Thank You

At first glance, the arrangement you see below may seem like a normal selection of food you might find in any American cupboard. However, to the trained eye (or maybe to the deprived eye that has not seen such a volume of goodness in 8 months), it is an amazingly tasty collection of American awesomeness! Nicole and I would like to thank everyone who was kind enough to make this miracle happen. We are extremely fortunate to have such extraordinary friends and family.


We equally appreciate the warm thoughts and greetings contained in the many cards and letters that were sent to us over the holidays. If this post seems a bit late, it’s because we didn’t receive much of these things until recently. Armenians celebrate the New Year for weeks and weeks, so I think the whole postal system must’ve been shut down for a while.


Thanks again to everyone. We never expected such graciousness. I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year.

-Andy

A Winter Shout-Out

As of January 31, we will have been in Armenia for 8 months. Sometimes it seems like it’s been much longer, sometimes it seems like it’s been much shorter. Time passes by much the same here as it does anywhere else. Before you know it, days, weeks, and months have elapsed. I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’d updated the blog until recently when I decided that I’d better write something before I start to forget much of what has happened. So, I guess this is kind of a summary entry, highlighting our last few months here. I’ve posted some pictures below, since I think they better describe our experience than my writing alone.

The first picture is a little old now. It’s from a soccer game that we went to back in the fall…Spain v. Armenia. I thought I’d include it because it was my first international soccer game, and because we had a great time. The game was a World Cup qualifier. Everyone expected that Spain would play its less known players since Armenia does not have a strong team, but to our surprise, we got to see some of the biggest names in soccer like Torres and Fabregas. Obviously Armenia lost the game, and almost every other game in their qualifying group. Needless to say, they will not be going to the World Cup.


Around the same time of year, Nicole and I were invited to help some friends pick and prepare grapes for making wine. We went to their house a few more times to see how the process is carried out. It was very interesting.


Since nearly two hundred kids were interested in attending our after school English clubs, we had to organize an interviewing/selection process. This picture was taken right before some of the interviews at Nicole’s school. It took us two weeks to select a total of 80 kids, 40 from my school and 40 from Nicole’s. It was a major headache, but it was also a good way to demonstrate fairness and objectivity, something that is not often practiced here. Now, we’ve got 4 English clubs that meet weekly after school, Monday through Thursday.


The next series of pictures were taken in Tbilisi, Georgia. We decided take a small vacation there since we had such a long winter break this year. The Ministry of Education cancelled school for three additional weeks due to outbreaks of seasonal flu and H1N1, giving us much more time off than usual.

- Nicole near the oldest church in the city…6th century.


- The sign for the KGB bar/nightclub…funny or terrifying? I’m not sure yet.


- Probably the highlight of our trip. This picture was taken in the Abanotubani region of Old Town Tbilisi. The dome-shaped structures are subterranean sulphur bath houses. Tbilisi has been famous for them since the city’s founding in the 5th century. The word Tbilisi actually means “warm spring”. For centuries, people have travelled to Tbilisi just to bath in the sulphur springs which are rumored to have healing properties. I don’t know about all that, but we did feel pretty good after spending some time here.


- Not much explanation needed. This is me reunited with western fast food…a picture that I would not have been proud of before moving to Armenia where no such things exist. McDonald’s never tasted so good…or maybe it was just some association with familiarity.


- The next two pictures were taken at Narikala Fortress, another highlight of the trip. Located in a strategic defensive position on a steep hill above the city, the fortress has been occupied by the Persians, the Arabs, the Turks, the Russians, and of course the Georgians. The earliest walls of the fortress date back to the 4th century. Unlike most western historical sites, you are free to fully explore the fortress without supervision…for better or for worse, the same is true for most sites in Armenia as well.



Overall, Tbilisi is an amazing city. Unlike Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, it has a very western feel to it. We spent a lot of our time in cafés that seemed much more like home than anything I’ve experienced in Armenia. It’s highly likely that we’ll be going back at some point during our service.

To keep busy over such a long break, Nicole spent a lot of time crocheting. She made a bunch of scarves to give as presents for the New Year. In the next picture, she is doing her best to perfect a recipe for baklava that our first host mother showed her. After several attempts over the holidays, she got very good at it.



