Armenian teachers get pretty generous breaks from school. First, there’s a full week off in October, the fall break. Then, there’s at least two weeks in December/January for the holidays. And finally, there’s another full week in March, the spring break. There are also numerous one or two day holidays throughout the year, much like in the U.S.

This year, during fall break, Nicole and I went to Istanbul. We took a bus all the way from Yerevan through Georgia and then Turkey along the Black Sea coast. Sixty bucks and about thirty two hours later, we arrived in Istanbul…not bad. The bus ride itself was an experience.

I’m not an experienced international traveler, but of the few places I’ve been, Istanbul may be my favorite. Once the heart of Eastern Christianity and then of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, the city displays a fascinating fusion of east and west. The Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia, beautifully embodies this interesting history. It was the largest Christian cathedral in the world for over a thousand years before Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, at which point it was converted into a mosque. Much of its Christian features were removed and replaced by Islamic ones at that time, but the Ottomans did well in preserving the structure and in 1935 when it was converted into museum, much of the original elements were restored and placed on display next to their Islamic counterparts creating a stunning work of art and history.

In the picture below, Nicole is sitting next to the remains of the old basilica built in 415 AD currently placed outside Aya Sofia. In the original relief, there were twelve lambs depicting the twelve disciples.

Across from the Aya Sofia is the Blue Mosque. With six minarets and a beautiful interior adorned with blue tiles, there’s no wonder why it’s a major tourist attraction. It’s still in operation, but after taking off your shoes and covering your head (for females) you can enter certain parts of it.

In the picture below, I’m standing on the carpet in the Blue Mosque as a worshiper would. You can see that the pattern is designed for kneeling and prostrating during prayer. You stand with your feet in the two ovals, kneel down placing your knees on the flowers in front of you, and then you bend forward to the floor where there are two more flowers for your hands as well as one for your face.

There are roughly three thousand mosques in Istanbul. Needless to say, we only visited a few, but the customs and architecture were amazing. In the first picture below, men are washing their hands, forearms, faces, and feet before entering the mosque in a purification process typically required before prayer. I believe we took this picture at the Yeni Mosque. In the second picture, you can see the front side of the same mosque from the Galata Bridge. If I remember correctly, the final picture is of Suleymaniye Mosque, another famous Istanbul landmark. I apologize if I got any of the names or locations wrong.

The next two pictures were taken just outside of the Yeni Mosque.

Another highlight of the trip was Topkapi Palace, the former palace of the Ottoman Sultans for nearly four hundred years. Although it’s a little expensive to tour both the palace and the harem, it’s definitely worth it. Comprised of over four hundred rooms, the harem housed the sultan’s family, concubines, and servants. The first picture is of the imperial hall with the sultan’s throne and the second is of Nicole standing against some beautiful tiles somewhere in the heart of the harem.

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is just as impressive as its mosques and palaces. Its labyrinthine shops encompass a huge area of the city and provide an amazing shopping experience, if you don’t mind some intense bargaining. Below you can see one of the entrances, a congested hallway, Nicole browsing through scarves, and a beautiful display of Turkish delight, which was delicious.

Equally as delicious as the Turkish delight was the astounding array of baklava and tea.

Tea, spices, food, and tobacco can all be bought from colorful back street markets or from the amazing Spice Bazaar near Yeni Mosque, second in size only to the Grand Bazaar.

Here’s another interesting observation, Istanbul was full of stray cats. Nicole and I even stayed at a hostel called the Stray Cat where cats wandered in and out at their discretion without being pestered. Everywhere we went we saw food and water bowls set up for these cats in random places and they all looked well feed and healthy. It was actually pretty nice. The picture below was taken inside Topkapi Palace.

The trip was great, even the bus ride was memorable. I could definitely go back to Istanbul.

-Andy

Despite good intentions, it’s been over five months since my last post. To satisfy the curiosity and concern of my dedicated followers who are undoubtedly waiting in suspense for my next post, I’ve provided a brief update as well as some pictures below.

This is our nineteenth month in Armenia and by now I think we both feel fairly adjusted to life here. All of the things that were once new and different to us now seem somewhat ordinary. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been motivated to write lately, or maybe it’s because we’ve been too busy. Nevertheless, after reflecting on the last five months, I realize that much has happened and that I am living in a complicated country where there is still much that is unknown to me.

We’re now the senior group of volunteers in the country. Well, we’ve been the seniors since the new group was sworn in on August fifth. Nicole and I now have two more volunteers living in our town who we call our "site mates". The first picture below is from their site announcement ceremony. A friend of mine prepared a welcoming sign for the new volunteers coming to our region of the country, which we call “the bear marz” (a marz is like an administrative region). One of my site mates is in the second picture and both are in the third.

The summer seems like such a long time ago, but there are definitely some things still worth mentioning. A large portion of our work efforts were dedicated to the incoming group of volunteers. We organized several training sessions for them and observed their performance during open English classes. We also continued teaching our community English club, which has grown substantially since then.

We spent the Fourth of July with a group of friends in Sevan where we rented a few cabins along the lake. Lake Sevan is located 1900 meters above sea level, so the water was still cold in July, but under the summer sun it was refreshing. I think we all had a great time.

As a member of the volunteer advisory committee, I had the opportunity to attend a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the US Embassy in Yerevan. Her visit in July was the first time the US Secretary of State has come to Armenia in almost two decades. None of the pictures I took of her came out very well, so I included a picture of myself instead. Of course, the crowd wanted me to give a speech too, but I didn’t want to overshadow any of the dignitaries or diplomats.

The summer ended quietly as we enjoyed abundant time with friends and nice weather. In the first picture below, I’m standing with the director of an environmental NGO that has a long history of working with Peace Corps Volunteers. In the second, a good friend of mine came to visit us along with his friend from the US. We had an excellent time together. In the third, Nicole is enjoying the fresh greens and vegetables while she can before the change of seasons. Finally, in the fourth, Nicole and I are standing on our balcony as the summer changes to fall.

With the end of summer came the start of the school year. During the last two weeks of August, I had a lot of work to do in my school to prepare for the opening of a language center. I think I mentioned in a prior post that the center is being funded by a grant that my counterpart and I wrote in the spring. We’re a little bit behind schedule on completion, but it’s open and we’ve been using it for our classes since the start of the school year. The local press visited during one of my counterpart’s Russian lessons and wrote an article on the language center that was published in the newspaper. I included a copy of the article below although I know it’s probably illegible for most of you...to be honest, I don't understand much of it either.

Both Nicole and I also put a lot of time into classroom management and lesson planning improvements during the first few months of school that seem to be paying off. As the school year progressed, we also added extracurricular English clubs to our workload both at school and in the community. Nicole in particular has seen much success with the clubs. She has three after school student groups, a teacher group, a professional adult group, and she’ll be adding a second adult group after the holiday break. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good pictures to show for these things, but I’ll try to get some.

