Once again, getting the pics in the right order is almost impossible in blogger. Sorry for the lack of chronology.







Dog in village where new fish farm will be located. Yes that is a partially buried goat he is eating.








The fish hatchery where we bought the first 5000 fish is located near Gyumri in the middle of nowhere.
















Some of the fish being scooped up.
























Sergei (the business owner) testing the water temp at the pond in his village and on top of the dam.












Another picture of the fish hatchery - really, in the middle of
nowhere.










Putting the hatchery fish into the container that transported them to the village.
























Sergei showing some of the materials he will use to fence the pond in once the ground unthaws.

























putting the new fish into the pond.

Surb sarkis and Peace Corps Week

In front of volunteer's house in one of the carnival villages on the day of the carnival.















The inside of her house. She uses 4 types of fuel to heat the one room in which heat is possible: Naf (some kind of accelerant), dried cow poop, coal and wood. She has to gather the wood and coal from her barn every day. And, yes, the toilet is outdoors and there is no seat. I live in luxury compared to this. My toilet is inside, has a seat and usually works. I have radiator heat that works as long as we have electricity and gas (most of the time). Ditto for hot water.






kids in the orphanage making chocolate chip cookies.

















Carnival in village schools.

Making masks.

Teachers playing jump rope before the carnival starts. Note they are jumping w/ coats and HIGH HEELS!

After several heats of 3-legged races, the kids tried wheelbarrow races.

Kids eating chocolate chip cookies at a Gyumri orphanage.

Dancing at Surb Sarkis.

March madness

How could it be two months since I last posted?  I say this every time.  Maybe I've internalized my day to day life so much that everything seems routine.   That said, here are a couple of highlights from the last two months.   Pics will be in the next blog entry. 

- Surb Sarkis - I was invited to celebrate the Armenian equivalent of Valentine's Day - dinner with a large group of Armenians at my favorite restaurant, the fish farm.   I've written about the fish farm before  and included a couple of pics.   I went with another vol who was visiting Gyumri.   As we walked from my house to the fish farm, we were navigating down a somewhat slippery hill when a man on a white horse galloped full speed up the hill past us.   That was a new experience and has relevance to the evening's events

Once we arrived at the fish farm, we were led to a  private room  containing a very long table filled w/ at least 30 people.   Fortunately some friends from Caritas were there so  I could converse beyond my simple Armenian.     We had entertainment:   a very good dancer demonstrating traditional Armenian dances and wore what looked like vintage costumes.   She was exceptionally graceful and the dances were fascinating to watch.   If I can get my hands on a video,  I'll attach it.  

Musicians played (two duduks which sounded so much better playing traditional music than they do when shrilling out bad pop), poems were recited and of course, many long winded toasts offered.  

My two favorite rituals of the evening:

-  a plate of soft crackers were laid out every few feet.   They are extremely salty.   An unmarried girl  is supposed to eat one, avoid drinking water and if her dreams include someone bringing her water, that is who she will marry. 

- all the guest were given small cups full of flour.   We trouped outside (its about 20 degrees) and everyone found a spot on the stone pathway to empty their flour cups.   My colleagues told me to remember where I left mine.    Then, according to old tradition, the "hero" rides to the location and if his horse steps in your flour and leaves a horseshoe print, you will have good luck in romance.    Sure enough,  the man on the white horse, now wearing a cape and a crown galloped down the hill and onto the stone paths.   He deftly managed to get his horse to plant his feet all over the path so most people has a horseshoe print in their flour.    If I looked at the right place,   my flour had a horseshoe also.   

The food was typical Armenian fare with the wonderful addition of the fish farms khorovats trout - yum.      

I am now so used to walking to and from the fish farm down and then up the slippery hill, across the rope that blocks the hill from cars (it would be wildly dangerous for a car to attempt the hill) and around a few deteriorating houses to my apartment building that it seems completely natural, not like an adventure in a strange land.    Have I gone native?    I doubt it, tho I must admit I am very used to meetings starting considerably later than the time scheduled and schedules themselves being quite flexible and prone to last minute arrangements.   It no longer makes me crazy, maybe a little anxious until I remember where I am and relax into the culture. 

Another high point of the last two months:  the actual beginning of my business incubation project- developed with Caritas -  that was funded through a Peace Corps grant (primarily by one big donation).    The goal of the project is to spark economic development in a rural village north of Gyumri (and act as a pilot for future economic development activities).    After reviewing business plans made during some Caritas training, we selected a proposed fish farm for the first business.   The unique thing about this grant is that our agreement with the business owner is that within the first year to 18 months, he regrants most of the funds he receives back to Caritas so another business can be funded.    This way, we are not simply handing out money (a method which does not produce sustainable results).   The business owner has to contribute part of the business costs himself and then must give back the funds he receives to support new efforts.    Having some skin in the game creates a stronger desire to succeed and makes it more likely that the grant money will be returned.   

The start of this business has taken much longer than I expected.   By the time the funds arrived from the Peace Corps (this is called a partnership grant - the terms are posted on the Peace Corps site and individuals can contribute to any number of projects listed on the site),  winter was on its way  - the village is at a higher altitude than Gyumri and is considerably colder.    So construction of the ponds quickly became problematic.    Finally, the business owner was able to secure access to an existing pond in the village so we could start growing the fish.   He will build the actual fish ponds on his land when the ground thaws in the spring.    Meanwhile he has been acquiring materials so he will be ready to go when the weather permits.    

So two weeks ago, Zhanna, Gurgan (Caritas employees) and I accompanied Sergei (the business owner) to a fish hatchery to buy the first 5000 fish.    The hatchery is in the middle of nowhere and I really mean nowhere.    The fish were loaded into a plastic tank in the back of a van Gergei borrowed, driven to his village and deposited in the temporary pond.    The water comes from a fresh spring and flows thru at a rate that prevents it from freezing no matter how cold it gets in the village.    Look at the pics of the process in the next blog. 

Another event that was fun for the Gyumri vols - Peace Corps week.   We were asked by administration to find activities that informed others about Peace Corps and encouraged volunteerism in Armenia.   We set up a program where the attendees heard from Peace Corps and Armenian volunteers about their experiences.  Ho hum.   The real fun was two carnivals we held in volunteer villages in the Gyumri area.    The carnival consisted of game stations with each one symbolizing a characteristic of a good volunteer.   Of course, the real point for the children was the games themselves.    We also made chocolate chip cookies with children at a local orphanage.    Again,  see pics in later blog entries. 

Last catch up item.   I've started the networking and other prep process to begin looking for  short term international consulting opportunities for when I leave late summer.     I'm spending much time on web sites of international development organizations and reordering my resume to include the Peace Corps experience and de-Americanize my resume so it is acceptable to European organizations.    I didn't realize how vocabulary can peg your nationality (for example, EEO is strictly an US concept;  fair employment practices is the more internationally understandable expression).   

Ok, we're caught up for now.    Look for pics. 

Patti, Mimi, Rebecca and Staci stayed at my house. The others came for dinner one of the nights.


Patti is in the foreground in this picture.














Everyone helps w/ dishwashing.











I still had the kitten at this point. Some people like her more than others. Rebecca is in the chair w the cat on her shoulder. That kitten is an amazing leaper, frequently treating a human as a tree and climbing up our legs to land on our shoulders.
















We began a 1500 piece puzzle. Patti and Staci getting started.








Dustin and Jason helping out.
















Jay fell asleep w/ the kitten on his lap. She is a great purrer.













She wasnt permitted on the kitchen table but she didnt recognize that rule.














Here's the puzzle after most everyone had gone home.
Dustin finally finished it while I was in Yerevan. I wouldn't begin to attempt one of these by myself.

I like winter

Dear Readers,

I never believed I would be saying the words written above. I am filled with peaceful thoughts as I ride to Yerevan thru a snowcovered landscape. Everything is so white and pristine-looking. I do miss the cow traffic jams - they are safely tucked away in barns, eating hay til spring comes - and walking in Yerevan and parts of Gyumri is an icy nightmare.

I've acquired the right kind of keep warm garments so I can walk outside for a good bit feeling the cold on my face and keeping my hands, feet, head and body warm. Pretty comfortable. Plus, I have the added advantage of living in an apartment where I have fairly reliable heat. The temp in my apartment ranges from 60 - 64 degrees which is very comfortable for me. If I get chilly in shirt sleeves, a sweater solves the problem.

Another factor in my pleasure at winter is that this winter is considerably milder than the last one. We've had several days with highs in the low 30s which did not occur at all last winter. We haven't had as much snow as I would like in Gyumri. I like having at least an inch or two on the ground at all times with new deposits every few days. That keeps alot of the ice at bay and makes it easier to walk with yaktraks. Love!!! my yaktraks.
It was snowing this morning as I walked to work. Very pleasant.

I spent most of the 2nd week in January in Yerevan interviewing potential Muskie candidates (grad school in the US for a masters degree) - 56 over the course of 5 days. A panel of 4 conducted the actual interview. The program administrator managed logistics, took notes and facilitated the ranking process. The other interviewers included a US Embassy official, a professor from the only internationally recognized university in Armenia and a former Muskie fellow. We had some lively discussions with wide ranging opinions, yet finally managed to agree on a ranking of all 56. Now the top people in that group will take the GREs and TOEFL tests, and those results will be forwarded to Washington, along w/ the interviewers' and readers' scores and the interviewers' ranking for the final selection. Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of the applicants and amazed at the self-determination many of them have demonstrated to achieve their current status.

I think I mentioned the big EU grant Caritas received. We start planning for it this week. Because its a 3 year program, we've set aside 6 months for a detailed planning process so we can get the right information and training to the right people and so that the 3 partners and Caritas are all on the same page.

The school supplies from the Asheville 4th graders arrived. I took them to the center where our exchange students spend their non-school hours during the day. After some discussion w/ staff there, we agreed that every child who wrote a letter to the Asheville children would get their own pen and pencil. The remainder of the pens, pencils, markers, erasers, sharpeners, etc. will be kept at the center and available for use by the children on a daily basis.

Next post will be some pics from the post New Year's weekend at my apartment.

Once again, I've taken way too long to add to the journal.

Spent a wonderful two weeks in the US including a week in Key West w/ family and friends.


This is a view of the grounds of my fave KW hotel from our room.


















The front balcony of the room. Relaxing w/ good friends.











Here are two examples of Christmas in Key West. Note the tattoos on the "Santa" in the Christmas parade.




















I had only a day and one night in Asheville, a couple of days in Durham and finished the trip in NY, including a visit to Zabars where I loaded up on foodstuffs not available in Armenia.

When I returned to Gyumri, I acquired a kitten (temporarily babysitting for a friend on vacation) who is a constant reminder that cats get everywhere. Here is Dustin playing w/ her.



The last two weeks of December whizzed by. An invitation to a few Armenian friends to experience an American Christmas dinner turned into dinner for 20 in my apartment. The most I had ever hosted there was 11 and that was tight. We ended up with 5 Armenians, the Gyumri volunteers and 6 other guests. I cooked a turkey and made cornbread stuffing and gravy. Others contributed salads, casseroles and desserts.

I borrowed forks and knives from another vol to get the requisite amount, and by washing the plates, cups and silverware a couple of times each, we managed to have enough containers to meet all needs. The fact that nothing matched was irrelevant.

We had a gift exchange called dirty Santa. Everyone brings a wrapped present and each person draws a number. In order, you pick a present or take the present someone else has chosen. If you take someone else's gift, they get to go back to the pile and pick another. And so forth. Lots of laughter. Ultimately a pleasant event. I still don't know how we got so many people in my tiny space.

I gave my final exam for my business English course and told the school I would not repeat the course next semester. Too few students and not enough interest in the class. I ate lunch w/ the director and discussed some alternatives. I may try to set up a short course in entrepreneurship or team activities for the two month interim before classes resume.

While I was in Asheville, I visited the school involved in our exchange program (4th graders) and met with the children. They were a delight. The difference in what is available to students in the US vs. students in Armenia was quite apparant. This class had elaborate computer equipment, very nice infrastructure and lots of supplies. The students decided they wanted so send some supplies to their Armenian counterparts.

They should arrive in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to presenting them to the Center where the Armenian students go. I'm also talking w/ the director at the Center about setting up a computer lab for the students. We'll get involved with that after the holidays.

I'm sure I wrote about this last year. The last weeks of December are a busy time for Armenians, especially the women, shopping, cooking, cleaning, cooking, baking, cooking for their big Nor Taree celebration on Jan 1. Each family prepares big tables full of food and the first week in January is busy w/ everyone visiting everyone else, eating the same food in different houses.

This year, two friends and I decided we wanted to spend Nor Taree in Yerevan and took off on December 30 to treat ourselves to my favorite b & b. We will be here til the morning of the 3rd, when we take off for a couple of days in Gyumri with one or two others who will all crash at my apartment. Since virtually all stores are closed from Jan 1 - Jan 7, I've already bought most of the food. I'll get a few perishables in Yerevan to add to the mix.

Unlike the US, New Years is not a go out to public place and eat dinner, dance and drink event. It is much more family oriented, tho w/ plenty of eating, dancing and drinking. We had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open New Year's Eve. We ended up being the only ones (6 of us) in what is normally a very popular and crowded restaurant.

The main square in Yerevan was festively decorated - bright, lots of neon. However, for a city of 1.5 million, the crowd at midnight was pretty sparse. I doubt there were more than a couple hundred people at most. Some mild fireworks preceded by pop singers and that was it for the celebration. Here are pics of the main square with Patti and Mimi braving the snow in the one below.


It snowed most of the 3oth and 31st, blanketing the city and making everything look like winter wonderland. There were NO restaurants open yesterday, so we visited one of the grocery stores and snacked all day. We're basically taking it easy, naps, books, walks, etc.

Today should be more of the same. This is a quiet time of the year for volunteers as the people we work with are all involved in family acitiives. For those vols who live in villages, they usually visit several families during the first week of January to participate in the celebration. The bulk of the visiting ends after Jan 6, which is their Christmas day. The Armenian Santas I've seen are not fat, don't pad their Santa suits and do not say "ho, ho, ho." In fact, one of the vols who was Santa for his school received many stares when he showed up plumped out nad ho ho hoing. Maybe fat Santa is an American phenomenon.

Caritas is closed until the 7th. I'll go in that day and then on the 8th leave for Yerevan to spend 5 days interviewing candidates for grad school scholarships to the US (the "Muskie" program). I read nearly 80 applications for MBA school before I left for vacation. A few of the people in our Gyumri English club applied under different programs (education, media/communications, international affairs, public policy, etc). There are usually a few hundred apps for 15 positions. I would love to see this program raised another exponent - 150 scholarships instead of 15 - as everyone I have met who experience a year in the US education system (similar progreams exisit for high school and college students) comes back w/ a much broader view of the world and greater knowledge of what could be instead of just what is.

Winter is likely to be busy with Caritas beginning the planning for their big grant implementation and hopefully, some additional work at the exchange student's center and maybe a couple of business class opportunities that are starting to evolve. Busy days and cocooning nights and weekends as we hunker down to manage the cold.

Lots has been going on the past several weeks. Here's a highlight - my colleague Patti and I were in charge of preparing Thanksgiving dinner for 110 volunteers and staff at our fall conference the week before Thanksgiving.


This pic is Patti, Katheryn and I at a calm part of the process.


We decided to spread out the labor and found several people to be in charge of various portions of the dinner. Katheryn was Sweet Potato Queen. Lindee was Queen of Pies. Dustin was King of cauliflower casserole. Brian was Director of Turkeys. You get the point.



Here are Dustin, Mimi, Austin and Patti working on the Cauliflower casserole.
















Here are two of the members of the pie team, Heather and Elizabeth. Elizabeth had worked in a bakery and turned out beautiful crusts very quickly. Heather made fillings for lemon and chocolate pies, topped w/ meringue.





The results of their efforts - some of the 16 pies they made.





this is the hotel kitchen we had to work in. Interesting seeing how an Armenian hotel kitchen is equipped. Only two ovens. Fortunately they were big enough for us to get two turkeys in each. We cooked 6 big turkeys (35 K) for the event.











Here are Eloise and Mimi putting together plates of crudities for the tables. They remained virtually untouched as the hordes dove into turkey, dressing, gravy, etc.
















Of course, Thanksgiving dinner was not the only thing that happened in the last 6 weeks.


Now I'm on a two week vacation which I will write about in another post.

And work went on during the last 6 weeks. The Armenians were very excited about US election results, very happy to hear about the outcome.

I found out during this time that a grant I had worked on w/ Caritas had been awarded. Its a big EU grant and will support a 3 year project impacting 15 villages in a 3 marz region and will involve 3 additional NGOs in the planning and execution. This will be a major focus for the my next several months. More about it later.

