OK, My apologies that it has been a while since the update, lots of things going on to keep me busy and not a lot of internet connection.  I hope I can change that when I move out of my village and into the “city”.  

First off I may have mentioned that the rest of the Americans in my village decided to put me in charge of the 4th of July festivities.  It wasn’t a job I particularly wanted but so be it.  The Peace Corps wanted each village to have a celebration that was cross cultural and involved the people of our village.  In our case we decided to make it our families.  We received about $200 from the Peace Corps to buy food and anything else we needed (except alcohol and tobacco).  All of the Americans signed up to make something and our Armenian families also agreed to bring food and cook the meat we bought.  Originally we wanted to buy a goat and slaughter that for the Korovats but the people in the village said that goat was not good in hot weather so we ended up getting 10 kilos of pork and 12 kilos of chicken for them to cook.  When the 4th arrived I bought the meat in the city and went home to buy 45 eggs so I could make deviled eggs.  The recipe I had called for some things that I don’t think you can get in Armenia so I had to wing it.  I made a couple batches one normal and the other spicy.  I think the Americans liked them but I am not sure about the Armenians.  I know a few of them tried them but I think that they felt obligated since I made them.

We got to have Chocolate chip cookies, from a Better Crocker package no less.  They were like manna from heaven, amazingly good.  Scott made a really tasty salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and cilantro.  It came out really good and went well with the fried lavash that Josh made.  That was really good and we ate most of it before the Armenians got there.  I really have to make that myself and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on it, I think it will come out really good.  We had a ton of food and of course it being the 4th of July we bought a bunch of beer with our own money.  By the time the party kicked off we were feeling good, then the vodka and cognac showed up.  I didn’t drink much but a number of people did and when the dancing started we all had a lot of fun.  I am not sure everyone felt so good the next morning but we had a good time that night. 

When I got home I found out that Rita, my host mother, had fallen earlier in the day and hurt her arm.  She had gone to the Hospital and had it in a sling.  She looked really unhappy but I don’t think it was broken because there was no cast.   The next day we went into town and attended a pretty dry lecture on Armenian Church architecture and the history of the scribes during medieval times.  The lecturer was an American but the lecture skimmed what I would have liked to hear and focused on things that didn’t interest me.  Afterwards I went to a party at another Americans house in a near by village.  We had a great meal and a lot of vodka.  Where I stayed pretty sober at the 4th of July party I didn’t on the 5th ?.  Between the vodka that everyone was drinking, the smoking (Cigarettes and cigars) and the dancing we had a great time.  There were about a dozen Americans at the party and the host family.  The family was having a great time and really liked my flavored cigars that I gave them.  We played American music and they played Armenia music, we danced to all of it.  Everyone was having a good time but my teacher, who is also my warden, called me and asked me and another guy from my village to come home we had to leave.  I wish we had stayed longer but that is life.

Sunday we had classes and my friend Sean walked from his village to mine.  We hung out a bit and I made a spaghetti dinner for the family.  Sean stayed and Gary game in for it so we had a lot of fun.

Monday we got to go into Yerevan to see the Peace Corps office and visit some NGO’s.  All the groups did different things and the CBD group split into 3 sub-sectors and went to different places.  I ended up in the IT sub-sector, not sure why but what ever.  I met some pretty interesting people and might be able to help them with some things they want to do in Silicon Valley.  Also there is a need for PayPal here so that might be something I can help with. 

On Tuesday we had a session in Charentsavan.  I won’t go into details on the central days, where all the volunteers attend the same sessions in Charentsavan, but we have to get mandatory information on Safety and Security and medical issues and that is what we get.  It is important information but it makes for a long day.  Afterwards we usually get together with friends for a beer and bitch session then head back to our villages. 

Wednesday after a short class we went to meet our soon to be host families.  After August 15th we move to our permanent locations and live with a new host family.  I met my new host brother who also works at my NGO and turns out will be my counterpart since the person who was supposed to be my counterpart had to go to Russia for a few months.  Arsen is a nice guy and we were able to communicate mostly in Armenian since he doesn’t speak much English.  It is a bit scary that I can now talk to people, although in a limited vocabulary, in Armenian.  We got a bit of help from our teachers who would translate when we needed it but we were mostly on our own.  The next day all of the Americans except for a few of us, had to get on busses at 8:30 to go to Yerevan to get on other busses to their sites for 4 days of site visits.  I got up late, chatted with the family, met my teacher for a lesson then caught a taxi into Charentsavan to meet my counterpart and the rest of the people at my NGO.  The all greeted me at the entrance and made introductions.  One of them spoke English and it turns out that she doesn’t work for the NGO but the kindergarten that it is attached to.  Yes the NGO is run by the same person that runs a 217 student Kindergarten.  The person speaking English is a teacher at the kindergarten.  It looks like I might be teaching English to some 5 and 6 year old children at some point.  After talking to the staff for a while and getting a tour of the facilities we all headed out to a restaurant for a couple beers and some food.  After that Arsen and I went back to his apartment to meet his parents.  His Mom was there when we got up to the apartment and is really nice.  His father was picking cherries and came back late that evening.  Everyone is really nice. 

OK, that pretty much brings you back up to date with my life.  I am at the NGO now, we are supposed to have internet but the server is having problems and we don’t seem to have it today.  I will keep trying but may end up heading over to the internet café later to post this blog. 

That is it for now.  Life goes on and on in the wonderful country of Armenia.  I am even getting used to everyone asking me if I am married and then asking why not.  I actually told the last person to talk to my last girlfriend.  ? 

Cheers my friends.  Miss you all and wish I could be there with you but still enjoying things here.

Brian

P.S. I almost forgot to mention that I was in an auto accident a few days before the 4th.  Ryan and I were in a taxi heading back to our village and we came around a corner and there was another car on our side of the road coming at us.  We tried to brake and the other car tried to swerve but to no avail, we hit them pretty hard and I would guess we totaled both cars.  Ours had damage on the driver’s front quarter panel and was leaking fluids.  Their car was pretty much caved in on the driver’s side and also leaking fluids.  They both ran afterwards but not well.  I doubt they would get very far.  The funny thing is that we watched the other guy, the one who was at fault, get out and yell and scream at the taxi driver.  Both Ryan and I were OK, though we had a bit of a headache later in the evening.  The whole time we waited on the side of the road, close to an hour, no police showed up.  Oh well

Hi Bonnie, I hope you are enjoying the blog and sharing it with everyone.