Winter has been strangely mild throughout Armenia so far, even more so for us than for other volunteers. We live at a lower altitude in a river valley that helps protect us from inclement weather. Although the cold is finally setting in, we enjoyed almost fall-like weather up until the end of December. After spending five years in Syracuse, we’re welcoming the change. My apologies to any Syracusans out there who’ve already seen over seventy inches of snow this season. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve had my share of bone chilling baths and showers. I’m not sure which is better, a mild winter without heated buildings and ready access to hot water, or a harsh one with all the amenities. Anyway, we haven’t had any snow in town yet, but there has been snowfall on the mountains and hills surrounding us, as shown in the picture below.

In November we had our annual all volunteer conference in Yerevan where we celebrated Thanksgiving together. Amazingly, a small group of volunteers prepared a traditional turkey dinner for over a hundred people. The pictures below were taken at the dinner.

On the way to the conference, Nicole and I visited a friend in another region of the country where we discovered an Armenian alphabet stone park in a town called Aparan. The stones commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet (405-2005).

During the conference, we also took part in an interesting HIV/AIDS awareness event. About 75 of us found a busy street in Yerevan where we posed in still positions for one minute displaying posters and wearing HIV/AIDS t-shirts. I would call it a flash mob, except flash mobs are generally unorganized and are rarely in support of a cause. Anyway, it was a really interesting and fun way to get involved in something important.

Lastly, I’d like to express my deepest condolences to Nicole and her family for the loss of Joe Moritz Sr. He passed away in mid-December. Nicole and I struggled over the decision to come back to the US during this time, but for various reasons we were unable. In the last picture, Nicole is admiring a small memorial that we made for him in the mountains outside our town. He was a great man.

There are some more things I’d like to talk about, but I think that’s plenty for now. As always, I’d like to thank you all for your continued support of our work here. I hope you are all healthy and happy. Please feel free to comment or send us an email.

-Andy

Fahrenheit = (Celsius x 1.8) + 32

This is the equation for converting Celsius into Fahrenheit. As many of you are probably already aware, the majority of the world uses Celsius, not Fahrenheit when recording temperatures. Nevertheless, whether out of utility, convenience, or just good old stubbornness, we Americans have chosen to continue using the Fahrenheit Temperature Scale…which is fine, while you’re living in America. But, if you decide to live or travel abroad, you have to make some adjustments. Not just for temperature either. You have to think in kilometers not miles, kilograms not pounds, and liters not gallons. I wonder what really lies at the root of our reluctance to adopt these international standards. Maybe it’s the same phenomenon that suppresses the popularity of soccer in America. I digress…that’s not what this post is about.

Anyway, I haven’t really been that interested in temperature conversion until recently. Last summer was wet and mild…plus we lived at a higher elevation for most of it, so the heat felt bearable. Winter seemed long and cold, especially without adequate heating, but not quite as bitter as I expected in terms of temperature. What I’m trying to say is that the temperature has not been severe enough for me to take interest. Then, about a week or two ago, the heat came. Since then, there have been a few days when I can’t even get up and walk to the kitchen without breaking a sweat. Recently, Nicole and I have spent much of our time sitting in front of the fan trying to stay cool…well, warm is about the best that can be hoped for.

So, a few days ago, out of curiosity, I began to ask the locals about the actual temperature. The responses I got were all in the range of 40 degrees Celsius, which meant very little to me at the time. In fact, in my Fahrenheit mind, 40 degrees sounded pretty cool. Then, a friend of mine shared with me the equation for conversation…

(40 x 1.8) + 32 = 104 degrees Fahrenheit

Now I’m paying attention.

I know I shouldn’t be complaining. It won’t be all that long from now, probably sometime in November, and I’ll be complaining about the cold. The grass is always greener I suppose. It’s actually not that bad, as long as you’re sitting in front of the fan, drinking a glass of cold water…however, we can’t just sit around all day. We’ve got places to go and people to see. Unfortunately, our main mode of transportation involves stuffing ourselves into small buses already packed with people sitting, standing, and squatting wherever space can be found. Consider another interesting factor regarding this mode of transportation: here in Armenia, there is a commonly held belief that exposure to a breeze or a draft of air can cause sickness. Consequently, those lucky passengers who find seats next to the window keep them either closed or at a slight crack to reduce such risk. As a result, the bus becomes a kind of sauna…sadly, not the nice spa or health club kind either.

I hate to say it, but I miss spending most of my days going from one temperature controlled building to the next back in the US. However, I’m sure that once I return, I’ll be complaining about excessive energy consumption, high utility bills, and our dependence on unsustainable sources to produce such conveniences. Like I said earlier on, the grass is always greener.

I’ve heard that there are similar heat waves back in the US. Stay cool and enjoy your summer.

-Andy

PS. Today is actually a bit cooler here. Maybe we’re on the tail end of this heat wave. I suppose everything happens in cycles. I guess it’s just a matter of waiting patiently while the cycle runs its course.

On June 30th, Nicole and I will have been living in Armenia for 13 months. We’ll also have about 13 months left until our close of service. On some days it seems like the time has gone by so quickly. I think to myself, “I can’t believe I’m already half way through this experience”. On other days, the end of service seems like a world away.

A new group of volunteers came into the country at the end of May and the group that came before us will be moving out in July and August. During this last week, at the request of our program manager, Nicole and I facilitated a couple training sessions with the new group. It feels weird to be considered a kind of “expert” on any matters related to this experience; but, I suppose I do feel like I have some useful information to pass on. It’s strange to think that around this same time next year, the new group will be considered the “experts” and our group will be making arrangements to leave the country.

When I first considered joining the Peace Corps, I was hesitant to commit to a full 27 months of service. I wanted something shorter. But now that I’ve been here a while, I question whether or not something shorter can even be effective. My first year was kind of a trial and error process. It wasn’t until March or April that I felt like I was actually able to accomplish any “real work” in the community. With all this in mind, I understand that my second year of service has the potential to be much more impactful, I just hope that I have the stamina to persistently apply myself along the way. It sometimes feels like running a marathon (not that I’ve ever actually ran one). In the second half of the race, I’ll be looking for that “runner’s high” that can carry me through to a strong finish.

Anyway, Nicole and I are enjoying the summer months. The weather has been nice and we’ve had lots of friends visiting us, using their time off from school to see other areas of the country. We’re not doing as much work as we were during the school year, but we’re definitely staying busy. I just recently got my first grant approved. In the next few months, my counterpart and I will be developing a language center in the school where I’m working. Next year, we’ll have access to a computer, projector, printer, scanner, etc… Plus a variety of language resources that aren’t usually available in the Armenian classroom. The process of writing this grant was pretty painful, but I’m glad I did it now that the project is up and running.

We’ve also been facilitating an adult English club in the evenings. So far, it’s attracted some local professionals and university students who seem genuinely interested in learning. It’s very common for volunteers to see high levels of interest in the first few weeks after opening a club only to have attendance plummet shortly thereafter. Luckily, we’ve been meeting regularly for a few months now without experiencing this common phenomenon.