Armenian fingernails

This is the art work I received yesterday.   Armenian women like designs on their nails and they are quite creative about it.   I'm having fun with this. 

Harvest Festival

In early October,  I visited a good friend in a beautiful little village (name of person and village withheld to protect privacy) to celebrate their harvest festival with about 30 other volunteers.   This is a picture of the village. 

Here is what happens at a harvest festival.   Various neighborhoods in the village get together and make a table with a variety of food, arranged in very interesting designs.   Plus the food is delicious.   Each table has to provide a person dressed like a vegetable and some entertainment (usually singing although one very little girl performed an astonishing belly dance routine).    We had an American table filled w/ some typical dishes - potato salad, hummus, pasta salad, lemonade, apple pies, pumpkin pies, and everybody's favorite: brownies.   

Local officials go around to each table, eat some of the food and judge the table on several categories. 

A sample of the elaborate decorations. 

Of course, it being Armenia, there is dancing.  

Me and another volunteer.   If you look closely, you can see the American Flag tattoo (temporary) on my cheek. 
This being a village, my friend's house, while possessing a spectacular view, was somewhat limited in amenities.  

The food for the festival was prepared on a stove w/ two burners that worked.   The stove was not in the kitchen.   It was in a separate outbuilding (called the summer kitchen but it looks more like a garage).    The refrigerator and stand alone oven were in the kitchen.   There is no running water or water at all at the house.   It all had to be brought in from a nearby reservoir/well.   

The bathroom accomodations were extremely limited (outhouse w/ no seat).   Fortunately, my friend took pity on me and my knees and put me up at the mayor's house for the night.   He has a more western indoor bathroom.  Whew!   

After the festival,  the PC guys and a few women played a touch football game on a village field - complete w/ cow observers.   You can see alot of the football pictures and more pics of the festival on my dropshots site (www.dropshots.com/elizpou).   

Then we all came back to my friends house for chili and cornbread.    Quite a challenge to prepare the latter as we could not heat up water to wash the dishes we needed for dinner  and cook the cornbread at the same time.   The power kept shutting off when we tried that.  Nevertheless, it all worked out and everyone was fed.    Most of the crowd stayed at my friend's house, sleeping in about any place they could find.   A few others went to a nearby volunteer's town and stayed with him.   I was thrilled to be at the mayor's house with only 2 other people in my bedroom.   

Village life is quite a contrast to city life.     I have alot more creature comforts in my homely apartment and there were several moments over the weekend when I thought how nice it would be to have a separate house with a big yard and gorgeous mountains all around me.     Then I remembered the outhouse.  

The next day, 3 vols and I went to the closest big city which also has a dollar store (the items in the dollar store cost about $3), a chain (3 stores in the whole country) that reminds me of odd lot and dollar stores back home.   Many of the items come from US and appeal to American shoppers - like big jars of yellow mustard which is unobtainable anywhere else.    I bought two and some aluminum foil, another item not readily available. 

October is very nice in Gyumri.   The days are crisp in the morning, mostly sunny and warm in the afternoons.   The trees are turning and people are busy canning for the winter.   Celery has appeared in the shooka and should be hear for another couple of weeks at least.   I'm eating chicken salad, potato salad, bean soup  and everything else I can think of that likes celery.    It seems strange that something as ubiquitous as celery is not a staple here.  People don't really use it that much.   Its available for a few weeks in the fall and a few weeks in the spring.   Its picked at a young stage so the stalks never get as full as the ones we are used to.   

The heirloom tomatoes at Albert and Emmas house are about gone.  The nights are in the 30s and tomatoes don't like that.   Great while they lasted. 

My friend Patti and I are busy planning the Thanksgiving dinner for all volunteers held at a conf. in Yerevan in late November.     Its interesting trying to figure out the logistics of dinner for 100 people that has to be prepared in the hotel dining room while hotel staff are preparing breakfast and lunch the same day.   Another logistical challenge is figuring out where to get things like brown sugar, sweet potatoes and pie ingredients (pie is not common here).   The American Embassy has some things in its commissary.   We are not allowed to go there but Peace Corps staff can and are right now buying up canned pumpkin, cornmeal and other important ingredients for the meal.    Patti and I have divided up the work by allocating specific dishes to interested volunteers (one person is Captain of Turkeys, another Captain of Pies, another Salad Queen..... you get the picture).     

In addition to all of this extra curricular activity,  I've been busy with several assignments.    More about those in a later post (we're waiting to hear if we got a certain grant).    I've started a school exchange program with a 4th grade class in Asheville and some 4th and 5th form students who attend a local childcare center.   So far, the children have drawn pictures which I scanned and sent to Asheville.   They have just sent 20 letters from the Asheville students to the Armenian students.   The Asheville letters were typed in computers by the students.   Ours have no access to such modern equipment.   I'm working with a center employee who will translate the English letters to Armenian and reverse the process when the Armenian students prepare their replies.    This week I'm going with the students on a "field trip" around the city with my camera in hand taking pics of everything they would like to show the Ashevillians.   

Next post will show my new manicure.   Armenian women like designs on their nails and I have gone native in this aspect of my dress.   Don't expect to see me wearing those 3 inch pointy toed heels.   

random thoughts

This is an old Russian church near the center where my exchange student class resides. 

This is my exchange class after the first "lesson".   I asked them to draw pictures of something they would like their counterparts in Asheville to see.   Most of them drew pictures of their school.   They wrote their names in English and Armenian.   

Future classes will give them opportunities to write to the students in Asheville.   We may also take a couple of field trips around Gyumri to see various buildings, etc. 

This is Gyumri's big park.   I like to sit on the benches and read on a warm afternoon.   Obviously I'm not the only one who favors this pastime.

Riding to Yerevan:  more often than not,  I take route taxis (4 passengers plus driver).   Unless it is too hot and I can't get air (Armenians believe air blowing on you is unhealthy and causes a variety of ailments),  the trip has a couple of enjoyable features:

- cow traffic jams.    On every trip there is at least one required stop to let a herd of cows finish  crossing the street.   Cows take their time.   Frequently they are herded by a man on donkey or horseback.   They use sticks to keep the cows behaving themselves and moving forward.   Its anachronistic to watch this parade unfold on  a serious paved highway with cars coming in both directions (no one seems to mind the wait).  

- bare landscape.   We pass a few villages seen at a distance.   Most of the scenery is sun-scorched brown hills and lots and lots of rocks.   No McDonalds beckons.   No gated communities.   No billboards.   Its very soothing to see miles and miles of very little.     I think I will miss this absence of human intervention on main roads when I get back home.   

Tomatoes -   I planted a few heirloom tomato seeds this winter (from Appalachian Seed Company) and late spring tranferred the seedlings to Albert, my former host "dad".     They actually grew up and produced fruit.  I've been eating yummy yellow and red cherries,  a german pink/yellow (German Johnson) and waiting for the cherokee purples to get fully ripe.    I like to make short visits to Emma and Albert.   I bring puzzles to Albert, sit with Emma for awhile and usually take home some ripe lavash.    

2nd year - all the things we heard about 2nd year are coming true.  The assignments are getting better, I'm feeling more a part of things and its nice to be the experienced one instead of the novice.    I know how to get around in Yerevan,  I can ride the subway,  I know where the good grocery stores are and can get to at least three places where I stay, usually w/ Patti and Mimi.   

Thanksgiving - Patti and I are in charge of the big thanksgiving dinner this year.  I just finished putting together a menu and list of ingredients - how much butter do you need to make dinner for 120 or so.    Patti is reviewing the lists.   We've decided to parse out the various parts of the meal to make our lives easier and to give those who help some actual discretion along with responsibility.    So far, we have a Captain of Pies, a Captain of Turkeys,  a chief procurement person and a Captain of Salads.    We need a few more section captains and we'll have the key staff in place.   Each "captain" will be responsible for recruiting their team members.   Sounds very organized and under control but I'm sure when the actual event occurs,  chaos will reign (we only have one evening and 1 day to get everything ready and we have to work around the hotel kitchen meal service).   

Now I have to develop some activities for my young kids English club (I do the club w/ Dustin and Lindee and they have visitors from US this week and wont be there) tonite and the adult English club tomorrow. 

Enough for now.  

Antibes France

Beach off of the ramparts (looks like an ancient wall that may have been a fortress). 

view of my hotel from the pool.   My room it on the upper flooor - closed shutters on the right.   We can see the mediterranean from the window. 

Picasso museum on te ramparts at the mediterranean. 

Andrea and I stopped here to stick our feet in the sea so we can say we

 

were in the mediterannean. 

This is the open market.   Such an array of herbs, olives, vegetables, cheese, sausage.   Oh my.   My suitcase will be considerably heavier when I leave. 

  These are pics from Marmashen, a medieval church/monastery near Gyumri.   My friend Mimi and I visited this summer.   As you can see, its a lovely setting.   Hard to imagine how life was when these structures were built in the late 900s to 1100s a.d.   

The pics below are of a camp I visited to help my organization work on a grant proposal.   Caritas sponsors a camp for disabled children every summer.    My Caritas colleagues and I came up a day before the camp opened to set things up and work on this proposal.   The pic on the left shows one of the dorm buildings on the campsite.   The pic on the right is the group bathrooms - actually very nice - flush toilets and running water all day - not all that common in camp sites around the country.   

I'm writing these blog updates from my room in Antibes, France where I am ending a 5 day vacation.    I'll put some of the pics from here in the next post.    Because of the way  the blogger software works,  its easier to add pics then write.   

So one more blog then I'm through for awhile.   

I'll be sending a fairly detailed email to several of you to describe a very exciting village business project I'm working on.   I've avoided asking friends and colleagues for funds to help out w/ the many needy situations I've encounter.   I wanted to wait until a really exciting opportunity occurred and I think I've found it.   Since this blog is more of a travelogue,   I'll send the info separately.   However, if anyone is intriqued by this teaser and wants to find out more,  email me and I'll give you details.   

Thanks for all your patience waiting for me to start writing again.   I'd love to hear from you. 

Elizabeth

Where has she been?

Dear Faithful readers,  

I 'm surprised at how long its been since I last posted.   This has been a whirlwind of a summer.   Here are a few highlights:

- new vols have come, completed pre-service training and been sworn in.    I visited the training site a few times for presentations.   The most popular was the cooking day when several of us made a big array of dishes for the new vols.   I made satay salad (really yummy), humus, salsa and lavash chips.   Other dishes included egg rolls, pad thai, date bars and choc chip cookies.   The newbies were wowed.   After nearly two months of Armenian food only, they were really happy to experience some variety and glad to find out that its all doable w/ local ingredients. 

- the old vols have left.   I find I miss the friends I made, especially the Gyumri vols.    One of them (Scott) announced in July that he was engaged and would get married as soon as he left service in August.    Here are scott, brian and Dominic on the day Scott told us about the engagement.   That's scott on the left with glasses.   

Fourth of July party at Brian's place.   

Another good bye dinner at my friend Anahit's house.   That's her baby in the swing and her husband w/ the beard. 

- went to a Green camp in July.   This was a group of 40 kids led by Armenian and Peace Corps counselors - one week day camp w/ a focus on environmental issues.   My friend Patti and I cooked for the counselors every night.    

Here are all the kids after they had cleaned up trash at a local park.   

I have more news and more pics which I will  add to another post. 

a wonderful day

I have been remiss about posting lately. You'll see a few pictures here. You can see others at www.dropshots.com/elizpou

Now I need to describe this past weekend, a series of delightful experiences. Friday, a group of vols gathered at the one place where we have outdoor space and had a breakfast for dinner party. Everyone brought appropriate dishes like pancakes, eggs, cinnamon rolls. I made ham biscuits and fruit smoothies. A fun dining experience. I highly recommend it.

Saturday, one of my fellow vols came to Gyumri to conduct interviews of local teens for a two week international camp led by Peace Corps volunteers. I joined her for the interviews that afternoon - a great opportunity to glimpse Armenian teenage thoughts and opinions. Ate lunch at a local Georgian restaurant (lots of melted cheese) with the vols who were interviewing as well as two Armenians who are working with the camp. I continue to be impressed at how well the Armenians who speak English do it.

Afterwards, a nice walk to the shooka for some fresh veggies (strawberries are in season now and lovely - eggplants are here as well as fresh lettuce and assorted herbs), a quick visit to the park and then home to cook up a few things for dinner. My visiting friend and I had a pleasant quiet evening working a hard jigsaw puzzle. I have to remember that just because I love VanGogh's paintings doesnt mean that it will be a joy to assemble a puzzle of a VanGogh. I would have appreciated more straight lines and clear colors. Maybe Mondrian.

Sunday, I went on an "art tour" sponsored by a local hotel and a woman from Yerevan. The other tourists were an older couple visiting their daughter and her friend. The daughter is a fullbright scholar studying in Armenia and her friend is doing some graduate research here. Two local Gyumritzis guided us. One of them took us on a walking tour in the old district. While I was quite familiar with the streets, I heard several good stories about the history behind some of the beautiful buildings. Gyumri was a well known center for the arts from the late 1800s until the earthquake in 1988 which destroyed the city and the heart of the art scene.

This pic illustrates a classic jerry-rigged electrical system.

(Some of the pics here are going to be out of order as rearranging things is quite a challenge with this particular software).
















Then we visited a local sculptor at his studio. The piece he is showing here is his effort to show the beauty he sees in women who are not considered classic beauties (read: thin). The other pic shows some of the instruments in his studio.








http://2.bp.blogspot.com/__nV37J4j_-c/SDw-Vo0NT6I/AAAAAAAAARo/8xB5nUG3w_M/s1600-h/P5242306.jpg (This might show you a pic of one of the buildings on the tour - or not).








Another pic of the artist with one of his pieces. The artist was very generous with his time and answered all our questions about his process. In addition to his conversation about passing on the beauty of ordinary women, he talked about another series of pieces that are parts of armour - without a knight inside. The idea is that the trappings may be there, but there are no more knights. Alluding to the loss of virtue and civility in modern days.





Then we went to one of my favorite places for lunch, the fish farm. As you can see, the setting is bucolic and the day was perfect for outdoor dining.




The pools are where the fish are raised, fed by flowing natural springs on the property. They have sturgeon (good caviar), rainbow and golden trouts (my favorite). They grill the fish and serve with traditional Armenian side dishes. Lots of fresh herbs now that spring is here and lavash they make in their own ovens.










After lunch we watched the horse and colt as some locals tried to interest their children on getting on top of the horse. A couple of them did and they were taken on short walks around the property, fathers close by. The path you see in the background leads to my apartment. I'm only about a 10 minute walk from the fish farm.



The pic below is looking down at the fish farm from the walk to my place. The scary dog is on a chain. He lunges at everyone who passes. Thank heavens the chain holds.



















This out of order picture shows some of the knights I mentioned earlier.

I took many more pics on Sunday than I can show here. Go to the dropshots site to see more.


The new volunteers arrive in a few days. Its getting exciting to think about meeting them. Its nice being on this side of the learning curve. They will be the ones asking all the dumb questions for us to answer.









The spring weather, while rainy on several days, has been great. Several shirtsleeve days. Long periods of daylight - nearly 10 pm before it gets dark.

1000 words

making lavash in a village. Once the dough rises, the ladies on the right roll it out thin, the lady over the hole which is a VERY hot brick oven puts the lavash in the oven and takes it out, fully cooked in about two minutes.
view of Mount Aragats from the Manookyan bridge
cemetary in Echmiadsin, site of old Armenian church complex that was the seat of Christianity for the country.

road repair in Gyumri

more road repair

Pruning trees in Gyumri - can you hear them crying?

There are many more pics on my dropshots site (www.dropshots.com/elizpou

Serpentine, shel, serpentine

 

Sorry I havent written since Istanbul.   Spring-induced torpor.   Spring actually started in March this year (late March, but March).   Today the temp was in the low 70s.   Mostly it is in high 50s-60s.    Cold at night.   My favorite season.    Green is starting to appear on trees and bulb flowers are peeking out of the ground.  

 

I'm trying to start some tomato seeds to grow some heirlooms over here. We'll see.   They are at the two leaf stage now and I have no access to good growing medium or fertilizer of any kind.   I'll poke around in the hardwareish stores near the shooka this weekend and see if I can't find something to give these sprouts a chance. 

 

A couple of stories:

 

1.  A friend at Caritas invited me to Easter dinner with her family.   I came early and sat with her in the kitchen watching her and her mother in law cook.  Kind of strange for me to be a spectator in a kitchen.   That's not the normal order of things.    Lots of hardboiled eggs for the table, dyed with natural dyes so a little more quiet than what you see in the US.   They actually eat the eggs here, not hide them in the grass.   Some of the other traditional dishes included boiled rice with raisins (no other seasonings that I could discern), baked fish, various cooked greens w/ yoghurt on top, another green called aveluk which can be quite tasty cooked with garlic.  Sort of a bitter green like collards or chickory.  

