Last Saturday we went to an Armenian wedding, and it wasn't just any wedding - our good friend and neighbor Yeghishe married Gayane, a beautiful, intelligent young woman from Yerevan. Yeghishe is the son of Arshaluys and Anahit, who are dear dear friends of ours in addition to living on the same floor of our building as we live on. They have included us in all kinds of festivities, brought us many gifts and helped us in countless other ways. So his marriage was a big deal to us.

Susan traveled to the ceremony and related events in Yerevan - American weddings are simple affairs compared with Armenian ones - while I just greeted the wedding party with a contingent of neighbors outside our building when the bride and groom drove into town in the early evening.

We then the crossed the street to Noyemberyan's party hall, where we spent six hours eating and watching about 200 people dance, and then eating more. Well, Susan danced up a storm too, Armenian-style. People here definitely know how to party.

I did shoot a video; it's only a few minutes long:

Towards the end of the video, Susan can be seen in several dance floor views.

Needless to say we had a great time.

Marshutnis (marshrutnis, marshrutkas) are how we get around in Armenia: minibuses of various ages and in various conditions, often packed beyond the imaginable. Sometimes they remind me of those old films of 20 or so college kids getting out of one VW Beetle: I once counted 16 people in the two first rows - that's in six seats and what little floor space there is in a minibus. What can I say? We waste a lot of space and resources in the US.

Anyway, the other day I found myself in the back of a marshutni going to Yerevan; Tamara, another Peace Corps volunteer, was going to Ijevan, about a third of the way, and managed to get on the same marshutni at the last minute. It was far too crowded for her to make it back to sit with me or vice versa, but it wasn't insanely packed: at least I didn't see anyone sitting in anyone else's lap.

The picture below is of one of our regular marshutnis to Yerevan at the half-way rest stop, on a day almost exactly like the one when this story took place.

So we get to Ijevan and Tamara hands a bill to the driver to pay for her ride, and the driver doesn't have change. Suddenly all 25 or so people on the marshutni were very concerned, and several heads turned to look at me, wondering if I'd pay for Tamara. I saw her predicament, of course, so I started to dig into my pocket for change to pass up to her. But while I was digging I didn't see what happened up front - someone else was getting off, gave her fare to Tamara and gave Tamara's bill to the driver. Everybody was happy, except I was left to wonder if the driver had just decided that he wanted to take off for Yerevan rather than wait for the $1.30 fare.

Something about that situation was very typical of Armenia; it captured a piece of the country's essence: maybe it was just that the driver didn't have change, or that there was seeming chaos until everything somehow worked out anyway, or that almost the whole marshutni seemed to be involved, in a good way. Or perhaps it was just that I was so cramped I couldn't reach my pocket and therefore didn't come through in time to do my part and pay for my fellow foreigner's ride. Regardless, it was good.

Over the past year and a half of living here, I've made my peace with most of the petty annoyances and inconveniences that come with life on about $300 a month - which is not bad for here. Today I'm just grateful that I'm not subject to the more serious consequences that sometimes result from such limited incomes.

The last grapes of the season are the sweetest. This vine I found climbing up a tree outside Lisa's house in a nearby village when all seven of us Peace Corps volunteers in the region got together last weekend.

Click on the pictures to see larger versions.

After almost two months of school, we're now enjoying a week off. I thought it would be good to fill in some gaps in what we've shown of our life here and update with more pictures than before. So let's jump back two months in time to "first bell," the opening ceremony of the school year.

The mayor (suit), the school director (white shirt), teachers (in the distance), parents (in the foreground), all hail the first-graders! The kids won't look this good again for a year.

Kids with mothers.


Kids, no mothers. Fifth grade. Still in their "first bell" clothes.

Boys of the fourth grade, five days into the school year.

In late September, Susan I went to the village of Dsegh to meet with a few other volunteers.


Susan in the ruins of Surb Grigor, an old church that collapsed in the Spitak earthquake.

Greg, Amy, Susan, Mary and Martha at Surb Grigor.

Amy, me, Greg and Martha doing what comes naturally when Peace Corps volunteers gather.

Scenic Alaverdi, the heart of the Debed Canyon. Copper mining and processing.

Every fall, my whole school goes on a hike up in the hills above town, into these fields. There's a lonely farmhouse up there, but other than that it's just the cows and us - and the shepherd in this picture, driving his sheep and goats further up.




Hanging with Mher, Artyom and the rest of the ninth grade during our school's excursion day. They can be difficult, but they're also wonderful and I love them.

Artyom borrowed my camera and this is the result.

Some of my school's teachers on Teachers' Day.

Some of Noyemberyan: our building is the third from the left, but we live on the other side. Beyond the hills lies Azerbaijan and somewhere in the distance, visible only on clearer days than this, are some Georgian and Russian peaks of the Caucasus Range.

Two women praying at Haghartzin, which Lonely Planet calls "one of Armenia's masterpieces of medieval architecture."

Thord at Haghartzin. A good friend since 1966.

Makaravank: the oldest building is from the tenth century, but the main church was built in 1205.

Makaravank: Armenian Rococo?




The village of Gosh in early October. We - Susan, Thord, Marci and I - visited Goshavank, the monastery where Armenian law was first codified.

Mother Armenia outside Ijevan.


Somewhere near the village of Dsegh.

Susan and I with Marci and Thord at Haghpat, much of which was built in the 11th century.

So I went on a little hike up the local hill a couple of weeks ago, and as I was leaving the last houses behind, these kids, including a couple of my third-graders, spotted me and decided to find out where I was going. I couldn't have asked for better company.

Danelle in Lisa's so-called kitchen one Sunday ago, when Lisa had invited us all to a wonderful little party.

Mexican food: Lisa in the distance, a blurry Barb, Trent on a mission, Susan reaching for some tomato.

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Two caveats. First, this blog post has next to nothing to do with Armenia, unless you count Avie Tevanian's peripheral involvement. Avie - the guy who created OS X - is of Armenian descent. Second, this blog post is not about Steve Jobs. It's about me, Fred, and the role Jobs played in my life. I believe that the greatest tribute I can give to Steve Jobs is showing how my life, like the lives of countless others, has been permeated by what he created.

I do want to mention one thing about Steve's overall influence. People today think of Jobs largely in terms of the iPad, the iPhone and maybe the iPod, but these weren't really his historically most significant technological achievements. In 1976 and 1977, Jobs and Wozniak (who probably deserves most of the credit) created the first marketable table-top computers in his parents' garage, the Apple I and the Apple II. The machines were the first to provide a video interface, a keyboard for input, onboard read-only memory (ROM, which enabled it to load programs from an external source) and other user-friendly improvements. In effect, Steve and Steve created the first truly personal computers, years before the IBM PC. The iProducts are more than extensions of those early machines and Steve has had a part in creating countless other products, from the first laser printer to Toy Story, but no forward leap has been as great as that of the Apple I and Apple II.

But when I saw my first Apple II in 1978, it didn't hold any great attraction for me.

Steve Jobs was born only a few months after me, and as Apple Computer turned into a giant success, I couldn't help compare my non-life with his. I was a recent college dropout and my life was going nowhere, while my brother hippies in Cupertino were conquering the realms of business and technology and were well on their way to multi-billionairehood and immortality. Fellow dropout Bill Gates, meanwhile… well, who cares?

Did you see that first Mac commercial in 1984, with the 1984 theme where the woman smashes the image of Big Brother? Ever since then, I've liked watching Superbowl commercials. Yep, Steve Jobs changed my life.

And I started using Macs.

Then came the dark years when Jobs was ousted, started NeXT and bought Pixar, Windows 95 was ascendant and Apple was considered doomed. Irrelevant. As good as gone. Corporate America wanted Compaq, Dell and white boxes, and consumers followed. I remained a Mac fan and Mac buyer, eagerly awaiting every glimmer of hope from MacRumors.com and Guy Kawasaki that the collapse of the Wintel monopoly was imminent. Remaining one of the faithful at a time when Apple-bashing was as common in the media as Apple veneration is today was made easier because I lived in San Francisco (the city has many creative professionals and already lived in the shadow of Silicon Valley), but it still wasn't easy. Apple got no respect. Nor was Next a realistic option for me. As for Pixar, I did buy some software it created for manipulating type, and eventually I went to see some of their movies. That made me happy for Steve: he deserved some success after being so rudely rejected by his first child.

It was clear that Apple Computer was not whole without Steve Jobs, and when he was brought back and eventually became CEO in 1997, it seemed like things at Apple were falling into place. I happened to be selling a business I'd had for ten years and spent $1,000 of the windfall on some Apple stock, which then cost a little over $5 (adjusted for subsequent splits). I wanted to put my money where my mouth had been for a whole lot of years. Just a few minutes later the stock tanked again. So much for me being a smart investor with astute market timing.

I could not, by the way, have sold that business if it hadn't been for my Mac. It helped me create original new products (postcards), keep books that conformed with professional accounting standards, and draw up the financial statements that I needed to show prospective buyers.

Owning Apple stock did, however, allow me to go to a shareholder meeting at the headquarters on Infinity Loop in Cupertino. I remember Jobs as being focused on business - not the rebel of yore whose idealism and temper got him to pursue pie-in-the-sky projects and waste everyone's energy on useless drama. I could have walked up to him - this was before he became a big star again - but I truly had nothing to tell him. I saw the showman in him come out in full force only at a keynote speech at a MacWorld expo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco ca 1999, and back then Steve's 'reality distortion field' was strong: maybe not as subtle and effective as it became later on, just full of raw power. Even the journalists cheered announcements of new features. I don't know exactly how he generated that distortion, but I know it had something to do with not shying away from using strong words: "the best ever," "fantastic," "insanely great," "a computer for the rest of us." From anyone else, it would all have sounded as hyperbole.

Those Think Different years really were great. Susan and I had been married not long before and had bought a house (at an affordable price, I may add). I got a godson, Charlie. Having returned to college, I found I was capable of doing school after all, and eventually I graduated. Those were also dot-com boom days, so Apple's stock had its ups and downs, but on the whole it did OK. I got my first 'real' job and found my career - at the tender age of 45. Somewhere along the road I stopped comparing myself with Steve Jobs.

Then came the iPod, which woke up the world to what Steve Jobs was doing; the rest of this history is fresh enough. In 2005, he gave a speech at Stanford University that with some superficial changes I would have been happy to have given when I was the student speaker at my commencement: "Stay hungry, stay foolish," he concluded, quoting the Whole Earth Catalog. Apple's stock climbed and climbed again: no one foresaw that in 1997. I bought Susan and me iPhones the day after they hit the market in June 2007. We're Peace Corps volunteers with MacBooks.

Few people who never knew me have had as much direct influence in my life as Steve Jobs: Bill Wilson, Bob Smith, George Orwell, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are the only ones who come to mind.

So here’s to the crazy one. The misfit. The rebel. The troublemaker. The round peg in the square hole.

The one who saw things differently. He was not fond of rules. And he had no respect for the status quo. You could quote him, disagree with him, glorify or vilify him.

About the only thing you couldn’t do was ignore him. Because he changed things. He invented. He imagined. He healed. He explored. He created. He inspired. He pushed the human race forward.

Maybe he had to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

How else could he have created works of art from chips and code?

I am grateful that you were around during my life, Steve.

Rest in peace, crazy one.

So we went to Turkey. It's one border away from Armenia, but that border is closed, so you have to go through another country. We flew from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Istanbul, a thousand miles or so. Turkey is big. Istanbul is big. I mean New York-like big, with skyscrapers in every direction on the horizon. But the historic center, where we stepped out of the streetcar, is an island of touristic calm. Except that it was filled with people: tourists, of course, as well as a lot of people celebrating Ramadan, but very few cars.

We were in awe. The air felt fresh, the light was soft, the crowds were relaxed. You could hear seagulls. The first thing that grabbed our attention was Hagia Sophia, a church built by Emperor Justinian of the Holy Roman Empire - the eastern part after the break - more than 1,400 years ago. Across a big park from it stands the Blue Mosque, equally imposing. We stayed in a hostel a couple of corners beyond the park.

Over the next couple of days we saw a lot, some of it with Julianne, another Peace Corps volunteer we know from Armenia: Starbucks (we did), McDonald's (we didn't), a funicular (did), a lot of ferries across the Bosphorus (look up a map). We even found an Armenian church, although the Armenians we met there spoke a Western Armenian dialect we had trouble understanding.

I had written a bunch of captions for the pictures below but lost them. I may add something more later. I've posted a lot more pictures at https://www.me.com/gallery/#100052, and they do have more informative captions.

