Less than 5 weeks left as a PCV!

This morning my counterpart, her father, and I met with my landlord to let her know I was moving out June 30th, make my last rent payment, and set up the day she would come to make sure everything is okay with the apartment.  It was then it finally hit me that this is almost the end!  It's quite surreal, but the more I pack, the more I give away, and the emptier my apartment looks, the more real it becomes.  I know when the time comes I will be ready, but doesn't make my current state any less weird.  Today is being spent cleaning, putting aside things I want to take home (the pile is already bigger than can fit in the small amount of luggage I want to cart around during my travels with Dorrie, Dad, and Liz so going to have to purge again at some point), and packing donation bags for my NGO's and fellow PCV's.  I feel pretty confident all of the things which I need to do will be taken care of by the 30th, at which point I'll move in with my site mate Tamika for a few days,then off to Yerevan to spend a few days saying goodbye to the PCV's leaving on July 7th and wait for Dorrie and Dad to arrive on the 10th.  I've also been working on all of the paperwork for Peace Corps to close out my service and getting my resume, cover letters, and recommendation letters ready for my job applications.  As many know about me, this is when I start to get a bit anxious and stress:)  But I've been pretty good about it so far, chipping away at everything little by little everyday, which is helping me stay a little calmer than my normal state of mind during big changes.

I had started to get a little overwhelmed a couple of weeks ago, but got to take a break for 10 days when Gary came to visit from Ghana.  It was an amazing trip that went by way too fast.  I got to check off a lot of the things from my must see in Armenia before I leave list and just really enjoyed having him here, experiencing a little bit of what life as a PCV in Armenia is like.  Liz had her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend visiting at the same time, so the five of us got to spend a lot of time together, which made the whole visit even more fun.  Gary got in at 6am on Friday morning so we both had a little bit of sleep catching up to do then we met up with a bunch of PCV's for a horovats (BBQ Armenia style) dinner at the gorge in Yerevan.  It was actually really fun to share all of the good food here in Armenia with Gary, he has access to much less variety than we do here, so every meal had something he hadn't had in over a year. 

Horovats at the Gorge

 The next day we went to Noy Cognac factory and got to taste 90 year old wine, which was amazing and impossible to describe, in addition to 10 and 20 year old cognac.  We were taught how to determine how good and aged cognac was, learned a lot about the factory, and were told that Noy is Noah in Armenian, notable since Noah's Arc is said to have ended up at the top of Mt. Ararat when the mountain was a part of Armenian land.  We then went to see Reincarnation, the Armenian reggae band, a musical treat for all of us.  We spent the next three days in Jermuk, a resort town in southern Armenia known for it's healing water, and got to take an off-roading tour to hot springs,a spillway, and a waterfall with an amazing family we met. 


 The father of the family then drove Gary and I to Shinuhayer, a village further south, and ended up with another off-roading adventure through the mountains.  While down there, we went to Tatev Monastery by way of the longest ropeway in Europe, and got to check out handzoresque, an old Armenian cave village built into the mountains.  


Then we got to meet up with a few PCV's to go bowling, first time since I moved to Armenia.  We then made our way to Gavar to have dinner with Stacy's host family, some of my favorite people I've met here and Gary got to experience what is was like to be a male in an Armenian village, lots of food, vodka, and toasts.  Stacy's family adored him and adopted him as one of their American sons. 



 The next morning, despite being exhausted, we went to Last Bell, the high school graduation of the seniors in Stacy's village, Karmir gyoogh. 

Last Bell

Then back to Yerevan for our last 24 hours full of shopping, delicious food, friends, and goodbyes.  It was such an amazing break for me and I am grateful for the friendship the two of us have developed over the last couple of years.

After he left, it was back to finishing things up here.  The day he left was our 2 anniversary of being in Armenia, so we celebrated by going to the movies for the first time since we arrived!  It was pretty awesome, they had a hard time making us leave the theater:) Then we were treated to the last open mic at our favorite pub here, Station.  One of the girls from Envoy Hostel sang Hallelujah to a candle lit bar, with everyone singing along during the chorus and we ended the night with karoake, one of my favorite nights here.


So now comes all of the finishing touches.  I am working on completing everything with my NGO's, planning goodbyes, and enjoying everything I love about Armenia for these last few weeks.  I have been able to reflect a lot on this experience, thinking back to when we first started to where I am now, and it's pretty incredible to think about all of the people I've met, the experiences I've had, the challenges I've faced, and how much I've grown.  I feel pretty lucky to have had this experience, it's one that will always be a part of me and I will never forget.

