This is what the "classroom" looked like in September 2011. There were

broken windows, lots of "stuff" (useful and not), and a floor in disrepair.

The new mathematics classroom at Verishen School was planned carefully over several months but the actual renovation happened in less than seven weeks. In spring 2011, once we had the money in hand for the renovation for the chemistry and biology lab, I drew up a list of eight tasks, that Zarik and I thought would be suitable and valuable for a second project at the school. These included repairing the gym, renovating the computer lab and getting more computers, a language room for German and Russian classes, improving the first and second grade classrooms, and so on. The bathrooms are dismal and unclean, and the auditorium, although serviceable, is in a sad state. However, I didn't include either in the list as Zarik and other senior teachers have made it clear that their first priority was improving the educational facilities. After translating the list with details about each potential project into Armenian and making several edits and alterations, I gave the final list to Zarik in late June for the teachers to select one project before the start of the school year and turned my attention back to the chemistry-biology lab and raising funds for the Goris kindergarten. The science and math teachers met and voted to renovate an unused room in poor condition but in a busy wing of the school and convert it into a room dedicated to teaching mathematics to secondary school students. This choice was ratified by all the teachers at the end of August, immediately prior to the start of the school year. In September and October, Zarik and I, along with the two math teachers, started to plan the new room and asked for estimates from area contractors for the renovation.

We cleaned the room out in March and this is what we gave the contractor to work with.

In November, 2011, I applied for funding from the Peace Corps and USAID and submitted a proposal to renovate the room. The renovation was relatively expensive as extensive repairs were needed. We sought US$4,532 (1,699,400 AMD) for the materials and equipment for the renovation. The Verishen Town Hall agreed to come up with the community contribution of 25% of the total project cost by paying all labor costs associated with the renovation. In January, I submitted a proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program, in which the Peace Corps posts a short description of approved projects on their Web site and receives contributions. We requested $3,327 (1,247,500 AMD) to furnish the room with cupboards, tables, chairs, curtains, and teaching materials. As with the chemistry and biology lab, friends and family contributed generously to this project and it was fully funded by early March and the funds were in my bank account two weeks later. However, it was now clear that the contractor would be unable to begin work on the renovation until the snow and ice around the school from an unusually long winter was gone. The room to be renovated was used for some time as a general storage area and, during March, students and teachers cleared and sorted the material. The weather warmed up towards the end of March, the snow and ice was soon gone, and the contractor started work on April 2.

By January, I understood the teachers' wisdom in selecting the math room as the next project. I assumed they would pick the computer room but the vote reflected the confidence of the teaching staff in the teachers involved and whether they would use the new facility fully, keep it up to date, and continue to augment the materials. The two math teachers are energetic, diligent, and active and, as Zarik said to me tactfully some time after the decision was made, perhaps the computer teacher could make better use of the existing facility.

The room was in poor condition and required extensive renovation including repairs to the floor. In the past, water outside had drained under the school and leaked up through the concrete beneath the floor, damaging the parquetry. To remedy this, the contractor dug a trench outside the room and filled it with concrete to divert water to the west of the building where it could drain downhill and away from the school.

On Sunday May 20, while we were preparing displays for the

opening and the floor varnish was drying, I took a couple of pictures

of the finished and unfurnished room.

Another view of the unfurnished room looking towards the door.

On the left is a sink with an electric hand drier and on the right is a large heater

with a fan that the contractor used to help dry the stucco, plaster, paint, and varnish.

The weather provided additional challenges during the renovation. April and May were cool and damp and the stucco, plaster, and paint on walls and ceiling, and varnish and sealer on the floor dried slowly. However, all work was completed by Saturday May 19 and, after allowing time for the floor varnish and sealer to dry, we were able to move the furniture into the room on the afternoon of Monday May 21, in time for the opening the next day.

We are very happy with the renovation and the work of the contractor. Everything was done as requested and some additional unexpected but welcome additions, such as tile splash boards above the sink and rewiring the hand drier to avoid the use of an extension cord, were provided. The contractor also installed additional radiators in the room and hung the curtains.

The furniture for the classroom came from small businesses in Goris and Verishen. Blackboards, cupboards, and tables were built in Verishen and the chairs were ordered from Goris. Only the hand driers and curtains came from Yerevan.

The support for this project in and around Verishen has been remarkable and many people worked hard to ensure the room was ready for the opening. Zarik and I prepared several displays in the halls outside the room as did the two math teachers. Zarik, the math teachers, the director, and I were at the school for most of Sunday preparing displays while students dropped in and out to help. On Monday afternoon, the furniture maker came by to add shelves to the cupboards and hang the blackboards and the pieces of wood we use to hang posters and drawing equipment from, and helped us to move the furniture into the room. In winter, Zarik and I spent considerable time looking at pictures of classrooms on the Internet to get ideas for the room. Both math teachers did the same and the three teachers compared notes and opted for green furniture and other details.

Looking to the rear of the new, furnished classroom.The cupboards contain books, models, and other teaching supplies.Posters hang from pieces of wood on the walls.

Looking towards the front of the classroom while we were

still busy preparing for the opening the next day.

The opening was a resounding success but it was not without some anxiety. We originally scheduled the opening for Saturday May 19 but then the teachers remembered that May 19 is the anniversary of the death last year of a popular and good student in a car accident. So, out of respect, the opening was changed to May 22 and that was probably a good thing as we would not have been ready by Saturday. On Sunday evening, two days before the opening, the mother of the Syunik marz governor died and her funeral was set for noon on Tuesday in Goris, - the same time as the opening. It was soon obvious that all the politically connected people in Verishen and Goris would attend the funeral. Zarik had worked hard to invite many people and was initially a bit discouraged. The weather on Tuesday morning was frightful. It rained and hailed, the power flickered, and we needed the lights on in the hallway and classroom. However, it improved a bit by noon and after some delay, the opening ceremony began in the auditorium. I invited our regional director and the director of Peace Corps Armenia, a nice and well-meaning person, but one who may be better suited to supervising a boy scout troop. I feel that the director needs to be more familiar with what we're doing in Armenia and the teachers and citizens appreciate it when Peace Corp staff visit. The ceremony started with speeches. The school director spoke and then I followed and this time I had a speech prepared in Armenian and it went reasonably well. I acknowledged the major players in the project and stressed that it was a real community effort. We were entertained by the school choir who then went to Yerevan the next day and won first prize in a competition for school choirs. We all adjourned to view the room with many oohs and ahs, particularly as I had a couple of prints made of the classroom before renovation and Zarik put them up by the door.

The Verishen School choir, which is all young children, sang for us

in the auditorium after the speeches, and they're good.

One of the numerous displays in the hallway outside the room.

On one of the displays, some teachers and students wrote short notes

to me (in cursive Armenian) and in this picture Zarik is reading them.

After the speeches and singing we had a brief inspection of the new room,

and many pictures were taken. Here (from the left) we have Matvey Ghazaryan,

the school director, David Lillie, Peace Corps Armenia director, Meri Arakelyan,

our regional manger, Shoghik Mkrchyan, my Armenian tutor, and me.

Zarik and me feeling happy and relieved in the new classroom.

The celebrations continued in the teachers' staffroom next door with cake, wine and cognac and many pictures. There was real warmth and happiness in the room and, again, I felt very glad to be a part of this community. Four other Goris-area volunteers, the two math teachers, the school director, a physics teacher, the PC director, our regional PC manager, and their driver adjourned to the house for a really first-class lunch. Zarik pulled out all stops. I can't list everything that was on the table but there was a lot – beef and potatoes, pork khorovats (barbecue), dolmas, ighikot, katnashor (curds), tomatoes, cucumbers, and greens, along with lavash and bread as well as wine (apple and blackberry), cognac, vodka, and juice. Austin and I prepared and served coffee and tea and Hrantic offered numerous toasts.

The cake that we ordered for the opening was a masterpiece!

Large, with "Armenian American Friendship" written in both

English and Armenian and a symbolic handshake with the two

flags. It was very tasty as well.

Before the cake was cut, the two math teachers, Manooshak (on the left)

and Emilia, Zarik and I posed in front of it.

Celebrating at home with a full table.

David Lillie, the Peace Corps director was impressed with the community spirit and what we've done here. There may be some rethinking of how the Peace Corps handles renovations like this in the future. In a school in Sisian, a language lab for English classes was built recently and the school was torn down soon afterwards. Another language lab in a village near Goris has seen little use since the volunteer there left. So this was a good opportunity for him to see a good use of funding and to visit a community and school that cares about their educational facilities. At this point, I feel that the best project is one where the volunteer or aid worker does not involve himself in the project too deeply. I think our efforts are best served by being a catalyst to help bring in funding for projects that are wanted, selected, and organized by the community.

I love this picture as, even though it's not well focused,

it shows the deputy head and director of studies having

a rare happy moment together after the cake was cut.

One last picture of the new room, looking out the window.

Pear blossoms in early May. The pear trees flowered heavily this spring,

but there were very few apple flowers.

May has been mild and wet so far. Plants in the garden are growing, most of the fruit trees have finished flowering, and all the trees are fully leafed, including walnuts and oaks which are among the last. We've had a lot of rain this month, most of it falling in the late afternoon or early evening after clouds build up in mountains to the north. The gardens are a little behind where they were this time last year, probably because bed preparation was later than usual thanks to late snows in March. One disappointment so far this year has been the relative paucity of apple flowers. We had a lot of flowers last year and many apples but there will be few if any this year. Nobody seems to know why but perhaps they yielded too heavily last year (?).

The garden on May 23. Most of the visible vegetables are potatoes and beans, some corn and onions on the left. Other vegetables - spinach, cabbage, beets, cilanto, etc - are scattered on the left and below the grape arbor.The two trees in the center of the picture are apple trees.

On Sunday, May 6 there were elections for the Armenian Parliament. Out of a total of 131 seats in parliament, which is called the National Assembly, 90 are distributed between parties using a proportional system, while the other 41 are elected from their constituencies directly. The election threshold 5% for parties, that is, a party needs at least 5% of the vote to be accorded a seat in parliament. Armenia is governed by a president and a single house of parliament, the National Assembly.

A total of 9 parties registered to participate in the election, and 6 parties exceeded the threshold and won seats. The official election campaign began on April 8, but the first campaigns were on April 10, because of Easter. None of the participating parties held campaign rallies on April 24, which is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. May 5, the day before the election is a "Day of Silence", when most kinds of campaigning are prohibited by law.

The Republican Party has the most seats in Parliament and is the party of the current President, Sergh Sargsyan. On May 4, the last official day of the campaign, during a Republican Party concert and rally in Republic Square in Yerevan, dozens of balloons filled with hydrogen caught fire with over 150 people burned, some seriously. The Republican Party won44% of the vote and more than half of the seats in parliament. The Prosperous Armenia party, which is headed by Armenia's wealthiest man, Gagik Tsarukyan, came second with about one fourth of the seats, while four other parties gained less than 10 percent each.The show of support for the president may help Armenia move forward on long-stalled peace talks with neighboring Azerbaijan and on negotiations with Turkey to open the border.

The election was the first since rioting broke out in Armenia four years ago to protest the election of Mr. Sargsyan, Armenia’s third president since independence. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized that election as flawed.The organization, a 56-nation group that monitors elections, noted some improvements in the Armenian voting this May. However, the organization did state that the campaign was marred by apparent vote buying and the enlistment of state employees to campaign for the governing party.

Armenia’s politics are closely watched by the large Armenian diaspora in the United States, France, and Russia. Most ethnic Armenians abroad lack dual citizenship and do not vote in Armenian elections, but their remittances play a significant role in financing the Armenian government.

Wednesday May 9 was a holiday in Armenia. It's official title is “Peace and Victory Day.” The Victory part commemorates the Victory of Soviet forces over Germany in World War II. It recognizes the signing of the capitulation documents on May 8, 1945. (The signing was late in the evening – after midnight by Moscow time.) The Peace part is more recent and celebrates the recapture of Shushi in Karabakh, on May 8,1992 by Armenian forces. The capture of Shushi was key and it marked the turning-point in the Karabakh campaign. The day was commemorated in Verishen by students and teachers walking from the school to the war memorial east of town. There we were joined by other citizens and heard speeches and singing. As people dispersed after the ceremony, many visited graves in the cemetery nearby. This year marked the twentieth anniversary of the recapture of Shushi and there were large military parades in that city.

The Verishen War Memorial as seen from the house.

The War Memorial is not far up the hills east of Verishen but it offers

an excellent view of Verishen, Akner, and the mountains.

Some of the students, teachers, and citizens of Verishen who

gathered at the War memorial on May 9.

A student delivering a stirring recitation at the Verishen War Memorial on May 9.

Another student sang a patriotic song at the ceremony.

Most people in villages here are very knowlegeable about eating wild plants. In early spring, people are out gathering all sorts of greens, including nettles (quite tasty when young), several varieties of weeds that get coarse later but are fine when young, aveluk or dock leaves, and a tall plant from the carrot family that grows in moist, shaded locations. They harvest the young stems of this plant and call it իճիկոտ (ighikot). They're OK raw but are quite tasty after immersion in boiling water, which makes them more tender. The stems of this plant, which I think is a species of Chaerophyllum,but I'm going to have to wait till it flowers, are very similar to small specimens of a much larger plant that grows by the river. This latter plant, which I think is Heracleum sosnowskyi, is native here but is a pest in Poland, the Baltic states, Russia, and Ukraine. Apparently it was recommended as a silage crop in 1947 during Stalin's time but it took over large areas and is hard to eradicate - and is referred to now by some as Stalin's revenge. Cows eat it when it is young, and there's nothing else to eat, but not when it's older. Even though the young stems look similar to ighikot, it's a good plant to avoid, and everyone does, as all parts of the plant contain an allergen which causes extreme photosensitivity and burns. We have Jerusalem artichoke (գետնախնձոր – getnakhndsor; literally “earth apple”) growing in the garden and we dug a few up recently for lunch. While doing that we came across a stray ginseng plant. Zarik and Hrantic knew it is used medicinally but had to look it up in their books to see what it is used for. I don't think it's used much in Armenia.

Ighikot - the plant

Ighikot - the food

Another fascinating incident happened earlier this month. I went to the Post Office and on the way back Zarik, who was chatting with Hrantic's sister, Greta, beckoned to me. An older woman, probably in her late 70s or early 80s and dressed very traditionally, was proudly demonstrating her digital battery-operated wrist blood pressure monitor. We all tried it out and it gave reasonable readings quite quickly. (Greta was 176/110, Zarik was 136/90, and I was 110/64. You can see more about it on the Web. I was impressed and realized that you can order it from Amazon and other places. I was surprised that this lady had the device, but soon learned that relatives, who live in Melbourne, bought it and sent it to her. Armenia is often this surprising mix of the new and the old. The lady was very enthusiastic about the device and said she checks her BP three times a day now and is starting to see what helps and what doesn't. Give people the means to manage their health and they will usually do a fine job.

The renovation for the new math. classroom is nearing completion. It's been tense as the mortar, plaster, and paint have dried slowly in the moist weather we had in early and mid-May. However, we were able to move the furniture in the room on Monday afternoon, after the floor varnish and sealer had dried. I expected to be busy cleaning the windows and hanging curtains, but Zarik already took care of the windows with a group of students and the contractor hung the curtains. The opening went off very well on Tuesday morning. I'll post more about the classroom separately but I have provided one picture here.

The new classroom the day after the opening. (The weather wasbad the day of the opening - and we had to have the lights on in the room in the middle of the day.)

We now have baby chicks. Hrantic put some eggs under some broody hens and the first lot hatched almost two weeks ago and the second emerged a few days ago. I was intrigued by what the young chicks are fed. For the first couple of days, they get crumbled hard-boiled egg yolk and they are now on a diet of curds (katnashor - ) which are made by boiling yogurt, straining the product to give a crumbly mix not unlike a dry cottage cheese. The curds are then mixed with a little raw egg and flour. Both foods are high in protein and are popular with the chicks.

One batch of baby chicks and the mother hen. After a few days,

they were let out to eat and wander around the basement.

Wild rose flowers on May 18. The petals are picked, dried,

and stored, and used to make a herbal infusion in winter.

Wild rose fruits (masoor) are picked in early fall, dried, and

used to make a vitamin-rich juice in winter.

Throughout May, clouds have been building up on the mountains,

during the day, often resulting in afternoon or evening showers.

The newly married couple, Mary and Scott, dancing at the reception.

Arteni is a small village in western Armenia.

One of our fellow volunteers, Scott, was married in Armenia on April 12. He issued a general invitation to all of the A18 volunteers, and many of us attended. Scott teaches English in the small village of Arteni in western Armenia and fell in love with his counterpart, Mary, a very nice and attractive young Armenian lady who is the English teacher at Arteni school. Arteni is about 1.5 hours from Yerevan and the countryside is mostly dry grasslands on low, rolling and rocky hills.

I traveled from Verishen to Yerevan in a shared taxi early in the morning of April 12 and went straight to the bus station where we could catch a marshutni to Arteni. Earlier information suggested that there were plenty of marshutnis throughout the day but I arrived there to see a full marshutni leave, and that was the last one until late afternoon. We called the other volunteers in Yerevan and got them to come quickly to the bus station and, with everyone there, tried hiring a marshutni for the journey. We departed with a full van, 15 volunteers and a few opporunistic Armenians. That marshutni died after 5 km and they couldn't restart it. So a few volunteers went back to the bus station and returned with three taxis which took us uneventfully to Arteni. Our drivers were in good humor, as this was better money and easier driving than fighting Yerevan traffic. We gathered at the house where Scott lived and, after a short delay, three musicians showed up and we started dancing. As part of the dancing, women hold aloft and pass around three baskets, one holds the wedding dress, and another holds the bride's shoes. We were then driven to the bride's uncle's house where the wedding was to take place, and after more music and dancing with the baskets, the bride went inside to put on the wedding dress.

These village kids watched us as we assembled at Scott's place.

Dancing before the wedding with the bride's dress and shoes in the baskets.

This little girl was very cute and it was her task to sprinkle rose petals fromher basket on the grass in front of the bride. However, she got stage frightwhen she saw how many people there were - and they were all watching her.

These three musicians kept things lively before and immediately after the wedding.

The wedding was conducted by a fellow volunteer, who is ordained as a minister in the Universal Life Church. A legal marriage had already taken place in oder to start the visa application process for Mary. Most Armenian weddings take place in a church and the service and vows are standardized. However, Scott and Mary wrote their own marriage service and vows. The wedding was outside with apricot trees just starting to flower. After the service there was more dancing and then we headed off in a convoy of vehicles with horns blaring to the reception.

The bride being escorted by her father.

The wedding ceremony.

Dancing outside after the wedding ceremony. Lavash was draped over Scott's and Mary's shoulders as a symbol of life together, I think

The noisy procession of vehicles on the way to the reception.

There were about 70 or 80 people at the wedding and reception, equally divided between volunteers and Mary's relatives and family. Scott's parents, who live in Atlanta, attended the wedding and paid for the reception. At each table there was wine, cognac, vodka, Jermuk (mineral water) and juice as well as greens, salads, lavash, and cakes. Khorovats (barbecue) soon appeared and we ate and drank well. In another departure from a conventional Armenian wedding, there was no tamada or toastmaster. Often the toasts from the toastmaster can be long winded and very frequent. We were happy to do our own toasts at each table. We danced a lot at the reception. The musicians said there would be a mixture of Armenian and American music for dancing, but, as they weren't familiar with American music and played DVDs we quickly said we'd rather dance to their live music.

The eating, drinking, dancing, and toasting continued for some time. At around 10 pm a few of us with appointments the next day left for Yerevan in a shared taxi. The celebrations continued after we left with more dancing, khorovats, and eventually the wedding cake. Some volunteers caught transport to Yerevan later that night and the remainder stayed the night and returned the next morning. We all agreed it was a lot of fun and, as it was the first wedding in Armenia for many of us, we were all glad we went. As Scott and Mary will soon be moving to America we all contributed to a wedding fund that we hope will help them start married life in the U.S. It is not uncommon for volunteers to get engaged or married while in Armenia. In our group of A18 volunteers, one male volunteer is engaged to an A17 he met here and they will be marrying in the U.S. this summer, one female volunteer is engaged to an A19 volunteer, Scott married Mary, and a female A18 volunteer is engaged to an Armenian male; this last union is unusual.

Spring was well under way in Verishen when I got back after the wedding.

With the warm, moist air in April we are seeing a lot of clouds

on the mountains. The flowering tree in the foreground is a plum.

April has beenwarm and sunny. After a dismal end to March with more snow, strongwinds, and low temperatures, we enjoyed a sudden change to warmerdays and cool nights in April. As the snow melted, people's gardens were ahive of activity as manure was spread, the soil was turned over, andbeds were prepared. Onions and spinach (and other greens) haveemerged and now potatoes are being planted. In villages throughoutArmenia, getting the garden preparation underway early is crucial.Verishen has a dry summer and it's vital to get things growing earlywhile the ground is still moist. School in Verishen now starts 30minutes earlier, at 8:30, so that children are available for moretime in the afternoon to help in the garden. A lot of firewood wasdelivered in Goris and Verishen in late March while there was stillsnow on the ground and people went from cutting, splitting, andstacking it to working in the garden. Spring flowers startedappearing in mid-April and buds on willows and poplars were swellingby then. The river is running high through Verishen with all the snowmelt from the mountains and there's smoke in the air in the eveningsas people burn off the winter debris in their gardens.

This is how the garden looked before we started planting ourpotatoes. Hrantic had already dug the garden and formed raisedfurrows. It's all done by hand and takes a lot of work.

For planting potatoes, Hrantic first prepares a furrow about half-way down the slope of the bed.

Zarik plants the potatoes in the furrows, I come behind her spreading manure over the potatoes, and Hrantic returns later to cover the potatoes.

On April 12, manyof us attended a wedding in Arteni, a small village west of Yerevan.One of our fellow volunteers ( male) married his (female) Armeniancounterpart. That was a fascinating experience and merits its ownpost which will follow shortly. After the wedding, I stayed on inYerevan to see the dentist one last time and to attend a balletperformance at the Opera House. On Saturday, I walked around Yerevanvisiting the Cascade and revisiting Vernissage, the open-air market.The Cascade is a large white staircase built into a hillside incentral Yerevan. There are fountains with water running down theslope and it is the site of numerous outdoor concerts and publicdancing in summer. There are many statues over the Cascade and workis proceeding (slowly) on a museum of contemporary art at the top ofthe stairs. The ballet was most enjoyable. The theme was spring andfeatured choreography to Pugni, Mozart, Vivaldi's Spring, and Ravel'sBolero. I'm encouraging other volunteers to attend the ballet,symphony, or opera when they are in Yerevan as the performances areexcellent and ticket prices are surprisingly cheap.

Looking up at the Cascade from the base.

The Opera House and beyond from the top of the Cascade.

It was hazy when I went to the Cascade and the top of Mt. Ararat was

barely visible. On clear days, the view can be magnificent.

There are numerous pieces of striking sculpture on the Cascade.

After only oneday in Verishen, which I spent helping to plant fruit trees and movebags of manure to the more distant garden, I left early for Yerevanand then Aghveran, which is in the mountains above Arzakan. All ofour volunteer group attended two days of meetings this week inAghveran dealing with the conclusion of our Peace Corps service. Wehave a lot to do over summer – returning heaters, fireextinguishers, and water filters; documenting what we did during ourtwo years here; scheduling physical exams and exit interviews; andsubmitting final reports for all funded projects – but it all looksreasonable and most of us don't expect any problems. We stayed at afairly fancy resort hotel, much nicer than most of us are used to. Ithink the Peace Corps got a big discount as it is the start of theseason at Aghveran; it's still cool there with a lot of snow. Themeetings went fairly well and some of the time at Aghveran wasdevoted to reviewing our accomplishments here and preparing for ourreturn to America. I hadn't thought about until then but each of usdiffers from the person who arrived here in May 2010. Some of thechanges are minor and won't persist – We and Armenians tend toreach across the table at meals rather than asking to have thingspassed; Armenians don't line up much and we are used to being crowdedinto marshutnis, so our “personal space” has contracted. Otherhabits, such as a more relaxed attitude to personal hygiene, awillingness to accept tardiness and less structure at work, and anappreciation of the merits of eating less meat, may last longer. Ihave started to write down the changes I think I have undergone tobetter prepare myself for returning in August.

The view of our hotel at Aghveran as we arrived in the bus.

The view from our hotel at Aghveran.

The A18 group at Aghveran. From the 58 who arrived, our numbers are now down to 46.Several left early to take up jobs, two were sent home for medical reasons, one was "earlyterminated" (expelled), and the remainder decided to leave, with most leaving early duringpre-service training.

In July 2010, after an enjoyable July 4 joint celebration with our hostfamilies, the 8 volunteers in Arzakan posed for this picture - along withone of Armenian teachers and her son.

As all 8 of us are still here, we decided to recreate that picture at.Aghveran. This is the result.

