Report from the New Site

The new host family is really nice and small. Apparently we live in Bangladesh, the term that Armenians use to describe a place far from the center of town. A tatik-aged mother (Alita) of four children. The oldest is probably 30, a son in Russia. There's a 25 year old daughter who is married with two children and lives in an apartment in the center of town. And a daughter who is 13, as well as a son who is 11, who both live with their mom and I. Unfortunately Alita's husband passed away five years ago and I believe she is still grieving. In the dining room is a large picture of him with a bouquet of flowers surrounding it. The day after I arrived, we went to a party hosted by her family on the other side of town. Her family grows a lot of potatoes (the only fresh produce in Gavar - all of my food was not nearly the fresh goodness of the village). It was a nice and airy open home and confirmed my like for the village life. But after an hour of being there I realized that I was at a funeral party. The tatik of my tatik's deceased husband passed away seven days before. After this, I spent some great time with my sitemates and watched Juno and A Mighty Heart - both great movies. On the last night, my tatik told me that her neighbor's mother passed away that day and she needed to go visit. But I also met Astrik's friend who is my neighbor, a 24 year old guy who just came back from the army in Karaback. He speaks fluent English, though it is very proper and British. He was really nice and told me that all of his life he has dreamed of meeting an American and now his dream has come true. He was proud of a CD he had of J-Lo/Cher/50 Cent/etc. remixed with Armenian music.

They speak bar-bar in Gavar and the "gh" sound sounds like "ggghhhh" that comes way from the back of the throat. I opt to keep the pretty "gh" rather than the "ggggghhhhh". They also use slang, so it's just a different dialect from the Eastern Armenian I am learning now. There are no horovats in Gavar, however there are most definitely good people. We have regular gas and electricity in my place, but water is rationed on my side of town for some reason so we have it eight hours a day. They collect it in huge buckets when it is actually running.

I will be living in an apartment, but *oh my goodness* I am going to miss my farm and my large, hilarious family! They said that they are going to write a letter to the Peace Corps to ask them if I can stay in Karenis. Haha. At least there will be an open door always to visit.

The taxi ride back to Yerevan was the most redeeming. I was riding with Astrik and her boss Varduhi, a very strong and powerful woman in the chamber. Their friend Hasmik joined us. I didn't really speak with Hasmik because she was quiet, until halfway through the ride to find out that she speaks very good English, as well as four other languages. It turned into quite an animated and emotional conversation. This girl speaks Arabic fluently and has spent three years in Egypt, but is a passionate and romantic Armenian. She's 25. She will be coming back and forth to Gavar as her sister is going to university there. I really enjoyed speaking with her because she was so full of energy, positivity, and life. She was speaking about the beauty and power of expression through language. She was speaking about living life to the fullest because you never know what the next day will bring, and you want to be able to say that you are happy with how you have lived, what you have done. I agreed with her whole-heartedly and felt the spirit of the country and of what I am doing here through our conversation.

Everybody in Karenis was excited when we came back home. The shop owner's wife came outside immediately said she missed us, and one of the cow-herding tatiks patted me on the back and talked to me - she normally is very quiet. Hripsime applauded when I got home. The family threw a horovats in celebration the next night, they cooked rabbit and chicken...(they were very proud of this, the morning that I left for Gavar they were showing me all of the meat they were going to cook when I got back - that was pretty funny).

I speak of the housewives, but I must not neglect that many independent women hail from Yerevan, and the ladies I will be working with at my site are very forward-thinking and I am super excited about being a positive influence for them!

I borrowed a booklet of a children's English writing contest from Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia from one of the TEFLs. These essays bring tears to my eyes when I read them, about their wishes and dreams for themselves, their people, their gender, their countries. Not to mention how incredibly creative and talented they are! Wow!

It is now apricot time on the farm and this week the Georgians have come to town to cut down the branches and bring them back to their country to sell. Apparently we make good money off of this annual process.

Overall, I am happy to be here. Of course there are ups and downs but I think it's very good. I have been meeting the nicest folks, Armenians and Americans alike. Apparently coming to a place like Armenia is very different from most Peace Corps experiences - even though the joke is "posh core" - we have cell phones, most of the time we have running water and toilets, showers, refrigerators, etc. - it is a huge mental challenge. It is easy to make a small change and bring hope to people in places like Africa because they haven't really seen a better side of life; here, the challenge is re-convincing the people of Armenia that life can be improved and convincing them to get into a do-it-yourself mindset. The change lies in the younger generations.

Last night some of the extended family was visiting the house. They were telling me about their aunt, who, in 1914, was in an American orphanage in Armenia. An American family took the girl to the states and they haven't heard from her ever since. They were saying maybe fate brought me here and maybe I have Armenian blood - that perhaps we are relatives from way down the line. A lot of Armenians tell me I look like one of them because of my eyes and dark hair. At least I blend! Haha...

What else? I'm not sure but I know I'm leaving some stuff out. I've been having the most vivid and very random dreams all summer long. For some reason I haven't received mail in a while. Still working on the same book and I'm almost finished but it's incredible! 100 Years of Solitude. Today in the PC office I picked up a couple of old New Yorkers (great magazine) and some Newsweeks (just to keep up a little better). Watched Better Off Dead with John Cusack last night and that was a hilarious movie. I'm going to watch My Cousin Vinny until I fall asleep tonight. Tomorrow at 6:30 I am going to run with Elliott and Mari. Our buddy Deborah left to go home. I hope she is doing well (Hello Debbie!!)! I miss her, and our village is now down to seven. Group is down to 46. It's strange how when one person leaves, it seems as though the entire dynamic changes very suddenly. Can't wait for Sunday, our first real break in two weeks.