Highs and Lows

Sorry that my last blog was a bit of a bummer.  I was really homesick and wanted nothing more than to be back in Florida.  Emotionally, the highs here are VERY high and lows are VERY low.  I can be in the best most mood ever because I had a full conversation in Armenian with someone on a marshutni. Then I can start crying because I drank apple tea and it reminded me of my boyfriend and I in Istanbul together. It’s pathetic really. I’ve lost my emotional filter and stability.  Here is a summary of what I did today if you want to get an idea of why every day can be so tiring:

I woke up in the dark and got changed in my freezing cold room because the fire died at around 2 am.  Then I went to the outhouse, made breakfast, checked my email and went to school.  It started to snow on my way to school as I got stared at by every unemployed man in the village. I got to school, found out my counterpart already taught our class because ‘she was free,’ and so I sat and waited.  I ate lunch with the same really nice ladies I do every day and practiced my Armenian.  My counterpart decided she wanted me for the next lesson so we went to a class together, which was just reading from the textbook.  Then I learned that my club was cancelled because the students think of the first week back to school as a free week and went home.  So I started the snowy walk home with a group of my 4^th form students.  They had written letters to Santa Claus and given them to me (because of course Santa lives in America) and yesterday I had brought them letters back from Santa.  They were so excited about the letters that they kept asking me if I had met him and if he would bring real presents next year (Santa was only able to bring them candy this year, oops). I was having a great time laughing and making jokes with the students.  Then I laughed so hard that the gum I was chewing fell out of my mouth and into my hair. More laughter ensued and I held onto a clump of hair the rest of the way home.  One girl wanted me to come to her house so her mother could cut my hair to get the gum out. Another gave me a Strawberry Shortcake sticker to make me feel better and it honestly made my day.  I finally got home, cut the gum out of my hair, and wrote a few emails.  My host mom came home and told me there was a package waiting for me so I walked to the post office to find the long lost package my grandma sent 3 months ago.  And it was great. I just finished eating one of those Reese’s Christmas trees and I’m wearing a new sweater she sent me.   It’s 5:30 pm here and pitch black outside.

As a reminder to myself and to all of you supportive readers of my blog, the goals of Peace Corps are:

1.      Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2.      Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3.      Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Summary: Goal 1 is in limbo right now, I’m doing a great job with goal 2 and I’m working on goal 3.

I know that every day here is going to have highs and lows, but the lack of control over our lives here makes emotions stronger. Living with a host family, even when they are the nicest people ever, is hard after a frustrating day at work.  I’m trying to move out of my host family’s house despite the lack of safe housing in my village. My ideal situation would have been to live with another volunteer nearby, but that idea was rejected L I’ll keep you posted on my housing woes and hopefully I’ll write a happier blog next time.