Armeniahas many memorials to the departed. Old memorials are in theform of "khachkars"or cross-stones which are a distinctivepart of Armenian culture. More recently headstones took the formof Armenian script carved into stone blocks and, for the last 30years, many gravestones have featured a picture of the deceased,usually based on a photograph provided by the family. Some of theseare very artistic and they are all done by hand. The “picturestone” is usually a thin veneer of stone which is laid over theheadstone. As Zarik explained it to me, the picture is prepared by anartisan tapping on the picture stone with hammer and chisel – alight tap registers as white, a medium tap appears grey, and black isproduced by a heavy tap. The result is then buffed to give a smoothfinish and mounted on the gravestone.

Verishen Cemetery. Gravestones from the early and mid-twentieth centuryfeaturing Armenian script.

I like this gravestone. The raised objects are unusual and give one the idea that Aghalo Miroiyan liked barbecue and a glass of wine.

This is one of my favorite headstones both for the detail and for what it tells us about the deceased.

Afterthe funeral, there is another commemoration 40 days after the deathand another on the one year anniversary.

Primulas (P.veris ?) are very common in the forest in April.

We have a lot of semi-wild plum trees on the hill west of the house. The fruit aren't great but this time of the year the blossoms are spectacular.

Even though we are nearing the end of winter, we had a heavy snowfall on Thursdayand Friday. I'm ready for spring and warmer weather, but I will miss wintry views like this.

At this time of the year, people often proclaim that Մարտը գիժ ամիս է (Marter gigh amis e - March is a crazy month) and that's certainly been true this year. In the space of less than a week in early March, we had clear and sunny weather, a couple of snowfalls, and some very strong winds that blew snow everywhere. This week we had our warmest day for months – 10o C (50o F) in Verishen and even warmer in Goris. We could see big patches of bare ground in the garden for the first time since early-December, the river ran high, and the streets were muddy. Hrantic even started some seedlings in cold frames. However, the following day was cold, overcast, with occasional snow. That night more than 15 cm (6 inches) of snow fell and it continued to snow on and off all day Friday.. On Saturday morning we had more than 30 cm and it was still snowing. This is our heaviest single fall this winter, and Hrantic is very happy with this late, heavy snowfall. Verishen and Goris are fairly dry in summer and these late snows are good for the garden and fruit trees. However, winter is waning. There will be more snow but it will melt quickly and spring will start making its presence by the end of the month. I won't miss being cold or slipping and sliding on the ice but I will miss tan breakfasts (a winter treat), warming up food on the wood stove, walking around in fresh snow without seeing my boots, watching the young kids cavorting in new fresh snow on the way to and from school, and the view of snow-covered mountains from the balcony on the first clear morning after a snowfall. The poetry recitation competition was to be in Goris on Saturday morning (March 17) but it' was postponed because of the heavy snow; getting children here from outlying villages would have been too dangerous. Instead five Goris-area volunteers gathered in Goris for a small St. Patrick's Day celebration on Saturday afternoon. We were planning a joint celebration with Sisian volunteers but some roads were closed on Friday and Saturday after this last snowfall. This coming week Iranians will be celebrating nowruz, the Persian or Iranian New Year. Many come to Yerevan where they can eat pork, drink alcohol, and celebrate more than in Iran.

Katie was dressed appropriately for St. Patrick's Day - and she madegreen rice krispies, which we had with our green bagels and green beer.

Zarik and I went to Yerevan for a few days in early March. The main reason for the visit was for Zarik to receive her certificate from the Peace Corps as an Outstanding Community Volunteer. I nominated her for this award and was pleased she was selected. She was thrilled and the school gave her Thursday and Friday off to go to Yerevan. We left early in the morning on March 1 and the ceremony was early Thursday afternoon, soon after we arrived. It went well. Zarik was pleased and it was a nice affair. Afterwards I went out to the U.S. Embassy to pick up my new passport (My old personal passport has expired.) and on Thursday evening I saw a play with another volunteer. The play was in Russian (The volunteer I was with knew Russian and that helped.) but it was a lively comedy with singing and dancing and I enjoyed it.

Zarik receiving her Outstanding Community Volunteer award from the country director,David Lillie, and his administrative assistant, Mariam Arzumanyan.

On Friday I went out to a chemical supply house to inquire about chemical supplies for the school's lab and get a quote. Friday evening was probably the highlight of the trip. From Verishen, I ordered tickets for Zarik and me to a concert by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and picked them up on Thursday before the ceremony. The Concert Hall is not large and has excellent acoustics. Our seats were 10 rows from the front (for 3,000 dram - about $8) and we really enjoyed the concert - Mozart, Berg, and Mendelssohn's 4th. And for this visit, I was staying at a B&B very close to the Concert Hall. Saturday morning was cold and overcast and I walked out to the Genocide Memorial which is on a low hill in Yerevan but well removed from the city center. There is also a small arboretum with trees planted by dignitaries and I toured the museum which is small but very moving. With all the accusations and counter-accusations and the recent developments concerning the Armenian Genocide in France, I've been reading more about this sad chapter and fortunately the Peace Corps library in Yerevan has several authoritative works available for us to read.

Ծիծեռնակաբերդ(Tsitsernakaberd - "Swallow's Fortress") - the Genocide memorial.There is a 44 m. high stele, representing the national rebirth of Armenians, and a lower

structure consisting of 12 stone columns representing the lost Armenian provinces that are now in present-day Turkey. Swallow's fortress was the name given to three low hillsabove the Hrazadan River in Yerevan. It now refers to the Genocide Memorial.

Inside the memorial, surrounded by the 12 stone columns, there is an eternal flame

dedicated to the 1.3 - 1.5 million Armenians who were killed in the genocide.

In the afternoon I visited Vernissage, the open-air market in Yerevan. It's open on week-ends year-round and has everything from some excellent rugs, embroidery, and paintings to old books, touristy stuff of dubious merit, ornately carved chess sets, and a lot of other stuff. I like wandering through Vernissage, even on a cold day like Saturday. I stayed at the B&B on Saturday evening, working and saving money. We returned to Verishen in a shared taxi on Sunday afternoon. The road up to the pass was icy and the road got steadily worse as we neared Goris, as it was snowing hard. It took over 5 hours to get home and the taxi couldn't make it up the last hill to our house so Zarik and I walked the last 1 km home in the snow. March weather!

One of my favorite parts of Vernissage is the embroidery, where there are beautiful

and intricate materials for sale often featuring the Armenian alphabet. The woman

in the picture is a very skilled embroiderer and I would like to get some of her work.

Paintings for sale at Vernissage. There are some good ones - and many

forgettable ones - but I do like to browse around.

Wednesday March 8 was a holiday for International Women's Day. Zarik was busy the day before as Meruzhan came to Goris with 6 other men and stayed the night with us after having dinner here (The others stayed at a Goris hotel.). There were four vets from Penn State University, Meruzhan, another Armenian vet, and their driver and their job was to investigate veterinarian training in Armenia. Apparently there are concerns that Armenian vets often don't meet international standards and the team was touring Armenia and looking at training in different schools to try to assess the problem. They all came back for lunch at the house on Wednesday afternoon and Zarik and Hrantic rose to the occasion. She made tan (which they all enjoyed) and Hrantic brought up cognac and several different wines which were also much appreciated. It was a good gathering of nice people. One of the visiting vets is originally from India and he noticed my Vegemite and we chatted about cricket. Zarik had to leave early for an after-school physics help session and I did the dishes and cleaned up.

The contractor still hasn't started on the renovation and given the recent weather

I doubt he will be able to start work until early April. This will put us in a time crunch; we should be able to get everything done but it will be close and I'll be busy this summer, and particularly in August, with final reports and last minute details. However, on Friday, just before spring vacation started, more of the room was cleared out. A procession of students carried old books of student records to another room while teachers and caretakers sorted through other material. Later that day I started moving my materials from my current classroom, where I teach English, to a smaller room next door. The smaller room has been used for teaching art to young students after school but it's now too small for that. I don't need a large room and was amenable to the swap.

The unused room, soon to become a math classroom, has been emptied and will be cleaned out next week. The renovation should commence in April.

We now have a new calf. Zarik must have heard the cow shifting around in the early morning as we were getting ready to leave for Yerevan. She checked - and the birth was just starting. The taxi arrived and we had to leave but we alerted Hrantic and he went down to monitor the birth. It's a girl and she is strong and growing rapidly. The cow is now yielding lots of milk, more than the calf can handle and we're back to milking twice a day and making cheese and yogurt again. The colostorum or first milk from the cow after the birth is particularly rich and Zarik made a spongy type of cheese with it.

I recently received some macadamia nuts, among many other treats, in a care package from Australia. They were new to Zarik and Hrantic who tried them and like them. However, I couldn't find the Armenian for macadamia anywhere. I asked our Peace Corps language instructors and they couldn't find it either, and suggested we call them ավստրալիական ընկույզ (avstralakan ernkuyz - Australian nuts).

For at least half of the four hour journey from Yerevan to Goris, there are many roadside stands in late spring, summer, and fall. In the Ararat Valley, where most of Armenia's vegetables are grown commercially, there are many stands selling produce, principally tomatoes, peppers, and squash, but you can also find okra and corn sometimes. Once in late summer we were in a taxi and the driver made many stops inquiring about the price of vegetables. Normally one doesn't barter and either accepts the price or goes to another stand. After at least a dozen stops he finally bought peppers, squash and tomatoes and very generously gave us a lot of them to eat. Normally vegetables here are picked ripe as time to market is very short. Also in summer and early fall, panel vans haul fruit and vegetables to towns and villages and some of them sell door-to-door. In early fall there are many stands in the Ararat Valley selling watermelon. Most of the vegetable growing has ceased by the time you reach Surenavan, in eastern Ararat marz, and there the street vendors sell fruit, all in beautifully arranged large sloping trays and boxes; I always look forward to seeing these stands. In Armash and Yeraskhavan, there are numerous large tanks and signs proclaiming մեծ ձուկ (mets dsook – big fish). Not coincidetally, we often see storks in Armash in their large nests on poles in the village. They feed in the nearby wetlands. On the way back from Yzerevan in early March, Zarik asked the taxi driver to stop and she bought a 5 kg (11 lb) carp from one of the tanks in Armash. She cleaned it after we got home, made soup with the head and tail, and sliced up the rest and froze it for later. After Yeraskhavan, the road goes through dry hills before reaching the valley that houses Zangakatun, where there are several fruit stands with carefully stacked pyramids of fruit, primarily apples. Further along the road, Areni is famous for its wine and there are many stands here selling wine, and in late summer, peaches. The red wine from these stands is young but quite good. After Arpi there are several stands selling a variety of fruit but very few stands between Yeghegnadzor and Vayk, even though this is a rich fruit growing area. After Vayk the road is in a narrow canyon of the Arpa River and there is next to no agriculture. Further along, villagers from the western or higher altitude parts of Syunik marz gather field mushrooms (սունկ soonk) in early summer from the rolling grassy hills and sell them on the roadsides. Also in summer in the same areas, and particularly at Sarnakunk, you can buy the leaves and young shoots of avelook as dried braids. Avelook is a widespread native herb, curly dock - Rumex crispus, that is widely used as a green vegetable or in stews in winter, and that cooks and tastes like spinach. I think the leaves are bitter at lower elevations but in damp areas at high elevations the leaves are tasty when dried and steamed, not unlike spinach. I think the leaves are gathered before the plants flower and fruit.

In mid-September, while returning from a physics field trip, we bought some watermelons

at a roadside stand at Yeraskhavan at dusk and ate them on the roadside.

Aveluk (Rumex crispus) which you can buy as dried braids in summer in

western Syunik marz.

The mountains north of Verishen on the morning of March 6.

High winds at the top of the mountains are blowing the snow around.

These winds came down to the valley later that morning making for a

fairly miserable day. March weather.

We haven't had any heavy snowfalls (yet) in February but there were several

smaller ones. This was the view from the patio on the morning of February 11.

The first two weeks of February were cold and overcast with considerable snow. Recently the skies have been clearer and we've seen more of the sun. We still have a lot of snow around the village but it is melting and that poses problems քայլելու շուրջ (kayleloo shoorj - walking around) as the slushy wet snow freezes over at night and makes negotiating the many hills around Verishen interesting. And the roads around the village are icy in the morning and evening and muddy in the afternoon. Everyone is eagerly awaiting March and warmer weather, but I remember March last year as being quite cold and not very spring-like. However, we will soon be leaving the coldest weather behind. We have had tan for breakfast (my favorite and quite filling) twice on Sundays in February and after these breakfasts we tackle cleaning or, last Sunday, we helped to cut up the wood for use in the stove. Hrantic split the wood after it was cut up and Zarik and I will stack it this weekend.. Tan - for Sunday breakfast. There are actually two "tans" (pronounced tarn). One is

a yogurt drink (yogurt plus water, sometimes with rice) that is popular in summer.

To make the tan we have for breakfast in winter, put yogurt in a permeable bag and

leave it to allow things to separate. What leaves the bag goes to the cows.

The contents of the bag are mixed with flour and eggs, boiled and stored in jars

to eat later. This is usually done in summer when we have plenty of milk. Then,

when you're ready to have tan for breakfast, it is mixed with water, boiled carefully

while stirring and eaten with dried lavash chips, herbs heated in butter, and garlic.

It is very tasty and quite filling. Hrantic and I have our tan in large bowls so

we can stir in the lavash chips, garlic, and herbs without making a mess.

Lavash chips. Sheets of lavash are left to air dry for a day or more and then broken up into pieces and added to the tan.

Last week I went to Yerevan for two days of appointments and meetings. Yerevan has had quite a lot of snow this winter, which is unusual. There was a lot of snow and ice on the sidewalks and it was snowing when I left. There were several other volunteers in Yerevan while I was there and we spent a while talking amongst ourselves. Right now the preoccupation is with who is extending or seeking a third year (So far four in our group are.), who is leaving a month or two early this summer (End of service is August 3, but you can leave one month early if all your projects are completed, and many volunteers are, including my three site mates.), and what people are planning on their return. This time last year, the discussions were more about coping, finding support, and trying to stay busy. I'll be returning to Yerevan next week with Zarik as she received a Peace Corps award for Outstanding Community Volunteer and there is a small ceremony in Yerevan on Thursday. She is thrilled to receive the award and I'm looking forward to going with her and introducing her to the Peace Corps staff. Zarik is a very busy and active person and has accomplished a lot. It is interesting to me that even with all her accomplishments she is very pleased to receive this minor additional recognition.

I am teaching another English class at the Women's Center in Goris. The class lasts for about one and a half hours and I'm covering grammar, conversation, and applying for jobs. Another volunteer who was living in Goris and working at the Women's Center was conducting the class but he left recently. The Women's Center ( A link to their Facebook page here .) is a good spot with several active projects, - women's rights, a marketing venue for women's handicrafts, classes in English and business practices, among others. We've now lost three volunteers from the Goris area; one moved to another site in November; the volunteer from the Women's Center extended for a third year but only completed about 6 months of that time and left early to work before entering graduate school; and a third volunteer is being “medically separated” - bureaucratic-speak for being sent home with a medical condition that can't be dealt with in Armenia (She has a resistant infection.) .There are now four of us from the same A18 group in the Goris area, and we are all leaving in July or August. Verishen won't receive another volunteer but I hope the Goris kindergarten will and some of the other villages around Goris may as well.

There is a lot of corruption in Armenia. Most senior members of the government are wealthy and contracts are often steered towards family members. There has been a lot of building on Yerevan's green spaces lately, older buildings are often demolished quickly without public input, and eminent domain laws are often used to expedite construction of private projects. The U.S. Embassy is concerned about the level of corruption in Armenia, particularly as it is illegal for American companies to pay improper fees or bribes and they can be prosecuted in America for this. However, it still goes on.There is even a colloquial euphemism for bribe – grapan (pocket). As volunteers, we aren't directly exposed to much corruption, but often when we are on the way to Yerevan, our taxi may be pulled over by police. The taxi driver usually leaves the taxi to talk to the police and returns very quickly, returning his wallet to his pocket. It happens often and the bribes are probably minor but they add up and diminish respect for the police and the law. Last year a gas inspector came to the house to inspect the connections and after checking everything, told Zarik and Hrantic that they would have to pay him to have the gas turned on. They refused and argued and yelled and phoned for half an hour before he finally gave up. I was proud of Zarik and Hrantic and their refusal to pay what was nothing more than a bribe. I was disappointed that a phone call to the gas company didn't help; they obviously know it goes on and aren't going to stop it. I was surprised that he even tried to bribe Zarik and Hrantic. Zarik has been here for 40 years and is well-known and respected and serves on the Verishen Community Council. But this is the apparent face of corruption in Armenia; it is pervasive and the bribers act with impunity.

The unused room at the school awaiting renovation. Some of the junk in

the room has been cleared out already; the rest will be moved out once

we have a definite starting date from the contractor. The renovation will

be long and involved and includes exterior water proofing with a trench.

The PCPP proposal to furnish and equip the math. classroom at Verishen School is now fully funded and we should have the money in two or three weeks. Thanks very much everyone. That may be a record for funding; over $3300 in about five weeks; I'm touched and very grateful for your generosity. I told Zarik that it was fully funded and the next day she told the math. teachers and reminded them that the funds came from friends and family in the U.S. and Australia; they too are most grateful and asked me to send their thanks. This winter has been colder than last year's and there's been snow and ice around the school all January and February. The contractor does not want to start the renovation until he can drive his truck into and out of the school. Also, until it warms up a little, plaster, paint, and floor varnish will dry very slowly, if at all. The school is not at all troubled by the delay and the teachers and director realize that it makes no sense to start the renovation too early. The Peace Corps wants everything finished by May but that won't happen. Instead, the renovation will, I expect, be finished in June leaving July and August to furnish the room, prepare it for classes, and finalize all the accounting and submit the final reports. It means I'll be busy all summer and I probably won't see the math. classroom in use but I do want to see it finished before I leave. Zarik and I will be visting the contractor again in about two weeks and,unless winter returns with a vengeance, we expect he'll be at work soon after that. In the meantime, the renovation funds are in my bank account and I am for the time being a millionaire at least in Armenian drams; but one million dram is about US$2,670.

A clear day after the snow on February 11. In this picture we are looking north-east over Akner from the hills to the west of Verishen.

Saturday Jan. 28 was cold and foggy and ice crystallized from the fog onto bushes and trees.

January was an interesting month and I'll remember it (and probably February as well) for a while. It hasn't been a very cold month, though we haven't seen much of the sun and have had several snowfalls. The village authorities were working on the water supply for several days in mid-January and although the pressure was reduced, we still had sufficient water, most of the time, to trigger the instantaneous gas water heater. These are ubiquitous in Armenia and only large hotels have hot water tanks. However, one neighbor fed up with the reductions took things into his own hands and smashed the lock on the diversion setup near our house, sending more water to his house and cutting off our water supply completely. That was a very cold night and our pipes froze. In his defense, I think he didn't realize he was cutting off our water completely. Anyway, the next morning Zarik humiliated the poor man with a very public and very angry tongue-lashing; in Armenian parlance he was amot-ed (shamed). Since then, we've been able to restore water to the tap downstairs but the pipes inside the walls going upstairs are frozen and we'll have to wait until things thaw. So for the last two weeks we've been hauling water in buckets up the stairs, heating it on the wood stove, and washing dishes once a day in large bowls. We have been flushing the zugaran (toilet) with buckets and adding small amounts of rock salt to the water in the toilet to keep it from freezing. However, the last 20-30 feet of our house drain is elevated above ground and, predictably, without a steady flow of water trickling through it has frozen. So our toilet is now a bucket which we empty onto the garden. Most houses in Verishen have drains which empty directly into the river. I was appalled in 2010 when I realized what was happening with the household waste, and now I, an environmental education volunteer, am part of an even worse, if temporary, approach to waste disposal. I have been impressed with how Zarik and Hrantic are dealing with these setbacks. Their approach has been one of stoic acceptance; this is what we need to do until it warms up – and we will do it. I have not heard one word of complaint or misery; instead over lunch we guessed when things would thaw enough for us to use the toilet again. (The estimates ranged from 4 to 6 weeks.) The next several weeks won't be completely convenient but it's been an interesting lesson for me; it's a lot easier to put up with minor inconveniences when everyone accepts the situation. And it's not without humor; Zarik and I spar good-naturedly over who washes the dishes, and I was washing dishes this afternoon in bowls with hot water from the wood stove and Zarik rushed in to remind me not to pour the water down the drain; she found my response (gittem, apoosh chem – I know, I'm not an idiot) amusing. The three rooms we live in are warm most of the time and we have plenty to eat. Khndir chka (no problems).

My English classes are evolving into multiple tutorials. There are more contact hours but as my students are at different levels it's a lot easier to customize the lessons. One student is relatively advanced and I'm having her read National Geographic articles (in small sections) and I'm composing word lists for her with words like cajole, harass, disaster, serendipity, guess, and indolent. I throw in synonyms, definitions, and an Armenian equivalent or two. The Internet helps greatly here as well as I have a Web site with recordings of different people speaking in English. A volunteer in Goris who teaches English and is leaving in two weeks looked around for someone to assume some of his classes. I agreed to take on one class as, with good students, teaching English can be quite enjoyable and it helps my Armenian a little.

We have received the funds to renovate the math classroom but the contractor has said he doesn't want to start the renovation until late February. I was initially disappointed with that, but seeing how January has been and remembering that we had most of our snow last year in February, that is a wise decision. With better weather, they'll be able to work more efficiently and I think we will still have the renovation completed by May. In the meantime, fundraising for the furniture for the math classroom did well for a while with some very generous donations but it has slowed lately and we've been at the point for the last week or so where we still need $750 (23%). I'm not very good at soliciting donations but I urge you to help if you haven't already donated. All the money donated will be used to furnish the room, it's a pretty good deal (4 large cupboards, 11 tables, 24 chairs, 3 blackboards, a large whiteboard, and curtains – for $3327) and I think this project will be a big contribution to education in Verishen. You can donate by going here . I'm impressed with both math teachers at the school and I am looking forward to talking with them soon, in my limited Armenian, about different ways to utilize this new resource.

Our cow is pregant again and the calf is expected in early to mid-March. Consequently, her milk yield is minmal, barely enough for last year's calf. To make matzoon (yogurt) we have resorted to buying milk from a neighbor with several cows; it's almost impossible to buy milk at the stores in a rich dairy area like Verishen. I have been using some of it with instant coffee in the morning (katof sourch – coffee with milk) and they asked me what I thought of the milk. It had struck me as being more like 2% milk than the milk we usually have. Apparently the butter-fat content of the milk from our cow is 3.6% - not particularly high by U.S. standards but higher than for most cows around here (and higher than most Holsteins). A higher fat content means more mik and cheese can be made from the milk. I occasionally forget that Zarik and Harantic are somewhat exceptional in their practices; the new calf was conceived with artificial insemination via semen from Yerevan, Hrantic accepted the need to prune the fruit trees, he is meticulous with his records and procedures for making wine, vodka, and cognac, and they are observant and curious about pests in the garden. Hrantic was trained as a reproductive biologist before joining the army, Zarik has science training, and Meuzhan, their son, is a veterinarian so their background is unusual – and they are well aware of the advantages of different agricultural services that are available in Armenia.

I have been working with the Goris kindergarten for the last couple of weeks. We are trying to find money to replace the bedding there, that has been in use for 30 years, and to add decent children's furniture to some of the rooms. At the last meeting, Jasmena, the kindergaretn director, asked me to add a cheap point-and-shoot digital camera for the children to use to the proposal. I think that with proper instructions nd supervision that could be a great thing for the children to use, - stimulating creativity, learning from trial and error, etc. I decided against adding it to the proposal as I don't want to overload it with a lot of miscellaneous and unrelated items. Instead, it has occurred to me (and other volunteers) that there is probably an appreciable number of digital cameras that are still serviceable but have been replaced by a newer model. If you have such a camera and are willing to donate it to the Goris kindergarten where it will be appreciated and see a lot of use, or know of someone in that position, could you please let me know (hedleywbond@gmail.com) and I will arrange to have them brought here. One volunteer is visting Tucson in March and another will be in Portland, Oregon, that month and both have offered to bring cameras back with them.

One of the best features of the Goris kindergarten are the bright and colorful scenes throughout the building. This aquatic scene is in a stairwell.

Some of the rooms at the kindergarten are furnished with sturdy and sensible tables, chairs, and bookshelves. We're seeking funding to similarly furnish the remaining rooms.

Most of the bedding in the kindergarten is old and worn and we're trying to get funding to replace it all.

I have given given up trying to blend in here. I am slightly taller than average, bearded (which is unusual) and lack dark hair and dark eyes. However, there are also numerous subtle clues as well. I wear a fawn fleece jacket in winter, different from the black shiny jackets most men wear; and when there is snow and ice, I wear boots. Also, as a rule, most volunteers walk more quickly than most Armenians. And in Verishen, most people and all the school children know who I am and there is nothing approaching anonymity here. Some volunteers have been surprised at how little anonymity they have even in large towns and cities, and some, particularly those from large cities in the U.S., are uncomfortable with this familiarity. We were warned about this during pre-service training and most of the time, I like the familiarity. There are times, however, when it is nice to walk through areas where I'm not well known.

Wednesday Feb. 1 started out clear with a beautiful view of the mountains.Before long though, the clouds returned and it snowed later that day.

