right out of the oven is amazing. This is a pic of the courtyard inside the entry gates. The family has another property across the street w/ additional outdoor space and lots of fruit trees (apples, pears,cherry), berry bushes -the raspberries are ripe now and delicious-and a walnut tree.
The host husband raises birds. The cages are in this picture. They look like parakeets and cockateels. There is a family dog that is an actual pet. The house is nice - most conveniences. Two bathrooms - very clean. The one drawback is no hot water and no 24 hour water, so bucket baths in the bathroom. However, the sink in the bathroom is the size of about three sinks put together and since it is raised up, there is not much bending involved. Emma, host wife, heats up two big pots of water, pours them into the giant sink, then I stand in the tub and proceed to clean everything with the help of a couple of pitchers. Time consuming but not too bad at all. Emma is an excellent cook and the three meals - 2 breakfasts, one dinner were delicious.
Gyumri has several restaurants - I joined other volunteers (there are several of us in the city) for dinner at a Georgian restaurant. I'm not sure I can tell you that much about the cuisine except that its tasty and there is alot of cheese involved.
Another night, the program director of Caritas invited me to her house along with sever
al others for a lovely afternoon and evening of eating and talking. The next pic shows something completely anomolous to me - this man came into the dinner followed by this cute little poodle who then proceeded to jump into his lap and stay there the entire time. This is not culturally typical. Everyone there seemed to take it for granted so I did too.
al others for a lovely afternoon and evening of eating and talking. The next pic shows something completely anomolous to me - this man came into the dinner followed by this cute little poodle who then proceeded to jump into his lap and stay there the entire time. This is not culturally typical. Everyone there seemed to take it for granted so I did too. Now, I'm back "home" and except for two city days this week, back to the regular schedule of language classes and studying.
Love, Elizabeth