The Hagia Sophia

A gate to the Grand Bazaar

A twirling terwish

Hagia Sophia, built 537

Hermit home in Cappadocia

Cappadocia landscape

Cappadocia condos: indoor plumbing needs updating

Passing the city of Antalya on our way to the Med

The Med

Greek/Roman city of Olympos

Methane: been burning for thousands of years

Kiyi Pansiyon: recommended

Back in Istanbul, at the Sultan's harem, looking for harem girls

The Bosphorous [bOss-po-russ]

Dinner with Erica and Judy in Anadolu Kavagi; the white boat on the left brought us back through the Bosphorus to Istanbul.

Rooftop of the hotel where we stayed the last two nights: the dome beyond Susan's head is an old Ottoman-era hamam (baths). The yellow building glimpsed on the left is a former prison - the one featured in Midnight Express - and now a Four Seasons hotel. Above it all: Hagia Sophia.

More pictures at https://www.me.com/gallery/#100052

Many of our posts start with "it's hard to believe that we've been here for . . . ". We are officially into our second summer in Armenia. Fred has been busy with his camps and visiting his mom, and we've literally only seen each other for a day or two since the beginning of June. Not the way we would prefer it, but just the way it is right now. I went to Lake Sevan with about 40 other volunteers to celebrate July 4. Eating, swimming, fireworks, and s'mores. Couldn't have been much better. I also got to meet some of the new PC trainees at a museum day in Yerevan. They are a great group, although much smaller than ours (42 compared to 58).

July 6 was a big day for all the volunteers here in Armenia--Site Announcement Day--the day when the trainees find out which site they will live in for the next two years, what they will be doing, whether they will have sitemates, etc. We are very lucky to have three new volunteers in our region, including one in our town. That will give us seven in our immediate area, which will be really nice. Two are TEFL volunteers, and one is a business volunteer. We are very much looking forward to having them close by. Our marz will have 9 new volunteers as of August 17!

So when the new volunteers arrive, the ones who have been here for two years start leaving. This past weekend 10 of the A-17s left (A refers to Armenia, and 17 is the 17th group to be here). I went to Yerevan to say goodbye to some, but will miss the next round on August 13. These people have been such a huge support for the past year, and it's hard to realize that they won't be here with us. But it's the Peace Corps cycle, and next year it will be our turn to say goodbye.

This week my counterpart and I will start doing some preliminary planning for the upcoming school year. We will teach up to 12th grade this year, whereas last year was only to 11th. So, more classes, and more students to teach English to. Should be a fun and challenging year. I am going to try to do things a bit differently so I actually get more time to teach the students, and hope to actually bring English into the classroom (instead of teaching in Armenian). We'll see.

We still are working on getting the greenhouse built, and there's a curriculum to write as well. Lots to do before September 1 for sure. Our school is being remodeled, or at least one wing of it is, and we will have new windows (ones that both open and shut properly), a new roof, new paint, etc. Can't wait to see what it's going to look like!

Our mid-service conference is set for next week. That means we are half way done with our 24 month Peace Corps service. I am trying to get ready for the language proficiency test. While I don't know as much as some, I still know enough to communicate in most situations. Details to follow.

The weather is good and hasn't been nearly as warm here as in Yerevan (dry and mid-70s here v. 90s in Yerevan), for which we are thankful. In fact, the wind was strong enough today that it blew out one of our windows (glass shattered 3 stories below, and fortunately no kids were down there at the time). So we have plenty of air tonight until the window is fixed tomorrow.

Not much else to report on this Sunday evening. Waiting for the USA-Japan World Cup soccer match final later tonight. Keeping up with golf scores, and of course the Red Sox.

Love to all. Please let us here from you.

P.S. These two precious little girls are relatives of my tutor. The purple "eyelashes" are made from flowers. The hair wreaths were made by my tutor's mom. More of the gifts of being in Armenia.

School has been out for over three weeks, and we have been BUSY!!! For volunteers who teach in the public schools, we have to find "secondary" projects to keep us busy over the summer. Fred has signed up to be a counselor at several summer camps (three for boys and one for international students) and is in the midst of going to the counselor trainings. He also went to the U.S. Embassy to represent the Peace Corps at an event for visitors from the U.S.

I have just finished the Border2Border Walk Across Armenia (see www.walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com for more details). Our north team started walking in the town of Gogavan, north of Stepanavan on the Georgia border. Our overnight stops along the way included Zoramut, Stepanavan, Vanadzor, Dilijan, Sevan, Gavar, Gherakunik, Martuni, a caravanserai on top of a mountain, and finally Yeghegnadzor. We walked between 30 and 42 km on our walking days, and had teaching days in Zoramut, Vanadzor, Sevan, Gavar, Martuni and Yeghegnadzor. We slept in beds sometimes, on floors more often, and once outside on the top of a mountain. I have never been good at hills, and this walk was no different. The first big uphill challenge was a 15 km uphill with an 8% grade when we walked from Dilijan to Sevan. The second was a 27 km uphill from Martuni at 1500 meters to the Salima Pass at 2410 meters. It was a gorgeous walk, but a very, VERY long uphill for sure. At the top, we camped out at a caravanserai, an old stone shelter used as a stopover by silk road traders. Over the course of the 15 days we had rain, thunder and lightening, hail and lots of sun. Our only really hot day was the last one, which included a 34 km downhill into Yeghegnadzor.

Once in Yeghegnadzor, we taught our last group of 70+ children and had a celebration of our accomplishments. Members of the Armenian Red Cross, Youth Bank, Peace Corps Staff and the PC volunteers who have supported us all came, and it was a wonderful end to the B2B effort.

Here are some of the statistics for our north and south teams: (1) walked a total of 578 kilometers (360 miles) in 172 hours over the course of 15 days; (2) traversed 5 regions (marzes) in Armenia; (3) took a total of 4,310,820 steps as a group; (4) passed through 64 towns and villages; (5) taught more than 500 children about healthy lifestyles and the benefits of exercise and not drinking and smoking; and (6) trained 26 teachers in Armenia on the Border2Border curriculum. This was undoubtedly the most challenging thing I have ever done. Now, some much needed rest before I tackle something else.

The rest of the summer is going to be incredibly busy. We have 41 new trainees in Armenia and we both will be doing some things to help with their training. We will continue our English clubs, do some hiking, help with various camps, and attend our mid-service conference. Somewhere over the summer we hope to take a short vacation, but the calendar is getting pretty full at this point, so we shall see.

Special thanks to my brother for sending our backpacks! Now we can travel in style around the country! Also very special thanks to Connie for the great care package. It took nearly 3 months to get here, but the chocolate is still very, very good!! Thank you!!!

Here are a few photos from the walk. Enjoy.

Caravanserai

Old Sign from Soviet Times

Views Along the Route

Lake Sevan During a Thunderstorm

Village Kids

View from 2410 m

Walking

Poster by Nellie

This weekend marks one year that we have been in Armenia. It sure has gone quickly, for the most part. But oh, how we miss our families and friends! That's the hard part. Actually, trying to do the work we were sent here to do is the hard part. Oh, I don't know. It's ALL hard sometimes!

So this has been a big month! I turned 62 on May 4 (it's just a number, right?). It was a truly amazing day. Every kid in school seemed to know it was my birthday, and the kids in each of my classes (plus a few that I didn't teach that day) all sang Happy Birthday to me--in English! I had so many flowers and presents from the kids and teachers that we needed two trips to get them all home. We had a cake at school, one of my English clubs showed up at the house with a complete party (balloons, presents, home-made cake, brandy, singing and dancing), and then a friends/neighbors party in the evening! What a wonderful celebration it was! Here are a few pictures from the day. Two cakes, my 10th form's blackboard decorations, one of my English clubs leaving after the party, and a perfect rainbow!

May 6 and 7 I went with a group of PC volunteers to a Biointensive Gardening Workshop in Syunik Marz (about 8 hours away). We learned how to "double-dig" beds for planting, and how to make a compost pile that won't attract animals (a one cubic meter lasagna of twigs, weathered hay, fresh greens and dirt). We worked hard and finished three 30 ft. x 5 ft. beds. And even got potatoes planted in one of them! Bonus--a nice garden fork for our school garden.

Compost Pile

Double Digging

May 8 was the National Poetry Recitation Contest in Hrazdan. More than 1000 kids in 6th through 11th grades had competed throughout the country learning English language poems. Our local competition sent its top 6 students and each did an excellent job reciting their poems. Unfortunately, none of them placed in the national competition. But just wait until next year!!

On May 14 we traveled with a group of 15 PCVs and some family members to visit two of the most famous monasteries in Armenia--Khor Virap and Noravank. The first is right on the border with Turkey, and it was a little unnerving to see the guard towers protecting the border. It is famous because St. Gregory the Illuminator was held captive in a dungeon there for 12 or so years. We were able to go down into the pit where he was held, which was really interesting. The second (Noravank) is in a canyon a few hours south of Yerevan and sits on top of a rock face. Absolutely stunning location.

Noravank

Noravank

Khor Virap

Khor Virap

Fred and I also celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on May 25. Another milestone for sure. We have been tested this year in so many, many ways, and I'm glad we have gotten through it--together. But that's what marriage is all about. You stick with it and with each other when it's easy, and even when it's not. So we celebrated by going to one of the only restaurants in town. The food was really, really delicious, even though we were the only people in the restaurant!

May 26th was the last day of school for this year. A fun-filled day with lots of activities. There is something special that happens for the 9th grade students, sort of like a graduation. I haven't really figured it out yet. I took the time that I was in class to play games with the kids and take a few pictures. In the "posed" pictures nearly none of them smiled. But when I asked them to wave at the camera, the smiles came out. I love these children. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

4th Graders

6th Graders

Now we're trying to figure out how to spend our summer. I will be walking across Armenia with the Border2Border group of Peace Corps volunteers. The walk starts on June 4 and our northern group will cover around 165 miles in two weeks. Fred will take the Foreign Service Test on Saturday June 4, the first step in being able to apply for a state department job. Here's hoping he does really well! Then we will have English clubs with our kids, and Fred is going to be involved in two camps--one for boys and one for international students. And we also hope to go to Istanbul before the summer is out, and to see some of Armenia. We've got around 40 days of vacation to use before next June, so we've got to get busy!!

That's all for now. We hope you are all well. We miss you more than we can say.

Happy May! It has finally stopped raining after what has seemed like endless days and weeks of rain, with a bit of snow thrown in for good measure. We had a few days in early April of warm, sunny weather and we both thought "ahhhhhh, Spring!" But it was short lived. Now, however, we are feeling a bit more optimistic. The swallows have returned in full force and are busy with nest building and other bird-like things in preparation for this year's breeding season. Everyone's moods improve dramatically when the swallows return to the school. It is very distracting when I am teaching, and much more interesting I'm sure to watch the activities of the birds! I love watching them fly around. Truly magical.

This week I will turn 62. That means I am eligible to apply for social security benefits! Who knew! Now the big decision--do I apply now or wait for another 4 years? I think now, and then invest the money and hope for the best! Waiting for advice from my very smart brother on what is the right thing to do. So as far as birthdays go, I'd just as soon skip this one. Not sure why. And of course, all the students know it is my birthday, so I have to be prepared for something I'm sure. They all whisper when I walk by, so something is up.

It is traditional here to invite people to your home when it is your birthday. So, we have ordered some cakes and invited a few friends and neighbors over for cake and coffee on Wednesday. The big hurdle now is to learn how to make Armenian coffee between now and then! It is a process involving water, finely powdered coffee, and sugar in a pot that is boiled until is just about boils over. You have to rush to turn off the heat before it spills all over the stove, and then it is poured into really small cups. I have had some only a few times and it is guaranteed to keep you awake most of the night if you have any after about 7 pm.

I meant to post last month about Women's Month, which starts on March 8 and ends on April 7. It truly is a month-long celebration of women. We have parties at school, student performances, and the mayor gives out money to women who have had babies in the past year. I've included a picture of the cake we had at school. I asked some of the women how their days were different during this month. Aside from maybe getting flowers, life for most is still the same--cooking, cleaning, washing, taking care of husbands, children, homes, and working too for some. I had hoped that the men in the house would offer to do dishes or something, but I think that is rare. And seeing as we really don't have restaurants, most didn't even get a break from the daily routine of cooking. But it was a lovely month of various celebrations. Our kids at school put on an amazing performance of traditional dance and song, and repeated it at the culture house for all the teachers and many of the women who work in the town. I am very impressed with the abilities of our students! They are very, very talented in so many ways.