Verishen on January 4 from our balcony.

A clear, sunny morning after snow the day before.

Nor tari or New Year is widely observed and celebrated in Armenia. Nor tari became popular during Soviet times when observance of religious holidays was discouraged. The emphasis during nor tari is on families gathering and eating together. There may be a few small gifts for young children but it's nothing like Christmas in America. Armenian Christmas is celebrated on January 6th, when the Western Church commemorates epiphany (baptism). The exact date of Jesus's birth is apparently not definite and until the fourth century all Christian churches celebrated the birth on January 6. The date was changed and December 25 became the official day of Christmas and January 6th as the feast of epiphany. However, Armenia was not affected by the change and remained faithful to the old tradition of celebrating both days on January 6th.

On Wednesday evening, December 28, we had our teachers' nor tari kef or party and this one was probably the most enjoyable school gathering that I have attended. Teachers from the Vorotan school (Vorotan is a small village on the Vorotan River about 20 km south of Goris) were celebrating in an adjacent room and we shared toasts and danced together. Zarik, Annahit, the senior German teacher, whom I like, and I were singled out for praise and I had to deliver my standard stumbling, awkward toast. But we had a lot of fun dancing. When we left for the kef, Zarik said, “I won't be dancing, I don't feel well.” However, she did dance a lot and enjoyed it; great medicine! Some of the female teachers may be carrying a few years and a few extra pounds but they can still dance very well! I forgot to take my camera and I think that was a good thing; no-one else was taking pictures this time after we sat down to eat and it was a very relaxed and enjoyable evening. This was the first teacher kef I've been to where a couple of husbands attended.

Zarik and Harantic's son, Meruzhan, his wife, Tatevik, and their two children, Anna and Hrantic, arrived from Yerevan on Thursday December 29 to celebrate nor tari in Verishen. Our nor tari celebrations began on Saturday evening. We ate a simple but tasty meal at 7:15 – tolmas, mutzoon, and potatoes, with wine. By this time there were seven adults – Zarik, Hrantic, Meruzhan, Tatevik, Hrantic's sister Greta, and her daughter Ashren. (Meri, Zarik and Hrantic's daughter, celebrated nor tari with her husban's family and later she and her son Edulik came and stayed for a few days.) The table was cleared quickly and the women got to work preparing the main spread. I went to Goris earlier that day to check if our grant money had been deposited yet (No) and the center of the town was very busy with sidewalk vendors selling fish, fruit, and vegetables. In addition the stores were stocked with delicacies we rarely see here – pineapples, papayas, coconuts, and so on. Later that afternoon, I washed dishes and vacuumed the living room. Zarik now happily accepts that I can and will do odd jobs around the house, although when there is company I think she prefers that I stay out of the kitchen. The preparations for the nor tari spread went on for over two hours – ornately folded napkins, intricately arranged platters of meat and vegetables, and a carefully set table. During the evening, several of us had showers and put on nicer clothes. At about 11:15, Meruzhan lit the khorovats fire and was soon grilling the meat (mostly pork) and potatoes. We sat down to eat at about 11:50 and as soon as it was 12, we toasted the New Year with champagne and began to eat. At around 1 am a few younger kids from neighboring houses stopped by and I went to bed at 2 am. Zarik and the other women were up until 4 am, drinking tea and talking, and they did all the dishes and left the kitchen spotless before retiring to bed.

The table at 11 pm on December 31 before we sat down to eat.I took a lot of pictures that night but none turned out as the camera somehow "jumped" to a different setting and I didn't notice it that night.

Beginning on January 1, it is the tradition to visit neighbors and relatives. Meruzhan's car is small and there isn't room for all of the family and me, and I've been happy to stay behind and have some peace and quiet. On Sunday afternoon they visited five houses and after returning to the house for a short period, they left again to visit another two houses in the evening. On Monday, the pattern was reversed and friends and neighbors stopped by. On Tuesday, the family visited relatives in Goris and later other friends and relatives came for dinner, which was another elaborate affair with khorovats. By Thursday the visits had declined greatly and some semblance of normal life was returning. The celebrations for Christmas (Friday Jan. 6) were somewhat muted as I think we were all “celebrated out” by then. We had a nice lunch with a neighbor and after some music and talking everyone adjourned. Meruzhan and the family returned to Yerevan on Saturday and we are returning to normal life. School resumes on Monday January 9.

Anna and Hrantic and the snowman in front of the house.

My goals for the next several months are to keep improving my Armenian and to stay busy trying to improve things in and around Verishen. In a way, those resolutions sum up our life here; we have the luxury of being able to concentrate on our work here and not worry about some of the standard stressors of everyday life in America, such as health insurance, property taxes, and employment. Last year was eventful and enjoyable. I've assembled four mini-collages, one for each season, covering some of the happenings last year.

Winter 2011 (Jan. - March). Clockwise from upper left: Zarik and students at theArmy Day presentation at school (Jan. 27); Zarik preparing a tan breakfast (Jan. 30);Poetry contest in Goris (Mar. 6); in the midst of our largest snowfall (Feb. 16).

Spring 2011. Clockwise from upper left: Hawthorn in flower (May 4); Procession inVerishen on Peace and Victory Day (May 9); a farewell party for departing volunteers (May 25); Verishen and growing gardens (May 24).

Summer 2011. Clockwise from upper left: Looking south from Gomarants Pass towards the Araks River and Iran (June 3); Border 2 Border presentation in Tatev (June 11); On the road again with Border 2 Border near Gohayk (June 15); Green Camp in Kapan (June 28).

Fall 2011: Clockwise from upper left: First-graders on the first day of school(Sep. 1); Verishen and Goris from the mountains north of Verishen (Oct. 2);Looking north from Verishen (Nov. 14); A fall day in Verishen (Oct. 13).

Access to clean water is an important issue for many of us here. The Peace Corps puts together simple but effective water filters that consist of a sediment filter in a 3 gallon bucket that feeds into a microorganism filter in a 5 gallon bucket with a tap. We each received one at the start of PST and many volunteers still depend on them. While we were at Arzakan, we all initially used the filters for drinking water but, after I realized that I was brushing my teeth with tap water with no ill effects, I started drinking the tap water. I had no problems there but others did. (It does seem that some volunteers can handle water or other things that make others sick. I've been fortunate in that my few gastrointestinal problems have been resolved with the pink chewable bismuth tablets we are issued. Not everyone has been so lucky.) When I first visited Verishen in July 2010, I tried drinking the tap water and have done so ever since. The water in Verishen and Goris is fine and I have not used my water filter here at all. Other volunteers are either less fortunate or less foolhardy and rely heavily on their filters and bottled water. In some villages the water is unclean but my feeling is that in most places the water is potable. Another problem, particularly in summer, is access to water. In Arzakan, we were without water for several hours every day, usually late morning and early afternoon. I think the problem there was diversion of water for gardens. However, in some large towns, including Gyumri and Kapan, many apartment buildings have water for only a few hours a day year round and I think the problem there is a limited capacity to provide water to all parts of the city at the same time. People there fill buckets when the water is on and use that for cooking and the toilet while the water is off. Occasionally the water is off in summer in Verishen but usually only for a short period. We're fortunate here as the domestic water comes from a lake higher up in the mountains and river water is used for irrigation.

Armenia is a net exporter of water as it is at a higher elevation than surrounding countries. Many of Armenia's rivers feed larger watercourses that flow out of Armenia. The Goris River flows by at the bottom of our garden and empties into the Vorotan River which joins the Araks (or Aras) River. The Araks forms the border with Iran and then flows onto Azerbaijan, into the Kura River and empties into the Caspian Sea. The Hrazdan River which flows through Yerevan also drains into the Araks as do many of the streams emanating from Mt. Aragats, the highest peak in Armenia. The major river in the north of Armenia, the Debed, flows into Georgia and empties into the Kura which flows south-east to the Caspian. Much of Armenia is relatively dry and adequate supplies of water for irrigation and domestic use could be a problem in years to come. The current plan is to let the level of Lake Sevan rise 4-6 meters over the next several years and the annual flow into the Lake along with its raised level should suffice to supply much of Armenia with water for years to come without having to pump the water; gravity alone will suffice. The lake was partially drained during the Soviet era for irrigation and domestic water. However, as the level rises, numerous buildings, a new road, and several stands of trees that were planted along the edge will be flooded. The plan may be a good one but it's implementation has been problematic so far.

Sevanavank, Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world. It is about 1,900 m. above seal level and has a surface area ofapproximately 940 sq km. It is fed by 28 rivers and streams.

During the Border 2 Border walk in June, we usually stayed with other volunteers along the way and if those volunteers used their filter, we did too; we wanted to avoid gastrointestinal issues during the walk and we were mostly successful. We were usually able to carry enough water with us for a day's walking but on those occasions where we camped, we had to buy bottled water. Smaller villages usually didn't have bottled water and instead we often had to buy bottled carbonated mineral water (Jermuk), which is ubiquitous.

Looking north up one of Verishen's streets on the afternoon of Jan. 4.

December has been relatively mild and dry in Verishen. We had a light snowfall

on December 10 and this is the view from the house the next morning.

Zarik started her purchases for nor tari (New Year) in early December. Nor tari is such an important and heavily celebrated event that supplies in the stores often run low near the end of December; last year eggs were briefly in short supply as people bought so many for making cakes. At first, she came home with lots of mundane stuff – soap, toilet paper, scouring pads (December is when the house gets a major cleaning.) but now we have a lot of food in the cupboards. She had a large master list (tsootsak) and looked at it each time before going out. She then bought whatever looked reasonable and cheap in the stores that was on the list, and later crossed things off the list. After an early trip, she came home in a taxi with a lot of bags and a 50 kg bag of flour. Most things were bought before school finished on December 24. She put aside eggs from our hens downstairs, I picked up 3 kg of the 5 kg (11 lb !) of Verishen butter that was ordered earlier and later brought home 10 kg of meat, which is a huge amount by Armenian standards. Essentially all the meat we have seen over the last several months is small amounts of beef and chicken in soups. Meruzhan and the family arrived on Thursday. Right now, a lot of baking and cooking is going on and and the partying will begin on Saturday.

Starting in early December, Hrantic started making vodka from the barrels of grape crushings we started at the end of October and he added to in November. Earlier in fall, while making apple vodka he had the still and water jacket outside. Now that it's cold, he moved it inside and ran it most of the day for several days.

Distilling vodka downstairs. We had a lot of grapes this year and the still was running for several days.

The pile of grape crushings in the garden; the remnants from several days of distilling.

On December 16, several teachers and I went to the 7th grade form room for a math competition. There were three groups of kids and they were tested on algebra problems. I was quite impressed as they started algebra in September and many of them have a very good grasp of the basics. The groups were very close until the end when one kid made a mistake in an algebraic expansion and the winning group went wild with excitement. Unfortunately, the kid's mother is the 6th form teacher and she was not happy, but otherwise it went very well. I complimented the math teacher afterwards on the kids' progress and she was pleased. The kids are very competitive between groups, very cooperative within groups, and really try to do their best. If only we could maintain this conscientiousness through the upper grades!

There were semester exams in mid-December. The teachers were busy grading and then updating the class form books for several days. After the exams, things eased up in most of the classes. However, Zarik came home with a book of physics exercises arranged by grade level. I scanned several pages, and worked with the scans to put 2½ or more pages of questions onto 2 pages. She then had 2-sided copies made of these sheets and distributed them in her classes. Also in mid-December, Zarik organized a short presentation on Garegin Nzdeh, an Armenian soldier and statesman, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garegin_Nzhdeh ) in her lab with some printed sheets and videos and it went quite well.

Akner, or Brun as it was called until recently, is a village adjoining Verishen on the north-west side and about half the size of Verishen. The school director there, a former student of Zarik's, attended the opening of the chemistry and biology lab and is keen to have a Peace Corps volunteer at Akner next year. English is not taught there, so, following suggestions from Zarik and me, she arranged for the school and the town hall to share a business volunteer. She and Zarik have already filled out the application and it will go to Yerevan with another volunteer this week. I hope this plan works. The application will arrive early and I'll try to get Peace Corps officials up to Akner to meet the people involved.

We had a small Christmas tree at the school for the last few days of school and after classes ended on December 24, there was an informal concert in front of the tree with the first and second-grade students singing and dancing. Sunday, December 25, was much like any other Sunday in Goris but the stores did have more fruit and vegetables in preparation for Nor Tari. I've never seen pineapples (3,500 dram or about $9.30 each), coconuts, or papayas in Goris before. Several Goris-area volunteers had left to travel, and small group of us gathered in Goris to celebrate Christmas with a pot-luck dinner featuring some lamb, salad, rice pilaf, mashed potatoes, pasta, and, of course, mulled wine and apple pie. It was a nice meal and I was quite warm walking home afterwards.

The Christmas tree at the school

One of several decorated windows at school.

Our proposal to renovate an unused classroom at the school for a mathematics classroom for secondary school students was approved in mid-December. We should have the money soon so the contractor can begin work early in January. I have just submitted a second proposal to furnish and equip this room.

This is the current state of the room to be renovated. It will be a major effort but the school badly needs more classrooms.

There many apparent contradictions in living here. I am very safe living in a village. All the children and most of the adults know me and all my encounters with people in Verishen have been pleasant. I don't hesitate to walk around Goris or Verishen at all hours of the day or night, though we do escort female volunteers to their homes or call a taxi. I have lost a cell phone but nothing else and all the people I interact with are very honest. However, Zarik and Hrantic insist that the house is locked when no-one is home. The door is barred at night and, often while Hrantic is working in the garden, he will bar the door. Hrantic was in Yerevan for over a week and Zarik insisted that I bar the door while I was working upstairs when she went to school. I asked her why and she explained that after Hrantic's recent distillation there is a lot of vodka downstairs and people, who stop by to see Hrantic, may help themselves to some vodka if they think no-one is around. I don't think they worry at all about house robbery, just alcohol pifering.

Peace Corps Armenia produces 3 newsletters each year on what the Peace Corps is doing in Armenia. Volunteers took over a lot of the work for it earlier this year and I like (mostly) what they've done. Austin Sherwindt, a PCV in Goris and a good friend, is on the committee that writes the articles and puts the newsletter together. He wrote about the lab opening and, although the article as he wrote it was pretty good, the final result said Zarik is a chemistry teacher (She is a physics teacher.), it left out most of the details about the community involvement and contribution, and somehow the furniture details are wrong. However, it's good to see the project in print and it may help to stimulate similar efforts elsewhere in the country. Zarik is very pleased with it and I've printed 2 copies (in Armenian) for her and the school director. I sent both English and Armenian versions to Meruzhan last night and he and Tatevik said the English version was very good but the Armenian was "vochinch" (which, in this context, really means not so hot). Unfortunately, it's not directly available to the public as it's on a password protected Peace Corps server, but if you'd like to see a copy, let me know and I'll e-mail you a copy.

Tuesday (December 27) was the opening of the new playground at the Goris kindergarten. The equipment was installed last week and, although the kindergarten is closed, the director called some parents who brought their kids - and it was a great hit. After the opening and after the kids had played for a bit, we adjourned inside to eat and drink. I'm now trying to say "no" or "we'll see" to most requests for help but I couldn't resist agreeing to help find more money to beautify the area more; the kids were just so happy to have the playground. The kindergarten project was a lot of fun. I wrote the proposal and the kindergarten people watched the budget and did most of the organizing and Zarik found a welder. We couldn't afford to buy playground equipment from the sole manufacturer in Armenia so we had a Goris welder put together some equipment. He built 2 swing sets, 2 slides and a playhouse - far more than we would have otherwise got. Jasmena, the kindergarten director, had one swing set, a slide and the playhouse put in front and the rest is in the back. We don't have room for it all in front but having some in front where it will be seen more is a good idea.

Children enjoying the swings and -

- the slide in their new playground.

All the best for the New Year. I'll write a separate post on our nor tari celebrations and you should see that before long.

There's not much snow around Verishen at the moment and this wasthe view we had of the mountains to the north yesterday (Dec. 29).Happy New Year to all from Verishen!

What's not to like about this?This time of the year, there's usually at least one part of my body that feels cold.However, views like this in the morning help to dispel minor creature discomforts.

ThanksgivingDay, Thursday November 24, was cold and it started snowing lightly inthe late afternoon. Thanksgiving is not an Armenian holiday but agroup of volunteers gathered in Goris to eat, drink, and celebrate. Iwalked down to Goris late on Thursday afternoon, gingerly and slowly,as ice was forming on the streets and sidewalks. Then, while I was atAustin's helping with preparations for Friday's dinner anddelivering a squash for soup, it started snowing in earnest. I walkeddown to another PCV place in central Goris where volunteers weregathering for munchies and watching football via live streaming on alaptop. As Thursday is a work day for most of us, a few volunteerscoming to Goris from points north came in late, after an interestingtaxi ride in the snow, and our main meal was on Friday evening atAustin's. I walked home later through several inches of snow alongvery empty and quiet streets, but felt bad when I got home as Zarikstayed up till I got home. I found out the next morning that she wasworried about the wolves. There are some wild dogs in the hills tothe west, though I doubt that they are wolves. We often hear themhowling in the evenings, not unlike coyotes; and they could well behybrids with stray dogs. I haven't seen any yet but there are manycanid tracks in the snow in the forest west of the village. Theclouds lifted a bit in Verishen on Friday morning and, although wedidn't get much snow, it was beautiful and cold.

Kids on the way to school on Friday morning after Thursday's snow.

Thanksgivingwas good; we ate well - mashed spuds, salads, squash soup, mulledwine, an apple pie, fruit cake, and even a turkey, but we couldn'tfind green beans anywhere. The Goris spelling bee was the next dayand it went well.

The table at Thanksgiving prior to the feast.

Eating and ruminating.

At the Spelling Bee. I was one of three judges, and it was my task, as recorder, to write down everything the students said.

The students in each grade lined up and we asked each student to spell a word. If they made a mistake, they sat down. The process continued until we had a winner.

More smiles when it was over. All participants received certificates.

First and second place students got small awards and go on to the regional spelling bee.

I'mgrateful for being in a place where all the volunteers get alongquite well. Several volunteers came here for Thanksgiving fromfurther afield as they don't have a compatible social group forgatherings like this. I'm also grateful that I can leave the crowdand walk home to rediscover peace and quiet. I appreciate that manypeople in Verishen realize that volunteers need community support andparticipation to get things done. That's not the case in other placesin Armenia, even in villages that have had volunteers before. I'mthankful for finally starting to accomplish a little here and for theacknowledgement that I'm receiving. I am particularly grateful forall the support I've received from friends and family in America andAustralia. Your support has been a crucial part of what we'reaccomplishing here; I appreciate it as do those in Verishen whorealize how the lab was furnished, where the dental supplies camefrom, and so on. Many, many thanks. And I'm very grateful to livewith a family that treats me as part of the family and not some sortof exotic creature. We enjoy each other's company and I'm smiling andlaughing a lot more than last year. Also I am thankful that I live ina beautiful place. Armenia has many beautiful places but not alltowns and villages are attractive. The scenery changes here and thereis always something fascinating to look at.

Verishen on Friday morning, November 25, after snow that night.

Zarikhas been spending more time on the computer lately learning MicrosoftPaint and Microsoft Word. For a while, there were frequent requestsfor help. Now, she is producing documents in Armenian with numberedparagraphs, equations with superscripts and subscripts, and otherfancy formatting. I'm now showing her how to print and to shake theprint cartridge which will soon have to be replaced. She has aninquiring mind, is a quick learner, and has learned a lot in a shorttime. (And all the help and commands for these programs are inEnglish.) She likes showing me what she has done and I'm assuring herthat she should be hpart (proud). She produced a page ofphysics problems for each of her four classes, as practice before theGoris area Physics Olympiad. I was impressed with some of the physicsproblems, as they seek to find basic understanding rather than theability to regurgitate material. One problem that I liked that wasgiven to ninth graders and which illustrates this approach is, -(paraphrased from the Armenian). You have a piece of wire with aresistance of 1 ohm. The wire is stretched to three times itsoriginal length. What is its resistance now? (The resistance is thesame, but the answer requires an understanding of resistance.)

Once a teacher, . . . While she was learning more about using the computer, Zarik was also giving Edik some tips.

Thereare two chemistry teachers and two biology teacher at the school, butas the director teaches both biology and chemistry and runs theschool as well, he does not have a full teaching load. So the bulk ofthe chemistry teaching falls to Svetlana who is a good teacher.However, I was concerned that as the lab opening approached, sheseemed uninvolved. Recently however, when I was at school she toldme, very enthusiastically, about a demonstration she had just donefor a class. It's a dramatic experiment that needs to be donecarefuly but it demonstrates some important chemistry. She had asmall bell jar with a crucible spoon and an exhaust vent at the topwith a stopcock for venting gases. She dropped a small piece ofsodium into water at the bottom of the bell jar and showed that thegas expelled (hydrogen) reacts almost explosively when ignited andthat the water in the bell jar was now alkaline (sodium hydroxide). Iwas as excited as she was, as, with the new lab, the teachers arebeing asked to do more and to rework their lessons. She obviously isalready. The reaction for the chemically inclined is 2Na + 2H2O→ 2NaOH + H2 . It's a simple reaction but a good one asyou can identify the products. And I had a nice talk with the otherbiology teacher in the staff room recently. She teaches seventh,eigth, and ninth grade biology.

This picture of an autumnal Verishen was taken on the morning of October 24.Winter began in earnest that evening and that may be my last autumn scene here.

We had an early taste of winter inOctober. It was sunny and mild on Monday and Tuesday, October 24 and25. The temperature dropped and the clouds rolled in on Tuesdaynight. It snowed on and off for most of Wednesday and it was cold andfoggy for the next several days, with intermittent snow and sleet.We're now living in the three rooms on the south side of the houseand are using the gas stove there. It's more difficult and moreexpensive to buy wood now so Zarik and Hrantic decided to make theswitch to gas. I miss the instant warmth of the wood stove andcooking on it, but I won't miss cleaning out the stove pipes in themiddle of winter. We cook in the kitchen and eat (quickly) in thelivingroom, and otherwise spend much of the time in the three“winter” rooms. The cows are now inside all day and are eatinghay; not surprisingly their milk yield has dropped. I don't know ifthey'll go outside much before May; probably not.

The view from the patio on the morning of October 27.

The weather finally cleared by Monday (October 31) and this was the view from the patio that morning.

We have had a few falls of snow sincethen, including about 15 cm (6 inches) last weekend (November 12 and13), and some very cold nights. Winter has made an early appearancethis year and it looks like it's here to stay for a while. Thismorning, November 19, it was clear when I got up and then the cloudsdrifted up from Goris and within an hour Verishen was completely fogbound. The temperature dropped and light snow flurries started;winter indeed!

Hrantic got most of the grapes pickedbefore the winter weather arrived in late October and then spent thenext few days methodically removing (by hand) the stems. The chickensgot the stems later when it warmed up briefly. (Nothing of food valueis wasted here. Potato peels go to the cows, most other vegetablescraps go to the chickens.) We got a lot of grapes this year; farmore than last year. It was quite cold while he was doing thede-stemming and he moved the operation to the “winter suite.” OnSaturday October 29, we started making wine and vodka downstairs withthe grapes. We used two large aluminum pots and filled them about 1/3full with grapes. Hrantic donned some old cut-away waders and crushedthe grapes in the pot. Meanwhile, I added more grapes to the otherpot. When he was done crushing one pot, he switched to the other potand I tipped the crushings into a large plastic drum (about 55gallons or around 200 liters). I lost track of how many separatecrushings we did, but it was over 20, and the blue drum was about 70%full by the time we had used all the de-stemmed grapes. We thenstirred the mix with a long stick for about five minutes capped itloosely, and left it to prepare the vodka.

The picked and de-stemmed grapes ready for crushing. There is over 100 kg of grapes here.

Crushing the grapes - a step we repeated many times that day.

The crushed grapes hanging and draining.(This is the only picture I have of this step; sorry it's such a bad one.)

For the vodka, the procedure was muchthe same but we used the grapes as picked, stems and all. Then aftercrushing, we would pick through by hand for the stems, squeeze outany juice and add the stems to the pile for the chickens. And it wascold; it was snowing outside at the time and the basement where wewere working was below 5o C (40o F).We probablyretrieved about ¾ of the stems this way. The crushings then wentinto an equally large drum, which we filled about 2/3 full. Westirred that drum as well, put plastic sheeting over the top and leftit. It's now my job to stir both barrels daily.

Four days later, we strained the մաճառ(magharr – first or new wine). We had a small amount of themagharr at lunch on Tuesday; it wasn't bad, – by no meanswine but with a definite promise of better things to come. Hranticwas pleased and decided then that it was ready to be strained. Wescooped the contents of the large wine barrel into 3 large sacks,that are the standard white, woven plastic sacks that people use forall sorts of garden-related things here. We tied the neck tight andwith the sack in a large pot, lifted pot and sack onto a bench, tiedthe sack to a hook in the ceiling and removed the bench, so that thesack was now hanging several inches above the bottom of the pot andliquid drained into the pot, leaving the crushings behind. The sacksstayed like that, draining into the pots for about 12-16 hours. Fromover 100 kg of grapes which gave about 40+ gallons of crushings, wehave about 15 gallons or almost 60 liters of magharr thatfurther fermented slowly downstairs in large glass carboys. While Iwas away in early November, Hrantic decanted the wine from thecarboys into smaller glass bottles. We have had a little of that winesince and it's actually very good.

