Stories from Shahumyan

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This is the table and old iron bed where I can study in the afternoons.

 

On Sunday, our only day with no school, I went to a church service with one of the volunteers and her "family".   We took a marshutni to Vanadzor and walked a few blocks to a newish small church built by disapora members.   Several very old stone carvings, mostly ornate crosses, were placed into the stonework itself or mounted in a rose garden outside the church.  The service reminded me of pre-Vatican II Catholic services.   Lots of ritual.   When we entered, Hasmik, the head of my friend's family, bought candles for each of us.  We lit them and placed them in raised boxes filled with sand.   Most of the women wore scarfs on their heads.  The church held about 6 rows of pews.   A choirmaster and a choir of 5 teenage girls sang at various times.    When the priest entered, he was in full regalia, burgundy silk floor length robes imprinted w/ gold designs.  An incense bearer came with him and filled the chapel w/ incense throughout the service.   A good portion of the service was chanted, similar to Jewish services I have attended.   We left after about 45 minutes.  I understand the service continued for another 30 minutes or so.   Mimi and I basically mimicked Hasmik.  When she stood, so did we.  When she sat, ditto.  A good spiritual experience.  Very peaceful. 

 

A couple of farm stories.  I was sitting on our porch watching the chickens and geese.   Grigor decided I needed to get a bee experience, strode over to the bee hives and plucked a bee from one of the busiest.  He held it in a way that it would not be injured – a delicate hand – brought it over to me, and squeezed the bee right above my finger.  A drop of honey came out.   It was delicious.  I think that is all the honey I will get until late summer when he  harvests the honey from the hives.  

 

Grigor and Sveta have been working with armloads of wool for several days.  This is wool straight from the sheep and let me tell you, these are not clean storybook sheep.   First they hung it on fences to let the rain do some of the cleaning.  Then, Sveta put a large amount of wool on a raised wire screen and proceeded to beat it with a big stick.  I'll try to include a pic of that.  That cleaned it a bit more.  Then it was hung in another place and pulled and pulled to help make it soft.  Then she took some of that wool and did more pulling and pulling by hand.  It is a laborious process and done without any machines or helpful tools other than the screen and the stick.   The final product is very soft.   Sveta puts the wool in our mattresses and quilts.  The quilts are about 2 inches thick and very comfortable for sleeping.   The mattresses are about 3 inches thick and also comfortable.   My pillow is filled w/ feathers from their geese. 

 

I am enjoying experiencing the farm life.  It is very hard work.  I think it requires real dedication to live that life these days.   Certainly Sveta and Grigor put their hearts and their backs into the farm.  Sveta was correcting my Armenian in one of my homework assignments.  I wrote they lived on a farm.  She explained to me in a combination of Armenian and English aided by my trusty dictionary that cows live on a farm.  They have a farm.   I changed the verb. 

 

The language continues to be a challenge and the main focus of my pre-service training.   We must test out at a novice-high level to be sworn in as a real volunteer.   I'm aiming for one notch higher, intermediate-low.   However, I will be happy just to get a "pass".  

 

After we are sworn in, we get a large allowance for tutors and I intend to take every advantage.   While I learn new words every day, new tenses, etc., my understanding of spoken Armenian remains extremely low and I have nowhere near the skills I would need to conduct business in their language.   I believe my counterpart at the NGO speaks some English.  I'm supposed to meet her in a couple of weeks.  PC holds a counterpart conference to have us meet the people with whom we will work the closest and then sends us to our actual sites for a few days where we visit the workplace and stay at our new host homes.   It will be nice to get that kind of orientation before I actually move to Gyumri.  

 

Back to tanayeen ashkatank (homework).  

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Assignment day

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This was lunch on Thursday - dolma, two salads with lots of vegetables, homemade cheese and bread, cherries, strawberries, pastry, cookies and fudge (my sister Bobbe's contribution). 

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That's my school at the end of the road.  I see this Mama and baby cow on the way home.  

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the road to my school.   I see this man most every morning.

On Wednesday, all 46 volunteers received their final site assignments.  Big day.  We are divided into 4 service groups.  The admins had us all gather outside around a map drawn in chalk on the asphalt open area around the school.  The groups rotated, calling out a name at a time and the PCV went to stand at his/her place on the map.  Current volunteers in the various areas were there also.  It was a very festive and exciting time.  Afterwards, we heard information about our areas and each got a folder with details about our assignments.  It was followed by a pizza party. 

