After a year of eating cabbage soup, freezing myself to sleep, and still failing to pronounce all three Armenian R’s correctly, it was time for a vacation. A lovely lady from America, Sara, came to visit me from the 9th-22nd here in Armenia. Our trip included a tour of my life in Armenia (Yerevan, my summer village Bazum, and Noyemberyan), Dubai, and a week in Istanbul. The trip was full of adventures, many more mis-adventures, but overall I had a great time. Once Sara has time to digest everything from our trip], I’ll have her write an outsider’s impressions of Armenia. Until then, I broke up stories from our vacation into two sections: today will be about Armenia and Dubai, and when I am less tired, a second report on Istanbul (not Constantinople). If you just want the visual tour and to skip my rambling narrative, you can view our trip photos instead.
Armenia
Unfortunately we did not spend much time in Armenia, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Sara arrived on Wednesday the 9th, which is also the Armenian “Victory Day” holiday (they celebrate war victories, if you hadn’t guessed). There was a large concert that night with a lot of fireworks, which I planned to play off as my doing for Sara’s grand arrival to Armenia, but after 23 hours of flying through 4 airports, sleep comes first. We heard them set off some car alarms by our hotel, which is kind of the same, right? So aside from a small bloody-nose incident (sorry!), it was an uneventful night, but I was so happy to see a familiar face. We spent the next day trying some deliciously over-sized Georgian food, and then brought 4 new computers, a laptop, and a projector back from Yerevan for my NGO (sorry again about your back!) and meeting everyone at my office. I’m not sure if they were happy to meet Sara or happy they were getting new computers, but I’m sure it was the former… After meeting my host family and taking a brief tour of the town (“notice the pigs to your left… Soviet block housing to your right…”), we headed back to Yerevan for our flight to
Dubai
The best way to described Dubai is a culture-less, mega-resort metropolis in the middle of the desert with some really, really cool buildings. Basically, the town grew out of nothing in the 1950s with the discovery of oil and a lot of foreign investment, and it is now a playground for the super-rich. After barely making it out of the Yerevan airport (is it bad when the security did not think our boarding passes were real?), we touched town in the middle of the desert and immediately entered a new reality. Everything in Dubai is over sized, ridiculously designed, and simply quite a site. They are currently trying to build the tallest building in the world, and are constructing an island chain to look like the countries of the world, for instance. After arriving at our hotel (which had the biggest bed I’ve ever seen in my life) we set out to walk around the Creek, which is the water-way through town. There are many little boats which travel up and down, and we took a ride the next day, but only one thing was on my mind that night: SEAFOOD!
After a little Google-ing, we found a well-rated restaurant in the Regent Palace hotel. We asked our hotel, who graciously gave us directions to the Royal Palace hotel, on the other side of town from the Regent. After asking their bell-hop for a second recommendation, we settled on the Aquarium, which lived up to its name. We entered the Dubai Creek Golf Club (ooo…) to find a highly-priced restaurant with waiters in suits, and expected my Birkenstock-clad feet to be turned back at the door. Surprisingly, they let us pass and we had a very good dinner, albeit a little out of place with the rest of the crowd. However, we had a great time, some great food, and we eventually won over the wait staff as we were the only customers who ordered a round of beer and smiled the entire time we were there.
The next day was free until 10pm, when we would leave for Turkey, so we decided to play tourist and see the sites of Dubai. Our first stop was the Mall of the Emirates, or so we thought. Our taxi driver, who actually drove a large van and spoke no English, offered to show us all the sites, including the Burj Al Arab (the sailboat hotel) and the Palm Islands all for a low low price (because he’s my friend). After a little bargaining, we began our overpriced tour of the sites. As it turned out-and go figure-our driver had no connections at any of the places we visited, so instead we played paparazzi π As you can see from our pictures below (outside the guard gate at Burj Al Arab, inside a beautiful hotel we infiltrated, and on the highway out to the Palm Islands, respectively), it wasn’t exactly the full tourist experience, but it was a heck of a lot of fun avoiding being arrested!!
We spent the afternoon at the Mall of the Emirates, which is one of the largest malls I’ve been to outside of Bangkok or the Mall of America. While the latter two may be large, the Mall of the Emirates is the only one with an INDOOR SKI RESORT:
Amazing. But that’s Dubai for you. Just seeing all of the Western stores was enough of a shock for me already, but was perfect for a Peace Corps Volunteer’s vacation! I ate at Cinnabun, and then had a hot Hawaiian Papa John’s pizza. It was amazing to have just a little taste of home. After we got our fill of Borders and Gap and overpriced European clothing, we headed to the Dubai Museum. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the area and how quickly Dubai truly evolved out of nothing. We finished our trip with a ride up the creek on a dhow boat, and hopped on our flight to Istanbul.