 

An easter dinner tradition is to click eggs with another person and try to break theirs and keep yours whole.   I tried a couple of times.   The 5 year old daughter beat me.   Of course, she used a trick egg.  There is apparently technique to this, but it is not yet a recognized sport.   Look for egg cracking at the olympics one of these days.

 

2.  Roads

 

I'll definitely have to include some pics here.   Those of you who saw The In-Laws   -   the original version with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk understand the reference in the title of this blog.   The rest of you should rent this movie immediately and prepare to laugh out loud.  

 

Road repair is underway on the main street near my house.   Its done very differently from the US.   First,  a few crews dig out all the holes that need to be patched and configure the edges into a rectangle.   The holes are 6 to 8" deep.   Then, they leave....for weeks now.   There are no orange cones or anything else to mark these holes so every car riding down the street swings back and forth  in a snakelike pattern with very little attention paid to which side of the road you are on, just aiming for the  part where there are no holes.  

 

There must be 50 holes in less than a mile and some of them are 4 feet across.  No consistent pattern exists.    In the daytime you can see most of them and twist out of the way.  I'm sure at night the number of broken axles increases dramatically.  

 

3.   Pics for this part too.   I have a few examples of how Armenians prune trees.   What I learned at master gardner class about never, never topping off seems to be the opposite of what occurs here.   I'm not going to describe them here.   I'll take a few pics to illustrate and post them in the next couple of days.  

 

Most of the volunteers in the June class have been selected and they are busy emailing those of us on a group Armenia PC list and asking all the questions I asked last year.   Its nice to be on the other side of the queries about what to bring, what to leave, what's it like and how about that language.     I've heard there are 13 vols in the 50+ group.   Let's hope more of them  stay than in my group (6 out of 10 are still here).    

Last post from Istanbul

You're probably tired of hearing about Istanbul. Just a few last notes. We did get to the Dolmabache Palace. It was opulent beyond belief. Versailles on the Bosphorus, with more furniture. My recollection of Versailles is that many of the rooms were empty. This place is still furnished as it was when the Sultans lived there.

Here is a pic of me with one of the guards at the Bosphorus gate. Here is the gate that faces the street. We were moved through the required tour (it would be dangerous to let tourist roam through such valuable items by themselves) so fast there was no time for pictures. I'm sure you can find some on the internet if you are really interested.

We made it to the Hagia Sophia - another splendid creation - full of beautiful mosaics as well as the ubiquitous Isnik tiles.

We continued to hunt for restaurants that had fish.
Here's one display.

We also ate under this bridge one day with the fishermen above dropping lines right outside the restaurant windows. One of my favorites was the grand bazaar. 4000 shops under one roof with many more in the alleys outside the main building. It is sheer luck alone that I made it out of there with only 3 shirts and a copper coffee set. I nearly succumbed to the extremely good knock off designer bags. I still think about the red Prada knock off I walked away from. Its hard to walk away in this country. Every store and restaurant has a roper standing outside entreating you to come in. They follow you down the street ---"lady, lady wont you come and see my store, no obligation, come in, please...." The only way to deal with this is to treat it as their accepted cultural behavior, say no thank you, walk on or make a joke and leave. Doesn't matter if they are still talking when you walk away. Its a special challenge walking down a street of restaurants, most of which are offering the same thing and all insisting on you coming into their place.

We also walked around neighborhoods where real people lived. I like this shot of the house that's seen better days with the crisp white dresses fluttering outside. This is a park that is just like any other park except the women are all wearing scarfs.



Patti and I are hanging around the last few hours before our plane. Time for one more meal. Today was the perfect day climate-wise. Temp had to be in the mid-60s, sunny with only a slight breeze. Perfect for the last tour of the spice bazaar.

Back to Armenia and winter.

Istanbul, March 2

This palace is the dolmabache, where Ataturk spent some time after Turkey became a republic. One of the Sultans built this place. It looks glorious from the outside. We are going to try to get there but our things to do list keeps getting longer, not shorter. We have decided one more visit to Istanbul is a must while we are in Armenia.

This is Ataturk's yacht.

Not all boats are that glamorous.

This is an old fortress. I think it started in the Roman times and after the turks took over, was rebuilt to defend Istanbul in one of the many wars that were happening in the 15th and 16th centuries. This is the narrowest part of the Bosphorus.

After the river trip, our guide took us to the spice bazaar. Again, pictures can't capture the size, bustle, energy of this place. A huge covered area filled with spice vendors and about everything else, all wanting your attention. We had a big advantage when our guide took us to her favorite place. The owners spoke English, were very friendly and patient, had us taste many of the their wares and fed us apple tea and sweets while we were buying like it was the last shopping trip of our lives.

What a place.

This guy was a real sweetie. "here, miss, look at this... taste this... etc."

After we filled out bags, we left them in the store to pick up later and wandered around the bazaar for a couple more hours, continuing to be amazed at the variety of products available, particularly after the paucity of even basic on Armenia.

We are continuing to eat well, and have kept our promise to have fish at every meal. We have broken that promise in favor of some kebabs. We do eat fish at least once a day.

The next day took us to Topkopi palace. We spent several hours gawking at the spendor in which the sultans lived. The jewels alone present an unimaginable opulence. The kitchen serving dishes were giant ming dynasty blue and white platters and exquisite celadon porcelain. Pots for cooking for 400 of your closest and dearest friends. And again, those beautiful, beautiful tiles.I'll include a couple of pictures of some of the tiles in the various rooms. I'll leave more on the dropshots website so dont forget to look there (www.dropshops.com/elizpou).

In the evening, we went to a big train station where we saw whirling dervishes. It is a religious service for them so we werent sure whether we should be clapping or not.

You'll have to look pics up on the internet. We didn't think cameras would be allowed so didnt bring them. They were mesmerizing, graceful and neither of could figure out why they didnt throw up or fall down when they stopped whirling. The exhibition lasted about an hour. The first half hour sufi (their sect) musicians played. Then 5 men came out wearing long black cloaks with full white robes underneath. Their hats are about 15 " tall boiled wool stovepipes. They look like the coneheads except they were flat instead of pointed on top. After what seemed like some prayers and other ritual movements (lots of bows and walking around with their hands crossed over their chests), they started turning --- and turning--- and turning, their arms unfolded and stretched out above shoulder height, their heads tilted to the right, circling the floor and spinning for as long as 10 minutes at a time. They would stop, fold their arms, do a few more bows and ritual movements, (all the while the music is continuing), then unfold and start again.

Yesterday, we walked across one of the bridges between old and new Europe and spent most of the day wandering around the main pedestrian street. Its a beautiful area, full of gorgeous 18th century 3 and 4 story buildings, interspersed with some pretty ordinary modern office and apartment buildings. The pedestrian street is loaded with every kind of shop you can imagine. The side streets lead you down narrow passages also chock full of retail opportunities. This is a picture of a second hand book store. Notice the "working" cat in the box outside the store. Cats in Istanbul seem to have a pretty decent life. Here's one we saw in an area of fish stores. The fish looked very fresh so we stopped in that block and gorged on fried mussels and anchovies. I've not had anchovies except in the can. These fresh ones were about 3 to 4 inches long, fried whole and eaten bones, head, tail and all. Yum.

Last night, we were tired from our day of walking and decided to eat close by the hotel. After looking at several places (Istanbul is full of choices), we settled on one that looked very Turkish. Lots of rugs and water pipes. The people in it were youngish and looked to me like 1969. Must have been children or grandchildren of hippies. Smoking tobacco (I think) from giant water pipes, drinking beer and talking. I forgot my combo dining/event motto (never order Chinese food in a restaurant that features punk bands, even if it is named Madame Wongs) so our dinner was not up to par of the other meals.

Its raining this morning. Cant decide between the grand bazaar and Hagia Sophia. Another post later.

Istanbul, February 27

Here I am in Istanbul. I've just finished the third day. Patti and I left Yerevan at 3:30 in the morning Wednesday morning. No easy flight opportunities out of Armenia. Our country director did us a wonderful favor. Because of political rallies, travel to Yerevan was prohibited so we needed special permission and would have been confined to the peace corps office until time to leave for the airport. The director invited us to her house, where we had a lovely dinner, great conversation and a peace corps driver to take us to the airport. Other than the hour, a very painless travel experience.

Istanbul has 3 areas divided by water. The Bosporus runs to the Black Sea and divides the city into Europe and Asia. The European side is divided into old and new. Our hotel in Istanbul is in the old section, about a 10 minute walk to the blue mosque, hagia sophia and Topkopi palace and a 15 minute walk in the other direction to the spice bazaar. It is a modest place with a modern bathroom, three twin beds (one for our suitcases) and a small TV with BBC. In fact, I'm watching the news now. I don't think I'm missing too much.

The city is full of the contrasts you would expect in a place inhabited by Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks over the centuries – 14 million people in Istanbul alone. Old vs. new is one of the contrasts – very modern buildings adjacent to majestic structures several centuries old.

Here's a pic of a cemetary on an active city street with modern shoe stores across the street.

We took a little rest after we arrived at our hotel, then started acting like tourists. First was a 6^th century cistern built by Justinian – 336 doric, ionic and corinthian columns apparently constructed from ruining buildings, each 9 meters tall. Its an erie sight.

Two special treats –

throughtout the

cistern, little tables with old hats and jewelry.

And two Medusa heads supporting columns in one corner. One of the heads is upside down, the other sideways. If y

ou look at the attached pic carefully, you can see the carved snakes in her hair.

Next was the Blue Mosque. Pictures really don't tell the story of how beautiful the tiles are.

As we walked around the neighborhood, we were solicited by every vendor on the street wanting to show us his wares. "Come in, come in, come to my store, let me show you my beautiful..........". After three days, we are much better at saying no thank you and moving on while they are still talking. However, on the first day, we ended up looking inside many more shops than we wanted. Patti and I were lured in there, then involved for over an hour seeing dozens of rugs, drinking apple tea and learning that the man in the pic has a father who has a carpet store in Charlotte, NC of all places. This pic shows me perilously close to buying $4000 worth of rugs – beautiful but not exactly in a retiree's budget.

When we finally escaped from the rug store, we wandered around the neighborhood awhile, enchanted with the people, the architecture, the ambiance, the warm weather, etc. We stopped at a charming place for our first Istanbul meal, and in keeping with our pledge to eat fish every day, ordered a plate of mezes (wonderful little appetizer dishes – think tapas) and grilled calamari. Like eating manna.

The next day found us taking a ½ day cruise on the Bosphorus. We were a group of two, so it was essentially a private tour.

Our guide first took up on top of one of the 7 hills of Istanbul, giving us details that included the romantic story of its name (Pierre Loti, an adventurer in the 19^th century who ended up spending most of his time in Istanbul in a star-crossed relationship with a married woman). We walked around a perfectly sited outdoor cafe, overlooking the Bosphorus and a hillside graveyard, also perfectly sited so the departed will have good views of the river.

Then we mounted a boat and motored up the Bosporus around the Golden Horn and then back, seeing sights on both European shores and the Asian side. Amazing to think about a city bridging two continents. Here are some of the things we saw: I loved the contrast of the modern bridge and the 19th century mosque. I'll post the next several pics and dialog tonite. Right now, Patti and I are going to walk across a bridge that will take us from old Europe to new Europe where we will spend most of the day exploring that part of the city.

Its been awhile since I've posted here. A good part of my daily interest seems focused on weather. How cold will it be today. I have weather.com added to my google home page so when I turn on my computer, I will have my answers. We had about a foot of snow yesterday and the highs for the next 10 days will be in the low 20s except for one day when we climb all the way to 26 degrees F. I have finally acquired enough cold weather equipment so I can go out in this weather without being cold. It requires special gloves, my ugg boots, yak trax, one to two scarfs, a hat, earmuffs and my down llbean coat. Plus layers underneath. Unless the wind is blowing, I can walk comfortably. Yesterday I had to go out in the falling snow which somehow always managed to be blowing in my face regardless of the direction in which I was walking. It snowed enough that the roads leading out of the city were closed.

I thought you all might enjoy this story:

Stranger in a Strange Land

It began with keys. I lost the key to my apartment through a hole in my pants pocket and had to go to the next door neighbor to retrieve the spare she keeps. I wanted to make several copies so I can leave a key with one of the volunteers and if possible, some safe place outside my apartment so if another one disappears, I will be able to get inside.

Gyumri is the 2^nd largest city in the country, with lots of apartments and houses, all of which have doors and locks so I assumed I could find someone who could make keys here. So off I went. The main square is supposed to have a key place. I went to the photo shop in the square and asked in my very bad Armenian where I could get a key made. One of the clerks walked me to the door and pointed up the street but said something followed by "pak eh" which means closed. Apparantly that shop has been closed for awhile. I asked if he knew "oorish khanut" (another store) where I could get a key made. He said "bazaar" near the avtokayan (bus station). So I trek down there. The temps are in the teens during this adventure so by trek I really mean trek.

I visited several of the hardware (sort of) stores near the avtokayan and asked about keys. Those that understood me would say ch'ka (not here) and point me in another direction. After about 4 of these conversations, I went to see my language teacher whose shop is close by. She said there is not place that makes keys in Gyumri, I will have to go to Yerevan. Oh. Fortunately, I would be in Yerevan for a meeting in a couple of days – that weekend.

After my meetings in Yerevan, where temps were also in the teens, I set out again looking for keys. This is a city of 1.5 million so you know there have to be key shops. As I was on a street with alot of stores, I kept following the street until I saw what looked like a number of hardware-type stores. Initially, no luck. In one, a customer who spoke English interpreted what the clerk was saying to me – "we don't make keys here" and when I asked where a key place was, he told me to walk down the street about 200 meters and I would see the shop with a key sign above it. I did that. No shop that I could see. I thought maybe I wasnt looking in the right place, walked into another store and tried to explain myself again. This time, the clerk just stared at me, not understanding what I was saying and making no effort to attempt to understand. A woman in the store, a customer, looked at me, crooked her finger to have me follow her, and left the store. I thought this nice lady will walk me to the store which is bound to be nearby.

The woman looked to be middle-aged, dressed somewhat shabbily and with no English whatsoever. After we walk a block or so she turned down another street and once again, beckons. She keeps walking. Turns another corner. Keeps walking. I discover her name (ahsana) and tell her mine but don't really have any more conversation in my vocabulary. We keep walking. I remember the word for "far" and ask how far. She says very close and keeps walking. We walk for about 20 minutes, in an area completely unfamiliar to me and quite far away for the area to which I had initially been directed. I become uneasy. We keep walking. Finally, I spot a kisok with a big key above it. At last. The kiosk was empty and she goes to a nearby store, comes back and says 10 minutes. I tell her thank you for taking me and assume she will leave. No. She stays and proceeds to show me pics of her family and tell me things I don't understand. I tell her what I can about my family and why I'm in the country. The key man finally shows up, looks at the key and says 25 minutes (to make 4 keys). I sigh, agree and tell her thank you once more, assuming that now, she will leave. No. She insists I come with her again. I say no thank you but that is not accepted. Since she has gone out of her way to help me, I feel like I must go.

We cross the street, weave through an alley and come to a tall apartment building. We ascend several floors in an rusty, halting elevator to an apartment which apparently belongs to a friend of one of her friends. At least that is what I can gather from what she says. While they clearly were not expecting her or me, in typical Armenian fashion, they insist I sit down and begin preparing food even though I say several times no thank you, I have eaten already. I take a cup of tea to be polite and several people gather around the kitchen table. One young woman speaks a little English (she says she is an English tutor but doesn't seems to have had contact with native speakers as she has a hard time understanding me or speaking English herself). The other speak among themselves in Armenian and occasionally ask me a question which I occasionally understand. I give them a Peace Corps business card in Armenian. The food sits on the table untouched by all of us. Ahsana puts food on my plate (another Armenian habit) like I am a child. I don't know whether they are waiting for me to eat something before they eat something – custom? Courtesy? The result is no one gets fed.

After about 30 awkward minutes, I say I have to leave, I have a friend waiting. Despite my protestations, Ahsana accompanies me back to the key vendor and waits for me to pay, then takes me to the corner where we get a taxi.

While it is an example of the graciousness of the Armenians for this stranger to go out of her way to help me, I felt extremely awkward and helpless during the entire process. It is so frustrating to have such limited language ability. I am determined to improve this situation. The key hunt would have been considerably shorter and may even have ended in Gyumri (I can't believe there is no place to get a key made here) if I were more facile with my Armenian. Even if I can come up with the right words, I don't understand the responses I receive. I'm not so sure I grok Armenia yet.

