Kyle’s Journey in Armenia

Since my last post, the fun hasn’t stopped as my last few weeks here in Armenia wind down. I officially have less than one month to go, and a month from today I’ll be “just another tourist” wandering the streets of St. Petersburg! Until then, I’ll update everyone on my recent adventures, and let you know what I have planned for the next few weeks.

A week ago Thursday, I checked out of the Noy for a few days to return to Dpravak, the site of the infamous 2007 Thanksgiving and “the Real” Peace Corps. I love that place. Friday morning we woke up bright and early for what was likely my last major hike here in Armenia – a 10 mile, up-hill hike from her village to Lake Sevan. The hike was absolutely beautiful, and offered a lot of scenic, panoramic views of Armenian state forests and historic churches. After a little more than 5 hours of hiking through everything from dense forest to patches of snow (yes, it’s June), we arrived at the peak of the mountain, which opened up to a view of a large percentage of Armenia. Please, admire the view:

The rest of the hike we encountered huge untouched patches of wildflowers which were absolutely beautiful. I’m really going to miss the freedom to go on such hikes, and their proximity to the city. Really, my biggest concern is that this level of nature won’t be here in 5 or 10 years for the next volunteers to see, as illegal logging remains a big problem. Anyway, the Saturday after the hike, our group continued to Berd, where my friend and fellow volunteer Patricia was getting married. Her husband is an Armenian man, who we affectionately call Ray. He speaks great English and is a lot of fun. The party was destined to be great from the beginning, but I’m not so sure the the villagers of Verin Karmir (population ) knew what to think. We brought guitars, my Armenian dancing talent, and our versions of wedding toasts to the table. We had an amazing time altogether. While it was not a full-on traditional Armenian wedding like my previous experience, we had the toastmaster who led the festivities (and the dance party) but we did through the bouquet and garter in American style. All in all it was a ton of fun.

No sooner had I returned to Noyemberyan did work start up full force. Working with my NGO, we organized our second annual Computer Camp, where we taught 9 students how to use the Internet, build web sites, use scanners and digital cameras, and set up networks. It was an extremely long week of work, but very rewarding when we had our presentation and awards on Friday. The students learned a lot, especially since they don’t get exposed to these sorts of things during school.

Also this past week, I went to my friend Ara (you might remember him as the talented artist who drew my portrait)’s Army Party. Here in Armenia, every young boy over 18 has a compulsory two year service in the army (although some get out of it through some under-the-table dealings). Army service is not the most ideal situation, as most go to the occupied territory of Karabakh. As such, one of the biggest Armenian parties (aside from weddings and engagements) is the Army Party. There’s really no special rituals or traditions, here – it’s toasting and dancing till all hours of the night. We went up to the forrest for Ara’s party, which started at 2 PM and ended up sometime around midnight.

With Computer Camp and party adventures finished, I left Noyemberyan last Sunday for Martuni for my first (and unfortunately last) Green Camp. For many years, Peace Corps volunteers have organized these camps annually in 5-6 sites around Armenia. Last summer I did not get a chance to participate, so this year I made sure to sign up early. And I’m so glad I did. The camp I’m at has 42 children, aged 9-13, and during the week we teach them about a wide variety of topics about ecology and the environment. For instance, today was trash day – we learned how long it takes for things to decompose, what things you can and can’t burn, and we did a trash cleanup around the school hosting the camp.

The camp is divided into small group games and large group games; I am a small group leader. Working with an Armenian counterpart, we teach more focussed lessons to our team, “Bazey” (the Hawks), and make sure everyone is safe, well fed, and hydrated. It’s been so much fun this week. My group of kids is really enthusiastic, quickly understands the lessons, and has a lot of team pride, making them very easy to manage. The camp will go until Saturday, and Friday we will have an excursion to the forest. Very exciting stuff.

After Saturday, it’ll be 2 camps down, 1 to go for the summer and my Peace Corps service. Next week I’m going back to the Noy for my final week, which will mostly be goodbyes. On Wednesday the 2nd, we are doing an opening for my SPA project, the handicap accessible bathrooms, where we are inviting Peace Corps, the media, our other sponsors, and students/parents who our projects have affected. July 4th we plan to have a last hurrah with our English Club, and go to the forest and have a nice American BBQ, with burgers and hot dogs. But July 9th is the day I will pack up and leave Noyemberyan for good, and it will surely not be easy to say goodbye to all the close friends and family I’ve gained here and the cultural exchanges and fond memories we’ve shared. I did meet our new Noyemberyan volunteer, Mark, today, who will be an Environmental Education volunteer at one of our schools. He’s also a mid-twenties tall boy, so I doubt he’ll have much trouble filling my shoes (possibly literally).

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