Now the real countdown begins, I have planned a horovats at the Lake to say goodbye to all of the friends I have made here in Gavar, many of the volunteers and I from my PST village are going to go back to Argel to say goodbye to our first host families here, we have an A20 volunteer goodbye dinner and party, some other events, and then it will all be over and Dorrie and Dad will be here!

Thank you to all of you for your love and support over the last couple of years, you've made this experience even more special!  Not sure there will be time for another post before I leave...so see you all in America!!

July 8th is quickly approaching...3 month countdown!

I now have only 3 months of my Peace Corps service left!  It is amazing how quickly the time has gone, so many lessons learned, new experiences, unexpected challenges, and exciting moments.  Over the past month, a lot of things have happened.  To start, we successfully completed the Gender Equality Training of Trainers conference for which I was on the steering committee.  We had about 30 attendees and had discussions about gender inequalities in each participants community, challenges surrounding the usage of contraception, how gender is viewed in Armenia, and what everyone wanted to see in Armenia's future.  It was very interesting to hear the different experiences everyone faced depending on where they were from and how they wanted to hold trainings in their communities to address these issues.  We also showed a few films and, if you haven't seen it, I would strongly recommend the documentary Girl Rising, it was incredibly well done and very powerful.  Check out the website for more info:

http://girlrising.com/

Now that the TOT has been completed, I am in the homestretch!  So, at this point I am focusing on filling out the SPA completion report for our Rehab in the home trainings, updating my resume, creating a project proposal with my counterpart Diana for a playground in one of the communities we work on (I will be here to help secure funding and to help with the start of installing the equipment, but will miss the grand opening), and starting the job search.  I am still researching, but am finding D.C. pretty attractive right now and FEMA in particular (even though Seattle and the Gates Foundation are still on my mind:), so if any of you have contacts, let me know!

Dorrie and Dad also booked their tickets to come visit me after the completion of my service (July 8th), so we will be spending a little bit of time in Armenia, heading to Georgia and then spending a week in Istanbul with my dear friend Elisabeth, another PCV.  And even more exciting, they also booked my ticket home so we could all travel together so....I will be arriving in Baltimore the night of July 21st!!

This has definitely been a huge time of transition, strange to think that this experience is almost over, but also very exciting that I will soon be starting the next chapter in my life!  This coming weekend my group will be having our Close of Service Conference where we will begin to fill out paperwork for our departure, discuss readjustment to life after Peace Corps, job strategies, and spend our last conference together as a group.  A few of us have been putting together an end of service slideshow and it's been really great to see the pictures from our start to now, we've come a long way!  

My second day in Armenia!

Before I wrap this post up, I would like to ask for your thoughts and prayers for a few of my fellow PCV's.  On Saturday night, three of our guys were hit by a car while crossing the street in Yerevan.  Thankfully, all of them will be okay, but they suffered several broken bones and will be in recovery for some time.  It has been a tough experience for all here and has just been an important reminder to really appreciate each day.  It has certainly brought our PC Armenia family much closer together.  I would like to take a moment to recognize how amazing of a staff we have here at PC Armenia.  They ensured that the guys were receiving the care they needed immediately and have been incredibly supportive from the moment it happened.  We are all so grateful that they will all be okay and feel very lucky to have the staff we do.

Thank you all in advance.  I'll write another update soon and get ready to see me in July!!

The countdown begins...4 months left of my Peace Corps service!

As crazy as it is, as of March 8th, I will only have 4 months left here in Armenia.  I will be ready to come home, ready to be with the people I miss and have access to the things I love about America.  But it's also a very strange feeling to know that there are only 4 months of this experience left, just as I really feel like I've started to get Armenia and how to be successful and how to live here.  My last Armenian winter is slowly coming to an end, so getting excited for Spring and the start of Summer here!  But more on that later:)