On another subject, this last weekend was most enjoyable. I had 8 people for dinner on Satuday night – at the request of one of the volunteers from Charlotte, who was missing down home food, I made fried chicken, with rice, gravy and cole slaw. The guests were so happy, they washed dishes. Nine people in the apartment is quite cozy, but not cramped. At least everyone had a seat, tho not necessarily at the dining room table.

On Sunday, my counterpart invited me and others to her apartment for lunch. It was all Armenian and some of the best dishes I have eaten here. The main course was a kind of tomato frittata, accompanied by chicken skewers wrapped in pastry and roasted vegetables (the latter from a jar, but very tasty – local company). The international group included two Austrians who were visiting Caritas, my counterpart Zhanna, two Armenians and another volunteer. Delicious food and good company. What could be better.

I have a pic of the fried chicken gathering, but that will have to wait for a later post.

BTW, I have put many of my Armenia pics on my dropshots site. That is www.dropshots.com/elizpou. Take a look.

January 31, 2008

Its been awhile since I've posted here. A good part of my daily interest seems focused on weather. How cold will it be today. I have weather.com added to my google home page so when I turn on my computer, I will have my answers. We had about a foot of snow yesterday and the highs for the next 10 days will be in the low 20s except for one day when we climb all the way to 26 degrees F. I have finally acquired enough cold weather equipment so I can go out in this weather without being cold. It requires special gloves, my ugg boots, yak trax, one to two scarfs, a hat, earmuffs and my down llbean coat. Plus layers underneath. Unless the wind is blowing, I can walk comfortably. Yesterday I had to go out in the falling snow which somehow always managed to be blowing in my face regardless of the direction in which I was walking. It snowed enough that the roads leading out of the city were closed.

I thought you all might enjoy this story:

Stranger in a Strange Land

It began with keys. I lost the key to my apartment through a hole in my pants pocket and had to go to the next door neighbor to retrieve the spare she keeps. I wanted to make several copies so I can leave a key with one of the volunteers and if possible, some safe place outside my apartment so if another one disappears, I will be able to get inside.

Gyumri is the 2^nd largest city in the country, with lots of apartments and houses, all of which have doors and locks so I assumed I could find someone who could make keys here. So off I went. The main square is supposed to have a key place. I went to the photo shop in the square and asked in my very bad Armenian where I could get a key made. One of the clerks walked me to the door and pointed up the street but said something followed by "pak eh" which means closed. Apparantly that shop has been closed for awhile. I asked if he knew "oorish khanut" (another store) where I could get a key made. He said "bazaar" near the avtokayan (bus station). So I trek down there. The temps are in the teens during this adventure so by trek I really mean trek.

I visited several of the hardware (sort of) stores near the avtokayan and asked about keys. Those that understood me would say ch'ka (not here) and point me in another direction. After about 4 of these conversations, I went to see my language teacher whose shop is close by. She said there is not place that makes keys in Gyumri, I will have to go to Yerevan. Oh. Fortunately, I would be in Yerevan for a meeting in a couple of days – that weekend.

After my meetings in Yerevan, where temps were also in the teens, I set out again looking for keys. This is a city of 1.5 million so you know there have to be key shops. As I was on a street with alot of stores, I kept following the street until I saw what looked like a number of hardware-type stores. Initially, no luck. In one, a customer who spoke English interpreted what the clerk was saying to me – "we don't make keys here" and when I asked where a key place was, he told me to walk down the street about 200 meters and I would see the shop with a key sign above it. I did that. No shop that I could see. I thought maybe I wasnt looking in the right place, walked into another store and tried to explain myself again. This time, the clerk just stared at me, not understanding what I was saying and making no effort to attempt to understand. A woman in the store, a customer, looked at me, crooked her finger to have me follow her, and left the store. I thought this nice lady will walk me to the store which is bound to be nearby.

The woman looked to be middle-aged, dressed somewhat shabbily and with no English whatsoever. After we walk a block or so she turned down another street and once again, beckons. She keeps walking. Turns another corner. Keeps walking. I discover her name (ahsana) and tell her mine but don't really have any more conversation in my vocabulary. We keep walking. I remember the word for "far" and ask how far. She says very close and keeps walking. We walk for about 20 minutes, in an area completely unfamiliar to me and quite far away for the area to which I had initially been directed. I become uneasy. We keep walking. Finally, I spot a kisok with a big key above it. At last. The kiosk was empty and she goes to a nearby store, comes back and says 10 minutes. I tell her thank you for taking me and assume she will leave. No. She stays and proceeds to show me pics of her family and tell me things I don't understand. I tell her what I can about my family and why I'm in the country. The key man finally shows up, looks at the key and says 25 minutes (to make 4 keys). I sigh, agree and tell her thank you once more, assuming that now, she will leave. No. She insists I come with her again. I say no thank you but that is not accepted. Since she has gone out of her way to help me, I feel like I must go.

We cross the street, weave through an alley and come to a tall apartment building. We ascend several floors in an rusty, halting elevator to an apartment which apparently belongs to a friend of one of her friends. At least that is what I can gather from what she says. While they clearly were not expecting her or me, in typical Armenian fashion, they insist I sit down and begin preparing food even though I say several times no thank you, I have eaten already. I take a cup of tea to be polite and several people gather around the kitchen table. One young woman speaks a little English (she says she is an English tutor but doesn't seems to have had contact with native speakers as she has a hard time understanding me or speaking English herself). The other speak among themselves in Armenian and occasionally ask me a question which I occasionally understand. I give them a Peace Corps business card in Armenian. The food sits on the table untouched by all of us. Ahsana puts food on my plate (another Armenian habit) like I am a child. I don't know whether they are waiting for me to eat something before they eat something – custom? Courtesy? The result is no one gets fed.

After about 30 awkward minutes, I say I have to leave, I have a friend waiting. Despite my protestations, Ahsana accompanies me back to the key vendor and waits for me to pay, then takes me to the corner where we get a taxi.

While it is an example of the graciousness of the Armenians for this stranger to go out of her way to help me, I felt extremely awkward and helpless during the entire process. It is so frustrating to have such limited language ability. I am determined to improve this situation. The key hunt would have been considerably shorter and may even have ended in Gyumri (I can't believe there is no place to get a key made here) if I were more facile with my Armenian. Even if I can come up with the right words, I don't understand the responses I receive.

On another subject, this last weekend was most enjoyable. I had 8 people for dinner on Satuday night – at the request of one of the volunteers from Charlotte, who was missing down home food, I made fried chicken, with rice, gravy and cole slaw. The guests were so happy, they washed dishes. Nine people in the apartment is quite cozy, but not cramped. At least everyone had a seat, tho not necessarily at the dining room table.

On Sunday, my counterpart invited me and others to her apartment for lunch. It was all Armenian and some of the best dishes I have eaten here. The main course was a kind of tomato frittata, accompanied by chicken skewers wrapped in pastry and roasted vegetables (the latter from a jar, but very tasty – local company). The international group included two Austrians who were visiting Caritas, my counterpart Zhanna, two Armenians and another volunteer. Delicious food and good company. What could be better.

I have a pic of the fried chicken gathering, but that will have to wait for a later post.

BTW, I have put many of my Armenia pics on my dropshots site. That is www.dropshots.com/elizpou. Take a look.

New Years in Armenia

At last, I have an internet connection and blogger is working. These are only a few of the pics I have. Let me know if you want to see anything else. This is a pic of a chorale and christmas pagent a friend and I saw before Christmas. It was charming and a most enjoyable collection of music from classical pieces to gospel. The pagent included a number of children playing the different roles. The angel who represented God's voice to Mary lip synced to a booming male voice.

Here are the Christmas decorations at my apt. The fancy looking tree is a music tree about 10" high sent by my sister who also sent the Charlie Brown tree.

I painted a Christmas tree on my gold fingernails. The reality looked better than any picture I could get.

I also decorated my toes in Christmas colors.

I spent Christmas day and two days after w/ two age appropriate vols in a very nice B and B in Yerevan. We had a wonderful time, catching up with each other's lives, eating some nice meals, looking at various stores. I discovered Yerevan has several nice tea shops and at least two of them had good varieties so I won't need to beg and plead for merchandise from the states. The B & B supports an art school in a region that was destroyed in the 89 earthquake. The school students craft very nice pottery. I bought three pieces and plan to get more every time I return to Yerevan.

On the way back to Gyumri, I stopped in the big produce market in Yerevan, bought some house gifts for the various places I was going to visit for Nor Taree and some treats (lettuce, mushrooms, and a few other hard to find items).

On the 31st, I headed out to Shahumyan to spend Nor Taree w/ Sveta, Grigor, family and Phyllis, the vol who stayed there last year. Sveta is recovering from bunion surgery on both feet. I won't describe the process in detail but here are two small factoids – she was given only a local anesthetic for a 5 hour procedure and saw the doctor drinking vodka throughout the surgery.

Here is a pic of the only heating source in the house in Shahumyan, a very inefficient wood stove. You could see your breath in every room. My sleeping bag saved me or I would not have been able to stay two nights. It reminded me of my grandfather's house, heated by only a pot bellied stove in the living room – boy, were those upstairs bedrooms cold.

Here are a few pics of the Nor Taree table.
The family had been cooking for several days and were putting dishes out on the table when I arrived at about 4 pm. We had a khorovats (specially for me) about 4:30 in the room w/ the stove. Dishes continued to get assembled and put out in the living room throughout the evening. We ate in that room at midnight and toasted the new year, our friends and families. Once food is set out, it stays on the table until it is eaten, through the 6 day New Years celebration. I worried about freshness initially. Fortunately, the living room (as well as the rest of the house) stayed about the temp of a refrigerator so I don't think I subjected myself to anything harmful. I did decline the three day old dolma for breakfast on the 2nd morning.

People come in at random beginning on the morning of the 1st. Usually relatives, some neighbors. There are no set dining times. Whenever someone comes in, the family goes to the table again. Toasts are an essential part of the process. The guests may stay a few minutes or a couple of hours. The idea is to make sure there is always a clean plate available for whoever comes in.

Edmund, the son who lives at home, will be getting engaged to his girlfriend, Anahit (see pic) in February and married this summer. They've been going out with each other in a serious way for about a year. After they get married, they will both live at the farm (tradition is that son's wife lives with his family and the mother-in-law (in this case, Sveta) is the authority figure for the new wife.

this is me acting like an Armenian woman putting on makeup in front of everyone using the one mirror in the house. Public annointing of oneself is typical in most Armenian households.

Grigor has acquired some guinea hens. Those of you who have been to my house know of my fondness for guinea hens.

Here's a pic of the farm in winter. It's so different from the same scene in the middle of the summer (see some of the August entries for comparison).





Phyllis came back to Gyumri with me on the 2nd. We tried to go shopping on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, when she left to return to Sevan, her site, but except for a couple of small food khanoots (stores), everything was closed.

On the 2nd, we visited Emma and Albert – similar table set up of course and stayed to eat a few things and participate in several toasts.


We also visited my across the street neighbor for a few minutes – here is a pic of her, her husband, and Phyllis. More toasts.

My favorite day was the 3rd, when I visited 2 houses of friends at Caritas. Their tables were still full of food and guests continued to pop in and out at both places. The pace was slower than the first two days and we had some nice conversation time. More toasts. In one of the houses, I received the first pressure to put vodka or wine in my toasting glass. The husband of my friend told me it was bad luck not to put alcohol in the glass. Since he was the first person to tell me that, I decided that since nothing bad has happened in the last 7 months of non-alcoholic toasts, I could survive on juice and prevailed. The younger vols, especially the men, receive huge pressure to drink and the vodka (especially homemade hootch) is as strong as grain alcohol. Fortunately, my gray hair is a real asset. No one is going to bully a tatik (grandmother).

During the day 3 visits, I enjoyed a few dishes I had never tasted – both Georgian – one a sour plum sauce, delicious w/ pork (yes, I ate pork that had been sitting out for three days and I'm here to tell the tale) and a chicken dish that looked a bit like pudding and was full of wonderful spices. I also ate a piece of fish – dont know how long that had been on the table.

That was the end of my visiting. Yesterday, after Phyllis left, I checked in with the other Gyumri vols and ended up having them all come over last night for chili and jigsaw puzzle. There were 8 of us altogether and everyone seemed to find a place to sit and a bowl for the chili – it turns out I have exactly 7 big spoons so one of us ate w/ a small one – it didn't change the flavor at all. None of the plates and bowls match and that didn't change the taste either.

Today is a bit of a relaxing day. I'm going to try to find an internet cafe and send this entry, then get my hair cut, then wander over to another vol's house for a bit. Update - one day later - now at internet cafe.

Time for a public thank you to all my friends and family who have sent boxes. I received several in the last few weeks, each with fabulous contents, from new puzzles to exotic foodstuffs. It is always a high point to get that slip from the mailman that means a new package has arrived. And I love being able to make a dinner for friends that contains ingredients we cannot get here – a little touch of home to chase away the blues. Thank you, thank you, thank you Bobbe, Tom, Joey, Michael, Wayne, Bob, Maureen, Susan, Anne, Claire, Janet, Melissa, Larry and Susanne!!!!!!! Several others have sent emails saying something is in the mail so I look forward to more slips of paper from the mailman when the post office reopens (they closed from the 31st to the 7th).

Love, Elizabeth Lynne

INTERNET ISSUES

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!!!
I've had several requests to describe Christmas and New Years celebrations in Armenia and what I did during that time. As usual I have some pics to help.

Here are the Christmas decorations at my apt. The fancy looking tree is a music tree about 10" high sent by my sister who also sent the Charlie Brown tree.
RATS - blogger is not allowing me to upload the pics and the internet is so slow I cant get dropshots to load at all. So I'm not completing this post until I get better response. Maybe Monday.

Armenian wedding

December 22, 2007

Last Sunday, I saw my first Armenian wedding. Emma's daughter's son. Once again Emma and Susanne and other women in the family have spent hours and hours baking to prepare for the feast following the wedding. I did not attend the big dinner at a local restaurant that followed the wedding. I understand over 200 people came and it was quite the event. Here's the part I saw.

After a pre-ceremony activity at the bride's house, the party arrived in numerous cars and the ubiquitous limo at the main square. The old church bustled with activity. While a few of us were waiting for the wedding party (they were over an hour late), two weddings happened and I'm sure there were earlier ones. Once the cars arrived and family unfolded themselves, everyone trooped into the church. See pic. Little Armine had a special dress for the occasion. At least in this wedding, no bevy of bridesmaids accompanied the couple.

Little Albert and a little girl I didn't know preceded the bride and groom with candles.

The church is quite old and similar to European churches of a certain age had no seating.

You can see in the pics the sanctuary was smoky with incense, a big part Armenian Apostolic services.

Guests gathered on each side of a roped off aisle. The service was brief.

Towards the end, the bride and groom were given crowns

and as part of the ritual, bowed their heads toward each other til they touched. This symbolizes the couple of king and queen of the family and a new generation. The touching of the heads represents unity.

There is no kiss at the end of the ceremony. After, the guests go up to the nave and greet the bride and groom.

As they leave the church, they are each handed a dove. They have the two doves "kiss" and then release them.

That is Susanne (Armine's mom) holding the bride's bouquet for her.

After the church ceremony, everyone piles in the cars and drives around
the square 3 times, honking furiously. Then, on to the groom's house. Typically, newlyweds live with the husband's family, sometimes for years. Before they enter the house, lavash is put on their shoulders (staff of life) and the groom's mother gives them a taste of honey (sweetness in their life). As they cross the threshhold, they each step on a plate (chasing the devil away). After some toasting at the groom's house, people change clothes and go the the restaurant. I'm now sorry I missed this part of the celebration as I left right after the wedding ceremony. Lesson: never say no to an opportunity for a cultural experience.

Meanwhile, schnor havor surb tsnund (Merry Christmas, lit: congratulations on holy birth)

picture correction

Ok, the pics didn't upload to where they were supposed to. The first one on the left if the bedroom, then the living room. The kitchen is lower right.

Here's some pics of the new place:

kitchen bedroom living room

The people in the shot are the vols who helped make the job so easy.

December 14

December 14, 2007

Didnt post the Dec 8 blog so thought I would add a bit. Pics will come later.
I moved in a couple of days early. It is a nice feeling, like being a grown up again. Last night I cooked dinner for a vol, then another dropped in later. It is so comforting to be able to ask anyone to visit me and to be able to have a drop in. Not to mention going to the bathroom with the door open. Little luxuries. Last night it snowed briskly for awhile. Around 9 pm, we heard loud noises and looked out the window which faces a little gathering area (basically a patch of dirt edged in concrete) . We saw a couple of dozen people, mostly young, some very young, taking advantage of the snow – snowmen, snowballs were the main elements of the fun. It felt very neighborhoody. More about the place w/ a few pics later.