One more thing to mention before rolling out the latest pictures…as some of you already know, Nicole and I made a trip back to the US for a couple weeks. It wasn’t something that we planned on doing; however, we decided that we couldn't miss my grandmother's memorial service. Finishing up some projects in Armenia before heading back proved to be an exhausting effort. Also, I agreed to give a presentation about Armenia to a group of high school students in New York on my first morning back in the US. These obligations, coupled with jetlag and a pretty high level of unexpected culture shock contributed to my exhaustion. I’m only saying this because I think it may have affected my interactions with friends and family during the first few days of the trip. I’d like to apologize to anyone who might’ve thought that I didn’t seem like myself during that time. It took me almost a full week to readjust and unwind.

Anyway, Nicole and I would like to thank everyone who helped us out during our time in the US. We both agree that we have some of the best friends and family that anyone could ask for. We greatly enjoyed our time with all of you and to those that we didn’t get to see, we apologize. Limited time and resources made it difficult to see everyone and do everything we wanted to do.

Well, here are the latest pictures from Armenia accompanied with some brief descriptions…

The first 4 pictures were all taken during our trip back to the US. In the first one, I’m giving a presentation about Armenia to a group of high school students in Queens, NY. The second and third were taken at my nephew Mikey’s third birthday party. We were really happy that the dates lined up so that we could be there. The last one was taken with my family just after my grandmother’s memorial service.

The next set of pictures was taken in Paris. On our way back from the US, we flew on an Air France flight into Paris and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to extend our layover for a few days and see at least some of the sights. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like the city since I heard a few mediocre reviews from friends, but I thought it was amazing. We had beautiful weather the entire time. I think the Louvre was probably our favorite experience, although one could easily spend an entire week exploring that museum alone. To really get a feel for Paris, I think you need more than just a few days, but time and money didn’t cooperate. In one picture, you can see a small painting behind me enclosed in a glass case…that’s the Mona Lisa. We didn’t find it to be that visually impressive, but I understand its significance…and hey, it’s the freak'n Mona Lisa, so I had to include it.

Here’s a really interesting set of pictures. They were taken in a village called Khndzoresk, near the border with Karabagh. This section of the village is called “Old Khndzoresk”. The caves that you see were at one time inhabited by the people of Khndzoresk, who not so long ago shifted their community to a nearby area where the village is currently located so that the Soviets could provide water and electricity. It was fascinating to hike through this gorge thinking about the people who lived in this community of houses and stables built into the mountainside. The last picture gives you the best idea of how big this place was. If you look hard enough, you can even see an old church with grass growing all over the roof.

One of Nicole’s favorite things about Armenia are the wildflowers that grow in the spring. In some areas of the country, where the plateau landscape allows you to see for long distances, it seems like endless fields of wildflowers spread out in all directions.

During the same visit to Khndzoresk, we also visited Sisian where the following two pictures were taken. The monastery is called Vorotnavank and it dates back to the 11th century. Again, you have to look really hard to see me in the second picture.

This picture of our front porch was taken during a violent hailstorm. The hail came down so hard and for so long that it damaged many of the fruit trees in the area. It also caused our roof to leak, sending what seemed like waterfalls down our walls and into our cupboards. The mold that was disturbed in the process did wonders for my allergies…I digress…after all, this is Peace Corps, so I suppose we should be suffering a bit.

The last picture was taken on June 19, our 6-year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we treated ourselves to a great khorovats, which is basically pork cooked over an open fire on skewers. Khorovats is some of the best food I’ve had here despite the excessive amounts of fat that are usually left on the meat. This was our second anniversary celebrated in Armenia.

As always, I hope everyone is well and enjoying life. I’d like to send some love and luck to both my sisters who are both getting ready to go on big adventures. I’m proud of you guys. As for everyone else, we miss you and you’re always in our thoughts. Please send us a message if you get a chance…we’d like to hear how you’re doing.

Հաշողություն

(goodbye and good luck)

Andy

Recently, maybe two weeks ago, Nicole and I heard about a “mudslide” that had happened just outside of our town. Some friends were telling us that the road headed into the capital had become temporarily impassable as a result. We had a trip to Yerevan scheduled for the upcoming weekend, so we waited to see how the whole thing played out. In a few days time we learned that the “mudslide” was really a major landslide that literally pickup a huge section of the road and carried it down into the river below. Fortunately, by this time, arrangements had been made for buses to take passengers out to the landslide where they could walk across a path to the other side and get on another bus that would continue the trip into Yerevan. We decided to give it a shot and here’s what we saw…

Here’s the spot where the buses let you off to begin your hike over the landslide. You can see that the road is completely covered by a huge amount of earth. The trees and bushes are all still alive and well. It’s like a huge piece of earth just moved down the mountain and decided to settle in a new spot just as it was before.

This is where the passengers begin their ascent over the landslide. You can see the little path that has formed from foot traffic.

Here are two pictures of the pieces of the road that were just picked up and sent down to the river.

As you walk along the path, you can see really large cracks in the earth that are quite deep. This is a picture of Nicole standing over one. Throughout the walk, all the passengers help each other to get over these cracks and the other more difficult parts of the path. The ledge where the whole thing just broke off from the mountain is behind Nicole to the left.

This last picture was taken from around the mid-point of the path. The other side of the landslide where the buses wait for passengers to continue the trip is off in the distance. Overall, it’s about a 10 minute hike from one side to the other. I suppose it’s a little longer for the older women carrying 20 kilos of potatoes.

Luckily, this was a nice day to take a walk. It was actually a fun experience. I’m sure we won’t be as excited when it’s pouring down rain and covered in mud. We were both pretty impressed with the sheer size of this thing. -Andy

Even though we’ve been told that it’s been a pretty mild winter, it has still seemed long and gloomy like we expected. Nevertheless, spring is finally here. Although I’ve been pretty inactive on the blog, Nicole and I have been very busy in terms of work in the community. February, March, and April were a far cry from months of hibernation.

I would like to overcome my habit of waiting 2 or 3 months in between blog posts and instead post smaller, more frequent entries that delve a little deeper into the intricacies of life in Armenia, but as always, I’m prone to procrastination and now I have a list of updates that I’d like to write about. So, in an effort to catch up, I’ve posted a bunch of pictures in this entry that are winter-related. I’ve also posted some other entries about a few interesting things that have happened recently.

We hope that everyone is staying healthy and enjoying life. Please send us an email, post some comments, or even try to catch us on Skype. The last few weeks have been a tough time for us and we appreciate all the support we’ve been getting. Nicole and I both agree that we have some of the best friends and family that one could ask for. We love you all. - Andy

First, the human sledding chain. It’s all fun and games until someone goes down head-first and hits their head off of the rusty metal track of an old sled. He was taken to the capital where he got at least a few stitches. I’ve heard this happens at least once or twice per year.