A bit of success for our school as well--In March I wrote a grant application to put in an "educational" greenhouse. I learned that it was approved and we should be able to start construction in the next few weeks. It's the first project of its kind in Armenia, and I have great hopes. The next task is going to be to write a curriculum incorporating the greenhouse that will be used in grades 4 to 12. We plan to use it for science, economics (marketing) and hopefully even health and nutrition. I am going to a "biointensive gardening" workshop this weekend where I will learn more techniques that hopefully will be useful in our greenhouse and maybe even an outdoor garden classroom. Should be a lot of fun. My school is putting up half the money, and USAID is paying for the rest. A big thank you to my wonderful counterpart, my project "champion" and the committee who approved the project. Details and photos to follow as the project progresses.

Also this weekend is our national Poetry Recitation Contest in Hrazdan. We had our local contest here on April 3rd with 50+ kids from 8 surrounding villages. It was awesome, and wouldn't have been possible without the help of the awesome Peace Corps volunteers who helped with judging, writing certificates, taking photographs, etc. And of course my counterpart, the teachers who helped their students to recite the poems, and the School Directors. Thank you, one and all! Here is a photo of all the winners (1st through 3rd places in grades 6 to 11). The 6th grader in the middle of the first row is my student and he won "best in show" for his recitation of "Rain" by Shel Silverstein. He gets extra points in my book for being able to say "slishity slosh." I STILL can't say it without a mistake!! I am very excited to have two students from my school going. I can't wait to see how they'll do. We will all pile into a mini-van (marshutni) on Sunday for the 2-hour trip to Hrazden. Wish them luck!! Next year I hope to bring the International Writing Olympics and a Spelling Bee into our school. Ambitious, but doable I think.

So just one more reason why I love living here . . . a wonderful neighbor just brought us some home-made matsune! It is a yogurt-like product that is absolutely delicious. Everyone here makes it, but this particular neighbor seems to have a gift for making the most delicious matsune I have ever tasted. You add a little bit of muraba (fruit preserves), and it is truly food from the gods. Thank you my dear, dear neighbor! AND we have fresh strawberries in town now! They won't be in season for another few weeks, and are terribly expensive. But Fred came home with a few, and I know they will be delicious. Can't wait until they are less than $6 a kilo!!

Well, that's enough for this post. It's hard to believe that we have been here for more than 11 months now. Only 16 months left, and I know it's going to fly by. Although we are quite happy here with our work, our town, the people, and friends, we really do miss our families and friends. Thanks, as always, for the amazing care packages, e-mails, letters and Skype calls. They really, really help! We send love to each of you and know we will see you soon.

One of the wonderful things about being a Peace Corps volunteer is being able to travel in country to see other volunteers. We had our spring break from school the last week of March and I was able to travel nearly all the way to the most southern part of Armenia. Fred was unable to join me on this trip, so I spent 7 consecutive days on marshutni's (small passenger vans), saw much of this amazing country and enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the volunteers in each town where I stopped. The trip started on Monday, March 20, with a 200 km ride from our town to Yerevan. The next day, I hopped on a marshutni for the 6+ hour ride down to Kapan. It was a 2-dramamine trip for sure, crossing three or four mountain ranges and more switchbacks than I can count. Leaving Yerevan we crossed a wide plain with views of Mt. Ararat and hundreds of nesting storks along the way. This part of the road passes close to the Turkey and Azerbaijan borders. We began to wind our way up through the first set of hills to another open plain with snow fields as far as you could see and mountains in the distance.

We sped past Yeghegnadzor to Goris and finally, about 6 hours later, into the beautiful town of Kapan in the south (about 300 km from Yerevan). The day I arrived I neglected to take out my small camera to catch the spectacular mountain that serves as a backdrop to the town. Unfortunately, the next day everything was shrouded in clouds and fog. Next time. I met up with some other volunteers and we went to a small village outside of town to stay at one of their houses. It reminded me how much I love village life! Anything over 1,000 people and it seems way too big! This small village was perfect, with houses and narrow footpaths cut into the sides of the mountain. My friend's home is heated with a wood stove, although she does have the luxury of hot water.

Thursday I traveled up and down two mountains to the town of Goris about 80 km to the north. Another trip requiring dramamine. Armenian women (and children) are really quite amazing in their ability to quietly throw up into plastic bags as we slide through the switchbacks. Don't know how they do it. And for the most part, the drivers don't stop for anything! Goris is in the mountains with beautiful, craggy peaks surrounding it. The day I arrived it was snowing and we got around 6 inches overnight. I stayed with two volunteers who have been in Armenia for 3 years and who will leave here in June for another 27-month Peace Corps assignment in Mongolia! I can't even begin to imagine what their lives will be like. A wonderful dinner and breakfast with them, and I was off to Sisian, another 50 or so km away. Sisian is down in a valley by a river. Quite a beautiful town, and again I had the wonderful hospitality of another volunteer. Although I do have to say that this was without a doubt the coldest house I have ever stayed in. What possessed me to leave my zero degree sleeping bag behind I will never know! Brrrrr!! But it was still nice to see some people that I don't get a chance to see, and to get a flavor for what their daily life is like.

Friday I left Sisian to meet my friend Pat in her town of Artashat. I had heard about her house but actually seeing it was something else. Some will say that she isn't getting the full Peace Corps experience because she has a brand new apartment with modern appliances, hot water, and new furniture. I for one am thrilled that she has this! And even more thrilled that she opens her doors to traveling volunteers like me. From her balcony there is an amazing view of Mt. Ararat on a clear day. It seems so very close, although it is miles and miles away. But absolutely spectacular when you can see it.

Saturday we got up to head to Yerevan for the Armenia-Russia football (soccer) match. (See Fred's earlier post). Sunday, day 7, I headed back up to our site for the start of the school week. This past weekend (April 9-10) I traveled to Aragatsavan on the Turkey border. Traveling up here from Yerevan you leave the lush growing areas and the apricot trees in full bloom to a landscape devoid of trees--looks sort of like the moon! Again, another fun weekend spent with some other volunteers sharing experiences, eating really good food, laughing and telling stories.

Life continues here with teaching, after school clubs, community clubs, and tutoring. I have applied for a grant to put in an educational greenhouse at the school that will be used as part of the teaching curriculum, and will also sell vegetables and flowers to buy books for underprivileged children. I hope to learn in the next week or so if the project is finally approved (we got conditional approval at the end of March). We continue to love our life here, though it is not without challenges. We are especially grateful to our families and friends who take such good care of us and send us fabulous care packages. Thank you one and all.

Below are some images from the trips.

Apricot Blossoms

Lake Sevan

Mt. Ararat

Goris After Snow

Switchbacks

Iran Touring Club - very nice cars going very fast on some sketchy roads

Last Saturday night Susan and I and a few dozen other volunteers went to the Armenia-Russia football (soccer) game at Republican Stadium in Yerevan. The game is part of the UEFA European Football Championship, the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations), and Armenia is doing better than ever. But Russia was leading the group and a strong favorite to win.

Not everything went smoothly. The crowd control couldn't have been worse. For instance, there were lines of policemen blocking our way, occasionally opening up to let a few through, with no apparent logic except to frustrate everyone. Tickets weren't really checked. And quite a few of us volunteers - along with maybe hundreds of other ticket holders - couldn't get in to see the game. The police, who were seemingly in charge of everything, simply closed the gates well before the game started and refused to let anyone pass. Well, one volunteer, Kate, managed to convince some cop to let about half a dozen of us sneak in about half an hour after the game had started, but many others were stuck elsewhere. We're guessing the reason behind the gate closure was that they wanted to keep out a lot of the Russian fans.

Inside, some of the Armenian spectators cheered us - we're obvious foreigners, and I'm sure they appreciated the support.

The game itself was fun, even though we sat far from much of the action. Both teams played an aggressive game and there were plenty of close situations. Who cares if it was scoreless? Little Armenia held back the big bad bear.

One wave did go around a few times. Chants were basic. Fans were well-behaved: no hooligans that I could see. More games to come. We're cheering for Armenia.

This post is partly about spring. In Armenia, they say that spring starts on March 1. Where I come from, it is usually sometime in May if we're really, really lucky. But here, the season is definitely changing. We now have sunlight in our north-facing windows in the morning, the sun is up before 8 am and it's now light until around 7 pm, and best of all, some of the "summer" birds have started arriving, complete with their wonderful songs. Snow is melting, there is more mud, but everyone's moods seem to be a bit brighter.

So, enough about spring and to the real purpose of this post . . . I am going to be part of the first-ever Pan-Armenian Marathon for Children's Health! It's called the Border2Border walk and will cover the entire length of Armenia. I and 11 other Peace Corps volunteers each will be walking 270 km in June to spread the word about children's health, the benefits of exercise, and not drinking and smoking. Along the way we will teach seminars as well. We are currently fundraising and need your support!

For more information, check out our blog at http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com/

I and the rest of the team are training now for what is sure to be an adventure. Each team will cross as least two mountain ranges before we are done with our 270 km route, and we will be walking anywhere from 15 to 42 km (~9 to 26 miles) on each of our walking days. If you can help in any way, we would love your support.

Thanks you for reading and for donating!

Susan

P.S. Here is the VERY cool logo designed by one of my teammates. The apricot is one of the national symbols of Armenia.

Yesterday we went on a really tough hike to an abandoned church (Mschkavank) that was built in the 10th century. We had a general idea of how to get there, but decided to try a different route. After a few stops and starts, and getting some advice from some locals--who all said it was "shat heroo" (very far)--we went up a cow path into the mountains. The pictures in this entry are some of the things we saw along the way. I wish we had a photo that shows how incredibly steep the hike was in some parts. Trust me--you had to lean into the hill to keep from falling over backwards! The hike took us more than 4 hours from start to finish, and we got pretty well lost and almost gave up. Actually, we did give up because after more than 2 hours we couldn't find the darn church. We arrived at an intersection and decided to go home, and about 15 minutes later the road led us to the church. There must be a lesson here about letting go and getting the answer.

So the pictures in this post are of the views along the trail, Mschkavank, and some early spring flowers. The first is a typical view of our village in winter with the smoke from the wood stove. There is a nice photo of the Northern Caucusus mountains, which are about 100 km away from us. The last photo was taken from the marshutni (mini van) on the way home to Noyemberyan from Ijevan. We pass through a stretch of road where there is a burned out village from the 1992 war with Azerbaijan. It's always rather sad to see these houses and know that people used to live there. This land is protected by both armies and we can usually see them in their bunkers as we pass by. A constant reminder that we are never far from a potential incident.

Happy Valentine's Day to all who are reading our blog. It is celebrated here by jumping over a fire. More because it is traditionally 40 days since the birth of Christ (in the Armenian calendar). We haven't seen any fires in our village, but other PCVs have written about them. You are supposed to think about all your wishes for the new year as you jump over the fire. Might be a good idea, but I fear my jumping skills aren't what they used to be.

We are both busy with school and English clubs and we just finished a Project Design Mangement course. I am happy to report that the team I worked on got best in show. Our proposed project was a greenhouse at the school that is heated with waste heat from the school's boiler. The greenhouse would be part of the "hands on" learning curriculum for science classes, and would also teach the kids about economics and marketing. Vegetables and flowers grown in the greenhouse would be sold in the community and profits would go to maintain the greenhouse and provide school supplies for underprivileged kids. Pretty cool idea, and my farm manager sister had lots of helpful suggestions too. Now, to write a grant and get funding for the project! But first, we plan to put in an English language resource center that can be used by the school kids and the community too. Lots to do.

Winter in Noyemberyan

Northern Caucusus Mountains

Front of Mschkavank

Mschkavank

Views from the Hike

Views from the Hike

Early Spring on the Mountain

Mschkavank

Armenia-Azerbaijan Border Road

We have now been at our site for more than 6 months. Hard to believe. The group that started a year before us is already making plans for what they will do when they leave in July and August. Very exciting for them. And a new group of around 45 volunteers will be coming here at the end of May. Very exciting for us. So, we have about 18 months left to go. Some days we count every one of them.

Sending you all love and many thanks for the wonderful care packages that you send. Those cards, letters, e-mails and packages keep us going. Until the next time . . .

Today I took a walk to the other side of the valley to check whether the new church by the town graveyard is done yet. Apart from a little mud here and there is was a great day for a walk. The only disappointment was that the North Caucasus range in the north and northeast was shrouded in clouds. That, and the church still consisted of nothing but walls and roof.

