Driving Me Crazy

Driving in Armenia is insane.  Most families in my village seem to have at least one car, whether it is a junky soviet era car or a decked out Toyota.  The roads are in bad condition, potholes are everywhere, and there are no lines or speed limit signs that I have seen yet.  Most people who have seatbelts in their car do not use them.  I have only seen one person use their blinker and instead cars will honk at you as they pass by and come dangerously close to hitting the car in the oncoming lane.  As volunteers we are mandated to wear a seatbelt whenever available, and after traveling in Armenia I completely understand.

Riding in a marshutni is a different experience entirely.  Marshutnis are minibuses that in America would fit only 12 people max.  Here they can fit 30+ people.  How? By sitting on strangers laps! It’s totally acceptable here.  The marshutni basically has a fixed route, but to get on you just stand on the side of the road and wave it down.  I was on a crowded marshrutni with three other volunteers to a central town.  We thought our marshutni was full, but alas four older men jumped into the marshrutni right before we left.  I am not exaggerating when I say that half of his body was on my lap and the other half was out of the window.  Sooo awkward and uncomfortable for me, but he seemed just fine with sitting on my lap and displaying his behind out the window for the world to see. 

Another story: I was walking with two other volunteers yesterday and a volunteer’s dog started to follow us.  Well, the dog decided to cross the street and came within a foot of being run over if it wasn’t for the other volunteer screaming for the car to stop. Few people keep pets and stray animals are treated awfully.  If you lean down to pet a dog they will sprint away from you because they are used to being hit by rocks….. Heartbreaking to watch, but with my limited Armenian the best I can say is that we treat animals differently in America.

Yet another story: Another volunteer lives with my cousins and they took us to café in a nearby town on Sunday.  On the way back, the dad suddenly pulls over and gets out of the car.  My young cousin takes his place and starts driving us into our town.  I was more in awe that a 14 year old girl could drive stick shift than I was worried about my safety.  I’m sure I will have more fun driving stories in the future.

All that being said, I have only seen one actual accident in Armenia.  Public transportation seems to be safe, though very stressful and uncomfortable. 

P.S. I have attached pictures to give you an idea of how I live. Below are pictures of my daily snack, bedroom, laundry and backyard.  I repeat, the first picture is just a picture of the typical snack my host family gives me!

Is this real life?

I had my first dream in Armenian and I didn’t understand a word of it. Learning Armenian is much harder than I realized, but I have a very nice host family to practice with. I have been with my host family for almost a week and it feels like I have lived here for months. I moved into my village knowing that the next 2 years would be like a rollercoaster with extreme ups and downs. I listen to my host family talk and get so excited when I understand a word or phrase. Then I’ll have a few minutes alone and almost cry thinking about everyone back home. So far I have had more ups than downs and hopefully this trend continues :)

On the upside, I definitely lucked out with my host family. I live with a host father, mother, brother, sister-in-law and their 3 month old son. Surprisingly we have an indoor toilet, hot water and washing machine (though I am worried about hang drying my underwear haha.) As far as food goes, I have had hotdogs for breakfast, chicken necks and more desserts than I want to remember. Everything is smothered in oil. One of the best meals I have had is khorovats- basically an Armenian style bbq that is delicious.  It can be chicken or pork, but it is roasted over a pit with potatoes to make a fantastic meal.  I first ate khorovats when our neighbors threw a party to celebrate the safe return of their son from the military.  There was soo much food and alcohol, but thankfully my host sister took me home after an hour so I didn’t have to embarrass myself dancing.  Once I get to know my village better I plan on running to stay in shape or else I will definitely gain weight. I went on an awesome hike with the other volunteers to a famous church, but that is all as far as exercise goes.

We have language lessons for 4 ½ hours every day except Sunday and technical trainings twice a week. Seven other volunteers live with me in my village, but I get to see the other TEFL volunteers twice a week. Once every two weeks all of the volunteers meet in a central town for more training. This is where I bought my internet modem (it looks just like a flash drive) and had a great day hanging out with the other volunteers. We each had to teach an 8 minute lesson on any skill that we have to practice our teaching skills. I presented how to teach swim lessons and it was a big hit. I realized that I want my site assignment to be teaching younger children English, so hopefully I will be able to change my assignment during our site placement interviews.

Next time I’ll tell you about life in the village and my crazy experiences as a passenger in cars, taxis and minibuses!