Since I last wrote, some really amazing things have happened.  To start, I got to spend 8 days in Ghana with a friend of mine, Gary, who is a Peace Corps volunteer serving in the central region.  After some difficulties securing my VISA and finding the yellow fever vaccine, I landed in Accra to warm weather, sunshine, and what ended up being one of the most amazing trips I've ever had (and one I am going to try to describe as much as I can:).  I wanted to take advantage of experiencing Ghana through the eyes of a Peace Corps volunteer so I could really see Ghana, or at least as much as I could in the short time we had.  Gary planned everything, so I just had to follow his lead, quite literally at times as the public transportation is incredibly challenging to navigate, and we did as much as I can possibly imagine could be fit into the time I was there. One thing that actually helped with all of the traveling we did, my luggage didn't show up until the day before I headed back to Armenia.  I can tell how much more laid back I've become since I've been a PCV and after living in Armenia because wearing the same clothes for the whole trip and not having my usual stuff wasn't a big deal, you don't really need much to get by:)  And I'm sure having my hiking bag would have made the already cramped public transportation a lot more difficult.  Among the first things I noticed about the incredible differences between Ghana and Armenia were the colors present everywhere, the clothing, the buildings, everywhere you looked it was colorful.  Living in Armenia, you get used to the majority of people wearing black and the dullness of many of the buildings here and the colors in Ghana totally energized me.  The first few days all I could say was how much I loved the country, so much so Gary asked if I just loved everything.  But it was just such a different world from what I have been living in for the last almost 2 years, that it really opened my eyes to the extremely different places we live in and how incredibly different our Peace Corps services are.  Another thing I absolutely loved was the music, it felt like it was everywhere.  You woke up in the morning and heard people singing and in many of the villages we passed, there were huge speakers and people dancing while they walked down the street.  Below is one of my favorite songs that I heard.

The first night, we stayed in Accra with a woman named Kate, she had been Gary's counterpart until she moved to Accra to be with her husband.  Many teachers in Ghana, once they graduate, are placed by the Ministry of Education in a school, most likely not one in their hometown and many are separated from their families as a result.  At times, these placements are up to 10 years before they can request to work at a school where their family is.  Kate had been living in Gary's village for the first few months of his service before she was able to be placed in Accra to be with her husband who is a nurse at one of the hospitals in the capital.  Kate is one of the most incredible women I have ever met, her energy, openness, and instant love for me is something I will always remember.  In Ghana, everyone refers to each other as their brother and sister and it is unclear who is actually related and who is not because this endearment for one another ends up being just as much if not more important than actual family ties.  Gary and I also stayed with Kate and her husband my last night in Ghana and she let me know that I would forever be her sister, something that will always be one of the most important things that happened to me during my trip.  During my second day, Gary and I went with Kate to sit in on her class for a little bit and meet the kids.  I haven't gotten the kind of positive attention we did that day in as long as I can remember, the kids were giggling, smiling, touching us, and so excited that we were there.  Their smiles were incredible and totally lit up the whole room.  Each school has a uniform, so all of the kids were dressed up in the same outfits, boys in shorts, girls in skirts.  I noticed that all of the girls had their hair cut very short and it turns out that is the current fashion.  The class was taught in English as that is the national language, but there is also the language for the different areas in which people live, many in Accra and Gary's village speak Twi and in many areas English is not spoken at all.  (I tried unsuccessfully to learn a little bit:)  At first, I had a hard time understanding the English as they have a very distinct accent, which made it interesting listening to the volunteers speak because they also use the accent to better understand each other, but after a few days it became a little easier to understand.

My sister Kate:)

We left Kate's class and started the journey to Hohoe,where we stayed for 2 nights.  Transportation takes quite a bit longer in Ghana than Armenia due to some incomplete roads, dirt roads, and other obstacles.  Most of the travel is done in a vehicle called a Tro, it is similar to the marshutni's we have in Armenia, but they are bigger and can hold more people.  Transportation is also quite a bit more expensive in Ghana than Armenia as the gas prices continue to go up.  Every stop the tro's make, you are surrounded by people trying to sell water satchels (about 10 cents a piece and you go through many of these throughout the day), and food, pretty convenient when you want a snack over a long journey. I got hooked on fried yams and a sauce called Pepe, it became my staple throughout my whole trip. Once we got to Hohoe, I got to experience my first Ghanian meal, banku, a dough type substance that you pick up with your hands and dip into a spicy soup.  Apparently, it was a rite of passage to eat this and I liked it so much, we got it our second night there:)

Banku

 Another huge difference between our two countries is people don't really start moving in Armenia until 9 or 10 am whereas in Ghana the day starts pretty much by the time the sun is up, 5:30 or 6am.  So after a long day of travelling, my usual bedtime of midnight quickly changed to me passing out way earlier than I'd like to admit.  The next day was one of our two touristy days,we started by heading to a monkey sanctuary, such a cool experience.  We were given bananas and our guide made really interesting noises to call the monkeys to us.  We gripped the bananas tightly and the monkeys jumped right up onto our arms.  First time I'd ever experienced anything like it and it was really fun.  Then we took a short hike to Wili Waterfalls and it was an absolutely stunning site.  Because I was wearing the only jeans I had, I didn't get to wade over to the wall, but Gary made it over to under the waterfall, which proved to be a little more challenging than it looked.





