Im Znoonda..My Birthday!
I just celebrated my 31st
birthday, my first one in Armenia. While
it was a little strange to not be home with friends and family this year, I was
overwhelmed by both the love from friends and family from home and my new
friends and “family” here in Armenia, both American and Armenian. My counterpart and a few of the social
workers from VIA surprised me with a cake and roses and serenaded me not only
with Happy Birthday in English but also in Armenian. I also made my first real meal in my new
apartment, tacos, lavash chips (kind of like homemade tortilla chips), fresh
salsa, no-bake cookies and a little red wine, which my site mate Donna and I
enjoyed. And I also, received phone
calls from 6 of my new Armenian friends and countless Peace Corps friends. And, as if that wasn’t enough, 4 of the girls
from English club surprised me with roses today. So while I certainly missed celebrating at
home, I can’t think of a better way to have spent my 31st. Mom also sent me a pretty amazing birthday box, Baltimore and the Ravens are now very well represented over here:)
 |
| sweet birthday presents from my awesome mother |
 |
| birthday celebration with my counterpart Gegham |
 |
| Birthday dinner with my site mate Donna |
Gavar
continues to feel more and more like home every day. October 1st I moved into my new
apartment and could not be happier with my new digs. Another Peace Corps volunteer lived in my place
before, so it came highly recommended, mostly because of its amazing shower,
which is hard to come by here in Armenia.
I also have a kitchen with a stove and sink, working on getting a table
and fridge, but it’s pretty easy to make do without both, a large room, which
is basically my living space, with my bed, wardrobe, dining room table, and an
amazing shade of pink paint, and a sun porch, which I mainly use to dry my
laundry and store things. Come
winter…which probably means in a few days, I will close that room off as it
will be way too cold to venture into, and I will mostly live in the main room
of my apartment. It has already started
to get quite chilly here and I have to admit, I have slept with a wool hat on
once or twice already. But my
counterpart, Gegham, has sworn that we will be getting a heater for my place
this week, so I should be able to start warming the place up soon.
 |
| My apartment! |
I
continue to be amazed at how wonderful the people are here in Gavar and became
even more aware of that during the several meetings I have had with various
NGO’s and organizations over the last couple of weeks. Last week I met with the Director of the
Orphanage, the Police Chief, several members of leadership from Gavar State
University, two of the other PCV’s counterparts, one from Gavar’s
rehabilitation center and the other from a business training center, and the
business school (a group of some of the most motivated and influential young
professionals in Gavar from several different NGO’s). I was able to propose some ideas to the
different NGO’s and they also identified several ways in which they would be
able to use my skills and are eager to start working with me. I also realized even over the last two weeks
how lucky I am to be placed in Gavar.
There are several NGO’s and a lot of people really working hard for
Gavar and many of them are very open to my involvement. While I am still in the
process of scheduling projects and proposing ideas, I have a lot to look
forward to and am very grateful to be in such a great site. This past Sunday, I did a presentation on
conflict management to the members of the business school and was invited back
next week to do a presentation on leadership.
I will also be heading to a village called Martuni, on the border of
Azerbaijan, for a presentation on business management alongside Counterpart
International and Arpine, one of the Armenians I’ve become closest to in my
time here, from GCCI (Gavar’s anti-corruption center).
So life
is good, continues to keep me on my toes, I really never know how things are
going to go here, am practicing patience like never before, and am learning a
lot about just not having expectations because nothing ever happens the way you
think it will. The other volunteers are
really great too. Now that most of us
have moved out on our own, the level of freedom and independence we feel is
pretty awesome. A few weeks ago, I
headed to Talin, a town just west of Yerevan, to participate in the Talin 5K, a
really awesome event hosted by one of the other Peace Corps volunteers and his
organization. It was one of the best
weekends I have had in Armenia and was so encouraging to be a part of such a
successful event. Over 120 people
participated, kids, adults, PCV’s, people from the US embassy, and the
enthusiasm from the town of Talin was just really inspiring, it’s amazing what
can grow from a good idea!
 |
| getting the kids ready for the 5K |
 |
| Jumping with Brian, the PCV who organized the 5K! |
Two weeks ago, I got to see a new part of Armenia, a bit
south of Yerevan, and it was beautiful.
It is amazing, for how small of a country Armenia is, how vastly the
landscape can change. There was a wine
festival in the town of Areni and I met up with 40 other Peace Corps volunteers,
it was actually quite amazing to be around that many Americans! And then this past weekend, a bunch of us
went to cheer on Armenia in a World Cup Qualifier game against Italy. While Armenia did lose, they made one legit
goal against Italy and the energy in the stadium at that moment was like
nothing I have ever experienced. I think I can officially say, I now have
Armenian pride!
 |
| with my dear friend David at the Areni Wine Festival |
 |
| PCV's love Armenia! |
Thank
you again to all of you for the birthday love and for all of your support
during this crazy adventure I am on.
Hoping to send some more good updates soon!
 |
| a little added bonus, view of Mt. Ararat from Yerevan last Saturday morning |