Although many people in the Goris areamake wine, vodka, and cognac from a variety of different fruits,there doesn't seem to be any interest in making fortified wines, suchas port or vermouth. I have seen Armenian port in some stores inYerevan and a few of the larger Armenian vintners make a little port.I have not seen sherry or vermouth here at all.

The new chemistry and biology lab. at Verishen School immediately prior to the official opening on November 5.

In the small room with sinks, fume hood, and posters

Zarik with the cake that nearly stole the show. That's the Peace Corps Armenia logo on it -

American and Armenian flags and the Peace Corps logo beneath.

On Monday November 7, after asuccessful lab opening at the school, I went to Yerevan for medicalappointments. Although the medical facilities in Goris arereasonable, we are expected to use the Peace Corps for all ourmedical needs. This works out well; the 2 doctors on staff are verygood, they are familiar with our needs and issues, and are usuallywilling to give us whatever we need. They made appointments for me tohave my eyes checked and my teeth cleaned on Tuesday and in the lateafternoon I traveled to Dilijan, a medium-sized town about 70+ km (43miles) north of Yerevan. Dilijan is surrounded by wooded hills andDilijan National Park abutts the town. We had meetings in an old andvery large hotel above the town. The settings were magnificent andthe meetings went well. It was good to see other volunteers for thefirst time in months, and to meet more of the new volunteers. Thatwill probably be our last gathering until June when we meet for ourCOS (Close of Service) Meeting. From what I hear, it may be almost asdifficult to leave the Peace Corps as to join it; we will have tofill out lengthy descriptions of service (which some of us havestarted on already), return all things belonging to the PC, have exitinterviews, and so on.

The main wing of the old (and cold!) hotel above Dilijan with the mountains above

Another view of our surroundings for the meeting

The last few weeks have been (and stillare) busy. In addition to getting everything ready for the labopening, I have been working on raising funds for the next majorproject at the school, - renovating another unused room at the schoolfor math. teaching. That proposal is almost done and will go out inthe next few days. Although we still have about 9 months of serviceremaining, there isn't much time left to start new projects likethis. I've also helped edit a monthly newsletter for CARD (Center forAgribusiness and Rural Development - http://www.card.am/). The newsletters are in English and the grammar and spelling arefine but the phrasing is a little stilted and the word order isawkward at times. So, I'm helping them a little with the English. I'malso reviewing applications from Armenians for Muskie fellowships tostudy in the U.S. The Muskie fellowship program (http://www.irex.org/project/edmund-s-muskie-graduate-fellowship-program) is well-run and the competition is fierce for one of the smallnumber of available fellowships; scoring the applications inEnvironmental Management and Information and Computer Science ischallenging.

One of the things I look forward tohere is helping other volunteers with their projects. On SaturdayNovember 26, the first round of the Syunik marz Spelling Bee getsunderway and I've offered to help as a judge. The Spelling Beecompetion is for students from grades 9-12 who are studying Englishand the quality of the competition is high, particularly among theupper grades. The competition is organized and run by PCVs who teachEnglish. On Wednesday of this week (November 16), I went with anothervolunteer to judge business model presentations at the economicsdepartment at the University in Goris. The presentations weren't allgreat (I had serious reservations with one student's plan to breedand market sheep for wool and meat, when he hadn't given any thoughtto doing anything more than breeding within the flock. However, I didlearn that most of the mutton raised locally is exported to Iran andEurope; one does not see it in the stores here.) but the students hadworked hard, some of the models were original and creative, and theydid listen to our comments.

One view of the room we want to renovate and furnish for a math. classroom.

Thanksgiving is not celebrated inArmenia, except by Peace Corps volunteers and a few expatriates inYerevan. Most of us will be gathering in groups, small and large, toeat, drink, and socialize. Given the weather, I'm not keen ontraveling far at the moment and will be joining other Goris-areavolunteers and a few other volunteers from further afield in Gorisnext Thursday evening. Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week arenormal work days for us here – but not at Peace Corps HQ inYerevan! Our host is a vegetarian and has gallantly offered his ovenfor others to roast a bird if they wish. I won't miss the meat and amlooking forward to taking a large squash (from our garden) for squashsoup and a fruit cake and macadamias from a recent care package fromthe Antipodes.

Verishen and Goris are in a valley with high mountains to the north and we have plenty of foggy days, particularly in winter.

However, the occasional clear days are very welcome .Many volunteers find they are taking many fewer photos in their second year. I am taking many more and regretting not taking more last year.

Autumn in Verishen. Leaves are turning and there's smoke in the air from scattered garden fires as people burn off bean vines and other debris from the season.

Fall is definitely with us. The leaves are turning and falling and many of the birds have already left. We had a windy day this week and everyone was walking around looking on the ground for the last few walnuts that had blown down. The big chore in the garden this week was picking apples. We pruned these trees fairly heavily in winter and they yielded well. Hrantic and I used various combinations of barrels and boards, stools, and ladders and managed to get all of them. (Picking apples is one task where a few extra inches of height helps a lot.) After picking, Hrantic sorted them, we carried them up to the house and, to make wine, he sliced them up and then they grated them (with hand-graters) and soaked and pressed the apple gratings a couple of times. The extracted juice is now fermenting. Hrantic is now digging up the garden; all that remains now are some beets (beetroot), cabbage, radish, carrots, and some corn for the cows. There is a lot of smoke in the valley, particularly in the evenings, right now as people burn off the last of their bean vines. Soon we will see smoke from the burning piles of autumn leaves.

Hrantic starting to pick apples in the early morning light.

The pile of apples picked from the four trees in the garden.

I've been fascinated by the mountains immediately to the north of Verishen for some time. They dominate the skyline here and greatly influence our weather. I went up the eastern-most peak last October but the wind was so severe near the top that I turned back before reaching the summit. I plotted a return trip during September but, when the weather soured in early October, I wondered if I had missed my chance. On Saturday October 1 the weather was frightful – heavy rain and thick fog in the valley, snow on the higher mountains, and a cold, miserable day everywhere. However, it looked as if things were clearing up on Sunday morning and I took off in the morning, wondering how many more opportunities I would have.

Two views of the mountains north of Verishen. The top picture was taken in late April while there was still a little snow and the bottom picture on the morning of October 4 after a light snowfall.

The red line shows my approximate route up the mountains.

I walked up through Verishen and the fields immediately above and headed up the western spur and thence on to the high peak on the west. Meanwhile, clouds had reformed, coalesced in the valley, and were moving back to the mountains. Fortunately, there was a strong wind at the top and this stopped the clouds from building up. It was a treat to watch this aerial ballet between the wind and the clouds while I was ascending.

For much of the morning and early afternoon, clouds were forming in the valley and moving to the mountains where they were blown away by the strong winds.

The last several hundred feet are very steep and I was on all fours here. On reaching the top, I needed the three layers I'd brought with me including a heavy jacket, beanie, and gloves. With those on I was comfortable, but the noise of the wind was deafening. The west peak is the highest of the group at about 9500 feet (2900 m; for reference Verishen is at an altitude of about 4800 feet or 1460 m.) and the views from there were spectacular in all directions, particularly as there was a lot of snow on some of the distant mountains.

Verishen and Goris from the main ridge

Looking east along the main ridge

Looking NE from the main ridge to the villages of Vaghatur (V),and Khnatsakh (Kh), which are in Armenia, and what is probably Melikashen (M) in Azerbaijan.

I didn't rush the hike and spent most of the day in the mountains. Zarik snorted derisively when I told her where I'd been. However, after seeing some of the pictures and realizing that I had been looking into Azerbaijan, she was more interested and asked me to put all the pictures (almost 100!) on her computer at school so “all my students can see this.” My first impressions last year were that few if any Armenians hiked or camped. Since then I've learned that some of the teenagers in Verishen like to go for extended group hikes and several of them organize camping outings on FaceBook.

Looking from the main ridge and over Goris. You can see the village of Hartashen (H),

Old Goris (O), and the Goris River (G). The road to Kapan follows the Goris River

as far as the Vorotan Gorge (V) and then, after crossing the Vorotan River, goes over

the next two ranges of hills. Kapan (K) is in a narrow valley beyond these hills. The last

and highest range of mountains, the Arevik Mountains, are south of Kapan and must be

crossed to get to Meghri, Agarak, and Iran. There are only two roads over these mountains.

This year I saw and appreciated more ofwhat goes on in the school to prepare for a new school year. Mothershelped to thoroughly clean the classrooms for the younger studentsand a few older students (mostly girls) cleaned the rooms for theolder students. This year, we're moving from 11 grades to 12,requiring an extra classroom but, as no additional rooms are ready atthe moment, two classes, 11a and 11b, have been combined into one12th grade.

School started on September 1 but itwas only for about 2 hours that day. The main event is the arrival ofthe new first-grade students, who come in their best clothes carryingflowers for the teacher and the school. Proud parents come along too– but don't go into the classroom. Then there is the teacher kefor feast. Last year it was warmer and we ate outside. This yearwe ate in the teacher's room. It was a little crowded but still veryenjoyable with a lot of food and many toasts. Zarik received specialrecognition for having taught at Verishen for 40 years. Classesstarted in earnest the next day.

First day of school - and the first day for a neighbor's boy. I took this picture outside the house when we were all on our way to school.

As the teachers gathered on the first day, I was asked to take a few pictures.Here Zarik is with the geography teacher, one of her former students.

September 1 belongs to the first-graders in their good clothes and carrying flowers.

As several have noticed from some ofthe pictures, the school, like many others in Armenia, could use somerepairs – the floor in the gym has collapsed on one side, manylights don't work, the wooden parquetry floor in the hallways andclassrooms is in disrepair and the holes are patched with concrete,and so on. It might well be condemned in the U.S., and most firemarshals in America would have serious concerns with the building.However, a lot of good education happens there. I have sat in onseveral classes and have been impressed by both the curriculum andthe grasp of the material that many students. The teachers know theirstuff and take teaching seriously. Many students, mostly girls, go onto college , - either in Goris or Yerevan. For a poor country,Armenia has a fairly good education system and many people arewell-educated. Unfortunately, there aren't enough jobs for them –and they either take on less skilled work (One of my English studentsis trained as a teacher but she works as a cook at a hotel in Goris.)or leave to find work in Russia or elsewhere. I wish there was moreemployment but until things improve with Azerbaijan and Turkey anduntil corruption within the government is tackled seriously, it'sunlikely that many companies will be willing to invest heavily inArmenia.

Zarik hosted a gathering in Verishen for the Goris Area PCVs, three new and several returning volunteers, in early September

It was Hrantic's 65th birthday on Sept. 14 and here we are celebrating again.

Although most Armenians that Iencounter, -students, teachers, and other professionals – readwell, few seem to read for enjoyment. I think part of that may beavailability; there just aren't many non-reference books in Armenian.There are two stationery stores in Goris and one sells a few booksbut they are mostly dictionaries and school books. Even in Yerevan,I've seen very little non-fiction. There are libraries; Goris hasone but acquistions are few and most of the books are oldernon-fiction works and some translated classics.

I've started teaching English afterschool. I don't have many students and they are, surprisingly, adultswho come up to Verishen from Goris and are serious about wanting tolearn English. They are a good group and provide different challengesfrom teaching kids; they have more difficulty with “th” - as inthirty three, etc. (“Th” is not a sound that is encountered inArmenian.) However, they are very quick to make sentences. I had sometrouble getting children to make the transition from separate wordsto putting them together in sentences, but not with this class;they're really keen to speak in sentences.

There is now a lot of bare ground inboth gardens. We've harvested and shelled all the beans which are nowdrying in the house, and the empty pods are bagged up for feeding tothe cow later. Almost all of the potatoes have been exposed, pickedand stored away and the garden now has a few cucumbers and a littlecorn remaining, along with cabbages, radishes, some greens, and beets/ beetroot. The large squash have been picked and we'll roast them inwinter. The last few weeks have been busy for fruits and nuts. Wehave a hazelnut tree (pndook) and the hazelnuts are now drying insideas well. The blackberries are still yielding but we've picked a lotaround the village for compote, jam (mooraba), and wine. Our plumsripened a week or so ago and Zarik made jam and compote with them.Last year we bought hon (Cornelian cherries) but this year the treein the garden yielded enough for jam and juice. And the walnuts(popk) are ripening; we've had one harvesting and the results of thatare drying to make the husks easier to remove. Once we've finishedgathering the potatoes, things will slow down in the garden untilmid-October when the grapes are picked.

The garden is looking more bare now. We had beans in the foreground and the background was mostly potatoes, with some beans.

Hazelnuts (pndook) drying inside. As they dry they fall out of the green husk.

Walnuts (popok) drying on the patio. Some have already come out of the green husk.

Beans (lobi) drying outside and awaiting shelling.

Shelled beans drying inside

Picking potatoes. After they are carefully spaded to the surface and allowed to dry off for a few hours, we pick them while sorting into small (for the cow) and medium and large (for us).

Plum (salor) jam cooking.

One part of the food canned and ready for winter.

At school, form teachers are assignedto each class and their responsibility is to keep track of all gradesfor their students. In late spring, the form teachers take theirclasses on one-day excursions. For the first time, Zarik took aselect group of 14 students from several of her physics classes on anexcursion to the Byurakan Observatory near Yerevan. The two otherphysics teachers and I also went so that with the driver, themarshutni was full and, on many of the steeper hills, he used firstgear. The Byurakan Observatory is on the lower slopes of Mt.Aragatsin the village of Byurakan, north-west of Yerevan. It was built in1946 and is showing its age now, particularly as funding has beenscant in recent years. However, for quite a while it was a show-pieceof Soviet astronomy and the grounds are spectacular, with many largeand uncommon trees. We left at 6:30 in the dark on Sunday September18 and made a short visit to Zorats Karer or Karahunj near Sisian.This is an old archaeological site that many claim is an ancientastronomical observatory. I didn't take any pictures as the light wasstill very dim but it was a good stop. I'll return there before longto get some pictures and to look at the site more closely. Then ataround 9 the driver pulled into a filling-station near Vayk.

Like most marshutnis, this one ran onnatural gas and it takes a while to refill. We all jumped out, Zarikproduced a table cloth and the students brought vast amounts of foodfrom the van to a small outside table. Zarik didn't bring much; atablecloth, paper napkins, 2 loaves of sweet bread (gata ortkhvatsk), a bottle of cognac, and 6 shot glasses. She told me theday before that the students will bring food, and they certainly did;we ate very well that day. At Vayk we had cold home-made pizza,hard-boiled eggs, bread and lavash, chicken, gata, cheese, and freshvegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, green, radishes, etc.). After eatingin Vayk, we made a quick stop in Yerevan where we met Meruzhan andTatevik and the kids, gave them potatoes and yogurt from Verishen,and Tatevik brought ice-cream and cake for all. After touring thegrounds at the Observatory and hearing a presentation at the largesttelescope we had a picnic in the grounds of the observatory, withmore food fsupplied by the students. On the way back we stopped atthe Sergei Parajanov Museum in Yerevan. Parajanov was a talentedGeorgian and Armenian film director and artist. He incurred the wrathof the Soviet authorities and was jailed three times. (There's lotsmore about Parajanov out there, includinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Parajanov .) The museum has many of his artist pieces, - still-lifes,sketches, and objects. It's an excellent museum for an extremelytalented and creative artist. After Yerevan, we stopped atYeraskhavan, at the eastern end of the Ararat Valley, and munchedwatermelon from a roadside stand in the setting sun with Mt. Araratas our backdrop. We stopped at a filling-station in Sarnakunk, inSyunik marz near Vorotan Pass, at midnight and took over two tablesinside the cafe as it was cool outside (Sarnakunk is one of thehigher villages in Armenia at 2120 m. or almost 7,000 ft) andfinished off most of the rest of the food. We got back to Verishensoon after 1 am and, after dropping off the students at their houses,Zarik and I got to the house at 1:30, tired and happy after a longand very enjoyable day.

Our first meal, - at Vayk.

Walking through the grounds of the Byurakan Observatory.

Students and teachers at the Observatory. Our guide is on the far left.

Still-life, titled "Yuri Gargarin", at the Sergei Parajanov Museum.

Eating watermelon in the early evening at Yeraskhavan

Wednesday September 21 was thetwentieth anniversary of Armenia's independence. It is a publicholiday and commemorates the referendum held in Armenia on September21, 1991 in which an overwhelming majority of Armenians voted forindependence from the Soviet Union. There was a big military paradein Yerevan's Republic Square(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_8H3XinEsQ ) as well as smaller, less militaristic parades in other towns,including Goris. Far more impressive to me was the Independence DayConcert held outside in Republic Square that evening. The 80 minuteconcert depicted Armenian history with dance and music and wasfollowed by fireworks. All the music, performers, and choreographywas Armenian; an impressive accomplishment. We watched it on TV whilemany, including Meruzhan and Tatevik, saw it live. Several videos areavailable of the concert; here's one ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXDkdQQZW4c).

Large herds of cows graze in the mountains above Verishen and thecows return to their owners in winter. The herders are now starting to move their trailers and herds to lower elevations.

We had a lot of cool, foggy days in September - and just seeing the sun was a treat.

It has been cool, foggy, and damp in Verishen and Goris for much of the second half of August, though it is often a little warmer in Goris. After several days of cool, damp weather, Hrantic noticed that the apples on one tree were falling early and were rotten. It seemed to me that the apples were infected by a fungus which proliferated in the cool, damp weather. Only one tree was affected; presumably the other trees are more resistant. And in this recent cool, damp, foggy weather the tomatoes in the garden are not ripening. Summer is starting to wane. Hrantic has picked a lot of the beans, pulled down some of the plants, and after the beans have dried we shell them. Zarik and I shelled beans one morning (Aug. 24) while listening to classical music on my laptop. Another sign of summer receding has been a rhythmic tapping coming from the ground floor. Hrantic has picked some of the apples and is slowly, methodically mashing them, one at a time, with a hammer to make a pulpy mash for vodka. I picked raspberries in mid-August and got a few, perhaps the last for the season, - while Hrantic came back the same morning with a lot of blackberries. When I do go out looking for blackberries, I often see other people picking them; not surprising as blackberries currently fetch 600 drams per kilo at the Goris shuka (market). This is a good price and some people are picking them for cash. We use them for murraba (jam) as well as wine. (If Hrantic comes back with a lot, they go towards wine, smaller amounts go towards murraba. For wine, the fruit are crushed by hand and strained through a large colander; the strained juice is used for making wine.)

When we're not submerged in fog, we have had some beautiful sights lately.

We had a large lunch on Sunday August 14 - khorovats, fresh and roasted veges, watermelon, wine and cognac with the extended family, - 9 adults and 3 kids. Meruzhan came down on Saturday and left for Yerevan with Tatevik and the kids this afternoon after lunch. Lunch was a farewell to them and, in a way, it was a farewell to summer. Meruzhan is making a trip to Washington DC this week for work and Zarik has had many questions about the weather there, Hurricane Irene (It was on the TV news here.), local times in different cities, and so on. School opens on September 1 but it reopened for teachers a week ago and Zarik and I are spending more time there already. Twice already Zarik and I have combed through YouTube looking for suitable short videos of physics experiments for her classes. We locate them, view them, and if we like them, I download them and put them on her computer in her physics lab. Once we have a computer in the new chemistry and biology lab., I'll see if the chemistry teacher is interested in getting some chemistry videos for her classes.

On Thursday August 18, soon after breakfast, Zarik and I cleaned four rugs - the small one from my room, two of Meri's, and another from our house. That took a while as Meri's rugs hadn't been cleaned for three years and we used a lot of rinse water. Unfortunately, it soon turned cool and damp and a 10 days later they are still hanging in the patio and far from fully dry. We had a nice lunch that Thursday with one of Hrantic's sisters. We had hash (the thick and fatty broth made from cow's hooves) again - but at least this time the ankle bones with cartilage were mostly taken out and piled on another plate. Chewing on the bones for the cartilage is considered a delicacy by some but I'm not too keen on it. I still can say that utum em amen inch (I eat everything) but hash is not my favorite. The rest of lunch was delicious.

On Friday August 19, the PCPP proposal to furnish and equip the biology and chemistry lab was fully funded. Thanks for your support. We should have the money soon – so we can set about ordering furniture and equipment. On Monday August 22, we had a clean-up in the lab with a few students helping us clean windows, doors, and sinks. The room is needed and not just for science. Last year schools went to the eleventh grade; now there are twelve grades and there is some pressure to use it as a classroom. I don't have a problem with that while we're setting up the room but a furnished and equipped lab. will have to be locked when not in use and that won't work for a regular classroom. Fortunately, Zarik agrees with me (adamantly so!), so I may not have to be too involved in school politics.

A willing student helping to clean windows in the lab.

Last Sunday, Zarik went to a lot of trouble to pluck, clean, and cook one of the young chickens after Hrantic killed it. She wrapped up the meat in lavash and took these morsels to several of the neighbors. It was a symbolic geasture of neighborliness which took a fair bit of trouble and I thought it was very sweet.

A few enterprising souls bring fruit and vegetables to Goris from the Ararat Valley in mini-vans. They don't go door-to-door but come when called, and they can provide large quantities of fruit and vegetables. A week ago Zarik bought about 40 kilos of tomatoes and about the same amount of peppers (Not the green bell peppers but yellow, and resembling a cross between a bell pepper and a banana pepper, and usually quite mild.). She then cut up the tomatoes, stewed them down in a large pot downstairs with the gas ring Hrantic uses for distilling, strained out the peel etc, boiled down the juice more, and added a lot of cut-up peppers. We then washed a lot of jars and bottled the tomato and peppers for winter. In the short and cool growing season we have here, it's hard to grow that many tomatoes and peppers maturing in August but buying directly from the vans is cheaper than going to the market – and they come to the door. In the last few days she bought a lot more tomatoes and peppers and we were busy all day Friday cleaning, blanching, and peeling tomatoes. Half of them were cooked down with added chopped peppers and bottled in one quart jars while another lot were added to large (1 gallon) jars with cilantro and peppers and then placed in a boiling water bath. We now have a lot of bottled tomatoes for winter. Cans and bottles of tomatoes and tomato sauce are rare and expensive in the stores here, so the rush is on now to prepare for winter. This time last year I remember having a lot of time on my hands. Now I'm being asked to help more around the house and I'm enjoying it.

Adding tomatoes and peppers to jars for winter.

Some of the tomatoes, jam, and fruit compote that Zarik has prepared and stored downstairs. It may look like a lot but it's for three families so we're not done yet.

The Armenian alphabet was developed in 405 by Mesrop Mashtots primarily to translate the Bible into Armenian. Mashtots' original alphabet had 36 letters – one for every different sound in the Armenian language. Since then 3 additional letters have been added. There are two versions of Armenian – Eastern Armenian is spoken mainly in Armenia, Karabakh and in Armenian communities in Georgia and Iran. Western Armenia was originally spoken in the western part of Greater Armenia which is now eastern Turkey. Following the 1915 genocide most of the surviving Armenian speakers from present-day Turkey joined the diaspora and western Armenian is the predominant language there. Although both eastern and western Armenian use the same alphabet, they are transliterated differently because of different pronunciations. Thus, the second letter of the alphabet – բ – is pronounced and transliterated as a “b” in eastern Armenian but as a “p” in western Armenian. Some sounds in Armenian are new to English ears and their pronunciation takes some practice. And some English sounds, such s “th” and “w”, are not found in Armenian. There is a particular regard, almost reverence, for the alphabet in Armenia, perhaps because it is uniquely Armenian. Some of the finest embroidery I have seen in Armenia features the alphabet, there is a field on the eastern slopes of Mt. Aragats with all 39 letters carved in stone, Mesrop Mashtots is remembered with numerous pictures and statues, and every town and city has a Mashtots Street.

The statue of Mesrop Mashtots outside the Matenadaran, the ancient documents museum in Yerevan.

The field of letters.

In Armenian, prepositions are really postpositions; they follow the noun which usually is modified; thus “in the river” is գետի մեձ (geti meds; river without a preposition is get). Grammar for the most part is not difficult. Nouns do not have gender and adjectives are not modified to agree with the noun. There are irregular verbs but not as many as in English or French. Noun declensions may be one of the more challenging aspects of Armenian. There are far more verbs in Armenian than English; we use phrasal verbs a lot in English – put something on, put something out, take something back, etc. and some words like run, play, serve, do, find, and set are translated with any one of several different Armenian verbs depending on the exact meaning.

A few sample sentences in Armenian:

We are going to the store to buy apples, bread and cheese. Մենք գնում ենք խանուտ գնել խնձոր, հաց, և պանիր (Menk gnoom enk khanoot gnel khndsord, hats, yev panir.)

All the children went to school yesterday. Բոլորը երեխաները գնացիՆ դպրոց երեկ. (Bolorer yerekhanerer gnatsin dprots yerek.)