December 8, 2007 – Today is Armine the granddaughter's birthday. Once again, the classic Armenian feast has occurred. As I write this, the living room is the scene of a huge table, over 20 people seated and eating. The table has room for about 20 with no extra space. As new people arrive, and there seems to be a constant flow, space is created, an extra chair is found, dirty plates are removed and clean ones added. Emma and Susanne (grandmother and Armine's mom) have each had about 10 minutes at the table, in two minute increments, spending most of their time seeing that new food finds a place on the table and old food and empty plates go away.

As is standard, the majority of the guests are adults. The only children are relatives. The habit of inviting friends to birthday parties does not seem to be an Armenian custom.

Susanne was up until 3 am this morning making a beautiful cake, complete w/ white swans and lovely blue icing flowers. I'm taking a break from the dinner. As soon as the men finish, all who smoke light up so I tend to excuse myself at that point. There is so much noise and confusion, I'm not missed.

One of the best illustrations of the Armenian's almost obsessive adherence to their own traditions is the celebration meal. It is always the same no matter whose house you visit. Dolma may be prepared a little better in one than another, but it is still dolma. Khorovats are still khorovats. The difference in the side dishes between winter and summer is that summer always includes tomatoes and cucumbers and in winter, the sides are grated beet salad w/ lots of onion and garlic and mayo and grated carrot salad made the same way. Its a reflection of what is available at the shooka. God forbid someone should decide to make some lasagna or a pot roast or do something with a potato other than fry or mash (in oil and with butter, respectively). No dark greens darken their tables. I've seen spinach a few times in the shooka. It has never appeared at a celebration dinner. While first farms are active here, I've been served fish once since I've been in Armenia.

This same scene with the same participants and the same food will be repeated continually during Nor Taree, their 6 day New Years celebration. As the women at my NGO explained, Armenian women cook for days and days preparing an even bigger feast than other celebrations. No expense is spared and people will go without food the rest of the winter to put on this elaborate show for relatives and friends. The women at the NGO describe this as a huge strain on them. I am sure you will never hear a complaint from the stay at home wives. Its a very 50s mentality in that sense. Many women here see no discrimination in the very strict role assignment here. That's just the way its supposed to be – its not discrimination.

The New Years Eve and New Years Day meals are for closest family, then over the next few days, they start rotating to each other's houses (first the older relatives host younger, then vice versa, same food, different locations,. And when I say same food, I mean same food. What isnt finished on day 1 sits in a cupboard overnight and is served on days 2-6 as long as it lasts. I am intriqued to find out how this works. Continuous traveling as well as continuous preparation and continuous serving and cleaning is required. So how do you travel and entertain at your table at the same time? I'll find out as I'm committed to go to Sveta's in Shahumyan for New Years Eve and the next day. If I don't spend the night, I'm sure I'll be stricken from the family bible. Then, when I get back to Gyumri, I'll have to drop in at Emmas and I'm sure there will be plenty of other invitations.

Tomorrow I move to my new apartment. I've been bringing a few bags over every day for the last couple of days and tomorrow the vols will come help me with the big move. Logistics are a challenge. I wish you could have seen me two days ago strugging w/ my wheelie bag, a bag on top of that one, a backpack and another bag on each shoulder, through 3" of newly fallen (and falling) snow, making the trek from Emma's to the new place. Here is something I learned: wheelie bags become snow scoops when the snow is fresh. Ditto when the snow has turned to slush.

Its interesting trying to get the hang new living quarters when you don't know how anything works. This apartment has "central heat" (not like we know it in the US). But there is no thermostat or easy method. There is some kind of water/gas/electric combo housed in a unit the directions for which were included but unfortunately in Russian. The owners have left for Russia and the woman next door speaks no English and is not sure how it works herself.

Because there is a water tank in the cellar that must be filled during the two or three hours a day when we get water from the city, there are an elaborate system of valves, some of which much be open when the pump is turned off and closed when it is on and another of which has to remain partially open at all times. I think I screwed it up this morning and opened when I should have closed and basically drained the water tank so there was no water when I wanted to take my first hot shower in Gyumri. I think I have now fixed it so tomorrow, when the water comes, it will go into instead of out of the tank. Of course there is no way to tell. I finally figured out how to start the radiators heating (from the same Russian-direction appliance that controls hot water as well as heat).

Just had to interrupt this narrative to rejoin the festivities for birthday cake and singing. I will try to upload a photo or two so you can see for yourself. My handy little camera takes mini movies. I'll turn the pics and movies into a CD for Robert, the father, when he rejoins the family next week. I'm sure he will want to see his little girl turning 10.

The need for heads of family to earn their livings outside Armenia is one of the tragedies of this country. The economic "recovery" touted in all the reports about Armenia really refers to a very small portion of the country, a few lucky individuals and quite a few profiteers. The rest struggle, from extremely primitive conditions in the villages to getting along with the help of remittances from abroad. I've heard as many as half of the Gyumri families depend on people outside the country for their support.

Keep your fingers crossed that I'll get my first hot shower in Gyumri in the next few days.

Now, I've finished editing the pics and showing them to the family. Its very satisfying to watch their smiles as they see their "kino".

November 24 - new apartment

Dear readers,

I think I have a place to live now. One of the vols heard about this apartment and told me. The owners are moving to Russia for a couple of years. I went to see it Thursday and while it is quite small, I am taking it. It is about a 5 minute walk from where I live now. It puts me farther away from Caritas and the other ngo for which I work, but not too far. Still walkable. The apartment is on the first floor in a big plain building (think homely white box) - looks like about 5 stories – in an area with several other big buildings. Off the main street , but still accessible. Close by post office where I pay my utility bills

The picture above should give you an idea of the basic layout.


Notes about the apartment:
- entry way has a small hall tree with drawers
- for the safety nuts: the front door is heavy metal (steel?) and has a triple dead bolt as well as a peephole and the windows have bars
-bedroom is not fully enclosed. There is a curtain between a double door sized opening and the "living room". Bedroom has a bookcase/storage unit along the wall opposite the bed. There is a wardrobe beside the bed.
-there are windows all along the living room wall
-.there is a TV on the cattycornered item, which is a small bookcase. The TV will probably not be turned on except to show movies from my computer (its new enough to have jack inputs). I've seen enough bad soap operas to completely satisfy any TV urges for the rest of my stay here.
- the sofa folds out to a twin bed.
- here's the good stuff:
§ the house has a brand new water and heating system, central heat via gas hot water radiators w/ good control mechanism. 24/7 hot water in kitchen and bath from big tank in cellar. The city water comes on about 3 hours a day in the morning. While Emma has a tank, she doesn't have a water heater, thus the bucket baths. This place will provide luxurious showers and the astonishing ability to have hot water in the kitchen.
§ The burners and oven all work (a rarity).
§ The refrig is new and while small, has a separate freezer compartment.
§ The cabinets and counters are all new.
§ The most amazing feature of all _ I HAVE A WASHING MACHINE!!!!

The owners are leaving most of their furniture including linens for the bed and dishes, pots, pans, etc. I'll still have to buy some but not as much as many places would require.

My sisters will love this next part: In the cellar where the water tank lies (and its really a cellar – maybe 5' ceilings) there are shelves w/ canning equipment and at least 100 glass jars!

It is a very small space. However, I am so excited about the amenities. Stove that works. Hot water all the time. A very non-peace corps experience and while I should be embarrassed at all this convenience, I'm willing to live with a bit of shame in order to avail myself of hot showers whenever I want. And I can't begin to tell you what a good deal the washing machine is.

We had our first snow today (Saturday). Only a light fall – about 2" at most. More is predicted tomorrow. I realized I was not in the US when I slid on several of the sidewalks. They are not sanded or salted here and there is no requirement for shop owners to maintain the areas in front of their shops. Clearly not enough lawyers here.

The cars on the road slid about as much as I did. The snow on the road packs down immediately and is as slick as grease. There may be some big snow removal equipment but I haven't seen it. Maybe we need more snow action before it appears.

Another difference from the US is that the tires on most of the cars and all of the marshutnis are old and balding. The marshutni tire maintenance method seems to consist of driving til there is a blowout, then replacing it with a spare tire in similar condition and driving to a roadside stand (shop would be a great euphemism) where the blown tire is patched and becomes the new spare. The passengers watch this process with resignation and calm. The operative word is "vochinch" which means something like "oh, well" or "what can you do".

People here will "vochinch" at any opportunity. Food is cold or the wrong order – "vochinch". Power goes out three days in a row – "vochinch". The oven in your stove doesn't work – "vochinch". The social security clerk who is supposed to give you your pitifully small check expects a 1000 dram "gratuity" to provide you with that to which you are entitled – "vochinch". I understand the Armenia airline has vochinched an unsettling noise while the plane was in the air. I dont think you should "vochinch" an airplane. That's about one too many "vochinches" for me. Again, where are all the lawyers when we need them? Obviously labbying in Yerevan for the tobacco companies. (Armenian men have the highest rate of smokers outside Asia – 62%). Cigarettes are barely taxed even though this government is in great need of revenue and proposed new taxes are defeated as if this were North Carolina. 1 out of 3 male deaths are attributed to smoking related diseases and that percentage is increasing. How did I get on this topic from talking about my apartment and snow. Oh, well. Vochinch.

November 15, 2007

The latest from your correspondent:

My dropshots site (www.dropshops.com/elizpou) has some more photos – a few from life around the house and a few that poorly illustrate the extremely mountainous journey to Kapan. More about that later.

As you can see from the pics, Albert metz (large Albert – the grandson is Albert pokr, small Albert) loves the jigsaw puzzles. A new one came in a box from home this week. I showed it to Albert, he snatched it from my hands and had the table set up, the box opened and all the pieces out before I finished going thru the box. He will sit for hours working the puzzle. It reminds me of earlier Christmasses when either mother or my sister Bobbe would sit for hours over a holiday-time puzzle. I would drop by and put in one piece so I could say I helped. Now, they have become a favorite winter evening pastime in Asheville. I lure friends over with an offer of soup and then entice them to the puzzle table. But enough about Asheville. Let’s hear about Armenia.

I took my first road trip last week. I was invited to a roundtable conference hosted by a women’s business NGO in Kapan, a city of about 30,000 in the southern part of Armenia. It’s a 7 hour trip by Marshutni from Yerevan, so I went to Yerevan the night before to give myself a break in the travel schedule. I spent the night in Yerevan at the Envoy Hostel. My first experience in a hostel. This one is used to Peace Corps volunteers and gives us a special rate. 5000 dram per night (about $15).

The place is very clean and there is 24/7 hot water in the showers. The rooms each have 2 bunk beds, a 4-unit locker and nothing else. They give you sheets when you register. You make your own bed. I don’t think you get a whole lot of choice of roommate, tho they try to keep PC vols together. Since I was there in the middle of a week, the place was not full at all. I had one roomie, an older vol whom I’ve wanted to get to know for awhile. It was a nice experience. Because she has already been here a year, she helped orient me to the place. One shower each for men and women. I’m sure it’s a zoo when the place is full (usually when there is a big PC event going on) but this time I had no problem getting to the bathroom and shower when I wanted. If you want a towel, its 500 dr. extra and worth it. The employees are very nice and very helpful, not always true in Armenian service establishments.

The bus trip was 7 hours as advertised, not counting the 45 minutes I spent at the station waiting for the marshutni to fill. Marshutnis here don’t depart on a set schedule. They take off when every seat is occupied. Interesting concept – based on pleasing the operators with little regard for the convenience of customers. Can you imagine the riots if busses in the US started this practice?

We stopped at a “rest stop” for about 20 min in the middle of the trip. The trip goes thru country which looks very much like the Arizona/Utah mountains. 49 switchbacks going and coming. Up the mountain. Down the mountain. Repeat. The pics in drop shots are not a good representation as I took them while the marshutni was moving and it was very bumpy.

I stayed with another volunteer – my age again – in her very nice apartment on the 8th level on a big complex (no elevators). We went to an Armenian dinner party one night and fixed Indian food for other vols the next night. Penny (the vol I stayed with) has a beautiful cat, still a kitten. She is taking it home w/ her. It made me realize how long I have been pet-free. I don’t like that state. I may not be able to resist acquiring a pet when I have my own place.

Speaking of which, no real news on that front. My lead candidate is still the overly expensive one that is very convenient. It is small so that means it will be cozy. If I can get my program manager from the PC to come up here and convince the landlady to reduce her price, I don’t mind paying a modest premium on top of the PC allowance. And it needs to be modest or it will cause trouble for future volunteers. An alternative is staying at Emma’s and working out a different arrangement for food and entertaining.

I miss cooking. Last week I practically begged a vol I was working with to let me cook dinner for him at his place. By the time we ate, there were 4 of us and plain ol roasted chicken tasted just fine. Tomorrow I have a few vols coming over. I found lettuce in the shooka today and am making pasta puttanesca and Caesar salad. Emma and entourage will be dining elsewhere tomorrow so I have the run of the kitchen.

Starting Friday, I’m attending All-Vol, a PC conference, the title of which explains everything. All 80+ of us will be there. Several agenda items, including an all day language camp and a development day that gives us the opportunity to meet and exchange cards with most of the big development orgs in the country. Good networking. The big event is a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday for us and the PC staff. I’m tapped to make cornbread stuffing so will be spending lots of time in the hotel kitchen. This is held in a Yerevan hotel – another multiple roommate “opportunity”. Should be fun. One night will include dinner at the country director’s house. She is hosting 3 separate dinners in order to accommodate all of us – Indian, Italian and Mexican nights. I’ve signed up for Indian night. On another night some of us over 50s are going to the only sushi restaurant in Armenia. Fingers crossed. I’m thankful for my hard to upset stomach. It may get put to the test.

One of the Gyumri vols is in Yerevan right now buying an ersatz washing machine – not one like we know. This one is sort of manual with some kind of power-boosted wringer. We still have to hang the clothes up, but at least there can be a little better agitation than rubbing the clothes by hand. 4 of us are splitting the cost. We think it will cost about 40,000 dram, ($120 more or less). I’ll definitely have to post pics of this operation.

Readers, I love to hear from you. Let me know what you would like to know or see.

pictures, pictures, pictures

Dear Readers,

Rather than torture myself more with trying to upload pics in the near future, I've put lots of Armenia pics at www.dropshots.com/elizpou. There are even a couple of videos of the grandchildren dancing to Elvis. There is also a video of the lavash making process in September. The bulk of the pics are in October. Please let me know if you have any problems finding the pics above or navigating that website. It should be a piece of cake.

Halloween party update. It was cold and raining that evening and I decided I would much rather wash my hair than go to a party. I guess my age is showing.

PS for those who want to email me, use my gmail address (elizpou@gmail.com). AOL continues to be less than friendly. Sometimes attachments dont open. Sometimes the mail itself won't open.

Elizabeth

I have several more pictures to upload but blogger is behaving badly. I've been trying to upload this blog update for about 7 days now. All of a sudden, I was able to put pics on and just as suddenly, the uploader stopped working. It has disappeared this post already one time when I tried to publish. I think I'll publish what I have now and send the rest of the pics another day.

Tonite is Halloween and I'm going to a party at one of the other vol's house. I'm going as a gyumri tateek (grandmother). I borrowed a navy blue and white print dress from Emma. This dress or one like it is worn by most older women in Gyumri. I don't know why. Maybe a pic of me in costume will be forthcoming.

October 22, 2007

The fall weather in Gyumri has been beautiful, those crisp autumn days we all love, almost no rain during the last few weeks. Cold mornings and nights, warm days. Confusing clothing choices. A box with two sweaters arrived last week, just in the nick of time. It also included a jigsaw puzzle. What a great treat it has become. It happens that Albert, my 70+ year old host “father” is a bit of a jigsaw nut and the 10 year old granddaughter, Armine, is quite good at matching pieces. I’ve learned the Russian work for “perfect”. If any of you readers have an extra jigsaw puzzle you don’t mind donating to Armenia, I’d love to have it.

:ast week I conducted a focus group in a village near Gyumri.

What follows are several thousand words of pictures:

Here’s the approach to the village. Yes, it had snowed about 3” the night before (not in town).










Here’s the group of villagers I met with. The man in the leather jacket on the end is the mayor.









Cow traffic jam. I love getting caught in one of these.













Scene leaving the village. The black things are cows.









I'm sorry you are not going to get to see the rest of the pics. I'll try blogger again in a few days and see if it is more cooperative.

random musings

Hello readers, I just took a look at the last post and it looks like the pics did not come thru. Here is a pic of the lake site mentioned in the post. The very small building in the background closest to the lake is where I stayed.

The next shows our conf room.







This is class in session.