I’m not sure why I included the following picture. I guess I was pretty proud of the massive frittata we made for about 10 other volunteers after our Christmas celebration. Since Armenians do not celebrate Christmas like we do, or on the same date, we travelled to another town where some friends decided to get together. The morning after our gathering, Nicole unexpectedly suggested to everyone that I prepare a breakfast/lunch…she’s so cute. The volunteer we were staying with had just moved into his house, so buying all the ingredients and putting the whole thing together was definitely interesting.


The next three pictures are kind of random. The first was taken on a hike that we recently went on. We are sitting on an unfinished gondola lift station overlooking our town. My guess is that it was a project begun during soviet times and never completed, abandoned and left to decay like many of the buildings and structures from that era. The next is of the church that I pass as I go to school every day, and the third was taken in the morning from the house where we are staying. If you cannot tell from the picture, it has become very cold here.




Other updates...hmmmm. Well, Nicole and I will be working on some secondary projects in the next few months that should be interesting. We are both trying to write grant applications for English language rooms in our respective schools, and we are trying to organize a regional poetry competition to be held sometime in the spring. Also, I may begin working with an environmental NGO to help secure funding for a series of educational camps that they organize over the summer. As for our primary work in the classroom, we have our successes and our setbacks. Sometimes I feel like I am making a difference, sometimes I just feel overrun by a bunch of out of control kids who don’t listen to anything I say. I will say however that I think my command of the language in the classroom has improved, which has helped out greatly, especially in our after school clubs. Socially, in a non-technical, less predictable setting, communication is still quite difficult for both of us.

Anyway, things are good overall. We were lucky to survive the near two-week long marathon of eating and drinking referred to as Armenian New Year, and now I feel like we are starting to become productive volunteers. New Year definitely deserves its own post.

As always, we miss you all very much. I hope that everyone is well and enjoying life. Please let us know how you are when you get the chance.

-Andy

Khash

The pictures that you see above are the standard ingredients of a traditional Armenian food dish called khash. I took them today at the market near our house. Here’s a pretty good description of the cooking process brought to you by the always informative Wikipedia.org…

“The main ingredient in khash is cow's feet, although other cow parts, such as the head and stomach (tripe) may also be used. The feet are depilated, cleaned, kept in cold water in order to get rid of bad smell, and boiled in water all night long, until the water has become a thick broth and the meat has separated from the bones. No salt or spices are added during the boiling process. The dish is served hot…dried lavash is often crumbled into the broth to add substance…the meal is almost always accompanied by vodka (preferably mulberry vodka) and mineral water.”

So, I had my first experience with khash back in October and I would like to add some interesting details to the above description. The “thick broth” mentioned is more like a kind of glue, which is understandable considering that many types of glue are made of animal hooves. Boiling the feet until “the meat has separated from the bones” is kind of a misleading description too. As you can tell by the pictures, there really isn’t much “meat” on the feet. Instead, I would’ve probably chosen to say, “until the tendon and thick layer of skin have separated from the bone”, which will become the tasty highlight of the dish later on. And as you might guess, the passing mention of “the meal is almost always accompanied by vodka” should be more heavily emphasized.

Here are some other interesting facts about khash from the equally informative Armeniapedia.org…

“Usually Armenians go for khash in the morning on weekends, because after a khash party, participants are happy, but also heavy with sleep; and, typically not smelling so sociably acceptable. It may not be the cows feet that make a person sleepy; rather the vodka, which, real khash professionals assure is good for digestion…hardcore khash eaters use only their fingers for consuming the odd meal.”

Let’s see, what else can I add? Oh yeah, it’s very common to cover khash with a salty minced garlic and butter mixture right before eating it. Also, you will see from the first picture that it is sometimes common to throw in other random parts of a cow, especially from the head and digestive system, which should explain the nose, ear, tongue, and intestinal parts that are being displayed for sale.

