and say that this will probably be my last post from Armenia. 15 days left, and it is really much scarier then I ever thought it would be.

First, a quick recap of the last 2 months. MY PARENTS CAME TO VISIT!! Yup yup! It was amazing. Just how excited was I, you ask? Well, first let me describe the arrivals area of the Zvartnots airport. It is about the size of a small, mom-and-pop grocery story and is a big empty room with double doors connecting it to customs or whatever. Wrapping around these double doors are glass walls, where all of the waiting friends and family gather. As I stood there, smoshed against the glass, a small Armenian girl (no joke-she was probably two) was beside me with her grandmother. They were waiting for the girl's mother. The SECOND that the little girls mom walked through the doors and the little girl saw her through the glass, she bust out sobbing. Actually sobbing, I am talking full on screaming and crying and trying to run away from her grandmother towards the opening in the glass to meet her mom. I, being already close to tears and freaking out Armenians by bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet, promised myself I wouldn't do that when I saw my parents...let me tell you, it was a close call. I cried, they cried and I pushed through a bunch of Armenians and quite honestly stopped them right on that 'security line' to hug them about 5 times each. It was fantastic!

The trip only got better from there : ) We spent time in Dilijan with my host family, and despite being woken up WELL before I wanted to be to translate, it was great. I was really happy to finally have my two families meet. The parents were also able to meet the old host family in Karenis, where we were treated to a great day of khorovats down by the river. It was the typical village experience, and a highlight of their trip for sure. Mom got a kick out of finally meeting the kids that she always sent presents to (and who quite honestly kept me sane during the harder times) and dad loved the drinking, fun loving, and big family atmosphere of the khorovats itself. In Martuni they got a taste of the 'PCV' life, when they stayed with me at another volunteers apartment. I made dinner from scratch (lasagna, yum) and everyone had a good time just kicking around. Even though the volunteer we stayed with has an amazing apartment by our standards, mom and dad were kind of shocked with the living conditions. Pretty sure dad thought he might die, and mom just started cracking up laughing as she laid down to go to sleep...in a state of disbelief!

After 10 days (way too short a time) I had to put them back on the plane. It was sad. I might have cried. They did get to take a whole big suitcase back for me though, and experienced the Armenian bribery system first hand when they wanted to check a 3rd bag at the airport.

Since then, things have been winding down. I finally had a chance to go down south (way WAY down south) and visit another volunteer in Meghri, and we for sure took the opportunity to drive along the Iranian border for a few minutes. That was pretty cool, you could see a village on the other side..the difference in architecture was interesting! On the same trip I got to ride the WORLD'S LONGEST TRAMWAY..yup. Be jealous. The tramways is the easiest way to get to Tatev, one of the prettiest monasteries in Armenia.

Today was my big goodbye khorovats with all of the teachers from the art school. Let me tell you, it was an incredible time. We went a little ways down the road to this 'basetka' or gazebo. Of course, it wasn't just a gazebo, but a whole picnic area complete with covered tables and swing. One of the guys from school had traveled out in the morning to reserve it for us! Soon enough (there were about 10 women there) the tables were set and the men were cooking the meat (pork-yum!). One of the woman had brought her two little boys, and we entertained ourselves with the Armenian version of dodge ball (way better then the normal version, FYI)until everything was all cooked. Vodka flowed throughout the meal, and toasts were said to all of us, and our lives, and to my journey back to America. I must have reassured them 10 times that I would never forget them...even gave a toast that involved me remembering them always and keeping them in my heart. Dancing followed after dinner, and finally a group of us took a short hike up to Jutavank, a small monastery on the outskirts of Dilijan that I had never been to. I walked with another woman and two of the male teachers, I lead the way. One of the men kept telling the other one to get ahead of me, because in Armenia a man is always in the front and back. The other woman got a kick out of it when I 'clicked' my disapproval at him and told him that he was crazy. Finally, around 9 (after 8 hours in the woods) I took a taxi home with a few of the teachers...it was really sad to say goodbye, knowing that there were some people there that I will probably never see again.

I have to get used to that though, only 15 days left...I picked up what is proably the last batch of letters from Mem today (well, honestly, the neighbor picked them up and brought them to me)and tomorrow I leave for my last two nights of visiting my old host family in Karenis. That is going to suck. Bad. Then off to 4th of July in Sevan and one last Green Camp before I come home for a few days before saying goodbye to my host family here. Ugh, I can't even think about that.

My microphone is broken, so phone calls home are going to probably not happen, which is just as well...since I will be there soon enough and have to focus on everyone here...

I want to thank all of you for sharing these two years with me. Dealing with the good days (that hopefully far outnumbered) the bad days. Thanks especially to my mem, for those weekly letters that got me through a lot of those bad days; and my mom and dad for always being there to make me pull myself together (and sending me amazing packages); and Gramp and Gramp and Phyllis, for always making me smile when we were on the phone...and to all of you for the support you have given me just by reading my infrequent and usually scatterbrained ramblings.

I guess I will see you on the flipside.

I need to stop promising that I will get better at this writing more often thing, I have had 2 years to follow through and clearly that hasn't happened yet. Sorry.

So, the last two months:

In early April I finally had the chance again to perfect my ravioli and lasagna recipes. A few volunteers got together in Martuni, and I spent 3 or 4 hours in the kitchen grating cheese, mixing curds, chopping tomatoes, simmering sauce making dough and filling ravioli (special shout out to Nick and Kyle for helping me to roll out all of the dough!). Thankfully, the recipes for both are pretty similar, and use the same ingredients...so it didn't get too crazy. Armenians make a meat ravioli like dish called plimini, and so I used the form for those to make the raviolis. It is a honeycomb shape and you stretch dough over the form, spoon in the cheese/curd mixture, stretch more dough over the top and then use a rolling pin (or wine bottle) to fix the two pieces of dough together. Let me tell you, MUCH easier then wrapping the ravioli by hand! If I do say so myself, the dinner was a big success, and I will for sure be bringing the form home to America so I can continue making all of my favorites from scratch! Other food that I will try to never buy again? pie, pie crust, cookies, spaghetti sauce and pizza. I have also had pretty good luck here with chicken pot pie, curries, and and other baked goods.

This year the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps was celebrated all around the world. PC staff encouraged the PCVs in each marz (or region in Armenia)to prepare some type of event for the community. In Tavush, the best marz ever..BEAR MARZ!, we decided to have our event in Ijevan along with the poetry contest that was scheduled to happen there. The poetry contest happened along with contests all over Armenia (a PC project, I organized one in Dilijan for the next week but more about that later) and at ours 13 of the 14 PCVs in Ijevan came to help out. Just under 60 children participated in the recitation contest, and a lot of them brought along family and friends. There was a short speech in the beginning talking about the PC and some of the work they had done in Armenia, and then the real work started. As the different forms (grades) presented their poems, the majority of the volunteers manned different stations aimed at keeping parents and kids busy! There was snacks and an information booth, as well as a mini health lesson, an English activity, an couple of arts and crafts project and of course (my favorite) a sports/team building 'corner'. The kids and the PCVs had a fun time alike, and it was nice to see all of the volunteers and to work with them on such a successful day!

The week after the 50th anniversary celebration/poetry recitation contest in Ijevan, I hosted the Dilijan local poetry competition. 25 children from 3 of the secondary schools in town picked an English language poem to recite for the contest, and in the weeks before I went around to the schools, helping the children with pronunciation and understanding their poems. On the day of the competition 3 other PCVs came down to help me judge and to write certificates, I served as the partial MC (with questionable Armenian skills, of course). Despite a small scheduling conflict and having to start 30 minutes late, the contest went off without a hitch and the kids were all pretty happy. In May, the 6 winners from my contest will join other children from all over the country in Hrazdan for the national contest.

The 2nd week of March also included an impromptu trip down south to Syunik Marz. I went with 3 other volunteers from up north and had a 4 day, 3 nights, 5 village/town tour. I took and incredibly nauseating 5 hour marshutka ride down to Kapan and stayed with another PCV in the village of Davit Bek. That night included some shenanigans in the newly renovated (thanks to the PCV) school gym and a delicious chicken khoravats! The next day we took a not so disgusting ride up to Sisian and stayed in a village outside of that with another PCV. That night included some delicious pasta and a group effort to 'Walk off the Pounds' in a very small living room. Hilarity ensued and there are pictures of us all acting ridiculous somewhere. The next day we took another not so good ride (see a pattern? this is why the North is WAY better then the South) to Goris to stay with another PCV host. Highlights of Goris included exploring the old caves around the town. Before Soviet times, most of the Gorisites built their homes against the mountains, using caves carved into the rock as cold rooms or cellars and even sometimes housing. When the Soviets came, they built the road in the mountain valley, causing a relocation of the town (and houses, brick by brick) into the valley and out of the mountains. This means that there are tons of these old caves left to explore, and some are still used as storage or animal barns. I know barn isn't the word I am looking for here, but the right word just won't come to me. Closing off the trip that night, we made some awesome stew (thank you boys) and some tasty lemon squares (us ladies)...then the next morning we crawled hesitantly back into taxis for the long ride back up to Yerevan.

After a pretty relaxing night in Yerevan, I woke up the next morning pretty stoked for the big Armenia-Russia soccer game that 40 of us PCVs had bought tickets for! Most of us had Armenian flag hats, compliments of a super knitter PCV, and I had made a scarf to go along with it. A Fulbright scholar that we know painted our faces with Armenian flags and we left on our way to the stadium, arriving about an hour and a half before game time. Oh my, was there craziness at the stadium. The crowd control was a little bogus (and dangerous) and more than once myself and another volunteer had to stop and talk to the policemen, asking them to let the rest of our group through the barriers. Our most common excuse was that they didn't speak English, and that we had to have them with us so we could translate. Then, when we finally worked our way through the crowds of big, drunk Russian men, we made it to our gate (about 20 of us in our one group) to find that it was closed. Another PCV and I worked our way through the angry, shouting men to the front of the gate to talk to the policemen guarding it. They told us that the gate was closed and wouldn't open again, at first telling us because they didn't want to let any more Russians in (we quickly pointed out that if we were Russia fans we wouldn't have the Armenian flag sported in so many ways and/or wouldn't be speaking only Armenian to them)and then later saying that we were too late (45 min before the game) and that the gates were closed for good. While the other PCV with me tried to call the football federation that had arranged our tickets, I decided to try to make friends with one of the policemen and convince him to let us in. After a lot of questions and pleading and playing the volunteer card (all in Armenian, mind you), and not a little bit of flirting and well practiced puppy dog eyes...45 minutes and a few phone calls to other officers later he finally was able to unlock the gate to let us all in! Victory! Sometimes it pays to be a girl ;)

The game was incredible, we were all so pumped up and Armenia (surprisingly) was able to hold their own. It was great to be a part of that, and more then a few Armenians were shocked to see a bunch of Americans cheering right along with them! Throats sore 1 1/2 hours later, the game ended in a tie, making this the furthest that Armenia has ever made it in the series (is it a series?)!! The Armenians left very, very happy. And the one lone section of Russians left with little fanfare. One more thing crossed off of my Armenia bucket list!

After all of the traveling, it was nice to have a solid week and a half in Dilijan. It still amazes me how much I miss my host family and sagging bed and ever-constant children when I am not there for a few days! My classes went really well, since most of my students are learning about animals, I made good use of the paper, stickers, string, and crayons I have to create 'animal books' with the kids. I had them talk about different biomes (desert, ocean, forest, rain forest,etc.) and we discussed what kinds of animals live where. After they had written out all of the vocab on the right pages, I gave them some cool fish and rain forest pop up stickers that my mom had sent (omg did that cause a mob) and let them go to town drawing all of the other animals. It was a pretty fantastic class, and it made me sad to think about leaving those kids in just 2 short months. They have lately been asking me when I am leaving, and whenever I tell them they ask when I will be back. It is hard to explain that it won't be very soon, and I have been promising to come back in 5 years to visit. Hopefully I will be able to make that happen, as all the kids have been telling me what class they will be in then and telling me to make sure I find them when I come back.

Today I came back from a weekend trip to Talin (in Aragatsevan Marz) to visit David, another PCV. This was the first time I visited him at his new site and also the first time that I have gone to see another volunteer still living with a host family. His family was amazing, and we stayed up pretty late playing Dorak (or 'stupid' in Russian) which is a card game that I am not a big fan of. It was still a good time though, with lots of laughs over some attempts (and some blatent)cheating and hissy fits by losing PCVs. Yesterday, we spend a good part of the day exploring a persian era fort (or 'berd' in Armenian). Our explorations (aided by David's host brother and some friends) had us crawling through stone tunnels and over some questionable stairs. It was pretty awesome. It also had me breaking out my teacher voice with the boys as they tested their rock climbing and jumping skills. On the walk home we stopped by a man made lake and laid in the sun relaxing for a bit, and later caught a ride back to David's house in time for some dolma for lunch. Yum!

Now, back in Dilijan until next Monday (when my COS, or Close of Service, conference starts..yikes!) I am looking forward to a paper crane folding event (to benefit those still suffering in Japan) with the local schools, and Easter lamb dinner with other volunteers, and finally..in 14 short days!...my mom and dad coming to visit!

And I am sure they will make sure I update my blog while they are here :)

The Winter that was slow to start is showing no signs of stopping. I am talking cold, ::brrrr:: cold!

What does that mean? I get an hour by my computer (tops!) before my frigid handsicles make it impossible for me to type. That is why 90% of my time (outside of classes) is spent within a 3 ft radius of my wood stove.

Those who know me know that I can't just SIT there with nothing to do. So I read a little, and write lessons, and then spend most of my time working on whatever knitting/crocheting project is available to me.

I just learned to crochet (thanks to some awesome Tavush ladies) and am working on improving my skills (since I only mastered the granny square) so I can make two very important ladies in my life blankets for their little spoiled ones-to-be.

In the knitting world, I am working on a simple scarf for a certain someone who wanted specific colors...and then I am moving on. To what? cables. Yes, cables. They intimidate me, but I will conquer them. First, in a scarf (check out ravelry.com) and then in a hat. Bring it. I am ready...

Sooooo here is the begging part! I am in desperate need of:

Knitting needles..I have 4,6, and 8...and the 4 is dpns, the other two normal. If anyone has any circular needles sitting around (I need smaller ones, for hats and mittens, since the only size found here is sweater big) or any other normal needles sitting around it would be GREAT if you could get them to my mom.

Also, a row counter, and those nifty little stoppers you put on dpns so your stitches don't fall off constantly would be pretty great too : )

As for crocheting. I have nothing. I am borrowing a hook from a friend. So ANYTHING that you have lying around and don't use anymore would be SUHWEET!

and, since I have already lost all of my shame; some peanut butter, fruit snacks/fruit cups, and some graham crackers would be amazing.

PS...I pinkie swear promise this is my very last desperate/begging blog, ever.

Since we got the longest and gnarliest ‘loose end’ out of the way first, there are just a few more. I have mentioned in a few posts already that the GAD (Gender and Development) Initiative has been working with Armenian Young Women Association (AWYA http://www.aywa.am/en/index) to plan a Woman’s Day Expo, which will happen (now really cross your fingers) on April 4th. What is Woman’s Day? You ask…well, it is what it sounds like. A day (or days, as there happens to be two in Armenia) that celebrates the amazingness and awesomeness and incredibleness of women. Can you see why I like it? On Woman’s Day(s) all the ladies get flowers from their families, or students, or friends. And there is usually some type of celebration with cake and wine and cognac. Last year, PCVs worked with AWYA to organize a poster and essay contest. The contest was open to anyone from 6th form to 1st year in University, girls and boys, and they had to create a poster or write an essay around the theme ‘Women in the Workforce’. This year, we are looking to build up the event even more. The poster/essay contest this year is ‘Women in Leadership’ (and you can bet my kids will be participating) and the winners of the contest will be invited to Yerevan for an award ceremony. The ceremony will take place in the middle of our planned expo. Hopefully, there will be different NGOs there, focusing on Woman’s health, domestic violence, education, etc. We will also have different dance groups and craft exhibitors (all women, of course) and will even have a ‘childran’s section’ where younger children can come and play games or do team building exercises. Quite frankly, I am pretty darn stoked for the whole thing! Right now, I am working as the coordinator between AYWA and the PCV team that is working on the whole organization aspect of the event. We will hopefully have a venue organized soon, and from there we can work on enlisting NGOs and crafters and dance groups for the event.

Of course, outside of these events, life in Dilijan continues on. Dilijan might be my LONGEST and thickest string. It is my home, my community. It still puts a smile on my face as I walk down the street and a bunch of boys from my classes yell ‘hello’ at me from across the river, or actually mean it instead of just being rude little brats. Or when girls that never spoke to me before will walk down the stairs with me and talk to me about class or what is going on. I can honestly say that I love them, and really, they love me. It never gets old to walk in the class and see the kids jump up in excitement as a big smile spreads across their face. My after school English Environmental club is going spectacularly well. I am alone in the classroom, and they listen. They legit listen. And when someone doesn’t, they self police and the ‘problem’ is told pretty quickly to cut it out. I love playing the games with them, watching them learn things without the standard screaming teacher, shaming, and rote memorization that happens in the normal lessons. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I am going to make valentines with the kids in my normal lessons, and then on Tuesday during club we are going to make some pretty valentines to give to one another.

If that goes well, I am even going to bring the Valentine theme into my adult English class at the unemployment center. This class happens for 2 hours every Wednesday. There are 10 or 15 women at every class (plus one man) and they are great. They are totally enthusiastic for everything that we are doing, and love just talking to me. In fact, the only reason I know the class exists is that they sent their teacher looking for me, telling her that they want me to come and help with class. Last week, my third class with them, we worked on food words, and taking a page out of my own Armenian training, I had them prepare menus to share with the rest of the class. This week (if the Valentine thing doesn’t work out) I am going to have them write out recipes. That should be a good time. My other ‘adult’ class or ‘conversation club’ is still going just OK. It has gotten much better though. I have given them more dialogues, and they have stopped fighting me about reading Dr Suess’ The Lorax. A nice compromise, I think.

My new and exciting project, which I am SURE I mentioned before was the ‘Border 2 Border’ walk that I will be participating in during the ENTIRE month of June, or at least the great majority of it. For 20 days (or 23) two groups of PCVs will be walking the entire length of Armenia, one group (mine) starting in the south, and the other group from the north. We will meet in the middle, Martuni specifically. All along the way we will be stopping to teach healthy lifestyles classes for groups in the villages along the way, and in Martuni we will have a large ‘health’ celebration. Another PCV, well versed in the ways of long distance walking, has sent us all a training routine and we are just now beginning to cement our collaboration with the Red Cross and World Vision. This is going to be huge, a nationwide event that will hopefully draw attention to the need for change. Check out our blog (http://walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com) or find us on Facebook. Oh, and if you have any connections at UA or Nike or Adidas or anyplace like that, let me know…appropriate clothing for this marathon walk is pretty scarce in Armenia.