I am assigned to Gyumri,  the second or third largest city in the country.  It is in the NW corner of the country and while it is supposed to be quite cold in winter (along w/ most of the rest of the country), amenities abound.  Restaurants, cultural events, and many other city activies.  I have a project w/ a large international NGO working in the area to help smaller communities with business development, from helping generate idea to how to organize themselves and a business, etc.   I met another volunteer who works at the same NGO.   Her name is Betty, (Elizabeth but she prefers Betty).   She is from LA and says if she can take the winter, anyone can.   I have to agree with her.  We had a great time getting acquainted.   The party was great fun - then, back to studying language.   Everyone says knowing the language as well as you can is a must.   Emphasized over and over.   I'm spending most of my spare time studying except for the occasional trip to Vanadzor to use the internet.  I'll try to include a few pics of the village with this post. 

In addition to the language work,  we have been given practicum assignments.  I will be working w/ two other volunteers in my small village to find out the business history of our community and work w/ various citizens to develop possible business options.  Our output is supposed to be a complete business plan.  Quite an imposing task given we are speaking at a 3-week learning level.   Our teachers will help us with meetings and such.   The overall responsibility for developing, designing and delivering the project is in the hands of the three volunteers.  While I am excited about it, I also recognize the amount of extra work this adds, when I am already spending most of my time studying. 

Today is Saturday, June 23.  Some of my colleages are at our school in Vanadzor, learning Armenian dance and song.  I decided to write all of you and visit the shooka before I meet colleagues and a young Armenian woman who is an English teacher and wants to practice her English with Americans at a local restaurant.  

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Saturday, June 16

update – first trip by myself – Saturday, June 16

 

two firsts today – first ride on a marshutni by myself and first visit to a neighbor

 

After class today, a fellow volunteer and I went to Vanadzor – me for internet café and him for a variety of reasons.   I wanted to stay a shorter time so I took the marshutni home by myself.   Its not too hard as long as I stay on the two streets I know.  Fortunately, there is a lot on those two streets including the internet café, the shooka an equivalent of a small grocery store, a stationery store, bank, etc.   

 

The experience today was similar to getting a bus in the US.  Wait at the bus stop.  Look for a vehicle with your bus number.  Get on.  Unlike the US,  you pay the driver when you get out.   I live right across from the last marshutni stop in Shahumyan, so as long as I get on the #13 bus,  I can't get lost. 

 

The second first experience was a visit to a neighbor with Sveta.  We visited a woman who works with Grigor and lives fairly close to our house.   This apparently was a request by Yelena to Sveta to bring the Amerikatsi over.   I say apparently as my Armenian is not strong enough to be certain of any conversation even with dictionaries. 

 

We walked over to her house about 6:30 pm and were seated at the table in the combo living/dining/bedroom.  As with the few houses I have seen so far, rugs everywhere, on the floors, on the walls, on all the furniture. 

Yelena went into the kitchen and brought out one thing at a time – a platter of pastries, a plate with some kind of sweet cake baked in a roll, a dish of chocolates, plates, knives and forks, and finally, that wonderful Armenian coffee.  Sveta and I complimented her on each item.  My contribution was mainly "shat lav" (very good), gheretseek (beautiful) and hamov (delicious).   She showed us her clothwork, needlepoint and crocheted items.   She obviously is very proud of them and the work is very nice.   Grigor came over for awhile, had a cup of coffee.  He then went outside, took a scythe and cut down a two foot high swath of grass and wild greens in her yard.   Good neighboring at work.   He then took home a bundle of the remains (food for some of his animals. 

 

Today, Sunday, Sveta and I are going into town (Vanadzor) to visit another friend.  I think this will be more elaborate – jhash, eaten midday, is the main meal in most houses.   Supper is called antrek and is generally a more modest meal.   Then we will go to the shooka, get some vegetables and come home. 

 

Small annoyance – I left my wonderful tilly hat somewhere yesterday – either the internet café or the marshutni.  It is such a terrific hat,  I will order a new one if it doesn't turn up in one of the marshutnis.  I'm hoping Sveta can ask for me as my language is still too primitive. 

 

I study 2 to 4 hours every day after class and more on Sunday.   The memorization of the vocabulary is what is killing me.  Once I get that, I'll have to work on word order and endings (grammatical issues).   But you have to have words first. 