Next, we have the Armenian cure for the average cold…cognac, muraba (a kind of preserve), and tea. I was skeptical at first, but after a few doses, I began to see some improvement.

Here are some great pictures of our town taken from the area around my school, which is located on the opposite side of the valley from where we live.

These pictures deserve a brief explanation. The first is a picture of our gas-powered, tankless water heater. As long as the flow of water into the heater has the right pressure, it usually provides us with decent showers. However, during the months of January and February, we had significant problems with water availability. When it was available, the pressure was too low to activate the heater. We adjusted to this problem like most people do in Armenia, by collecting our water in large buckets during times when we had it and then heating it on the stove as needed. I’m describing all this mainly because the situation led to a month or two of bucket baths in an unheated bathroom that were some of the coldest experiences of my life…definitely spiritual. In the second picture, I’m cracking the layer of ice that regularly accumulated on our alternative source of water just outside our place, used mainly for flushing the toilet. Let me apologize in advance to those volunteers who have no water heater at all or even running water for that matter…I shouldn’t be complaining.

Here are some random pictures that don’t really need explanation. The first was taken on a hike during the early winter; the next two were taken around town; and the last is a picture of our host family’s dog wondering if we have any food scraps to give him. He is kind of like an all-natural garbage disposal.

The next two pictures were both taken recently. Nicole organized a trip to Yerevan for my birthday to see two hockey games…North Korea v. South Africa, and Armenia v. Mongolia. North Korea and South Africa played a really close game, but Armenia annihilated Mongolia. Armenia and North Korea played the following night for the Division III championship. We couldn’t stay for that game, but I heard North Korea won.

This last picture was taken very recently. It shows the typical rainy April weather that we’ve been getting lately. The streets are a muddy mess, but spring flowers and blossoming trees have been giving the gloominess a nice facelift. We’re not experiencing the full bloom of spring quite yet, but it’s right around the corner.

At first glance, the arrangement you see below may seem like a normal selection of food you might find in any American cupboard. However, to the trained eye (or maybe to the deprived eye that has not seen such a volume of goodness in 8 months), it is an amazingly tasty collection of American awesomeness! Nicole and I would like to thank everyone who was kind enough to make this miracle happen. We are extremely fortunate to have such extraordinary friends and family.

We equally appreciate the warm thoughts and greetings contained in the many cards and letters that were sent to us over the holidays. If this post seems a bit late, it’s because we didn’t receive much of these things until recently. Armenians celebrate the New Year for weeks and weeks, so I think the whole postal system must’ve been shut down for a while.

Thanks again to everyone. We never expected such graciousness. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year.

-Andy

As of January 31, we will have been in Armenia for 8 months. Sometimes it seems like it’s been much longer, sometimes it seems like it’s been much shorter. Time passes by much the same here as it does anywhere else. Before you know it, days, weeks, and months have elapsed. I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’d updated the blog until recently when I decided that I’d better write something before I start to forget much of what has happened. So, I guess this is kind of a summary entry, highlighting our last few months here. I’ve posted some pictures below, since I think they better describe our experience than my writing alone.

The first picture is a little old now. It’s from a soccer game that we went to back in the fall…Spain v. Armenia. I thought I’d include it because it was my first international soccer game, and because we had a great time. The game was a World Cup qualifier. Everyone expected that Spain would play its less known players since Armenia does not have a strong team, but to our surprise, we got to see some of the biggest names in soccer like Torres and Fabregas. Obviously Armenia lost the game, and almost every other game in their qualifying group. Needless to say, they will not be going to the World Cup.

Around the same time of year, Nicole and I were invited to help some friends pick and prepare grapes for making wine. We went to their house a few more times to see how the process is carried out. It was very interesting.

Since nearly two hundred kids were interested in attending our after school English clubs, we had to organize an interviewing/selection process. This picture was taken right before some of the interviews at Nicole’s school. It took us two weeks to select a total of 80 kids, 40 from my school and 40 from Nicole’s. It was a major headache, but it was also a good way to demonstrate fairness and objectivity, something that is not often practiced here. Now, we’ve got 4 English clubs that meet weekly after school, Monday through Thursday.

The next series of pictures were taken in Tbilisi, Georgia. We decided take a small vacation there since we had such a long winter break this year. The Ministry of Education cancelled school for three additional weeks due to outbreaks of seasonal flu and H1N1, giving us much more time off than usual.

- Nicole near the oldest church in the city…6th century.

- The sign for the KGB bar/nightclub…funny or terrifying? I’m not sure yet.

- Probably the highlight of our trip. This picture was taken in the Abanotubani region of Old Town Tbilisi. The dome-shaped structures are subterranean sulphur bath houses. Tbilisi has been famous for them since the city’s founding in the 5th century. The word Tbilisi actually means “warm spring”. For centuries, people have travelled to Tbilisi just to bath in the sulphur springs which are rumored to have healing properties. I don’t know about all that, but we did feel pretty good after spending some time here.

- Not much explanation needed. This is me reunited with western fast food…a picture that I would not have been proud of before moving to Armenia where no such things exist. McDonald’s never tasted so good…or maybe it was just some association with familiarity.

- The next two pictures were taken at Narikala Fortress, another highlight of the trip. Located in a strategic defensive position on a steep hill above the city, the fortress has been occupied by the Persians, the Arabs, the Turks, the Russians, and of course the Georgians. The earliest walls of the fortress date back to the 4th century. Unlike most western historical sites, you are free to fully explore the fortress without supervision…for better or for worse, the same is true for most sites in Armenia as well.

Overall, Tbilisi is an amazing city. Unlike Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, it has a very western feel to it. We spent a lot of our time in cafés that seemed much more like home than anything I’ve experienced in Armenia. It’s highly likely that we’ll be going back at some point during our service.

To keep busy over such a long break, Nicole spent a lot of time crocheting. She made a bunch of scarves to give as presents for the New Year. In the next picture, she is doing her best to perfect a recipe for baklava that our first host mother showed her. After several attempts over the holidays, she got very good at it.

I’m not sure why I included the following picture. I guess I was pretty proud of the massive frittata we made for about 10 other volunteers after our Christmas celebration. Since Armenians do not celebrate Christmas like we do, or on the same date, we travelled to another town where some friends decided to get together. The morning after our gathering, Nicole unexpectedly suggested to everyone that I prepare a breakfast/lunch…she’s so cute. The volunteer we were staying with had just moved into his house, so buying all the ingredients and putting the whole thing together was definitely interesting.

The next three pictures are kind of random. The first was taken on a hike that we recently went on. We are sitting on an unfinished gondola lift station overlooking our town. My guess is that it was a project begun during soviet times and never completed, abandoned and left to decay like many of the buildings and structures from that era. The next is of the church that I pass as I go to school every day, and the third was taken in the morning from the house where we are staying. If you cannot tell from the picture, it has become very cold here.

