One year in Armenia!

It’s amazing how quickly the time has gone by here in Armenia, even though some days have felt like some of the longest I’ve experienced, I can’t believe that in 5 days, it will have been a year since I arrived in Armenia.  From not knowing the language at all, learning how to live and work in a new culture, finding ways to do and be successful at things I’ve never had experience in, to figuring out how to overcome challenges and learn to appreciate the really great moments here, I have truly learned a lot both about myself and this country and her people in the last year.   

View from the top of Gavar

Currently, the A-19’s are transitioning to go home, the A-21’s will start their staging this week and arrive in Armenia on Friday, and my fellow A-20’s  and I are reflecting on the last year and figuring out where we want this experience to take us over the next 15 months and how we make that happen.  I spent most of tonight packing in preparation for my trip home in a little less than 2 weeks and have realized that my timing for going home is just right for me.  Work has picked up a great deal and I am really starting to see progress both with my relationships with my counterparts as well as with the projects we are working on, but as with many things in my life, I am looking forward to a little break to refocus and see this experience from the outside.  I think my time home is really going to give me a chance to regain perspective on everything I want to accomplish when I get back and over the next year as well as what I have accomplished, realized, and experienced over the last year.  I have learned so many things about myself, especially over the last few months, and greatly appreciate the opportunity to be here, I can already see how my time here has been life-changing.  But I also recognize that the cultural differences here can be really tough to navigate and finding my place and ways in which I can make some sort of a difference takes a lot of time to discover and understand.  A friend of mine recently reminded me of the Serenity Prayer and its words really resonate with me and truly define a major aspect of my Peace Corps experience thus far…”God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Pretty awesome view, American flag with Mt. Ararat in the background

The longer I have been here, the faster the time does seem to go, partially because of how busy things have gotten!  The talent show is still underway and I am hoping it will be a huge success.  We had over 40 children audition and have selected 14 acts.  Today was our first rehearsal and it went quite well.  The show is this coming Sunday and will include the 14 talent show acts, singing, dancing, acting, and more, as well as an exhibition in the lobby and a play following the awards ceremony.  This is the first time something like this has happened in Gavar, so fingers crossed it goes off without a hitch and that the community enjoys the show! 

Flyer for the Talent Show

Last week, I was in Yerevan Monday thru Friday working on the Pre-Service training for the Community and Youth Development (CYD) volunteers.  I, along with 4 other PCV’s, am a part of the Training Advisory Group, working on all of the trainings, practicum, handbook, site visits, and many other things to try to make their CYD training the most successful and useful training to date.  It was a lot of work, but we had a great team and I really hope that what we put together is beneficial for the new volunteersJ  I will also be able to facilitate some of the sessions, so looking forward to meeting all of the newbies and also share some of my experiences and advice with them.

Gevorg and I have also moved forward quite a bit with plans for Good Hope NGO in response to the questionnaires we distributed to the parents and staff of CDRC.   As a result of the questionnaire, we identified three top priorities, the most important being issues with transportation (the other two are trainings and resources).  The majority of parents surveyed explained that transportation to and from the center causes serious financial strain on their family and expressed the need for alternate options from having to always take a cab round-trip (there is not an option for a marshutni to many of the villages/towns which CDRC serves and the cost of the round-trip fare is quite high for these families), particularly since the majority of children have appointments at CDRC 2-3 times a week.  The staff also identified issues of transportation for their families as one of their top concerns. We are currently working on ways to meet the needs of transportation for our beneficiaries and have been able to come up with a solution.  Our Director spoke with Arabkir Medical Center, for which CDRC is a beneficiary, and they have agreed to fund the salary of a driver, insurance, property tax, and the gas and maintenance of the van.  In return, it is now our responsibility to secure a van, so Gevorg and I have been working on a proposal and started conversations with some potential donors.   We are working with CDRC on the logistics necessary to make the van service work ie creating a schedule so that all of the families from the same village have appointments on the same day and working on having the Resource Center open for the parents and their children to use while waiting for their return trip home.  We are also hoping to implement some trainings during this wait time, starting with trainings on how the parents can continue rehabilitation treatment with their children at home.

Other than the big projects, I’ve had some other good things going onJ We had the grand opening of Caritas's new office complete with a puppet show and a dance party in the streets.

Dance Party in the street

Diana and Rima have begun their requirement of Gender Equality trainings as a result of the TOT which we all participated in.  They have completed two successful trainings, one addressing gender, respect, and communication with the children from Caritas’ Little Prince program and the second addressing domestic violence and gender with some of the parents of the Little Prince children.  This Friday, they will be holding a leadership seminar with women who are victims of domestic violence.  I was also fortunate enough to be invited to hold a two day seminar on fundraising and donor relations at the Social Support Center in Gyumri.  

Fundraising Seminar in Gyumri

And, some of the last few weekends, I have made my way into Yerevan to play softball at the Embassy with a mix of PCV’s, Armenians, and Embassy folks, which has been a great little taste of the states and a blast to play!  I've even gotten the chance to pitch, no more handstands and cartwheels in the back field:)

Speaking of a taste of the states, last week, I went with a few others to the Opera House for Non-stop Hollywood, a wonderful concert put on by the Armenian Youth Orchestra.  In addition to great music reminding me of home, there was a big screen behind the orchestra with clips from each film the group played including The Matrix (got to see Rob Dougan’s Clubbed to Death live!), The Godfather, Braveheart, Pirates of the Carribean, Life is Beautiful,  Mission Impossible, James Bond, and many, many more.  And this past weekend, I spent my time in Talin for their Spring clean-up, which included painting a fence, planting trees and laying carpet, as well as for their Spring 5K.

Talin 5K

So that’s a little update from Armenia, have a pretty busy two weeks ahead,  tomorrow I am heading to Yerevan for Sylvie’s (my little host sister from Argel) 3^rd birthday party, my Program Manager and Regional Manager will be in Gavar Wednesday for site identification, visiting potential host families and NGO’s….hopefully getting a new volunteer in August!, Thursday we have our tech dress rehearsal for the Talent Show, Leadership Seminar Friday, Talent Show Sunday, heading to Yerevan for a training for BRO camp, the boys leadership camp where I will be a counselor this summer, visiting the NGO which Diana and I work with in Vardenis on Wednesday, BINGO with the Little Prince kids and the elderly from Caritas’ Homecare project,  celebrating my site mates birthday Monday, June 3^rd, then flying out 4:30am June 5^th!  Thanks again to all of you for your love and support, hope to see some of you while I am home!

PCV's at the end of the Talin 5K!