We were beginning to wonder whether winter would ever arrive. November and December had been pretty mild, with temperatures in the 50's, and we thought "hey, winter here isn't so bad here!" Well, I have learned to be careful what you ask for! Since school started back on January 10 (actually the 11th, because the school was closed the first day when the boilers and heating system wouldn't work), it has been downright cold here! For us, that means temperatures in the teens and 20's at night, and 30's and 40's during the day. People were remarking about how we hadn't had snow yet, and I'm happy to report that all that has changed. While we haven't had feet of snow, we definitely have had several days of inches of snow. Enough so the kids could make small snowmen and have snowball fights. They are definitely happy!

This is the view from one of my classrooms in School No. 1 after our first snowfall. Not a lot of snow by New England standards, but it really made everything very pretty. The next photo is from my walk home from school. Many of our fellow volunteers have had snow that you can measure in feet, so we're feeling pretty lucky. Still, it's been cold enough to put long underwear on (tops and bottoms) when we go to school, and even break out the mufflers and down coats, boots and gloves. Now, I'm really glad we made room for them in our suitcases!

We are staying warm in our apartment, so that's nice. And our big treat every week is going to the bath house for a hot shower. It's interesting how our needs have changed in the nearly 8 months since we left the states. I can remember during our first weeks of training wondering how I would live without a daily shower and hair washing. And now, it's . . . well, different. Our needs are much more basic now I think. Not that we don't remember what life was like in the U.S., but we are I guess really adjusting to the reality of our lives here. So that's a good thing.

The worst weather is when it is cold, damp and foggy--like today. You just don't feel like you can get warm, no matter what you do. At least outside anyway. Our schools do have heat, thankfully, but when the sun isn't out, our classrooms and pretty darn cold. Most of the kids stay in their winter coats, and so do many of the teachers. In the winter, we only use the classrooms on the sunny side of the building too. For anyone who wonders, no, we don't have central heat in the schools. But we do have a boiler (for both schools) that runs heated water through pipes. Some of the classrooms have radiators, and some have only the heated pipes on the floors. Most classrooms are at least 55 degrees, so we can't complain.

I can't believe I've written an entire post about the weather! But weather and food are just about all anyone talks about, so there you go. In my Armenian class today I learned how to ask a neighbor how to be quiet after 11 p.m. at night. It is likely going to come in very handy, and probably soon. I don't want to put in too many details, but I'm sure everyone has faced this situation at one time or another. And now I have the language to politely ask them to quiet down. Now we'll see if I actually do it!

It's hard to believe we're nearly a third of the way through our service! We're already talking about where we're going to go for vacations this summer. The nice thing about being a teacher is that you aren't in school for three months. But we've already found a few things to occupy our time, or at least I have. Many of you know that I have long been involved in the Breast Cancer 3-Day walks. Well, I found a walk to do here in Armenia!!

Several of our volunteers have organized a "Border-to-Border" walk to raise awareness for healthy lifestyles and the benefits of not smoking or drinking to excess. In June sometime, I will be part of a 12-person team that will walk across all of Armenia. Half of our group will leave from near the border with Iran in the south, and the other half from the border with Georgia in the north. And with any luck, after about 150 miles or so for each team, we will meet in the middle. Our plan is to walk a few days, stop and teach a class on healthy lifestyles, and then continue walking. I'll update the blog as we get a bit further in the planning. In the meantime, I'm putting my walking shoes back on and starting to train.

We hope everyone is having a great January. Thank you for the care packages and Christmas packages, which have finally started arriving after everything shut down for the holidays. We are very, very grateful. We love hearing from everyone, so write often, tell us what's new and existing in your life, or even what is just the usual everyday. We miss you all.

Happy New Year to all who are reading our blog. The "Nor Tari" holiday is now almost over as we all go back to work tomorrow. We have been away from school since December 24, and I'm afraid it may be a bit of a shock going back to work. No more of this staying up til 3 a.m. and sleeping til noon, and then staying in PJs for the rest of the day! But our laundry is done, books are all lined up, and we're ready to go.

So many of you are wondering what all the Nor Tari fuss is about. Essentially, the entire country shuts down from December 30 until January 10. Completely. Fire and police still work, but the post office, schools, and most government offices do not. We started our celebration on December 31 with dinner at Fred's counterpart's house. We arrived around 11:30 p.m. and started with drinks and appetizers. Then a full meal, after appropriate toasts, at midnight. And fireworks, of course. Lots of them. Not the big kind you'd get in the U.S., but still pretty good by my standards. It also was really nice being with a family to celebrate the new year. Mother, father, children and grandchildren. We really felt we were part of the family too.

As for the food, the dinner table was loaded with two different kinds of dolma (one cabbage, one grapeleaf, both stuffed with yummy rice and meat), a roast of some kind of pig, several different salads, bread, cheese, tomato and cucumber. After we couldn't eat any more, we had dessert (home made pastry and cake) and coffee/tea. THEN we danced! I love dancing to Armenian music. Wish I had a video to post, but it seems very exotic. The music has a wonderful flute-type instrument and the singers match the notes of the flute. So it was fun.

At around 2:30 a.m., we left because we still had other places to visit. Everyone seems to stay up most of the night visiting friends and relatives, so that's what we did. Apparently, our apartment building is quieter than most as we only found one family still up. But even then, we were invited to sit and eat and drink, which of course we did. The next day, January 1, we continued visiting friends, our host family, and neighbors. Again, at each stop we continued to eat, until around 4 p.m. that afternoon. By this time, we're pretty full and went home to rest up for the next day.

The week continued with pretty much the same pattern--go and visit, eat, drink, dance, go home and rest. January 6 is the traditional Christmas here, and the parties have been winding down since then. It was wonderful to be in our small town and experience this holiday as it is the most celebrated time in the entire country. Next year, we may travel as we always have 2 weeks off. But that's another year from now, so who knows.

Tomorrow it's back to reality and our daily routines of getting up early, heading to school, going to class, meeting with our English clubs, etc. This week we will start an evening conversational English club for adults, so that will be a lot of fun. And hopefully another one or two English clubs for the kids. The kids don't get enough opportunity to practice speaking English, so that's what we can provide for them. And we absolutely love the kids here. We are often asked why we don't have children of our own, and my response now is "so we can have all the children here in Armenia." It makes people happy that we love the kids, and we definitely do. So Monday morning I expect we will be greeted with choruses of "Hello Mr. Linden" and "Hello Miss Susan". Definitely looking forward to that part.

We have been spared a cold and snowy winter so far. Other volunteers have been getting all the snow, and I know ours will come. Perhaps not until February, but it will come. Until then, we will enjoy not having to turn on our heat all the time.

We send you every good wish for 2011. Keep those e-mails and Facebook posts coming. It makes our time here go so much faster, and also makes you seem closer. And hopefully the packages that we know have been sent will start arriving, now that the mail is starting to flow again. Until the next post . . .

Hi everyone. Thanks for reading our blog! It's hard to believe that we have been here for 7 months now. The time has gone very quickly, at least most of the time. We spent Christmas with 27 other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in a town near Lake Sevan. We were spread around the 4 apartments of the PCVs who live there, sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. It couldn't have been more fun! We ate incredibly good food (home-made egg rolls, meatballs, cheese, fruit, chicken with dressing, beet salad, and yummy desserts), went for walks, slept late and really enjoyed our time. For some of us, it was the first time to be away from our families. It was just so nice being with other Americans to celebrate this very special holiday. The weather was quite cold (well below freezing), which made it feel very much like Christmas.

We came home for two days and then set out for a small vacation in Tbilisi, Georgia. It's only 70 km from here, but not the easiest place to get to. Our neighbor was kind enough to give us a ride, but we had to wait in a long line of cars for more than 2 hours because the computers were down and couldn't read any passports. Very frustrating to say the least. There are 4 different checkpoints, 2 on the Armenian side (to check passports and visas) and 2 on the Georgian side (to check visas and passports). And both sides stamp your passports. Finally, we made it to Tbilisi. It has the feel of a big European city, but is very easy to get around in. We stayed at a "homestay" (people rent out rooms in their homes), and they advertised 24-hour hot water and heated rooms. Well, not exactly. There was indeed hot water for showers, but the bathroom was around 40 degrees. We passed. And our room, while quite large, was impossible to heat. We slept with our clothes on and barely managed to stay warm. But that was the only downside.

We absolutely loved Tbilisi. It is a very walkable city, but also had a good subway system. Our homestay was very near a subway stop, so it cost about a quarter to get downtown to the sites. There is a beautiful old town, with cobblestone streets and unique architecture that makes it look somewhat like the French Quarter in New Orleans.

And the Georgian cuisine is fantastic. We ate grilled eggplant and roasted tomatoes, an excellent beef soup, and several different kinds of dumplings (called khingali). Although there was a McDonalds's, we avoided the golden arches. Some of the PCVs we met lived there, but we ate local food where we could. We also found some excellent cafes with good tea and coffee. Not to mention the local hachipuri (sort of an inside out pizza with yummy cheese on the inside).

As far as sights, there is a beautiful fortress on the hill that offers incredible views of Tbilisi. We climbed up there one day, and wandered through the botanical gardens too. We spent much of our time wandering around the old town, and went to the sulfur baths where for $20 we got a private room with a dressing room (complete with couches, sink, and bathroom) and a bathing room with a very hot sunken tub, a marble slab to cool off on, and a shower. We haven't been that relaxed in quite a while.

Our second night there we ran into 10 other PCVs from Armenia. That was a lot of fun and we all ate dinner together at a pretty good Thai place. Best we've had so far. We also met two volunteers who are serving in Azerbaijan. It was really interesting talking to them about how their host country nationals view Armenia, and vice versa. As you can imagine, both countries see the same events quite differently. At our homestay, we also met a guy from Turkey. Again, it was really interesting to talk about how his country sees Armenia, and some of the issues faced by both countries.

There are lots of amazing things about Tbilisi, but perhaps the best thing we saw is the Christmas decorations. Truly beautiful and over-the-top lights everywhere. There is one main street (Rustavelli) with lights both overhead and on all the buildings. Every square also was decorated. We never saw Yerevan when it was all decked out, but it's hard to imagine how anything could be better than Tbilisi. Too bad we couldn't stay for New Years! But maybe next year.

We are now getting ready for New Year's here--Nor Tari. It it the biggest holiday so far, and people spend days cooking sweets, salads, dolmas, and a variety of other things. We will go to Fred's counterpart's home at 11:30 tonight to ring in the new year. Our neighbor just brought us a chicken to eat (freshly killed and plucked, thank you very much), and I was over there watching her make dolmas. Now I will go upstairs to see what our other neighbors are making, and then it's time to do a little cooking of our own. I will attempt to make some sort of blonde brownie thing that requires baking powder. Alas, there is no baking powder anywhere within 200 km of our town. So, it will be another experiment. Hopefully this one will turn out ok!

The Nor Tari tradition is still a bit of a mystery. It seems that today and this evening is for family, and starting tomorrow and for the next week (thru January 6) is a full scale party where everyone visits everyone else. We will report back in our next blog.

This has been a year full of changes and adjustments and more changes. We look forward with much anticipation to what the next year will bring. Until the next blog, we wish everyone a very happy New Year.

On any given day, there are lots of things we could point to as being difficult in this country. But perhaps the better way to look at it is to focus on the things we love. With that attitude, everything seems to look just a little bit brighter. So, for example, we could complain because we don't have hot water at all. The better way to state this is to say how grateful we are that we have water every few days and can fill up our bottles, buckets and bathtub. It is with this attitude in mind that I write this update.

I love that I have the opportunity to experience something new every few days. I love that the marshutni driver can effortlessly pass five cars (I counted) going into a blind curve while talking on his cell phone and having a conversation with the person in the back row. I love that the version of winter we are having right now has temperatures hovering in the 50s during the day. I love that on our visit to our first host family this weekend they welcomed us with open arms. I love that the neighbors in our apartment building actually notice when we are gone and seem to miss us. I love that so far we are the only people in town who have put up Christmas lights on their balcony for everyone in town to see, should they be looking. I love that I no longer want to yell out in panic when someone is tailgating so closely that I can read the very small print on the back of the car in front of me. I love that I can listen to music on my iPhone rather than succumb to panic because I am not driving. I love the challenges we face in just living here.

We do have it better than most. We have a pretty nice 2-room apartment. We are in good health, and have access to good health care if we are not. We are warm, and we have food in the cupboards. We are supported by a whole staff of Peace Corps professionals who go out of their way to make sure our needs are met. We generally like our jobs and the people with whom we work. We love the kids in our town. Actually, we love all the kids here. And we truly love the people. They are a continuing source of inspiration on so many levels.