Other updates...hmmmm. Well, Nicole and I will be working on some secondary projects in the next few months that should be interesting. We are both trying to write grant applications for English language rooms in our respective schools, and we are trying to organize a regional poetry competition to be held sometime in the spring. Also, I may begin working with an environmental NGO to help secure funding for a series of educational camps that they organize over the summer. As for our primary work in the classroom, we have our successes and our setbacks. Sometimes I feel like I am making a difference, sometimes I just feel overrun by a bunch of out of control kids who don’t listen to anything I say. I will say however that I think my command of the language in the classroom has improved, which has helped out greatly, especially in our after school clubs. Socially, in a non-technical, less predictable setting, communication is still quite difficult for both of us.

Anyway, things are good overall. We were lucky to survive the near two-week long marathon of eating and drinking referred to as Armenian New Year, and now I feel like we are starting to become productive volunteers. New Year definitely deserves its own post.

As always, we miss you all very much. I hope that everyone is well and enjoying life. Please let us know how you are when you get the chance.

-Andy

The pictures that you see above are the standard ingredients of a traditional Armenian food dish called khash. I took them today at the market near our house. Here’s a pretty good description of the cooking process brought to you by the always informative Wikipedia.org…

“The main ingredient in khash is cow's feet, although other cow parts, such as the head and stomach (tripe) may also be used. The feet are depilated, cleaned, kept in cold water in order to get rid of bad smell, and boiled in water all night long, until the water has become a thick broth and the meat has separated from the bones. No salt or spices are added during the boiling process. The dish is served hot…dried lavash is often crumbled into the broth to add substance…the meal is almost always accompanied by vodka (preferably mulberry vodka) and mineral water.”

So, I had my first experience with khash back in October and I would like to add some interesting details to the above description. The “thick broth” mentioned is more like a kind of glue, which is understandable considering that many types of glue are made of animal hooves. Boiling the feet until “the meat has separated from the bones” is kind of a misleading description too. As you can tell by the pictures, there really isn’t much “meat” on the feet. Instead, I would’ve probably chosen to say, “until the tendon and thick layer of skin have separated from the bone”, which will become the tasty highlight of the dish later on. And as you might guess, the passing mention of “the meal is almost always accompanied by vodka” should be more heavily emphasized.

Here are some other interesting facts about khash from the equally informative Armeniapedia.org…

“Usually Armenians go for khash in the morning on weekends, because after a khash party, participants are happy, but also heavy with sleep; and, typically not smelling so sociably acceptable. It may not be the cows feet that make a person sleepy; rather the vodka, which, real khash professionals assure is good for digestion…hardcore khash eaters use only their fingers for consuming the odd meal.”

Let’s see, what else can I add? Oh yeah, it’s very common to cover khash with a salty minced garlic and butter mixture right before eating it. Also, you will see from the first picture that it is sometimes common to throw in other random parts of a cow, especially from the head and digestive system, which should explain the nose, ear, tongue, and intestinal parts that are being displayed for sale.

Now, I’ve had some strange encounters with exotic foods in the past and I think I can reasonably say that I’ve always come out on top…until I met khash. It is the only time I can remember that I could not finish my plate. I did my best to explain my unfamiliarity with the dish, but I’m not sure how well it translated. To be fair, I think the batch of khash that I ate may have been a little off since it was on its third day and the feet and stomach lining may not have been cleaned properly; however, even at its best, I think it poses a challenge.

On a lighter note, when people eat khash, they usually throw a party. I’m not really sure why, but I usually don’t question the motives of a good party, even when it occurs at seven in the morning and is accompanied by massive amounts of garlic, vodka, and khash.

Well, I’m sure that I will cross paths with khash again in the near future since it is a typical winter dish here in Armenia. Khash may have one the first battle, but the war is far from over.

-Andy

Well, I finally did…I changed my blog address. The Peace Corps asked me to do this a couple months ago. It had something to do with the blog containing the word “Armenia” in the address. Anyway, I procrastinated for a while, but now it has been changed. The blog address is…

meetingmashtots.blogspot.com

…which is probably obvious to you if you are reading this post.

I suppose I should provide some explanation. Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian monk and linguist who lived during the fourth and fifth centuries. He was tasked with the responsibility of creating the Armenian alphabet, which remains intact to this day. Many people say that the alphabet enabled the Armenians to establish a distinct identity…a kind of unifying, national spirit. Being rooted in Christian theology and connected to the Armenian Church itself, it is believed that the alphabet undoubtedly contributed to the preservation of Armenian culture in an area of the world dominated by invading empires. So, in a way, Armenia survives today in large part because of Mesrop Mashtots. The Armenian people know this and love him for it. There are statues of him all over the country and his picture is hanging in the classrooms of many Armenian schools.

Since we are trying to understand and integrate into Armenia, I thought “meetingmashtots” would be a nice title.

I love the fall; I think it is probably my favorite season. I like the crisp feeling in the air, the vibrant color of the trees, and the foods that are ripe for harvest. Fall is here in Armenia. In fact, a few nights ago, we almost skipped fall and went straight on to winter. After the sun went down, it rained for hours. It was one of those rains that sends a coldness straight to your bones, a coldness that you just can’t shake even with the warmest blanket. When we woke up in the morning, the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. It continued to rain the next day and the streets became a mess of mud and lake-sized ponds. I have a feeling it was a prelude of what’s to come.

Things are going fairly well so far. For me, school has been quite slow until just recently. As I think I’ve mentioned before, neither of my teaching counterparts speak much English, so it has been difficult to communicate, let alone plan lessons together. However, slowly but surely, I am nudging my way into the classroom. I now have scheduled planning hours with both my counterparts and I have begun to lead a few activities with the children. Fortunately, both my counterparts seem to be open to the idea of team teaching with me. I am not an experienced teacher, so I fear that I will make many mistakes. But, I’m trying to be an optimist and consider the whole process a kind of on-the-job training opportunity. The fact that neither of my counterparts speaks English very well also makes me feel like maybe I am really needed there too.

Nicole’s counterpart speaks very well, so she has been active in the classroom since the second or third week. The challenges that she faces have not had so much to do with communication, but instead with classroom behavior. The Armenian school system is much different than the American school system and I think some of these differences contribute to the misbehavior of the students. There’s a lot I could say about that, but it’s probably best not to elaborate. Besides, American schools have their share of behavioral problems and I think part of Nicole’s difficulties in dealing with them may come from her familiarity with early education, where social standing and peer pressure are in their infancy.

We both have plans to start extracurricular English clubs at our schools. We’ve decided the ideal situation is that we run the clubs together. There are some logistical issues with this idea, but I think we can make it work. We’re planning on getting started soon, probably sometime this month.