In other exciting news, my parents are coming to visit! Yes, after months and months of harassing (and threatening) my father passport applications (well, application, we were just waiting on his) have been submitted and plane tickets have been bought! No going back now! I am very, very excited for them to come and see me. Quite frankly, going more than a year without hugging your parents (at any age, and you know this) is pretty depressing. I miss them. I am also really happy that my two lives will finally meet. I have always referred to my life here in Armenia as my ‘Peace Corps Life’ and my life back in America as ‘the real world’ and I am pretty stoked that those two worlds will soon be coming together. For two years now, Armenia has been my ‘home’, and I have ‘families’ here that I feel like some part of the real world needs to meet and see and experience, or it won’t be real. I have talked about and explained and taken pictures of my life here, but honestly I want someone from home to experience it. So when I continue (as I will for many years) to talk about the people and places here, they will know what or who I am talking about. When I speak of my host family, to my parents they won’t just be some abstract family in Armenia that fed me (or overfed me, rather) but will be legitimate, tangible people that my mother has hugged and my father has taken shots with.

Bah. I have talked too much, if I keep going with all of these thoughts and random things swirling around in my head I won’t have anything to tell you about next time I write (which will be soon, I pinky swear promise).

Holy moly. I have just about 5 months left in Armenia. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by, especially when it seems to drag through the cold, cold winter months. I have begun the ‘wrap-up’ process of my service, searching for all those physical and emotional loose ends that need to be tied up nice and tight before I can begin to leave this place that has been my home for the last 2 years. I am happy, and sad, and nervous, and excited all at the same time, and all of the emotions swirling around are taking up WAY too much space in my head. Thankfully, I have a lot of ‘loose ends’ to keep me busy. Well, that and the new projects that I am involved in. Whoops.

Let’s start with all of those pretty little loose ends. My time here has come full circle, and I am working now on Green Camps (or Environmental Leadership Camps) 2011. While on one hand I am happy that at least year I won’t be just tossed head first into the deep end and forced to learn how to swim, I am also disappointed that a lot of what we worked so hard on and for last year never came about. I guess that is the nature of these projects. What is that saying? ‘Reach for the moon and you will land among the stars’. The PCPP grant that we worked on has fallen a little bit short, and so in the last few days another volunteer and I have been working to cut and adjust and wheedle every single thing that we can out of the money that we did receive. So far, it looks like we will be having 3 small-scale day camps in 3 different regions of Armenia (Tavush, Gheghardgunik, and Syunik if you want to check out a map). Which means about 120 Armenian children will be able to attend. We will have the same(ish) curriculum, which hopefully in the next few weeks we will be able to go through and adjust to not only reflect the reviews from last year, but to also account for the fact that there will not be any ‘advanced environmental leadership’ camp this year. On the up side, we will be working very hard this year to increase the visibility and sustainability of the ‘Green Camp’ program. A group of us, as part of the newly established Camps Initiative (which I co-chair, proud moment right here mom and dad, wipe that tear from the corner of your eye) have developed a sustainability plan which will allow future volunteers working with NGOs to transfer skills in a way that is logical and sustainable for the NGO and local community. These skills include budget management, curriculum development, logistical support, and evaluation along with a few others. Hopefully, the step by step plan is also flexible and clear enough that it can be easily passed off between volunteers as old ones leave and new ones come. With this plan, and a new memorandum of agreement, we will be approaching new NGOs in different regions of Armenia, offering our assistance in the planning and implementation of a ‘Green Camp’ in their area. Cross your fingers for us! While I am not doing nearly as much work as I had to do last year, just hearing the words ‘Green Camp’ tend to push my mind into a state of anxiety and exhaustion…but I know that in the end the reward will be worth it. Even if I only go to one camp this year : )

Oh, and if by any chance you would still like to donate to the ‘Green Camp’ cause, you can learn more about the project here:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=305-063

Nor Tari Schnorhavor!

Happy New Year!

So, while I am way to full and tired to write an actual blog, I would like to share the fallowing with you. The following is conversation which happened just a few minutes ago around our kitchen table...but let me set the scene for you first.

This morning the entire family got up and traveled over to my host mother's village, where we visited her oldest brothers house for New Year's festivities (we had visited her other brother's house yesterday). We were all dressed to the 9's and had a lot of fun as 15 of us crammed around one small table that was chalk full of horavats (bbq meat), salad (not the leafy kind, the mayo kind), fruit, and pickled veggies...oOo..and of course alcohol. We spent 2 hours eating and toasting and drinking and repeating it all over and over and over again. Then we danced. Then drunk people slept and we were driven home. My host sister and I immediately fell asleep (this being around 5 sometime)and were woken by my host mother right before dinner.

Since the big dining room table is set for company (as it must be for 3 or 4 days after New Year) we ate in the kitchen. I in my rumpled pajamas, complete with still in place excessive eye make-up sat next to my host mother who was still dressed nicely. Next to her sat my host dad, still a little tipsy. My host sister Lilit was next. She skipped the pj's part though before her nap and sat in her skewed dress, with crazy hair (magically her make-up was still perfect though), and lastly my tatik was on the other side.

Dolma, 3 day old cold chicken (totally normal, and will be served for 2 more days at least), and two types of salad were on the table...and we had some soda too.

Angie (host mom): Ararat, take another dolma, this is all that is left and we need to finish it

Ararat (host dad): No, I am full, I don't want it

Angie: It is fine, just have one more

Katie: snickers softly, since this is a running them in the family

Tat: Katie is laughing (with a smirk on her own face)

Angie: Well, Katie needs to take one more too. This is all I boiled, we need to eat it!

Katie (incredulous with her eyes wide): BUT this is my third!!!

Angie: You just take one more, I will take one, Ararat will, and Lilit

Lilit (host sister, also incredulous): What? But I didn't laugh!!

Angie: There are only a few left, one for me, and Katie, and Ararat, and Lilit (As she scoops them onto each person's plate). Ha, finished!

Ararat: Angie, (pointing at the still half full bowl of salad on the table), finish that salad, we need the bowl

All: (smirk, since this is something said quite often in my family at meal times)

Angie: No, it is fine, we will finish it tomorrow morning

I love it. This is my life, made just a little more full and tired during the New Year!

Happy New Year to you all, I hope you have an amazing year filled with happiness and love, surrounded by friends and family!

and PS: I pinkie-swear promise when all the celebrating quiets down I will write a real blog.

Oh my, oh my do I have a lot to tell you all about.

As you know, my November and early December were pretty crazy. I attended my second and last All Vol (All Volunteer Conference) in Yerevan during four days in November. All Vol is a conference that EVERY SINGLE Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia attends. While there are meetings and general programs, the most important part of the conference (for us Volunteers, of course) is getting together with friends that you never really get to see. We made (well, I set tables, other people cooked) a huge Thanksgiving dinner on the first night, for all of the PC volunteers and staff. It was amazing delicious this year! There were 27 pies! After dinner, there was a variety show. A few brave volunteers got up to sing and read poems and what have you. My favorite act was a compilation of popular songs, modified to be about our life here in Armenia. It was hilarious!

Another highlight of All Vol this year was the HIV/AIDS Day flash mob that almost all of the PCVs took part in. A couple of hardworking PCVs who head up the HIV/AIDS initiative organized the event. We all ordered HIV/AIDs awareness tee shirts, and on the last day of the conference walked together to the Opera in Yerevan. The opera is a pretty busy area of the city, with lots of people driving and walking through. Of course, we all had our tee shirts covered up while we met some Armenians (mostly students) who would join us as we walked toward another busy road. As we walked to this area, we straggled along, spreading the group out and trying to look as 'normal' as possible. When the first people reached the spot where we would 'mob', a whistle was blown and we all took off our coats (so people could see our shirts) and stood in a funny, eye catching pose until the whistle was blown a minute later. When that happened, we put back on our jackets and walked away in different directions like nothing strange had happened. It was pretty cool. We got A LOT of looks, which was the point, and while people stared, hopefully they got a chance to see the informative posters that some of the volunteers were holding. They were great..showing statistics about HIV/AIDS in Armenia (most people believe it doesn't exist here) and talking about condom use (most Armenian men think they are immune to disease...vodka kills everything, right?). After the mob, we all met up at a local club, yes, all 90 something volunteers..and had some pizza and hung out. It was an amazing experience, one I was glad to take part in.

The HIV/AIDS problem here is actually a pretty interesting one. While awareness of the virus is for sure getting more attention, and slowly people are becoming more knowledgeable, I think a number of things make it hard to spread information and awareness in the country. The first is the taboo associated with all things sex related here. Women DO NOT have sex before marriage, end of story. Girl and boys are taught that it is SHAMEFUL to discuss any type of sex related topic. Unlike the US, there are NO sex-ed classes in schools to give the children here the basic facts they need to know to keep themselves safe and healthy, and from what I gather children are for sure not able to ask their parents any questions that they might have. Another problem is the gender role situation. I am hugely

After All Vol, myself and a few other volunteers hung around to work with American Counsels in Yerevan to design and plan a mini Project Design and Management program for returned FLEX students. FLEX is a program that allows Armenian High School students (who have good grades and speak passable English) to travel to America to live and study for a year.

I really do suck at keeping this thing up to date. I am sorry. I pinky swear promise I will try harder this time.

Part of the problem is that I have been crazy, crazy busy in these last few weeks, and will continue to be so until January probably. I really need to learn to say NO. Actually, I lie, I like the busy...it makes me feel like I am actually accomplishing something AND makes the time absolutely fly by. 9 months and counting. Yup.

Let me tell you about some things that have been going on. A few weeks ago I spent the week in Robby's (another PCV) village of Վարդաբլուր (Vardablur). The village is a teeny tiny one, in between Vanadzor and Stepanavan. Robby, Rani (yet another PCV, check out the teamwork here people) and myself put on a 'mini Green Camp' for some of the younger kids in Robby's after-school clubs. Let me tell you, I was super excited to head back to the village, not only because the camp sounded fun, but also because Robby's host family ROCKS! There is a grandmother, mother, and 3 little kids (12, 9, and 4ish). I love them like whoa. I miss living with a big family (if you remember I lived in a family of 12 during PST) and enjoy having kids around. And if any Armenians are reading this..չէ ես չեմ ուզում երեխաներ հիմա!!! (NO I don't want children right now!)But moving on. The first few days that I was there were absolutely fantastic. We made some good food and had a good time. The camp was going pretty well even though the kids had the attentions spans of goldfish! We did some easy team building activities and played a lot of environmental games, including one where they were bees and had to run around collecting 'pollen' for their hive! Everything was going well, until the day I became insanely ill. I woke up and my stomach wasn't right, and then by mid day I couldn't stand up without almost passing out and had to run downstairs to the bathroom every hour. That was LAME! What was really weird about it was that by the next morning I felt better, but later in the day (after a great visit to Lori Berd, and old fortress) I felt horrible all over again. After staying one day longer then I was supposed to, I finally doled out the cash to take a taxi back to Dilijan because there was no way I was crawling into a crowded marshutka. After a few more days of sick in Dilijan, and starting some antibiotics, I finally felt better. Thank God. I can count the number of times I have been stomach sick in this country on one hand, and I don't want to kill that record!

The week after Robby's camp, I got my schedule for Sunchild and the 2nd School all worked out, which is nice. I work with 3 classes at the school (5th and 6th form) and am going to start an after school club their next week. I love those kids. They remind me of why I came to this country in the first place, even if I am teaching English :( . Oh well. I love playing games with them, and they love the fact that I don't make them memorize and read pointless stories out of their silly books. Note: Insert a much stronger word where 'silly' is. I just don't feel like talking about it.

My Sunchild classes happen three times a week, and are mostly becoming a mix of a lot of Environmental and a little bit of English. I have decided that until they pay for an Armenian to help me out (so I am not stealing a job in a country where they are desperately needed) I will not be teaching strait English classes, end of story. The kids don't seem to care that much, and I am much happier. My class today went fantastically! We had three new girls show up, and we learned about birds. The kids had a TON of fun, and I will follow up the class tomorrow with a little bit of bird watching..good times all around!

oOo..I almost forgot. On Saturday I spent $3000 bucks. Yup. $3000. That is more money then I make in a YEAR here! My director and I went shopping for all of the technology needed for our Dilijan Art Center. Our first class will happen on Saturday (a community art lesson) and from that day on there will be program every SINGLE Saturday. I am super stoked for this project! Tomorrow I will work on setting up the technology, and hopefully the men will get all the furniture moved around where we want it to be! Why the men, you ask? Because this is Armenia, of course, and moving heavy furniture is 'man's work'. duh!

Next week will also be my FIRST, yes FIRST, lesson with the Art School kids. Why now? after 1 and 1/2 years?? Because the teachers finally decided that it was a good idea, and honestly, I think my Program Director coerced them into letting me work with the teachers. I'm cool with it. Means to an end, right? So, on Tuesday of next week I will have an hour with EVERY SINGLE CHILD in the school. They will come up to the auditorium and watch a movie and slide show presentation about the ocean. I am going to talk about different ecosystems in the ocean, different animals that live there, and how OUR actions effect those creatures. It will be GOOD. It needs to be or it will never, ever happen again. As it was they killed a lot of ideas this afternoon during our meeting, I was basically told what to do instead of asked, but oh well...you have to start somewhere right?

Part of the busyness going on is things that I am involved with outside of Dilijan as well. I am heading this weekend to work on by-laws for the 'Environmental Action Initiative', in two weeks I will (cross your fingers) hopefully be a participant in an International Youth Fair. Which is basically a conference with teams representing their 'home' countries. We will cook some Thanksgiving dinner (yum), teach some baseball, and basically tell people all about America. Of course, we will be learning all about their countries as well. Like I said, keep your fingers crossed please! Right after that conference (or during, maybe) I have to meet with a bunch of volunteers to start planing our Woman's Day Expo and Poster Contest...and that is all before All Vol, which is the All Volunteer conference for 4 days in Yerevan.

Immediately after All Vol, I'm talking next day here, I will take part in a TOT (training of trainers) for a mini PDM (Project Design and Management) conference that I will help facilitate for FLEX students. Man, sorry for all of the acronyms. Peace Corps loves them, obviously!

After that?, you ask...well...drum roll please...GERMANY! Yup. I will have two days in Tbilisi, Georgia and then fly to Munich for 5 days. I am SUPER excited for this trip. Tbilisi activities are still up in the air, but in Munich we will be seeing a concentration camp, a castle, a Christmas bazaar, and more then a couple of beer gardens. It is going to be AMAZING!

Well, I think that is all for now. I am in a much better place then I was a few weeks ago, and hopefully will remain that way. It is amazing what a set schedule and plans and flying time can do for a girl : )

I love you all and miss you...

Wow, a second entry in just under two weeks...I am feeling proud, especially considering my horrible track record in keeping things up to date. Well, on with it...

This last week has been pretty ok. I am finally on my way to having a set schedule and routine, which will last at least until Christmas time. It's a start. I am going to be helping out with at least 2, if not 3, English classes at the secondary school...I am going to sit with the teachers next Tuesday to try and work out with the third class actually meets. Even they don't know for sure. I have already started back with the 5th form, which consists of all the amazing kids I worked with in the 4th form last year. They make me almost as happy as I make them. I love those kids to death. They were so glad to see me when I walked in there was cheering and applause and they all jumped up to give me a hug! It was great, an amazing feeling after a few weeks of feeling kind of crappy. I have also promised a few kids that I would be coming to their class this year too, hence the other 2 classes that I am trying to work out. Next week should get it all worked out, or at least I hope so.

Frankly, my Sunchild classes have kind of gone to hell. Because of the weather, a lot of the kids (90%) have not been showing up to classes, and a few of the older kids are being distracting and giving me some trouble. We make plans, they say they will be there, I do all this work to plan a great class and then no one shows up. Or, they show up and then refuse to do anything. It is mildly ridiculous, actually, scratch the mildly it is just ridiculous. It doesn't help that I am really not happy with Sunchild right now anyway. They basically see me as an employee that they can boss around..and more importantly as a way to get out of paying an Armenian to teach English and lead the classes. Yup, English classes...and I am NOT an English volunteer, I am an Environmental one. Basically, I am taking someone's job. Which, by the way, is against everything that the Peace Corps stands for. I told them about 5 months ago that I was going to stop teaching English unless they found someone to teach with me, and that has not happened and they have made it known that it will not. լավ չի (not good), what will happen when I leave in 10 months?? Totally unsustainable...which makes me think that they really have no idea what the Peace Corps program is all about. It is cool though, my program director and the Peace Corps know all about it, and are completely on my side about the situation. We will see what happens. Honestly, if it weren't for the awesomeness of most of the kids that I work with, I probably would have stopped working with them a long time ago.

Oh snap! The downpour just stopped...so I am going to run and pick up a package at the Post office!!

Miss you all!

Well, I guess that really started in September, but most of the realization has come in the last couple of days.

According to official Peace Corps documents all of us A-17s (who are a little more then halfway through, with only about 10 months left) are experiencing what is called a 'mid-service crisis'. Catchy, no? While I would not go so far as calling what I am going through a 'crisis' (at least not compared to my entire first 6 months here, or my first few months back after last Christmas, or various other weeks of hellishness that I have experienced here), I would go as far as saying that it is unsettling and not even close to what I was expecting to feel at this point in my service.

Then again, what am I at this point if not used to watching my expectations fall through the drain? That came out very wrong, but the words work. Expectations here have a way of never really being met, most of us PCVs have come to terms with the fact that what we expect is never really what is going to happen during our service. For example, we came in with all these grand expectations of changing the world and making huge differences in our communities, and quickly realized that the changes would mostly be to small groups of people and largely to ourselves and the way we think about the world. On the other side though, I never expected to gain two new families while I was here, I never really expected to pick up the language, and I never EVER expected (at least not during my first 8 months in country) that I would dread leaving this place. So maybe it is not so much being used to failing to meet expectations, just very used to watching expectations change drastically and go in directions that were never thought of.

Back on task though...what brought about that nice mini rant about expectations is the fact that one of the bigger issues for me during this 'crisis' is that I am not sure that I have lived up to the expectations that my community had for me, that Peace Corps had for me, or that I had for myself. Although I have done a lot here, it doesn't really seem like I have done enough. I have for sure not done everything that I wanted to. I have done more English teaching then Environmental, I have put everything I had into one project and am waiting now for it's inevitable crash and burn, and I have failed in any way shape or form to bring about necessary change in the one organization I work the most with. As I settle in to deal with my last Winter here and start to think about my plans for when I go home, I think of more and more and more things that I would have loved to accomplish while I was here, and am beginning to realize that some of those things are really never going to happen. That hurts a little bit. What saves me from a total collapse is thinking about what I have accomplished here. I love the kids I work with to death, and (on most days) they feel the same way about me. I watched 184 kids go to a Green Camp, and know that while most of them will continue to throw their trash on the ground, 3 or 4 or 5 of them will not, and I had a part in making that happen. I know that a certain 5th form class of kids is waiting patiently for me to return to their English class so the monotony of memorization and ridiculous book reading is broken up with some songs and games and coloring. I know that my host families (Karenis and Dilijan) will genuinely miss me when I am gone. And, if I have failed (and will probably continue to fail) to pass on skills to any adult in my community, at least I will leave knowing that I made an impression the children here. They are the future, right?