 

Things I don't miss:  tv, ice, diet pepsis, newspapers, daily news stories, movies, lots of stuff around.

 

Things I miss:  my friends and family, Asheville, my house, my garden, my spices and condiments, wearing different shoes every day, my Hawaiian shirts. 

 

Things I really like here:  beautiful location in the mountains, my room with its mountain view,  my Armenian family, language class, village life (cows have right of way, the goose family with papa, two mamas and 10 goslings), virtually no vehicle noise, Armenian vegetables and fruit, my fellow kamovars and this whole adventure.

 

I will try to send this on Wednesday when I am in town for the group class.  However, Wednesday is find out permanent location day and it may be packed too full for me to get to the café. 

 

Still having problems w/ the blog and aol.  Anyone who wants to write me should use my gmail address:  elizpou@gmail.com.   Thanks for your patience.   Emails appreciated and read tho responses may take awhile.   

 

TUESDAY update.  Had a chance to get to Vanadzor today and my tilly hat was hanging on a hook.  They saved it for me. 

 

The Sunday dinner:  A very nice family - mother, father, daughter.  The daughter is an English teacher so communication was not an issue.  I am the first foreigner she has ever spoken with in English so she appreciated the opportunity to practice.   

 

Dinner was huge - chicken croquettes, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, yoghurt, cherries, strawberries, cake and ice cream.   I kept saying koost (full!) and they kept putting more things on my plate.   As typical with first meeting with an Armenian family,  there were lots of questions about my family.  I brought a few pictures along and looked through their family album.  We also watched a video of their granddaughter who lives in Russia with her parents.  Many Armenians work in Russia because of unavailability of jobs here.   The daughter and father sang beautifully and gave us two songs, with the daughter accompanying on the piano.   It was a treat. 

 

After we waddled out of the apartment - 4th floor walkup - we went to the shooka and bought vegetables.  I actually spotted a head of romain lettuce.  So last night I made tossed salad for the family which was new to them (lettuce w/ lots of veggies and a vinegrette dressing). 

 

I'm going to try to put some pics in this email.   I hope it makes it to the blog. 

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view from the school where I take language class

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papa goose chasing the chickens away from the food so the goose family can have more to eat.

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morning view from my window.  Cows have right of way in Shahumyan. 

 

Signing off.

 

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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new posting

Week 2 in Shahumyan

 

Hello, faithful readers

I'm writing this on Tuesday, June 12, 2007.  I hope I can post it tomorrow but no guarantees.   Last Saturday,  I went to town with the other volunteers and was blessed with an internet café that worked well.  I had nearly 200 emails stacked up on AOL.  

 

My email access will continue to be minimal over the next 10 weeks.  After August 15, I transfer to my permanent site and a new host family.   I will have a regular job and may have more opportunity there. 

 

Meanwhile,  I'm really enjoying Shahumyan village and my wonderful host family.  If I don't get to load some pics this time,  I should be able to soon.   The mountains are beautiful, lush w/ summer green.  Every time I walk to school I want to burst into "The Hills Are Alive….".  Thankfully,  I haven't…  yet.   I'm enjoying living on a working farm with the geese, cow, sheep, goats, chickens, dozens of bee hives and two pigs.   Sveta and Grigor both have day jobs tho Sveta's is part time and they are up at 6 and still working at 9 most evenings.  Sveta makes wonderful bread, cheese and yoghurt.  Tonite, we had an Armenian soup that combined yoghurt and wheat (looks like  hulled wheat berries).  Quite good.

 

Language continues to be a bear.   My brain feels like a sieve.  I hear and say a word several times and 5 minutes later, its gone.  And, of course, as the lessons continue, complexities, grammatical and otherwise, increase.  Not to mention the list of nouns, verbs and other words to memorize.   Tomorrow, we are supposed to go to one of the stores in the village and try out our newest phrases (Are there…(vegetables, fruits, etc)?).   The stores in the village are basically tiny "convenience" stores tucked into what looks like old railroad container cars.  One is across the street from my house.   Vanadzor is the closest town for internet access and the location of the PC's pre-service training group.   All 46 of us meet there one day a week.   We only have an hour for lunch so I will have to dash to find a café and get this message posted.  Hopefully I'll have time to include some photos. 