Hmmm…what else is there to report? The language is still a cause for much frustration. I feel like my speaking abilities are improving, but I just cannot hear. Armenian word order is so different from English. Here’s an example…if I want to say “I am from Syracuse, fall is very beautiful there”, I would say “I Syracuse from am, there fall very beautiful is”. To make matters worse, there are many sentence structures that really have no definite rules, so people can say the words in whatever order they want. Many of the people I speak to are not used to communicating with foreigners, so they don’t really know how to speak to me, they don’t know how to use simple words and speak slowly. But, like everything else, it is coming along.

There’s much more to tell about, especially because I haven’t written in a while, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I’ll just say that things have been interesting. We’ve had many different experiences at school, at home, at the market, and in the various other places we’ve been spending our time.

Here are some pictures to go along with the update. As always, thank you all so much for supporting us and keeping us in your thoughts. Shout out to Mimi and RJ…good luck guys, we can’t wait to see Mason…thanks for getting hooked up on Skype.

Here is Nicole returning home from school a couple weeks ago. I’d say there were probably a hundred bees flying around the flowers and bushes next to the stairs before the weather got cold.

Since the cold set in a little sooner than expected, Nicole has been worried that her winter gear won’t arrive from the U.S. in time. So, she has been crocheting a hat for herself.

This was probably one of the highlights of the month. Josh and Christen sent us a package with peanut butter and chicko-sticks in it...well, there were other things too…it wasn’t just chicko-sticks and peanut butter. The first picture captures my uncontrollable excitement over being reunited with peanut butter, and the second captures the after-math of our chicko-stick binge…they were all gone in a matter of days. A special thanks to Josh and Christen, we can’t tell you how happy that made us…good stuff.

Nicole and I went back to the village where we lived for our first 3 months in the country just last weekend to see our first host family. The marshutni (like a bus) doesn’t stop in the village, so we hopped off on the highway, walked some of the way there, and then took a taxi to the village from another town…the first picture is of me walking into town. Once we got there, we did some apple picking in my family’s backyard…that’s the second picture.

The next two pictures are from earlier this week. The town where we are living sits in a valley and these are pictures of the mountains that surround us. They were taken on the day that I described at the beginning of this post.

Finally, here is Nicole making apple sauce. When we went to visit our host family last weekend, they gave us a ton of apples. We’re still trying to figure out what to do with them before they go bad.

Well, we’re now legitimate Peace Corps Volunteers. We “swore-in” last Thursday during an official ceremony attended by the U.S. Ambassador and some high up Armenian ministers. Nicole and I decided to participate in the ceremony by joining the trainee choir to sing a traditional Armenian song…I think it was called Yeraz Im Yerkir, or at least those were the first few words of the song. All the trainees were encouraged to participate somehow. I was pretty nervous, but I think I got through it without messing up royally. There was also a skit and a couple of speeches too. We were even on the evening news, but I think that happens every year.

The day after the ceremony, we moved to our site assignment. Everything that we did in our last community, we’ll have to do all over again…meet new people, establish our roles, find where everything is, etc…except we’ll have to do it without the help of the Peace Corps staff. We’re on our own now in a place much different from our training village. The size, the scenery, the weather, the people, even the language are all a bit different. It’s very exciting and frightening both at the same time.

Anyway, we’re off to a good start. Our new host family is very nice. They are much different than our old one, but I think we’ll get along just fine. We have a host mom and 2 host sisters and we’re living in a pretty nice house not far from the center of town. Another thing to celebrate is that we have 24 hours of running water. We got along well without it for the last 2 and a half months, but I am welcoming the change anyway.

There are many more stories to report on, but I think pictures sometimes do a better job. So, here they are.

This is a picture of Nicole sitting on the sidewalk with some friends and a cow’s head. The cow’s head indicates that the butcher has fresh meat available.

This is me making bread with my host mom. She is a great cook and she was very willing to share her recipes with me. Bread is the staple of every diet in Armenia, so they’ve got it down to a science. Not that it’s that complicated of a process, but when it’s fresh here, it tastes amazing.

The next two pictures were taken in Garni where there is a well preserved pagan temple that dates back to the first century. Apparently, it was almost destroyed once Armenia converted to Christianity, but the King’s daughter, or maybe his sister, I can’t remember, convinced him to use it as a vacation spot instead. Great idea…it is an amazing site to see.

This is a picture of Geghard monastery. I think this is probably the most impressive one that I have seen yet. The main chapel was built in the middle ages, but there is a natural spring inside, around which the original monastery was built in the fourth century sometime. There are also rock-cut chambers built into the mountain side that you can climb into. This is a must-see location in Armenia.

This is a picture of our host family on the night that Nicole and I cooked dinner for them. I think they liked it, but it’s hard to match my mom’s cooking.

Here’s Nicole at our host family’s store with our host sister.

This is a picture of another monastery built during the middle ages.

Here are two pictures of us with the group of trainees that lived in our training village. The first was taken during a morning hike and the second was taken right before our swearing-in ceremony. I don’t think we could’ve been surrounded with a better group of people. Now, we’ve been spread out all across the country.

I hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all. - Andy

Nicole and I have one week of pre-service training left until we “swear-in” and move to our permanent site. Things have become very busy and somewhat difficult for us for several reasons…number one on the list, “model school”. Each sector (business, education, health, environment) has to complete a practicum before the end of training and our practicum is model school. It’s been both interesting and exhausting. Basically, we’ve been teaching English to a group of Armenian students for about three weeks now, rotating age groups at the end of every week. Tomorrow will be our last day. Although I think it’s been pretty successful, I’ll be glad when it’s over. Trying to balance model school with language classes and all the other assignments that pre-service training demands is a difficult task.

Let’s see…what else is keeping us busy. Well, a couple weekends ago we organized a training workshop for English teachers in the area where we’ve been living. I was nervous at first since I don’t have much teaching experience, but I think it went well. I taught a workshop on developing listening skills in the classroom with another volunteer and Nicole taught one on student-centered learning, which is kind of her specialty. Yesterday, we had to present a summary of our workshops to the other volunteers and Peace Corps staff. Over the next week they’ll be some more presentations, along with competency tests and questionnaires…a lot of busy work.

I feel like I’ve hit a slump in my language training that I’m struggling to shake off. We’ve covered a huge amount of information over the last two weeks and I think my brain might be pretty much full at this point. I think another contributing factor might be model school. When you teach English all the time, you don’t get to use much Armenian, especially when all the lessons are planned with other Americans. We have to take another language proficiency test next week before swearing in…I’m a little nervous about it, but I’ve been told not to worry.

Enough about work and training, there are plenty of other interesting things going on in the village. For instance, here’s some good news, I’ve been able to fit in a few soccer games in between all my classes. The bad news is that the soccer field is covered in thorn bushes. It definitely adds an interesting element of excitement to the game…maybe excitement is not the right word.