Now, I’ve had some strange encounters with exotic foods in the past and I think I can reasonably say that I’ve always come out on top…until I met khash. It is the only time I can remember that I could not finish my plate. I did my best to explain my unfamiliarity with the dish, but I’m not sure how well it translated. To be fair, I think the batch of khash that I ate may have been a little off since it was on its third day and the feet and stomach lining may not have been cleaned properly; however, even at its best, I think it poses a challenge.

On a lighter note, when people eat khash, they usually throw a party. I’m not really sure why, but I usually don’t question the motives of a good party, even when it occurs at seven in the morning and is accompanied by massive amounts of garlic, vodka, and khash.

Well, I’m sure that I will cross paths with khash again in the near future since it is a typical winter dish here in Armenia. Khash may have one the first battle, but the war is far from over.

-Andy

New Name

Well, I finally did…I changed my blog address. The Peace Corps asked me to do this a couple months ago. It had something to do with the blog containing the word “Armenia” in the address. Anyway, I procrastinated for a while, but now it has been changed. The blog address is…

meetingmashtots.blogspot.com

…which is probably obvious to you if you are reading this post.

I suppose I should provide some explanation. Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian monk and linguist who lived during the fourth and fifth centuries. He was tasked with the responsibility of creating the Armenian alphabet, which remains intact to this day. Many people say that the alphabet enabled the Armenians to establish a distinct identity…a kind of unifying, national spirit. Being rooted in Christian theology and connected to the Armenian Church itself, it is believed that the alphabet undoubtedly contributed to the preservation of Armenian culture in an area of the world dominated by invading empires. So, in a way, Armenia survives today in large part because of Mesrop Mashtots. The Armenian people know this and love him for it. There are statues of him all over the country and his picture is hanging in the classrooms of many Armenian schools.

Since we are trying to understand and integrate into Armenia, I thought “meetingmashtots” would be a nice title.

Finding Rhythm

I love the fall; I think it is probably my favorite season. I like the crisp feeling in the air, the vibrant color of the trees, and the foods that are ripe for harvest. Fall is here in Armenia. In fact, a few nights ago, we almost skipped fall and went straight on to winter. After the sun went down, it rained for hours. It was one of those rains that sends a coldness straight to your bones, a coldness that you just can’t shake even with the warmest blanket. When we woke up in the morning, the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. It continued to rain the next day and the streets became a mess of mud and lake-sized ponds. I have a feeling it was a prelude of what’s to come.

Things are going fairly well so far. For me, school has been quite slow until just recently. As I think I’ve mentioned before, neither of my teaching counterparts speak much English, so it has been difficult to communicate, let alone plan lessons together. However, slowly but surely, I am nudging my way into the classroom. I now have scheduled planning hours with both my counterparts and I have begun to lead a few activities with the children. Fortunately, both my counterparts seem to be open to the idea of team teaching with me. I am not an experienced teacher, so I fear that I will make many mistakes. But, I’m trying to be an optimist and consider the whole process a kind of on-the-job training opportunity. The fact that neither of my counterparts speaks English very well also makes me feel like maybe I am really needed there too.

Nicole’s counterpart speaks very well, so she has been active in the classroom since the second or third week. The challenges that she faces have not had so much to do with communication, but instead with classroom behavior. The Armenian school system is much different than the American school system and I think some of these differences contribute to the misbehavior of the students. There’s a lot I could say about that, but it’s probably best not to elaborate. Besides, American schools have their share of behavioral problems and I think part of Nicole’s difficulties in dealing with them may come from her familiarity with early education, where social standing and peer pressure are in their infancy.

We both have plans to start extracurricular English clubs at our schools. We’ve decided the ideal situation is that we run the clubs together. There are some logistical issues with this idea, but I think we can make it work. We’re planning on getting started soon, probably sometime this month.

Hmmm…what else is there to report? The language is still a cause for much frustration. I feel like my speaking abilities are improving, but I just cannot hear. Armenian word order is so different from English. Here’s an example…if I want to say “I am from Syracuse, fall is very beautiful there”, I would say “I Syracuse from am, there fall very beautiful is”. To make matters worse, there are many sentence structures that really have no definite rules, so people can say the words in whatever order they want. Many of the people I speak to are not used to communicating with foreigners, so they don’t really know how to speak to me, they don’t know how to use simple words and speak slowly. But, like everything else, it is coming along.