So this weekend we went "home" to visit our first host family. I had forgotten how much I loved the simplicity of life in a small (750 people) village. Much like the old TV show "Cheers", it was nice to go back where everybody in fact knew our name, not just our business. Our host family recently suffered a terrible loss--our host dad's brother was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Yerevan. The driver has not been found, nor is he likely to be. Apparently this happens pretty regularly in Yerevan, and is a reminder to be very careful crossing the street. Last week two people were killed in separate incidents across from the Peace Corps office, on a street we regularly cross. Sort of like dodge ball, but with cars and much more serious results if you don't judge things exactly right.

So it is an incredibly sad time for the family, and we are so grateful we could be there to spend time with them. In the midst of their grief, they were happy to have us come stay with them. They prepared a feast in our honor, and we got to sit and watch some of the video from their oldest daughter's recent wedding. And we all paused when that favorite uncle was in one of the pictures, to remark on how much we loved him, and how much he loved life.

We left our first host family for the trip back to our current home and it was a quick trip. But how nice to be asked why we had to leave to early, and when we could come back. Our first marshutni ride was quite an adventure--mostly because everyone wanted to know about the Americans (Amerikatsi) on the bus. Why did we leave the U.S. to come to Armenia, when most Armenians want to go to the U.S.? We even had a mini-English lesson with one of the passengers. After a while, they were satisfied that we were in our right minds, and they really seemed to appreciate that we loved their village, their country, and their people, and could communicate (sort of) in their language. The driver didn't even charge us for the ride, as acknowledgment of the relationship with our host family. Pretty unheard of in the U.S. I think.

The rest of our trip home was pretty uneventful, and we are now back working on preparing tests for our 10th and 11th grade students. We are back to school tomorrow. Then school is out for two weeks for the New Year ("nor tari") holidays. We plan to celebrate Christmas with some other volunteers, which will definitely be a lot of fun. Although we will both miss being with our families and friends.

To all of you back home (in the U.S. and Europe) reading this, we wish you the best of holiday seasons. We will celebrate here without you, but you will be close to us in our hearts.

Thanks to the hard work of a number of fellow volunteers, we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner in Yerevan last week. All the volunteers got together for meetings and socializing, and Monday night we celebrated Thanksgiving together. Added bonus was staying in a hotel with hot, running water and a view of Mt. Ararat (smog permitting).

I got to be on the pie committee, and we made 25 pies in just over 4 hours--apple, lemon meringue, pumpkin and walnut (excellent substitute for pecan by the way). Other volunteers brined the turkeys, cut up bread for stuffing, boiled sweet potatoes, carrots and potatoes, and all the rest that made up our yummy dinner. Dinner was turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin souffle, roasted sweet potatoes with brown sugar glaze, and green been casserole. We also had "sweet" butter for the bread that was made with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.

The evening was capped off with a volunteer talent show, and some of our PCVs are pretty darned talented. I particularly liked Joel's Brittany Spears sing-along! Evenings were full of optional activities like knitting, photography, media sharing, movie night and games. Lots of fun just sitting around with other volunteers talking about what they've been doing and what they're planning. So while things are difficult in many areas of our lives, this was one chance for PCVs to be very thankful for what we have--our families back home, and our Peace Corps family here in Armenia.

Being in Yerevan allowed us the opportunity to go shopping for things we can't get here, including an amazing nut, dried fruit and spice shukah (market) where things are sold by the kilogram (nuts and fruit), or glass (large or small). We were able to buy some good curry powder, ground ginger and flax seed, none of which we can get locally. We also found soy sauce (Russian for around $2 v. the Kikkoman at $15 for a small bottle) and a few other goodies. Still searching for Q-tips instead of generics. And we also got flue shots, and had dental appointments and the like.

But it's nice to be home after being gone for a week. We arrived around 5:30 last night, and neighbors came out of their doors to welcome us home, invite us for dinner and tea. There's a lot to be said for our community here. We're back at school tomorrow, and it will be good to be back in our regular routines. Still not terribly cold here, although it's pretty drizzly and gray. Our trip back on the minibus (marshutni) yesterday was through pea-soup fog at just about the same time as the herds of sheep, cows and goats were heading home. Very interesting how our driver didn't brake much and still managed to miss every single animal.

Speaking of animals, winter is particularly difficult for all the homeless dogs and cats. How I wish there was a local shelter, but there just isn't. It's heartbreaking at times to see the animals and how they have to live. Some will make it through the winter, others will not. Unfortunately we don't have the resources to address the issue. With unemployment at over 50% (or so it seems), there are more important things to do here. Like teach English! So for tonight, I will start working on lessons for tomorrow. Fred will post some fun pictures in a separate post.

Today was the first day in a few without fog or an excessive amount of smoke. So after a delicious breakfast of french toast with peanut butter and syrup (not maple, unfortunately, because we can't get it, but it was good enough), we set out on a hike to the place where Fred's 8th graders had taken him last weekend. The pictures speak for themselves. We walked an hour and a half into the hills to the west of our town, on dirt roads, through fields of cows, to the top of a mountain.

This is one of about 10 baby pigs that were out on the trail with their mother, older sister and we think father. We didn't get close enough to find out.

This man lives up on the hill and we passed by his house on our way to and from home. He very kindly invited us to sit with him as we hiked along the mud road. He was delightful, and so welcoming, as all Armenians seem to be.

This bus ain't goin' nowhere! There are thousands of these all over the country.

We brought a tripod and took this picture looking out over the valley. What a beautiful spot! And a nice looking couple to boot!

Cows.

Cows behind a fence.

Home sweet home, on the way back to town. Not our home however.

A view of central Noyemberyan with the schools and most of the apartment buildings. The red structure in the upper left is a memorial to the "Great Patriotic War." You'll have to google that to see what we are talking about.

We have been incredibly fortunate with the weather in November -- so far! The days have been sunny and warm, and the nights mostly warm enough that we have only had to turn on the heater a few times. Having spent the past few winters in New England, we are used to layering as the temperatures are certain to start dropping soon. Hopefully we can keep our heating costs within our budget. We also hear stories of people having to melt snow to get water, and we hope that those are stories from the past, and not stories from our future! Our wonderful neighbor helped us buy and install a gas heater this week. One of the things we continue to be amazed by is the warmth and generosity of the people in our town. Whatever we need, or whatever questions we have, there is always someone offering to help us in one way or another. Living in our building, and in the community in general, is like being part of a big family. Quite comforting when our own families are so far away.

This week I started two English clubs in my school. One group is 13-15 year olds (mixed boys and girls), and the other is 14-15 year olds (all girls). There are, as you can imagine, some striking differences between the two clubs. It's a bit of a challenge to teach only in English, so I have to speak very slowly and clearly. And use a dictionary when all else fails. The kids are wonderfully forgiving, and most are very eager to learn. When asked about interests though, most spoke about friends and family (one of the boys was brave enough to say he was interested in beautiful girls). I was surprised that travel wasn't on anyone's list. Much different than what I would find in the states I think. The clubs will be a lot of fun and an opportunity to teach in a non-traditional environment. I expect we will all learn together, and I hope I can make it enjoyable for them. Fred will be starting his clubs soon, and we both expect to be teaching English some in the community to both adults and children.

I looked at the calendar today and realized that Thanksgiving is only a week away. This is the first year in a while that we won't be spending it either with my sister and brother and their families or with close friends. Thanksgiving obviously is not a holiday in Armenia, so I think that makes it somewhat easier. I do see turkeys around, but am told they won't be eaten until the big holiday here--New Years. And even then, we don't have things like stuffing, cranberry sauce, squash, or green bean casserole! But the reality of going through the upcoming holiday season without our families and close friends is difficult to contemplate. So I am taking the approach that I will think of it tomorrow . . . maybe. Fred's mom was going to come visit us at Christmas, but she has decided not to travel. I think that's a good idea, especially as travel is really difficult here in the winter when the roads are icy. We have talked about visiting other volunteers, and also of going to Tbilisi, Georgia for a few days. I think that being away from our family and friends may be a little easier if we have plans ourselves.

I have to say that the letters, e-mails and care packages sent my family and friends have been awesome. Thank you one and all. While we do our best to just eat the local food, there are times when peanut butter on some bread, or macaroni and cheese, go a long way toward making our lives comfortable. We are so very grateful that people have taken the time, and spent the money, to send us packages.

So as we approach the holidays, and Thanksgiving in particular, we want to wish each of you who reads our blog a wonderful holiday. We are thankful for the opportunity to be here in Armenia, and we are very, very thankful for each of you. Your love, support and friendship are making these two years fly by. Most of the time anyway.

We've got nothing dramatic to tell. Life is quiet but a little busy, for reasons I can't quite understand. Maybe we shouldn't have signed up for that unlimited internet access. But maybe it's a good thing: I can upload pictures to this blog without too many worries about the charges. So here goes.

Here's Susan at a market in Vanadzor, city of markets, a couple of weeks ago. Here we're in an area where mostly clothes are sold.

A view of downtown Ijevan from Andy & Nicole's home. Ijevan is the capital of our region, Tavush.

This is the square at the heart of Berd, another town in Tavush. We visited David Boggs and participated in a teacher training workshop.

Home again in the Noy: this is a view west from a street a couple of blocks uphill from our apartment building. It's still mostly green here.

That's all, folks.

Today was a great day. David Coe, a Peace Corps volunteer who has been in Noy for a year but is moving to a different site in a week, took Danelle, Susan and me on a hike to Mishkvank, an abandoned monastery up in the forests above town. It was foggy, it drizzled, it was muddy: everything you can ask for in a great hike.

The main event - what David called the fun route - was climbing up a steep gully of slippery mud and slippery wet leaves, maybe 200-300 meters in distance. It took us more than an hour. It wasn't just that you couldn't find a foothold in the mud or that it was so steep you could almost touch the ground without leaning into the slope; there was nothing to grab onto either. That old Bushwhacker hike leader in me came out again - slave driver and helping hand at the same time - but everyone survived.

After the gully it got just a little easier - it wasn't as muddy, but it remained steep. I did not mention the Blair Witch movie once.

Once at the top of the ridge David led us to a so-called road, barely discernible under the leaves and not much to drive on under the best of conditions.

But it led to the vank, which was maybe the best one I've seen in Armenia. It could be that the circumstances of the visit and the isolated location of the building, with a thicket of thorny bushes surrounding it, made the place seem extra mysterious.

The monastery is about two kilometers from town as the crow flies, but in more than four hours of hiking we saw one person - a man leading a donkey that was pulling a couple of small felled tree trunks out of the forest. It just didn't seem like the time and place to whip out a camera and take a picture of the bewildered guy.

The road home was easier, except for the mud. There were times we were sliding more than we were walking.

We made it home just before dark. There was barely enough light to see whether we managed to scrape most of the mud off our boots. Dinner was Annie's Shells - gourmet macaroni & cheese - straight from a recent care package. I think we'll sleep well tonight.

We have now moved into our own apartment in town. We are very happy to be out on our own, but very sad to have to leave our wonderful host mom. I could go on for pages and pages about her, but I won't--at least not now. So our apartment is a one bedroom on the third floor of a soviet-era 5-story walk-up. We have a pretty big living room, a kitchen, enclosed balcony and bathroom. All our stuff is here (took two car trips and numerous foot trips) and we are slowly getting unpacked. The view from the balcony is pretty nice too.

One of our biggest challenges so far (aside from the usual lack of water issue) has been food. We have been so spoiled with our host mom doing all the cooking and shopping that we really didn't know what to do our first night here. Which store to go to? Where do we buy vegetables, meat, etc.? It's been a learning experience for sure. Tonight I made lentil soup for dinner with meltable cheese on top. The soup had carrots and onions in it, and some really nice spices thanks to our dear friend Deborah in San Francisco. We've been making oatmeal for breakfast and then just snacking when we come home for lunch. Thankfully Peace Corps gives us a wonderful cookbook. My challenge is getting American recipes out of my head and substituting Armenian ingredients. But again, the cookbook is invaluable because it lists the availability of ingredients by month. So for vegetables, we are quickly coming upon the season where the only things we can get are cabbage, potatoes, beets, carrots and onions. I am craving "green" food, but have to wait until spring when asparagus comes into season. In the U.S. you really do get so used to being able to buy anything you want at any time of year. Not so in Armenia.

So I was teaching a class the other day and another teacher walked in and asked four of the boys to leave the class for some reason or other. When class was over I was walking to the teacher's lounge and came across the boys from class (and a group of other boys) watching a classmate assemble and disassemble an army rifle. It was a timed contest too! Later in the afternoon, that same rifle was sitting in the teacher's lounge. This is probably very usual in schools here, but it was a bit alarming to me. Does this kind of thing happen in the states? It sure didn't at any school I went to, but then it's been a while since I was in school.