Dubai is truly one of those places you must see to believe. One day we will go back, stay in the $2000/night sailboat-shaped hotel and do it right, but for a student and a PC volunteer, it was a pretty good trip. Plus, you can never go wrong when there are camels π
(All of our pictures from the trip are available in the Photo Album)
Today I start my vacation!! Sara (my girlfriend from America) is coming in tonight and on Saturday we leave for Dubai and Istanbul. Expect a much more lively post with a lot of pictures after she leaves on the 22nd.
Before I left, I wanted to update everyone on where I stand with my projects. First is my Internet project with my NGO. Yesterday we went to Yerevan and purchased four new computers for our training center, and Sara is bringing a new laptop and projector from the States for the training center. We also finished installing our new WiFi Internet system, which allows for easy access to the Internet for 2 towns and 6 villages in our region (covers about 30,000 people). Needless to say it is coming along very well and I’m very happy with the results so far. Our goal is to increase Internet usage within the region by 300% by the end of the year, and we are well on our way!
The second major development is we acquired funding for wheelchair accessibility at School #2 in Noyemberyan. The Yerevan International Women’s Council provided us almost $1,500 of funding to build two new ramps to make the school fully accessible to students with disabilities. Next year, the school will be offering special education courses in partnership with a national NGO, “Bridge of Hope.” Construction should begin after I return from my vacation and be finished by early June.
The final big project, and the one for which I am now asking for assistance, is International Outreach Camp. The camp will bring 30 international students and 70 Armenian students together in July to discuss civic leadership issues and to develop skills to study countries and cultures effectively. I am very excited about the promise of this camp. The official website for the camp is http://www.iocoalition.org (Armenia’s camp info).
This is where you come in! I recently submitted a Peace Corps Partnership Project, which allows donors from America, both individuals and orgainizations, to make tax-deductable donations to volunteer and community-sponsored projects. There are 12 Peace Corps volunteers involved directly with this camp, and speaking for our group, we would appreciate you support in helping us fulfill our financial needs to ensure the camp is successful. Donating is easy and can be done online through the Peace Corps website:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=305-029
April has been an interesting month for me. Work has been going well, but a lot of this month has been spent waiting for money for projects to begin. Funding for my big grant was put through at the end of last week, but we will not receive the money until next Friday. Which is really convient timing, considering I leave for vacation the next day π Oh well, such is life. We were teased by good weather last week, and I was able to go hiking again finally. I use the word tease because yesterday started with rain and then turned to SNOW – and it hasn’t stopped since. According to the school director, this is the first time they’ve had snow this late. My assertion that it was only happening because I was here was met with laughter, followed by a brief moment as we actually considered the possibility… Anyway, April has also been full of Armenian culture learning experience, as we celebrated Easter, mourned the Armenian Genocide, and I attended my first Armenian funeral in full.
Easter (“Zatik” in Armenian)
Like many of you in America, we also celebrated Easter on Sunday, April 8th. Armenia is a Christian country, but it has very different traditions from American (Western Christian) Easter services. We actually began celebrating on Saturday night by lighting a candle and then starting our feast. Armenians practice Lent in theory, but very few actually participate. However, on Sunday eating meat was forbidden, so dinner consisted of fish, rice with raisings, and a glass of red wine. The most interesting part for me was the eggs. They also hard-boil and color several eggs, and put them in grass they grow in the house, along with little fake chickens (I’m serious). Afterwards, we each choose an egg and hit them together, and if your egg breaks, you must give it to the other person. The last egg standing wins! Many Armenians also go to church on Easter Sunday, but not my family. Instead I went to an Easter party at the Art School (where I’ve been spending most of my holidays lately…) and we hit more eggs together, played some Armenian games and danced the night away.
Funeral Services
The next weekend, we went to the funeral services for my host cousins’ Grandfather in Teghut (my “Garden of Eden”). The village itself is becoming very beautiful for the Spring, but the mood was somber most of the weekend. Armenians mourn for the first three days after death, when they have an open-casket viewing in the deceased’s home. The 7th day marks the actual burial services, and is usually only attended by the family and the clergy (similar to our services). They again mourn on the 40th day, which is what we did on Saturday the 14th. All of the family gathers at the deceased’s home, and a large fiest is prepared. As with most ceremonies, the women congregate together inside, and the men stand around outside. When the time is right, the women, followed by the men, march to the grave, where a candle is lit and prayers are said. Afterwards, everyone walks behind the grave, throws salt on the candles, and goes back to the house. Afterwards, a large meal is eaten and many toasts are said to honor the person who passed away. Overall the mood is rather dark, as is expected, and there is no singing, dancing, or Russian kareoke (thankfully). They will again gather on the one year anniversary of the death to remember the deceased.
