Happy 2008 / ??? ???? ????????? to everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday this year, and I wish everyone the best for 2008. This will be a big year for me, with a lot of changes in my life. I have less than 8 months of my Peace Corps service remaining, and then I’ll be home to America, to start a new job, in a new city, with a new life. I’m excited for every new adventure this year will bring. In the meantime there’ll be plenty to do (and not do) here, which I’ll get to later.
I had a great Christmas this year, which included a visit to America to see my family and Sara! While the visit was far too short, it was so wonderful to be back. My sister and brother also came home from afar (Seattle and New York, respectively), and I was able to spend some quality time with them, too. I gave them all Christmas presents from the markets of Armenian, taught them how to make Armenian coffee, wrote their names in Armenian, and we drank and toasted with Armenian wine. It was a great time, with the highlight being my present of “Al Capone” cologne to my brother. It smells as bad as any Italian mobster I know. Here is our family photo from Christmas day, if you’d like to see them (and yes, we are all ridiculously tall, I’m sorry):
The highlight of the trip, for me, was a road trip we took to Ames, Iowa to see my brother play basketball against Iowa State. The trip was both fun and trying, with flat tires and snow storms and everything in between. While the Danes didn’t win the game, the trip (and my entire visit home) made me really appreciate my family, and all of the support they’ve given me during my Peace Corps service. The rest of my photos are available in the photo album.
I also got to spend a lot of time with my girlfriend, Sara. While I don’t usually talk about my personal life here, Sara has been one of the background supporting figures of my PC service. She has been there every step of the way for me, which has helped me more than she’ll ever know. The long distance of our relationship has been difficult at times, of course, so this time together was necessary for both of us. We had a great visit, including a trip to Chicago, where we visited one of the schools she is considering for Audiology graduate school and will become Dr. Sara. Right now my plan is to ride her coattails and move to the same city where she’ll be studying. Her acceptance letters will start pouring in around mid-March, so I’ll let everyone know what we decide.
After all the revelry, I heading back to Armenia with mixed feelings, but a few pounds heavier (11 to be exact!). Being home made me appreciate all the choices and comforts we have in America (just ask Sara about our trip to the grocery store, where I made her go up and down every aisle), so it was more difficult to leave than I thought it would be. Honestly, this first week back has been hard for me, as I miss everyone back home very much. None of this was helped by the snowstorm and horrible cold weather I flew back into in Armenia.
The temperature last night: -26°C. That’s really, reallycold. The day I returned, January 6th, Noyemberyan was hit by the biggest snowstorm we’ve had in years, bringing half a meter (about 15″) of snow. The roads were horrible, and turned my 3 hour trip home into a 4.5 hour trip. While we met a similar storm coming home from Ames, the road crews were vastly different. Here, they use old Soviet bulldozers to “plow”, and then have two men stand in the back of a dump truck shoveling sand onto the roads. Needless to say, it makes for slow moving behind one of them on the mountain switchbacks.
Noyemberyan hasn’t been much better. The water in the pipes leading to our building froze, so we haven’t had a refill of water since the 2nd. My host brother is heading to the forest today to bring some back. The roads are a mess, but getting better. Since they’ve been impassable to most cars, that’s inspired the children to use them as sled hills!
I’m impressed at their ingenuity, to be sure! My return home was not without celebration of the Armenian New Year. While not as intense as last year’s celebration, it was not without revelry. My host mom, Gohar, saved me some dolma and horavats from the festivities. I’d like to note I was probably the only person in Armenia happy to be eating dolma on the 7th (they eat a lotof it all day, every day, from the 1st through the 6th). Immediately thereafter I went to the New Years Carnival at the Koghb Art School (they were soooo nice to wait to have it until I got home), which was a lot of fun. Since then, I’ve been huddled around me heater, wearing more layers of clothes than I can count, waiting for it to warm up. At lesat I have the sight of our beautiful “Christmas Tree” to cheer me up:
And homemade wine to keep me warm… but now life is going on. The roads are clearing up, and people are finally getting back to work. Yesterday I picked up my grant check for the bathrooms (holding a check for 1.5 million is an amazing experience, btw) and hopefully this week we will start on the construction of our bathrooms. Next weekend I’m doing a training of trainers (ToT) for the Our City program, which, by the way, was recognized in the US Embassy newsletter and several local papers. After that is the ToT for the Project Design and Management workshop I am helping lead for the new group of volunteers in February. I have an eerie suspicion that life will go pretty quick (once it warms up) this Spring. I’m just looking forward to all the successes, challenges and new adventures this year will bring. If it’s anything like the last two, I think I have nothing to worry about.
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