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.
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Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801
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