Where has she been?

Dear Faithful readers,  

I 'm surprised at how long its been since I last posted.   This has been a whirlwind of a summer.   Here are a few highlights:

- new vols have come, completed pre-service training and been sworn in.    I visited the training site a few times for presentations.   The most popular was the cooking day when several of us made a big array of dishes for the new vols.   I made satay salad (really yummy), humus, salsa and lavash chips.   Other dishes included egg rolls, pad thai, date bars and choc chip cookies.   The newbies were wowed.   After nearly two months of Armenian food only, they were really happy to experience some variety and glad to find out that its all doable w/ local ingredients. 

- the old vols have left.   I find I miss the friends I made, especially the Gyumri vols.    One of them (Scott) announced in July that he was engaged and would get married as soon as he left service in August.    Here are scott, brian and Dominic on the day Scott told us about the engagement.   That's scott on the left with glasses.   

Fourth of July party at Brian's place.   

Another good bye dinner at my friend Anahit's house.   That's her baby in the swing and her husband w/ the beard. 

- went to a Green camp in July.   This was a group of 40 kids led by Armenian and Peace Corps counselors - one week day camp w/ a focus on environmental issues.   My friend Patti and I cooked for the counselors every night.    

Here are all the kids after they had cleaned up trash at a local park.   

I have more news and more pics which I will  add to another post.