Put the milk in the fridge. Դնիր կաթը սառնարանում (Dnir kater sarrnaranum. )

The Peace Corps volunteers have a meeting in Goris tomorrow. Խաղաղության կորպուսի կամավորները ունեն ժորով Գորիսում վաղը. (Khaghaghootyan korpoosi komavornerer unen ghorov Gorisum vargha.)

This sign, in Armenian, English and Russian, is just below Vorotan Pass and tells you that you have left Syunik marz and entered Vayots Dzor marz.

Armenian for simple sentences such as those above is not difficult but word order changes and subtle differences between a large array of verbs make it more difficult to translate text such as: "Most of Armenia's water leaves the country." or "Air pollution from other countries pollutes streams and rivers in Armenia." This is where you do need someone who knows both English and Armenian. Tatevik and Zarik help, but, as their English is limited or non-existent, it's hard to convey what I want to say.

To type Armenian letters on my computer I use a keyboard driver which maps mystandard English letters to Armenian letters. The keyboard mapping is shown in theupper right. The text is about decomposition times of different components of garbage.

I've now been in Verishen for a year. I arrived on Friday Aug. 6 last year and that is a more significant date than our arrival in Armenia late in May 2010. It's been an enjoyable year, it's been far from boring, and I'm looking forward to an ever better year ahead. After a year, I am more involved in helping around the house. I still have to fight a little to do the dishes but I am now the go-to guy for making coffee, I pick fruit and vegetables in the garden, and when Zarik is busy and I ask if I can help, I am not turned away as often as before. I despair of ever being fluent in Armenian but at least I am improving.

The most significant event lately has been the completion of the renovation of the school room for the chemistry and biology lab. The contractor still has a lot of tools and materials in the hallway outside the room but the room is empty and finished. The last task was sanding, repairing, staining, and sealing the floor and that's finished and the floor is dry. So the unused room that was in a sorry state is now transformed with new windows, doors, new plaster and paint, new lights and power points, and a repaired and sealed floor. Include the running water, sinks, and fume hood and it's well on it's way to becoming a wet lab for chemistry and biology.

The chemistry teacher inspected the renovated room with me last Monday. She was very happy!

The renovated room with new windows, doors, lights, plaster and paint.

This is what the room looked like in April -

and you can't see the deteriorated wooden windows.

Our goal is to have the lab being used for teaching by the middle of the next school term which starts on September 1 so I'll need to start ordering the furniture and curtains in the next two weeks. We've already raised more than 75% of the funds needed to furnish and equip the lab but we need to raise the full amount before the Peace Corps sends the money. I sincerely hope that this is the last request for funds that I'll send out for a while, but we would greatly appreciate, and do need, additional contributions to the proposal. Please donate at -

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-075 - and many thanks for all your generous support. A relatively small amount does go a long way here

Looking across the lab to the door and outside hallway.

Another view of the room in April - no lights, bad plaster, etc.

Most houses in Armenia have large rugs but I haven't seen any carpet. One of the reasons for the lack of carpet may be that you can, with a decent patio, clean rugs yourself. Zarik cleaned the rugs here in spring and recently a truck brought some items from Meruz and Tatevik's apartment in Yerevan. One of the items was their large living room rug (about 8' x 10') that needed cleaning. We spread it out in the patio and vacuumed it and then scrubbed it thoroughly with soap and water and scrubbing brushes. Then we ran water over it for a while and "pushed" the water off with the mop (Armenian mops are really just a handle with a 30" piece of wood at the bottom - like a very tall T. To use as a mop, you drape a rag over the cross-piece. Without the rag, a mop is ideal for squeezing water out of a rug.) We then hefted it to the railing where it drained for a few hours and then we could drape it over the railing and clothes line to finish drying. It's now much cleaner (and considerably lighter in color) but this wouldn't work for carpets. Another interesting aspect of life here that makes a lot of sense. Later Meri bought up the rugs from their Goris apartment and we washed two but it's been overcast and cool for the last few days and rug cleaning is on hold for now. One day, while walking back from Goris, I saw two women cleaning a carpet on the edge of the road and scooping irrigation water from the gutter to rinse it.

Meri scrubbing her rug with soap and water. Unfortunately, youcan't see the box of Barf soap powder that we used.

Tatevik is pouring water onto the rug to rinse out the soap and Meri is "pushing" the water off with the wooden mop.

Meruz came last Sunday (July 31) for a brief visit. He didn't drive his own car as to drive մենակ (menak - alone) շատ տանկ է (shat tank e - is very expensive), so he came by taxi. And it was Zarik who spent a lot of time the night before finding a taxi; mothers do everything here. We had a very nice lunch after he arrived - 7 adults (Meri and her husband Arman came too) while the kids ran around with water (as it was Vartavar - water day - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vartavar ). Great food (green beans, salad vegetables, roasted peppers and tomatoes), drink (wine and cognac), and company. I still don't understand all the conversation but I do feel more a part of things. One incident which caused much hilarity at dinner on Wednesday and has been retold twice since was (translated from the hayeren):

Zarik: Hedley, did you speak hayeren in America?

Me: No - (then after a pause) but I did use mi roper (in a minute), apsos (that's a pity), vochinch (that's OK), de lav (that's good), lav chi (not good), gittem (I know), ha (colloquial - yeah), che (no), inch (what), inchoo (why), barev (hi), chka (there are no - as in banan chka - there are - or we have - no bananas) and others.

After lunch, Meruz and Arman played chess, Hrantic took a nap nerkev (downstairs), the kids took naps around the house, and Zark, Meri, and Tatevik cleaned Meri's rugs (and this time I got pictures).

Although many older women in Armenia are overweight, there is little talk or mention of diets and dieting. Zarik started a dee-eta (diet) on August 2 – initially it was only water and fruit but I urged her to eat veges as well. She has been very scrupulous and consistent in not having any coffee, wine, bread, etc. I also suggested that she weigh herself before she started and she did that last Tuesday on the produce scales. She weighed the same as me (72.5 kg) and barely comes up to my shoulders. At the moment eating only fruit and vegetables is not a big imposition. The raspberry vines in the garden are still yielding well and we're getting lots of red currants as well, watermelon (dsmerook) and peaches (deghds) are cheap and plentiful at the Goris shuka (market), and the blackberries on the edge of the forest above the house are beginning to ripen. After being on her diet for one week, Zarik weighed herself again – and she'd lost 3.5 kg (and I'd gained weight)! She wants to keep this up until September and then maybe relax the diet a little while continuing to watch what she eats. I'm not sure I'd recommend this diet to everyone but it seems to work for Zarik, who is determined and obstinate. I haven't heard her complain once that she was hungry or that she missed chocolate, coffee, bread, etc.

We had hash with lavash chips and cognac for breakfast recently. Hash is a thick broth made from cow hooves. It's a traditional breakfast dish to be had with vodka (we had cognac), but I think it works better in winter. While I was away the older calf developed an eye infection and was killed. Hence the hash. The first time we had it, it was just broth. This time the gelatinous cartilage remained. I chewed on a few pieces but wasn't really up to devouring all of it.

On Wednesday August 3, I went to Nerkin Khndzoresk to help with a 4-day “camp” for the children there. Nerkin Khndzoresk (NK; Nerkin means inner) is a very small village ( 300 people) about 7 km down a very rough road from the larger village of Khndzoresk, which is about 14 km east of Goris and about the same size as Verishen. Both villages are surrounded by rolling hills of grass which are being cut for hay at the moment. NK is within 2 miles of the Azerbaijan border and, as the Government wants this village to remain as an outpost near a sensitive border, they pay some officials, such as teachers, a little more to live in this remote outpost. However, I don't think there are any stores there and there is no public transport to the village. The village has electricity but no gas. The water comes in a pipe from Khndzoresk and we suspect that the pipe is fouled as bacterial counts in the water in NK are high and kids are often unwell. There is only enough water for domestic purposes and none for irrigation – so gardens are very small there and are mostly finished by now. NK has almost no fruit trees, I saw no animals while I was there (but surely someone has at least a few chickens and some sheep - ?) and the lack of stores, gardens, and fruit trees makes life there much harder and more costly. When I think of all the things that we get from our two gardens, our fruit trees, the surrounding countryside (wild rose, hawthorn, blackberries, etc.), and our animals along with our easy proximity to Goris, I realize that we'd be much poorer off without those things.

In Verishen, with summer and the need for irrigation water, we find our domestic water supply sometimes dwindling to nothing soon after 7 am. It often picks up again in the afternoon and then it may disappear again in the evening; prime times for irrigating. We're better off than many as, although we live on the second floor, we have a pump in the basement that, when there is a little water, can boost the water pressure upstairs. However, we can't leave it running for long and we fill buckets for the zugaran (toilet).

Zarik and Tatevik went to Goris a week ago and came home with a lot of delicious peaches they bought at the shuka (market). Peaches don't grow here; spring can be a bit capricious on the blossoms and young fruit; I think these came from Vayots Dzor – in the Vayk, Maliska, Yeghegnadzor area. We ate a few but most of them are drying on the small front patio, near my room. They peeled the peaches, halved and pitted them and then blanched them for 3-5 minutes before putting them outside to air dry in the sun.

Zarik is peeling and sectioning the peaches before blanching and laying on trays to dry.

Trays of peaches about to begin the air drying.

Tatevik's sister's husband is Armenian and a lawyer but can't find suitable work in Armenia and they live in Moscow. This is a common situation here. Her sister and the two kids were in Goris for a short while over summer. Tatevik's aunt is a pediatrician working in Moscow as well. We had a very nice dinner together on Thursday evening (Aug. 4) and the aunt and her daughter returned to Moscow that weekend and Tatevik's sister and her children are going to Sochi, a Russian resort on the Black Sea where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held, for a few day's vacation with her husband before returning to Moscow. It's a tragedy of Armenia today that well-educated people are unable to find reasonable work and have to go to Russia for gainful employment. This generation at least was raised in Armenia, has family here, stays in touch, and returns each year. I worry about the next generation that's being raised in Russia; what attachment do they hold for Armenia?

Lunch with Tatevik's family. Tatevik is in the lower left; proceeding clockwise we haveZarik, Tatevik's cousin, her mother (Tatevik's aunt - the pediatrician), and Tatevik's sister, Anni.

There are changes afoot for next winter. I was asking when we'll get more firewood for winter and Zarik said we'll be heating more with gas in winter. We won't be heating the main house and will be primarily living in the same three rooms as last winter. We will still use the stove on some cold days but gas will be the main source of heat. This surprised me as gas is imported and expensive. But I think the price of firewood is also going up and the difference may be shrinking. I do like heating, and sometimes even cooking, dinner on the wood stove and I hope that we will still do that on occasion.

Peace Corps volunteers are called on to do all sorts of things. Hrantic pointed out a heavy infestation of small black insects all over the green beans in the garden. I concluded that they are black aphids and I treated them with a light spray of soapy water. It's a very heavy infestation and we won't be able to get rid of all of them this way, but I hope we can reduce their numbers enough to where natural predators can take over. Recent cooler weather has slowed them down but I need to check on them again. Two days later, I was at the Goris kindergarten weighing the merits and costs of different items of playground equipment (swings, slides, seesaws, etc.) - and I'm working on an environmental presentation for a camp next week. The English was easy but redoing it all in Armenian takes longer.

After Border 2 Border and the Green Camp in Kapan, I took some vacation time and when I returned went to our mid-service conference in Tsaghkadzor. There we had our Armenian language exams, which are oral interviews, medical interviews, and a hodgepodge of other meetings and activities. After the conference I returned to Verishen immediately, arriving at 5 pm on Wednesday July 27 after an absence of more than three weeks.

There have been some changes while I was away. There is now a new bridge with railings at the river crossing below the house and it has a diversion for irrigation water for Goris. Vegetable gardens are maturing and we're now eating beans, potatoes, cucumber, greens, and raspberries from the garden. Also Tatevik, Zarik and Hrantic's daughter-in-law, and the kids, Hrantic and Anna, are staying here for the latter half of summer.

The new bridge replaces a large culvert.

The diversion structure just below the bridge that diverts some water to the left for irrigation in Goris.

After I got back, we had a nice dinner on the patio with wine and cognac. The young kids loved the bubble maker I brought back, but I think Zarik enjoyed making bubbles as much as the kids loved seeing them. After dinner, Tatevik's mother and sister and her kids visited and we enjoyed ourselves eating cherries and watermelon on the patio and watching the kids play and squabble. It felt good to be making katof sourch (coffee made with fresh whole hot milk) in the morning again. This evening (Thursday July 28) I picked a small bucket of raspberries from the garden and will pick red currants and gooseberries tomorrow. The Swiss chard (aka silver beet) and cherry tomatoes that I started from seed from the U.S. are thriving. The broccoli didn't do as well but we still have a few plants left and all the spinach has already been harvested. We'll have a heavy crop of grapes this year, far more than last year, and we're not sure why; perhaps it was because spring was cool and wet (?). The apple trees are also bearing well this year, and most of the apples will go to wine and vodka.

I stopped by the school this morning. The lab. renovations are almost finished. Water and drains have been run, sinks are installed (and even though I didn't ask for them, they've put up tile splashboards above the sinks), plastering and painting are complete, lights are up (and working), power points are in, and the fume hood is in place. They have sanded the floor and need to do some minor repairs to the floor before staining and sealing it, and doing a final clean up. I'm really excited about seeing it transformed from a junky unused room to its present state. It's not the sort of lab you'd see in an American high school as there are only three sinks, with cold water only, and there is no gas at the school. However, it will be a huge improvement over what the school had before (nothing) and I'm learning the merits of taking smaller steps.

Looking across the lab. to the door and corridor.

The renovation is almost finished and I'm now raising money to furnish and equip the lab. with a Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) proposal. I have written a proposal with a budget to furnish and equip the lab. and, after receiving approval by the Peace Corps, the project is placed on a Peace Corps Web page for interested persons to support it through donations. You can donate to this project by -

1. Go to the Lab. Web page ( https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-075 ), or,

2. as this is an unfortunately long URL, you can also use http://tinyurl.com/69njq77 , or,

3. you can point your browser to the PCPP Web site, http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate and enter Bond in the volunteer last name box. You don't need to enter any additional details and it will go to the Chemistry Lab. page.

One of the sinks in the new lab.

So far we have raised $2800 or 70% of our needs. Many thanks for your support! Zarik and I would like to have the lab. furnished and ready to use in time for Teacher's Day (October 5) and I'll probably order the furniture in the next two weeks.

Looking across the lab from the door

You may have seen this already, but here's a link to the video slide show we put together for the celebration at the end of Border 2 Border. It's a hodgepodge of pictures from the north and south teams. It's not long and is a nice photo essay of the 2.5 weeks. You may recognize a few of the pictures; enjoy!

Our route (in red) from Tatev to past Sisian

After a well-received presentation on Saturday morning, we left Tatev early on the morning of Sunday June 12 to walk overland, over another mountain range, to the village of Lor and from there down the road to the village of Vaghatin. It rained Saturday night and the vegetation was wet and our shoes and socks were soon soaked. However, the wildflowers near the top of the mountain were magnificent. We rested at the top for a quick bite and were soon startled by two puppies running up to us. They were starving and it seemed to us that someone had brought them up there to die. They soon endeared themselves to us and, after we gave them a little food and christened them North and South (For the two Border2Border teams; with the cuter, more compliant one being called South.), they followed us down the mountain to Lor. However, they were too weak to walk much of the 15+ km along the road from Lor to Vaghatin and we carried them with us. Leaving Lor, we came across two older women returning to Getatagh, 4-5 km from Lor, with heavy bags of groceries after shopping in Lor. We carried those with us to Getatagh and for a while I was carrying a small puppy, a heavy bag of vegetables, and my backpack. This was our longest and possibly most tiring day; we walked for ten hours and were very glad to arrive in Vaghatin. After feeding the pups and eating dinner, we were all “in bed” by 8 pm, which I think disappointed the volunteer there as he was looking forward to hearing more about our adventures.

Initially we followed old roads in walking from Tatev to Lor but these soon disappeared and we cut off overland.

As we neared the summit of the trek, the wildflowers were magnificent with many that were new to me.

Meadows near the mountain summit.

Vaghatin is a small village and we had arranged to have an additional trainer from Sisian to help with the presentation. All went well; we didn't have a lot of students come, so six teachers attended the lessons and were favorably impressed. We found good homes for the puppies and left after the presentation to walk the 12 km to Sisian where we had showers and a good hot meal.

On the road between Lor and Vaghatin - with puppies on board.

North and South resting at Vaghatin. Did I say they were cute?

.The "smoking bottle" at Vaghatin. We "smoked" a cigarette with a plastic Jermuk bottle and then showed the tar that was trapped in tissue paper at the top of the bottle. This was a fairly dramatic part of the presentation.

We left Sisian on Tuesday morning for the 25 km walk to Sarnakunk. We were little more than halfway when we came to an aid station that two volunteers had set up for us. After a short break we moved on, fueled by fruit, juice, and peanut butter cookies. We arrived in Sarnakunk while the volunteer there was teaching his English club and the neighbors invited us over for an impromptu lunch. At this time of the year, many people are picking field mushrooms between Sisian and Sarnakunk and selling them on the roadside and we had some of them with rice and chicken for dinner. The volunteer's house in Sarnakunk is small and most of us slept in tents that night. Sarnakunk is at 2120 m. and the night was cold, but watching the sun come up amongst the mist was beautiful.

A quick group picture before leaving from the very welcome aid station.

Our route (in red) from Sisian to Saravan. (Vorotan pass is immediately to the right of the "r" of Ughedzor. Saralanj is between Ughedzor and Saravan.)

The impromptu lunch at Sarnakunk. And that's not water we're toasting with!

On the road in the morning after leaving Sarnakunk

Our next leg took us out of Syunik marz (or province) into Vayots Dzor marz and our goal was to camp near the village of Saralanj, just below the pass defining the border between the two marzes. We found an excellent spot near a small creek and had a good restful night. The next morning we stopped in the next village, Saravan, to get more water and while we there Zarik, who was going to Yerevan in a taxi, saw us and stopped. She greeted us all quickly, thrust a large bottle of homemade wine into my hands saying vertsroo (take) and was off. Soon after that Meri Arakelyan, our Peace Corps regional manager (She deals with site placements of volunteers and non-technical support issues and is a delightful person.) jumped out of a marshutni that she had taken in Yerevan and walked the remaining 12-15 km to Vayk with us.

At Vorotan Pass (2344 m.) between Syunik and Vayots Dzor. To the west, leaving the pass,the road is steep with many switchbacks but to the east it only drops a little and much of northern Syunik is on a high plateau.

Looking east into Vayots Dzor from near Vorotan Pass.

Setting up camp near Sarralanj, a small village between Saravan and Vorotan Pass.

Soaking feet at the Sarralanj camp site.

Our route (in red) from Vorotan Pass to Yegegnadzor.

Arriving in Vayk with Meri, our regional manager.

We stayed at the house of the Peace Corps volunteer in Vayk that night and dined on homemade pizza. The presentation in Vayk went well and we had a couple of trainers from Yeghegnadzor come up to help teach the lesson and familiarize themselves with the lesson material for Yeghegnadzor. We left Vayk after the presentation to walk the last 20 km to Yeghegnadzor to give us more time to prepare for the final presentation and celebration. However, it was hot by then and the walk went slowly. Our friends greeted us when we arrived in Yeghegnadzor and we adjourned to the local watering hole for hydration.

The alcohol and exercise station in action at Vayk

Handing out certificates at Vayk after the presentation.

A particpant at the Vayk presentation with certificate and workbook.

Taping foot blisters in Vayk before the last leg to Yeghegnadzor.

The "southern six" arriving in Yeghegnadzor - though we still had another 2 km to go.

Let the hydration begin!

We needed the extra day to prepare for the final presentation as both north and south teams would be running lessons – six groups instead of three – necessitating more trainers, as we were inviting some guest speakers from Yerevan, as we were organizing a celebratory lunch at a nearby cafe for trainers, helpers, and all others who assisted the project, and because we wanted to combine the pictures from both teams to produce a short slide show for projecting during the lunch. The north team arrived in Yeghegnadzor in the afternoon of June 18 and after celebratory greetings and more hydration, we set about planning the last day.

We held the final presentation in the university and had access to six classrooms, the front lobby for registering students, and an auditorium for presenting certificates and listening to guest speakers. Everything went very smoothly, partly because we were all familiar with what we were doing by then and we had extra walkers to help with a smooth transition between classrooms. The celebratory lunch was a lot of fun and the slide show was well received, particularly as it included a few pictures of North and South. After farewells, I took a marshutni to Vayk and spent another night there before hitchhiking back to Verishen the next morning.

Registering students prior to the Yegegnadzor presentation.

In the auditorium after the lessons for speeches and awarding of certificates

All 12 walkers from the north and south teams in Yeghegnadzor

The six walkers from the south team in Yeghegnadzor after hydration.

We are very pleased with how well Border2Border went and how well it was received in all the communities we visited. We handed out brochures to many people who mostly expressed interest in what we were doing. We will be returning to the presentation sites later this summer to gather and judge student workbooks in which they record their eating and exercise for a week. After that, we would like to present the project to this year's new volunteers in the hope that they might be interested in repeating it next year, possibly with a different route. We may also write up the project and submit it to the Peace Corps for inclusion on their Web site in the hope that volunteers in other countries may adapt and adopt it. (Since I wrote that, I learned that a PCV in Rwanda e-mailed Austin, one of the project originators, about seeking project details for doing a Border2Border there.) But beyond the apparent success of Border2Border in informing Armenian children about a healthy lifestyle and possibly serving as a template for future endeavours, we as walkers gained a lot from the exercise. We saw a lot of Armenia that we hadn't seen before, met many new people, strengthened existing friendships, and were reminded that occasional discomfort can accentuate the positive and make the memories more indelible.

The Border2Border health walk went extremely well and all six members of the southern team have numerous pictures, stories and memories to go with the blisters and sunburn. The walk officially began in Agarak in southern Armenia, adjacent to Iran, at 10 am on Saturday June 4 when we delivered our first presentation at the school. However my saga started a day earlier. I traveled to Kapan and Tsav on Thursday and took food to a volunteer's house in Tsav where we would be staying later, as that volunteer was away in America. I then set out early on Friday to hitchhike to Agarak. However, although the road is new and in good repair, it was empty of all but local cars and I walked for more than four hours without seeing a car going in my direction. I ended up walking over 40 km and nearly reached the Iranian border before asking my fellow walkers who were now all in Agarak to come and pick me up. (One of the gratifying things about Friday was that, although the country was remote, I had excellent cell phone reception all day. Two transmitter towers were powered by diesel generators.)

Map of Syunik marz with a red line showing our route as far as Tatev.

The view from Gomarants Pass south to the Araks River and the Iran border. It is a long descent to the border and I spent several hours following this road.

Agarak is hot and dry and is surrounded by steep, rocky mountains. We saw many pomegranates and figs here.Saturday's presentation in Agarak went very well. We had our lessons prepared in English and translated to Armenian and relied on Armenians to present the material to the children and respond to questions. We met with the trainers beforehand and went over the lesson material with them. At Agarak, we used senior students from the school with good English and they did a great job. The 55 students, who were mostly from 3rd to 8th grade, were attentive, and teachers from the school helped a lot. We registered the students as they arrive, assigned them to one one of three groups, and gave a short introduction to the kids about the Border2Border project. We conducted three lessons simultaneously on smoking, diet and nutrition, and alcohol and exercise. After 20 minutes, the students moved to another station or lesson, so that all students over an hour or so went to all three stations. Afterwards we served refreshments – juice and water and fruit – and handed out certificates and lesson books for the students to record their food, water, and exercise for a week. We'll pick up the books later this summer and award prizes for the best ones.

One of the three presentation "stations" at Agarak.

After my exploits on Friday, we realized that the map we were using had some serious flaws and that it was further to Tsav than we thought. So we started walking along the border after the presentation. We were going well even though it was quite hot and had traveled more than 12 km before we were stopped by Russian border police. We hadn't realized before then that all of Armenia's borders, even friendly borders such as with Iran, are manned by Russians in exchange for using an army base in Armenia. Any Armenians with the border police are there as drivers and translators and are subordinate to the Russians. The Russian demanded to see our passports and, although two of us had our passports, we wanted to stay together as a group so we said that none of us had them. We called the safety and security officer for the Peace Corps and he talked to the Russian who in turn called for reinforcements. Eventually, there were three Russians, who only spoke Russian, and two Armenians who translated into Armenian for us and were moderately sympathetic towards us. However, the Russians do call the shots on the border and refused to let us go any further along the road without passports, even though the Peace Corps and U.S. Embassy officials vouched for us. We were driven back to Meghri and told to stay away from the border. So we traveled by marshutni to Kapan and taxi to Tsav, arriving there late on Saturday evening.

Walking along the border - before the Russians intervened.

