Arrival with my PST Host Family

June 9, 2010

On Tuesday June 2 we had a big ceremony at the hotel to meet our host families for PST (Pre Service Training), which will be a period of 10 weeks. At the ceremony we watched some authentic Armenian dancing, drum playing and singing all performed by nearby school children and then met our families. I was presented with flowers from who I thought was my “sister” Emma, only to find out that my family, except for my youngest brother, apparently hadn’t made it. I found out Emma is my “cousin” who was hosting another volunteer and I was graciously given a ride home with my aunt, uncle, two cousins and a fellow EE volunteer. Yes, that adds up to 6 in a sedan. But we were riding in high style in our Mercedes, whereas other volunteers’ cars had to be push started and most of them looked like a 1970s model that had or should have been recalled. The Soviet/Russian mob boss jokes were rampant (and I cant say with 100% assurance that those comments have been disproved yet ;)).
Our group of 58 A-18ers (the 18th group of volunteers in Armenia) is divided up by sector among the small villages which have a wide range of amenities. I am living in Teghenik, in the Kotayk Marz region with an approximate population of about 500; however, I have only encountered maybe 100 so far. The other volunteers are in villages surrounding the town Charentsavan in Solak, Fantan, Arzakan, Qarshamb, Alapars and Karenis. I arrived at my house nervous for the second time that day to meet my family but was pleasantly surprised by their welcome! They are so nice and immediately the Armenian hospitality we had heard so much about was evident. My youngest brother, Gor, hoisted my luggage through the yard to the house and up the stairs to my room while I met my homestay parents: Nara and Rudzic. I have two other brothers, Garen and Garnek who are 19 and 20 and usually do not live at home. But Gor who is 14 is the most adorable, smiling boy and I absolutely love him. My dad’s brother, Rodzic (please not the similarity in all these names!), who drove me home lives across the street with his wife, son Haik 19, Emma 15 and Lilit 7 and my tatik (granny). Most of the time it doesn’t seem like there is a street between our houses as the mix of the families in the compounds (what I call the houses) is always changing and actual residents can only be determined by who sleeps where. And I love that about this place.