Finally Here =)

We made it to Armenia! A current volunteer is broadcasting wifi from his computer so I only have a few minutes of internet access.  We are at hotel in the mountains about an hour outside of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.  Soon I should have a phone and internet access if you want to chat :) They say that the internet is very slow, but most volunteers still use it.  Armenia is beautiful!  The weather was a mix of rain, sun and a little chilly in the shade (only if you're from Florida haha).  We are able to take naps this morning when we arrived and then shower, thank goodness!  I'm starting realize how hard it is going to be to live without constant running water.  Winter is going to be killer.

We learned which towns we will be living in for training, and we move in with our host families on Tuesday.  I really want to start learning Armenian so I am so excited to move in with an Armenian family. The food so far has been interesting.....the highlights have definitely been apricot jam and delicious bread. So. Much. Bread. I will post more soon =)

Staging

Day 1: I am sitting in my hotel room and I am already exhausted.  I flew from Jax to Philly this morning and barely made it on time to staging (Peace Corps Orientation).  Between carrying over 100 pounds of luggage and getting lost in the crazy Philly airport I am lucky that I was on time.  Our staging agenda included learning about the history, mission and vision of the PC and expectations for both us and the PC. After staging I went out to dinner at an Irish pub with some very nice volunteers and then headed back to my hotel room to rearrange my belongings and get some sleep.

Day 2: We are about to board a bus that will take us to JFK airport in NYC.  We will spend several hours waiting at JFK until our flight for Vienna, Austria leaves at 5:45pm. I'm hoping to use this time to actually learn the alphabet, but we'll see :)

One Week To Go

Wow. In exactly one week I will be leaving Florida for the next 27 months.  Hopefully I will be able to come back and visit at some point during my service, but you should definitely give me a call before I leave Jax. These past few weeks have flown by! I celebrated my 22^nd birthday and have started saying goodbyes.  Tomorrow I will leave Gainesville and spend my last week at home in Jacksonville….. I have sold my car, given most of my clothes to Goodwill and bought all the new clothes I need for Armenia despite the fact that it is impossible to find real winter clothes in Florida.  I look ridiculous in my huge hiking backpack, especially when added to the two suitcases and extra carry on that I will have to transport through various airports and hotels. 

When we arrive in Armenia we will spend 3 days training at a hotel before we move in with our host families.  On June 7^th I move in with a host family located somewhere near Nor Hajn.  My mailing address until August 16 will be:  13 Torozyan street, High School, Nor Hajn, 2412, Armenia (just in case you want to send any letters or packages).

I wish more than anything that I had a few more weeks before Armenia.  I’m so excited to for this new adventure, but I still need more time to spend with my family, friends and boyfriend. As far as learning the Armenian alphabet goes, I hope I can study on the plane because learning it here is proving to be impossible.  I’m not so great with languages to begin with, and Armenian is not similar to any other language I have learned. I’ll keep you posted, but I think my success with Armenian is going to make or break my Peace Corps service.       

One Month To Go

In exactly one month I will be going to Armenia.  On June 1^st I fly from Jacksonville to Philadelphia for one day of orientation with the other PC volunteers going to Armenia.  The next day we take a bus to JFK airport in NYC, then fly to Vienna.  We have a 14 hour layover in Vienna so hopefully I will have enough energy to explore the city! That night we depart Vienna for Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. 

In other news, I graduated yesterday from UF! Has it sunk in yet? No. I will be back and forth between Gainesville and Jacksonville for the next month so I still feel like a student. At least now I will be able to focus on learning Armenian and packing instead of studying for finals. PC Armenia sent us a great welcome cd with lots of pictures, Armenian lessons and most importantly advice on how to be successful (survive) the next 2+ years.  

Here is a picture of my family from graduation =) 

Two Months To Go

Two months ago I found out that I was going to Armenia.  Now I leave for Armenia in two months, whoa!  The only things I have done in preparation are to send in my passport/visa application and buy some clothes. I haven’t studied Armenian, sold my car, made a packing list or brushed up on my English grammar skills.  I already feel unprepared, but lets be real here, I only have one month until graduation. I figured that I would cram everything Peace Corps related into May.  Even though I know that will not give me enough time, I really just want to enjoy my last semester at UF.  I am having the best year EVER and knowing that I will not see my friends and family for 2+ years makes me want to spend every minute with them.  So with classes and the Peace Corps on the back burner, I’m ready to have a great last 2 months in Gainesville!