During this 'crisis', I constantly weigh the 'accomplished' column against the 'failed' column, and am left to wonder whether I can make up the difference in the short time I have left here. I have just 10 months to make all of these plans that I have up in my head happen for real, 10 months to tip the scale so that I can leave this place knowing that I gave it my absolute all. It puts me into a planning frenzy...lists and lists of things to do and plans to make and meetings to hold. It is more then a little daunting.

During this time of planning and time lines and deadlines for myself, I am of course keeping track of how much time I have left in Armenia. While I am so so so happy when I think about going home and being able to see and hug everyone that I have missed SO much that it physically hurt for months at a time, the small part of my heart that keeps me happy and sane while I am here is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Imagine that scene at the end of 'The Grinch', where his heart outgrows it's frame, kind of like that. I sat out on the porch with my host mom the other day, and as we watched the sunset on one of the few warm days that we see now, she reminded me that this was my last Fall in Armenia. After that, we sat in silence for a few minutes, and then mutually decided to never bring it up again, since talking about it made us both so sad. I often refer to my time here as 'Peace Corps life' and time in America as 'the real world'. I always imagine my time here as some kind of other world experience, while the real world continues at home without me. While I always talk about, and HAPPILY count down to, the day when I will once again rejoin the real world...it didn't hit me until a few days ago leaving this Peace Corps world is going to break my heart almost as much as when I first left America.

When I watched the last group leave Armenia, and followed their later updates on Facebook, I wondered how people who seemed so unhappy here could possibly mourn the loss of the life that was so aggravating and frustrating as they returned to America, and (while I am nowhere near as unhappy as they seemed to be) I think get it now. As aggravated as I get here sometimes, I remember how aggravated I got at work in the states. The difference here is that my life IS my work. Peace Corps, and everything that comes along with it, is my life. Has been my life for the last 17 months. I eat and sleep and breathe Peace Corps Armenia. I have worked so hard to become integrated here to make changes and get work done, that I have done it...I have made this place my home. After traveling,that familiar sense of ease hits me as my marshutka passes through the tunnel signaling that I am a short 15 minutes away from home. Not away from Dilijan, away from home.

I have two homes now, and while the pull of one far outweighs the other, it is still going to hurt to leave my Armenian home. People say the home is where the heart is, and over the last few weeks I have realized that when I leave THIS home, a small part of my heart will stay here with it.

So, I leave you to get all my stuff together for work, knowing that all of these thoughts and contradictions and emotions will continue to swirl together and pester me. In theory, I will be through this 'mid service crisis' in just about a month, and it will all be pleasant feelings for the 9 months after...I will let you know how that works out.

But, I guess it's a true story, Peace Corps really is 'The hardest job you'll ever love'.

So, just a quick word or two or 100 about my last few weeks here in beautiful hayastan. Green Camps are going strong, and right now I am smack dab in the middle of our 3rd camp, in Martuni (near Sevan). It is going really, really well...and I get to be a counselor at this camp, YAY! The kids are fantastic and we are working with a really good group of Armenians and PCVs. Today we had our excursion, and since the theme was WATER, we used recently acquired water quality testing kits to show the kids how to look at and analyze their water. Right up my alley, I had a great time and the kids did to. Tomorrow, we do our camp community project, and all of the 40 kids are going to be doing a trash pickup by a local river, and then some will be making signs telling people not to litter. It will be a cool time. Well, it's late, and I am beat.

Miss you all!

Sorry for the delay, but that is my Egypt trip in it's entirety. It was amazing, and a perfect way for me to escape for a little while into a whole other world. I loved it, and if you haven't checked out the pictures yet on Facebook, I strongly recommend that you do. They are fantastic : ).

Since returning from Egypt, my crazy summer has officially begun. I participated as a counselor at GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Camp last week. While it was exhausting and frustrating at some points, the whole experience was totally worth it. There were a total of 66 girls, split into 6 home groups complete with a Armenian and American counselor. We covered everything from sexual education and HIV/AIDS (my favorite session) to journal making and personal reflection. Sexual education is basically non-existent here. Girls are expected to remain virgins until they are married, and in fact can be publicly shamed and 'returned' to their families if they are not. A complete double standard when a lot of young men grow up believing that it is fine to openly stare at and/or harass young women, and prostitution is abundant. While the broader sexual education was covered in a large group by a guest speaker, it fell on us to talk about HIV/AIDS and all that came with it. After playing a game where they spread of HIV/AIDS is shown by the exchange of fluids (non-condom users) and the clinking of glasses (condom users) to the tune of a drama, I asked the girls if they had any questions. Their openness totally surprised me. I was asked about using condoms (a not so popular thing to do here), more detailed questions about the spread of STDs, and even pregnancy. One girl asked me if using condoms at one point in your life would prevent you from getting pregnant later. I am not going to lie, when children here ask me questions like that due to the lack of basic sexual education, it makes me angry that there are groups in the US that want to push us back to the state that Armenia is in right now, where 16 year old girls have no idea how to use a condom or protect themselves. It is fairly ridiculous. Learning about condoms and STD prevention is not going to make kids go out and want to have sex, they naturally want to do that anyway. If anything it is going to scare the bejesus out of them and encourage them to wait even longer. Off track though, let's get back to it...

Nutrition (my second favorite) was especially interesting for me to teach, since so little of it is covered in school courses here. It was a favorite for a number of reasons, a) I happen to know a little bit about it b)it was a way for me to address the crazy unhealthy weight loss beliefs here and c) it was the perfect place for me to slip in a little bit about anorexia and bulimia. While it was hard to tell a bunch of young girls that have grown up on bread and potatoes at every meal that those foods aren't really the best for you, it was nice to be able to teach them easy ways to remember portion sizes and to dispel the belief that potatoes are vegetables and ice cream is dairy. If you have read some of my previous posts, then you probably remember some of the crazy dietary beliefs that are floating around this country. The first thing I crushed was the belief that drinking water makes you fat. I made sure to point out that 8 glasses of water was an integral part of the food pyramid. I also explained that no matter how many times you chew your food before swallowing, it was not going to change the nutritional make up of that particular food. I think I saved some jaws a LOT of work, and some families and additional 20 minutes at the table waiting while their daughter chewed each morsel 100 times trying to turn the 'bad' fat into 'good' fat (her words, not mine). I then asked them if they had questions or comments, and that led smoothly to the healthy weight loss and eating disorder discussion. We talked about nutrition labels and daily calorie intake. One girl told me in all seriousness that she only ate 500 calories a day. I told her she was counting wrong. She insisted, and I jumped into healthy calorie intake and anorexia. Another girl (who we had already brought to the director for not eating) asked me what would happen to her if she stopped eating for 3 days. I reiterated the problems associated with anorexia, and then did it again. The girls really seemed to be taking it all in, and I can only hope that I had some impact on how they eat...anorexia runs rampant in this country and is generally not seen as a problem.

Gender roles was also covered, but it was interesting, the girls seemed to know that things should be better, but really had no idea of what they wanted. After teaching them the difference between gender and sex, they seemed to kind of pick up on the fact that gender roles have nothing to do with physical capability, and that they can be changed and molded. Of course, my dreams were shot when I asked them to draw what they see as gender roles 15 years from now, and the entire picture existed of a young girl in truly slutty clothes and a man crying in the corner with some words like 'equality' written all around them. I like to think that a lot of that was lost in translation...

Outside of the classes, we also had mandatory exercise every morning. An experience in itself. As counselors, we led the sessions, and the girls were exposed to yoga, kickboxing, aerobics, volleyball, kickball, and running/walking. I led the walking a few times, and it was hard to get them anywhere past a easy paced stroll, which was aggravating. Kickball went much better though, they really got into the game, and it was fun to play with them. I did participate in a couple of yoga classes as well. At one point we were asked to touch our toes, and the PCVs were the only ones that could do it. Exercise is just not a big thing here, but I am hoping that these girls took something away from it. I was glad it was built into the morning too, since I was too busy at night to do my own routine and not exercising would have just made me that much more stressed out all week!

It was pretty great to watch the girls grow and bond during their 8 days at camp. I loved watching the quiet girls get loud, and the shy girls become involved. Night activities included dancing, and I was that annoying counselor that went up to all the girls not dancing and pulled them in. oh well. We also had a campfire, talent show (see mermaid pictures on facebook) and scavenger hunt. For most of these girls it was the first time they had ever been away from home, and while the first few days we struggled with homesickness, during the last few we struggled with getting them to go to sleep and STOP interacting with one another at 1:30 in the morning (exercise was at 8 sharp!). Each counselor pair was on duty during one night, and that involved making sure girls were in their assigned rooms (we had one girl lay on top of another to try and hide her), that lights were off (my favorite was when they shut the light off AFTER we knocked and told them to open the door), and that they were not on their balconies hanging out, but legitimately laying in bed. One night, this somehow turned into all the girls on their porches (which all faced the same direction) screaming and chanting all of the counselors names...while of course it was WAY past lights out, we let this one slide ;)

It was great to be involved in such a great camp, I really do believe the week had a positive impact on every single participant, camper and counselor alike.

After GLOW, I went to lake Sevan to celebrate the 4th of July. Somewhere around 27 PCVs were there at different points during the week, and it was fantastic to get together and see everyone. Despite a bout of sadness (always happens on the holidays), after some time at the water park, some great burgers complete with homemade bbq sauce, and some vodka it turned into a pretty great weekend. We had some good times around the campfire, and there was some pretty entertaining arguments over the hammock that one volunteer had thought to bring. It was a pretty chill weekend, which is exactly what I needed to unwind after GLOW.

On the 10th I head off to a Green Camp in Vardablur, my first of four. Cross your fingers for me :)...

After another night in Alexandria, we were back on a train (yes, again) to Cairo. During our last 3 days we did a little bit of everything. There was some shopping, some good food at Hard Rock, and some touring of Coptic Cairo and other sites. Hard Rock offered up a delicious strawberry shake (yum!) and walking through Cairo was interesting and quite the adrenaline rush. Crossing the streets is really like playing Frogger, you are dodging cars at every lane. Coptic Cairo was more interesting than I expected. After visiting Ben Ezra synagogue (which was absolutely gorgeous), we were able to see the place where it is rumored that baby Moses was picked out of the reeds. On a visit to an older Christian church, we were also able to look down into the rooms where the Holy Family stayed when they fled to Egypt to avoid Herod. There was not nearly as much hype as I expected there… just a rope to block the entrance, and one sign explaining what you were looking at.

After more good food (at one point I seriously considered taking up a dishwashing job and sleeping under the tables of one restaurant so I would not have to leave) and, yes, even more shopping…we met up with an Egyptian friend of Sarahs, Ahmed…who gave us a quick tour of Islamic Cairo. He pointed out some fantastic places, that we would never have found ourselves, and even spent 20 minutes arguing with a mosque caretaker to try and convince him to allow Sarah and I inside after visiting hours. Sadly, he lost, but we got in as far as the door, and even just looking in from there was interesting. After walking through the open markets, we went to eat at this great restaurant on the Nile, and ate some amazing chicken alfredo. Conversation with Ahmed was great, and we were able to ask him a lot of the cultural and religious questions we had stored up in our head for weeks. He was very cool and open about answering our questions, even the ones that got a little bit uncomfortable. We discussed gender roles (very similar to Armenia), marriage (not at all similar!), politics, and (being PCVs) food. It turned into a late night, and we crashed into bed, knowing that tomorrow was our last day.

We spent our last half day at the Egyptian Museum. The museum was easy to find, since it was right down the street from our hostel, and is painted pink. Inside the museum was a neat freak’s nightmare. After a few minutes getting over to the chaotic system that reigned, I finally gave in and just starting taking in the thousands of years of history that surrounded me. Of course, I had to see the mummies first, and that was SPECTACULAR. I couldn’t believe that I was looking at the kings and queens that reined so so many years ago. A certain sadness hit me in this room too though…these men and women had gone through so much to protect their bodies for the afterlife, and they had been buried in pyramids and maze like tombs dressed in fancy clothes and gold jewelry and elaborate costumes..And here we were…staring at their stripped naked, preserved bodies. No worries, though, I swallowed that feeling and got on with the rest of my whirlwind visit.

After the mummy room I searched out King Tut’s hall. Spent an hour or two in there. The completeness of the collection was absolutely amazing. Like I mentioned earlier, King Tut wasn’t a great and mighty king, he gets most of his fame and accord for being one of the only complete and preserved tomb collections. All of the others were raided and robbed, and his only stayed untouched because another tomb had been built on top of his, blocking the entrance. Some of my favorite pieces included the gold lion bed and elaborate copic jars (the jars that hold the organs), as well as the crazy jewelry and of course the famous head mask.

The hour or two that I spent in the museum after King Tut is really a blur of sarcophagi and statues. It was all really interesting, but now it all kind of blurs together. Sorry.

The time finally rolled around for us to lug our bags down 4 flights of stairs and negotiate a taxi to the airport. That all went fine and well, and check in was a breeze. I don’t really remember much of the Cairo airport, except that it was early and I was cranky. Oh, and we ate cinabon. I slept through the flight to Dubai, and when we arrived (finally) at our hotel, it was bed time once again.

The next morning we woke up bright and early…then went to the mall. We spent 11 hours at the Dubai mall. That is correct, 11 straight hours at a mall. In my defense though, those 11 hours included 3 meals, 2 hours at an aquarium, and a 3 ½ hour long movie (Robin Hood). But yes, the rest of the time was spent browsing and shopping. It should be noted that the mall had an ice skating rink and waterfall (very cool) and just in case you missed it the first time, an AQUARIUM. That was amazing. I saw 3 new species there that I had never seen before, and probably some of the best exhibits ever. My favorites included a tank of Giant Spider Crabs (we are talking about 3’ across here) and a bamboo shark egg progression, which showed LIVE eggs from laying to hatching. I must have spent 30 minutes in front of that window, staring at all the little bamboo sharks in their different stages of development. SWEET.

On the way to the airport the next morning, we did get to see the world’s tallest building, and then a short wait at the Dubai airport (complete with another round of DD) and we were on our way back to Armenia. I was sad that our vacation was over, but excited to be going back to what has become my familiar. In Egypt I realized that not knowing the language is annoying, and I was happy to get back to not only my own bed and host family, but also to the place where I knew what was going on around me, and could truly relax again.

Egypt was an incredible experience, and I really don’t think what I have written about it does it any justice. It is for sure not a vacation for the light hearted, but despite the ups and downs, it was a blast for us. A truly once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget : ) .

After a good night’s sleep we woke up and ate some breakfast, and then got on another train down to Aswan. 3 hours later we arrived and found our taxi and hotel pretty easily. We took the suggestion of the man behind the desk and went to a restaurant where for 10 bucks each we got enough food to feed a small army. I ordered stuffed chicken and quite literally got an entire chicken, stuffed with rice. Robby ordered pigeon (a local delicacy) and Sarah some lamb. Our meals all included lots of hummus, salad, bread, and even desert. The guy came by 20 minutes later and we admitted defeat and asked for a bag. He laughed at us, and brought our desert out ‘to go’. We walked back through the market (with surprisingly little harassment) and spent the rest of the night on yet another amazing roof, this one with a POOL!! Which we swam in (at least Sarah and I).

The next morning (I use that word loosely) we were woken up at 2:45a by a wakeup call from the hotel staff. We dragged our tired behinds out of bed, zombie walked down the stairs, grabbed a boxed breakfast (who can really eat that early in the morning??) and climbed onto the Egyptian version of a marshutka (15 passenger van). We (or at least I) slept pretty soundly through the next 3 hours…only being woken a few times by the force of the sand storm winds pushing our van a few inches to one side. Sadly, we missed the sunrise by half an hour…but we still arrived to Abu Simble Temple around 7 in the morning, and it was absolutely amazing. I was surprised by the number of tourists there, but not sure why I was…since on the way there we were in a ‘caravan’ of at least 30 buses and vans. The temple was incredible, the scale was amazing, and the inside of the temple was in great condition. It was hard for me to believe that not only had the temple had been around for almost 3000 years, but it had been completely relocated in the 60s to make way for the high dam! Yes, an entire temple built into the side of cliffs had been relocated and moved, and you really could not tell. We spent 1 ½ there, and it was worth the early morning wake up and fairly steep entrance fee. After Abu Simble, we continued on our way to the high dam, which in all honestly was not worth the money to get it. The view was blocked by the sandstorms that had rocked our marshutka earlier, and we stayed for all of 5 minutes. Philos Temple, next on the list, was a bit better. We paid to get in, and then had to haggle (turns out pretty unsuccessfully) for one of the 30 private boat captains to take us over to the island that the actual temple is located on. This temple too had been moved, and a new island (exactly replicating the original, including foliage) was rebuilt for it to sit on when the dam waters started rising. This temple was cool…but by this time they had all started blending in with one another! After almost leaving a couple behind, there was a brief and mildly heated exchange with the driver over whose responsibility (not mine!) it was to count heads…then it was more sleep on the 3 hour ride back to Aswan.

We bought our train tickets pretty quickly (thank you Muslim country with female only lines : ) ..and then it was relaxing (read: nap) time for the rest of the night. The next morning Robby and I went off to explore Elephantile Island (named for the rocks on the end that supposedly look like elephants bathing, I don’t see it though), starting with a half successful haggle for a reasonable water taxi. The island is not a big one, and in just a few minutes we made our way to the Aswan Museum. The inside of the museum was not that impressive, but we did have our own tour guide (mandatory guide, mandatory tip) which was ok. Then we went to the outside bit, which is an active archaeological dig site. SWEET! This bit also required a mandatory tour guide, and this one was a touchy one (see Facebook pictures)…but it was worth it, since he decided that the ‘do not enter’ signs did not apply to us. It was cool, we walked on the walls of old Roman houses and held thousand year old pottery. I loved it! There was one scary bit though, the man asked to ‘pray’ with me, and I reluctantly agreed and listened to him chant for a solid 3 minutes while holding his hands over mine, the whole time hoping that he was not binding us in marriage in some ancient Egyptian ritual. My fears were eased though when he repeated the same process with Robby. After catching the local water taxi back to mainland Aswan, we had some pool time, and then got on the train for the 16 hour ride to Alexandria.

I should mention here that for the first 2 hours of our train ride Sarah read to me. Yes, she read to me. Stories and tidbits and tips out of one of our guidebooks. It was fantastic, I forget how soothing it is to have someone read to you, and Sarah kept it interesting with voice changes, strategic editing, and eternal patience for my lack of attention span and ‘rewind’ requests. Thanks again Sarah! After that we ran into some obnoxious Australian people. No offense to any Aussies out there, but damn, these people were no good for your image, no good at all. In fact, they pretty much plagued the rest of the train ride, with their loudness at ungodly hours of the morning and constant complaints and trips to the bar. LAME. No worries though Mum, I embraced your patience and lack of temper genes, and successfully avoided causing the scene that I imagined in my head so many times that night!