 

Except on Peace Corps days when we go to Vanadzor in their vans, the travel to town is by marshutni.  Think old mini-vans with less than pristine interior and exterior conditions.  The cost to ride to Vanadzor is 100 dram, about 30 cents.   One of the marshutni stops is by my house.   The ride in takes about 20 minutes.   Bus #13 comes every 20-30 minutes and stops at several convenient places in Vanadzor.    The buses are designed to seat about 12.  That number is merely a suggestion to its riders.  On the way home last week from our trip to town,  I counted 21 people at one point.  Obviously, not everyone gets to sit down in those conditions.   Smoking is permitted.   Fortunately, it's a short ride.  

 

Next week, we find out the location of our permanent assignment.  The project director for my group was here today and met with each of us (this is the community and business development group).   He is a bright, thoughtful man and appears to have made careful decisions about placement for each of the volunteers in his CBD group.   He talked a bit more about my new situation although location and specifics cannot be revealed until next week.    My new host family (after August 15) consists of a couple about my age – no children at home.   It is supposed to be a nice house and close to where I will be working.   All will be revealed in the fullness of time.   Meanwhile, I need to finish prep for my teaching session tomorrow.  All volunteers were asked to prepare a 10 minute teach on any topic they wish.  I can't decide between how to grow heirloom tomatoes and how to make Bobbe's fudge.   I think the former will win out as I do not have her recipe here and I dare not wing such an important task.

 

To be continued.

 

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Thurs June 8

Thursday -  NOTE – I've not been able to use aol or google to get mail.   Dont know when this will be resolved.   This particular internet cafe has firewall blocked  aol and today google won't load.    Finally into gmail.  Pics from my word doc wont load.  Maybe next time.

 

- Tuesday – June 5 – yesterday was a big day.   We met our host families and moved in with them.    Nerves atwitter.   We were presented to our host families in village groups.  Mine was the first to go.    The ceremony occurred outdoors on a paved playing area (basketball, etc).    Each group was led by its languages teachers (each of the 6 villages of volunteers has their own two language teachers) to a young woman holding a round of bread and a bowl of salt.   We each tore off a piece of bread, dipped it in salt and ate it.  Symbolic of life and strength.    Then we were introduced to our families.    Mine includes Sveta, the mother, Grigor, the father and three older sons, two of whom do not live at home. 

 

 

     Sveta and Edmund met me.  Grigor was at work at the village equivalent of city hall.   Garni, another son, called in the afternoon.   He works in Yerevan at the airport and speaks English. Narek is the other son is in the military somewhere.

 

After all 46 volunteers met their families, we were treated w/ a series of folk dances by a local youth group.    Delightful. 

 

I worried Sunday and Monday about not being able to call Bobbe on her birthday.    Once we were at the village, there was no opportunity to go to Vanadzor and my phone card does not work w/ Sveta's phone.  Finally, Edmund volunteered his cellphone and I was able to get out a teary happy birthday.   A bit later, I took my cellphone out, started it up and lo and behold,  it gets a signal and I was able to call her back and wish her HND in a much more cheerful manner.  

 

This morning, I'm feeling great.  Sveta and Grigor have a very nice house, sparkling clean, every floor covered with oriental rugs.    I have my own bedroom.   The toilet is western and works well.  The shower is rigged to the bathtub with a hose attached to a gas water heater.   Hot shower this morning!  

 

The water filter the PC gave me is set up.  Sveta and I shared a pot of tea yesterday and I'm finishing off my morning pot.    Right now some coffee is brewing for me.  Very thick coffee – think serious expresso.

 

Language or lack thereof is not as much a problem as I thought.  She knows a few English words and between that and the dictionary, basics are handled.   I'll be glad to learn enough to have a conversation about other than the basics.   I understand about 20% of what she says and she works with me to figure out enough to get the gist.   

 

Sveta and Grigor are very warm and welcoming.   They put the only easy chair in my room so I would have a nice place to sit.   I am writing this from that chair. 

 

 

My room has a window looking out at this mountainous village.   Goats and cows are roaming around the street outside Sveta's gate.

 

 

The house has a modest amount of land around it where much of it is being used to grow vegetables and flowers.   I saw a tomato section w/ plants about 6 " high.   Their peonies are about to bloom which should give you an idea about the progress of summer.    They have sheep, ducks and chickens as well as what seem to be outdoor only dogs.  The living room is also the dining room and contains a very new looking Sony TV.   They also have a DVD player for movies.   The kitchen has an elderly gas stove and what looks like a big toaster oven for baking, a modest refrigerator and a newish washing machine.   The latter is quite a luxury.  