On July 19th, our village celebrated the “real” water holiday, which I think is called “Vartevar” (I wrote about the phony one in my last blog entry). America needs a holiday to celebrate like this one. It doesn’t matter who you are, you are not safe from getting an entire bucket of water dumped on you at any time during the day. Every village, town, and city all over Armenia participates. I remember having to ring my clothes out and hang them up to dry several times. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures…I didn’t think it was smart to carry my camera with me.

Here’s some more good news, our host family has decided to keep the dog that we’ve been looking after. Nicole has been hinting to people in the village that she’d like someone to take him in before we leave, but I never thought anyone would agree. Then, a few nights ago during dinner, my host father just came right out and said that he’d like to keep the dog, without being questioned or anything. We’re both really excited about it. This way, we know he’ll be taken care of and we’ll get to see him whenever we come back and visit our host family.

Last piece of good news I’ll share…the new group of volunteers, our group, crushed last year’s group of volunteers in the annual kickball game. Last year it was a baseball game and they lost then too. I think they were looking for a little revenge, but they met no such luck. It’s going to feel good to have bragging rights for a whole year.

Now, a piece of bad news to share…well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. Our group had two volunteer trainees leave the program last week. Apparently, they decided that this whole thing just wasn’t for them. It’s a little disappointing to think of all the effort that went into the arrangements for their service being wasted. But then again, it’s not easy to make the decision to leave. I didn’t know them very well, but they seemed pretty confident in their decisions. I’m sure they won’t be the last ones to leave early…although I hope they are.

Like always, here are some pictures. I tried to describe each picture this time, but the formatting might be a little off. It’s difficult to be working with such a slow connection. Anyway, thanks for checking in with us. We hope that you’re all doing well. Oh, one last thing…we’ll be changing the URL of our blog. Peace Corps doesn’t want any of the volunteers to use the word Armenia in their blog names. It has something to do with a request from the embassy. When we think of a new name, I’ll email the link to everyone, so be on the lookout for that.

This is a picture of Sevook looking proudly at Nicole after a hike we took along the gorge near our village…or maybe nervously. He whined the entire time. It seemed like he thought we might just fall over the edge for some reason.

These are some of my model school students. They are the oldest age group that we’ve been teaching. You’ll notice that there is only one boy. Usually there are two more, but even then the class is predominately made up of girls. This is a pretty common trend in Armenia. Men are required to serve in the army for two years at the age of eighteen, so I think many of them shift their focus away from school once they reach a certain age. This is only a generalization however. I have met many well-educated, young Armenian men.

This picture is from our language class. For our homework, we had to create restaurant menus in Armenian and apparently a friend of mine thinks I’ll be restaurant owner one day. If you look closely, you’ll see a drawing of me and the guy beside me, Kyle, next to the title of the menu.

This is my host dad and me preparing a khorovats together. This is a really common way to cook food in the summer. You get a fire started, let it die down, and then grill some vegetables and meat over the coals on skewers. Usually, you use pork, but we’ve also had chicken and beef as well.

This is my host mom and me looking proud after preparing dolma together. Dolma is a trademark Armenian dish…its meat, rice, and seasonings rolled up in either cabbage or grape leaves and then boiled for a while in a pot. We also stuffed some peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes with the meat and cooked them in the same way.

This is a common site in our village. People walk their cows down the main street to graze in certain places. Sometimes, there can be thirty or more cows coming straight towards you at one time. It’s amazing how cars weave in and out of these groups without hitting them. Well, there was one accident since we’ve been here, but I would definitely expect that to be more common.

These are the cans of jam and juice that my host mother has prepared. Throughout the summer, while the fruit is fresh, people spend a lot of time doing this to prepare for the winter; although, we are eating a lot of it now too.

This is an archeological project going on in our village. The mayor was kind enough to take us here and explain what was going on. Researchers think that this is a grave site dating back to the Bronze Age…I think. I don’t know my eras very well.

Here is a picture of Mt. Ararat peaking over the hill in the distance from our village. Mt. Ararat is actually in Turkey, but it has historically belonged to Armenia. In fact, it is a symbol of Armenian history and culture even to this day. Many people believe this is where Noah parked the ark after the flood. Usually, we cannot see it from our village. It just happened to be a very clear morning.

Here are some apricots that my host mom is drying on the porch…she does this with some other types of fruit too.

In this picture, Nicole and I hiked up to the edge of the gorge overlooking our village early in the morning with some friends. That is our village in the background.

Things are going very well in Armenia. We’ve reached a milestone…we’re a little over halfway through pre-service training. We’ve got about 5 more weeks until we move to our permanent site. Our workload has gotten progressively bigger since we’ve been here. At first, we were able to focus mainly on the language; now we’re involved in organizing events, teaching lesson plans, and studying the Armenian education system. All of it is very fascinating and at the same time a bit overwhelming, but the Peace Corps does an amazing job helping us manage the time.

Last Friday we took our first language proficiency test. We were both told that our language skills are progressing well, but sometimes it feels a little slow. I have trouble with tenses. I can speak pretty well in the present tense, and the future tense is ok too, but the past is really giving me a difficult time. I’m learning how much we take communication for granted. At times, I struggle to verbalize the simplest words. But the struggle is definitely worth it when one of us is able to string together a full sentence that our host family can understand. It’s usually cause for a small celebration.

Here’s some big news...volunteer site announcements were a couple weeks ago and we finally know where we’ve been placed. I’m not sure if I should provide the specific location, but I will say that it’s a small city located in the northern part of the country. In fact, I am there right now. The Peace Corps lets us visit the site for a few days to meet our new host family and the counterparts that we’ll be working with. My suspicion about communication options was right; I should have much more reliable internet access in August once we move up here permanently.

Anyway, from what we’ve seen so far, I think we’re going to like our site placement. Our new host family is much different than our old one, but they are great. Even though we’re in a city, the landscape is very mountainous and the natural beauty of the area is equally, if not more impressive than our training village. However, there seems to be some pretty distinct differences between city and village life in Armenia. In our training village, everyone knows us, and it only took about a week for that to happen. It gives you a sense of belonging and security within a very short period of time. Here, I’m sure it will take much longer. But, the city is more accommodating in other ways…we’ll have running water 24 hours a day, there is a large market in walking distance from our house that is open all year round, and there are buses and taxis that leave from here to just about anywhere in the country.

Yesterday, Nicole and I met the English teachers that we’ll be working with. We won’t be in the same school together, so after some initial introductions, our counterparts took us to meet each of the school directors. This was one of the most nerve racking moments for us yet. But, overall, the day went pretty well. My school director was especially happy to see me. Lucky, I felt right at home with her. My counterpart does not speak much English, but that’s fine with me…I think I’ll have more opportunities to strengthen my Armenian that way. Nicole’s counterpart is pretty much fluent in English.

Well, I should probably stop rambling…here are a few scattered descriptions of things that we’ve done over the last few weeks that I think are worth mentioning. I tried to put the pictures that follow in the same order…

We visited Ejmiatzin…the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The first Armenian Church was built here in the fourth century…I think. It’s like the Armenian Vatican.

