Alive and Well in Armenia

Finally…internet access. I haven’t had a chance to logon since we were in Philadelphia, three weeks ago…that’s hard to believe. The internet situation in Armenia is a little less developed than I anticipated, but I think once I figure it out, I’ll be able to update the blog more often. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to set up my phone as a router for my laptop, but I haven’t been able to make it work quite yet. So, I broke down and went to an internet café in a nearby city, which is where I am now.

Anyway, we’re here! Nicole and I are living with a host family in a small village and it’s amazing. The landscape is dramatic, the people are wonderful, and the culture is fascinating. We’ve run into some small challenges, but nothing terrible. Our host family consists of a mom and dad, three sisters, and one brother. They are unbelievably hospitable, and they are very patient with us since we barely speak Armenian and they barely speak English. They’re doing a great job helping us acclimate. We couldn’t ask for anything more in a host family.

Since we landed in Armenia, we’ve been inundated with training. Language, safety, program information, health, culture, etc… It can be very tiring, but fascinating at the same time. We spent our first three days at a hostel/hotel in the mountains before moving in with our host family about two weeks ago. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, we’ll be sworn in as volunteers in mid-August and re-assigned to a different site that has yet to be determined. That will be the site where we will carry out our two years of service.

Well, I thought I’d just let everyone know what’s going on with us. I hope everyone is doing well.
Oh yeah…congratulations Matt…and…congratulations Dave and Dana!

-Andy