[I wrote this entry on Dec 29th, but we haven’t had Internet since Christmas, so I apologize if it’s dated. Part II will be posted shortly]
I hope everyone back in the States had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It would have been very nice to be home with friends and family, but I had a wonderful time celebrating here in Armenia. The best part is, the funnest is yet to come! For those of you who haven’t seen it, here is my Christmas card for this year. I also made a donation to my local Salvation Army in lueu of presents to everyone this year.
Christmas Eve and Day were nice, as I got to talk with my Mom and Dad, brother, and some other special people on the phone, so it was a nice taste of home. Christmas day turned out to be very busy being the last work day here, so after running around a lot I went to our Art School Christmas Party! They baked us a turkey (!!) and the day was filled with singing Christmas songs, fun and games (including limbo), and LOTS of dancing! It was a great time.
The next day I left early for Vanadzor to visit some friends and relax for the holidays. I should have know the trip wouldn’t be relaxing the moment I stepped on the mini-bus. Most mini-bus trips are overcrowded with smelly people, but Tuesday’s was an interesting ride. It started with a crying baby, and when it annoyed the driver enough to turn the volume up FULL BLAST, it was enough to start the other babies on the mini-bus crying too. That’s normal, but what really took the cake was the passenger to my left. There was a big blue tarp taking up two seats next to me, and I just assumed they were a lot of cabbage being transported to the city for New Years. It wasn’t until after the screaming babies I noticed the blood stains on the tarp, only to realize I’d been reclining on a dead piggie the whole time. Ho hum.
I’d planned to visit Yerevan, the capital, early the next day, but about 2pm it started to snow, and after a very stern “no-travel-or-we’ll-send-you-to-America-hey-that-wouldn’t-be-so-bad-right-now” call from Peace Corps, I ended up stranded in Vanadzor until Thursday.
I finally made it back to Noyemberyan Thursday the 28th, exausted from sleeping on a couch and trekking through snow and ice. As I entered my house ready to relax, my host mom comes running in telling me there’s a work party RIGHT NOW (I thought it was Friday…) and to hurry down to the local hotel. After 5 more hours of dancing and Russian kareoke, I went to sleep happy but exausted.
And then I woke up the next day to realize this was only a preview of the debouchery of Nor Tari, Armenia’s week long Christmas and New Years celebration! The photos from the whole week are up in the Photo Gallery, so you can get a sneak preview that way. Otherwise, stay tuned for highlights from Armenian New Year, coming very soon…
Make lemonade. I have to ask, though, if life gives you snow the day after you did your laundry and hung it outside, what do you have? Clothes-cycles!
Now that we’ve had snow, and with our New Years and Christmas quickly approaching, there won’t be a lot of work for the next few days. Here’s a quick run-down of how the holidays work here in Armenia. First and foremost, we are a Christian country, so we celebrate Christmas, except ours is on January 6th. The reason for this (as best I can tell from my Armenian translation) is that the 6th was the original date of Christmas (the day Jesus was baptised) for Orthodox Christians, and during the schism the Catholic church switched it to the 25th (Jesus’ birth), which we celebrate in the West. Other than the date, it sounds largely the same – there are still lights, songs, presents in the night and even Santa Claus! Students get out of school for about the same amount of time, but the period of Nor Tari (New Years) on Jan 1st to Sup Tsnund (Christmas) on Jan 6th is a lot crazier than America.
On New Years Eve, there are similar parties ending with a champaign toast and fireworks at midnight (sound familiar) – but later that night, Santa comes to visit (if he’s not asleep on the couch???) and delivers presents to the children. From New Years Day til Christmas, we visit the neighbors, relatives, friends and “that random guy who bought us coffee once”‘s home, and feast and drink and dance and sing. Needless to say I’m looking forward to it.
I will try and make one more post before Nor Tari but I have a very busy (albeit social) schedule leading up til the first, including an American Christmas party with my English club (complete with caroling and a screening of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”) and a pig slaughtering in preparation for New Years. It should be a great time, but in case I can’t say it beforehand:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!
I guess it’s true – six months ago I was on leaving on a jet plane (finish the lyrics if you must) from JKF, leaving behind all the (in)conveniences of home. Now is as good of time as any to reflect on my time here in Armenia, what I’m missing the most, and what I’m going to do with the months I have left. here goes nothing…
The Good
Armenia is easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve lived, with some of the nicest and most hospitable people I could hope to meet, bar none. The country -side is bustling with more old churches and monestaries one could ever want to visit (although some, like the Stonehenge, should be at the bottom of that list). I’m extremely jealous of the sheep herders who spend all day out in the fields, soaking in our clean mountain air. And when they go home, it’s to delicious fresh-out-the-garden fruits and vegetables, delicious bar-b-que, and delicious homemade wine.