My typical day right now runs something like this: I am the first person awake because I am the first person to bed at night as the culture here is to have everyone (small children included) to stay up past midnight. I usually study a bit in the morning and then get ready for school. My mom has breakfast made for me when I come down stairs and never is there less than 4 full breakfast options being offered. I head to school which consists of me walking out of the compound and even though I can see the school once on the road it is an uphill walk but only about 5 minutes. Language class runs from 9-1:30 and it is shocking how quickly it goes by and also how much we have all ready learned in a week! Granted, to my family I probably sound like a toddler. Every now and again I like to read my Scientific American to remind myself that I am intelligent and can comprehend big ideas and thoughts, they just need to be in English.
I head home from school and my mom is waiting with lunch. It depends on the day and the activities going on but usually Gor eats with us bc I’ll catch him running around on my way home from school and he’ll follow me. After lunch I will head upstairs to study, but usually end up falling asleep for a quick nap. Twice a week I head back to school at 3 for our Technical Training for the Environmental Educationers, but on days with nothing in the afternoon I continue to study until my brain is about to burst with Armenian conjugations and go for a break. This consists of going to play with my puppy who lives across the street. Yes, I said “my”. Animals here are pretty much abused, and so when I was adoring the small puppy that my aunt and uncle had and loving it they asked me if I liked dogs. Yes , of course.
What would you like to name it.
Err, Milo?
Great, it is your dog.
And my aunt shoved it into my arms and pushed me out of their compound with the puppy. So I have a dog. And her name was soon changed to Lady GaGa. For those of you who know me, you will understand the high respect I have for this woman and clearly the love represented for this puppy by naming her so.
More studying and then a break for running with some volunteers in the neighboring village. They come with a host sister and village boy who half the time wears sandals. It is a nice break though and opportunity to get outside. Hopefully a shower follows soon after the run, but definitely is not always the case (not by choice obviously but determined by water resources). A delicious dinner where there are at least 10 plates with different foods being offered and more vodka. Some nights the volunteers in our village meet up or I will do more studying and pass out early hoping that the Armenian I just stuffed into my brain doesn’t disappear as I sleep.
On Wednesdays we have Central Days in Charantsavan where all the volunteers are together and we do Safety and Security, Medical info and other very riveting activities. All of course I am sure are very pertinent and worthwhile to our success in country, just sometimes it is a bit exhausting. However, today’s medical session on STDs and HIV/AIDS ended with quite the hands on activity: we all got to put a condom on a banana just to make sure we all knew how to practice safe sex. I think abstinence for two years is a great idea.
Highlights from the first week with my PST family:
• Being offered vodka at my first dinner which they drink plain out of shot glasses and has a much higher proof than what we are used to in the states. I drank minimini sips for each toast. 6 toasts later and without any chaser I decided I did not need to drink with my family. Although I say no every meal, I am still offered Vodka all the time.
• Finding the present from Megan in my suitcase as I was unpacking. To those of you who contributed, thank you so much, I loved them all and really appreciate it.
• Having school children walk past our language class all the time to watch us crazy Americans try to learn their language. Also, they just enjoy looking at us.
• Trying to communicate being a vegetarian. An unsuccessful attempt. But I figure if I’m going to eat meat this is probably a fair place to eat it considering everything is fresh from this village if not our orchard or our neighbors cow and chickens.
• Working on homework after lunch at the kitchen table when my mom plops half a rear end of a cow on the table and starts carving away. Imagine me writing flash cards and two feet away is meaty goo flying each way and my mom non-chalantly helping me with my pronunciation.
• Constantly playing Charades with my family. Trying to figure out if the word they had told me was for beef or cow was very interesting. I moo’d and then played a dead cow. Haha. For anything dead my mom knows the English “Game Over” to explain it. haha.
• Being stopped daily by the old man with a cane who walks up and down the hill in the evening and always wants to talk to me. I literally cannot understand ANYTHING he ever says to me.
• Puppy hunting with Gor
• When offered tomato juice at lunch I tried to explain that vodka with tomato juice is very popular in the states. My father though that was the craziest thing and was pretty much appalled.
• My father and his brother, Rudzic and Rodzic, attempting to install some new water heater or something. They looked exactly like Dad and Dan attempting to make or fix something without actually having a clue what they were doing. They sautered and shoved and I just laughed at them and they continue to think that I am crazy. Hahaha. I guess I should be thankful though since I do have hot showers most of the time. Yay!
• Playing “Guess the Letter” during language class. If you have taken a look at the Armenian alphabet you will notice that contorting your body into those letters is quite the challenge and provides serious entertainment during class. We also get yelled at by the local teachers for being too loud. Whoopsies.
• Having my mom offer me her blow dryer to use. Clearly she thinks I could be looking better. I have yet to take her up on the offer though.
• Waking up and knowing I was dreaming in Armenian but not knowing what in the world was going on in the dream.
• Getting a cell phone! So if you want to call me you can, and if you get a crazy random number you don’t recognize don’t screen it! it is probably me, or, I apologize for you having to talk to a telemarketer from India.
• Being force-fed dolmas. Although delicious, the family just wants to push more and more food on us. Finally I just put my plate under the table when they tried to fill it up again.
• Dancing with Lilit, the 7 year old in front of the family at a party. Then letting Lilit touch and poke my face apparently trying to figure out what I was. I think I have been accepted as a non-alien now.
• Hiking this past Sunday. We hiked up the hill on the backside of our village and found ourselves halfway up the mountain in fields and fields of wildflowers. Wild rose bushes, red poppies, lilacs, thistles, buttercups and others I couldn’t recognize. We then did some trailblazing to go to the village nearby and trekked through flowers that were growing over my head. The flowers, views and wildlife buzzing about were gorgeous and simply stunning.
• Teaching at our first Central Day “How to Acquire the perfect 80s attire (while living in Armenia)”. Our assignment was to teach anything we wanted for 8 minutes. After looking through some pictures I decided I have pretty much mastered dressing in 80s attire, and even brought some stuff with me. If you are among the many friends I have dressed up in 80s clothes with there is a really good chance that you made it into my presentation slideshow. So thanks for looking awesome!
Right now there are some stark differences, obviously, in the culture but nothing that I have not been able to easily adjust to. My room is about twice as big here as it was in San Fran. The toilet, although a flush toilet is, well…just different. And the shower. The showerhead has been mounted so I don’t have to hold it, which is nice, the water pressure is meek (I’m being generous) but the biggest difference is that there is no shower curtain. So the water and soap suds just fly everywhere. Of course this has been planned for and there is a drain in the middle of the shower room but still takes some getting used to in placement of your towel and clothes to put on post-shower. I have also decided that I don’t care whether or not my host family knows that I desire a loofah for showering. They haven’t asked me about it but I can only imagine what they think it is. Also, coming home from a run (gasp, I know, but it is so beautiful out I can’t resist running to see some more of the country side) sometimes the water is not available and I have to wait three hours to shower. The food is all cooked in tons of oil which I don’t really like, but on the whole the food is delicious with an abundance of vegetables and especially the tomatoes are so red and ripe: na e shat hamoveh (they are very tasty!)
My phone number, to reach me from the states is: 011374 98-89-1984. I can call for very cheap, and receive texts at no extra cost to you! So send me some love and I’ll call you back with the interesting story from that day. Keep in mind that I am 12 hours ahead of you, and then remember that I don’t care at all when you call me!
It is absolutely gorgeous here in Teghenik and I am very happy with my family and placement. Right now I feel I am just living the dream.