And speaking of school, we are about to start after school English clubs. The other volunteers have been really great sharing ideas and helpful hints. My school director wants the clubs open to all students, and it's going to be interesting to see how many students express an interest. I've asked them to write me a paragraph about why they want to be in the club, and then I'll conduct interviews with those who submit and narrow down the group after that. Lots to do for sure.

Next week is a vacation week and schools are closed, at least for the students. Teachers still have to go in, but we have the week off. We're hoping to travel to some other places next week and see a bit of the country before winter sets in and travel becomes difficult (ice, snow, etc.). But more about that in another post.

There's something very comforting about listening to the rain beating against the rooftops, especially when you are warm and snuggled beneath a blanket. Add a good book and a cup of tea, and sitting close to someone you love, and it's just about perfect! With those criteria all checked off, today was pretty much perfect. It's been raining for two days now, and two more are expected. The first of many as we head into fall and then winter. Our street is now a river of sand and mud and walking to school is pretty treacherous. We live on a small but pretty steep hill, and it's all downhill to our schools. The town did add some gravel to our road earlier this fall, but much of that has now washed down the hill with the heavy rains. I haven't ventured out in this storm as I have been sick with yet another bad cold (2nd one in just inside a month). Not sure where these colds are coming from. Could be we are trading it back and forth, could be from the kids at school, or could be just different viruses here that we haven't adjusted to. Know knows.

Our school schedules have been revised again. This seems to be a pretty constant event at both of our schools. There is a handwritten schedule that you must check every afternoon to see which classes you will teach the next day. My work schedule is now down to 16 classes a week, and Fred teaches about the same. In the next month or so we will start our after-school English clubs. Still lots of work to do in deciding how many clubs and which students we will teach. And then there are at least two adult English classes in town that we will participate in. Lots to do for sure.

Last weekend we went to Yerevan for the weekend to have meetings with other volunteers about the various Peace Corps Initiatives here in Armenia. There are a lot of them. The V2 initiative is geared toward increasing voluneerism in the country, and there is a PR initiative focused on promoting Peace Corps and celebrating the 50th anniversary next year. There also is an IT initiative that works to increase IT skills (community and schools), an Environmental initiative (green camps and the like in the summer), an HIV-AIDS initiative, and one that deals with youth programs (summer camps for girls and also for boys). There are so many opportunities and it's hard to choose which program to get involved in. But involved we shall get in something before next spring.

Yerevan was lovely and it was nice to experience the city with Fred. We stayed at one of the local hostels and ours was filled with other volunteers. One of the guests was a really nice young guy from Mill Valley, CA who is traveling around the region before ending up in Israel for a few months of study (he is a student at Swarthmore in Pennsylvania). It was good to talk to someone who knew where we had lived and could appreciate some of the things we hold so dear about Marin County. We also got to hang out with lots of other volunteers, which is always fun and very entertaining.

This has been the week for PC volunteers to be in car accidents it seems. While there are driving rules in the country, they are mostly ignored. And people seem to drive as fast as they possibly can regardless of road and weather conditions. One volunteer was riding in a taxi that was in a rear-end collision. She is sore, but mostly ok. The other was in a taxi when a big truck cut in front of them for no apparent reason and they slid partially under the truck. The volunteer sitting in the front seat fortunately was wearing a seatbelt. The pictures make you wonder how he survived, but he did, with only minor cuts and bruises. One of his passengers wasn't quite as fortunate and now has many stitches across her forehead. Very sorry for all concerned. We are told in our safety classes to wear seatbelts, and now I know why. As winter approaches, we also will be checking the condition of tires on the vehicles in which we ride. And also whether they have seat belts, as many cars do not.

So we are staying in Noyemberyan for the next few months, although we may be tempted to visit other parts of the country during our fall break. We are well for the most part, and continually adjusting to new things. One of these days we will be settled, at least we hope so. Language classes continue, and we are moving at glacial speed toward fluency. That's all for now.

I've posted some pictures on a different page, mostly just from around town. Didn't want to clutter up this blog.

All of them were taken with an aging iPhone, so the quality isn't the best.

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We are now into the fourth week of school and life is beginning to settle into a routine. Both of us have a full workload of about 20 classes a week, including Saturday classes. School here currently is six days a week, although there are rumors it may change to a five-day week in the next few years. We are teaching everything from third grade to eleventh grade. Most of the instructions to students are in Armenian, so there are daily challenges to understand what is being said. Both of us love our schools, our counterparts (the other English teachers), and especially the students.

We have encouraged the students we teach to talk to us when we are out and about in town, so everywhere we go there is usually a chorus of "hello" and "how are you". Each class begins with "good morning/afternoon children", to which the students reply "good morning/afternoon teacher. How are you?" We then say "I am fine. How are you?" The students then say "I am fine thank you." And then they sit down and class begins.

On Sunday afternoon we went with a group of Fred's 8th graders on a short hike to a small church outside of town. We were gone for 3 1/2 hours and the kids could have stayed longer. We played soccer (football), had sack races, ate some food, and even spoke a little English. The kids had a blast, and so did we. We can't say enough wonderful things about the children. They are amazing in every way and we love being around them.

This weekend we will head to a meeting with our counterparts where we will learn some techniques for team teaching. It's a pretty new idea for many teachers, and we are looking forward to getting some practical knowledge to use in our classes. It also will be nice to be away and to stay in a real hotel for two nights. And of course to see the other TEFL volunteers who are scattered around the country. Some of our fellow teachers are as much as 14 hours away from us by public transit. The closest are still two hours away, so we haven't done much visiting yet. We have a one week break at the end of October and hopefully the weather will be nice enough that we can go see some sights in the southern part of the country.

We continue with Armenian lessons three times a week and little by little we are learning how to speak, read and write. Sometimes the progress feels very slow, but at least it's progress. Okay, back to school for the last class of the day.

I have finally gotten the chance to experience the challenges of public transit in Armenia. On Thursday, I rode on my first marshutni (mini-van) from our village to the Capital. Fortunately I had one of the local people help me buy a ticket and I was able to get the front seat by the window. The roads between here and the capital are very windy with lots of switchbacks. Not so good for someone like me who gets carsick even when I drive. But our trip there was smooth and fast with only a hint of nausea on the way. We actually get incredibly close to Azerbaijan on the road, and can see the Armenian and Azerbaijan army bunkers with soldiers at the ready. But that's another story.

So having successfully gotten to Yerevan, I managed to find a metro station (yes, I asked where it was in Armenian) and met some other volunteers near Republic Square. We walked to the hostel were the volunteers stay when they come to town. Here's a plug for the Envoy Hostel if you're ever in Yerevan. For 5500 dram a night (about US $15), you get clean sheets, a bed, blanket, pillow, hot shower, bathrooms with toilets that flush, and breakfast. Quite a deal.

I was never in a dorm in college, and now I know what I missed (there are both good and bad to this, but only the good is reported here). In our room, we filled the 8 bunks with both men and women ranging in age from 20s to 60s. It actually was a lot of fun laying around in PJs and talking until late in the evening. And I have to say that the showers at this place are unbelievably good--especially when you come from a village with little or no water. It was awesome.

So Saturday morning I had to figure out how to get home. I could have taken the easy way out and called someone to make arrangements for me, but I figured now was as good a time as ever to see what I could do on my own. I found a bus stop and got on a bus to go to the main bus station to buy my ticket. Having located the bus station, the next challenge was to find a place to buy tickets. First, I had to remember the Armenian word for ticket! Somehow, it all came together and I bought a ticket for the 2:30 bus back to Noyemberyan.

Then I had to get back to the hostel--easier said than done. The bus numbers going TO the city and different from those coming FROM the city. So, another chance to practice my Armenian. And of course every bus going where I wanted to go was completely overcrowded. 20+ people in a space meant for 10. I finally managed to get on a bus going in what I hoped was the right direction. Much to my surprise, I wound up reasonably close to where I intended to go and only had about a 10 minute walk back to the hostel.

One of the great things about meeting up with other volunteers, especially those who have been here for a while, is that they know where things are--like good breakfasts, coffee, shopping, etc. Several of us went out for french toast, bacon and REAL maple syrup. It was awesome!

Ok, so now for my trip home. I am now an old hand at getting to and from the bus station. So, I got back on another bus and arrived in time to get on the marshutni heading home. It was pretty full, but I managed to get a seat right behind the driver with a space next to me for my bags. That stoke of luck was not to last. A woman flagged us down and took up not only her seat next to me, but half of mine as well. Not to mention that it was incredibly hot and she must have come from a place with no water like me. For the next four hours I was crammed into a very small space with little or no ventilation. People here are afraid of having a breeze on them as they are convinced they will get sick (they may actually be right in some of this). Add to this all the curvy roads, and I was not a happy camper! Plus, we actually had to stop so two of the passengers could get out and drink beer!!

The trip home took a very, very long 4 hours (compared to 3 going down). We drove through rain, dense fog, and wind. I have to say that I was glad to arrive in one piece. With no air coming in, I was really, really carsick by the time we got here. Also, the drivers seem to pay little attention to the double lines in the middle of the road, and on highways with 4 lanes they drive wherever they want--passing on the left, right, into the breakdown lane, whatever. I loved passing trucks on curves in the fog when you couldn't see in front of you 10 feet. And if there had been a cow in the road (not an unusual proposition by any means), I don't even want to think what would have happened.

So we are going to Yerevan again on Wednesday. Now, the big question . . . do we take a taxi or a marshutni? Tune in next week for the next exciting installment of Travel in Armenia. . .

In a country where water supply as a norm is intermittent, unreliable and of poor quality, our town is infamous for having it even worse. During the five weeks we've been here, we've had running water for a few minutes or a couple of hours only every four to eight days: the cisterns, barrels and buckets in our apartment do run dry. Some apartments in the neighborhood get less, and not everyone has cisterns, barrels and buckets like our Hamest does.

When there's running water, it's an event: we fill the buckets and cisterns, wash the dishes, go to the bathroom, shower, do some laundry — quickly, because we don't know for how long it will keep flowing. People who live higher up in the building don't get as much, apparently.

Even the spring water that's kept in bottles in the kitchen for drinking and cooking has run low at times, but that supply is readily replenished by a car trip a couple of kilometers out of town to some roadside spring up in the hills. Luckily Hamest has a car. And somehow everyone manages, although it isn't always easy. I hear it can be worse. In the winter people melt snow. In case you wonder, Susan and I drink no water that comes from the city supply, and we always run the spring water through the Peace Corps filters. Armenians don't really drink water, except when they use it to make coffee.

Still, the lack of water affects a lot of things: how fast you walk (not fast), when you stick your head outside the house (not during the hot hours), when you wash your dishes (all at once), how often you go to the bathroom (less often, unless you have an outhouse or don't have to flush for some other reason), whether you exercise (duh), etc. And you don't want to leave your home empty in the evenings lest the water comes on and there's no one there to fill everything up.

I've now had three days of school.

The picture below is from the opening ceremony of the school year, showing some of the students interspersed with a couple of teachers and parents. Mostly we stood and waited.

This is not like any other job I've had. It's not even close to teaching at the Boston Academy of English, which is where Susan and I got our TEFL certifications. I work with three teachers, including my counterpart, Aghun, whom I'm very grateful for. Having had a couple of volunteers before, she knows what she's doing. I will teach kids from nine years old to 17, absolute beginner to fairly advanced - sometimes in the same class. My focus is conversation, but I help where I can.

One area of opportunity here is that the slow students are abandoned: teachers apparently see no point in making an effort to bring the slow students to a level where they can even follow what's going on in the class. There are reasons why students give up on many classes: they can pick the topics that will get them into university, and they don't see the need to study the other subjects. The slow students are still moved up every year, so there's a huge disparity in abilities in the same classroom.

I know I can't convey what the full experience is like, but I can at least list some of the ingredients, so here goes: the smell of burning trash coming in from the school yard; the oppressive heat of the sun entering in our south-facing room through the plastic sheets that cover the windows because winter will return one day; the once-an-hour rush of children in black dress shoes, neat black slacks or skirts and crisp white shirts; their sense of wonder at this foreign entity in their midst (me); the teachers' room next door full of matronly ladies with long flowery dresses (my coworkers); the barrel of water in the men's room, for flushing the squat toilets; the unfamiliar teaching methods employed by most teachers here; the recycled, outdated, unimaginative text books that are full of cute briticisms and other, less endearing errors; the tired wooden floors, the walls, the old desks...