 

At lunch yesterday, we had cheese made by sveta – nice, bland,  a sort of stew w/ potatos and meat  – very good,  meat was baaaa (that's how Sveta let me know it was sheep), tender and delicious, sliced cucumbers, a pickled hot pepper, bread and pastry, also made by Sveta.  

 

Updates will be weekly at best.  There is no internet access in this village or at least not in this house so I will have to get to an internet café on the one day a week we go to Vanadzor for a whole group day.   

 

Meanwhile, my 6 colleages and I will go to language class every morning (9 to 1:30) in a local school and study all afternoon.   As soon as I learn my way around and how to say where I leave – acquire some more language skills – I'm sure some of the other vols and I will trek to Vanadzor by ourselves.   It is only a 20 min ride and I live very close to a bus stop (marshutney, a mini van) with a regular schedule.  

 

 

Monday, I met with the program manager for the business/community development area –in PC-speak, CBD - and got an idea of what my assignment might be.   No specific location information yet.  Large town (I guess that's smaller than small city) – international NGO working w/ local villages in the area for small business development.   I will help w/ business plans and other needs of those in the villages trying to develop their businesses – could be org stuff, English clubs and who knows what else.    Another volunteer who has been there a year also works at this NGO.   I will work with an Armenian counterpart.   The program manager (Arshak) said in year two I may teach human resources at an adult level.    Success at all of this depends on language acquisition, so if the updates don't come regularly, don't worry.  I intend to focus on learning this language.   Today's lesson – we start learning the unique Armenian alphabet. 

 

I haven't even mentioned the wonderful group of volunteers.  The

CBD group is particularly strong – 10 people, 5 of them in the over 50 group.  Seven of the 10 are in my village.  The other three are with part of another program group in another village.  

 

PS,  I'm loving this adventure.  The PC has provided excellent resources and definitely made thoughtful decisions on placement.  Arshak knew all about me from studying the resume and other material I sent in.    My host family could not be nicer.  And who knows – I may get to pat a sheep before I'm thru.  Excitement and eagerness are the prevailing emotions this morning.     

 

Update:  Wednesday, June 06, 2007 – lunch today was the best yet – fresh tomatoes that tasted like tomatoes, cucumbers, cooked spinach, cooked wild greens, salami, lavash, cheese and the remains of yesterday's chicken soup.   Yum.  Grigor raided his bees for me and Sveta's friends this afternoon.   Peanut butter and honey with lavash.   

 

 

Off to study now.  I hope I can send this tomorrow when I am in Vanadzor for class.

--   
Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

Armenia at 6 am

We are arrived. I wish I had the time and the words to describe the
reception we received here. After three days of travel logistics, we
arrived at the Yerevan airport at 6 am, gathered out 100 pounds each
of luggage, not counting carryon, loaded that into a truck and
climbed on a bus. We received a little goodie bag with water, juice
and of all things, a snickers bar. After about 20 minutes, the bus
stopped at the driveway ending in a ruin, backed by the glorious Mt.
Ararat. Waiting for us on the steps of the ruin were 80 or so
cheering, clapping PC vets of classes 13 and 14. We are A-15. It
was a splendid reception. For the first time I really go the feeling
that I am part of something special. The veterans feted us w/ coffee
and donuts, introduced us and each other and after good conversation,
numerous pics with Ararat in the background, we got back on the bus
and headed for Vanadzor.

I'll have to give you details later. We're being hustled onto buses
to internet cafes and I am not going to get time to send you any pics
for a week or so. We are scheduled for every second. I'll describe
Vanadzor and the rest of the trip later. Right now, we're in an old
camp building. I'm sharing a two room "suite" – with 3 other women –
4 bunkbeds – so we each get a bottom bunk. Bathrooms down the hall.
My first squat toilet experience. Excellent lunch – if the rest of
Armenian food is this good, I'm going to love it. We move to our host
families next week on Monday. I do have some really good pics to
share and will have to wait til there is enough of a break in my
schedule to set up an email on a Word doc w/ pics that I can quickly
shove into an internet cafe computer.

Its clear internet access will be limited and of short duration each
time. Patience.

Love, Elizabeth Lynne

--
Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801