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
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801
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