Hearts & Fires

Armenia celebrates a mixture of holidays in February: Valentine’s Day, St. Sargis Day and Valentine’s Day.  To give you an idea of how different these holidays are: I jumped over a fire today! Sure, by the time I went outside it was down to a few logs and 1 burning flame, but it was still exciting.  Below you can look at the links for the different holidays:

St. Sargis Day
http://www.oratert.com/english/society/16783.html

Trndez

http://armenianow.com/arts_and_culture/35560/trndez_armenian_church_holiday

Children were allowed out of class early to jump over the fire; you had to jump in pairs over the fire and into the ice. Some didn't quite make it... 

The highlight of my day was helping my 7^th grade club make Valentine’s cards for their families. Soo cute!

I HAVE A HOUSE!

It needs a lot of work, but I should be able to move in on March 1^st.  It has 3 bedrooms, a kitchen area, a porch and a garden in the back.  I will have no running water, no warm place to take bucket baths and of course I will have an outhouse.  I shouldn't complain because I expected to face all of these hardships going into Peace Corps. What makes Armenia so difficult is that the living situation for every volunteer is different.  Most volunteers have running water for at least part of the day and an indoor toilet that they can flush with a bucket.  It sucks knowing that if I would have been placed in a different region then I could have moved into a furnished apartment.  Instead I’m moving into a house with a bed frame, table, chairs and dresser. That’s all, unless you count the dog who has made his home on my porch for the winter. My new neighbors and people from the art school have said that they will help me move and find everything I need to buy: Wood stove, wood, refrigerator, oven, mattress, etc. It will be a very interesting March!