Hot July Birthday Horovats (Party)
July 23 - It's getting really hot, windy, and dry here. In Yerevan, the temperature has been 40 C. Every day I carry a 1.5 liter bottle filled with water and finish it before 1 PM...I also use it as a potential weapon against the dogs, probably the meanest part of Armenia. Andrea and I were walking from our village a few days ago and saw a dead dog on the side of the road that could have been a wolf. I think it was about five feet long! If I listen closely, every five minutes I can hear them barking in the distance. I had to prepare to be bitten by a little seemingly-harmless dog the other day too. I pretended to throw rocks at it, and it made a circle around me and ran off. This invisible-rock-throw has worked well for me twice now.
Sunday, Emily came to my village and we took an excursion to the river. I tried not to miss swimming back in the States. It was really cold and totally not the cleanest. No girls were swimming, and if they were, they were fully clothed while the boys were swimming around in their tiny underwears. Strange dynamic.
Last night was my papik Karlin's 63rd birthday. He had the biggest smile plastered to his face the whole time. My family, of course, had a horovats. I came home from lessons at 12 and there was a large skinned animal in the yard - a sheep. My uncle and his friend were chopping it into pieces. They worked on preparing for this party all day long. Around 7, several papiks came over and they brought two huge Peavey speakers, 15 inches a piece, and two keyboards. One of the partiers is a professional singer. They set up a very long table for 30 or so people. The singer sat across from Karlin with a wireless microphone that had gold Iranian engravings all over it and sang at the table all night long, no kidding. It was the funniest thing. He had an incredible booming voice with a great range, and poured his heart into these songs. Most of what he'd sing I didn't understand, but he'd also sing about "The Americatsi" and "Nico-Jan Apres!" (jan is a term of endearment when you address somebody; apres means very good!). I walked outside of our compound to see how far the sound went and it definitely was echoing throughout the neighborhood pretty far. Then we had huge dance parties, and Karlin danced like a 20 year old boy and his friends were picking him up onto their shoulders. I tried going to bed at 10:30 but the last guest left at 2 AM.
Tonight Karren brought home a new stereo. He played Two-Pac, his favorite, and the singer-friend's record. I joked with everybody that our house is a "Kef Tune" (Party House).
Mariam and Tyrone are taking English lessons with the PC TEFLs. They are the smartest kids in their classes! Mariam's class had to create a menu of their favorite food items in English. Then Mariam told her class about her business idea - that at her restaurant, people could rent out a host-service for parties. Apparently the other kids didn't really understand it, but I'm really impressed by her ideas, especially for a thirteen year old. Of course, this lesson also came right after her grandfather's birthday blowout.
I gave her the little purse that Kelly and Claire sent and she loved it. She looked a little shy about it, and the rest of the family admired it a lot too. I also taught Tyrone and Mariam how to play Hot Potato (Tak Kartofil) and how to teach the dog to play catch. At first Sharik was either scared or really confused but got into it pretty quickly. Unfortunately I couldn't communicate to Tyrone not to pick up the ball before the dog every time we tossed it to him.
As I was walking home this evening, I saw a baby cow drinking milk from its mom in the middle of the road as a car was trying to drive by. Cute.
For our practicum, Mickey and I are meeting the municipality of our village and learning about how it all works. Tomorrow we meet with the mayor and the cultural director. Should be interesting - there is a little theater and a dance troupe that practices in the municipality, as well as a library and a health clinic completely funded by USAID. Good practice before I head to my Chamber in two weeks.
I would say that Mickey, Elliott, and my community project is coming along well. To our villagers, we are presenting the idea of a produce truck which will bring a group of sellers and their produce to the markets (Yerevan/Hrazdan/etc. based on a series of logistics) every couple of days a week. This would help them interact with each other and perhaps save time/money. After coming up with the idea, we found out that one of the nearby villages all ready has a produce truck. We're going to go to this village on Sunday to talk to some of the participants. So, as our final meeting, we'll have a community forum and invite one of the members of that village's cooperative to come to our site and speak about what they are doing.
[Dad: The picture of the lady with long hair next to hundreds of roses is Gohar, Elliott's mom. She is very proud of her garden.]
I love the way you write, but have no idea who all the players are. Doesn't matter. I know you are getting a terrific education and glad you seem to be enjoying it all. It just sounds like it is so interesting and different. Good for you, Nico.
Love,
Gramalie
We thought Mariam would enjoy getting a gift from America from American teenagers. I hope it wasn't too wacky, but if they listen to Tupac maybe it wasn't too far out afterall.