Personally, I think I’ve grown a lot in the past six months. I speak pretty decent Armenian, and I can actually hold a conversation beyond talking about my family. I’ve run into and overcome numerous cultural barriers, from getting peer-pressured by Grandpa to drink to getting excited about the water coming (and even more excited when I can boil that water in a bucket and bathe with it!). I’ve started good, genuine projects that will really make a difference to people in my community. On all levels I think I’m casting myself as a good example of an American, and am sharing a lot about our language, our culture and even our disdain for President Bush. Also, this is probably the most books (and unfortunately Newsweeks) I’ve read and movies I’ve watched in my life. I’m learning new things, including drawing and Armenian dancing. To sum it up, the freedom and intraspectivity this experience has already provided has been magnificent. And plenty more time for that in the upcoming dead of winter. I also feel extremely safe here (Grandma) and know that I have an entire community at my back. I have a good NGO, good friends, good sitemates, and am doing my best to hold on to a positive attitude.
The Bad
I’ll be honest – I miss home. While it’s only two years, being away for this long makes you realize the little things you are without. Reading a summary of my brother’s basketball games isn’t the same as being there to cheer, and God knows when I’ll eat a good Mexican burrito again. I’m constantly cold, and I’m losing weight and I’ve been sick a lot. The potato and soup regiment in the latter half of the month doesn’t do it for me sometimes. There’s no showering, there’s no maple syrup, and there’s no baseball. Of the 50 volunteers that left NYC with me, only 39 remain in Armenia.
On a larger level, I’m somewhat worried about how much of a difference me being here is going to make. This country is very polarized economically, both in terms of the rich and poor and Yerevan and the villages. Where I’m at, people make enough money to feed their families and little else. They’ve been treated to emerging conveniences, and then had it taken away from them just as quickly. People here have cell phones, televisions, cars, Spanish soap operas and nice clothes. But now there is no money, and it’s all falling apart. People here, in general, are depressed, which is very hard to live with on a day-to-day basis. No one trusts the government (and rightfully so, because it’s betrayed them so many times) or each other, and people don’t want to open businesses because they are scared to lose everything again. 80% of the borders are closed, and there are few natural resources to support the people, so they are at the whim of external markets. The military situation is standoffish and volatile, and we may be surrounded by war on 4 fronts by the time I leave. People want to leave my town for the spoils of Yerevan, and it makes me sad every time they do. And to be honest, I’m somewhat dumbfounded about how to make it all ok this time.
And the Future…
But there’s hope yet! Every cloud has it’s silver lining, and I’m confident things will end on the up-and-up. As I learn more and more about Armenia and its people, I am able to understand what they want and need and how I fit into that whole puzzle. I have some great ideas. Some will work, some will fail miserably. But there are a lot of great Peace Corps volunteers in this country, and we are doing a lot of great work. Armenia will be better off when we leave, too. What really keeps me optimistic is the attitude of the young people. They grew up without Communism, and so aren’t stuck still trying to live under it. Many of them studied through school by candlelight and wood-burning stoves during the bad times, and they want better for themselves and their country. They will ultimately be our future, and I am doing my best to help in whatever way, from English to computers to just being a good friend. And I’m going to see the world and meet some great people in the process. I hope it will help me figure out what I want to do with my life, and help me to understand people and cultures, both American and otherwise, better wherever I go. I will have learned a new language or two, read hundreds of books, and changed a life here or there.
I’m happy I committed to the Peace Corps, and I will be here for two years, despite all the wonderful people1 and good life I left behind. For all the depressing things and loneliness that comes every day, there is always something positive and something I’ve learned to counteract it. While 25% of this experience may already be behind me, my glass of homemade wine is definitely still 75% full. Cheers!
Well, the Thanksgiving season has finally passed, and it was an amazing time. As you can see from the previous post, the Peace Corps volunteers celebrate in style, and part 2 this weekend was no different. I travelled to Berd and met up with several other volunteers for a more intimate Thanksgiving feast. Most notably, two fellow Columbia natives, Brad and Sara, were there, so it was great to hang out with them and reflect on how it took 23 years for us to meet when we only lived a mile apart in the states. Small world (or “big world” as they say in Armenian).
Anyway, we cooked up turkey with all the trimmings, and it was one of the best meals I’d had in a long long time. The funnest part of the evening followed dinner, however, when we played the ever popular “pin the pilgrim hat sticker on the turkey”. Translated, this means we got blindfolded, drank homemade vodka, spun around several times and ran into walls. It was a great time, and we spend the rest of the weekend hiking, and relaxing. It was a great end to a great holiday week. Now, it’s back to work saving the world.
I forgot to mention in the last post: Mrs. Zanger, thanks so much for the turkey napkins. They were wonderful and really made it a real Thanksgiving! 🙂