There’s much more to tell about, especially because I haven’t written in a while, but I don’t want this post to get too long. I’ll just say that things have been interesting. We’ve had many different experiences at school, at home, at the market, and in the various other places we’ve been spending our time.

Here are some pictures to go along with the update. As always, thank you all so much for supporting us and keeping us in your thoughts. Shout out to Mimi and RJ…good luck guys, we can’t wait to see Mason…thanks for getting hooked up on Skype.

Here is Nicole returning home from school a couple weeks ago. I’d say there were probably a hundred bees flying around the flowers and bushes next to the stairs before the weather got cold.

Since the cold set in a little sooner than expected, Nicole has been worried that her winter gear won’t arrive from the U.S. in time. So, she has been crocheting a hat for herself.

This was probably one of the highlights of the month. Josh and Christen sent us a package with peanut butter and chicko-sticks in it...well, there were other things too…it wasn’t just chicko-sticks and peanut butter. The first picture captures my uncontrollable excitement over being reunited with peanut butter, and the second captures the after-math of our chicko-stick binge…they were all gone in a matter of days. A special thanks to Josh and Christen, we can’t tell you how happy that made us…good stuff.

Nicole and I went back to the village where we lived for our first 3 months in the country just last weekend to see our first host family. The marshutni (like a bus) doesn’t stop in the village, so we hopped off on the highway, walked some of the way there, and then took a taxi to the village from another town…the first picture is of me walking into town. Once we got there, we did some apple picking in my family’s backyard…that’s the second picture.

The next two pictures are from earlier this week. The town where we are living sits in a valley and these are pictures of the mountains that surround us. They were taken on the day that I described at the beginning of this post.

Finally, here is Nicole making apple sauce. When we went to visit our host family last weekend, they gave us a ton of apples. We’re still trying to figure out what to do with them before they go bad.

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

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Nicole and I have one week of pre-service training left until we “swear-in” and move to our permanent site. Things have become very busy and somewhat difficult for us for several reasons…number one on the list, “model school”. Each sector (business, education, health, environment) has to complete a practicum before the end of training and our practicum is model school. It’s been both interesting and exhausting. Basically, we’ve been teaching English to a group of Armenian students for about three weeks now, rotating age groups at the end of every week. Tomorrow will be our last day. Although I think it’s been pretty successful, I’ll be glad when it’s over. Trying to balance model school with language classes and all the other assignments that pre-service training demands is a difficult task.


Let’s see…what else is keeping us busy. Well, a couple weekends ago we organized a training workshop for English teachers in the area where we’ve been living. I was nervous at first since I don’t have much teaching experience, but I think it went well. I taught a workshop on developing listening skills in the classroom with another volunteer and Nicole taught one on student-centered learning, which is kind of her specialty. Yesterday, we had to present a summary of our workshops to the other volunteers and Peace Corps staff. Over the next week they’ll be some more presentations, along with competency tests and questionnaires…a lot of busy work.


I feel like I’ve hit a slump in my language training that I’m struggling to shake off. We’ve covered a huge amount of information over the last two weeks and I think my brain might be pretty much full at this point. I think another contributing factor might be model school. When you teach English all the time, you don’t get to use much Armenian, especially when all the lessons are planned with other Americans. We have to take another language proficiency test next week before swearing in…I’m a little nervous about it, but I’ve been told not to worry.
Enough about work and training, there are plenty of other interesting things going on in the village. For instance, here’s some good news, I’ve been able to fit in a few soccer games in between all my classes. The bad news is that the soccer field is covered in thorn bushes. It definitely adds an interesting element of excitement to the game…maybe excitement is not the right word.


On July 19th, our village celebrated the “real” water holiday, which I think is called “Vartevar” (I wrote about the phony one in my last blog entry). America needs a holiday to celebrate like this one. It doesn’t matter who you are, you are not safe from getting an entire bucket of water dumped on you at any time during the day. Every village, town, and city all over Armenia participates. I remember having to ring my clothes out and hang them up to dry several times. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures…I didn’t think it was smart to carry my camera with me.