After switching trains in Cairo (seamlessly, I might add), we arrived in Alexandria around 2pm. After showering (a must after an all night, crowded train ride) we went off to explore the streets in search of a bar that sold beer. Specifically a bar that served beer AND seafood. For those of you that know me well, you must be wondering, why?? I don’t like beer, or very much seafood for that matter. Robby and Sarah, the other 2 volunteers were just so excited for it though, and I had to try some seafood in Alexandria, even if it was just a little bit. We ran into a few issues though. A) We could not find the place to save our lives. After finally stopping for directions at a tourist information center, we walked in the general direction and stopped when a man on the street pointed out the fact that we were all about to walk right by the place we were looking for. Whoops. At least the lady at the tourist place had thought to call ahead and tell the owner to be on the lookout for 3 lost-looking American tourists! B) We assumed that like in the States, a restaurant would offer options other than seafood. Not so much. So I ate some salads (hummus, etc) and had a few pieces of calamari. The salads were disappointing, but the calamari was wicked fresh and pretty delicious. Not delicious enough that I could eat more than 4 or 5 pieces, but delicious enough for me to not cringe and stop mid bite of the first one. We hit a Pizza Hut and Baskin Robbins on the way back to the hotel. Oh my goodness, how could I forget? Our hotel was just one teeny, tiny block away from the sea. The Mediterranean Sea. There was even a breeze coming off of it! It felt so good to be that close again, breathing in the salty air!!!! I could have sat there staring at it for hours and hours…

After our dinner excursion, we called it a night. The next morning we set off to find the catacombs of Alexandria. Being too cheap to pay for a taxi (remember now, we don’t have real, money making jobs!) we decided to walk. Not such a good plan. We got lost and (Mum, close your eyes here) ended up walking through not only the industrial part of Alexandria, but also the slums and shipping areas. Awful, but interesting at the same time. After near constant harassment, we ran into a few gregarious little girls that pointed us in the right direction (thank you mandatory English and hand gestures!) and not 3 minutes later we were there. The catacombs were pretty sweet. They were built during the Roman times, and had a crazy mix of Roman and Ancient Egyptian influence on the art and architecture. Prime example, the Egyptian god of death all bulked up and dressed in Roman army garb. While it was cool to walk around and explore, the pull of the beach won out and I was anxious to get back and be on my way to the white, sandy beaches.

After some running around and unsuccessful haggling with a mean taxi man, Sarah and I finally made it to the ONLY affordable beach in Alexandria…well, the only affordable beach where it would be ‘acceptable’ for us to walk around in our Western style bathing suits. As we walked in we noticed a group of other Western women (they were speaking English, and did not have their hair covered) and decided that we were going to sit by them, just for safety in numbers. Turns out they were a group of Canadian Airline workers on vacation, and they were hilarious. No sooner had we sat down though, did things turn a bit to the worse. We were surrounded, quite literally, by Egyptian men. The men openly stared, whistled, and snapped pictures on their phone. This lasted for hours, and at times there were at least 50 men all around us. It was ridiculous, and further tainted my view of Egyptian men. If I was not a little bit used to extra attention like I get in Armenia, I probably would have snapped, and someone would have left the beach hurting. While the water was nice, and the ocean beautiful, the audacity, ignorance, and lack of respect of the men sort of put a dark ring around the cloud that is Egypt…while men in Armenia have never been obnoxious in such large numbers, at least here the women would have shamed them.

The train station was an experience. Everything was written in Arabic, and it was a pain to figure out not only which platform you were supposed to be on, but where that platform actually was. Once you found the platform after being misdirected once or twice (ok, that only happened once…but hauling my big suitcase up and down those stairs was NOT a good time) you had to wait and hope that you could figure out which car you were in. The numbers were all in Arabic. Thank God for nice people willing to help the poor, confused tourists out. The sleeper train was not how I imagined. Much more modern than expected, and I was severely disappointed in the lack of dining car. You ate in your room, with little plastic trays that pulled out from the wall. The food wasn’t too bad though, once I traded Sarah my lamb for her rice. Sarah and I ‘roomed’ together, and Robby was in the room adjacent to ours. There was this little handy door that opened between the two though, and it was kind of like we were eating together. The guy came to pull our beds down (you needed a special tool, we figured out after a half hour of pushing every button and touching everything) and we fell asleep pretty quickly. You all know me, and therefore really don’t need me to tell you that I slept like a baby.

We arrived in Luxor at 7 in the morning (or 8, I don’t know) and the guy from our hotel met us at the stop. He was super nice, probably the nicest person I met in all of Egypt. Well, except Sarah’s friend of course...but he comes in later. Our hotel was a quick 3 minute walk from the station, but we were on the fourth floor and there were no elevators. I can tell you that I didn’t feel guilty at all skipping my nightly workout once while we were there. The manager gave us a few minutes to get settled, then we went upstairs for our ‘welcome drink’ (Hibiscus or regular tea, always choose hibiscus, yum : ) and to give us the low down on Luxor and things to do there. He was wicked sweet, and very understanding of our budget. Here is my shout out…if you ever go to Luxor on a budget, stay at the OASIS hotel. After some chit chat, he arranged for us not only to get student discount cards (which paid for themselves in no time-50% off most entrance fees-and boy is there a lot of those) but to also leave in a few hours for a Falluka (sail boat) trip. We showered and got ready to go. The falluka was one of my favorite things in Egypt. It was fantastically relaxing and low key. We sailed around for a little bit, had some tea, and then took a tour of Banana Island. We saw all sorts of fruit trees and animals, some irrigation techniques, and of course…a baby crocodile. When I say baby I mean it was only about 5 feet long. Then we ate bananas and were back on the water for a fantastic view of the sunset. Once we docked, we tipped the men and were on our way.

I was going to skip right to the next day, but there are some things that can’t be skipped. We were harassed, constantly, everywhere we went. We could not walk down a street without getting yelled at by some vendor, horse and carriage driver, or man. Of course, we did not help the situation by travelling in a group of one guy and two girls…but the harassment was way more than we expected. If I had 5 dollars for every time some Egyptian guy yelled ‘Casanova (to Robby), lucky man, you have two wives, give one to me’ then this trip would be paid for in full. Taxi and carriage drivers would also stop traffic, following slowly behind you for 5 minutes asking if you wanted a ride…even if you had already said no 1000 times. We are used to staring, used to getting unwanted attention (we do live in a foreign country and stand out quite a lot most of the time) but man, it got on our nerves after awhile. Walking down the streets was probably the most stressful part of the trip. Oh, and the cheesy pickup lines were abundant. The best of the trip: ‘I think you dropped something, it was my heart’. Oh yea, the Egyptian men had game.

After walking home (and being denied entrance to Luxor temple because we didn’t have small bills) we ended up just chilling out and reading on the roof, which was beautiful. It is where we ate breakfast every morning, and spent at least an hour or two there later on in the night. There were cushions spread out on the ground, and a nice canopy for sitting under during the day. The next morning was an early one; we hopped on a tour bus at 8am to head to West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings and Queens.

Valley of the Kings was the first, and most impressive, stop. We had a great guide and went into 3 tombs; Ramses I, Ramses III, and Ramses IV. Each of the tombs had their own ‘story’. The first was empty, except for the actual stone ‘tomb’ part, because it was too heavy for robbers to steal (like they did everything else). The second had immaculate paintings on the wall (including hieroglyphics and incredible colors) and it is also famous because it is the tomb that covered King Tut’s, effectively hiding it from tomb robbers. The third was known for being crooked. The engineers started digging it and halfway through ran into an older tomb, and then had to start digging at an angle to finish. Whoops. The Valley of the Queens was cool because of the stories. We were told about the insane amount of inbreeding that occurred. Kings married their daughters, Grandfathers their granddaughters, and so on. One king married his sister, had 100 kids, and 54 of them died of genetic defects. There was also a lot of murdering for power. One second wife poisoned the current king and his 4 children who were in line to take the throne before her son. Of course, she got away with it, because her son was then King. Oh and then the first wife was so sad about the deaths that she miscarried her 6 month fetus, and they mummified it (you can see it in the tombs). It could really be a soap opera.

The temple of Hasteput (I think that is it?) had the best story of all though. This woman had married her brother (see Inbreeding above) and didn’t have any children with him. When her dad died, she was the only child of the queen and had to marry her half brother to continue the line. Well, when he died, she was left to rule in place of her step son (who her brother had with his other wife) until he was old enough to take power. Well, she ruled. She took to power well, and to assert her legitimacy as ‘King of Egypt’ she began to dress like a man and wear false beards. She never did hand over the reign to her step son, and ruled until the day she died. When she was alive she had a large temple built for herself in the Valley of the Kings (of course, she is a King, so why should her tomb be in the Valley of the Queens?) and killed the architect who built it so he wouldn’t build a better one for a later King or Queen. After her death, her step son finally came to power, and destroyed everything she ever built. I would call that one heck of a hissy fit. It was only a few years ago (10 or 15) that the temple was restored and completely rebuilt.

After the temple we made our way to the Colossi of Memnon, of course with a quick pit stop to an alabaster store. The Colossi were cool, but couldn’t hold a light to everything else that we had seen that day. We took a quick hangist (relax time) on the roof before heading to Luxor Temple, this time with smaller bills. Like everything else in Luxor (besides our beloved roof) it was packed with tourists, but for sure still worth seeing as it was lit up for the night. Rumor has it that the current Luxor was actually built on top of the temple, and when it was discovered they moved everything out of the way and excavated it. Everything but a mosque that the people refused to let them touch. The mosque now sites on top of one piece of the temple. Not too much else to say about the temple, pictures are amazing though. Oh, and that night we walked to the British Pub, and ate some amazing fish and chips.

The next day was set aside for the East Side of Luxor. We came downstairs after breakfast and asked the same nice manager about renting bikes for the day. He brought 3 over and I took a quick ride down the street and was ready to go. Sadly though, Robby needed some practice. At one point, Sarah even ran behind him holding him steady as the hotel manager, street vendors, and I laughed. I was in tears, it was hilarious, but it was decided that the bikes were probably not a good plan. We, rather stupidly looking back, decided to save money and walk to Karnak Temple (about 2 miles away from our hotel). While two miles isn’t very long…it becomes quite horrific when you are walking in the middle of the day in the heat of Egypt. We were all heat drunk by the time we got there, and while I remember it being quite beautiful, I don’t remember much other than the fact that there was an A/C’d visitor’s center right next to it. The whole experience wore us out, and I couldn’t tell you what we did for the whole rest of the night.

So..I started writing this blog about 3 ½ weeks ago..it’s lateness being posted is a testament to how crazy busy I have been : )

It should keep you busy for awhile…

Oh man, oh man do I have a lot of catching up to do. I have officially been back from Egypt for a week now, but my brain has for sure switched into summer laid back mode. Oops. I am sure that Environmental Leadership Camps (which are starting in 2 weeks, yikes!) will get me right back on track.

Egypt was fantastic. Incredible. Amazing. There are other words, but I am sure you get the gist. The plane ride to Dubai was not bad at all; I slept (surprise, surprise) the entire time. Once we landed in Dubai though, we had a 3 or 4 hour layover (I don’t remember exactly) and we spent our time walking around and enjoying all of the wonderful things the airport had to offer. And I am not exaggerating, there were some WONDERFUL things. First and foremost, there was a Dunkin Donuts. An actual, real live Dunkin Donuts. I spotted it when we were on one of those moving sidewalks heading to the Post Office (Yes, there was a post office in the airport, and yes, I was very late mailing out Danny Pryor’s birthday card… Ooops). Honestly, I just about stopped myself from jumping over the moving railing. Instead, I embraced my mother’s genes and waited patiently (or walked rather quickly actually) to the end of the sidewalk and booked it over to the familiar orange sign and Styrofoam cups. The words “Medium French Vanilla Iced Coffee, please” never sounded so sweet : ). It was beautiful. Tasted like home. I sucked it down in 5 minutes flat (on the way to and from the post office), and got another one before getting back on that darn moving sidewalk heading toward our gate. Other amazing things to mention (and remember, I have been in Armenia for a year now, eating potatoes.) were a great visit we had to the Cold Stones, the massive Duty Free section, the waterfall, the reclined chairs, the smoothie shop, and who can forget, the free internet access. The airport was like a warm up to our actual vacation…which started when we landed in Cairo 3 hours later.

The first impression was fantastic. Since we spend more than three nights at the first hostel, they came to pick us up at the airport for free. That was nice. We were sleepy, and kept answering the taxi guys automatically in Armenian, so trying to secure transportation ourselves would have been a nightmare. The ride from the airport was about 30 minutes, and we were all kind of in awe over the massiveness of the city. Armenia has 3 million people total. Cairo has 20 million. The tall apartment buildings, huge highways, and tons of people were a little intense. Not surprisingly, after getting to the hotel, checking in, and showering we all laid down for a ‘nap’ before going out and exploring a little bit. I put quotes around the word nap because we ended up not waking up until the next morning. Before falling asleep however, we did manage to arrange a driver to take us to Saqqara, Dahsour, and Giza the next morning.

The next morning we woke up bright and early (we had been sleeping for 15 hours) and had some breakfast before experiencing our most ‘touristy’ and expensive vacation day. The first stop was Dahsour, or the ‘red pyramid’. It is called that because it is red, easy to remember, no? It was one of the oldest pyramids, and one that was cheaper to go into. So we did. You had to go up the pyramid halfway (oh boy, did my behind get fit) and then go into this tunnel. The tunnel was at a 30 to 40 degree angle, and you descended on the equivalent of a boat ramp. I should also mention that it was only about 4 feet high, so you did this all hunched over. I counted my blessings for inheriting the ‘short’ genes of the family. After doing this for 30 or so meters you get into a big room. And that was basically it. There was another big room behind it, but nothing except for the bare walls and floor. We were inside for 10 minutes tops and then headed out. Going out was easier then getting in, since you didn’t feel like you were going to fall over all the time. It was still cool though. I was in a pyramid. From Dahsour you could also see the ‘bent’ pyramid. I’ll give you one guess to the origin of this name. Yup, it is bent. This was the first attempt at a ‘pyramid pyramid’ and the angles were a bit off. It was a solid first try though. Next we traveled to Saqqara, which is the first pyramid like structure to ever be built by man, on earth, ever. It is also called the ‘step pyramid’ because the sides look like steps; kind of like those toys you buy for kids to stack one on top of the other. That one was pretty cool. We also went into some tombs near Saqqara. The painting and carvings in them were absolutely magnificent. I had a hard time believing that they were really 3,000+ years old, and not just painted a few years ago. The colors were still bright in some places, and the carvings were immaculate and unbelievably detailed.

Next we were off to our last, and biggest, and MOST expensive spot of the day, Giza. But of course, on the way, our tour guide had to bring us by some shops for traditional papyrus and oils. He dropped us at the door, and at both places (which happened to be right next to each other) we had mini presentations and some crazy buying pressure. I had no intention of buying anything at either place…and we held out for long enough that the papyrus guy got nervous and cut us an incredible deal, or at least an affordable one. He offered Robby 4 small papyrus pieces for free if he bought a big one. So of course I jumped in on that and picked out 2 for myself. One has a depiction of ‘the honeymoon’ and the other is a person praying under a palm tree. I am keeping the second…and the first will be a gift. I held out at the oil store though…I wanted none of that…but left smelling like a whole bunch of different things. We finally got to Giza though (after the presentations and buying stuff we were at the shops for an hour or two) and it was in the next three hours that I decided that my father could never, EVER visit Egypt. EVER. So, the driver passed us off to some shop owner dude who sat us down and quickly ran through our ‘tour options’. There were 3 (short, medium, and long) with an array of prices (expensive, very expensive, and unbelievably expensive). Of course, we haggled a little and then chose the short. This did not make the guy happy and he kept reminding us that this is a ‘once in a lifetime’ trip etc. etc. We still said no, explained that we were volunteers and didn’t have that kind of money. Then spent another 20 minutes pushing the price down even further, until the man came up with a price for the long trip that we could afford. Sort of. We selected camels (our other option was horses, and who would choose horses in Egypt?) and thought we were done with the drama and ready to go. Of course not. The guy then introduces us to our ‘guide’ and tells us that he, in fact, does not pay the guide. And, if we think he should get paid then we need to pay him ourselves. Lovely. We just spent 3 days worth of budget and now we need to pay more. AY KEZ BAN. Little did we realize how much this foretold the rest of the trip. Well…we got on our camels and were off. It was a pretty fantastic time. We saw the 9 pyramids in Giza (3 big for the kings and 6 little for the queens) and then the housing and tombs of the workers. We also got off the camels to take some cheesy tourist pictures (see Facebook) and to see the Sphinx. Despite the hot and the flies, it was a really fantastic time. The pyramids were beautiful, and the camel was for sure an experience. On our way back to the office, we discussed what we would tip (in Armenian) and handed our guy the tip as we were getting ready to go. He was not impressed, and told us so. Not only would the haggling have driven my father crazy. But OH MAN. Would there have been a scene. The man basically stood there scolding us and trying to make us feel bad the entire time we waited for our car. What crap. I think we were all too shocked to really react appropriately. So we just stood there. Now back to the dad thing. If you know my dad at all, I want you to sit back and close your eyes and imagine THAT scene would have unfolded if he had been there. Very, very differently. While the whole obnoxious guide kind of put a downer on the next hour or so…we got over it pretty quickly after some KFC (Remember, we live in Armenia) with a nice South American guy we met at the hostel. After that we were off to catch the sleeper train to Luxor.

Well, it is 11pm on Wednesday night here in Armenia, and at this time tomorrow I will be at Zvartnots International Airport, waiting patiently (or probably not so patiently) for my flight to Dubai to depart! From Dubai, we (2 other PCVs and I) will fly from Dubai, to Cairo Egypt...spend 2 weeks traveling around Egypt...and then a couple of days in Dubai before heading back to home, sweet, home (Armenia that is). Why the sudden love for this place that I live?? Because, Summer, yes Summer!, is finally rearing her pretty little head...and I am one excited little sun baby!

As for our time in Egypt..we are going to cheap route, mostly, but will be spending 2 or three days in Cairo, Alexandria (beach..what?!?), Luxor (pyramids), and Answar (big ol' damn that I never remember the name of). I am mostly excited for Alexandria and Luxor. Plus visiting the Qatar (City of the Dead) and Egypt Museum in Cairo. Dubai will be equally astounding, but in a different, modern sort of way. I am dragging the other volunteers to the Atlantis aquarium (I NEED some marine life)and we are also going to get our good food (ie fish and chips) and shopping on. Yes, a mall, or many of them actually are on our list of things to do. We will probably have mild panic attacks when we go inside and experience the overwhelming massiveness, but my excitement for a new pair of jeans and some shoes will for sure get me over that right quick.

Back to Armenia though, the country has been treating me well in the last few weeks. In case you didn't hear my shouts of excitement last week, our Environmental Leadership Grant was APPROVED!!!!! I jumped up and down, and probably scared the crap out of my host family (they don't really do that here). I was incredibly, incredibly happy and relieved, it was a huge weight off my shoulders. We are now well on track to implement 5 camps in 4 different villages/towns this Summer...with 40 kids and 10 counselors at each camp. Oh baby, I am stoked! We have been working on the new curriculum (Team Building, Leadership, and Project Management) and have finalized the English versions...we are now working on the translations...which should be done well before the first camp starts the last week of June. We also had our Counselor Training already. Which was quite a success. All of the Armenian counselors showed up this year, which was a 100% increase from last years training! Also had about 20 PCVs staying in on house. It was actually the house of the Green Tavush (our partner NGO) Director's house. We horavats. It was an AMAZING night..and everyone was ready to go the next morning despite the appearance of some homemade nicknamed the 'nuclear bomb'. Good, good times. And an experience the Armenians won't forget for quite some time!