Last night, I was sitting in the TV room w/ the family when the grandchildren decided they wanted to show us their dancing chops. They put on an Armenia cd w/ music videos and were so cute I had to do two things: get my camera, get Elvis. I have Elvis's '68 comeback special on dvd with me. The combination was perfect. I took some mini-movies w/ my camera while the kids did the twist and all sorts of other dancing. Everyone was laughing. And a good thing too, because Emma's son had left to go back to Russia today and she was very sad about that. He will come back in November for a family wedding. After a short stay he will take his wife and children back with him and it will really be a sad day in our house.

Weather has turned colder and rain has moved in. I'm waiting for the remainder of my winter clothes which were shipped last week.

I took the grandchildren to an American embassy-sponsored tap dance performance. Before the event, I had my language teacher give me several important phrases (hold my hand, wait here, stay close, do you want to use the bathroom, etc.). I practiced for a couple of days, then we were off. Another volunteer came with us, so each of us had a hand to hold. We walked to the performance from home - about 20 min - and took a taxi home. The kids were wonderful - well behaved, listened, seemed to enjoy the performance, were patient when we had to wait for the show to start, no complaining, just good children.

Later, maybe w/ some dancing children pics.

Sunday, October 7

Wednesday, October 3

Its been awhile since I updated everyone.   I've finally gotten busy.  Nothing here seems to work on an advance schedule so I spend a lot of time rescheduling activities I'm trying to plan.   One day last week, between my language teacher and I, we rescheduled our lesson for that day 4 times. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a strategic planning workshop w/ Caritas and  the members of 6 villages they work with.  The villages all have community groups and the purpose of the seminar was to give them some help w/ recruiting volunteers, fund-raising and strategic planning.   

 

It was held at Sevan Lake, the biggest lake in Armenia, sometimes called its "blue eye".    The blue eye is beautiful but since raw sewage flows into it,  I wouldn't go swimming there w/ a gun to my head. 

 

Here is a pic of the camp where we stayed.   The small building near the lake is the room where I stayed w/ 3 other women.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of the conf room itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was very small for the 25 people at the workshop, but unlike American attendees, the villagers did not complain a bit about the tight quarters or the fact that most of them were in rooms without bathrooms so had to use the camp's outhouse.   Caritas wanted to save on expenses so the September rental was off season.   The rent for the week from Tuesday morning through Saturday morning w/' three full (and delicious) meals a day cost about $22 a person.   Not $22 a day.  $22 for the whole week. 

 

I was curious about how a group of very unsophisticated villagers would take to a fairly high level planning session led my two women (my counterpart here and her boss, who frequently conducted her sessions holding her 4 mo old daughter).   I can report they listened, took it seriously and worked as hard as any group of executives I have ever facilitated.    Their clothes weren't as nice, they didn't complain and they had more gold teeth, otherwise just like an American corporate group.  

 

One assignment I have taken on is teaching conversational English to a group of computer programmer trainees.   These are all university graduates who are in this special two year program, market-driven, that will result in full time employment by one of 4 software companies who have set up branch offices in Gyumri.   This is an amazing program as jobs are so scare in this country, especially for professionals.    While the students may have had years of English training in school, it was mostly academic in nature – learn grammar, memorize, and their ability to actually speak in English or to understand what an English speaker says is extremely limited.   The course is even more challenging because the director of the school wants me to introduce western business values.  So things like coming to class on time, listening, participating, willingness to make a mistake are all new to these students and hard for them to absorb.  

 

Yesterday,  I spent the afternoon in 3 different villages watching some local consultants work w/ a few participants per village on business development.   All the participants have identified a possible business and are in various stages of financial analysis and business plan development.   There is very little advertising here and the basic concepts of marketing are foreign to most people.   When asked to whom they will sell their products (meat, wool, honey, milk, etc), they just look perplexed.   70 years of a closed market system where whatever was produced was shipped somewhere, without regard to quality, price, service or anything else.  And all the workers got paid.   So the change required is radical.  Next time I go out there, I'll try to get some pics so you can see a glimpse of what life is like for these villagers.  

 

 

The above was written several days ago.  Today is Sunday, October 07, 2007.  It is Gyumri day and I have just finished watching the fireworks at the end of an afternoon and evening of local entertainment at one of the main squares.   Several thousand people must have sauntered down to the square because it was jam packed by 7 pm.  Not at 4 when the show started.  The first two acts were children from what is probably a local dance studio.  The first group did a routine to rap music, dressed appropriately.   Then,  4 cute little girls danced to cotton eyed joe.  On the sound track, someone had inserted "vonts es" (how ya doin) at appropriate points.  Most enjoyable.  

 

The square is called church square colloquially because there are big churches on opposite sides.   One is in use.  The other was seriously damaged in the earthquake and is currently being restored with diaspora money.  In front of the working church is a little kiddie car ride, about the size of a whirl-a-gig if anyone remembers those.   The ride is powered by an ancient man pedaling a stationery bicycle.  A long rubber belt connects the cycle to the ride.   Today is the first time I've seen it working.   Another photo op missed! 

 

When people get married in Gyumri, it is customary for the entire wedding party to ride around one of the main squares (church square or peace circle, ok its not a square but its not exactly round either) 3 times honking their horns frantically the whole time.   This is a Yerevan tradition also, most annoying when one is sitting at the Yerevan Marriott in their lovely outdoor café, sipping fizzy water and being blasted by yet another barrage of stretch limos and ordinary cars going thru their routine.  I mention it here because it was happening this afternoon at church square when I was hanging around watching the crowd build.  

 

On a completely different subject,  I had a root canal on Friday.  And yes, it is preferable to the boot camp that PST was (my colleagues and I debated frequently about PST vs. root canal).   The tooth started acting up on Wednesday and I had it fixed on Friday in Yerevan.   Fortunately,  I anticipated tooth problems here and brought two Rxs of antibiotics so I was able to keep it from getting too painful before the scheduled appointment.    A PC doctor came with me and stayed in the office the whole time.  As far as I can tell, the dentist did a good job, drilled right thru the crown on the hurt tooth, thru the gold filling to the root, took x rays before and after to be sure he got everything and finished off making a very smooth bite surface on the refilled tooth that fit perfectly.  And of course, plenty of Novocain.   The PC paid about $90 for the procedure- it was considered expensive because of the difficulty w/ drilling thru the crown.   I would have paid at least 10 X that in the US --- and with my own money.  

 

Ok this is enough for this episode.  Please let me know what you would like to hear about and what pics you would like to see.

 

Thanks, Elizabeth Lynne

 

 

 

Elizabeth Lynne Pou
U. S. Peace Corps
Small Business Development Advisor
Gyumri, Armenia

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the house dog, Gosher

Here's a pic of gosher, the dog that lives in our house, actually outside the house, but with a doghouse. He looks fierce, but isnt.

I'll send some more pics in the next week or so that show more of Gyumri so you can get a flavor of the city.

a couple of pics - September 11,2007

This is a pic that shows some of the earthquake results which remains after nearly 20 years.

The adjacent pic shows some of the really pretty iron work on the balcony and rain spout.

Saturday, August 31

Dear faithful readers,

Several of you have asked for information about what I do during a typical day. Well, there are no typical days, so I’ll give you a couple of examples:

Friday, 8/31

Breakfast of cream of wheat with raisins. Quick check-in at the lavash bakery downstairs then off to American Corner to use the internet (3 computers and DSL – free – supplied by Amer. Embassy- also good library). Ran into a couple of vols there also checking their emails. I was there right at 9 am when they were supposed to open. 25 minutes later, the only employee with the key to the computer room showed up. At about 10, I walked to a main square to my next meeting.

The meeting was w/ a young woman who works w/ a local NGO in the area of domestic violence. Armenia has no separate laws governing domestic violence – they are probably where US was in the 60s – police don’t wont to get involved, consider it a family problem, etc. We had a very interesting conversation about what they do and the problems they face trying to find some help for abused women (and occasionally men). Their president spoke in Armenian and my contact, who is quite fluent in English, translated for us. They are looking for someone to lead a session during a police training course about what US does in the domestic violence area – how various interested groups interact, legal framework, etc. I assume this info is available on the internet so agreed to do it. Then we walked to a business expo conducted in an open area near the shooka. On the way, we stopped at a stationery story that can make business cards and she helped me explain what I wanted to the non-English speaking staff – essentially my name, phone no and email in English on one side and Armenian on the other.

We ran into several other vols at the “expo” which consisted of about 20 booths with people giving information about their businesses. The pickings are pretty lean. A couple of honey vendors, the local brewery, a couple of textile shops and a few others. I bought a decent bath towel from one of the vendors for about $4.50. What Americans think of as basic marketing and advertising activities are not widely employed in Armenia. That may be a good thing given the high annoyance level of American ads. However, it might help your honey sales if you had some marketing or packaging that differentiated your product from all the other honey being sold in plain glass jars. And the only way I found out about the expo was word of mouth from other vols.

Met some USAID people – important to know as that organization is a big player in Armenian assistance programs.

A few vols and I went to another vol’s office in a newly restored building. It was great to see one of the earthquake “victims” rebuilt and functioning in a new way. The before and after pics in the hallways showed the extreme decimation the renovators faced.

Ate lunch in a Georgian restaurant w/ 6 other vols.

Went home. Studied my Armenian text book to prepare for my language lesson.

Went to the lesson. I’m taking it for granted that you understand I walk almost everywhere. From time to time I’ll take one of the marshutni’s a few blocks. Mainly its gunoom votkov (go by foot).

The lesson occurs in the tutor’s shop in the shooka area. She sells baby products, cloth and notions (buttons, ribbons, etc) and on a lower floor, bridal gowns and paraphernalia. Our class is on the third floor. There is no separate classroom, so we are frequently interrupted by browsing customers. We are reviewing my PST textbook from the beginning. It’s much more understandable now that I have a base. At least, I can pronounce the words and the various grammar rules, while not internalized yet, don’t seem as indecipherable as they did initially.

Dinner at home w/ several family members (there are always lots of relatives and sometimes friends around so I’m not always sure who is at the table). A nice soup with potatoes and chicken, salad (basically cole slaw), and a combo of peppers, onions, tomatoes and eggplant cooked together. Of course, lavash and lots of fruit. Peaches are good now as well as plums, grapes and apples.,

Saturday, among other things, I had my first haircut and a pedicure. Both well done. The hairdresser speaks Enlish and is used by other vols. Who should I see when I went in but my counterpart and her boss, the program director for my NGO, getting groomed for their trip to Georgia this week. Small town. Went back to the stationery store to review the sample of business card. Spent quite a while getting the font and colors I wanted. Dark red name, medium gray other info, simple font, thick white card stock.

Sunday, Betty and I went to Yerevan to visit vernisage, the huge weekend open market. We rode the marshutnis there and back and the less said about that, the better. Just one hint – many Armenians think open air will be bad for you, so windows stayed closed --- and it was a very hot day. Not only were all 15 seats in the bus filled, the driver stopped to pick up extra passengers (apparently not allowed but done anyway).

The vernisage is filled with vendors selling everything you can imagine – lovely rugs, beautifully paisley fine wool shawls (I was tempted but didn’t buy anything), folk art, Russian dolls, jewelry, used and new china, glassware, etc., beautifully made wood chess/backgammon sets with exquisite inlays, fine crochet work, embroidered linens, dental and medical instruments(!), and precision tools.

Today (Monday), Emma made my coffee and heated water for the bath. I like my time with Emma in the mornings. As the day goes on, she gets very busy with her family responsibilities. She reads my fortune from the coffee grounds left in the cup. Its always a good one. I had a bucket bath and washed a few whites in a bleach/soap solution and hung them on the outdoor line. I made my own breakfast burrito w/ eggs and ham and lavash. That’s one flexible bread. I picked up a small chunk of ham at one of the stores on Saturday and have been nibbling on it every since. My first ham since I arrived in Armenia.

I was at the American Corner on the internet (where you can find me most mornings) when I received a text message from one of the vols asking if I can help him teach an English conversation class at 11. I received the text at 10:15. Flexible, adventurous me said of course. We met at 10:45, put together a quick lesson plan and dove in. The class was great fun. Close to 20 students, all of whom are involved in computer training courses at this NGO (the restored NGO I visited Friday). It provides market-driven computer training to interested young adults. The average age was about 25. Their English was much better than my Armenian and many had studied it for years in school. Unfortunately, the method of teaching here does not involve conversation so this class is important for those who want to have the best job opportunities. I think Armenia would be ripe for some call centers and help centers. While there are a lot of barriers, a great many underemployed people here would love to have those jobs.

After class, I walked home, made a ham, lettuce, tomato sandwich on lavash (I found lettuce at the market on Saturday - a rareity - and quickly grabbed it).
A quick review of my textbook and off to another language lesson.

A stop at the stationery store revealed they printed my cards w/ incorrect colors. It took awhile, some patience and finally an examination of the proof they gave me on Saturday for them to agree to reprint them correctly. Hopefully, I pick up the good ones tomorrow.

Home, a little rest and for dinner a salad with buckwheat, tomato, peppers, cucumber and salad dressing I made myself. Joined others in the household later on for some fruit.

This has turned out to be a very long entry. Let me know your questions and anything else you would like to hear about and I will try to address them in future posts. I’ll get some pics of the shooka and a few other places to give you more of a flavor of the place.

Elizabeth

lavash bakery

I was unable to get the videos onto dropshots.com. I will need my own computer hooked up to the internet to make this possible. In the meantime, here are a few more pics of the lavash bakery and a couple of shots of a door in my courtyard. First, the dough gets mixed up in this huge container.

Then, it is rolled out by one person (Emma's sister), tossed by another who puts it on a mold and then into the fiery oven.

This is a door to one of the downstairs rooms that opens to the courtyard. I really liked the glass design on the door and hope you enjoy it.

Dear readers,


I’m attaching some pics of activity in the lavash bakery that is on the first floor of my new house. I’ve also put a couple of short film clips at dropshots.com. Go to dropshots.com/elizpou and look at August 27, 2007.

This is the whole room. One person rolls out the dough which has been rising since 5 am. Another puts it, pizza like, on a slightly rounded form and puts it in a very hot cylindrical oven. The third, takes the just baked lavash, sprinkles it w/ water and stacks it for packing.

This is Emma, the bakery owner and my host "mother" stacking the lavash for packing.

Today I am visiting a center for youth “at risk”, a facility in Vanadzor that works with children (teenagers mostly, many of whom are already on police department lists as troublemakers) to give them marketable skills such as hairdressing, cooking and shoe making and self-confidence. I'll write more on that later.

Sunday, August 19, 2007
Greetings from Gyumri,

I moved here on Thursday with 2 large suitcases, one small suitcase, one big box, and several bags, all stuffed to the brim. Fortunately, the PC van took us right to the door and I had much help getting all the stuff upstairs into my new bedroom.

I think I have mentioned before that Emma and Albert have a lavash bakery on the first floor.

4 PCVs already reside in Gyumri. With this year’s batch, there will be 8 of us. One of last year’s group is my age (Betty). She has been most generous with her time, taking me all around the city to show me the markets, shops, museums, bus station, etc and has introduced me to the language tutor several of the vols use. I have my first lesson scheduled for tomorrow evening.

Gyumri used to hold over twice its current population. The ’88 earthquake devastated the area. While there is some reconstruction happening, and much that has already occurred, evidence of crumbled buildings are on every block. It lends an air of faded glory to the place. Jobs are scarce. Many former Gyumri citizens joined the Diaspora. Others work in Russia several months during the year to provide an income for their families.

It is a walking city. I can get to about everywhere I need to go by foot, a real treat for me. The market area (shooka) is quite large – hundreds of mom and pop kiosks selling a lush selection of fruits and vegetables. Not to mention many other items for sale from hardware to underwear and lots of shoes with pointy toes and high, high heels.

Right now is about the most productive time of the year for produce and fruits so the stands are piled high. The things that are missing are what surprises me – no celery, tho I understand it is available in the fall. Almost no lettuce. I found one stand out of the hundreds here that had a couple of heads of romaine. Only one variety of tomato – its delicious and I think says something about the culture that the many different kinds of tomatoes available in other countries are missing here. Limited selection of spices. No sweet corn. There is some corn available, but not the kinds that will taste the way our sweet corn does. No anchovies, not that many will care about that.

The city has a historic district dating back to the late 1800s. Many beautiful buildings were destroyed in the earthquake; however, there are still some lovely ones left. I’ll send a pic of a beautiful church that was ruined and is in the restoration process. I have temporarily misplaced my camera. I think I left it over at the house of the PCV who sponsored a welcome to Gyumri gathering last night, but he hasn’t seen it yet. The A-14s (I’m an A-15- get it?) have really given us a nice welcome – many sincere offers of help, both for work and personally.

My host family, Emma and Albert, usually live alone. When I arrived, there were another 6 people in the house, relatives visiting from Russia. We’re down to 3 or 4 now (I’m not exactly sure – there are a lot of comings and goings and its hard to tell who is here overnight). I’ve had one bucket bath and will take another tonite. Its actually not bad. The arrangement is very functional and there is plenty of hot water that Emma heats on the stove and dumps into a wide, deep sink adjacent to the tub.