On Sunday we walked 20 km to Gomarants Pass (2362 m.) on the road to Agarak. I'd seen the pass earlier and thought it would be a good day hike. The road passes through some beautiful scenery, but it was a long, hot hike and some of us developed blisters on the long downhill back to Tsav. On Monday, we walked in to Kapan – another 40 km day with some serious hills. We stayed at another volunteer's house and had welcome showers. We were joined in Kapan by the sixth member of our team. One former member withdrew at the last minute and he willingly stepped in with little notice. We had a day in Kapan to prepare for the next presentation. These preparations include buying food and fluids for the refreshments, purchasing additional supplies for the lessons, and meeting with the trainers. The presentation went fairly well; the trainers – Red Cross volunteers- had done very little lesson preparation but we coped and the kids were attentive and enthusiastic. After a quick lunch, we left Kapan for the first stage of the long (50+ km) walk to Tatev.

Looking down on Tsav from the road to Gomarants Pass.

Looking back towards Tsav from near Gomarants Pass.

Handing out certificates in Kapan after the presentation.

It started to rain in the evening as we approached the village of Verin Khotanan, 20+ km from Kapan. We took refuge in the village khanoot (store) and the proprietor, Hasmik, a single woman with three children offered us coffee, gata (sweet bread), and beds for the night. The next morning was cool and clear with excellent views of the mountains south of Kapan. In the next village, Tandazver, a few villagers were struggling to lift a Lada higher than the jack would go. A few extra hands made the difference and they were so grateful that they opened the khanoot for us so we could get extra water. After climbing the next set of hills we were looking down on Tatev, a small village famous for its monastery, that dates to 895 AD and overlooks the Vorotan River gorge.

Mt. Khustup, south of Kapan, from Verin Khotanan.

Looking down on Tatev and the Vorotan River Gorge from the hills to the south.

During Border2Border we stayed, whenever we could at the homes of other volunteers.Those living in towns usually have gas, electricity, hot and cold running water (sometimes even in both the kitchen and the bathroom), and a flushing indoor toilet. This is rarely the case in villages. We stayed at the house of one of the walkers in Tatev and here we fetched water from a communal tap about 0.5 km away. There is no gas (We cooked with a cooktop with bottled gas.), we used the outhouse, slept on the floor, and got by without a fridge. We had a day in Tatev to prepare for the presentation but, as it's a small village, we had arranged to bring refreshments from Goris earlier. We used the extra time to meet with the trainers to go over the lessons and reconnoiter the school. The trainers were senior students from Tatev school with good English and they were outstanding.

Looking south from where we were staying in Tatev, over the cemetery, to the mountains to the south.

During the presentation in Tatev.

Students, trainers, and walkers after the Tatev presentation.

We left Tatev early the following morning to go overland, over another mountain range, to the village of Lor.

In early May I asked Zarik if we could have a small get-together for departing Goris-area Peace Corps volunteers. However, I forgot that Zarik doesn't do “small” and on May 25 we had an excellent and elaborate gathering in Verishen with nine of the ten Goris-area volunteers. Two volunteers are leaving in early June for a second Peace Corps stint in Mongolia, one is leaving in July and another two are departing at the end of their service in August. Given that several of us won't be around much in summer, this was a last opportunity for us all to come together. I've been fortunate in sharing the area with some excellent volunteers and the work Zarik put into the celebration was a testimony to the high regard she and others have for my colleagues.

Volunteers and teachers crowded around the table on May 25.

An excellent celebration but a little bitter-sweet as this was probably the last time we were all together like this.

The last two weeks have been hectic getting ready for Border2Border. We've made site visits, hauled large bags of printed materials around, chased after errant gear, and sent and answered innumerable e-mails. For the most part, things have gone well so far and we're now looking forward to starting with the first presentation in Agarak on June 4. We start walking on the next day. We haven't added much lately to the Facebook Page but the blog has been updated recently.

The renovation of the unused classroom at the school to make a functional chemistry and biology laboratory has started.. School finished up last Friday (May 27) and first thing on Monday morning, the contractor and 4 workmen arrived at the school. By the end of the day, the old windows were gone, five new windows were in place, one new door frame was installed and plastering was well underway. The contractor requested more money to order more materials and Zarik came back from Goris with 700,000 dram (US$1913) - as 35 20,000 dram notes. I went to the school in the late afternoon to view the progress and Arman, the contractor, showed me what they'd accomplished. I mentioned we had more money for him, forgetting that in Armenia any business transaction like that is accompanied by food and drink. So, after a light meal with a few toasts of cognac we went to the house, got the money, and juggled the placement of the fume hood.

That work will renovate the old classroom and we'll have a completely refurbished pair of rooms with new doors, windows, lights, and power points. There will be sinks and running water and a fume hood, and the walls and ceiling will be replastered and painted and the floor repaired, sanded, stained, and sealed. And that, I was told, will be finished by the end of June, well ahead of our anticipated schedule. So, soon after I get back from Border2Border, the room will have been completely renovated. I'm ecstatic; what a supportive and efficient community! I finished a second grant proposal for the lab. this week. This proposal seeks funds ($4,000 ) to furnish the lab. with cupboards, desks, tables, chairs, stools, blackboard, and whiteboard, and provide a computer, overhead projector, screen, and teaching materials (glassware, chemicals, etc.).

The trees are all leafed out in Verishen and the gardens are now full of growing vegetables. Another sign of late-spring has been the sudden appearance of baby chickens in the village. Several houses have small flocks in the front yard. On May 31, Hrantic took delivery of about 20 two-weeks old chickens. They aren't as cute as baby chicks but as they have feathers, they don't need a light at night to keep them warm and they are easier to care for.

Verishen on May 24.

Armenia is divided into eleven marz or provinces. I live in Syunik marz, the southern-most marz. This post is about Easter and observing May in three different parts of Syunik marz.

This year Easter Sunday fell on April 24 which is the day set aside as Genocide Remembrance Day, so most Easter celebrations were somber and muted. Armenians recognize the genocide with silent, candle-lit processions at night. In Yerevan many thousands walked to the Genocide Memorial to lay flowers in silent observance. April 24 commemorates the deportation in 1915 from Constantinople of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders, most of whom were to be executed. This deportation was a precursor to ensuing events of the genocide. We celebrated a quiet but traditional Easter lunch, with Easter grass, boiled and decorated eggs, and a modest but tasty spread.

The lunch table at Easter. Decorated eggs, stained brown by boiling with onion peels, surround the plate of wheat grass, a traditional Easter decoration. The ladybird is mostly whimsy; the Armenian word for ladybird (zatik) is the same as that for Easter.

I attended a workshop on alternative techniques for small gardens conducted in early May at Vaghatin, a small village near Sisian and not far from Goris. Although there are regional differences across Armenia in house construction, barn design, crops grown, and animals raised, the same method is used for small household gardens throughout Armenia. Gardens are dug over after winter once or twice to about 20 cm or one shovel depth. Then, just before planting or sowing, furrows, about 15 cm high, are built to carry irrigation water through the garden. The seeds or young seedlings are planted on the sides of the furrows, usually ½ to 2/3 of the way up. A stick or rod inserted the garden soil where seeds are planted goes in about 20 cm and far less at the base of the furrows. We created some garden beds at the Vaghatin school (on land that hadn't been used as a garden before) by double-digging, - spading out the first 30 cm and loosening up the next 30 cm with a fork. It was slow going and it may take a while to get really good soil there but we made a good start. We also created a compost heap and talked about other potential vegetables (broccoli is rare here and I haven't seen it growing in gardens, swiss chard / silver beet, rhubarb, cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.), crop rotation, companion planting, etc. It was a good weekend.

A standard garden bed with irrigation furrows.

Putting the finishing touches to our double-dug garden beds at Vaghatin school.

Pears were in full bloom in Vaghatin while we were there.

The view to the south from Vaghatin school.

Looking north-east from Vaghatin school.

Vaghatin is a beautiful village and it seemed to be warmer than Verishen with more varieties of fruit trees, and some, such as pears, were about a week ahead of Verishen. Gardening continues at a fierce pace in Verishen. Potatoes have been above ground for a while, and beans and corn are just emerging. We recently planted out some of the swiss chard (aka silverbeet) seedlings I raised. Cherry tomato seedlings may go out next week.

Most things are now "up" in the Verishen garden; this view is mostly potatoes and apple blossoms but there are many other vegetables growing now.

Verishen in mid-May. Poplars and willows had largely leafed out but other trees were only just starting to burst their buds. And the ever-prevalent low clouds hung over the hills.

May 9 marked Victory and Peace Day. Victory. Day (World War II) was a holiday throughout the USSR and is still an official holiday in Armenia, recognizing official German capitulation on May 9, 1945 (Actually late at night on May 8 in Berlin, but on May 9 in Moscow.). I like the official title, Victory and Peace Day, but whenever I was greeted on Monday it was always “Shnoravor haghtanak orer” (happy victory day); peace seems to have been left out! I went with Zarik to the school where a few students and teachers had gathered. We walked / ambled to the World War II monument above town through thick fog and on muddy roads. Every village in Armenia has a World War 2 monument. Verishen's is elaborate and many of Verishen's citizens didn't return from the war. We stayed together walking up the main road, with a younger student holding the flag, but we gave up all pretense of sticking together once we got to the muddy roads leading to the hooshardsan (memorial). Once there we laid flowers inside the memorial and listened to a couple of brief speeches from the school deputy director and director and then students gave brief recitations and sang. While all this was going on, the mists swirled around us and I was, despite 3 layers, the coldest I've been for a while. Afterwards, there was a spontaneous khorovats, with meat, lavash, juice and, of course, home-made vodka. I was disappointed that the khorovats seemed to be a men-only affair; the few women there, mostly teachers, left early. I asked Zarik about this later and she said that she did get some food before leaving. However, having taught and been a spark plug in this community for almost 40 years, Zarik is a rule unto herself. Other female teachers did not help themselves. But remembering that small steps are probably more effective in the long term, I may try to escort some women teachers to the khorovats next year. It was somewhat gratifying that, even with my abysmal Armenian, I was well accepted at the khorovats and was called on to deliver a kenats (toast).

On May 9, after doing the cows, Hrantic climbed up into the attic and retrieved his captain's uniform from when he was in the Armenian army in the 90's during the war over Karabakh. He apparently dons the uniform at this time each year and he (and Zarik) was obviously proud of his role in the army.

The motley group of students and teachers walking towards the World War II monument on May 9. We were recognizable as a group at this point but that ended once we got onto the muddy tracks leading to the monument.

The students sang near the end of the ceremony and by then their numbers had diminished. However, those remaining sang heartily in the cold and fog.

The mother of the director of Verishen School died on Wednesday, May 11 and the funeral service was held on May 13 in a small village north-east of Goris, Khnatsakh. That's where his mother lived and where the director grew up. A large contingent from the school as well as others from the town hall went, primarily out of respect for Matvey, the director. In addition there were representatives from the marz government and the army as someone in the family, Matvey's brother I think, was a minister at one point. Many people were there and the police were present, ostensibly for crowd control, but they didn't seem to be needed. Most of the village and many from surrounding towns and villages attended. Khnatsakh is a village of about 1,000 people in a small, steep-sided and rocky valley. Being in a valley gives protection from winter winds but the gardens are small and there are few fruit trees. The village is remote from centers of employment and it's far from prosperous. We filed to the house where Matvey's mother was laid out for a brief viewing, while family members stood around the body. This is not an open casket viewing; the body is laid on a board, usually, as in this case in a main room, and covered with a bed spread or something similar with the face visible. After the viewing, the body is taken out and driven to the cemetery on the other side of the village. We walked there and the body was taken from the van to the gravesite, carefully placed in the coffin, immediate family members paid their last respects, a short speech was given and the coffin was lowered into the grace after the lid was added. We then filed back to the center of the village for the post-funeral lunch. There must have been well over 500 people seated at long tables in a public building. We had plates of pickles, greens, tomatoes, cucumbers to pick from along with bread and lavash, and bowls of khorovats were brought out later. And of course at regular intervals along the tables were collections of drinks – vodka (store bought), juice, and Jermuk (mineral water). A few brief speeches were given and after Matvey, whom I think was the oldest son, spoke briefly the affair was over and we left. The ceremony was totally lay; no representative from the church was there and there was no praying or any religious symbolism.

Khnatsakh via Google Earth. The steep hills near the village are terraced. This was obviously done a long time ago possibly for hay or gardens but they aren't in use for that purpose now.

Map showing Verishen, Goris, Khnatsakh, and Vaghatur.

I did not take any pictures of the funeral or Khnatsakh. I was fortunate as the first grade teacher grew up in a nearby and even more remote village, Vaghatur. This village is in a long narrow valley with a stream flowing through and the gardens were larger, there were more fruit trees, and the village, though smaller, looked a little less down-at-heels than Khnatsakh. Vaghatur also has a mineral spring and we sampled that and then headed to the house where the teacher grew up and where her younger brother now lives. We were all, and there was about 16 of us, treated to another spread with tea, coffee, chocolate, and cognac. I was hoping that we'd complete the loop by returning to Verishen from the north but that road is rough and slow and we returned the same way. North of Khnatsakh and Vaghatur are high mountains and the border with Azerbaijan but it was hazy and we couldn't see past the first range of hills.

On Saturday May 14 another volunteer and I went to Tsav, a small village south of Kapan for a Border to Border site visit. We'll be staying there in a PCV house for one night during the walk and, as she'll be away when we arrive, we went down to check out the area. The area around Tsav is one of the few places in Armenia that is still forested and it is beautiful, with many interesting plants and birds. It reminded me of the country in and around the Great Smoky Mountains. On Sunday we walked from Tsav to Kapan, about 38 km, for training and to see if that leg is appropriate for a one day walk. It was very foggy for almost all the way and the terrain is hilly – we had three long steep hills – but it was not a hard walk. It will be nice to see the area without fog, and I'd like to return in fall to see more of the area. I returned to Verishen on Monday morning.

Tsav early on Sunday morning (May 15).

Large walnut trees on the road between Tsav and Kapan.

The road from Tsav to Kapan drops steeply as it nears Kapan, giving views of the city.

Looking north over Verishen on April 21. The poplars and willows along the river are starting to leaf out, the snows are melting, and the grass is growing.

Spring has proceeded fitfully in Verishen. We had snow in mid-April along with several foggy days, heavy rain, rainbows, and a few warm and sunny days. Today (April 22) it rained on and off all day and the temperature dropped in the afternoon; we now have a fire going, the first for over a week, and it has started to snow. It has been a real treat to see Verishen change as the snows retreat and things warm up. The poplars along the creek are starting to turn green and the neighboring willows are flush with catkins.

Violets are common in the forest right now.

Catkins and bursting buds on beech trees in the forest.

In early April, a visiting volunteer came up and conducted a three day, after-school volleyball camp in the school gym. It went very well and although we gave little advance notice, a lot of students showed up – and he had to break the camp up into sessions for girls, older boys, and younger boys. While he was here he stayed at the house and Zarik and Hrantic were excellent and welcoming hosts.

Volleyball camp

One day, while the camp was in full swing, Zarik had a short presentation on the poetry of Paruyr Sevak , a famous Armenia poet. The lab. was decorated nicely, we played a few videos of people reading his poems, a teacher recited some poems, and students had an assignment about the poems. One of his better-known poems is “Menk kich enk” (We are few) which we found in both English and Armenian . Since then we've assembled material for Garegin_Njdeh, an Armenian statesman and revolutionary and today we looked for images of lightning for Zarik's physics classes.

Zarik's lab was decorated nicely with flowers for the Paruyr Sevak presentation.

In March I applied for a Special Projects Assistance (SPA) grant to renovate a large, unused room at the school to make a lab. for chemistry and biology, complete with running water, sinks, and fume hood. We can get the room renovated for about US$7,000, - including three new sinks, a fume hood, running the water in from the bathrooms, running a drain out of the room, five new windows, two doors, repairing, sanding, and staining the floor, new lights and power-points, plastering, and painting. SPA grants are administered by the Peace Corps and use USAID funds. For these grants, the community must contribute at least 25% and the mayor's office agreed to pay all labor costs. It was a lot of work for a relatively small amount of money as all the bids for the work came in Armenian and I had to translate them and I needed letters of support from the town hall and the school director, also in Armenian and requiring translation. There was considerable competition for the limited funds this funding cycle and only six of the 23 proposals submitted were approved. Fortunately the lab. renovation was approved, we should have the money soon, and the room will be renovated during summer vacation. Now I need to find more money to furnish the lab and buy some supplies and equipment – more microscopes, chemicals, glassware, microscope slides, and so on. Tomorrow Zarik and I are going to Goris to look at and price furniture; the standard approach is to look at the furniture in a store and then ask a local wood-worker to make the furniture, which he does as well and cheaper. I'm happy that the lab. will happen (though I'm apprehensive about getting more money in time to equip the lab for fall) as, as far as I can tell, it may be, when it is finished, the only functioning wet lab in the area.

One view of the unused room that we'll soon be renovating to make a wet lab for biology and chemistry classes. The room has been used as a repository of old teaching materials. There's some good stuff there and a lot of junk and I've started sorting through it.

When the weather permits, everyone is working hard in their gardens. Most people, including my family, are a little behind with their gardening, primarily because of the weather. It's not unusual to see whole families, including grandparents working – digging, making furrows, and planting. Gardening is not just something people do here because they like it; they have to do it. Hrantic is itching to plant more potatoes at the other garden (We already have a lot planted at the house garden.) and we had planned a busy day there for Sunday but the recent weather may postpone that as the soil may be too wet to work. I've been able to help a bit in the garden and have become the go-to-guy for pruning the fruit trees. Most people here don't prune at all or only rarely. To his credit, Hrantic recognizes the need for it and has the right idea but hasn't been particularly zealous about it in the past. However, we've now pruned all the fruit trees in both gardens and my fall project is to learn how to prune grape vines properly, along with introducing composting. I have seedlings of cherry tomato and swiss chard, Hrantic has agreed to try out broccoli and spinach, and I've started rhubarb and sweet potatoes from seed.

This is how the garden looked on April 21. The garden has been dug over by hand twice since winter and furrows are formed to let irrigation water flow through the garden beds. In summer, water flows down the gutters and people take turns to divert it to their gardens. Potatoes were planted in the short beds in the middle of the picture a few days ago. Notice the buds on the (recently pruned !) apple trees which are about to leaf out and flower.

In October 2010 four of us, all Goris-area first-year Peace Corps Volunteers, hatched the idea of walking across Armenia to raise awareness of and provide information about children's health in Armenia. There is a desperate need for both. We've all been asked if drinking water will cause a person to gain weight and we've been told that drinking water after exercise is bad for your health. Students at Verishen are very reluctant to go on anything longer than a very short walk, and smoking is rife among boys at school. Non-communicable diseases account for more than 80% of the deaths in Armenia; females lose an average of 10 years and males 8 years of health to illness and disability in Armenia. High tobacco consumption, high body mass index (BMI), and high cholesterol are the leading risk factors as causes of disease in Armenia.

The original plan was for the four of us to walk all the way across Armenia, from Agarak, in the far south near Meghri on the border with Iran, to Gogavan, north of Stepanavan and on the northern border with Georgia. However, the new country director pointed out, quite reasonably, that we would be gone from our sites for too long. The revised plan has two groups, each of six volunteers, walking from opposite ends of the country and meeting up in Yeghegnadzor after each group has walked about 270 km. Each group will deliver five presentations in towns and villages along the way and we will deliver a final joint presentation in Yeghegnadzor. The southern group will deliver a presentation in Agarak on June 4 and then leave on foot the next day. We'll be carrying the gear we'll need along the way – change of clothes, sleeping bag and pad, some pamphlets and brochures, some food, water, etc. - but will drop off some items, particularly much of the printed material, at sites along the way beforehand. Our route takes us from Agarak, through Meghri and Tsav to Kapan where we'll give a presentation. After that we bypass Goris and go directly to Tatev for another presentation and then take a trail over the mountains to Lor and then walk to Vaghatin for another presentation. After that we walk through Sisian and Sarnakunk to Vayk, giving our fifth presentation there. After Vayk it's a short walk to Yeghegnadzor. We deliberately avoided Yerevan and the Ararat Valley, because of the heat, the difficulties in walking through a large city, and our desire to address and inform rural Armenia, where there is less awareness of the importance of child health.

One of the gratifying things so far has been the enthusiastic support we've received from other PCVs and the Peace Corps staff. The doctors and the safety and security director have been helpful and supportive. We've enlisted the help and support of the Armenian Red Cross. And we are an official event of the United Nations' International Year of Youth.



A host of logos. The Armenian Red Cross who are assisting us, the U.N. International Year of Youth logo and the Border to Border logo.

We are supporting ourselves along the walk and staying with other volunteers or camping; our expenses are primarily for printing pamphlets, brochures, and work books and we've estimated that we'll need US$7,000 for this. We quickly drew up a funding request, got Peace Corps approval and it's now posted on the Peace Corps Web site and you can donate to the cause there (http://go.usa.gov/40E ). (There is a problem with pay.gov when using the ampersand character (&) in any data field. If using an ampersand, you may receive the error message "form id not found" when clicking the "Enter Payment" button. We have been in contact with the PCPP staff in DC and they have passed the issue to their web team. However, as the error is related to pay.gov, and not necessarily Peace Corps, I'm not sure how quick the resolution will be. The workaround at this point is to simply avoid using ampersands.)

The request has only been up for about two weeks, and we've already raised half the funds we need. Thanks everyone for your generosity. However, to get everything printed and ready for the walk, we'll need to have the money by early April.

This afternoon I was writing a list of potential projects to do in Verishen – at the school and in the village. I'll translate that list into Armenian (which will take a while!) and then circulate it around Verishen to get feedback from teachers, the town hall, and others about the best and most feasible projects to tackle. However, I expect that with Border to Border we'll all probably have a more lasting influence than with any of the other projects we're working on. You can read more about Border to Border at our FaceBook page and on our blog. And, of course, I'll post at least one and probably two entries once we've finished the walk.

On Friday March 11, there was a short presentation on physics and music at Verishen School, with most of the music being composed by Arno Babajanian, a prominent Armenian composer. It was the 90th anniversary of his birth in February and to commemorate it, we, that is me and several of her students, gathered pieces from Babajanyan, images of musical instruments, and so on. She invited several Goris-area PCVs and numerous area dignitaries, and a cameraman and reporter from the Goris TV station showed up. Babajanyan was a very eclectic musician, writing classical compositions, jazz, and popular music. There are several of his short compositions on YouTube including Nocturne, Elegy, and Fantasy on Call Me. I'm now helping Zarik gather material and videos on the Armenian poet Paruyr Sevak and after that we may do something with the Armenian film director and artist Sergei Parajanov. I like helping out with these presentations as they add to everyone's, including my, knowledge of Armenian culture.

Students presenting at the Physics and Music event.

A Peace Corps Volunteer playing the guitar and singing.

Cultural differences! Peace Corps volunteers in front walking apart with hands in their pockets and two Armenian teachers arm in arm, as we return to the house.

Zarik at the house and in her Australian apron talking to volunteers.

We've had a week of warmer weather and the snow is melting rapidly with a lot of it gone from the south-facing slopes of the mountains above Verishen. The first leaves from bulbs (daffodils – deghin nargiz – and possibly amaryllis) are pushing up in the flower garden, and Hrantic has started seeds (cabbage, onion, and, from the U.S., broccoli and chard) in some cold frames in the garden. He's very happy to be out working in the garden again after winter. He's put on quite a bit of weight with a noticeable “spare tire”, and is embarrassed about it. Howver, there's still a lot of snow in the forest and spring is at least another week away there. I've started some cherry tomatoes and swiss chard in old pans that I bring inside in the evening, and will start rhubarb, sweet potato, and spinach shortly.

Hrantic starting seeds in cold frames in the garden.

Spring is with us now but this was the view from the patio on Monday March 14.Zarik is trudging through last night's snow on the way to school.

Happy spring equinox! (Yerjanik garnanayin oroogisherahvasar - երջանիկ գարնանային օրուգիշերահավասար )

Verishen is at a latitude of about 40 degrees north; that is, it is about the same distance from the equator as Madrid (Spain), Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, Denver, and New York City and it is at an elevation of about 1460 meters (or 4800 feet) above sea level, comparable with Denver and Salt Lake City. A Verishen winter is similar to that of Salt Lake City and Denver with a lot of snow and many days at or below freezing. Most people here welcome the winter snows as they are vital for the growth of grass for the cows and sheep, and for stream flow, which is used in summer to irrigate people's gardens. Fortunately, we have had good snowfall this winter, particularly compared with last year.

Taken in late January when most of the earlier snowfall had melted. Those clouds moving up from Goris brought heavy snow with them and for February and March the view south was more like the image below (when it wasn't actually snowing).

The main difference between spending a winter in Armenia and one in the U.S.A. is that it is usually cold inside here. The houses are made of stone with little insulation, and heating with natural gas, which is imported, or electricity is expensive. Many houses have small wood stoves that heat up the house quickly but usually go out at night and are not relit until the following evening. The schools have radiators which warm the rooms a little but teachers still teach with their coats on.

There were numerous cold, overcast days in February when we were lucky if we saw the sun at all.

However, when the clouds did occasionally clear the scenery was magnificent.

A memorably clear day in late-February with heavy snow on the mountains to the north.