Well..I am off to do some last minute packing, and to work on my arguments for convincing the marshutka driver to let me, and my large suitcase, on board. Wish me luck, and be on the lookout for pictures!

It has been a long time, I'm sorry. In my defence, my computer was broken for just over a week and just got fixed! This is probably how the Summer will be, I don't see myself having lots of time to sit down and write here, which makes me sad..and kind of happy for the business (ie lack of homesickness/flying time).Truly, I am really looking forward to it, especially if this constant rain ever lets up. Yes, it is still raining just about everyday. Not even just in Dilijan (which is known for rain) but all over the country. Places in the south were even getting snow as late as last week. Craziness.

There have been no big changes here, still chugging away at English and Environmental classes, and Green Camps (oops...Environmental Leadership Camps) are taking up more and more of my time. I hope you still have your fingers crossed for us so that our grant will be approved!

Went to Yerevan last weekend, for a meeting, and some fun. A lot of volunteers where there, and it was a nice time. Since it was sunny there for a few hours every day, a lot of time was spent at the many outdoor cafes that can be found all over the place in the city. We also checked out a new night club that had opened, I love dancing.

Another volunteer and I traveled on Sunday from Yerevan to Ijevan for another ELC meeting, which means I got to cross the landslide that has blocked the road for just about a month now. It had been raining for days, and we really didn't think about what a gigantic mud pile the landslide would have become. It was d i r t y. Of course, men were trying to 'rent' us wellies to cross, and many clever Armenians had plastic grocery bags to tie around their shoes. Us Americans, not so much. We rolled up our pants and went to town. We were accompanied by two young girls, each wearing a pair of 3" heels, wrapped in plastic bags. Don't worry, pictures were taken, and as soon as I get them from the other volunteer, they will be up on Facebook. One of the girls kept muttering 'vay mama jan', which is basically the Armenian equivalent of 'oh my goodness'. It was cute. When we finally reached the other side, I dug in my bag for my extra shoes, and the other volunteer was directed to a stream to clean off his shoes before we could get in the waiting marshutka and go the rest of the way.

Things are really coming together for the camps this year. We are working really, really well as a team..and the Armenians we are working with are fantastic. Their house has become my home away from home away from home (Dartmouth, Dilijan, Ijevan). We are all waiting like expecting parents for the grant to come through, so like I said before, keep those fingers crossed.

We are having the Counselor training on the 15th and 16th and for the first time all counselors are required to attend. We are hoping that will help the quality of the camps increase, as well as demand a certain level of commitment from the HCN counselors.

In only 15 days I leave for Egypt!!! I am so excited there are really no words! The other volunteer traveling with me keeps me updated on the weather reports. Egypt is already seeing days over 95, hello tan, here I come.

OH, and in just 20 days, it will be my and Armenia's one year anniversary! Time has flown.

Love you all!

Happy Birthday Uncle Allen!

It rains just about every day here in Dilijan, nothing that I didn't expect. I was warned by any and all before I moved here that Dilijan was warm, but rainy. Today, was a perfect example of typical Dilijan Spring weather. It started out warm and beautiful, turned amazingly sunny mid-afternoon, and by the time I was leaving work at 5, it was dumping buckets of rain during a thunderstorm. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely enjoyed the storm, sat on the porch reading through the whole thing. How did I stay warm? With my Red Sox blanket, that arrived today in my package from Mum and Dad, along with a number of wonderful things!

Well, the school year is winding down, and everyone is busy getting ready for the craziness that will be this summer. Why crazy? I will be particpating in at least 5 week long camps. Yes, you read that right. You are probably thinking, is she crazy? Maybe I have, but at least I will stay busy. Unlike most volunteers, Summer is probably the hardest for me to be away from home. Who cares if I am missing out on blankets of snow and intense Nor Easters during the winter, Dilijan has a much milder climate. It is the Summer, when I am here in this lovely landlocked country, that home (ie days at the beach) really call out to me. My theory, if I am insanely busy, I won't have time to think about home!

The camps this year will be GLOW and ELC (Green Camps). I am a counselor at the GLOW camps, which I have written about before, and am the PCV Project Coordinator for the ELC (Green Camps). Basically, myself, along with 2 other amazing PCVs are arranging and planning everything for the newly developed Environmental Leadership Camps. The other 4 camps will be those. I am truly looking forward to them though, they are going to be a fantastic time, and I feel like the program Green Tavush and us came up with is a solid one. OH, and if anyone knows a church or diaspora group looking to become a sponsor for an amazingly fantastic environmental leadership camp in Armenia, please please please give them my information. :)

Well, today was EARTH DAY. You would think it would be a big deal for an EE Volunteer, but not so much. I had planned a big, Dilijan-wide scavenger hunt for the Sunchild and Artschool kids, but it became evident in the few days leading up that the art school was not planning on participating. Bummer. I was banking on the regular 15 to 20 Sunchild kids, but apparently another group was playing a movie downtown, and most of the kids went to that instead. I don't really blame them, I kept the activities a secret, but man, when only 4 kids show up it kind of sucks. Those 4 had a blast with it anyway though, and were very very happy that I decided to give them 5 STARS for coming and participating. Yes, I am not above bribery! The stars are still working like a charm if you haven't noticed. The closest kid is at 15 (they need 20) and he normally gets one or two minuses during a normal class. I give it till the middle of next week before they make it. I am planning on either bringing in some American candy for them (thanks again Mum for the awesome package) or baking them MnM cookies. We will see what kind of mood I am in.

Holy Moly, I almost forgot to tell you all about last weekend. It was simply amazing. There was a International Hockey tournament happening in Yerevan, and a solid 25 volunteers (including 4 from Georgia) took over Yerevan from Friday to Sunday night! The hockey games were fantastic, a lot more fans came out then expected, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The first game was South Africa (Hello Boys!) vs North Korea. Sadly, North Korea won. The second game was Mongolia vs Armenia, and boy, did the crowd get loud and rowdy (ok, so the rowdy part was mostly the Americans, oops)..but Armenia smothered the Mongolians 17 or 19 to zero, I can't really remember. It is best if you don't ask why.

While the hockey games were a great, 'wow this is almost like we are back home' experience, it was mostly spending the time with such a large group of volunteers that was fun. We spent lots of time sitting at outdoor cafes and just catching up with one another. I forget how lonely it gets here sometimes until I have a weekend with a bunch of people. That kind of event is always worth the time to get into Yerevan!

Well, I have to scour the internet for some good leadership activities...and finish up stuff for tomorrow's classes. It is off to Martuni, then Karenis, then Yerevan for the weekend...so no work will get done then. :)

Despite being dead broke. Oh well! It was still a great time. Why? you ask. Well...I think the main thing is that I finally found a way to control my Sunchild kids. Really, I have come up with a system that makes them WANT to participate, WANT to behave, and WANT to not make fun of the silly American trying to teach them in not-so-good Armenian. It is B E A utiful!

It is very basic. I made a chart that had all of their names on it (with lots of open space after each name) then explained to them that from now on, I will be awarding stars for participation and good behavior, and would be drawing minus's for not-so-good behavior. When one person reached 20 stars, I would bring something in for the whole class.

When I first introduced the system, I thought they would laugh and think it was stupid, but oh no sir...they LIVE for stars, they BREATHE for stars. Even the 16 year old boy has become enraptured by the prospect of earning stars! hahahahaha i love it! Even the minus's do their job, just the threat of a minus or a gesture toward the chart with a not-so-happy look on my face brings about the immediate fixing of whatever behavior I did not like. I LOVE IT!

It is going to make my classes that much more effective and that much less chaotic (and stressful!).

Other things that are probably contributing to my happiness:

The amazing time I had hanging out at the Marine house last weekend. It included a real grill, with REAL burgers, and REAL cheese. We also relaxed playing pool and Guitar Hero. It was a nice, all-American night!

The upcoming hockey game on Saturday night, or more correctly games. It is going to be a great time with a large group of PCVs going...what fun! and who doesn't love a hockey game!

36 days and counting to EGYPT and DUBAI!!! That is right, the tickets are bought and (almost) paid for..which means I can officially start my countdown! Myself and 2 other volunteers will be visiting Dubai, Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor, and more than a few places in between. If anyone has suggestions for places to go...let me know!

Well..I just found a free ride to Yerevan tomorrow, but my host mum has to call and let them know..that means internet time for me is over for a little bit.

Enjoy the beach!

Hello again my friends. It is 11pm here, and I figured I would accomplish something today and update my blog. Not to say that today hasn't been a great day (it has) but I really didn't accomplish too much.

Started out with an English class at 10:40, there was a quiz, so I did nothing except for to give the 7th form kids someone strange looking to stare at in between openly cheating on their quizzes. As I sat there and watched, it was literally like a Whack-A-Mole game, with kids heads popping up once every few seconds and looking at their neighbors papers. There was also chit chat, despite the empty threat of taking quizzes away. On the plus side, the teacher and I took this time to pre-plan a little bit for the next lesson. It is about Notable American Presidents, and she pointed out that Obama is not included. I took the hint and then promised I would bring in some information about him for the next class. We are also talking about health words (I know, random, but we are all tied to the book) and after a discussion we decided that the kids did not need to learn words like 'ophthalmologist' or 'Cardiogram'. Seriously? Why are words like that even included it the book? Insanity.

After class I walked home in the sun, climbed my steps, dropped my bag, and took a glorious nap on the sun lit porch couch. Like a cat, I curled up in the sun. THAT was fantastic. My tatik decided I would get cold, and covered me with her sweater, then my host mum (I think) decided it wasn't enough, and covered me with my sleeping bag. You can imagine, between the warmth of the sun, sleeping bag, and sweater combined...it was very, very hard to wake up.

But I did, in time for my Sunchild class. I got there early enough to find out that a photography teacher from Yerevan was there, and I wouldn't be teaching. Worked for me though. I got a few things printed out (GLOW applications and whatnot) and then left a whole 45 minutes later. Walked to the Post. Picked up my waiting letters (Thank you Mem!) and mailed out the package. Mailing the package was a painful experience. Possibly one of the most painful experiences I have had in Armenia. Apparently, all packages must be wrapped in brown paper, which wouldn't be bad..except for they don't wrap gifts here, and the woman took a solid 25 minutes to wrap the small box. P A I N F U L. I suggested several times that she let me do it, but that was a no go. I died as she struggled, died. If you know me, you know that it took everything I had not to take the package physically from the woman, and then wrap it to my perfectionist standards. Oh and the kicker, she wrapped it upside down, yes, upside down. Finally, it was all wrapped up (not pretty by a long run, but wrapped at least) and then she handed me a book in Armenian with prices and started speaking to me in Russian. I reminded her that I didn't speak Russian a few times, and finally just told her (in Armenian) to mail it whichever way was cheapest. After taking my money, she told me it would reach American in 8 or 9 days. I barely suppressed a laugh. I am banking on maybe a month, if it doesn't get held up in customs and opened, or sent to China accidentally. We will see.

After the Post, I bought some spinach (yum!) and walked home. It was such a gorgeous day. Came home and sat on the porch again, reading, until I was called in for dinner. Spinach and pasta for summer. The spinach was cooked in garlic, egg, butter, and oil but good. I will soon enough introduce my family to the wonders of a spinach salad...but that will have to wait a few more weeks until the tomatoes and peppers come into season.

Moving on, Easter went well. It was a great time. A group of us went down to Yerevan a night early, and stayed at a volunteer's new house. Later, we braved the masses to catch a marshutka to Gyumri. That was a crazy experience. You needed to push and shove to get on the marshutkas, I, as a 5'2'' lady, had too push my way (with fellow PCVs hanging onto my bag) through 250 lb men, elbowing tatiks, and everyone else to get us onto the 4th marshutka that came through. The men underestimated me, and that was their weakness. I was not above pushing through groups of men, or ducking under arms unexpectedly. The determination of the swarm of Armenians was insane. They wanted ON the marshutka, it was chaos every time an empty one rolled up. I was mildly proud of myself for making it on, even though there was nothing left to sit on. Chairs were already being shared, and it was a 2 hour ride, so no one was up for standing. I impressed the driver with my ingenuity as I cleared a spot in the aisle and sat on my stuffed up sleeping bag. A few of the old ladies probably gossiped about my shameful behavior, but oh well.

Gyumri was rainy and cold, but I have come to expect nothing else from places outside of Yerevan and Dilijan. Most everyone was already there, and we had a great night hanging out, reading out of date cosmos, dying eggs and playing games. There was even a dance party when the drinks started flowing. We went to a new pizza place for dinner, it was great, despite the fact that they wouldn't make the pizza without mayo unless you ordered 3+ pieces. Worth it. Even had a tasty Chicken Ceasear Salad. YUM!

The next day was Easter, and it was a good one. Visiting volunteers were split between 3 houses, and my house was responsible for a green salad. We got up and went for breakfast then did some last minute shopping. We washed, chopped, and peeled for hours, which included last minute deviled eggs. Collectively, we sucked at peeling eggs, and so while the eggs were tasty, they were for sure not very pretty. Oh well. The salad was amazing. Since Gyumri is the 2nd largest city in Armenia, we had tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, mushrooms, and carrots to put in the salad. Not going to lie, I ate while I peeled!

Around 4 (only an hour late, not bad for PCVs) we lugged our food across town to meet everyone else and eat. It was delicious. Beyond delicious. There was leg of lamb, chicken, potato salad, traditional Armenian Easter rice (with raisins and veggies), and spinach/cheese deals that were great! Dessert was lemon squares, apple cobbler, funfetti cake, and vanilla ice cream. We were all soooo stuffed after eating, we could barely move. Like turkey coma, but without the turkey.

After digesting enough that we could comfortably walk again, a group of us left. Some of us to buy plane tickets to Egypt, some of us to play Battlestar Galactica. Guess which group I was in???? I will give you a hint. The game lasts about 5 hours, do you think I have that type of attention span, for a space game?? Nope. But my friends did, and my credit card didn't work...so I didn't get my tickets, but did have some quality internet time.

Around 1 am, after a on-the-fly baking (on my random half-joking request) of banana bread, another volunteer cooked up some amazing banana/chocolate/raisin bread. It was heaven, on a plate. And was accompanied by watching a cheesy, very cheesy, SciFi horror movie.

Finally in the wee hours of the morning, we walked home in the coldness and after talking to my mum and various other family members, I crawled into my warm sleeping bag and fell asleep. A comfortable end to a good Easter. Next year though, I will have to experience it with my host family...

The trip home was easy, and the weather sunny when I got in. Then I woke up this morning to have a great day. It has come full circle though, and I am more then ready to have my work out, then crawl into my bed and fall asleep.

I hope that you all had an amazing Easter with family and friends. One thing that I have learned here is that in the States we all take our family for granted. We think that they will always be a drive or phone call away or that it is just too much of a hassle to get everyone together. Believe me, the minute that those things are no longer an option, you wish you had spent more time with your family. You realize that no matter how frustrating those holidays might be, or how many small arguments might happen, it is worth it...because family is what holidays are all about.

Sorry that I have been really slacking lately with keeping the blog updated, but things here have been crazy busy.

Green Camps are at the final stage of the grant writing process, and let's all keep our fingers crossed that we receive one of the 3 grants that we are applying for. We have the basic write up and budget for the Green Camps (well..Environmental Leadership Camps now) done, and have a few days now to tailor it to the individual grants that we are working on. I am very excited for it though, we have made some big changes to the program, which will hopefully make the camp not only more attractive to funders, but also more sustainable and impactful (not quite a word, but you get the picture). In past years, the camps have been all about the environment, which is cool, but there was not training on how to take that knowledge and use it. This year, we are adding elements of team-building and Leadership skills to the camps, and along with completing a environmentally based service project during each of the 5 camps, we will also be selecting 16 student leaders to plan larger scale projects in their areas. The NGO we are working with, Green Tavush, is awesome..and I am very excited to see how all the changes work out in the long run.

I also just found out that I was selected to be a leader at this years GLOW camp!!!! Very exciting stuff. It is a camp for young Armenian girls, where they learn about gender-related issues, self-esteem, and other topics. A program like that is very important here, where the males are entirely doted on, and gender roles reflect that of the states in the 50s. I am so stoked for the camp this year, and will be diligently working on my Armenian until then, since all of the courses are taught in Armenian.

This weekend is the first weekend that I will stay in Dilijan. Between Green Camp (oops...Environmental Leadership Camps) meetings and getting together with other volunteers, I have not had a weekend home in 5 weeks now. Insane. Come to think of it, I have a meeting in Ijevan this Sunday too. Honestly.

Next weekend is Easter in Gyumri! Holidays here (even little one's, like St. Patrick's Day) are harder then the rest, and I am happy that some of us are going to get together for Easter, one of my favorites. I was away for Easter last year too, and that sucked. At least this year there is a rumor of an Easter egg hunt (no worries Mem and Gramp, it will not ever beat out yours!) and I will even get to go to the Catholic Church there.

Speaking of Easter, I have a few cool things that Armenians do for the holiday. They have dried wheat, and make some type of dish with it, just for Easter. Armenians paint eggs as well, but then they knock the ends of two eggs together, and whoevers egg holds up without cracking wins. Wins what? I don't know, but I am sure I will be able to tell you next week. I am sure I will have more for you after that day. I am sad that I will not be experiencing it with my family, but I really want some PCV time.

Well, it is late and I am tired, so off to bed for me. OH! Before I go I want to tell you about the pretty great classes that I have had lately. Since March 22nd was World Water Day, the focus of the Ecology lessons happening with Sunchild this week is WATER. My second favorite topic, behind the ocean. I had a talk with my director, and now the guy that I teach with is actually staying for my 'games', which I am pretty sure he enjoys. Yesterday, we did a oil-spill clean up activity. I split the kids into groups and gave each group a bowl of water, a thread (boom), some cotton, and a spoon. I then dumped a cup of vegetable oil in their bowls (little Sevans, is what I called them) and told them they had 10 minutes to clean it up. It went REALLY well...even the other teacher was getting into it (plus, he could tell where I was going and picked up the explanations when my Armenian stumbled). It was great, actually held the kid's attention for at least 30 minutes (what can I say, if they are into it, I am going to stretch it for all its worth, limits be damned!) and they seemed to get the message. It is easier to stop an oil spill before it happens, then to clean up after it. Today's activity was along the same lines, except for there was 3 bowls of water. One with scraps of paper mixed in, one with dirt, and one with vinegar. The kids (without tasting or smelling) had to vote on which they would rather drink. Obviously, since they didn't know about the vinegar, they picked that one, and then I had one girl smell it. They quickly changed their minds. I then gave them 5 minutes to clean the water using spoons and 'filters' (an old shirt stretched over a bowl) and when all was said and done, we talked about how not all water looks polluted, and how sometimes the most dangerous pollutants (chemicals, etc) cannot be seen or cleaned.

The English classes are also going fairly well. I told Sunchild that I will no longer teach English by myself. Not only is it taking a paying job from a HCN (host country national) but it is also not controlled enough. I average about 20 kids per class, and that is too much for me and my Armenian. They are working on it, and ideas of co-teachers have been kicked around, so hopefully I will have someone in that classroom with me soon enough!