I’ve bought a length of rope with the idea of teaching the house dog, Gosher, to walk on a leash. I have never seen a dog in Armenia on a leash and my sister has warned me not to make him look foolish in front of his friends.

I’m very excited about work, which starts tomorrow. My counterpart is supposed to be my guide, community integrator and interference runner while I am here. I’ve mentioned her in earlier posts. She has already been a help and I’m sure will continue. More about work as I start to learn more.

Before I finish, I would be remiss not to mention Shahumyan. It was hard to avoid tearful scenes leaving Sveta and Grigor. I have grown close to both of them. I think what saved the day is my promise to come back frequently. I don’t think Gyumri at its very best will be able to take the place of the sheer beauty of those lovely green mountains and the peaceful village pace.

Gyumri’s splendor will lie in the resources the city has to offer. It has several reasonably nice open areas that I am sure were fabulous before the earthquake and ensuing economic disaster. I spent some time at a lovely park just a few minutes walk from my house. Many nice shady benches that are perfect for a book on a warm afternoon.

Now time to start the bathing process.

August update

Its 9 pm on Thursday August 9, 2007. It is raining. I just finished a very long break from studying for my language exam tomorrow morning.

I spent the break making lavash chips and watching the sky darken on our balcony. I think the Armenian lavash is wonderful. I don’t recall seeing anything this good in the states. The bread is very fresh and made into thin sheets about 16” x 8”. Put a teaspoon of oil in a baking pan, rub the lavash on the pan, add a little salt and some herbs, bake for a few minutes until it crisps up and there is a treat that is as good or better than the best potato chip and much healthier.

I ate the chips on our balcony watching the storm come up and savoring the opportunity to look at the brilliant colors of the flowers that begin one of the
gardens. The rain makes their colors supersaturated. The background are the mountains. And then there are the animals. Today I saw our fierce watchdog trying to play with the pig who was allowed to run around the yard for several hours. Very cute.

The geese are always fun to watch. The little ones are almost as big as the mothers – not as big as daddy goose. He’s definitely the man of the house. If you have ever looked at geese for any length of time you will notice that a considerable amount of their weight is in the back. When they walk they look like slightly plump, cute 16 year old girls who are well aware of how cute they are and walk to show it. It’s a wonderful sway.

If I don’t get the pics up this time, I will with the next post. The flowerbeds look like color bombs. I’ve taken lots of pics, but none do justice to the real thing. There is a big row of dahlias that line the yard from my window to the gate. They look like a receiving line of queens.

The mountains are a constant reminder of how beautiful nature can be. Also, how hard it is to make your living from it. This is haying season and many of the local farmers are spending days in the fields, scything the hay, packing it into rickety trucks piled so high you can’t imagine how they are navigating the roads and loading it into their storage barns for winter feed. It is hard, hard work and there is little in the way of mechanical help.

I have really enjoyed the last two months in the village on a working farm. Instead of traffic noise, we have cows, roosters and donkeys making their voices heard early every morning. I’ve been caught in a couple of cow traffic jams. Much more interesting that freeway traffic jams. I like walking to school each day for the language lesson, passing more chickens than cars and saying good morning to villagers out starting their day. I love this pic of the mother hen and her babies. There are about 10 of them underneath her.

Tomorrow after the test some PC friends and I are celebrating the end of language class with a leisurely lunch in a local restaurant with a great outdoor patio, raised above the street and covered with umbrellas. Great for sun-free dining and people watching.

Next week, we get sworn in on Wednesday and leave for our new sites on Thursday, August 16. While I am looking forward to starting my actual PC job and living in a city again, I know I’m going to miss Sveta, Grigor and the village ambiance. This family has made me a part of theirs and it is nice to know that I now have a large family. I am sure I will make return visits to this nice farmhouse and the warmhearted people who live here. If anyone wants my address in Gyumri in order to send letters or packages(!), send me an email and I’ll give it to you.


I don’t really have the words to describe the intense ups and down of this 11 week boot camp. For 11 weeks our schedules have been tightly controlled and our work load (mainly learn the language and lots of other study thrown in the mix) has been substantial. We have been severely limited in where we can go and what we can do. Internet access has been infrequent and often frustrating – rushed for time and dealing with much slower connections than we have become accustomed to. As we go to our permanent sites, we will have a good portion of our schedule under our control and the opportunity to make our own plans about how to accomplish our goals – exhilarating and frightening as we are responsible for creating the activities that hopefully can result in improvement of some of the lives in this developing country.

I’ve made some friends I think I’ll keep for a long time. I’ve just started to get acquainted with this country, its people and its customs and know I have a lot more to learn. Actually, learning new things all the time is a welcome challenge. I will be glad when I know the language well enough to understand most of what I hear and speak it well enough so I am understood outside the classroom. Sveta and I have managed communicate pretty well between her very limited English, my very limited Armenian and the bararan (dictionary). It’s very funny to see both of us running for our reading glasses when I get stymied in mid-sentence and have to look up something. Not a kid anymore.

Speaking of which, this break has gone on for about two hours now. Time to finish up studying.

Addendum - its now Friday afternoon and the language test is over. I'm sure I made the minimum and doubt I did much better than that. Relief!!! No serious schedule and no homework til swearing in on Wednesday.

Trip to Gyumri

This last week has been a blur. We started off on Tuesday with a two day conference where each volunteer met his or her counterpart. That's the local person who is supposed to be your colleague at the new workplace. Mine is a bright committed 28 year old woman who reminds me of the pioneering feminists. She has already forged a good career path for herself. Without regard to the fact that few jobs are available in Armenia, she has "made her own luck" and found opportunities where none existed.

After two days filled with planning for the future, we took off for Gyumri, the 2nd largest city in Armenia. I spent the rest of the week there. On Friday and Saturday, my counterpart, Zhanna, took me to some of the villages Caritas (our NGO) has worked with on a community building project. We attended the dedication of a new church and a service at the old one which the community restored. This village was one that was completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1988 - only the bare bones of the old church remained. The village rebuilt itself about 2 kl from the original site. This is a pic of the church that was rebuilt. The fields surrounding the church allowed for a couple of Wyath type pics. That one comes next.

Doesn't this look like an impressionist painting? Its amazing how a site of such destruction can be so beautiful. The wildflowers are gorgeous now. Everywhere I ride these days, my vision is filled w/ a blur of white, yellow and purple against a bright green background. The area where I live now is especially pretty. While this shot of the Gyumri area looks nice now, the hills are without trees and I understand the area looks pretty grim once the winter gets its grip. My new host family is very nice. I am living on a street in the middle of town (short walks to everything important) and about 20 yards from the entrance to my house is my worksite. Such a deal! And the work is going to be challenging and rewarding - at least as far as I can tell after two days with work colleagues. I'll expand on this after I move there mid-August.

My host family has a lavash bakery on the first floor of their house. Wonderful smells and hot lavash right out of the oven is amazing. This is a pic of the courtyard inside the entry gates. The family has another property across the street w/ additional outdoor space and lots of fruit trees (apples, pears,cherry), berry bushes -the raspberries are ripe now and delicious-and a walnut tree.

The host husband raises birds. The cages are in this picture. They look like parakeets and cockateels. There is a family dog that is an actual pet. The house is nice - most conveniences. Two bathrooms - very clean. The one drawback is no hot water and no 24 hour water, so bucket baths in the bathroom. However, the sink in the bathroom is the size of about three sinks put together and since it is raised up, there is not much bending involved. Emma, host wife, heats up two big pots of water, pours them into the giant sink, then I stand in the tub and proceed to clean everything with the help of a couple of pitchers. Time consuming but not too bad at all. Emma is an excellent cook and the three meals - 2 breakfasts, one dinner were delicious.

Gyumri has several restaurants - I joined other volunteers (there are several of us in the city) for dinner at a Georgian restaurant. I'm not sure I can tell you that much about the cuisine except that its tasty and there is alot of cheese involved.

Another night, the program director of Caritas invited me to her house along with several others for a lovely afternoon and evening of eating and talking. The next pic shows something completely anomolous to me - this man came into the dinner followed by this cute little poodle who then proceeded to jump into his lap and stay there the entire time. This is not culturally typical. Everyone there seemed to take it for granted so I did too.

Now, I'm back "home" and except for two city days this week, back to the regular schedule of language classes and studying.

Love, Elizabeth

update

 

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cleaning and softening the wool

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spreading the softened wool on the quilt cloth

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rolling the wool into the quilt

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unrolling - now the wool is inside instead of outside

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quilting





Dear Readers,

Here are a few pics of the quilt making process.  The final is very nice.  
Last week was 4th of July celebration and language test.   I tested at the minimum level required to "graduate" and have another 4 weeks to go to make it to a higher category.   I think that's doable.  My goal is to get to at least intermediate low. 

This week we meet our local counterparts for our business assignment and visit our new sites.  Will send update after that.

Meanwhile, the big activity last night was playing with a new group of 1 day old chicks.  I have a movie of it. 

Elizabeth

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Stories from Shahumyan

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This is the table and old iron bed where I can study in the afternoons.

 

On Sunday, our only day with no school, I went to a church service with one of the volunteers and her "family".   We took a marshutni to Vanadzor and walked a few blocks to a newish small church built by disapora members.   Several very old stone carvings, mostly ornate crosses, were placed into the stonework itself or mounted in a rose garden outside the church.  The service reminded me of pre-Vatican II Catholic services.   Lots of ritual.   When we entered, Hasmik, the head of my friend's family, bought candles for each of us.  We lit them and placed them in raised boxes filled with sand.   Most of the women wore scarfs on their heads.  The church held about 6 rows of pews.   A choirmaster and a choir of 5 teenage girls sang at various times.    When the priest entered, he was in full regalia, burgundy silk floor length robes imprinted w/ gold designs.  An incense bearer came with him and filled the chapel w/ incense throughout the service.   A good portion of the service was chanted, similar to Jewish services I have attended.   We left after about 45 minutes.  I understand the service continued for another 30 minutes or so.   Mimi and I basically mimicked Hasmik.  When she stood, so did we.  When she sat, ditto.  A good spiritual experience.  Very peaceful. 

 

A couple of farm stories.  I was sitting on our porch watching the chickens and geese.   Grigor decided I needed to get a bee experience, strode over to the bee hives and plucked a bee from one of the busiest.  He held it in a way that it would not be injured – a delicate hand – brought it over to me, and squeezed the bee right above my finger.  A drop of honey came out.   It was delicious.  I think that is all the honey I will get until late summer when he  harvests the honey from the hives.  

 

Grigor and Sveta have been working with armloads of wool for several days.  This is wool straight from the sheep and let me tell you, these are not clean storybook sheep.   First they hung it on fences to let the rain do some of the cleaning.  Then, Sveta put a large amount of wool on a raised wire screen and proceeded to beat it with a big stick.  I'll try to include a pic of that.  That cleaned it a bit more.  Then it was hung in another place and pulled and pulled to help make it soft.  Then she took some of that wool and did more pulling and pulling by hand.  It is a laborious process and done without any machines or helpful tools other than the screen and the stick.   The final product is very soft.   Sveta puts the wool in our mattresses and quilts.  The quilts are about 2 inches thick and very comfortable for sleeping.   The mattresses are about 3 inches thick and also comfortable.   My pillow is filled w/ feathers from their geese. 

 

I am enjoying experiencing the farm life.  It is very hard work.  I think it requires real dedication to live that life these days.   Certainly Sveta and Grigor put their hearts and their backs into the farm.  Sveta was correcting my Armenian in one of my homework assignments.  I wrote they lived on a farm.  She explained to me in a combination of Armenian and English aided by my trusty dictionary that cows live on a farm.  They have a farm.   I changed the verb. 

 

The language continues to be a challenge and the main focus of my pre-service training.   We must test out at a novice-high level to be sworn in as a real volunteer.   I'm aiming for one notch higher, intermediate-low.   However, I will be happy just to get a "pass".  

 

After we are sworn in, we get a large allowance for tutors and I intend to take every advantage.   While I learn new words every day, new tenses, etc., my understanding of spoken Armenian remains extremely low and I have nowhere near the skills I would need to conduct business in their language.   I believe my counterpart at the NGO speaks some English.  I'm supposed to meet her in a couple of weeks.  PC holds a counterpart conference to have us meet the people with whom we will work the closest and then sends us to our actual sites for a few days where we visit the workplace and stay at our new host homes.   It will be nice to get that kind of orientation before I actually move to Gyumri.  

 

Back to tanayeen ashkatank (homework).  

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Assignment day

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This was lunch on Thursday - dolma, two salads with lots of vegetables, homemade cheese and bread, cherries, strawberries, pastry, cookies and fudge (my sister Bobbe's contribution). 

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That's my school at the end of the road.  I see this Mama and baby cow on the way home.  

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the road to my school.   I see this man most every morning.

On Wednesday, all 46 volunteers received their final site assignments.  Big day.  We are divided into 4 service groups.  The admins had us all gather outside around a map drawn in chalk on the asphalt open area around the school.  The groups rotated, calling out a name at a time and the PCV went to stand at his/her place on the map.  Current volunteers in the various areas were there also.  It was a very festive and exciting time.  Afterwards, we heard information about our areas and each got a folder with details about our assignments.  It was followed by a pizza party. 

I am assigned to Gyumri,  the second or third largest city in the country.  It is in the NW corner of the country and while it is supposed to be quite cold in winter (along w/ most of the rest of the country), amenities abound.  Restaurants, cultural events, and many other city activies.  I have a project w/ a large international NGO working in the area to help smaller communities with business development, from helping generate idea to how to organize themselves and a business, etc.   I met another volunteer who works at the same NGO.   Her name is Betty, (Elizabeth but she prefers Betty).   She is from LA and says if she can take the winter, anyone can.   I have to agree with her.  We had a great time getting acquainted.   The party was great fun - then, back to studying language.   Everyone says knowing the language as well as you can is a must.   Emphasized over and over.   I'm spending most of my spare time studying except for the occasional trip to Vanadzor to use the internet.  I'll try to include a few pics of the village with this post. 

In addition to the language work,  we have been given practicum assignments.  I will be working w/ two other volunteers in my small village to find out the business history of our community and work w/ various citizens to develop possible business options.  Our output is supposed to be a complete business plan.  Quite an imposing task given we are speaking at a 3-week learning level.   Our teachers will help us with meetings and such.   The overall responsibility for developing, designing and delivering the project is in the hands of the three volunteers.  While I am excited about it, I also recognize the amount of extra work this adds, when I am already spending most of my time studying. 

Today is Saturday, June 23.  Some of my colleages are at our school in Vanadzor, learning Armenian dance and song.  I decided to write all of you and visit the shooka before I meet colleagues and a young Armenian woman who is an English teacher and wants to practice her English with Americans at a local restaurant.  

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Saturday, June 16

update – first trip by myself – Saturday, June 16

 

two firsts today – first ride on a marshutni by myself and first visit to a neighbor

 

After class today, a fellow volunteer and I went to Vanadzor – me for internet café and him for a variety of reasons.   I wanted to stay a shorter time so I took the marshutni home by myself.   Its not too hard as long as I stay on the two streets I know.  Fortunately, there is a lot on those two streets including the internet café, the shooka an equivalent of a small grocery store, a stationery store, bank, etc.   

 

The experience today was similar to getting a bus in the US.  Wait at the bus stop.  Look for a vehicle with your bus number.  Get on.  Unlike the US,  you pay the driver when you get out.   I live right across from the last marshutni stop in Shahumyan, so as long as I get on the #13 bus,  I can't get lost. 

 

The second first experience was a visit to a neighbor with Sveta.  We visited a woman who works with Grigor and lives fairly close to our house.   This apparently was a request by Yelena to Sveta to bring the Amerikatsi over.   I say apparently as my Armenian is not strong enough to be certain of any conversation even with dictionaries. 

 

We walked over to her house about 6:30 pm and were seated at the table in the combo living/dining/bedroom.  As with the few houses I have seen so far, rugs everywhere, on the floors, on the walls, on all the furniture. 

Yelena went into the kitchen and brought out one thing at a time – a platter of pastries, a plate with some kind of sweet cake baked in a roll, a dish of chocolates, plates, knives and forks, and finally, that wonderful Armenian coffee.  Sveta and I complimented her on each item.  My contribution was mainly "shat lav" (very good), gheretseek (beautiful) and hamov (delicious).   She showed us her clothwork, needlepoint and crocheted items.   She obviously is very proud of them and the work is very nice.   Grigor came over for awhile, had a cup of coffee.  He then went outside, took a scythe and cut down a two foot high swath of grass and wild greens in her yard.   Good neighboring at work.   He then took home a bundle of the remains (food for some of his animals. 