We went on a hike in a nearby village to a monastery built in the eleventh century. There are hundreds of monasteries like this one tucked away in remote forests or perched on top of rugged mountains. Apparently they were built like this in order to accommodate secluded monks and to provide pilgrimage opportunities for dedicated Christians.

Against my advice, Nicole befriended a homeless village dog. He follows us almost everywhere we go. Surprisingly, he behaves pretty well and Nicole really likes him. I’ve learned to like him too, although I think he might get us into trouble. The dog situation is much different here. When I run, he likes to follow me, which makes me a target for the all the other neighborhood dogs who want to eat him alive. He likes to hang out on my host family’s front porch, which I think they have mixed feelings about…as do I. Yesterday he brought home a cow’s head to chew on. Where he got a cow’s head, I have no idea, but I would have loved to see him running down the road with it. Luckily, my family didn’t seem to mind. I guess he’s an acceptable risk for now. I’m waiting for the day when he tries to eat one of my family’s chickens though…then my opinion might change. Anyway, his name is Sev Shoon (black dog), or Sevook (blackie).

We organized what I thought was a very successful Fourth of July party. This was a difficult undertaking. Things got a little stressful, but putting together a big party in America is stressful too. We didn’t have all the resources that we wanted, as you can probably tell from the “grilling” picture, but it all worked out in the end.

Last weekend, everyone in my village started dumping buckets of water on one another. We came to find out that it’s some kind of national holiday. Apparently it has something to do with purification. I think we both got hit with about 3 buckets each. If that’s not funny enough, it gets even better…later on, we found out that our village got the date wrong. The holiday is actually on July 19th. In fact, I think it was my 13-year old host brother that circulated the wrong information. But that’s ok; it just means that we can have another village-wide water war soon.

Ok, one more…this one I don’t have pictures for. A few weeks ago, my language teacher’s (I have two) came over to the house to visit with my family. My host father, who was a cook in the army, decided that something special should be prepared. My teachers had just eaten and so they objected several times, until they found out what he was cooking…sheep’s lung, kidney, heart, and throat. After discovering the menu, they gladly agreed to accept. Here’s my analysis: sheep’s lung, heart, and kidney are quite good…nice flavor, interesting texture. But, sheep’s throat is a different story…I probably shouldn’t go into the detail. In all seriousness, we’re being feed very well here. My host mother and father are both amazing cooks.

Well, I could continue on with dozens of stories, but I’ve got a lot to do today, so I’d better get going. I hope that everyone is doing well. Nicole and I are having the time of our lives, but we miss you all very much.

Hajoghootyoon (I like this word because I think it means goodbye and also good luck)

-Andy

Finally…internet access. I haven’t had a chance to logon since we were in Philadelphia, three weeks ago…that’s hard to believe. The internet situation in Armenia is a little less developed than I anticipated, but I think once I figure it out, I’ll be able to update the blog more often. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to set up my phone as a router for my laptop, but I haven’t been able to make it work quite yet. So, I broke down and went to an internet café in a nearby city, which is where I am now.

Anyway, we’re here! Nicole and I are living with a host family in a small village and it’s amazing. The landscape is dramatic, the people are wonderful, and the culture is fascinating. We’ve run into some small challenges, but nothing terrible. Our host family consists of a mom and dad, three sisters, and one brother. They are unbelievably hospitable, and they are very patient with us since we barely speak Armenian and they barely speak English. They’re doing a great job helping us acclimate. We couldn’t ask for anything more in a host family.

Since we landed in Armenia, we’ve been inundated with training. Language, safety, program information, health, culture, etc… It can be very tiring, but fascinating at the same time. We spent our first three days at a hostel/hotel in the mountains before moving in with our host family about two weeks ago. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we’ll be sworn in as volunteers in mid-August and re-assigned to a different site that has yet to be determined. That will be the site where we will carry out our two years of service.

Well, I thought I’d just let everyone know what’s going on with us. I hope everyone is doing well.

Oh yeah…congratulations Matt…and…congratulations Dave and Dana!

-Andy

Today marks the beginning of our service with the Peace Corps. We reported to a staging event in Philadelphia this afternoon. Tomorrow, we fly to Vienna, and then on to Armenia. In the last few weeks we’ve been in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. So, in a way, it’s the end of one trip and the beginning of another.

I’ll try to post a quick entry when we get there.

Andy

Since my last day at work on May 5, Nicole and I have been packing, moving, re-packing, storing, and organizing all of our stuff. It’s been difficult deciding what to do with it all. Some of it has been given away, some of it has been sold, some of it has been stored, and some of it will come with us to Armenia. It’s amazing to see how much stuff we’ve accumulated in just a two bedroom apartment…it kind of sneaks up on you.

One thing I was glad to be rid of was the volume of receipts, account statements, and other records that I’ve stored over the last few years. Realizing that I needed to go through them all before I leave, but reluctant to deal with it, I procrastinated to the last minute. Finally, I set aside some time to take care of it. Not far into the process, I recognized that I could probably spend days sorting through it all deciding what’s important, deciding what I need to keep and store. Then, sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by mounds of papers, I had an interesting thought…burn them all. And that’s what I did. I walked up on the hill to where my in-laws burn their papers with what felt like 50 pounds of documentation recording almost all my transactions over the last five years. Ten minutes later, I walked down with nothing. It was very liberating. It’s funny how people get attached to stuff like that. I spent so much time collecting and organizing those papers…it always felt like a burden. I guess it’s time to simplify things a bit...be kind of a minimalist.

We’ve also been traveling up and down the east coast visiting family before we leave. It’s been difficult saying goodbye to everyone, and a little draining running around like we have been, but we’re thankful to have the time to do it. It’s a little weird to think that we’re technically homeless and jobless right now. Well, I shouldn’t say that, everyone we’ve stayed with has been very generous. We haven’t felt homeless. It has been time very well spent.

Here are some pictures that we’ve taken over the last couple of weeks…

Packing and the last supper in our apartment:

Erasing our paper trail...we're off the grid now:

Goodbye to friends and family:

We've spent a lot of time with many great people over the last few weeks, saying our goodbyes. Thanks to everyone for all your support and kindness, we wouldn't be able to do this without you all.With much love,Andy & Nicole

Nicole and I decided to start this blog as a way of recording our experiences in Armenia with the Peace Corps, and just as importantly, to communicate with friends and family while we are away. I’m not sure how much time we’ll have once we get there, or if we’ll have access to reliable internet, but we’ll do our best to post regular updates describing our travels and our personal observations. Here’s the information about our Peace Corps assignment:

Country: Armenia

Program: English Language Project (both of us)

Dates: June 2009 to Aug 2011 (God willing)

Here’s a map of the area since many people we talk to don’t really know quite where Armenia is:

Feel free to comment on any posts or send either of us an email. It will be great to hear from familiar people while we are in a foreign place. Thanks to everyone for all the support.

Andy