The 2nd school English classes are also going well. I love the 4th form kids (you can see pics on Facebook!) because they are so adorable and willing to listen. It also helps that there are only 8 or so of them in the class. The 5th and 7th forms are coming along. I still cannot control either class by myself. But they associate me with games now, and will usually settle down after 5 or so minutes. I played a great game with the 7th form on yesterday about animals. I wrote a list of animals on the board (and on post its) and then wrote a list of physical features (stripes, eyes, fur, mane, tail, beak, etc)..the kids wrote down the words and translated them all. Then, I called the kids up one by one and put a post it on their back. Their class mates then had to describe the animal (in English) using the traits and other words they knew until the person was able to guess what they were. It went really well. I successfully had every SINGLE of the 22 kids up to participate, and by the end even the so-called 'stupid' kids were yelling out words. I am seeing a difference in at least one of the teachers I work with. She has begun to call on those 'stupid' kids, and is giving them the chance to participate along with the rest of the class. Yay!

Well..I am sleepy, and have successfully put off more grant work until tomorrow, when I will for SURE buckle down and get it done.

Miss you all!

First of all, a Harsanik is a wedding. Hars is the word for Daughter-in-Law, FYI. It was a great time, a very long, and a very great time. The whole day started at noon, when a random relative picked me up and brought me to the bride's families house. My school director's sister was getting married. I get to the house and there are at least 15 women (from the brides side) there getting dressed and ready to go. I honestly couldn't tell who the bride was (no white dress yet, and I had only met the woman once!). About an hour later, there was tons of excitement, and everyone started looking out the windows...the groom's side had arrived. And oh boy, did they make an entrance! There were 5 or 10 cars, all decorated, and a 3 piece band (accordion, clarinet, and drum) played happy, traditional music as they literally danced the bride's dress into the house. Literally..It was a big white poof in a large basket, and everyone danced and sang as they walked it into the house. The men stayed downstairs, presumably drinking and toasting, while all of the women (at least 50) went upstairs to where the bride was eagerly waiting. In Armenia, there is a Godmother and Godfather of the wedding, another married couple. I have no idea what the role of the Godfather is, but the Godmother helped the bride get dressed. All of the women crowded into the bride's room, and the overflow packed close to the door in the hallway. After the bride was all dressed in white..a few things happened. First, they handed out loaves of bread to all of the unmarried women (me included) there. Apparently, if I sleep with that bread under my pillow, I will see my future husband! Next, it was time for the bride to put on her veil..a very big deal. First, she brushed the veil over all of the unmarried women's heads (for luck, I think?) and then it was circled around her head three times before being secured. Then, they dumped (well, a bit more gracefully then 'dumped') candy and rose petals over her newly secured veil.

After, all of the women dance in the hallway, with their bread or otherwise, and eventually the groom comes upstairs to claim his bride. All goes well until he reaches the door of the house, and that is when the bride's brother shoves a sword in the door jamb in front of the groom's face. Yes, I typed that right, but it was not an act of violence, all the groom had to do was pay a 'bribe' to take the bride away. After, to more music, everyone danced out the doors and to the unbelievably long line of cars (at least 20) waiting to take everyone to the church.

The church ceremony was actually the low point of the day. By the way, it was already 3 when we arrived there. We get to the monastery/church and the priest is there waiting. We all go into a small room with an alter (which, by the way, had no benches, or heating ::brr::) and crowded around the bride and groom. The ceremony itself was boring, partly since I had no idea what was going on..but then again, the other people (groom included) looked bored too. At one point, the priest even stepped away to answer his phone! One interesting part of the ceremony was that they touched forehead for a pretty long time. Long time to the point that the bride and groom were laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation..it was hilarious to watch them giggle, trying to hold in the laughter during what I think was supposed to be a pretty solemn part of the ceremony. After, the priest broke out some crowns with religious pictures on them..the bride and groom wore them for about a minute, and then they were removed never to be seen again. Oh, and there was no 'now you may kiss the bride' part either, it was just kind of over and people gave them hugs and stuff, took pictures, before we got back into the caravan of cars.

This time, as we drove back to town though, horns were honking like crazy. At the local rotary, all of the other cars stopped, and let the caravan circle around 6 or 7 times, honking their horns the entire time.

Soon enough, we arrived at the groom's house. Well, I guess it is technically his parents house. In Armenia, in the case of women, you live with your parents until you are married, end of story. If you don't get married, you just live in the house forever..eventually with your brother's and their wives. If you are a man, you live in the house forever as the only or youngest son. If you are an older son, you generally move out on your own when the next youngest brother gets hitched. Anyway..we arrive at the house (well, it was an apartment) and the 3 piece band is still around playing music and everyone is dancing and happy. The mother-of-the-groom comes out and performs a bit of a ceremony. She drapes pieces of lavash (the flat bread here, their life, really) over each of their shoulders..then spoon feeds them some honey mixture, and later throws money and candies into the air. More dancing follows as the bride and groom make their way into the house, breaking two plates as they walk in the door for the first time as husband and wife.

It is around 5 pm now, and the next part of the tradition I am not so positive about. We get into the house and there is a full spread out on the table, complete with alcohol and shot glasses. The men start toasting, but no one eats. A bit later, all of the women go with the new bride into a separate room and start taking pictures with her. I assume the men are still downstairs drinking. That is all that happens for about an hour. Pictures with the bride. Then, it is back into the cars (after a brief dance party outside, where all of the neighbors have gathered) and we head to the reception.

The reception happens at a hall. A big hall. With 15 tables set for 20 people each. There is a banquet on each table. Bottles of cognac, wine, and vodka set a few feet apart on each table. There is horavats, pastries, salads, tons and tons of food. Everyone sits down, and we wait for the bride and groom to enter. There is more dancing when they do, and shouts and cheers, and then it is time to eat. And you eat. Especially if you are an American sitting with people who don't really know you. They stack food on your plates. All night long. They also pour you copious amounts of the alcohol of your choice (mine: cognac) and toasting runs rampant the entire night. The toasting and the eating are interspersed with various dances: one for gifts of jewelery, danced up to the bride; another where the bride and groom dance, and guest plays $100 bills (yes, dollars) in their hands; and yet another for 'other' gifts. At one point, the bride and groom go around and clink glasses with every, yes every one of the 300+ guests that are there. The parents do the same. After everyone is full beyond belief, dancing becomes a continuous thing. People take breaks, of course, to rest their feet or to drink. Well, mostly just to drink. A few hours in, a second course of fish is brought out, and I should mention that the whole time, waiters are walking around replacing empty bottles : ). Around 11:30 pm, the cake is cut! They do the whole smearing cake in each others faces deal, and then the best man shakes and opens a bottle of champagne, spraying EVERYONE. Oh, I should also mention that the best man carried around a sword the entire time. I never saw him without it. It was not the plain sword that the brother used to collect the bride, but a very decorated, elaborate sword. Two apples were speared on the top (one stuck with toothpicks) and the whole thing was wrapped in red ribbon, with candy randomly glued on. Later, the bride throws the bouquet (and the short, crazy American to the surprise of all people present rebuffs attempts to be placed up front) and later the groom throws his corsage. No garter here, that would be SOOO amot (shameful).

This dears, around midnight, is where my firsthand descriptions of an authentic Armenian harsanik ends. I gave up. 11 hours in I climbed into a van (after convincing drunk men that I had enough Armenian to direct the driver to my house) and went home to take of my shoes and go to bed. I found out that the party went on for another 2 hours. You should never complain that a wedding is too long ever again!

Oh my friends, today has been quite a day. It all started out well enough, my 7th form class went well enough. I was late, and when I walked into the room all the kids stood up and said their rhyme that they say every day to the teacher. It goes like this, "Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning to you...Good Morning, Good Morning, I am glad to see you", I am more OK with the poem then I am with the other widely spread "Good morning teacher" and "Good Morning Students" as a response. I really do need to break them of the whole standing up thing though, it is a little over the top for me. Anyway, back on topic, we were learning opposites today, and I did a few exercises with the kids on the board. Unfortunately, the teacher I work with still jumps in and calls kids up to answer, when I really want other kids that don't get any attention to have a shot. At one point we both called someone up, and the teacher proceaded to tell me that the person I chose 'could not write'. I called her up for the next one, and I think she understood what was said, because she had no hesitation writing the correct, flawless answer up on the board. I was proud.

Walked down to the post office after school. I had 3 letters from Mem (THANK YOU!!!) and a Christmas card from my aunt. It was nice!! I love getting letters, and it was warm today, so the walk was extra enjoyable.

After a quick lunch I went to the Art School. I had a few minutes, so I checked my email and had a slightly unpleasant email. My organization had some pretty unrealistic expectations, and I ended up on the phone with my Program Manager for quite some time. It is a good thing I love the kids here, because man, the adults are frustrating!

My English class with the Sunchild kids did not go down so well either, they were all hyper from the holiday yesterday, and after wishing me a happy March 8th a million times (It was International Woman's Day) they just couldn't settle down. After it took them 30 minutes to prepare a simple dialogue, I invited groups up to present theirs and couldn't get the group to stop chit chatting and listen. After 10 minutes standing there waiting for them to be quiet, I calmly explained to them that I already know English, and didn't need to be there. Then I sent them home and told them to come tomorrow ready to work, and that we would be staying until five. Oh, the joys of children.

Jacob, I probably won't put up another blog before your birthday, so here it is a little bit early......HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you, miss you, and hope you have a fun day!

Also, anyone with extra boxes of Puffs Plus with Lotion, please donate them to the 'Katie has had a cold for months and it just plain refuses to go away' fund. Thanks!

Well, today is March 1st, and in Armenia, that is the official first day of Spring. Ironically, of course, it is the coldest day we have had here in weeks, but oh well, this is Armenia! I am sitting here by my wood stove again, after weeks of being free of it's chains.

As Summer quickly approaches, I have become insanely busy over the last few weeks. I was in Yerevan for this weekend to work on the curriculum of the computer camps that some of the PCVs are going to offer this year, and we had what you would call a 'working lunch' and 'working dinner' at 2 restaurants. I had and amazing, out-of-this-world ceaser salad at the first restaurant, complete with real dressing and spinach. I could have eaten 5 of them, but they were a bit on the pricey side. Over this first meal, we worked out budgets and basic information. Then we moved on to Champion's Sports Bar, so we could use their free wifi, and worked for a few more hours on our plans. Oh, and I ate some fantastic spring rolls. yum!

Friday night, a bunch of us went out dancing, it was really a great time. It was nice to hang out with volunteers that I don't usually see. We got home late, and I slept until 10 on Saturday morning. I would have slept longer, but David decided it was time to get up, and ripped to covers away.

On Saturday, we started our meeting off ordering some burritos and nachos from Taco Maco, and new Mexican place that just opened up. We all love it because it is cheap and authentic. We split into 2 groups to work on our specific curriculum. We decided to focus on 2 main topics: Photoshop and Web design. Since I really don't know much about either, I worked with the Web design group and helped them with making their curriculum kid friendly but adding in games, etc. In the end, we have our curriculum complete, and even have a rough schedule for all of the camps laid out. The meetings were far more productive then I ever imagined they would be.

On Saturday, a few of us went to Sevan for the night. Boy oh boy, is it cold there. Beautiful, yes, but cold! There was still a significant amount of ice on the ground, which we haven't seen for a while in Dilijan. It still amazes me how close we can be, but with a climate so completely different. Sunday morning Hayley (another PCV) made us crepes with blackberry syrup. I could have eaten 8 of them. It was so delicious. The blackberries came frozen, but were so delicious and such a change from all the dried fruit we are having now, that they tasted like heaven. After breakfast, it was time for us to pack up and catch a ride to Dilijan.

As I mentioned before, I am taking a lead in the Green Camps that are happening this year, well, things have been kind of sticky lately (due to funding) and we had a meeting with about 5 other volunteers to work out some details and get everyone on the same page. We talked about the sustainability (or lack thereof) of the current GC program, organizational issues, and PC involvement. After getting all the volunteers on the same page (mostly), a representative of Green Tavush (www.greentavush.org) came and we talked everything out. Let's just say there was some serious chain smoking going on, but we got it all worked out (again, mostly) and plan on having a 2 day meeting in Ijevan next weekend to hammer everything out. Everyone just cross your fingers that we can make it all work out. Green Tavush is a great NGO, and Green Camps are a big part of the fun EE and other PCVs have every summer. Plus, it gets kids from villages interested in environmental issues world wide.

I am excited to announce that on March 21st, my flights to Dubai and Egypt will be officially booked. We will spend 10 days in Egypt, with one day in Dubai on either side of that. If anyone has any tips on places to go or things to see, let me know. Interestingly enough, another PCV has told us to use our Armenian when we are at the markets in Egypt. Apparently, when you speak English you get hounded, and they understand when you really want something or not, which seriously hinders your ability to negotiate! good tip, and one I plan on using!

Oh, and while at the IT meeting, something really interesting came up, and I started to think about it more. I had not realized how much I had changed my actions to fit into the social norms here. Don't worry Mum, it is not like I am waiting hand and foot on men or anything, but I do act far differently then I expected. Before Armenia, I walked down the street with my head up, looking at everyone and everything. Here, I noticed that I walk with my head down a lot of the time, avoiding eye contact with men on the street. That hit me hard, if you had asked me before coming here if that would have been acceptable, I would have answered no, no questions asked. But it is something that snuck up on me, and something I will be working on. Also, in America, if I was walking down a street and saw a group of 4 or 5 teenage boys loitering on the sidewalk, I would have just walked by them. Here, I go into the street or cross to the other side all together. I have never had such a bias against one group of people in my life. While not all Armenian men fit into this category (I have met some great guys), I find myself disliking most men here between 16 and 30. Like I said, not all of them by a long shot, but the majority of those I have interacted with are obnoxious and disrespectful. I don't think they are bad people, but man. I think it has something to do with the fact that most of them are unemployed. Like America (but on a totally different scale) Armenia is facing insanely high unemployment rates. A lot of men go to Russia for work. So these boys sit around all day with nothing to do, nothing. The gender role thing also plays a key role. While most kids here are spoiled (they are the LIFE of the family), boys are often treated like princes, they bring hope for the family in the future. Sisters are expected to take care of their brothers, whether it be getting them a drink or other similar things. Also, blatant staring at girls is accepted here without comment. Groups of men here will literally stare to the point where they crane their necks, and it is regarded as ok. There is a lot that I have had to adjust to here, and this is the one that issue I just can't seem to overcome. Even in the schools or clubs, when an older boy walks in, his word rules. All decisions will refer back to him (especially over me, the young female teacher) and he is loved and respected by everyone around him (including other teachers). It is insane, and hard sometimes for me to overcome in my classes.

I don't really know where I want to go with all of this, but it is something that I wanted to share. Now, I am going to go eat. My host mother is made my favorite soup (chicken and rice) and I am going to eat one big, hefty bowl of it. With bread. yumm!

Aunt Carol-Ann and Carolyn : HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Sorry that it has been awhile, I have been pretty busy and haven't had much of a chance to catch you all up on things. So, here I go:

Got back on Sunday from a week-long international training conference. I think I told you about it, but didn't have very many details. It was about the EVS program (The European Volunteer Service, or the European equivalent to the PC) and was truly an incredible time. There were 22 participants total from the following countries: Moldova, Turkey, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and of course, Armenia. It was an incredible group of people, and amazingly we all got along and had a great time with one another. Since I am not so good at sitting still for long periods of time (without falling asleep, that is) I was nervous, but soon found out that falling asleep would not be a problem. The trainers were fantastic about keeping everything fun, and taking lots of short breaks to keep our energy up and our boredom level down. I learned a whole lot of new games along with the EVS information. Oh, and the official blog for the training can be found at http://evstcdilijan.wordpress.com/, just so I don't have to give a play by play of all the activities we did. Everything was especially interesting for me as a current international volunteer. I was able to answer questions and speak about challenges from a point of view that wasn't really in the mind set of all of the others there. Learning about the entire EVS program (or programme, as the British write it) was also interesting (boy, I like that word today). While the PC is far more structured and organized, EVS offers opportunities to those who haven't had a shot at higher education and are not specialists. The entire week was stitched up with a day in Yerevan. Most of us went to Vernasage (a large, open-air market) and I bought a ring and two scarfs (I know Mum, but I couldn't resist) and then the group of us met at Cascades. While some of us (me, included) decided to walk up the daunting set of stairs, others took the elevator and we met at the top for some great group pictures. We later a ate dinner (accompanied by LIVE, traditional music) that was peppered with frequent toasts and outbursts of songs. Pretty sure there was even some coffee grounds readings going on at the end. When we left the restaurant, around 11:30 a group of us went dancing and later to get some late night shawarma. All of the pictures are now up on my facebook, under EVS training or something close to that.

Had a day to recover, and then back to work. I am still working at the schools, and am teaching English and Biology with Sunchild. All of that, on top of the fact that I am taking a lead on Green Camps this year, and things are kind of iffy with them right now. We are for sure at a crossroads, and we are all hoping to find a compromise that lets us continue working with them on top of the program itself becoming even a little bit sustainable. I guess we will see.

Planning a trip to Egypt for the end of May, I am crossing my fingers that it all works out (c'mon Uncle Sam with a decent return) and can't wait to spend 2 days in Dubai and a week in Egypt.

Well, some more work just came up, and I still need to get my lessons in order for tomorrow. I promise I will try and get better at this.

That means good morning in Armenian, and it is how people greet each other when they wake up. I figure since it is still the morning my time, I can get away with using it here. It literally translates "Good light". I like it.

Things here have been going pretty smoothly in the last few weeks, I am maintaining the schedule that I set up a month ago, and that is making my life that much less stressful. English lessons at the school are getting better and better. Right now I help to teach a 4th, 5th, and 7th form class twice a week. It keeps my afternoons (and sometimes mornings) busy. I really love working with the kids. They have gotten over their initial shyness, and now, when I walk into the room before the start of class I am bombarded with "hello"s, "how are you"s and a number of different questions in a mix of broken English and Armenian. It is pretty overwhelming on the days I go to class for 9, but I am getting used to it. I talk in English with them as much as I can, anything to make them practice conversations. Luckily, I have enough Armenian now that I can translate for them if I need to, and they are learning that I want them practice their English with me.

Yesterday and today both went amazingly well. I played BINGO for the first time with my 7th form class, and oh boy was it a hit. They were practicing their colors, and also words from a story about aliens that they read in their text books. After the initial confusion (they like to copy off one another, and I had to explain many times that they couldn't copy each others sheets!) they really got into the game. Any time one of them would have the word, they would jump up and down and get all excited. Near the end, they would call out words they wanted me to say, it was hilarious. Walking out of school that day, I was serenaded by "bingo, bingo, bingo" in a melodious tune some of the more rambunctious boys had made up. I worry that every time I walk into the class they will want to play BINGO, but I guess we will see.