Although we do receive a lot of snow, with 45-50 cm (18-20”) in one fall in mid-February, there isn't much snow ploughing, even on the major roads. After a while the worst of the snow may get scraped off and gravel is often dropped in places along some city streets and major highways. However, drivers here do have to master driving on snow and ice. People shovel from their doors to the streets but the sidewalks are not cleared, so we usually walk on the streets and try not to slip on the ice. Armenians seem to have mastered the art of walking on ice and packed snow, even with slick-soled shoes or high heels. I haven't mastered the technique yet and have had a few spills but I'm learning to walk more slowly and to pay more attention to where I put my feet. Teachers and students walk or take a marshutni (minivan – the main way of travelling from Goris to other villages) to school; there are no cars parked at the school. After a heavy snow, everyone comes to school, perhaps a few minutes late as it takes longer to walk but very little is disrupted. School was cancelled on one day when it was bitterly cold with a very strong wind. I went to school that day and with all the draughts in this old building, it was very cold inside. Salt is not used on the roads and there is little rust on the cars. However trips to Yerevan are at best slow and fraught with uncertainty.

The road crossing the river to the east of the house has seen far more sleds than cars lately.

At the moment I'm typing this in my room in the evening. It's cool outside (-5oC, 20-25 degrees F), there's a fire in the next room, and my room is comfortable but not particularly warm, - probably around 14o C (55-60 degrees F). I'm wearing three layers at the moment,which is usually what I wear inside, and often four layers outside. I have a heavy woollen comforter and a wool blanket on my bed and that keeps me warm at night. It's often below 40 degrees in my room in the morning and even colder in the main house. I have not had the slightest cold or sniffle so far this winter and most of the people I know at school, in Verishen, and in Goris are similarly healthy. I can't help wonder if this may be connected with keeping houses cooler, particularly at night.In retrospect, I didn't pack enough warm clothes but care packages have made this winter far more comfortable than it would have been without the kindness of friends and family; thank you! So far this year I've only worn boots outside and I've been lucky that the boots I got in Tucson at the last minute have served well; they're warm, waterproof, and comfortable enough that I've gone for several long walks (over 10 km) with no ill effects. The taps froze and broke in the bathroom earlier this winter so we now take occasional sponge baths in the bathroom. However, I am very fortunate that I have a washing machine in the house and that I don;t have to depend on hand washing.

We still use the sink on the patio but have to leave the tap running slightly and ice builds up around the edge.

February was colder than January and there were many overcast days where we didn't see the sun. Yesterday (Friday March 4) we had several centimeters of snow, clouds, fog, and sun – all in the space of less than 10 hours. Today (March 5) was cool but with a clear sky and a bright sun and we all basked in the welcome sunshine, even though the air was cool. Some neighbors even let their cows and sheep out of the barn for a few hours of sun as, even though there's nothing to eat outdoors, animals and people alike are welcoming the .possiblity of spring. However, as Zarik pointed out last night, mart gigh amis e (March is a crazy month.) and I'm sure we're in for more wintry weather.

Laundry on the line.

I've whined in the past about the erratic decision-making and lack of support from the Peace Corps. They terminated the environmental and community health education sectors in Armenia, promising to replace them with a youth development sector (which hasn't materialized), and, at least in Armenia, they seem more interested in imposing additional rules and restrictions than in giving meaningful technical support and assistance. However, as a result of this confusion and neglect, we as volunteers are turning to each other more for help and support, and that's a great development. This last week I went to a small village outside Goris to help another volunteer with her plan to put in a biosand filter for the school as the water that enters the village has a high bacteria count (from dirty pipes I think); and I spent the day there helping with health and English classes. I'm judging a poetry recitation competition in Goris tomorrow (Students, who are learning English, learn and recite a poem in English.). I'm also spending a fair bit of time on the logistics for the Border to Border Health Walk coming up in June in which two groups of volunteers are walking across Armenia giving presentations on children's health, and I'm working on a grant proposal to renovate an empty room at Verishen School for a chemistry and biology lab. In addition news I received from Tucson about an HIV/AIDS board game was enthusiastically received by a few other volunteers who are getting the game and planning to translate it into Armenian. No shortage of things to do here; there's a crying need for more tree planting in the area, several of us want to introduce composting techniques to the area gardeners, and the computer lab at the school needs a major upgrade.

This post is mainly about some recent activities that I did with Zarik, my host “mother” and gortsernker (co-worker), including commemorating Armenian Army Day and attending a workshop at Tsaghkadzor. Zarik is a tatik (grandmother).

Hayakan banak orer (Armenian Army Day) is celebrated on January 28 to commemorate the formation of the armed forces of the newly independent Republic of Armenia in 1992. It's an important day; it was a school holiday, there were numerous announcements on TV, and there's a big concert every year in Yerevan. (You can see a very short video of a segment of last year's concert on YouTube.) Zarik organized a celebration at school with the theme being “Physics in the Armed Forces.” I helped her put some of the presentation together and we showed it in her physics lab using the computer and projector there (The only projector in the school.). It featured the national anthem (You can see a shorter version on YouTube.), a video of part of last year's concert, and a PowerPoint presentation describing the contributions physics has made to the military. She invited numerous dignitaries, including senior officers from the Goris army base, the mayor and vice-mayor, officials from the National Institute of Education office in Goris, and even a few volunteers. Armenia has two unfriendly neighbors and compulsory military service for young men, and the armed forces are an important part of life in Armenia. Military Science is taught in many schools including Verishen.

Another volunteer took this picture of a young cadet. looking quite vulnerable, with the colors of the Armenian flag from the presentation projected over him.

Zarik with students during the presentation. Note that, although she is in her physics lab,she still has her winter coat on.

The celebration went well and several teachers and the volunteers adjourned to the house for lunch. However, it very nearly failed. All of Verishen was without power all that morning and it only came on five minutes before the event started. The school borrowed a generator from the town hall but it was putting out an erratic voltage and we decided against running the computer and project from it. An enterprising teacher found a UPS but I doubted if it would be able to supply enough power for both the computer and the projector. As we were debating that, the power came on!

The school director looking very concerned and me looking doubtful about the latest "fix" for the power outage just before the start of the event.

Teachers and volunteers after lunch following the celebration.

We had tan for breakfast twice during the last week of January. I think this tan is obtained by filtering/screening mutzoon (yogurt). The stuff retained above the screen is kept and added to - and is tan. It's rich and creamy (as our mutzoon is made from whole milk). When I look up tan in the dictionary, I either get a yogurt drink (which it is, we have it quite a bit in summer, or something totally unrelated) so I think tan may just mean something derived from mutzoon (?). Anyway Zarik heats the tan with water, stirring all the while, until it comes to a rolling boil. She also sautes in butter some dried local herbs which are reminiscent of sage or oregano. The hot tan is ladled into bowls, the sauted herbs are added, we mix in dried lavash chips, and wolf it down. It's very delicious and quite filling. It's a big enough event that it is served with vodka or cognac (for breakfast!) - even Zarik had a small glass of vodka, something she usually declines.

Preparing the tan for breakfast

Dried lavash chips (in white dish at upper left) and bowls of tan with herbs and butter added

After the delicious tan breakfast, we dismantled the stove pipes for the wood stove. The pipe segments are narrow (6") and have 4 bends so the creosote and wood by-products build-up. This was very cold work and the amount of soot in the pipes was surprising. We reassembled the chimney and started the fire - and creosote dripped from the pipes in several places almost immediately. I realized that the warm gases were condensing when they hit the cold stove pipe - and it cleared up eventually. The interim solution surprised me however. Zarik cut paper into narrow strips, coated the strips with flour paste and wrapped them around the pipe joins. It worked, the room is warm, and there aren't any more leaks.

The Peace Corps organized another workshop at Tsaghkadzor about planning and implementing projects. It wasn't directly about writing grant proposals but it was very clear that grant proposals for Peace Corps funds would have to use the protocols and methods introduced at the workshop. USAID makes some money available to the Peace Corps for small projects and PCVs write proposals to fund projects at their sites. Zarik and I are working on renovating an large, unused room at the school to provide a wet lab for physics and chemistry classes. My job is to design the lab., with teacher input, write the proposal and get the funds; she is lining up the local people we need to do the project – the school director and mayor for the community contribution, engineers for estimates, etc. The workshop was conducted in both English and Armenian and it was a good chance for us to work on the project together.

Tsaghkadzor and environs from where we were staying at the Sports Complex

Zarik with the Armenian weight-lifters who were staying and training at the Sports Complex. The guy in blue is a European champion. Zarik was really keen to get this picture taken!

About 35 volunteers, with their gortsernkers, attended and we were broken up into groups of 10 or 12 (5 or 6 volunteers plus gortsernkers) and that worked well. Our group worked together well and we had an excellent translator. We stayed at the Sports Complex and while we were there we saw visiting swimmers from Russia and a few Armenian weight-lifters. Tsaghkadzor is in the mountains, there is a ski slope nearby, and after snowing all day on Tuesday there was about 45 cm of snow on the ground.

Our group of ten (5 PCVs and 5 gortsernkers) with our trainer (green shirt, behind Zarik) and translator (far left) and the new country director (next to me) after the presentation of our joint project.

Zarik and her gortsernker at the end of the workshop

We've had two or three good snowfalls here since my last post and it snowed most of Friday (Feb. 11), and we finished with about 15 cm of new snow. The snow is welcomed by most in Verishen as summer and fall were quite dry. Saturday, following the snow, was clear and sunny; and although it was cold early, it warmed up to be a beautiful day. I realized recently that I've had no colds or even minor sniffles so far this winter, and the teachers and students at the school seem to be similarly healthy. I'm not sure why. Even with the wood stove, the rooms are not warm by American standards and classrooms at school are cold; teachers often teach with their coats on. Perhaps there is a hidden benefit in keeping things cooler - ?

Laundry on the line in late-January.

Verishen on a clear and sunny day in late-January.

Verishen on Friday (Feb. 11) during our latest snowfall.

St. Sargis Day is on Sunday February 13 this year. Saint Sargis is the patron saint of young love and the basic idea is similar to Valentine's Day, but traditions center more on young unmarried women and newly married couples. Best wishes to all for a happy St. Sargis Day and a happy Valentine's Day!

The New Year's (nor tari) celebrations continued for most of the week after New Year's Day. There were some interruptions as Tatevik had chickenpox and young Hrantik was sick for a day. The celebrations for Epiphany (or Theophany or Armenian Christmas) on January 6 were relatively subdued compared to nor tari. We had a nice dinner but gifts were not exchanged. In all, that whole week was a very nice, prolonged celebration with the emphasis on sharing food and drink with friends, relatives, and neighbors. Parents do give presents to their children, but gift exchange between adults is less common. There is “Dzmerr Pap” (Faather Winter) who is most like the Father Christmas of western Europe. He brings gifts on New Year's Eve instead of Christmas

The dinner table for Christmas on January 6.

A lot of cooking and eating goes on during nor tari and towards the end of December some food items became scarce and costly. Cakes here are made from scratch and are fairly egg-heavy so there was a huge demand for them in December. There were localized, temporary shortages and some substantial price rises but things are back to normal now. .

The mail does get delayed this time of the year. Armenia Post takes about a two week holiday over nor tari. The parcels pile up and it seems that, when work resumes, they take from the top of the pile so you can have some packages arriving in 2 weeks while others may take as long as 10 weeks. The Verishen Post Office called one day just before 4 pm to say that the marshutni had brought a parcel for me from Goris to the Verishen Post and I could pick it up tomorrow. Zarik pointed out that I was leaving town for a few days early the next day. The Post Office closes at 4 so Rita, from the Post Office, took the parcel home with her and I jogged about 2.5 km over snow and ice in the fading light to Rita's house to get the package. And then Zarik and I headed off to the last party of the season, a teacher nor tari party on Jan 13, the day before the “old” New Year – as noted by the Julian calendar. I think we were all a bit partied out by then; much of the khorovats and most of the cakes were uneaten. Instead, people talked and danced.

One of the many platters at the teacher nor tari kef

Armenians do like to dance - and we all got up and danced that night.

Zarik grabbed my camera at one point and got this picture of two "dancers."

A group of tired but happy teachers

Mail does arrive here eventually but, anything handled by a courier company is assumed to be commercial and subject to customs duties. That happened to one of my parcels and I went to the cargo terminal in Yerevan to claim it, - and that was a new experience. Lots of people work there with many of them apparently doing very little. I eventually found my way to a large room with several men in blue military-style uniforms standing around. I latched onto one who was helpful and spoke a little English. We went into the warehouse (surrendering my passport) and, once my package was found, I opened it in front of the customs official who soon realized it was personal and no duties would be levied. But we still had to troop back to the room, get more copies of all the forms, which are then stapled, signed, stamped again, and passed onto more senior officials for more signatures. Then, armed with a signed slip of paper I went back to the warehouse to get my parcel. However, the paper with the bar code was not on the parcel. Five minutes of stalemate ensued until common sense prevailed and they let me go. It was an interesting example of soviet-era bureaucracy which, fortunately, is not common in Armenia today.

From Yerevan, I headed to Martuni, which is a medium-sized town on the south shore of Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan, although large, is essentially an alpine lake and Martuni and other towns nearby are at about 2000 m above sea level. Even with that they are colder than one would expect; one volunteer who lives nearby in Gavar was dealing with ice and snow into early May last year. To the long winter add a relatively drab and featureless landscape (aside from the lake) and it all makes me glad to live in Verishen. Day and week-long camps have been hit-and -miss affairs in Armenia lately and one of the reasons for the Martuni meeting was to come up with some ideas to inject more sustainability into camps and to try to train Armenians to gradually take over much of the day-to-day organization of camps. The meeting went well and we got a lot done. This may have something to do with the weather; only seven of us came, as it was cold and there was still a lot of snow and ice on the roads. Consequently, decision-making and discussions went more smoothly with just the seven of us. The most direct route to Martuni from Goris avoids Yerevan and heads north from Yeghegnadzor, but that goes through mountains and, being a minor road, was still covered with snow and ice, hence the circuitous route of going to Yerevan, then heading north to Sevan and then south through Gavar to Martuni.

The most efficient route from Goris to Martuni goes north from Yeghegnadzor but this route was icy and snow-bound. Instead I took the very indirect route through Yerevan, Sevan, and Gavar.

Among the several generous and much appreciated packages I received recently was one from Australia with lots of Australian paraphernalia – tea-towels, an oven mitt, and a cute hat. I was going to keep it for summer but on a whim, I put it on Zarik and took a picture. She likes the hat and it's now hers – and I got a nice picture! Another parcel I received did more for cultural integration than a lot of things I've attempted. It was obvious that Zarik had never seen a fruit cake before but she gingerly tried a piece and liked it. She liked it so much that we served it to company as well; we may try making one together later on in the year. Cherry Ripe candy bars (A special Oz treat!) were also popular and the cashew – macadamia mix was a great hit. You can get cashews in Armenia (and, as Zarik told me, they are shat tank e – very expensive) but I don't think anyone had seen macadamias before, and after some hesitation they took to them eagerly. I'm really enjoying introducing the family to all these new taste treats and aside from Vegemite, they've all been well received. Thank you for all the goodies folks!

Zarik with her new Australian sun hat

Verishen received about 10-12 cm of snow on the weekend of January 8 and much of it is still with us, giving the neighborhood kids lots of opportunity to go sledding. I have not seen a single snowman in Goris or Verishen, and prolonged snowball fights are uncommon. Perhaps that's because most of the kid gloves are thin and woollen and get wet quickly. It's been mostly cold for the last two weeks but we do see the sun on most days and that helps warm the buildings. Verishen is by no means as cold as Minnesota or North Dakota but, as indoor heating in schools and other buildings is minimal and as we and many other families only light the fire in the late afternoon after the sun has set, it is usually cold inside as well as outside. At the moment there's lots of ice on the roads and paths and I'm learning to walk briskly on the ice without falling. The Peace Corps makes Yak Tracks available to us for this purpose but I'm abstaining for now as Armenians don't have them and there are plenty of other things that separate me from the locals without adding to the list. (Yak Tracks fit over shoes and boots to provide traction on snow and ice.) The pipes and drains in our bathroom are frozen, but as no-one seems concerned about it, I think it's a regular occurrence. If they stay frozen much longer, I may resort to a bucket bath but for now, vochinch!

We've had some beautiful sunrises lately. This day was cold as the clouds blocked much of the sun.

In the space of a week I celebrated Christmas in Goris with other Peace Corps volunteers and New Year's with my family in Verishen.

Christmas (soorb tsnoond – literally holy birthday) in Armenia is celebrated on January 6 and the first celebration of the holiday season is New Year's (nor tari). December 25th was just like any other Saturday here. It was the last day of school for two weeks and in Goris shops were open, marshutnis were running, and the streets were busy. Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia usually get together to celebrate Christmas and this year there were three main Christmas parties; at Goris, with about 14 attendees, at Kapan (two hours to the south, with around 30), and at Gavar (by Lake Sevan, with about 25). Some of the larger gatherings in the past have been marred by heavy drinking by a few but I think that didn't happen this year. I prefer a smaller gathering; it's easier to prepare the meal and host everyone. We had a good mix of volunteers from the Goris area and from Yeghegnadzor, about half-way between Goris and Yerevan. We ate well; the menu included lasagna, curried chicken, mashed potatoes, a big green salad, four pies (including a blueberry pie with Maine blueberries!), and mulled wine. Afterwards we did a simple gift exchange and played a few games. It was a very nice gathering but I think all the rich food was a bit of a shock to my digestive system and it protested mildly for 24 hours.

Volunteers in the Christmas spirit prior to eating

The Christmas lasagna, prior to its being devoured. There were no left-overs!

Nor tari is a very important event in Armenia. Throughout December, Zarik was working on a major cleaning of the house and getting ready for the celebration. The windows were washed, curtains taken down, washed, and rehung, rugs beaten and cleaned, bedding aired, all the pots and pans scrubbed, a second wood stove placed in a bedroom that Meruzhan, Tatevik and the two kids will use, and a gas line added to serve a gas stove in the living room. And Zarik has been working through a long list of items for nor tari and acquiring them over the month. On December 31, Inka (Zarik's sister who lives in Goris) Meruzhan (Zarik and Hrantik's son who lives and works in Yerevan), his wife Tatevik, and their children, Anna (4) and Hrantik (1), were there and a neighbor and her daughter came by in the evening. We had a nice dinner at around 7:30 and then preparations proceeded in earnest for the celebration, though Tatevik was baking cakes for much of Thursday. Of special interest to me was the care and attention that went in to presentation; other celebrations here have featured food and drink but not visual details. The table was set carefully with a nice tablecloth and good plates and glasses, napkins were folded elaborately, and special effects were created with bananas, olives, and carrots. The neighbor's daughter was particularly good at this; Martha Stewart would have been proud! (And I had completely forgotten Ms. Stewart's name and had to find it with Google.)

The dinner at 7:30 on New Year's Eve

Ornately folded napkins were one of the visual delights of our nor tari feast.

Some of the many dishes for our nor tari kef (feast). I loved the bananas which were crafted to resemble delfinner (dolphins).

Over the evening, dishes were prepared, the horovats fire on the patio was started and the meat cooked, fluids were asembled, and photos taken, and we sat down around 11:40 – nine people around a small and very crowded table. We toasted the arrival of the New Year with (bought) champagne and then ate, drank, toasted, and talked. After the first several toasts to parents, children, relatives, I offered a toast to my family for their kindness and hospitality. I got through it all without flubbing too badly “Thank you for your hospitality” (shnorhakalutyun dser hyoorenkalootyan hamar), “in spite of my differences” (chnyats im tarberutyoonnerer), and other tongue-twisters. The TV was on and featured nor tari musical entertainment, and we danced as well. In Armenia, whenever people get together to celebrate, if there is music there will be dancing. The eating, drinking, toasting, and dancing went on till about 2 am and then we cleared the table, did the dishes, and went back to a depleted table to munch and chat. I went to bed around 3:30 and I think everyone was in bed by 4.

A part of the nor tari table. The white bowl in the upper center holds grilled meat (khorovats).

After eating and drinking, there will be dancing!

It snowed a little that night and most of the next day but not a lot settled. After a slow start to Saturday, the neighbors, who stayed the night, left and the family (Zarik, Hrantik, Meruzhan, Tatevik, and the kids) left around noon to visit other nearby relatives but, as space was limited in Meruz' car, Inka and I stayed at the house and had a low-key lunch (soup). The visting on New Year's Day is the second part of nor tari and often continues for a few days with relatives, friends, and neighbors visiting and receiving food and drink. I was glad of a chance to relax and eat “normal” food for a while. That afternoon, I realized that I had not heard the word resolution at all. I didn't hear any discussion or pressure to adopt resolutions for the New Year, - and what's not to like about that approach?

Verishen on New Year's day from the patio

Sunday was cold but clear and sunny. Breakfast was mostly leftovers augmented by freshly-baked bread for, as Zarik explained, “khanootum hats chka” (There is no bread at the store). Mary, Zarik and Hrantik's daughter, her husband Aram, and their young son Edik, came for lunch, which was another elaborate meal, this time with eight adults seated around the same small and crowded table. More chicken, salads, and other fine offerings, including “blitifner”(Which are more like very thin, elongated sausage rolls than anything else. They were initially described to me as as “blit”, which are pancakes, and when I protested they were renamed “blitif.” Whatever they are, they are “shat hamov” (very tasty).) and tolmas. I've had tolmas in several places but Zarik's tolmas are supreme. I think that lunch may mark the beginning of the decline in nor tari celebrations. There is still a lot of food remaining - dried fruit, nuts, cakes, and so on -, and the family is out this evening visiting relatives. Fortunately, I'm at home subsisting on warmed up tolmas and home-baked bread, and listening to music. Repeated celebrating is hard on the system – at least for non-Armenians. There's obviously more celebrating to be done but the next post will have to detail that.

All the best for 2011. Shnoravor bolori nor tani (A happy New Year to all) yev yerek yerjanik yev arrorj (and be happy and healthy).

December has been an exciting month. I'll post a description of the recent festivities and celebrations later but, given the events of the past eight months, I want to devote this post to looking back over my time in Armenia.

Verishen in December; bare trees and blue sky

Twelve months ago I had no idea that I would soon be moving to a country, with its own unique alphabet, language, and religion, that I was unable at first to accurately locate on a map. Since arriving in Armenia, I have become good friends with a group of people (other volunteers), most of them young enough to be my children, and some could easily pass as my grand-children. I have adapted to sleeping in a short, twin-sized bed with a mattress filled with wool that changes shape from one night to the next. I have eaten many new foods, including cow hoof soup, and have come to relish lavash, mutzoon (home-made yogurt), and borscht. I have been offered shots of vodka by perfect strangers, which I have accepted. And I have come to accept that having one shot of vodka or cognac at lunch is perfectly normal. I shop in grocery stores where much of the floor space is taken by cookies, candy and vodka and have begun to think that vodka and wine costing more than the equivalent of $5 per bottle is expensive. I live quite comfortably on about $12 per day (including rent and utilities) and remember that several months ago I would part with that sum for a small lunch. I routinely make coffee (Armenian-style) at home and school and know that one never has coffee without chocolate or candy (or both). I have not seen a microwave oven or clothes drier in 7 months – and don't miss them at all. I have however been very fortunate to have been able to do my laundry in a front-loading washing machine, both in Arzakhan and Verishen. I have adjusted to showering every three or four days and wearing the same clothes for a few days – and I have learned to check the water pressure before starting laundry or a shower. I have not sat behind the wheel of a vehicle for seven months, and given Armenian roads and drivers, am in no hurry to do so. I am no longer unnerved by vehicles hurtling towards me at 50 kph, as I know that the drivers are avoiding potholes and will eventually swerve to avoid me. I have learned to look both ways before crossing streets as vehicles can be, and often are, on both sides of the street no matter their direction. And I have learned to accept and not mind at all that often the first or second question a person asks after meeting me is "Kani tarrekan e" (How old are you?).

This year's intake of Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia after swearing-in. There are several "older" volunteers in the group but most are in their 20's.

I'm surprised at the things I miss and the things I don't miss. Although I'm surrounded by people who only speak Armenian, the occasional visit to Goris to speak English with other volunteers more than satisfies my need for in-depth conversation. The Peace Corps maintains a library of books that we pass around freely, and I don't lack for reading material. However, I do miss longer articles about current topics, such as from the New Yorker. And, this time of the year, I miss ready access to a variey of fresh fruit and vegetables. I am adjusting to winter here where it is often colder inside than outside, and, when working at home, I work in places that get the sun. I have been more fortunate than most volunteers as I've been able to drink the water in both Verishen and Arzakhan with no ill-effects and I'm quite comfortable with a diet that includes very little meat and a lot of carbohydrates.

My big, and probably only, disappointment to date, is my lack of proficiency in Armenian. I'm making more progress and have a tutor who lives nearby but I have a lot of ground to make up.

I have come to appreciate and enjoy Armenia generosity and hospitality. When people deliver hay and help you unload it, when the neighor comes by to do some welding, when the son who lives in Yervan is passing through, or even on an apparently random occasion, a big spread is laid out – whatever time of day it is, whether noon or 10 pm – and everyone eats, drinks, and discusses.