Genocide Memorial Day – April 24th
Yesterday was Armenian Genocide Memorial Day (“Yeghel” in Armenian). This is perhaps one of the saddest days in Armenia, as everyone takes the day off to remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide in 1914-15. The largest rememberance takes place in the capital, Yerevan, and begins the night before with a candle-light vigil march from Republic Square to the Genocide Memorial. All day on the 24th, thousands upon thousands of Armenians line up with flowers to pay their respect to the victims of the genocide at the memorial’s Eternal Flame. By the end of the day, the stack of flowers must be 10ft high around the flame, but truly demonstrate how important history and ancestory is to the Armenian people.
Like most holidays, I am observing them first on a local level in Noyemberyan; next year, I will try to watch them from a different perspective (in Yerevan). Locally, things were much quieter, and many stores were actually open for business (unfortunately, a day off work usually means a day without food here). I went with a few friends from my English club to church in the morning, and we brought flowers to the local “hatckar” – a large cross engraved in stone. Afterwards we lit candles and discussed the Genocide over pizza, but all in all it was pretty low-key. Many people are removed from services involving church here, as the Soviet system stripped them of a sense of organized religion, so few people attend church services in general here. Also, Noyemberyan’s church was damaged in a 1997 earthquake and is still being rebuilt, which further limits attendance.
Overall, it was an interesting day, especially as many people berated me (i.e. the American government) for not recognizing the Genocide, and optimistically noted that Turkey would if America recognized it. I do not wish to get involved in the politics of whether it was a genocide or not, who is to blame, etc, and as a Peace Corps volunteer it’s my job to remain objective on such political issues. Regardless, many many Armenians were raped, killed, tortured and forced to march to their deaths in 1915. These atrocities are horrible, and no matter what race or nationality the victims are, people have an inherent right to live free with basic human rights. If governments are behind such racial exterminations, they need to acknowledge what they did, and then everyone should learn from it and move on. Every government and race (including Americans) are responsible for these horrible acts (if you don’t believe me, what about the Native Americans?), and it is our responsibility as citizens and civic leaders to stand up for our rights and the rights of others to prevent these tragedies in the future.
And for those of you wondering, the photo album should be fixed very soon π
First of all, happy Easter! And a happy Mother’s Day to all those in Armenia! π
A lot has been happening since I last wrote. The first is my participation is Koghb Art School’s Armenian Poetry Day. As the name suggests, they hosted several famous Armenian poets to come and share their work, read poems by famous Armenians and play traditional Armenian instruments (for Armenian poetry click here). They also had the fortunate occassion of hearing me recite my first poem fully written and spoken in Armenian. I read “Ko Pachaghov” by Paruyr Sevak. The occassion made it on local Kamut TV and received a round-of-applause, even for pity, that was very welcome. I have a copy on tape and will work on getting it posted online for all to hear. I posted some pictures in the Noyemberyan photo album, but here are some to tease your eyes with:
The second big news is that there are two SPAs coming to Noyembeyan. Unfortunately, this does not mean that I will be lounging around receiving Swedish massages all day. SPA is an acronym for Peace Corps’ “Small Project Assistance” program, which awards grants up to $5,000 to PCVs for community-based projects. My NGO and I’s project, “Technology Accessibility for Noyemberyan Region,” was accepted and will bring affordable and accessible Internet to Noyemberyan and the 18 surrounding villages. We will also be upgrading our training center with new equipment and hosting a business/technology training. I’m very excited! More project details are available in the updated projects section. My site mate, Eileen, also had a projected for women’s health education which was accepted. Together, our projects make up 25% of those funded by SPA. Schnorhavor us and Noyemberyan!
Finally, I’M GOING TO DUBAI AND ISTANBUL! My girlfriend Sara will be coming from St. Louis to visit for two weeks in May, and along with viewing my day-to-day life, we will be flying to Istanbul via Dubai for a nice relaxing vacation! I just purchased the tickets today, and we will be spending two nights in Dubai and five in Istanbul.
Overall, it should be a very exciting next few months. Now, to survive until May…