 

Today, Sunday, Sveta and I are going into town (Vanadzor) to visit another friend.  I think this will be more elaborate – jhash, eaten midday, is the main meal in most houses.   Supper is called antrek and is generally a more modest meal.   Then we will go to the shooka, get some vegetables and come home. 

 

Small annoyance – I left my wonderful tilly hat somewhere yesterday – either the internet café or the marshutni.  It is such a terrific hat,  I will order a new one if it doesn't turn up in one of the marshutnis.  I'm hoping Sveta can ask for me as my language is still too primitive. 

 

I study 2 to 4 hours every day after class and more on Sunday.   The memorization of the vocabulary is what is killing me.  Once I get that, I'll have to work on word order and endings (grammatical issues).   But you have to have words first. 

 

Things I don't miss:  tv, ice, diet pepsis, newspapers, daily news stories, movies, lots of stuff around.

 

Things I miss:  my friends and family, Asheville, my house, my garden, my spices and condiments, wearing different shoes every day, my Hawaiian shirts. 

 

Things I really like here:  beautiful location in the mountains, my room with its mountain view,  my Armenian family, language class, village life (cows have right of way, the goose family with papa, two mamas and 10 goslings), virtually no vehicle noise, Armenian vegetables and fruit, my fellow kamovars and this whole adventure.

 

I will try to send this on Wednesday when I am in town for the group class.  However, Wednesday is find out permanent location day and it may be packed too full for me to get to the café. 

 

Still having problems w/ the blog and aol.  Anyone who wants to write me should use my gmail address:  elizpou@gmail.com.   Thanks for your patience.   Emails appreciated and read tho responses may take awhile.   

 

TUESDAY update.  Had a chance to get to Vanadzor today and my tilly hat was hanging on a hook.  They saved it for me. 

 

The Sunday dinner:  A very nice family - mother, father, daughter.  The daughter is an English teacher so communication was not an issue.  I am the first foreigner she has ever spoken with in English so she appreciated the opportunity to practice.   

 

Dinner was huge - chicken croquettes, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, yoghurt, cherries, strawberries, cake and ice cream.   I kept saying koost (full!) and they kept putting more things on my plate.   As typical with first meeting with an Armenian family,  there were lots of questions about my family.  I brought a few pictures along and looked through their family album.  We also watched a video of their granddaughter who lives in Russia with her parents.  Many Armenians work in Russia because of unavailability of jobs here.   The daughter and father sang beautifully and gave us two songs, with the daughter accompanying on the piano.   It was a treat. 

 

After we waddled out of the apartment - 4th floor walkup - we went to the shooka and bought vegetables.  I actually spotted a head of romain lettuce.  So last night I made tossed salad for the family which was new to them (lettuce w/ lots of veggies and a vinegrette dressing). 

 

I'm going to try to put some pics in this email.   I hope it makes it to the blog. 

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view from the school where I take language class

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papa goose chasing the chickens away from the food so the goose family can have more to eat.

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morning view from my window.  Cows have right of way in Shahumyan. 

 

Signing off.

 

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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new posting

Week 2 in Shahumyan

 

Hello, faithful readers

I'm writing this on Tuesday, June 12, 2007.  I hope I can post it tomorrow but no guarantees.   Last Saturday,  I went to town with the other volunteers and was blessed with an internet café that worked well.  I had nearly 200 emails stacked up on AOL.  

 

My email access will continue to be minimal over the next 10 weeks.  After August 15, I transfer to my permanent site and a new host family.   I will have a regular job and may have more opportunity there. 

 

Meanwhile,  I'm really enjoying Shahumyan village and my wonderful host family.  If I don't get to load some pics this time,  I should be able to soon.   The mountains are beautiful, lush w/ summer green.  Every time I walk to school I want to burst into "The Hills Are Alive….".  Thankfully,  I haven't…  yet.   I'm enjoying living on a working farm with the geese, cow, sheep, goats, chickens, dozens of bee hives and two pigs.   Sveta and Grigor both have day jobs tho Sveta's is part time and they are up at 6 and still working at 9 most evenings.  Sveta makes wonderful bread, cheese and yoghurt.  Tonite, we had an Armenian soup that combined yoghurt and wheat (looks like  hulled wheat berries).  Quite good.

 

Language continues to be a bear.   My brain feels like a sieve.  I hear and say a word several times and 5 minutes later, its gone.  And, of course, as the lessons continue, complexities, grammatical and otherwise, increase.  Not to mention the list of nouns, verbs and other words to memorize.   Tomorrow, we are supposed to go to one of the stores in the village and try out our newest phrases (Are there…(vegetables, fruits, etc)?).   The stores in the village are basically tiny "convenience" stores tucked into what looks like old railroad container cars.  One is across the street from my house.   Vanadzor is the closest town for internet access and the location of the PC's pre-service training group.   All 46 of us meet there one day a week.   We only have an hour for lunch so I will have to dash to find a café and get this message posted.  Hopefully I'll have time to include some photos. 

 

Except on Peace Corps days when we go to Vanadzor in their vans, the travel to town is by marshutni.  Think old mini-vans with less than pristine interior and exterior conditions.  The cost to ride to Vanadzor is 100 dram, about 30 cents.   One of the marshutni stops is by my house.   The ride in takes about 20 minutes.   Bus #13 comes every 20-30 minutes and stops at several convenient places in Vanadzor.    The buses are designed to seat about 12.  That number is merely a suggestion to its riders.  On the way home last week from our trip to town,  I counted 21 people at one point.  Obviously, not everyone gets to sit down in those conditions.   Smoking is permitted.   Fortunately, it's a short ride.  

 

Next week, we find out the location of our permanent assignment.  The project director for my group was here today and met with each of us (this is the community and business development group).   He is a bright, thoughtful man and appears to have made careful decisions about placement for each of the volunteers in his CBD group.   He talked a bit more about my new situation although location and specifics cannot be revealed until next week.    My new host family (after August 15) consists of a couple about my age – no children at home.   It is supposed to be a nice house and close to where I will be working.   All will be revealed in the fullness of time.   Meanwhile, I need to finish prep for my teaching session tomorrow.  All volunteers were asked to prepare a 10 minute teach on any topic they wish.  I can't decide between how to grow heirloom tomatoes and how to make Bobbe's fudge.   I think the former will win out as I do not have her recipe here and I dare not wing such an important task.

 

To be continued.

 

Elizabeth Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

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Thurs June 8

Thursday -  NOTE – I've not been able to use aol or google to get mail.   Dont know when this will be resolved.   This particular internet cafe has firewall blocked  aol and today google won't load.    Finally into gmail.  Pics from my word doc wont load.  Maybe next time.

 

- Tuesday – June 5 – yesterday was a big day.   We met our host families and moved in with them.    Nerves atwitter.   We were presented to our host families in village groups.  Mine was the first to go.    The ceremony occurred outdoors on a paved playing area (basketball, etc).    Each group was led by its languages teachers (each of the 6 villages of volunteers has their own two language teachers) to a young woman holding a round of bread and a bowl of salt.   We each tore off a piece of bread, dipped it in salt and ate it.  Symbolic of life and strength.    Then we were introduced to our families.    Mine includes Sveta, the mother, Grigor, the father and three older sons, two of whom do not live at home. 

 

 

     Sveta and Edmund met me.  Grigor was at work at the village equivalent of city hall.   Garni, another son, called in the afternoon.   He works in Yerevan at the airport and speaks English. Narek is the other son is in the military somewhere.

 

After all 46 volunteers met their families, we were treated w/ a series of folk dances by a local youth group.    Delightful. 

 

I worried Sunday and Monday about not being able to call Bobbe on her birthday.    Once we were at the village, there was no opportunity to go to Vanadzor and my phone card does not work w/ Sveta's phone.  Finally, Edmund volunteered his cellphone and I was able to get out a teary happy birthday.   A bit later, I took my cellphone out, started it up and lo and behold,  it gets a signal and I was able to call her back and wish her HND in a much more cheerful manner.  

 

This morning, I'm feeling great.  Sveta and Grigor have a very nice house, sparkling clean, every floor covered with oriental rugs.    I have my own bedroom.   The toilet is western and works well.  The shower is rigged to the bathtub with a hose attached to a gas water heater.   Hot shower this morning!  

 

The water filter the PC gave me is set up.  Sveta and I shared a pot of tea yesterday and I'm finishing off my morning pot.    Right now some coffee is brewing for me.  Very thick coffee – think serious expresso.

 

Language or lack thereof is not as much a problem as I thought.  She knows a few English words and between that and the dictionary, basics are handled.   I'll be glad to learn enough to have a conversation about other than the basics.   I understand about 20% of what she says and she works with me to figure out enough to get the gist.   

 

Sveta and Grigor are very warm and welcoming.   They put the only easy chair in my room so I would have a nice place to sit.   I am writing this from that chair. 

 

 

My room has a window looking out at this mountainous village.   Goats and cows are roaming around the street outside Sveta's gate.

 

 

The house has a modest amount of land around it where much of it is being used to grow vegetables and flowers.   I saw a tomato section w/ plants about 6 " high.   Their peonies are about to bloom which should give you an idea about the progress of summer.    They have sheep, ducks and chickens as well as what seem to be outdoor only dogs.  The living room is also the dining room and contains a very new looking Sony TV.   They also have a DVD player for movies.   The kitchen has an elderly gas stove and what looks like a big toaster oven for baking, a modest refrigerator and a newish washing machine.   The latter is quite a luxury.  

 

At lunch yesterday, we had cheese made by sveta – nice, bland,  a sort of stew w/ potatos and meat  – very good,  meat was baaaa (that's how Sveta let me know it was sheep), tender and delicious, sliced cucumbers, a pickled hot pepper, bread and pastry, also made by Sveta.  

 

Updates will be weekly at best.  There is no internet access in this village or at least not in this house so I will have to get to an internet café on the one day a week we go to Vanadzor for a whole group day.   

 

Meanwhile, my 6 colleages and I will go to language class every morning (9 to 1:30) in a local school and study all afternoon.   As soon as I learn my way around and how to say where I leave – acquire some more language skills – I'm sure some of the other vols and I will trek to Vanadzor by ourselves.   It is only a 20 min ride and I live very close to a bus stop (marshutney, a mini van) with a regular schedule.  

 

 

Monday, I met with the program manager for the business/community development area –in PC-speak, CBD - and got an idea of what my assignment might be.   No specific location information yet.  Large town (I guess that's smaller than small city) – international NGO working w/ local villages in the area for small business development.   I will help w/ business plans and other needs of those in the villages trying to develop their businesses – could be org stuff, English clubs and who knows what else.    Another volunteer who has been there a year also works at this NGO.   I will work with an Armenian counterpart.   The program manager (Arshak) said in year two I may teach human resources at an adult level.    Success at all of this depends on language acquisition, so if the updates don't come regularly, don't worry.  I intend to focus on learning this language.   Today's lesson – we start learning the unique Armenian alphabet. 

 

I haven't even mentioned the wonderful group of volunteers.  The

CBD group is particularly strong – 10 people, 5 of them in the over 50 group.  Seven of the 10 are in my village.  The other three are with part of another program group in another village.  

 

PS,  I'm loving this adventure.  The PC has provided excellent resources and definitely made thoughtful decisions on placement.  Arshak knew all about me from studying the resume and other material I sent in.    My host family could not be nicer.  And who knows – I may get to pat a sheep before I'm thru.  Excitement and eagerness are the prevailing emotions this morning.     

 

Update:  Wednesday, June 06, 2007 – lunch today was the best yet – fresh tomatoes that tasted like tomatoes, cucumbers, cooked spinach, cooked wild greens, salami, lavash, cheese and the remains of yesterday's chicken soup.   Yum.  Grigor raided his bees for me and Sveta's friends this afternoon.   Peanut butter and honey with lavash.   

 

 

Off to study now.  I hope I can send this tomorrow when I am in Vanadzor for class.

--   
Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

Armenia at 6 am

We are arrived. I wish I had the time and the words to describe the
reception we received here. After three days of travel logistics, we
arrived at the Yerevan airport at 6 am, gathered out 100 pounds each
of luggage, not counting carryon, loaded that into a truck and
climbed on a bus. We received a little goodie bag with water, juice
and of all things, a snickers bar. After about 20 minutes, the bus
stopped at the driveway ending in a ruin, backed by the glorious Mt.
Ararat. Waiting for us on the steps of the ruin were 80 or so
cheering, clapping PC vets of classes 13 and 14. We are A-15. It
was a splendid reception. For the first time I really go the feeling
that I am part of something special. The veterans feted us w/ coffee
and donuts, introduced us and each other and after good conversation,
numerous pics with Ararat in the background, we got back on the bus
and headed for Vanadzor.

I'll have to give you details later. We're being hustled onto buses
to internet cafes and I am not going to get time to send you any pics
for a week or so. We are scheduled for every second. I'll describe
Vanadzor and the rest of the trip later. Right now, we're in an old
camp building. I'm sharing a two room "suite" – with 3 other women –
4 bunkbeds – so we each get a bottom bunk. Bathrooms down the hall.
My first squat toilet experience. Excellent lunch – if the rest of
Armenian food is this good, I'm going to love it. We move to our host
families next week on Monday. I do have some really good pics to
share and will have to wait til there is enough of a break in my
schedule to set up an email on a Word doc w/ pics that I can quickly
shove into an internet cafe computer.

Its clear internet access will be limited and of short duration each
time. Patience.

Love, Elizabeth Lynne

--
Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801

More goodbyes

I went to Durham yesterday with Chery and Mindy to say goodbye to my sisters and turn Mindy over to her new owners. She is now w/ Liz and MIke, good friends in Durham who live across the street from my sisters. She will have two people and one dog in her new pack - I can't think of a better situation. The picture is one of Mindy and her friend Fidel, a Javanese puppy - the only dog she will play with. I definitely developed a strong attachment to her in the year and a half she stayed with me. While I know I will miss my good friends and family very much while I'm gone, parting from Mindy is an acute ache.

I'm back in Asheville dealing with all the various wrapping up details. It seems like alot and I'm trying to combine the cleaning up, packing, sorting, etc. with serious friend time. Phone conversations with a couple of old friends who don't live here. Tonite I had dinner w/ newer - and whom I think will become very good - friends. Tomorrow morning - breakfast with a good friend. Tomorrow night is dinner w/ my closest Asheville friends. Whatever doesn't get done will not cause a big problem. Fortunately, I have great help.

Overall, I feel blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and blessed that I get to experience this wonderful adventure.

Leaving the western world

Getting ready to go is proving to be a harder task than I thought.

Here's a pic of what happens when you start REALLY cleaning out.

This is cleaning out just "a few things" in my storage place. The helpers are my sister Bobbe and my friend Tom. My sister Chery has been here since Saturday and thru this afternoon helping with the massive clean and declutter the house effort.

Here's another pic of trying to shove 10 pounds in a 5 pound

bag. My friend Susanne and I are trying to put my sleeping bag in what is laughingly called a stuff sack. Susanne is also helping with the monster declutter effort. Friends have taken away boxes of food, condiments, etc from the kitchen and there is still more to go.

Today I take my dog to her new home in Durham. That should be a pretty traumatic event.

My house still is a wreck right now because so many things are in "staging" - not quite ready yet. By Sunday night, whatever is not done will either remain undone or be completed by someone else.

I'm frazzled from overthinking all the things that have to occur to make this happen. Lots of lists, which I lose and have to make more.

The first suitcase is packed and weighed in at 45 pounds. I have one more suitcase to go and it has to be 50 pounds of less. Anything leftover is going to get mailed to me. Susanne and Chery and toting stuff out of the house to who knows where. I must join the process.

blog

Here's a new blog.  

 

Elizabeth Lynne Pou
25 Broad Street
Asheville, NC 28801
lpou@aol.com

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See what's free at AOL.com.

Good friends

I'm blessed to have many wonderful friends. Here is a pic of some with whom I had lunch last Saturday. They surprised me with presents for Armenia (which they will send later. As a special treat, they arranged with a local spa for spa services for us all. They gave me a hot stone massage which was wonderful.

Step sisters, I'll miss you!!

Here's another friend and her dog. Anne and I have known each other since 1964, when we started college at the same place. Tho we were separated for years as we led our separate lives, we started getting together again in the early 80s for occasional vacations, mostly to Key West. We now both live in western NC. This pic is her newest of 5 dogs, 4 of which are labs, black, yellow and chocolate females. Worthy, a male, is the latest addition. UNC fans might understand why Worthy is a good name for a champion.

12 days

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - much to do and little willingness to do it - I've spent most of the morning searching for a decent blogspot I can use for my journal. May have to separate journal and photos. Before I write much more I want to make sure this is the right place for a blog.