Roads?

August 7 - Best language class so far today. We - Andrea, Mari, Elliott, Davor, and I - went to Meri's house and prepared our own dishes. Elliott made breakfast quesadillas, Andrea salsa and flour tortilla chips, Mari brownies, and I made paninis with cheese, tomatoes, and basil. Meri made homemade juice (something I will definitely take back to the states - just boil water with some sugar and soak whatever combination of fruits you want - pears, apricots, and apples are my favorite so far) and a delicious eggplant/ mushroom/ cheese/ smetta (a homemade yogurt type of product from the cow). At central day yesterday, we received a comprehensive cookbook of recipes the previous volunteers have been compiling.

The PCV villages presented our summertime community projects to each other. They were all good and fun, one of the villages cleaned and repainted a bus stop - they started the day with the village kids painting American colors, and when the kids left, they surprised them and finished it with the Armenian flag. That was my personal favorite. Funny though, because by the time Elliott, Mickey and I got up to present, it was clear that we were giving a business presentation, compared to the other sectors in PC...the CBDs were divided into three groups...and this is the project in which we presented to our village the idea of working together in selling their fruits in the market.

Have I mentioned the roads yet? They are in terrible condition. Our roads are torn up every day by huge trucks carrying gravel back and forth to a rock quarry at the edge of our village. Each house in the village pays on average 20,000 dram per year in property taxes, and this tax money goes towards road repair. Unfortunately the sector is controlled by the national government, so my village has yet to see these funds. Tonight I was talking about this with my family around the table. This is a most distressing topic for everybody because it has doubled the cost of transportation to our town that is three kilometers away, and it is hard for my papik who is a bus driver. Roads have been discussed in every single meeting we had with the mayor or with a group of villagers throughout the whole summer.

"Roads...? Where we're going, we don't need... roads..." (Doc .)

Things are well, except I've been a little sick with fever and chills, and bed bugs or something! I have about fifty little bug bites on my arms, so itchy, but picked up some spray and Russian anti itch cream today. Somebody told me to just flip my mattress and that will work for about two weeks. If this is the case, no worries because I move out in one. Haha...

We are going to watch the Olympics tomorrow evening! Armenia has a javelin thrower going, and I'm not sure who else. Maybe a boxer or two. Karlin and Mariam and I watched a boxing match between a Russian and an Armenian that took place in Seattle on television a few nights ago. The Armenian won, and my family loved it.