Today was an epic day in the history of Yerevan. Conveniently corresponding with 50 culture-starved volunteers descending on the capital this weekend, Armenia’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened, to the greasy delight of us all. I would like to point out I was just in America for 3 weeks and never once at a KFC. But here, I’m intrigued. The culture clash between efficient service/lines/customer service and the Armenian people would be great; here is my account.
First walking in it gives all the appearances of an American fast-food restaurant. Clean, polished floors, uniformly-dressed workers, and children screaming at their parents to “???????” their fries. Then we approached the counter.
In front of me was a nice Indian man with a huge order. It took him about 5 minutes to get his order complete, stating many times, “I don’t understand anything on the menu,” to the confused Armenian worker. Finally, he got his food, and simply asked for a large bag to carry all his chicken, to which the nice lady behind the counter replied with a smile, “Thank you. Welcome.”
As we approached the front of the line, the culture clash reared its ugly head as other Armenian customers began to try and cut in line from the sides. Trying to set an example, I stood behind my friends, which only prompted the Armenians to push closer toward the front. Following our failed experiment, I got my order in (a Zinger combo, with fries and a drink), which was delivered with surprising efficiency. Our only major stumbling block was that you have to pay per ketchup packet, which does not correspond well with my well-established eating habits.
The lunch was great – even the bathrooms were cleaned with automatic toilets, and had the little sheet on the door that showed it’d been cleaned every hour. Awesome! They even gave you everything as paper trash, so you got to go to one of the big trash bins with your plastic tray. As we left, they smiled and said in broken English (clearly they’d been to a basic English customer service class), “Thank You. Again Come.” I think I will.
Just a quick note before I go back to the heater (yes, still very below freezing here): today, the Peace Corps/Armenia office published their quarterly “Peace Corps Journal”, which highlights volunteer activities in Armenia. I thought it would be of interest for you to read, especially since it’s one of the few things published about my work in English!
Click here to read the Fall 2007 PC/Armenia Journal (1 mb download). You will need Adobe Acrobat to read it.
Next week I get to escape the cold and retreat to Yerevan for our initiative weekends, and a Training of Trainers (ToT) for the Our City program we did in October, and for the Project Design and Management workshop I will lead in February for the new volunteers. I need to get out of here – today marked three weeks our building hasn’t had water! Ack, time for a breath of civilization. Stay warm!
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.
I just want to wish everyone a happy holidays, and a Merry Christmas to everyone today!
I’ll be back with more adventures in 2008 – until then, enjoy the time with your friends and family 🙂 Have a safe and happy New Year!