Here’s some more good news, our host family has decided to keep the dog that we’ve been looking after. Nicole has been hinting to people in the village that she’d like someone to take him in before we leave, but I never thought anyone would agree. Then, a few nights ago during dinner, my host father just came right out and said that he’d like to keep the dog, without being questioned or anything. We’re both really excited about it. This way, we know he’ll be taken care of and we’ll get to see him whenever we come back and visit our host family.


Last piece of good news I’ll share…the new group of volunteers, our group, crushed last year’s group of volunteers in the annual kickball game. Last year it was a baseball game and they lost then too. I think they were looking for a little revenge, but they met no such luck. It’s going to feel good to have bragging rights for a whole year.


Now, a piece of bad news to share…well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. Our group had two volunteer trainees leave the program last week. Apparently, they decided that this whole thing just wasn’t for them. It’s a little disappointing to think of all the effort that went into the arrangements for their service being wasted. But then again, it’s not easy to make the decision to leave. I didn’t know them very well, but they seemed pretty confident in their decisions. I’m sure they won’t be the last ones to leave early…although I hope they are.


Like always, here are some pictures. I tried to describe each picture this time, but the formatting might be a little off. It’s difficult to be working with such a slow connection. Anyway, thanks for checking in with us. We hope that you’re all doing well. Oh, one last thing…we’ll be changing the URL of our blog. Peace Corps doesn’t want any of the volunteers to use the word Armenia in their blog names. It has something to do with a request from the embassy. When we think of a new name, I’ll email the link to everyone, so be on the lookout for that.

This is a picture of Sevook looking proudly at Nicole after a hike we took along the gorge near our village…or maybe nervously. He whined the entire time. It seemed like he thought we might just fall over the edge for some reason.

These are some of my model school students. They are the oldest age group that we’ve been teaching. You’ll notice that there is only one boy. Usually there are two more, but even then the class is predominately made up of girls. This is a pretty common trend in Armenia. Men are required to serve in the army for two years at the age of eighteen, so I think many of them shift their focus away from school once they reach a certain age. This is only a generalization however. I have met many well-educated, young Armenian men.

This picture is from our language class. For our homework, we had to create restaurant menus in Armenian and apparently a friend of mine thinks I’ll be restaurant owner one day. If you look closely, you’ll see a drawing of me and the guy beside me, Kyle, next to the title of the menu.

This is my host dad and me preparing a khorovats together. This is a really common way to cook food in the summer. You get a fire started, let it die down, and then grill some vegetables and meat over the coals on skewers. Usually, you use pork, but we’ve also had chicken and beef as well.

This is my host mom and me looking proud after preparing dolma together. Dolma is a trademark Armenian dish…its meat, rice, and seasonings rolled up in either cabbage or grape leaves and then boiled for a while in a pot. We also stuffed some peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes with the meat and cooked them in the same way.

This is a common site in our village. People walk their cows down the main street to graze in certain places. Sometimes, there can be thirty or more cows coming straight towards you at one time. It’s amazing how cars weave in and out of these groups without hitting them. Well, there was one accident since we’ve been here, but I would definitely expect that to be more common.


These are the cans of jam and juice that my host mother has prepared. Throughout the summer, while the fruit is fresh, people spend a lot of time doing this to prepare for the winter; although, we are eating a lot of it now too.

This is an archeological project going on in our village. The mayor was kind enough to take us here and explain what was going on. Researchers think that this is a grave site dating back to the Bronze Age…I think. I don’t know my eras very well.

Here is a picture of Mt. Ararat peaking over the hill in the distance from our village. Mt. Ararat is actually in Turkey, but it has historically belonged to Armenia. In fact, it is a symbol of Armenian history and culture even to this day. Many people believe this is where Noah parked the ark after the flood. Usually, we cannot see it from our village. It just happened to be a very clear morning.

Here are some apricots that my host mom is drying on the porch…she does this with some other types of fruit too.

In this picture, Nicole and I hiked up to the edge of the gorge overlooking our village early in the morning with some friends. That is our village in the background.