This picture is from the English classroom. We're fortunate to have one: as far as I can understand, teachers in Armenia usually go from one room to the next. I will eventually take pictures of the students too, but for now I don't want to act like I'm there to see the exotic natives.

Last Sunday our host family took us on a trip way up in the mountains above town: the area looks almost inhabited, covered in forests and small fields, but there are little groups of low shacks here and there that are summer homes to families that come up with their cattle. Some apparently live there all year. Hamest, our home mother, used to live there in the summers as a child. Everyone has a dog, and these are herding dogs, not city dogs, so their temperament is different. Some look like wolves - and there are wolves up there. Hamest's father told us there are bears too in some areas, although I'm not sure there are all that many left. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, with ridge after mountain ridge covered in forest and pasture. It's much wilder-looking than anything in Western Europe. We saw no other roads than the dirt bump ride we were on, and the map doesn't show any either.

We went to the top of a mountain called Mets Gogdagh: it's not that high by Caucasus standards, only 2,000m (6,000 feet), like Lake Tahoe. But the 360-degree view was incredible. At the very top, there was a little stone circle around some carved stones with crosses on them, sort of like a little church without walls; we walked three times around the stones and then lit candles. Hamest's mother in law sacrificed a chicken from her own shack and stuck the feet and head between some rocks. The picture shows Mher (Hamest's younger son, who studies in Yerevan) and Robert (a nephew of Hamest who is in on of my classes). The car in the background is a Lada Niva 4-wheel drive - proof that the Soviet Union could produce some capable, sturdy technology.

From there we went to a spring/picnic area and had khorovats (fatty pork barbecued on the embers of a wood fire) for a few hours. A stray dog came by, but nothing else happened. As always at these places, there was spring water gushing out of a tap nearby. On our way home we visited a family Hamest and her father know and greeted them and their cows. Life for these people is truly reduced to its essentials: Americans on a camping trip live far better than they do. Well, at least the Americans have more STUFF, for better and worse!

Today we went to a memorial event for Hamest's grandmother ("baboulia"), who died a year ago. They hold these events every anniversary after someone has died, it seems. About 60-70 people, almost all relatives, showed up at the grave - somewhat like a small monument - in a graveyard at the top of a desolate hill overlooking a beautiful valley about 20km from here, under an intense sun. There was no religious ceremony, but the brother of the deceased held a short emotional speech and then one by one everyone took a pinch of what I assume was salt from a bowl and dropped it in a small fire of twigs and grass.

After the usual waiting around, we all drove to the late grandmother's home, in a village called Ayrum. To get to the house - or neighborhood, actually - we had to cross a railroad yard with several tracks: on the other side were a cluster of buildings in which (we were told) 10 families live. Susan and I got a small tour of the grandmother's house and were introduced to various relatives: we've now been introduced to so many people that it's difficult to keep track of everyone. If I can remember that I've met them before I'm happy.

And then we all ate, all 60-70 of us: one table with just men, another with women, and then a third with a mix - which is of course were we ended up. The youngest women did all the serving. A good time was had under the vines. We met some interesting people. The picture is of Hamest and a niece of hers, Lorena, who speaks good English. Top right you can see one of the kids watching a Soviet-era locomotive go by.

Then it was back to the apartment, where David watches movies. I've seen Godzilla (the newest one, yawn), all of Clint's spaghetti westerns (gotta love'm), 'From Paris with Love' (Travolta in a French "action" movie), various Jurassic Park movies (yes, they're all the same), a Quentin Tarantino movie about a shootout between a Mexican drug lord and his brother (now that's action!), and I forget what else. All of it dubbed in Russian, which keeps everything extra interesting.

It's the kind of park every town should have: one that people use. This picture was taken just after the sun had set, but the park remains as crowded until at least midnight. It's truly wonderful. And safe. Kids, old people, ice cream eaters, mothers, but mostly teens, of course. The strongest thing I've seen anyone consume is ice cream (that would be us). Of course, everyone knows everyone else here, so there's a fair amount of gossip. They're all aware that we're the American volunteers in town, and there have been about a dozen before us over the years, so we don't get too many stares or too many people coming up to us to practice their English.

This is Noyemberyan in the evening, looking southeast. We live just outside the picture to the left, but the roofs of our schools are visible beyond the two houses in the foreground.

We get up late and then spend most of our daytime hours indoors, where it's cooler, at least in front of the fan. In the evenings we somehow tend to end up in the park eating ice cream. Not that we don't have things to do, but it's nice to take it slow after our rather intense 10 weeks of pre-service training.

Hamest is our host mother, in Peace Corps lingo. She's a lot younger than us, however, so I don't feel like her child. At the same time, she is a real mother to two boys, both of whom live in Yerevan. Her life has been rough - rougher than for most people in this rough part of the world.

It all comes down to the events of early March 1991, when Azerbaijanis attacked Noyemberyan. I know little about those events except that 10 Armenian policemen died defending their town: there was no Armenian military per se, since the country had not yet declared independence, and the role of defense fell to the police.

One of the policemen who gave their lives to save their community was Artash Mamyan, Hamest's husband. It is difficult to convey what that meant for Hamest and her two sons, then three months old and three years old respectively. The event would of course be devastating to any mother in the US, but trust me, here the loss is even greater.

There was of course a funeral, and a picture was taken with Hamest in the middle. The photograph was published outside Armenia at least once, in a German press report about the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and I'd love to find out more about the photo: who took it, what was written about it, where it has been published. Help or suggestions would be appreciated.

March 9, 1991

Long ago when I was still living in San Francisco, I believe in the mid-1980s, I had this dream: I was moving through the southern parts of the city - some neighborhood I didn't know that well - when suddenly I realized I had travelled quite far and ended up in Armenia. I was approaching the top of a hill, and on the sun-drenched slope in front of and below me were houses scattered on both sides of the street. The atmosphere was calm but also a little eerie. At the time I had no idea why I would dream of Armenia: it was still a rather obscure Soviet Republic, and my mind's choice of destination seemed entirely random. Few other dreams have been as vivid or stayed with me nearly as long, but I also didn't dwell much on what this particular dream might have meant.

Yet those images from my long-ago sleep returned vividly to my mind when we first rounded the bend in the highway that brings the town into view. There are some minor differences between what I saw in my 1980s sleep and the reality of Noyemberyan, but the similarities are overwhelming. The whole dream was drenched in a sepia tone, and the sun was setting in front of me, whereas in reality the sun was merely moving toward evening on my left, and the light was a bit hard, with deep shadows and grey metal roofs.

I want to add one note: much as we wanted to come to Armenia once we had applied to the Peace Corps in spring 2009 and started to talk about where we'd want to end up, I never once thought of the dream, and our deliberations seemed far removed from any sentimental motives. Susan didn't know about this dream, and if anything she wanted to come here more than I did. It wasn't until half-way through training, when we found out where our site placement was back in early July, that my dream popped up again in my head. The long and short of it is that I can't make too much out of this, yet I am happy that by all appearances one small dream of mine seems to have come true.

After 10 long weeks of pre-service training, we were officially sworn in by the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia on Thursday, August 5. We had one last horovats (barbeque) with our wonderful host family and some other volunteers who had lived in our village last year. Then we packed up our belongings for the trip to our permanent site in Noyemberyan, Armenia. Friday morning all 55 volunteers met for one last time in Charentsavan. We loaded up all our backpacks, suitcases, bags and boxes, which somehow had managed to nearly double in size in 10 weeks, and drove off in a variety of taxis, cars and vans. Some faced a 9+ hour drive, others only 30 minutes. We dropped off two volunteers in Sevan, one volunteer and two currently serving volunteers in Ichevan, and the remaining three of us in Noyemberyan. Our original host family changed when our host mom fell and broke both her legs. We can only imagine how difficult that is for the family as the mom did all the cooking and was an integral part of the family cheese-making business. Hopefully we will be able to visit her at home once she is out of the hospital. They are a wonderful family, and we thought it best not to add to their daily routing by having to take care of two more people. We now are living in another apartment with a woman who lost her husband to the war in 1991. She has two grown sons who live in Yerevan. She is the librarian at our schools, so all the kids in the town know her. She speaks some English, but we’re trying to get her to speak only Armenian so our language skills will continue to improve. Our living quarters are modest and water is going to be a constant challenge. Last night we drove up into the hills to a spring and filled all available bottles with water. We still have to filter it through our Peace Corps water filter, but the water is cold and fresh. And a luxury for most people. Our new host mom also took us to meet her mother-in-law. She is a widow and speaks only Russian and Armenian. Her first question to me was “how old are you” and both she and our host mom refused to believe I am 61. They are my new best friends for sure. Our host mom regularly goes to her house to help her, and she has a wonderful garden with beets, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and grapes. Everything here is organic, mostly I think because fertilizer is so expensive. When we stopped at the bank to get money last night we met some girls who will be starting at university in Yerevan in the fall. They were so excited to find someone to speak English with, and we were delighted to speak with them. It has been a while since there were volunteers here to work in the schools, and now there are two. We expect to be very, very busy both with teaching and then with English clubs after school. Our challenge is going to be not to take on too much as there is much to do here. School will not start until September 1, and the teachers don’t go back to work until the 17th or 18th of August. We have a little bit of downtime, and plan to use it getting to know our town and the people in it. We are not allowed to leave our site for the first month, so we will have lots of time to get settled. And now, the journey begins. We will be here for two years. Although we get 24 days of vacation each year, we hope to spend as much time getting to know Armenia and its people. As part of our Peace Corps duties, we will be preparing a travel book for volunteers and their families. We will be working with other volunteers to put together a book of places to go with information on how to get there, where to stay, what to do, costs, food, etc. It should be lots of fun. Tblisi, Georgia is only an hour or so away by taxi, so that is definitely on our list. And the churches around here are amazing both architecturally and historically. We also will be organizing a hike for other volunteers in our region as soon as all of us can travel. Getting together with other volunteers is going to be especially important, especially once it starts getting cold and dark. We are hoping for another mild winter so we can travel. If not, there are four of us here in Noyemberyan and we can get together for dinners, movies, or whatever. I plan on sharing some of the peanut butter we have stashed away, and getting one volunteer’s recipe for pancakes. Now if we only had some real maple syrup! We will write more soon. Thanks for reading our blog. Send us e-mails too. We love hearing from family and friends.

One strange phenomenon among us volunteers is that many people who didn't eat or drink much sweet stuff back in the US are now regular consumers of things like candy, ice cream and Coke. Although it's not particularly good (it's all made by one local company), candy is everywhere, and ice cream is ridiculously cheap - about 25 US cents - so that explains a lot. But one woman has developed a curious habit of eating a Bounty bar every day even though she never - never - ate them at home. Don't know why she didn't pick Mars bars, the other US candy bar available here. Other volunteers are like me and drink Coke regularly even though we never used to touch it. Most eat much more ice cream than before. Oh well. The big question is, is there protein in ice cream, or is it mostly just fat?

I have seen farmers bailing hay in the states, but the way it is often done here is nothing short of amazing. Not to mention incredibly hard work. It starts with "mowing" the field, which in our village is all done by hand with scythes. Backbreaking work to put it mildly. Once that is done, the hay is moved into piles by hand using pitchforks. Also backbreaking work. The final step in the process is to lift the piles (again by hand with pitchforks) into a bailer that is pulled by a tractor. The neatly bailed hay then falls onto the field, and is picked up by hand and put onto a truck. The big truck, usually waaaaaay overloaded, then takes the hay to whatever barn or house where it is being stored. It's amazing to watch it happen.

The people--all of them--work incredibly hard here. There is no such thing as a day off for anyone. Only the male children seem to be exempt from much of the daily routine. The gender roles here are quite different from what we are used to. Like America, men do the barbeques (horovats) and take care of much of the yard stuff (watering and pruning, but generally not gardening). But the women do just about everything else. All the cooking, cleaning, washing, dishes, etc. In the house, it's interesting to watch our host brother recoil when asked to pick up a dish, much less wash one. But somehow it all works, and we have gotten quite used to life here.

We are winding down our training and have just over a week to go. We have one more week of language classes and this week have been teaching school in something called "model school". It is designed to give us a little preview into what it's like to teach in Armenian schools. The only difference is that these kids are pretty much hand-picked and really WANT to be in school, which is a far cry from what we will actually deal with when we get to our sites. So far, we have taught a small class of adorable 9-10 year olds and a very large class of 13-14 year olds. What a difference a few years makes!