That night we headed to another PCV's site to cut our journey to Cape Coast in half.  We were treated to a delicious Mexican meal complete with guacamole, totally a treat since we can't get avocados in Armenia:)  The next morning we finished the trip to Cape Coast and I got to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side and it was amazing.  We went on a tour of the Cape Coast Castle, one of the places where slaves were held for up to 3 months before they started the journey to the US.  It was one of the most powerful tours I have been on, at one point, they put us in one of the dungeons and turned the lights off to give us a slight glimpse into what the slaves had to experience.  We then grabbed a beer at a bar with the best view of the coast and topped the night off with a delicious dinner and a dip in the ocean. 

 I could have stayed in Cape Coast a bit longer, but we were on a time crunch and headed to Gary's village.  We spent the evening watching music videos with one of Gary's friends Henry and his wife and child and chatting with a guy they call Nana Chelsea, because of his love for the football club.  Nana is the word for Chief and it is a honor to be referred to as Nana.  The village has named Gary Nana Kwasi Ata, which includes the word for twin because he reminds them of their former Chief and this name shows the amount of love they have for him.  The next day, I was also introduced to the Queen Mother, who is the female head of the village, she was an incredibly sweet and sophisticated woman and it was really special for me to have had the chance to meet her.  Everyone in the village was so wonderful and wanted to say hello, so it took us quite a bit of time to walk from Gary's place to the cab since it was time to go.  Then came the end of my journey.  I experienced so  much more during this trip and am so grateful to have had the chance to go and to have such an incredible host:)  And, Gary plans to come to Armenia for a visit in May to experience another side of Peace Corps, so it's my turn to show him what life is like here!

Cape Coast

The second I landed back in Armenia, things were crazy.  A few days after I got back, the US Ambassador John Heffern came to Gavar to see the Rehabilitation in the Home Trainings, Good Hope NGO, and the Children Development and Rehabilitation Center of Gavar.  He came to better understand the work we were doing and to show his support to our parents, children, and staff.  It was one of the best days I have had in country and so important to our beneficiaries:)  What was really great, is the week after the visit, Candace Cable, an American Paralympian came to Armenia to show her support of people with disabilities and the Ambassador invited my counterpart Mariam and I to participate in many of the events Ms. Cable was holding.  It was such a special experience for both of us.

Ambassador John Heffern visits Gavar!

We also celebrated Peace Corps week with many of the friends we have made in Gavar.  They gave interviews about why working with Peace Corps has been important to them and also talked about what they want Americans to know about Armenia.  We are working on editing the film so I hope to share that with all of you soon.

Celebrating Peace Corps week!

And now, I am just staying busy trying to get everything wrapped up before I leave in July.  My counterpart Mariam and I, from Good Hope, are working on a project to provide legal counseling to our NGO and we have a couple more months until our rehab in the homes project is complete, Diana and I are working on project proposals with the NGO's we work with in neighboring villages, and I am working with other members of the Gender Equality Training of Trainers steering committee on the upcoming conference which will include seminars on domestic violence, gender selective abortions, HIV and AIDS, contraception, gender issues in Armenia, and more.

And, in non-work related news, my plumbing has finally been fixed!  After three months of no water, dishes piling up, and many entertaining moments, I now have full access to water:)  So that's the latest from Gavar!  I am starting to work on my resume and looking at jobs so I will also keep you all posted on that!  Sending lots of love from Armenia!

Hoping this is the last of the snow!

Showers are overrated

So, since before the new year, my water pipes have been frozen meaning I have had no source of water for about 3 weeks.  I started to melt snow to use for my toilet and have been buying jugs of water from the local store to get by.  But, after three weeks, the dishes started to pile up and the snow started to melt, so I finally told my counterpart that I needed a plumber to come.  Frozen pipes are really common in Armenia and I have gone for some time without water, but after trying to heat my pipes with my small PC issued heater and a hair dryer to no avail, it was time to bring in an expert.  For three hours, the plumber, his son, and my director cut pipes until they finally got my toilet working and then they gave up, to be continued at another time, which was fine, the toilet was important.  The only pipe hooked up and working in my bathroom was the direct line to the toilet.  One morning, I was lying in bed and heard the gushing sound of water coming from my bathroom.  I ran from my room and discovered that the pipe had popped off the toilet and was flooding my bathroom, but I also realized that meant I now had a reliable source of water!  After spending two hours mopping, cleaning, and filling up every bucket, water jug, and plastic bottle I had accumulated over the last three weeks, I finally felt I had enough water to last for a while, so I turned off my water and started boiling water to clean the ridiculous pile of dishes that were starting to take over my kitchen and I was happy.  My apartment was finally starting to look clean and organized again, though my ability to take showers was and continues to be non-existent.  (thankfully Yerevan is only an hour and a half away and full of wonderful places with hot showers:) It's pretty cold so I haven't given into bucket baths just yet. Fast forward to yesterday morning..I went to the bathroom and in my slumber, forgot my pipe was broken, so I reached back and turned on the water.  The pressure from the water shooting out of the pipe was so strong it knocked me off the toilet and drenched me with freezing cold water.  Second time I flooded my bathroom this week, can't say this hasn't be an entertaining experience:) So that's a little taste of life in Armenia during winter.  