On Monday, my 4th form children were learning winter words, such as snowman, hat, sled, mittens, etc. For class today, I cut out pieces of a snowman (and some accessories) and wrote the words in English. There are only 10 kids in the class, so I made sure to have a piece for everyone. The child that could give me the correct translation of the word, got to decorate the piece, then at the end we glued it all together and hung the snowman on the wall. It was nice to see the kids all excited about learning, instead of just sitting and copying words for the whole class. The teaching methods here still get to me sometimes, but I do what I can to get everyone to participate, and hopefully the teachers will pick up as much from me as I do from them.

My Sunchild classes are going pretty good as well. We just finished a set of English classes (which the kids love), and are now in the middle of a set of four Ecology/Environmental classes (which the kid's love most days, and tolerate others). I teach the English classes alone, and we usually introduce a new topic and 10 new verbs or words each class, then do some hands on practice and activities. Recently, we learned the days of the week and months of the year. For the months, I had written out all the months and then cut them into pieces. As I handed it out to the kids, and it dawned on them that they had to arrange all the names correctly and then in order (Jan to Dec) I got many bursts of "lav eli" (the direct translation doesn't work, but it is really and exasperated "be good")...they worked it out though, and hopefully picked up on the pronunciations of the words (I cut them by how you sound it out, if that makes sense in anyone's head but mine).

I 'co-teach' the Environmental lessons with a Botanist/Biologist that works here in Dilijan at the National Park. Co-teach is in quotations because there is really nothing 'co' about it. He starts off with his lecture and when the kids get obviously bored and intolerant after an hour or so, he leaves (I mean walks out the building leaves) and I take over with a hands on game or activity. While I am not really passing on skills to the man like I am supposed to, I figure the kids are at least getting something out of the activities, and I am being sustainable in that way. I enjoy the activities at the end, and the kids like the mix up after the lecture. I also try to do activities that can later be hung on the walls, so the kids can remember and be proud of what they are doing. The activity that has been my favorite so far was when I split the class into three teams. They each had 10 minutes to draw the water cycle from memory, and then on margin of the paper write what they as children and students could do to help the water pollution situation in Armenia. While I couldn't understand everything that they wrote, I am sure a lot of good ideas were brainstormed and now hang taped on the wall.

I am very excited because the International Training Conference that I told you all about earlier starts on Sunday. It lasts a week, and while it is held in Dilijan, I will be staying at a hotel the entire time (Yay central heating and shower!!!). It is going to be interesting, because I am attending not as a PCV, but as a volunteer for a local youth NGO (YCCD), which I still don't know much about, but will be getting involved in during the upcoming months. It is being funded and hosted by EVS (European Volunteer Service, the European equivalent of the PC) and will focus on critical thinking and working within the EVS programs. We will see how it all goes down, but I am very excited because there will be people there from 9 other countries including Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, and Georgia. All of them have some English skills (I hope, the training IS being presented in English) and it will be nice to meet some new people and make connections. Unfortunately, I will not have internet that week (unless I sneak home one night!), but I think the shower situation will make up for it, especially if there is a bathtub!!!!!

Well, Angela (my host mum) just called me for lunch (Ari, hats ootenk) and I am going to go eat some mashed potatoes and pasta. Oh boy, do I want it to be Spring again!

Love you all and miss you lots!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNA!!!!!! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Take lots of pictures and have a blast!

Aunt Mary and Aunt Jen: Thank you for the cards! They were great!

Mum- Thanks again for the package!

I am failing at this updating the blog thing. Well..it is late and I am tired (you'll find out why in just a moment) so I am going to keep it short and sweet and hopefully get my act together this week and write a nice long one for you guys. Where to begin?

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY SARAH!!! I hope that you had a fantastic birthday, I miss you and love you!

Last friday, I traveled with a fellow volunteer to visit some friends in Sisian, which is a town located in Syunik Marz. That is the big, long marz in Southern Armenia. It is about 5 hours from Dilijan..including a 2 hour marshutney ride and 3 hour taxi ride. I was crazy tired by the time I got in, but had a pretty good weekend. Saw a couple of beautiful old monasteries and churches (pictures coming to Facebook soon) and even hiked around the Armenian version of Stonehenge. We call it Stonehinge, and I thought that it was pretty cool. The views were worth it.

The first full week of February was spent in Tsaghkadzor, a ski town in Lori Marz. That is the marz to the left of Tavush (my Marz). All of the A 17 volunteers spent 3 days there. We spent our days learning about writing grants, and our evenings partying, going for coffee, and sledding. It really was a great time. There is one cafe there called Jazzve, and they have American style coffee and some tasty, cheap desserts.

After our workshop, a few of us stayed and rented a house for 2 nights near the mountain. We all went up to the lifts on Saturday and went skiing and snowboarding. Since I haven't had the opportunity to try either, and all of my friends snowboard, I chose to try snowboarding. It was an adventure to say the least. I hurt today, but it was worth it.

Well, returned to Dilijan today to find that a package I was waiting on had come in, It was a nice end to the week.

I am very tired and want to drag my sore body to bed, up for my English classes at school tomorrow, and maybe my Eco-club in the afternoon.

I miss you all! Keep warm, and think of me as you turn up your thermostats to ward off the cold!

Sorry. Been pretty busy in the last few weeks. In case I forgot to tell you last time, I have a SCHEDULE, that is right ladies and gentlemen, and actual schedule that has been (relatively) stable over the last 2 weeks. I am feeling more comfortable in the English classes now, kids recognize me at least, and are no longer intimidated by the fact that I am there. Got to sit in on a class today that was taking a 'test'. I put test in quotations because it would by no stretch of the imagination qualify as a test in the good ole U S of A. The teacher began by translating all of the questions for the children, then whenever they asked a question, she gave them the answer. At no point in time was the room silent, and the kids quite openly shared answers with one another. It was all basic stuff, like your name, age, address, and telephone number, but the kids had really no idea. I am for sure going to work in some practical work along with the ridiculous book the kids are expected to memorize. I have a BINGO game planned for Thursday (our next class) and am going to try to get the kids to participate in some dialogues. They do dialogues now, but they read and memorize and repeat, with very little actual understanding of what is going on. To the point that if 2 girls are reciting the dialogue, they won't even know to change the boy's names in the dialogue to their own. Sadness. But, something I have to work on.

The Sunchild things are going pretty well. I finally harassed a schedule and copy of the Ecology program from them, which is very helpful. The classes that I have taught have gone pretty well, and the kids really enjoy the games that I have brought for them. The first lesson started with a bang when I made a ghetto enviroscape for the kids to use. I used an old cardboard box, some Styrofoam, and a cut up plastic bag. The 'town' had one river and one lake, and the kids had to build (read: draw) their town on it. We talked about things that every town needed, and decided to include:

one school

one factory

houses

gardens

a dump

garbage cans

streets

a farm

They also drew in some other things, and made the town 'pretty'. Afterwards, I told them that I did not think their town was realistic. Something was missing. That is when i added fertilizers (cinnamon)to their gardens, garbage (cut up paper) to their dump and garbage bins, and industrial wastes (curry) to their factory. Then, it rained. To their dismay, although many had anticipated the outcome, all of their pollution ended up in their river and their lake. It was a sad story. We then talked about ways of cleaning it up, or preventing it in the first place. They had a great time drawing on my crazy little enviroscape, and I think the message got across.

During the last class, we talked about water consumption and played a match up game where they had to pair normal household uses of water to the average amount of water used every time. I think some of them were shocked to learn that it takes 170,000 liters of water to make just one Kg of wool. Insanity. They had fun with it though.

As far as the English classes are going, UNO on Saturday was a blast, but I now have 30 children who want to play UNO all the time. And I do mean all the time, I now use it as a reward if they sit and listen to my stammering Armenian long enough for me to get a bit of a lesson across. It was a good time though, and on some days it doesn't take much to convince me to break out the cards. Since I want to make it sort of educational, all colors and numbers have to been said in English, and if someone says a color or number in Armenian, they have to take 2 cards. Unfortunately for me, I am very used to saying things like that in Armenian now, especially when the rest of my sentence is Armenian. It has backfired a few times. The kids are crazy strict with it to, and they will resort to trying to trick people into slipping up and speaking Armenian. There are lots of laughs every game at least.

David came up last weekend, and we went for a mini-hike. I call it 'mini' because it turned into old building exploration with a little bit of hill climbing in between. It was still fantastic though. It was a pretty freezing day, I had at least 4 layers on, but it was nice to just be outside. We found, and explored, an old sanatorium..some of the pics are up on Facebook, but more will be up tomorrow. Some of the old rooms are now used to house animals, and we found old shoes, elevator shafts, and children's drawings on the walls. The light, since it was overcast, was great that day, and I got some really cool pictures which made me pretty happy. We also found a sweet horavats place up on a mountain, the new bank building site, and an old hospital. It was cool. We turned around when we reached the top of the mountain, it was very cold, and the leftover lasagna was drawing us home.

Oh yea, made lasagna, french onion soup, and an apple pie (all from scratch thank you very much) the night before. Despite the lasagna exploding and the French Onion soup boiling, it all came out really well. It was delicious. The apple pie was surprisingly fantastic, something I will definitely make again.

Snuck in a visit to Karenis, my old village, last weekend. It was great. I was traveling to Yerevan for a Green Camp meeting on Friday, which was pretty productive I think. I am going to help write grants in the next few months, and then will hopefully help out with the planning and everything at a few camps this summer. After the meeting, I bumped off to Karenis. It was great to see the family again. Everyone was doing well, and it was a really relaxing weekend. Brought UNO, played with Taron(14), Narineh(24), and Ghor(5). Monay(2) became unpleased with the fact that she couldn't participate and stole Narineh's cards, refusing for quite some time, to give them back. She would then randomly put them down on our pile, causing more laughter as Narineh attempted to see her cards and convince Monay to place the right one on the pile at the correct time. Finally, she grew bored, and we got on with it. A great time all around, and my host mum gave me 2 jars of homemade jam, a kilo of shelled walnuts, and a grocery bag of apples to take home. I was in heaven.

Well, I am pretty sleepy, I think I am going to cut it off here. I miss you all and love you tons!

Well, things have progressed fantastically (my new favorite word) here since I have been back. The first few days were rough, but I am coming along just fine, especially since I have been so busy. Let's all knock on wood so it stays that way! A quick rundown on things I have going now:

I am teaching 8 classes a week of English at one of the local schools. Each class is about 45 minutes long, and when I say teaching I mean I sit in the class and jump in with an activity on the board, or little piece of native-English-speaker knowledge whenever I am moved to do so. Not to shabby. This will help me get to know some of the people in the community outside of the Art School and other circles I run in here.

I FINALLY had a meeting with the Biologist I will be teaching SunChild classes with. It went fantastically (see, told you) and I have a copy (in Armenian, anyway) of what we will be talking about next month (or the end of this month, we haven't quite decided). Although he has no English, we used my dictionary and were able to figure out what most of the subjects where. We also decided on how the classes would run. Because of the language barrier, he is going to do most of the talking and 'teaching' teaching, and then I will step in for the last 20 or 30 minutes and run a relevant activity or game. Oh, and our first month worth of classes are about WATER and soil quality. I am excited!

On the topic of SunChild, I am teaching English to the kids along with participating in the Environmental classes. We had our first class in a while today, and I think it went pretty well. It was mostly a big review of Hellos, Present tense, numbers, and colors. I had some worksheets for them, and we played the ever-popular 'run and touch', which is always a hit. Tomorrow I will make paper with them, and on Saturday another English lesson. The entire lesson will consist of playing UNO and Barrel of Monkeys. UNO will help them work on colors and numbers, and is just a great time.

I am also working on a grant with my director at the Art School. We want to open a community center in some of the spare rooms in the school, complete with ceramics studio (we have a big art community here), computers, and a projector/screen for showing movies. I am working on making the idea coherent now, and then the Peace Corps hosts a 3 day conference in February to help us hash out the details and final plan before we apply for the grant. I will let you all know how that goes.

I was also invited to participate (in a support role) at an international training conference that one of the Youth in Action NGO is hosting in February for a week. It is themed 'Think Locally, Act Europeanly' and kids from all over Europe will be there. I am pretty stoked for it, to be honest. Oh, and the leader of the NGO here also asked me if I would start and English discussion club. We would meet once or twice a month and it would allow all of the English speakers in the Dilijan area to come together and practice. Sounds like fun, something that I will start next month probably.

It is still in the planning stages, but myself and another volunteer are planning to run computer classes here in Dilijan. We want to offer work-related courses to adults, and fun (please come back again!) courses to the kids in the community. Other volunteers are planning them all over the country, and when it pulls together it should be pretty great.

In the next few weeks, once my final schedule at the school hashes itself out, I also want to look into forming some type of Environmental something at the Youth Club that just opened up. It will probably turn into an Environmental English club, but we will see.

I am also going to start working with the Youth Bank group in Dilijan. Youth Bank is a group of young adults that were trained to read and rate grant projects and applications. Historically, grants in Armenia (jobs, even.) are rewarded based on who your friend or cousin or sister is. So the NGO trains the participants to rate the project on a number of different criteria, and the top rated are given small grants. They recently awarded 5 (or 6) small grants ranging from a garbage barrel project to a batik (silk scarf dying) project. They are moving into the monitoring phase of the program know, and hopefully I will help them to monitor one or more of the projects. I know a few of the young adults already, and it should be interesting.

I am also looking forward to start working on Green Camp stuff. Green Camps are Environmental camps that are run all over Armenia during the summer time. It is officially through the Green Tavush NGO, but Peace Corps volunteers plan and host them everywhere. Kids come for about a week, either as a day or overnight camp, and learn about different issues affecting the environment around them. Of course, as it is a camp, lots and lots of games and activities are involved, and the camps are a fantastic (there it is again) time. Right before Halloween I caught the tail end of one my friend Beth was hosting. The kids had a blast, and it was fun for the counselors as well.

Well, I have to finish finding the right words to describe our idea for the community center (the conference application is due the 18th!), so I am going to head out.

Oh, before I go. One thing that Armenia is really lacking is a Staples or an Office Max. School and office supplies here are seriously lacking (quantity and quality wise) , so if anyone is looking to send out a package, here are a few things that would help me out a ton:

sticky tack

construction paper

colored chalk

whiteboard markers

scotch tape (on the dispenser kind)

flip charts

also, if anyone has any lower level books they no longer use (children's books), I want to start a small library that the kids can use to practice their English.

There are a few other things, but they escape me now...

More in a couple of days, I love you all and miss you lots!

Well, let's start with the fact that I am doing a bit better then I was when I was sitting all lonely like in that overpriced airport cafe.

Yesterday I decided to reorganize my room while I was unpacking. We all know how much that helps me out when I am all discombobulated. Went to the store and bought them out of hangers, and came home for a few intense hours of getting my life back together-ish.

Today, my host mum came in to wake me up at 12:30. Give me a break, my times are all off again. I had to catch the bus at 1:30 to go to a last minute holiday party. Jack, my site mate, met me on the bus, and we got to the house around 2. The family is a Mum, Dad, 2 daughters, and a son. I have worked with one of the daughters many times, but this was my first time meeting the rest of the family. The daughter, thankfully, is pretty fluent in English, so she helped translate for me and Jack. Dinner was delicious, and the conversation was really interesting. Kind of a debate.

Some background. The mum is a doctor and the dad an engineer. The older daughter works as a medical representative, the younger daughter as an accountant, and the son is still at University. The mother asked about differences between American and Armenian students and education. I explained that there are 2 very different types of learning. Armenia, coming from a Soviet background, focuses on rote memorization of facts, while in America the focus is put more on critical thinking and problem solving. The discussion then went on to which method is more effective, learning English, and the problems that are seen in Armenian schools today. Boiling it down, it was agreed that there definitely needed to be more hands-on stuff and critical thinking in the classrooms here. It was also agreed that the education system was probably a little bit better under the Soviet system then it is now.

There was a big difference in opinion when it came to learning English and other languages though. Here, grammar is the focus of teaching. This means that while most Armenians probably know English grammar better then myself, they couldn't speak it to save their life. The family argued that grammar was focused on because speaking is easy and can be picked up whenever. Jack and I threw down the yellow flag on that and argued that while grammar is important, it is harder to learn to listen and to speak, and that grammar gives you nothing unless you can actively participate in a conversation. Pretty sure we never found middle ground on that one, and the debate was ended with a toast to the children.

The conversation about problems in the Education system today was a little less heated. It was agreed that something definitely needs to change, because education in Armenia now is not cutting the mustard. Before I go on, I want to say that what we talked about does not happen in every classroom in Armenia, and that there are some fantastic teachers out there that really and truly care for their children. I am just giving examples of practices that are widespread enough that they have been noticed by more then one volunteer. One problem that is seen is the way children are ridiculed or embarrassed in class when they don't know things, a throwback to Soviet times. Also, only a few of the brightest children are focused on while the rest of the children are left behind. Clearly, you can see where we would have a problem with either of those methods. I talked to the family about how in most classrooms in America (not all, teachers still have favorites) that does not happen and is not acceptable. Children are not ridiculed in class, and are encouraged when they do know an answer or correctly perform an activity.

Cutting to the chase, it was really interesting to hear the Armenian version of the problems of the Education System and their possible solutions. Normally, these subjects are discussed among volunteers, where we all come from the same educational background. It was enlightening to hear another point of view.

Oh, and all of these discussions were interspersed with toasts; to children, parents, health, the future, etc. Despite disagreement, the night ended on a cheerful note. As the Nor Tari (New Year) celebrations come to a close, tomorrow is the first work day since the 1st, everyone seems hopeful for good things in the year to come.

So, I am sitting in a cafe in Paris. Not what you are thinking though, it is an overpriced (4 dollars for a bottle of juice) airport cafe. I hate Paris, well, the airport at least. I would like to say that in my crazy long layover (7 hours) I was able to travel out and see a little bit of France, but no. I could barely find my way to my gate, and security here is obnoxious. Not impressed. And, I want another bottle of juice.

My flight from Boston to Paris was alright. I was a bit of a mess, and had a hard time falling asleep. For those of you who know me, even a little bit, you know that falling asleep is usually not a problem for me, staying awake is. Leaving home (again) was hard, really hard.

Had a going away dinner last night with some of the family and friends at the Pasta House. It was nice, and I was proud of myself for only getting teary once. In my defense it was the last time I was seeing all of those amazing people for 20 months, which right now seems like an awfully long time.

This morning a bunch of us (mum, Kel, Joey, DP, my grandparents, and my aunt and uncle) came to IHOP to join me for one last, normal breakfast before I left. I ordered a side of bacon, surprise surprise. It was great to see everyone and spend some time together.

Had a nap when I got home (sleep eluded me last night to), and then some last minute repacking when Danny declared that my suitcase was too heavy.

The ride to the airport was fine, but when we got there I got stalling. I really did not want to get back on that plane. I got away with putting it off for a bit longer then expected (thanks to a delay) but finally I had to go.

Now I am sitting in Paris with all this time to think. Probably not a good plan, but it's whats happening. While I know I am lucky to be doing what I am doing, it still hurts to be away from everyone. I am stopping now though, before I lose it in this overpriced airport cafe and make a fool of myself.

Maybe I will treat myself to that second 4 dollar juice.

I miss you all and love you lots. Don't forget about me guys.

I am home, enjoying it, and hope you have some amazing holidays!

