Village Life

Here are some pictures of my new house:

This bed was left behind by the military men who lived here before me, my landlady warned me not to use it so here it sits in my extra bedroom

My real bedroom/the only room I go in during winter

My backyard, outhouse on the left and the potato field on the right

This dog follows me everywhere, even into my school!

I love living by myself, but there are definitely some problems with my new living arrangements.   The houses in my area do not get water and have to go by car to get it.  I have to give empty jugs to my neighbor and I only get water when he decides to go get water.  I don’t have enough to take a bucket bath or wash my clothes so I do all of that at another pcv’s apartment in Noyemberyan. 

I moved out of my host family’s house to have privacy.  For the first few weeks at my new house I did, but now my neighbors have hired people to plant potatoes for them in my backyard.  These new workers can see clearly into my window and I have to walk past them to get to my outhouse. Awkward. They also use my outhouse and leave traces behind… It’s disgusting.

In other news, I spontaneously decided to go on a vacation to Portugal with 2 other volunteers at the end of April. Next week I'll let you know how our poetry competition goes!

How The Fire Ruined My Heart

Fail. Sorry about not posting, things around here have been kind of crazy lately.  Armenians call March the ‘crazy’ month because they never know if it’s going to snow, rain or be sunny and warm.  It has most definitely NOT been sunny or warm.  The snow keeps falling and I keep wishing I was in sunny Florida.  Good thing I bought my place ticket to come home this summer!! I’ll be Florida and DC in late June and early July J

I moved out of my host family’s house and into my own house on March 1^st.  I was so happy to move out and was actually looking forward to using a wood stove. Innocent Mistake #1.  All of my wood was wet, but I thought I would have no problem beginning my fire. Naïve Mistake #2. My taxi driver bought me kerosene at the gas station and I used almost half a bottle trying to light the wood. Stupid Mistake #3. Words of warning to future volunteers: NEVER put kerosene on live or semi-live coals. Maybe this is common knowledge that I missed during my childhood.  Turns out I should have went on more camping trips or barbeques. A huge explosion erupted from my stove when I tried to light the wet wood with an insane amount of kerosene on it.  I burnt my clothes, hair and one of my hands very badly.  I had to throw away my clothes, cut 4 inches off my hair, and suffer through a painful burn that took 2 weeks to heal.  My quasi- sitemate Danelle took care of me and I’ve recovered with no scars except for my pride.  My entire town found out that I had burned myself.  Now, every day, I get asked if I can burn the wood and start a fire.  Maybe I should have stayed with my host family for the rest of winter, but I’m sure come November the same thing would have happened to me.

Life lesson learned: I should have joined Girl Scouts as a child.  Maybe if I were alumni they would have sent me some charity Thin Mints. 

In a few days I will post pictures of my house! Promise J

Also: School is alright, my clubs are awesome, and I’ll be celebrating St. Patty’s day in style with other volunteers this weekend.