A lot of other things have happened since I last wrote so I will try to focus on the big things and sorry for slacking so much on this blog!  I celebrated my last birthday in Armenia and was treated to two cakes, one from the HIV and AIDS TOT participants I was with and one from the wonderful ladies at Envoy Hostel in Yerevan which is basically my second home.  Then, we held a Halloween party for the Caritas kids, the first of its kind for many of them an they had an absolute blast.  We played pin the mouth on the pumpkin, bobbing for pears( switching it up from apples), made masks for costumes, and had a dance party.  

I finally made the 8 hour trek to Meghri, located just about the Iranian border in Southern Armenia, to celebrate an amazing Thanksgiving weekend with some of my dearest friends here.  We had an delicious spread for dinner and a very classy masquerade cocktail hour.

We successfully completed our first two groups of trainings for our SPA grant and will be starting with the second group at the beginning of February.  The trainings have gone so well, that Ambassador John Heffern, the US Ambassador for Armenia, will coming to see our center, meet our parents, and learn more about the work we are doing in the middle of February.  This is really exciting for my NGO and for the people in my community and his support of our project will mean so much to our parents and kids!

The celebrations of Christmas and New Years were really amazing here and I am so glad I was here to ring in the New Year.  To get in the holiday spirit, some of the volunteers an I sang Christmas carols at the American Corners in Yerevan and had a blast doing it.  We handed out lyrics so everyone could sing along and one of the girls from Envoy sang a beautiful rendition of Hallelujah and led everyone in Armenian Christmas songs, it was a huge success.

Several volunteers were in country for New Years Eve, so we all went to dinner, to Republic Square for the countdown and lots of dancing, then a few of us went to Reincarnation a very popular Armenian reggae band, it was the best way to ring in 2014 in Armenia!

PCV New Years Dinner

Reincarnation

Fireworks in Republic Square

I also was here to celebrate Nor Tari.  Armenia's celebration of New Years or Nor Tari is the country's biggest celebration of the year.  For several days, family members, neighbors, and friends visit each other's homes and eat together, drink together, and celebrate the new year together.  After being at site for a little over a year, I have developed very strong relationships and friendships with many of the people in my community, so my site mates and I felt it was out turn to host a Nor Tari party with a little bit of an American twist.  We invited our counterparts and closest friends, made some of our favorite American dishes, created some of the cocktails which were popular in our home towns and created a playlist of music.  Many of our Armenian friends came over and the party turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences I have had in country so far.  Our Armenian friends tried the food and drinks, some of which they liked, others they tolerated for our enjoyment, we spent hours dancing, we Americans taught them the Electric Slide, did the limbo and the Macarena and our Armenian friends taught us some Armenian dance steps, we did some arts and crafts, and we all just laughed and fully enjoyed our afternoon together.  It was during this time that I realized how integrated into Gavar I had become, these people who I had been working alongside and getting to know over the last year and a half had truly become my friends.  It was at this party that I realized how little time I had left with them and that I truly had to take advantage of my remaining time in Armenia.  What made the party even more special and memorable is how many of my friends came up to me and thanked me for what they called an unforgettable afternoon. 

Then yesterday, the kids from Caritas and I celebrated International Day of Hugs.  I wasn't sure how our celebration of International Day of Hugs would go, especially after one of our kids immediately wiped out in a puddle and was covered in mud, but it was a huge success. Our kids ran up and hugged everyone they saw and I saw more people smile and heard more people laugh then I would have ever expected. Hug someone today, it's amazing what it can do for the soul:)

So that's a quick update of some of the things happening here in Armenia!  My big news is that I will be taking off for Ghana in a week!!  My friend Gary is a Peace Corps Volunteer there so I am going on vacation:)  I imagine it is going to be the trip of a lifetime so I will be sure to post pictures and stories from my trip when I get back.  Hope you all stay warm, sending love from Gavar!

View from my window the day we got 3 feet of snow!