Well..the day is finally here, at least in Armenia! I am sitting at the airport gate just counting down the minutes until my plane leaves for Paris. I have an 1 1/2 layover there, and then will be settling in for a nice 11 hour ride to Boston, where Mum and Danny P are meeting me! I am so excited I can barely contain myself, not really looking forward to the very long flights though. Countdown 16.5 hours until I land in Boston!

Can't wait to see you all tonight!

when we were in the butcher shop, purchasing the meat for the baked ziti, the man picked up a piece that looked rather heart-like. I inquired to my friend if he agreed, and he said no. Only later did I find out that it was in fact a heart (and some other, unidentifiable organs) that the man ground up for us, my friend purchased, and that I unknowingly and thoroughly mixed into the fantastic homemade pasta sauce and delicious ziti. Thank you sir.

Oh, and the kicker, guess what leftovers we ate for lunch today?

next time we are going vegetarian...........................

This weekend started out pretty fantastically. On Saturday, a friend of mine came to visit and cooked an Italian dinner for my family. We made baked ziti and garlic bread, from scratch(ish). Thanks Mum for the inspiration! It was a hit, and that is putting it pretty mildly. Not only did the entire family go for seconds, but that included my brother, Samson. He is not big on trying new foods, and he doesn't eat very much. When I saw him scoop a second heaping spoonful of ziti onto his plate, I really almost cried. I also knew that the meal was a big success because no normal hatz (bread) was placed on the table. Bread is on the table at every meal, every single meal...and this is the first time they haven't added it! Everyone was satisfied with the garlic bread that we had made. We had left over wine and vodka from Samson's party as well, so we had an amazing time eating, toasting, and talking (mostly in Armenian) to one another.

That night, after dinner, we played another round of Old Maid. While that might sound a bit mundane, or boring, what you don't know is that when someone loses, another player gets to draw on their face with eye liner. That right there ups the ante. We had only played a couple of hands (I had yet to be drawn on, but that didn't last) when some family friends came, and ended up sitting down and playing with us. Everyone was in an extremely good mood, and there was for sure some serious cheating (ooops..I mean hinting) going on! We put on some music, relaxed, and I don't think we stopped playing until one in the morning, when it was decided that it was time for bed!

The next day was just as fun. We went for a little walk and found the Rotunda in Dilijan. It is an old columned structure that they used in the soviet times for hosting parties. It is really, really run down now, but it was fun to walk around in the ruins. We came home to find a 'young people' party going on at the house for Samson. All of the neighborhood kids (when I say kids, I mean 16 to 23 year olds) and some of the cousins were here. We danced for a little, said a couple of toasts, and then the games started.

The first game we played was musical chairs, I know, sounds boring, but it was hilarious. After, we played a short lived game of duck, duck, goose that got a little out of hand in a very small space. I was then inspired to try and do a group sit. Turned out to be not such a great idea. While we had a great time falling on our behinds 5 or 6 times, we never did quite get the point. Oh well. My two favorite games came next.

The game involved 2 back to back chairs. A person sits and covers their eyes, while another points to different people in the room. The person sitting says 'yes' or 'no' to a person, and when they say yes..the picked person sits. The third person claps..and both people must turn their head. If they both face the same direction, you need to kiss each other on the cheek. Different directions, you slap one another. There was for sure some scheming and plotting going on during that one!

The second game was kind of like Marco Polo but without all the required talking. You basically blindfolded a person and they had to find and grab someone else in the room, then say who they thought it was. We were climbing on furniture, throwing pillows, and tackling each other to the floor. At one point I even crawled under a table.

While most of these games sound childish and corny, I actually had an amazing time playing them. It made me sad to realize that most people who have hit my age have stopped running around and playing stupid games (I lucked out as a counselor and ropes course facilitator!). The people that I was playing with were great, and despite the language barrier, that still does exist, I felt like just horsing around with my brother and sister brought us closer together.

When the kid's party was finished, some of my extended host family began to arrive to help us set up for Samson's last dinner at home before leaving for the army. Despite the event surrounding the dinner, everyone really was staying positive and having a good time. My host mum made dolma (mmm!)and there were leftover pastries for dessert. I must admit, I imbibed quite a bit during this dinner. I took advantage of the fact that I was American to skip the wine that the rest of the ladies were drinking (not a fan) and opted instead for the vodka that all the manly men were drinking! While I am pretty sure some of the older women there (read: I heard one lady mention to my host mother that I was drinking..dum dum dum)thought my drinking was a little amot (shameful) everyone else got a kick out of it. The men thought it was hilarious that I was drinking the vodka with them, and when things died down I had a great time drinking with Samson, Lilit, and my friend. There were lots of laughs going on throughout the entire dinner. At one point, two of my Armenian cousins said they were coming to America with me, and I think everyone was pretty impressed when I asked if they would be coming in my bag! Following Armenian protocol, we had to say a toast for every drink that we took. We toasted Samson, his health, and his time in the Army, but near the end we were running out of options. We ended up toast for the world, the vodka, and finally just 'us'. It was fantastic.

Unfortunately though, all of this celebration was in honor of an event that no one was looking forward to. This morning at 9am, we brought Samson to the main area of the town to meet with other young men that would be joining the Army today. Around 11, after lots of kisses and hugs, 8 young men got into a marshutney and drove away. They will serve in the Army for 2 years, with one 10 day vacation after 8 months in. I think I am done talking about it here though, volunteer blogs here are monitored by not only news agencies, but also the US embassy. I have lots to say, but my mother's empathy for others and my father's crazy temper mean that what I really think wouldn't go over to well. Ask me about it when you see me while I'm home.

Oh, 3 days...

Well...after months of anticipation and weeks of preparation, Samson's party finally happened on the 15th. In the week ahead my mother began to acquire food and cleaning like a women possessed. A few days before, nuts were shelled and mixed, chicken cleaned, and vegetables cut. The day before, the day was spent baking all sorts of pastries (more then I have ever seen, actually) and making salads. My grandmother's sister and her granddaughter arrived a few days ahead of time, and when the big day arrived, other members of the family were at the house at 10 am to start everything rolling. It was family effort to get all of the tables set up (although mostly men) and an equally big effort to get the tables set (although mostly women). My small living room was lined with tables, with a small space left in the middle for the dancing that was sure to happen. We set the tables for around 60 people..although more plates were squeezed in as people arrived. The men took charge of setting up the horavats, and they cooked the chicken and cutlet that the women had prepped in the previous days.

Around 5 people began pouring in, and when it appeared that no one else could fit into my house, everyone began to pile into the living room and find seats and plates. Of course, along Armenian tradition, all of the men sat grouped together (to facilitate that great amount of toasting that would take place) and the women sat grouped together (to facilitate the great amount of gossiping that would take place). While most of the food was already placed on the very full tables, the horavats was brought in and staked on top of other food because there was simply no room left on the tables.

Within the first 5 minutes of sitting, vodka and wine were poured, and the toasts began. As a woman, I went a bit against the grain (oops) and poured myself vodka instead of wine. I don't think anyone really noticed though, they were all toasting for the person of the hour (or hours, really) my brother Samson. Toasts were given to his health, his time in the army, his mother and father, his family, and whatever anyone else could possibly think of. In case you were wondering, there were lots of repeats as well.

Unlike in America, when everyone was finished eating though, the food was not cleared. It stays on the table to snack on while people continue to talk and drink, and in our case, dance. The young kids took the initiative on this one. Large speakers appeared and music was blasted. The kids danced in a normal Armenian style, with the music occasionally shut off to accommodate another toast or two or three. Around this time, another round of food was brought out to re energize everyone. And, in case you were wondering, I did dance. It took one or two shots of vodka, but with lots of encouragement, I danced all Armenian along with the rest of them. There are pictures to prove it. Armenian dancing involves very little hip movement, and lots of arm and leg movement. You basically put your hands in the air and move your wrists and hands all around while moving your legs to the rhythm of the music. It is pretty amazing how quickly some of the Armenian's can move!

Around midnight, most of the guests began to file out, and the group of young kids, my tatik, host mum, and one drunken son-in-law was left at the table. Oops..just called by my family to have some coffee..so I am going to wrap this up for you quick. The drunken man was trying to talk to me in a mix of Russian and some crazy Armenian barbar (slang), and that left my very drunk brother to translate for me into Armenian that I would understand. The situation had me laughing to the point of tears. Cognac had come out at that time, and the man decided to toast me. The toast lasted about 20 minutes, with several class clinkings happening. He essentially wished a happy marriage and 5 children on me. yup. 5 kids. I made a face and quickly took another shot of cognac, my reaction had the rest of the table laughing, but I don't think the man got it!

Well..I am on my third 'ari' (come!) call from the kitchen, best get going!

7 days!

Well...as you know. I have not been up to much lately (work wise) and that had me pretty down. I started to question why I was here, was I really accomplishing anything? Would I even make a difference over the next 20 months? Today though, my family talked to a married couple that they hosted as Peace Corps volunteers over 3 years ago, and it was incredible. The wife still understood Armenian, and my family was so happy to see them and to speak to them. Watching them talk and be so happy to see one another, I realized that I was forgetting two of the Peace Corps goals as I worked through my doubts. One, introducing American culture to Armenian people, and two, introducing Armenian culture to Americans. Yes, maybe I am lagging a bit in the 3rd goal (passing on skills)..but my closeness with my family, neighbors, and club children here made me realize that I am still working, every day. Working on adapting myself to the customs here, and slowly making strange American customs and beliefs maybe not so strange. The kids no longer thing of me as the new, strange American (well..maybe when I do things like stand on chairs, or walk around without slippers) and my family has experienced a very American Thanksgiving along with many new meals (asian, tex mex, etc), heard about many traditions, and have become accustomed the the different ways of an American woman.

As for the passing on of Armenian Culture to Americans..I know my friends and family have heard many stories about parties, dances, and the customs of Armenia. Hopefully more will be passed on during my visit home in 10 days..and more during my next 20 months here.

oh..and while I am here...10 DAYS!

some type of pig internal organ. When I asked what the mystery meat at lunch today was, I was told it was either the pig's heart, liver, or some other organ. Yay. Fantastic. I told them next time just to stop at pig meat and leave out the details.

and not to what you are thinking either. Well, that to, but more importantly..my brother's 18th birthday/Army Party and 21st departure to a still unknown Army base for training. Planning and preparations are in full swing here, and I was informed today that we are expecting upwards of 60 guests. It is going to be crazy. My host Mum spent a long day making pastries yesterday, and a few days before cleaning and rearranging to make room for such a large number of people in a relatively small house. I still don't know where they are all going to fit!

Over the last week or so, daily trips are made to the khanut to stockpile food (example: 20 sticks of butter) for all the food that is going to be made. Yesterday, neighborhood ladies joined in the effort cleaning chicken bits while sitting around the vararan (wood stove) and gossiping. Today was shower day..with my host Mum doing her hair and everyone getting all 'pretty' for the big day coming up on Tuesday. Our first guests also arrived today. My tat's sister, and her grand-daughter. They are helping with all the preparations.

While we are all excited for the party, there is a crazy sad undertone that the whole ordeal has. After the party, my brother only has 6 more days in the comforts of home before he leaves for 2 years. My mother has been 'not good' for days and days..and now you can feel the sadness throughout the whole house. My normally upbeat and happy family is going to fall apart for the holidays this year..and I feel completely helpless to change it.

I'll give you the rundown on how the Army system works. All men are required to serve 2 years in the Army. After completing high school, all students (girls and boys) take a test. The test determines whether or not the government will pay for you to go to University, or if your family will have to foot the bill. Guys that score high enough on the test to go to school for free serve their 2 years after they complete their 4 year University education. Guys that don't score high enough go through normally two years of school, leave for the Army for 2 years, and then come back and return to University like they never left. It is a little insane to imagine. My brother left school last week, and 2 years later he will go back around the same time (in the middle of a semester) and jump into the same classes like he never left. It will be an interesting transition.

Oh, so the countdown, only 8 days until he leaves. We still have no idea where he is going either. My host mother says that it is unlikely he will stay in our marz (too close to home) and he could be placed anywhere in Armenia, including Karabach (the land that Armenia and Azerbaijan are currently at war over).

This may sound horrible, but I am very happy to be going home for the Holidays this year. I think it is going to be better for everyone. I am not sure I am in an emotional place that I could handle a depressing Holiday season, and I think my host mum, dad, sister, and tateak are going to need some time to deal with my host brother leaving. Time where they don't have to worry about how they act in front of their American. They say I am their daughter, 'their' Katie, but I really think they will need time to cope alone as a family. Like my mum says, everything happens for a reason' and I am glad that I made the decision (or more accurately convinced my Mum to make the decision) to come home for the holidays this year.

a big deal..so I had to write about it. I absolutely cannot wait to see all of you when I get home, in 15 days. Did I mention only 15 days? Know what that is? 2 weeks and 1 measly day. And for me, that day is pretty much over, so lets just trim the fat and say 2 weeks. The weather is even cooperating with me, it is all snowy and Christmassy outside! Good stuff. Today, I gathered all of the gifts and assorted things that I absolutely needed to bring home. I thought it would be too soon to go further and actually start packing. Oh boy..15 days.

Thankfully, I am still teaching the teachers at the Art School English 2 or 3 times a week, plus I have my Armenian lessons 4 times a week..so I am not going to crazy yet. I think I am going to start my last knitting project tonight. I am branching out and making a hat. We will see how that goes down.

While I am counting down the days, my host mum is wanting the days to drag. Her son, Samson, will be turning 18 on December 15th. Then, on December 24th..he is heading into the Army for 2 years. She is not very happy about it. Following tradition, on the 15th we will be hosting an absolutely gigantic party. We volunteers refer to such parties as 'army parties' and they are notorious for being huge and lots of fun. My host mum has already started cooking food, and is slowly accumulating food in quantities that I could have never imagined. I have already been told that I will have all the work I ever wanted the day before and day of the party. It is going to be a good time.

On Monday (the day before the party) I am going into Yerevan for some last minute Christmas shopping and to have my stupid cavity filled. I am hoping that it will be all set the next day because my host mum bakes a fantastic cake, and I don't want to miss out on it.

Well...I am cold, and my cord wont stretch any closer to the heater..so just remember 15 DAYS!! mhmm!

miss you and love you!

Well..got the news late last night that all schools in Armenia will be closed until the 21st due to seasonal flu. Sunchild, the NGO I work for, also canceled all of it's programs until then. This means that I have very little work to do. I can plan some of my lessons at home, and will teach the Art School teachers once or twice a week, but other then that...nothing. Pray for me. I am going to be bored out of my mind in the 3 weeks leading up to going home..not really a great combination.

Well, I just got back a couple of hours ago from Karenis. I was there for 2 days to spend time with my old family before the holidays, and it was amazing. I didn't realize how much I missed them all!

I got to the house around 6 on Saturday. It was my first time taking the Yerevan bus, then getting off in Charentsavan and finding a taxi willing to travel the obnoxious road to Karenis. I was very happy that it went smoothly, and the cab driver knew my host dad which meant a discount for me!

When I walked into the house I dropped my stuff and went into the living room to say hi to everyone. My host brother had just come back from vacation in Egypt that day, and the women of the family (with the exception of my mother) were preparing for a welcome back dinner. The pictures were amazing, and everyone was in a great mood.

I gave everyone their gifts from my mum and Donna, and they were a big hit. Monay loved the skirt (it is going to be a part of her New Year outfit), Mariam made a bracelet right away, and the kids (along with a couple of my brothers) loved coloring the stuffed animals. At one point, the 4 (almost 5) and 2 year old were both handing me markers telling me where to color on their respective animals. I have some pretty amazing pictures of some pretty colorful hands, faces, and tounges that resulted. It was a good time.

Dinner was interesting. Pickled pig's feet were the big number of the night, but I settled (much to my host sister's disappointment)on some of the pasta I had helped to make, when I jumped all over the dough to knead it a few months ago. It was early to bed for everyone that night.

The next day was great, we ate a late brunch, and then I walked down with the kids to the ruined church in the gorge. We had a great time getting the 2 year old up and down the steep hills, but it was worth it. We all lit some candles, made wishes, and then we found some ice to skate on. Don't worry, it was a puddle! Hopefully I will get the pictures up sometime this week.

The rest of the day was mostly just hanging out and relaxing with my family. They are all fantastic, and the family is very fun to be around. Got up early this morning and caught the bus to Yerevan for my dentist appointment, I was sad to go..but left with gifts for the family (in America), some homemade pasta, and a big bag of some beautiful apples.

The dentist appointment put a bit of a downer on the day though. I have my first cavity, ever. I was not impressed. It is a little guy, and I am going to have it filled next Monday. I am not looking forward to having a shot in my face, or a numb mouth for hours. LAME. I came home to Dilijan without any issues. Then quickly announced to my family (after looking up the word for cavity in my handy dictionary), that I would no longer be eating anything sweet.

Oh! and we had our second snow in Dilijan today, I am in a better place mentally..and am really enjoying it!

16 days and counting...

Well...today was an absolutely amazing day...and I thought that I should share.

This morning I got up and went (by bus) to my tutor's apartment. We were supposed to have a class but ended up eating borsht, drinking coffee, and just chitchatting. It was great. We have both been really busy, and that was the first time that we have just hung out together for more than a few minutes. I needed it.

Around 2, I took the bus back to my end of town and went to the Art School to teach an English lesson to the Sunchild Kids. Five showed up, and the class went very well...at least in my opinion. We reviewed the basics today. Basically, I was checking their pronunciation and speaking schools. Because of the rote memorization practices of the schools in Armenia (and all post-soviet countries) the children have a huge English vocabulary, and know how to technically use it..but cannot actually speak it and have a conversation. I had a whole lot of games and speaking activities for them to do. They were pretty quiet and shy at first, but once they warmed up..it was amazing. I used a lot of visuals, which I learn way better with..and had them writing or speaking for the whole class. My favorite was the 'run and touch' game I used as a review. I stole it from one of my PST teachers. I wrote a bunch of words in English randomly on the board, then split the class in 2 groups and lined them up. I would say the word in Armenian, and the first kid in each line had to run up and touch the equivalent English word. I had heard from other volunteers that they love competitive games, and they really did have a good time with it.

We finished up class after about an hour. Some of the kid's caught the bus home, but a few stayed to make some more recycled paper. I showed them how to make it colored (by adding paint or colored paper) and they were having fun with it. I had my laptop there, and so they chose to listen to some Shakira. Some of the girls were dancing around, and it was just a really fun atmosphere.

Left for home around 5, and when I got home went online to check my email. My host Mum has been using my account (and typing skills) to email back in forth with her Aunt (Netherlands) and her sister (Russia). She hadn't seen her aunt in 12 years, and today her Aunt emailed me her Skype information. Not 5 seconds after I added her to my contacts, my host Mum and her were seeing each other over a video phone call. Both of them were incredibly happy. Asking each other all sorts of questions, and twisting around the cameras (or laptops) in my case to see each others kids. It was amazing to watch. I am having a hard time not seeing my family or friends for 7 months, never mind 12 years. It made me feel good to see my family so happy.

Well..I have some homework to do for tomorrow, so off I go. Only 20 more days (well, closer to 19 for me) and I cannot wait to see you all!

Miss and love you!