We are doing something called "team teaching" where one person takes one part of the lesson, and another takes a second part. In reality, we have a very strict curriculum that we must follow, and few of the teachers have used interactive or communicative activities in their classes. So we will have lots of challenges coming up.

Among the volunteers, there is something called the Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) which includes representatives from each of the sectors (TEFL, Community Business Development, Community Health Education and Environmental Education). There is one rep for each sector, and each volunteer class. Our class is called A-18 because we are the 18th group to be in Armenia. The long story is that I will be serving as the VAC rep for the A-18 TEFL group. I am excited as it is an opportunity to work with other sectors and with Peace Corps staff. I will find out more at our first meeting on August 4.

Hard to believe we will be living in a new part of the country in less than two weeks. I am sad to leave our little village and the peaceful country life we have here. Even more sad to leave our host family, who has been nothing short of wonderful to us these past two months. We truly feel like part of the family, part of the neighborhood, and part of the village.

Fred writes . . .

We're now on our second week of teaching kids. The hardest part is the lesson planning: we teach in teams of two, so every night I've been getting together with another volunteer to plan our lesson for the next day. It takes us about three hours - way too much - mostly because we both think too much.

Otherwise things are going fairly well. I now have my new cell phone (+374 9889 1961). If you call (please do!) keep in mind that we're GMT +4; that's three hours ahead of Western Europe, nine hours ahead of the US East Coast, and on the opposite side of the planet from the West Coast. Evenings between 8pm and 22pm work best.

Host Family News

We just found out that our new host mom fell and broke both her legs. While the family was willing to host us, we felt it best not to add to what they will have to do over the next few weeks and months. Our new host mom is going to be bedridden for weeks, if not months. Peace Corps is going to start looking tomorrow to try and find us a new host family to live with starting on August 6. We will keep you posted.

We are visiting our new host village and family this weekend. Lots of adjustments. Not sure what I was expecting, but this place is pretty nice (though in a charming, soviet-era kind of way). We will be living in a 2-br apartment with a mother, father (both our age) and their 31-year old son. All are cheesemakers and also make yogurt (matsune) for the local town here. As I sit here by the window looking out, the hills (mountains, really) are covered with trees and the slopes are dotted with cinderblock houses with their tin roofs. There are chickens but I have yet to see a cow. The diet is completely different here from what we're used to, and so far its a really nice change. Our host mom is diabetic, so we actually have fruit to eat (we had almost zero fruit in our last village). And the home made matsune is really good for your digestion and keeps nasty bugs away. We also are really lucky in that we have water 24-7. The rest of our town of 5000+ does not. There is a 2,000 gallon tank over their cheese factory and a hose that runs from it to our apartment (about 50 yards away). So we have water. Another nice change.

We are here for four days to get a feel for the place and to meet the teachers at the schools with whom we will be working. Our meeting is tomorrow, and we head back to our first village on Tuesday. The road to get here is beautiful, but all switchbacks once you get off the main highway from Yerevan. It took us about 3 hours to get here, which I understand really isn't too bad. So our town here is about 8 times the size of the last one. There are many stores to choose from, and even two banks with ATM machines. Quite luxurious. We have good bakeries and even some ok clothing stores. There is another volunteer living here who took us on a tour, and there will be four of us in total in this village. It's really hot here (95-100) with not much relief in sight. Fortunately that is very unusual. I expect milder winters here, but we will get some snow. There is a military base nearby (we can see Azerbaijan from our bedroom window), so housing is very tight. Not sure how long we will live with this host family, but until mid-December at least.

We went up into the mountains today to get away from the heat. The family has built this amazing covered picnic area on a creek. It has a barbeque (horovats) oven and running spring water. It felt like air conditioning when we got out of the hot car. The spring water was ice cold, although we didn't drink it. Perhaps when we have our Peace Corps water filters with us, but not until. We spent the day in the shade, ate amazing grilled vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers), grilled beef, port and chicken, bread, cheese, and drinks. Then we all played cards, went for a short hike, and just generally enjoyed ourselves. Now it's back to the heat of the town. Just wanted to give you the flavor of the place. We are really enjoying getting to know this new family. They laugh and have fun and are very social, which suits us just fine.

The sun has now set and hopefully there will be a little breeze to cool things off. One absolutely amazing thing though is the swallows. They nest under the eaves at the school and there literally are hundreds of them in the air at any one time. They streak by the building in groups with their high pitched chirps. It's like miniature jet fighters the way they bank and turn. Quite a sight. We are waiting for the world cup to start, and another volunteer is heading over to watch the game. We have most of our extended family here too.

The trainees in our village (now down to 7) cooked up a barbeque for our host families to celebrate the 4th of July. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, roasted potatoes, etc. We also had a water baloon fight (need to bring more next year), pin the tail on the donkey, soccer, and sparklers. Our host families all brought yummy desserts, and we were treated with the sight of a really big snake as we ate our dinner. Then there was dancing! The last guests left just before midnight!

Today we are back to school and getting ready to visit our new host families and villages/towns this coming weekend. We will be living in a town of about 6,500 people--Noyemberyan--near the Georgia/Azerbaijan border. We understand that we can get to Tblisi in about an hour by taxi, or a few hours by bus (or marshrutka, which is like a mini van). We are looking forward to finding out more about our new site, meeting the English teachers we will work with, and meeting our new host family. The town is supposed to have warmer winters, but we shall see. That also means hot summers--like over 100 degrees. The heat will be a bit of a challenge, and we are wondering what we will do with our zero degree sleeping bags.

Today (Monday) it is back to school--language classes in the morning and technical sessions in the afternoon. Fred and I will be teaching a class to teachers this Thursday on "interactive grammar techniques" (grammar games, except that we have to disguise it). We are busy trying to learn something about the topic so we can teach two 45-minute classes.

Peace Corps training continues to be challenging. Different personalities, different needs, different language, different everything! This week was the first time I felt like it just wasn't manageable. Luckily neither of us feels that way at the same time. Having another person to share this all with is really, really good. So I am very grateful for that.

Will update the blog after (or maybe during) our site visit. We are supposed to have 3G coverage, and we hear rumors that wireless may even be an option. As we now struggle with very low upload/download speeds, THAT would be a real miracle.

We miss our home, our families, our friends, and much of what we so took for granted about life in America. But we are adjusting . . . one day at a time. We are loving Armenia, the people we meet, and especially the children, all of whom are magical. So far, we seem to be handling all the various challenges we are given. Hard to believe we have just over 4 weeks left of training. Our scheduled swearing-in day is August 5! Just 30 days away . . .

Here's some of what we're learning. Prepositions are not as common in Armenian as in English: instead they use endings to show the cases of nouns. We have to focus on progress, not perfection, and most likely that won't change for the next two years.

Mud had probably been our worst experience here so far, and it could get a lot worse. We have to walk on dirt roads to get anywhere from our house, and when it rains - and we've had dramatic thunderstorms almost every day for a couple of weeks - those roads quickly turn to mud. We end up walking with big globs sticking to our shoes. It seemed at first that Armenians were somehow able to walk through it without getting dirty: our teachers come to school with almost no sign of mud on their little shoes or sandals. But that has probably had more to do with their particular route to school: I suspect they've been able to walk through grass and on small rocks to get from their house, which is on a different street, to the main road, which is more or less paved. Yesterday, however, our host family's shoes were all caked in mud too. Clearly they were unable to get around it too. This is somewhat comforting: at least our mud-walking skills are no worse than those of at least some people who grew up here.

We live in the house on the right side of the end of this road.

My brain is tired from all the learning, all the new words, tastes, people, sights, smells. This will pass, though maybe not until we're done with our pre-service training in early August. Susan is asleep; I've been downstairs playing cards with Heno, the family's 14-year-old boy. I never figured out all the rules, but since I won it was easy to go with the flow. Of course I did get help, first from our majr (the host mom), then from the pajr (host dad).

I also helped carry a huge metal milk bottle - which looked very much like the ones I remember from my childhood summers in rural Finland - from the car into the kitchen. The family is making milk for the next month or two. I hope we get a chance to help.

Our familiar world feels a million miles away, although I've managed to wrest control of the remote a couple of times now to watch BBC World Service. I now know that South Africa played Mexico to a draw. My condolences to Jose Mario and Cesar.

We have been in our village for a week. Our host family is awesome-- mom, dad, three girls in their 20s and a son who is 14. Friendly dog, which is apparently unusual in villages. We are being fed three meals a day and all the food is really good and fresh. Our host family has chickens, and the eggs are yummy. The view from our room is of rolling, grass covered hills and we can see a bit of the local town in the distance. Our village has about 750 people living it in, but it does have a school and a few small stores. The main road is paved, but none of the roads inside the village itself. Our school is pretty old, but it gets the job done. The students are out of school except for special exams, so we have the school to ourselves. We have running water except for the main part of the day, so we can do laundry (in a washing machine by the way) and have hot showers. Those are luxuries that some volunteers don't have.

The food is really good--fresh eggs and juice in the morning, and part of each meal includes a plate of fresh herbs, tomatoes and cucumber, bread and lavash, and a cheese that is really good but quite salty. I didn't like it at first, but now am getting used to it. Our family, like most, makes its own yogurt which is said to be really good for you and helps you to avoid the most common intestinal problem here. So far we are fine in that regard.

We are in school six days a week from 9 to 1:30, then home for lunch, and we often have another activity or technical session in the afternoon. Evenings are spent doing homework, and there is a lot of it We try to spend some time with our host family each evening, and that's been nice. All in all, we are adjusting to village life. It truly feels like it's been a very long time that we've been done, but it's just over 2 weeks since we left Massachusetts. We are worlds away. Now that we have internet, I guess we'll try to keep up on what's going on in the world. Or at least Fred will. We miss our usual routine, our families and our friends. We try not to think in terms of years, but rather in terms of weeks or days. So today, we have only 9 more weeks of pre-service training.

That was Susan; this is Fred. I had a mishap with my laptop: we borrowed a USB modem, were told to use it without installing the software, I clicked OK somewhere and it installed the software, I couldn't get on the internet, and the next time I rebooted the machine it was as good as dead. It is now with some Peace Corps guy who'll try to fix it or take it to some Mac store in Yerevan. Our access to Yerevan is limited. I'm hoping that the data can at least be recovered; a new hard drive shouldn't cost too much even here, although not even a fraction of the cost would be recovered by our meager Peace Corps salaries. Frustrating nevertheless. At least we have Internet access, of sorts: right now I'm getting a message saying the contact with blogger.com has failed and this posting may not post, but I suppose if you're reading it I was successful. We hope to stay in touch better in future.

Anyways, we do love it here. It's been sunny every day except two so far, and we've been in the country what, 12 days? It is different, however, as Susan mentioned. It is in some ways a conservative country, for instance when it comes to gender roles. The PC does try to educate us on those things. And it's poor, although our village seems to be a little less so, at least judging from our family. They certainly have money left over for cell phones, a nice TV, some fancy clothes, ice cream. Then again, ice cream costs less than US$0.25, and our family owns a store in the village. Susan and I, meanwhile, have almost nothing to spend money on around here, so the same is probably true for the locals.

I'll try to post a picture or two later. Now I should go downstairs and hang out with the family and Susan.

We arrived at 5:40 this morning. It's been a long day since then, sightseeing, meeting existing volunteers and local staff, sitting through training sessions, eating. We haven't had a real night's sleep in a bed since Wednesday night, and it's now late Thursday. But we're both more excited than ever. This is going to be good. Our short-term priority is to get internet access; our long-term concern will be staying healthy.

We've made it to Vienna. This may not sound like a big deal to you, and it wouldn't normally to us either: you go to the airport, you check in, etc. But in a group of 58 people it's a bit more complicated, especially when the buses carrying us take a wrong turn and end up in a traffic jam on side streets in Alexandria, Virginia. It was 91 degrees F (34C) outside, and our bus had no AC and the windows didn't open. Our group is forever split into those who were on the hot bus and those who traveled in comfort.

Then there was the airport. I won't go into details, but the airline is not popular among us, and the Peace Corps is not a term the people behind the counter want to hear ever again. Oh well. The flight itself was eventless.

Maybe this is just a way of weeding out the ones who aren't ready for the Armenian way of travel. Or maybe the Peace Corps is toughening us for all the frustrations we will inevitably encounter as we move from a culture where the expectation is that things function to one where that's the case to a much lesser degree.

In Vienna - well, we never made it into the city. Susan and I got to our day room at an airport hotel and passed out for four hours. Then we wandered into the local little town and had a late lunch and bought a surge protector. Now we'll have what may be our last real showers for a while and head back to the airport. Early.