Super Official

Well, we’re now legitimate Peace Corps Volunteers. We “swore-in” last Thursday during an official ceremony attended by the U.S. Ambassador and some high up Armenian ministers. Nicole and I decided to participate in the ceremony by joining the trainee choir to sing a traditional Armenian song…I think it was called Yeraz Im Yerkir, or at least those were the first few words of the song. All the trainees were encouraged to participate somehow. I was pretty nervous, but I think I got through it without messing up royally. There was also a skit and a couple of speeches too. We were even on the evening news, but I think that happens every year.

The day after the ceremony, we moved to our site assignment. Everything that we did in our last community, we’ll have to do all over again…meet new people, establish our roles, find where everything is, etc…except we’ll have to do it without the help of the Peace Corps staff. We’re on our own now in a place much different from our training village. The size, the scenery, the weather, the people, even the language are all a bit different. It’s very exciting and frightening both at the same time.

Anyway, we’re off to a good start. Our new host family is very nice. They are much different than our old one, but I think we’ll get along just fine. We have a host mom and 2 host sisters and we’re living in a pretty nice house not far from the center of town. Another thing to celebrate is that we have 24 hours of running water. We got along well without it for the last 2 and a half months, but I am welcoming the change anyway.

There are many more stories to report on, but I think pictures sometimes do a better job. So, here they are.

This is a picture of Nicole sitting on the sidewalk with some friends and a cow’s head. The cow’s head indicates that the butcher has fresh meat available.

This is me making bread with my host mom. She is a great cook and she was very willing to share her recipes with me. Bread is the staple of every diet in Armenia, so they’ve got it down to a science. Not that it’s that complicated of a process, but when it’s fresh here, it tastes amazing.

The next two pictures were taken in Garni where there is a well preserved pagan temple that dates back to the first century. Apparently, it was almost destroyed once Armenia converted to Christianity, but the King’s daughter, or maybe his sister, I can’t remember, convinced him to use it as a vacation spot instead. Great idea…it is an amazing site to see.

This is a picture of Geghard monastery. I think this is probably the most impressive one that I have seen yet. The main chapel was built in the middle ages, but there is a natural spring inside, around which the original monastery was built in the fourth century sometime. There are also rock-cut chambers built into the mountain side that you can climb into. This is a must-see location in Armenia.

This is a picture of our host family on the night that Nicole and I cooked dinner for them. I think they liked it, but it’s hard to match my mom’s cooking.

Here’s Nicole at our host family’s store with our host sister.

This is a picture of another monastery built during the middle ages.

Here are two pictures of us with the group of trainees that lived in our training village. The first was taken during a morning hike and the second was taken right before our swearing-in ceremony. I don’t think we could’ve been surrounded with a better group of people. Now, we’ve been spread out all across the country.

I hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all.

- Andy