One of my favorite foods is borscht and Zarik makes a big batch once or twice a week.She cuts up beets, carrots, cabbage, which were all harvested from the garden in Octoberand cooks them up with bay leaves (dapneterevner); hamov ! (delicious)

Borscht after simmering and now ready to eat.

In all, it's been an exciting and fascinating few months. I'm happy, healthy, and looking forward to a busy and productive 2011 in Verishen.

The weather is still quite mild; we haven't had any snow (or rain) since October 31 and although there have been some very windy days, we usually see the sun for at least part of the day. The neighborhood chickens are now much more obvious as they wander further in search of food.

On Sunday December 12, I attended the Syunik marz regional Spelling Bee final. The Spelling Bee is organized by Peace Corps volunteers for high school students (grades 7-11) who are studying English. An earlier Spelling Bee, in October, found the best three spellers in the three main participating centers, Goris, Sisian, and Kapan. Sunday's event found the best spellers out of the nine finalists for each grade. Some of the English texts in Armenia use English English spelling (favourite, colour, centre, etc.) and both English and American spelling of words was permitted. The standard was quite high, particularly in the upper grades. Extra events like this are helpful as they give students motivation to work harder and reward the good students.

My internet access has been even more useful lately. I've installed anti-virus software on computers at home and in Zarik's lab and scanned them for viruses. One evening, Zarik heard me playing downloaded music on my PC and asked if I was able to get more. I looked at some of her old LPs and started off downloading short pieces from YouTube and converting them to audio files. That was well received and we both liked hearing Beethoven, Bach, Hayden, Dvorak and others in the morning. She also likes some jazz, so on a hunch, I downloaded , via Vuze, some Joplin ragtime (the soundtrack from “The Sting” - which is a good start as it has both piano and orchestral versions), put it on the PC in the house, and had it playing when she came in. She loved it – and I'm currently downloading more Joplin for her.

Zarik is dressed and ready for school but is listening to ragtime before leaving. She was so intent that she didn't hear me enter and take this picture. Resorting to an over-used cliche: Cost to download ragtime tunes with my USB cell-phone modem - 500-1,000 drams ($2); Cost of a thumb drive/memory stick to move files around - $12; Seeing Zarik so absorbed with the music - priceless!

Hrantik went to Yerevan this week to see his brother and, while he was gone, Zarik's sister, Inka, a chemistry teacher in Goris came by after school each day and stayed the night. This surprised me at first but I think it was, in part at least, as Zarik probably didn't want people speculating about Zarik and Hedley alone in the house together. It's another reminder that, although people are very friendly and accepting, they are also very conservative, and, of course, in a village, your neighbors know everything about you.

Zarik and Inka watching television together.

I'm realizing now that Verishen school is not typical of village schools in Armenia. I've learned from other PCVs that at some schools, teachers often don't show up on some days and the teaching is at times half-hearted. The teachers here all show up and when one is sick, a major rescheduling goes on to cover her classes as there are no substitute teachers. Very few schools around here have laboratory facilities. Zarik got some grant money a while ago and had a large room transformed into a very well-equipped and comfortable physics lab. I'm exploring how to renovate a large, adjacent room into a wet lab for physics and chemistry. One of the gratifying things so far has been the interest and support in this project at the school. I enlisted help from other volunteers in the area to locate a working wet lab. Indicative of the general lack of facilities in the area, the best we could find was a lab in a new high school in Goris. It had one sink and a fume hood, neither of which were connected, and the principal beseeched me for help in getting supplies for the lab.

The room at the school that I hope will be made into a wet-lab for biology and chemistry.

The room has become a repository of all sorts of materials, primarily biological and chemical.

Christmas and New Year are approaching. School ends on December 25 and the first big celebration is New Year or nor tari. It is a very big deal in Armenia and Zarik has a long list of things to get for New Year. She is buying many things now, as given the demand, prices rise and supplies run low close to the end of December. Zarik's phone calls are normally short, almost terse, but one call the other day was particularly brief. After a late lunch, she left to go to the store and later I received a call from her: Hedley, geti mot (near the river). I looked out from the patio and saw her struggling up the road, near the river, with huge bags of groceries and rushed out to help. Meruzhan, Tatevik, and the kids will be here for nor tari and we (Hrantik, Zarik, and me) spent the afternoon putting a second small wood stove in the large bedroom in the house. The stove was easy enough but connecting all the pieces of stove pipe and then anchoring the outside pieces to protect them from the gusty winds was not.

The Goris area is not particularly well-served with medical facilities but the main Goris hospital is undergoing a major renovation and nearby (and in Verishen!), there is a new heart hospital; the building is complete but it is still unstaffed and unequipped. I heard that it's all part of a major effort to upgrade facilities here in part to serve Karabakh as well. Before long, acute illnesses and emergencies will be well treated here but chronic illnesses receive less attention. Zarik has high blood pressure and has had a couple of spells where she was not feeling well at all. Her solution is lemon, and one night recently a neighbor bought some by late at night. She is not under the care of a doctor and isn't taking any medicine. I was initially aghast but Zarik believes it helps (and I've had experience with the power of placebo) and she is taking more responsibility for her ailment than a person with pills and doctors might. She measures her pressure often and makes some adjustments to her activities depending on the results. However, she still maintains a frenetic pace most of the time. I do like the way cuts, scrapes, and grazes are handled here. The wound is cleaned in water and then dipped or wiped with strong home-made oghi (vodka).

Chess (shakhmat) is very popular in Armenia and chess tornaments are often featured in the news . Edik, Zarik's grandson, is not yet 2 but his parents are already introducing him to chess. Small wonder that so many Armenians go on to become excellent players.

The weather is still quite mild; we haven't had any snow (or rain) since October 31 and although there have been some very windy days, we usually see the sun for at least part of the day. The neighborhood chickens are now much more obvious as they wander further in search of food.

On Sunday December 12, I attended the Syunik marz regional Spelling Bee final. The Spelling Bee is organized by Peace Corps volunteers for high school students (grades 7-11) who are studying English. An earlier Spelling Bee, in October, found the best three spellers in the three main participating centers, Goris, Sisian, and Kapan. Sunday's event found the best spellers out of the nine finalists for each grade. Some of the English texts in Armenia use English English spelling (favourite, colour, centre, etc.) and both English and American spelling of words was permitted. The standard was quite high, particularly in the upper grades. Extra events like this are helpful as they give students motivation to work harder and reward the good students.

My internet access has been even more useful lately. I've installed anti-virus software on computers at home and in Zarik's lab and scanned them for viruses. One evening, Zarik heard me playing downloaded music on my PC and asked if I was able to get more. I looked at some of her old LPs and started off downloading short pieces from YouTube and converting them to audio files. That was well received and we both liked hearing Beethoven, Bach, Hayden, Dvorak and others in the morning. She also likes some jazz, so on a hunch, I downloaded , via Vuze, some Joplin ragtime (the soundtrack from “The Sting” - which is a good start as it has both piano and orchestral versions), put it on the PC in the house, and had it playing when she came in. She loved it – and I'm currently downloading more Joplin for her.

Zarik is dressed and ready for school but is listening to ragtime before leaving. She was so intent that she didn't hear me enter and take this picture. Resorting to an over-used cliche: Cost to download ragtime tunes with my USB cell-phone modem - 500-1,000 drams ($2); Cost of a thumb drive/memory stick to move files around - $12; Seeing Zarik so absorbed with the music - priceless!

Hrantik went to Yerevan this week to see his brother and, while he was gone, Zarik's sister, Inka, a chemistry teacher in Goris came by after school each day and stayed the night. This surprised me at first but I think it was, in part at least, as Zarik probably didn't want people speculating about Zarik and Hedley alone in the house together. It's another reminder that, although people are very friendly and accepting, they are also very conservative, and, of course, in a village, your neighbors know everything about you.

Zarik and Inka watching television together.

I'm realizing now that Verishen school is not typical of village schools in Armenia. I've learned from other PCVs that at some schools, teachers often don't show up on some days and the teaching is at times half-hearted. The teachers here all show up and when one is sick, a major rescheduling goes on to cover her classes as there are no substitute teachers. Very few schools around here have laboratory facilities. Zarik got some grant money a while ago and had a large room transformed into a very well-equipped and comfortable physics lab. I'm exploring how to renovate a large, adjacent room into a wet lab for physics and chemistry. One of the gratifying things so far has been the interest and support in this project at the school. I enlisted help from other volunteers in the area to locate a working wet lab. Indicative of the general lack of facilities in the area, the best we could find was a lab in a new high school in Goris. It had one sink and a fume hood, neither of which were connected, and the principal beseeched me for help in getting supplies for the lab.

The room at the school that I hope will be made into a wet-lab for biology and chemistry.

The room has become a repository of all sorts of materials, primarily biological and chemical.

Christmas and New Year are approaching. School ends on December 25 and the first big celebration is New Year or nor tari. It is a very big deal in Armenia and Zarik has a long list of things to get for New Year. She is buying many things now, as given the demand, prices rise and supplies run low close to the end of December. Zarik's phone calls are normally short, almost terse, but one call the other day was particularly brief. After a late lunch, she left to go to the store and later I received a call from her: Hedley, geti mot (near the river). I looked out from the patio and saw her struggling up the road, near the river, with huge bags of groceries and rushed out to help. Meruzhan, Tatevik, and the kids will be here for nor tari and we (Hrantik, Zarik, and me) spent the afternoon putting a second small wood stove in the large bedroom in the house. The stove was easy enough but connecting all the pieces of stove pipe and then anchoring the outside pieces to protect them from the gusty winds was not.

The Goris area is not particularly well-served with medical facilities but the main Goris hospital is undergoing a major renovation and nearby (and in Verishen!), there is a new heart hospital; the building is complete but it is still unstaffed and unequipped. I heard that it's all part of a major effort to upgrade facilities here in part to serve Karabakh as well. Before long, acute illnesses and emergencies will be well treated here but chronic illnesses receive less attention. Zarik has high blood pressure and has had a couple of spells where she was not feeling well at all. Her solution is lemon, and one night recently a neighbor bought some by late at night. She is not under the care of a doctor and isn't taking any medicine. I was initially aghast but Zarik believes it helps (and I've had experience with the power of placebo) and she is taking more responsibility for her ailment than a person with pills and doctors might. She measures her pressure often and makes some adjustments to her activities depending on the results. However, she still maintains a frenetic pace most of the time. I do like the way cuts, scrapes, and grazes are handled here. The wound is cleaned in water and then dipped or wiped with strong home-made oghi (vodka).

Chess (shakhmat) is very popular in Armenia and chess tornaments are often featured in the news . Edik, Zarik's grandson, is not yet 2 but his parents are already introducing him to chess. Small wonder that so many Armenians go on to become excellent players.

The garden is empty, the trees are bare and Verishen looks wintry. However, we had nice weather for most of November. It turned cooler the week of November 22, but even then we saw the sun a lot.

Zarik knew when it was my birthday and she outdid herself. In the morning she had two wrapped gifts for me; this is quite unusual, as gift giving, particularly between adults, is rare on birthdays in Armenia. She had an American flag for me, along with apologies for not being able to find an Australian flag, and my own pair of slippers plus a pair of warm socks. Armenians don't wear shoes in the house and instead wear slippers which are comfortable and also suitable for walking across the patio, etc. They gave me an old pair when I arrived but they are now falling apart and I was thinking of getting my own pair. The new slippers are very welcome!

Birthday slippers, an American flag, and socks

At school, it was obvious that Zarik had got the word out to teachers and students. In the teachers' room, there were many “tsnoondd shnoravor” greetings (Literally congratulations on your birthday but it is synonymous with happy birthday.), a rendition of Happy Birthday in English and Armenian, and coffee with chocolates. Many students also greeted me, often with “happy birthday.” After school., I taught my English class and ended with a rowdy game of Bingo (Using only English for the numbers) with fruit as prizes. As we were finishing up, Zarik called to tell me to hurry home. I did and five teachers, Zarik, Hrantik, Mary, and a lavish feast were waiting for me. We ate, we drank, and we sang to help wrap up a very enjoyable and memorable birthday!

The table before we ate!

Of the 14 items on the table, all but 4 (the three meats - fish, chicken, sausages -, and bread) come from the home and garden.Home-made apple wine; a semi-sweet but quite tasty white wine! I was impressed to see this on the table as this is from 2009. The apple crop was destroyed by a spring hailstorm this year.Raspberry juice, from raspberries in the garden (picked in summer).Fish, fried. Bought locally; there is a fish farm nearby.Avelook. This is a wild plant that grows in the mountains and is picked in summer,and dried. Then it's cooked by heating it in a pot of water. I like it and it tastes like spinach.Yogurt or mutzoon (home-made).A tasty mix of peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes that was canned in jars in summer.Bread (hats) and lavash, from the local store (khanoot). Many families make their own bread and lavash but with her duties at school, Zarik doesn't have the time.Small potatoes (from the garden).Sausages or yershik.Baked chicken thighs. (My family has chickens and they often kill one or two for a party but this chicken was bought from the store.)Home-made red wine (from grapes, I think)Greens – a mixture of parsley, cilantro, and other green herbsHome-made cognac. Cabbage and beets (from the garden and preserved in October).

The party-goers immediately before sitting down to eat, drink, and celebrate. Two days after my birthday, Meruzhan stopped by with colleagues and Zarik again prepared an elaborate lunch. I wasn't planning on eating there as I got back late from teaching, but Zarik insisted so I sat down and ate, and had some of Hrantik's latest offering - some cognac that he made that morning. Then I was off to Goris for a small Thanksgiving dinner with four other komavors. No turkey but, within obvious limits, we did things we missed. I brought some wine, lavash, and all the different types of fruit I could find in Goris and Verishen for a big fruit salad with grapes, bananas, oranges, persimmons, and even a kiwi. Others did baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and a big green salad. It was a nice evening and a fitting end to the week's festivities. Not bad , - three kefer (feasts) in one week.

After Thanksgiving all the Peace Corps volunteers in Armenia traveled to Yerevan for the annual “All Vol” conference. On Sunday we had Armenian language updates, and on Monday some administration details, flu shots, and a choice of classes, including teaching English for non-TEFL PCVs. This is a common occurrence and I'm glad the Peace Corps addressed it; many of us community health, business development, and environmental education volunteers find ourselves teaching English, in response to interest and requests. Monday's session helped give a little structure to our English classes. On Monday evening, we had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, sweet potatoes, beans, cranberry jelly, gravy, and lots of pies, all prepared by the volunteers who have been here a year. We'll have to do that next year and this year's meal will be a hard act to follow.

The Thanksgiving spread immediately before the hungry hordes descended. The pies came out later. On Tuesday the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Marie Yovanovitch, gave a good talk on the political and economic climate in Armenia including a sunmmary of the current tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a candid evaluation of the pervasive corruption in Armenia today, and the apparent disinclination of the country's leaders to deal with it. After that we had a variety of concurrent technical sessions to choose from. On Wednesday we watched a one-hour movie filmed in the early 1980's about a PCV in Nepal in his final days of service. It was filmed by a friend of the volunteer and was quite well-produced but suffered from the same problems of similar movies that dwell mostly on the positives of service and omit the training and the tough times. In the afternoon and Wednesday, we picked from several concurrent technical sessions. It was good to see everyone again, to share experiences and stories and to make plans for visiting other sites. Aside from Monday evening, we ate in Yerevan at a variety of different restaurants. On Wednesday evening, after the sessions were over, we all attended an International Aids Day event in Yerevan and then broke up into smaller groups, with many of us checking out different bars and restaurants on the walk back to our hotel. During pre-service training, two trainees smoked and were rather defensive and secretive about it. At last week's conference, at least 12 were smoking and many smoked a lot; indicative perhaps of recent stresses. Many volunteers were not well and some particularly pesky viruses were wreaking havoc on attendance. Also many of this year's volunteers have already moved into their own place. In fact, among the older volunteers, I am one of the few if not the only volunteer still living with my host family. It's an easy choice for me. My family, and particularly Zarik, is very sweet and I feel part of the family. Zarik is a senior science teacher at the school and is a big help with any problems I have at school. And, finally, there are fewer options for living on your own in a village where there are some large, empty houses but no apartments. My Armenian suffered a bit from a week of speaking English and I'm trying to make up for lost ground. Zarik and I had a good discussion this morning on Armenian customs for the holidays, interrupted by the customary leafing through the dictionary, of Armenian customs for the holidays. New Year's Eve (nor tari) is an important celebration and most of the Christmas festivities happen on January 6. The extended family gathers, there is a Christmas tree, and it all sounds fascinating. There is also a fancy dress party (dimakahandes) at the school in late December and Zarik wants me to go dressed as Santa Claus (dsmerr pap) which should be a lot of fun for me and the young kids.

At the end of November, we have 4 days of meetings and workshops for all volunteers in Yerevan. It will be good to see everyone again, to compare notes, and pool findings.

Serendipity, or making fortunate discoveries by accident, is a difficult word to translate. It is not in my English-Armenian barraran (dictionary) and Google Translate wasn't able to come up with an Armenian equivalent. However, serendipity plays a big role in my life here. Often when my regular activities aren't going so well, something unexpected but welcome happens. That certainly happened last week. On Friday morning, I was heading out the door to school when Hrantik beckoned to me. He had started to distill the grape mash that had been fermenting for 2 or 3 weeks in a barrel. Earlier he tested it with a hydrometer to tell when the sugar content was low and then put some mash in the pot and heated it with a gas flame. The vapor came off in a pipe and was cooled in a water trough and a clear liquid emerged at the end – oghi (vodka). He made almost 10 liters that day – using up much of the barrel of fermented grape mash – and the distilling continued the next day. The vodka that day was moderately strong; it tasted a bit stronger than some of his other batches but not unreasonably so. The alcohol content of home-made vodka does seem to vary quite a bit but it's usually around 60% or more, considerably more than store-bought commercial vodka (40%).

The pot where the grape mash is heated. The black hose in the lower left is a gas line.The thicker hose carries water to cool the vapor leaving the pot.

The pipe carrying vapor leaving the pot is cooled in this trough.

After cooling in the trough, the distillate condenses and is collected in the jar as vodka.

Later that day after working at school and at home and after lunch, I went for a short walk around Verishen and stumbled on another, even older church behind the mayor's office. This church is cared for more than the other church above the town, perhaps because it is close to town. There were wax candles burning when I went in, it was quite tidy and litter-free inside and out, and a sturdy fence surrounds it. Zarik says she thinks it dates from the 15th century. Like the other smaller church in Verishen (Pictures of this church are in the Travels blog posted in July.), this has a relatively simple construction and lacks the ornamentation and soaring magnificence of Tatev, Geghard, and other famous places, but it is still remarkable – partly because it is unheralded and in the middle of town. The church looks small on the outside but it is large inside and is almost 30 meters long outside.

The church from the outside. A simple but large stone structure with a "green roof."

The interior of the church

Outside the church there is a collection of kachkars and other carved stones. I haven't seen carvings like this before and find them intriguing; I have no idea what their significance is.

Another example of the carvings seen outside the church

After seeing the church I wandered up into the hills north of Verishen and saw a lone horseman with six dogs moving a large flock of sheep and a few cows across the lower slopes. The dogs, large, white and with long white coats, were relatively relaxed with the sheep but worked together to return the occasional recalcitrant cow back to the flock. (I'm not sure what breed the dogs were but they probably have some Great Pyrenees in their breeding.) It was a very tranquil scene with the sun setting behind the hills, the compact flock of sheep and the attendant dogs. The sheep dogs are a contrast to town dogs. They are better cared for and, although they bark and come over to inspect strangers that come close to the sheep, they don't approach too close, stop barking and just sit and watch. When I veer off to avoid the sheep, they relax and rejoin the flock.

Another flock of sheep grazing in the distance with dogs apparently resting

Lunches during the week are often hurried but today (Sunday, Nov. 21) we had a very nice lunch on the patio with a hearty apoor (soup), beets, potatoes, and avelook (which my dictionary says is sorrel, but I'm not convinced.). People pick it in the mountains in May and dry it and then soak and cook it in water. It tastes like spinach and is a welcome green vegetable this time of the year.

Avelook - cooked and dried, before cooking.

Not every day has its serendipitous moments but there a lot. Earlier in the week, an older man, a complete stranger, stopped me in the street and asked me how my Armenian was going. Often in the evenings we can hear howling from the hills above. It sounds similar to coyotes and Zarik and Hrantik assure me they are gayler (wolves). And as my face becomes more familiar at the school, I'm getting used to kids shouting out “hallo” or “barev dsez” as I walk around Verishen.

The vegetable gardens are now completely bare except for some greens (kanachee) tucked away in corners. It's been dry since the Halloween snow and many people took advantage of the warm, dry weather to turn over the soil in the garden. Most of the snow is gone from the mountains and we are very fortunate to have this extended period of warm, sunny weather. The nights are cool, getting down to or below freezing but the days are enjoyable. We're now eating a lot of potatoes and have started on the beans. The food I eat is nearly all non-commercial so, although I add salt to oatmeal and potatoes, I'm probably getting less salt than in the U.S. The salt cellar is a small dish; one adds salt by pinches. The leaves are nearly all gone from the trees now and the handsome European magpies are more noticeable. (They look very similar to the American black-billed magpies but are now regarded as a separate species.)

European or Eurasian Magpie (Not my picture!)

I've now had several meetings of the daserits heto bnapahpanakan akoomber (after school ecoclub). I think it is going well, in spite of my mangling of the Armenian language. The numbers have dropped, which is not a bad thing as we started with too many students. This class involves a lot of preparation as it's all in Armenian with many new words. But now that there are fewer students and I'm feeling slightly more confident with my Armenian, I'm just learning new words and phrases that I'll need for the class. I found I was reading the prepared text and now I'm trying to avoid that. We've looked at autumn leaves (ajnan terevner), acorns (karghin), annual rings (tarekan gostiner) and wild rose hips (masoor); done some crude water chemistry at several places along the Goris River (I need to redo that with semi-quantitative bacterial counts.), discussed deforestation (antarrahatum) and the merits of retaining trees and forests, and compared soils from the forest and a garden. This week I'll introduce the water cycle and, while the weather is nice, get out for some walks near Verishen. Last week we went up to the forest west of Verishen and that was fun.

I didn't realize at first that students get most of their classes in their own form room and the form teacher is responsible for that room. I taught some of the early ecoclub classes in Zarik's physics lab, partly because she has a computer and projector but it doesn't work to be there with soils and water. After two months of persistence, I finally got my own classroom. It's in an unused wing of the school and there is no heat or electricity. However, it faces south with several windows so the room is quite warm during the day. I'll have to abandon it when it gets cold, but for now I'm glad to have it and am putting posters on the wall, germinating acorns on the window sills, and watching soil particles settle out in plastic bottles full of water and soil. I think the school wants (expects?) me to find some grant money to fix up the room and get supplies for it. However, before I tackle that there will need to be a plan for how the room will be used after I've gone.

Looking from the back of my classroom towards the door. There's one English language poster on the wall (numbers) and that's the key to the room in the upper right of the image.

The best feature of the room is the large south-facing windows.

The classroom is in an unused wing of the school with no heat or electricity. The door to the classroom is on the right.

I taught my first after-school English class last week, and only two students showed up. This surprised me as I had the impression that there was a lot of interest. However, the director of studies (oosmasvar) forgot to announce it; she now tells me that I'll have 40 students at the next class. If that's the case, I'll have to break it up into 2 classes – beginning and more advanced. For the introductory class, I've made up a set of slides on the computer for the alphabet, like the one below. I'll teach the advanced class primarily in English and we'll work on sentences and reading. Many students here are familiar with many of the letters of the English alphabet but less familiar with their sounds and reading words.

I prepared these simple slides, one for each letter, that I can show to students in English class. A projector would help but this works with a small number of students. I run my PC off its battery.

Planning and preparing these classes takes a while, particularly as I teach in Armenian, and my Armenian is still weak. However, I'm getting the hang of it and should have time over winter and early spring to do more. I may add another after school ecoclub for younger students and plan a day camp for spring break, but I don't want to spend all my time teaching. I'd like to start a demonstration garden at the school to try out vegetables that aren't grown here but may do well, such as broccoli, chard, and cherry tomatoes. I may also put up a small composting demonstration; most people here just add cow manure directly to the garden. I think a compost pile might be a better solution. Another project, which could be both valuable and daunting, would involve working with other organizations to replant some of the mountain slopes north of Verishen.

I've heard several people say that the first few months are the hardest part of your time as a volunteer and I believe it. It takes a lot of time and energy to get setup, to convince people that you're serious, and to decide where best to spend your time and resources. Volunteer English teachers have their duties assigned but environmental and community health volunteers posted to schools have their roles and responsibilities only vaguely defined. That's an advantage in many respects as we're freer to take on additional projects later but it's harder to get started. Any teaching that I do is not done as part of the regular school day as there is no room in the schedule. One gratifying thing happened this week. Several teachers in the teacher's lounge, which is where one tries to work at school but it can be noisy, compared me to Robinson Crusoe, the analogy being a (small) island of English in a sea of Armenian. They also acknowledged that it was not easy for me at the school where there are no English speakers.

At the end of November, we have 4 days of meetings and workshops for all volunteers in Yerevan. It will be good to see everyone again, to compare notes, and to pool findings.