4th of July and Site Announcement
Trip Start
Jan 15, 2005
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Trip End
Apr 27, 2006
All the trainees and PC PST staff celebrated 4th of July with our host families!! We drove an hour outside of Vanadzor to a open field on the side of a mountain. Wow!! We split up into our host villages and set up a picnic spot. The men of the village built fires and cooked the barbeque. Some families own cars and so drove them to the picnic area so some places could have music to dance to. We played frisbee. Some played batmittan. Some played soccer. That was a bad scene!! It was Armenians against Americans. Jesse (my village person) was diving to stop a goal and was kicked in the side of the face!!! He had to go to the hospital in Vanadzor. And then, the doctors decided to send him to the PC Office to see our doctors. Well, he was med-a-vac'ed to Washington DC. He broke some bones in his jaw!! He was able to come and see us and stay to hear where his site will be. If he is able to get back into the country even an hour before we swear in, he will be allowed to swear in. That is awesome because he definately should be a volunteer. In the village we joked that he had this happen so that we could catch up with him langauge wise. After Jesse left, the trainees in my village made sure we toasted him many times. My host father and the mayor of my village (jennifer's host father) tried to out do each other with toastes!! It was fun!! And there is nothing like having my host father (who I think is a cool guy) convince me to take another shot. "Come on!! You'll sleep good tonight!!" (in armenian) After eating, I went and danced with trainees from other villages and some of the host families. WE all joined hands and formed a chain. There we were on the 4th of July in Armenia, on the side of a mountain with cows on the side of the mountain in front of us, and us laughing and dancing and trying not to slip in cow poop, having a blast!! Later on, I danced behind one of the cars from another village to american music. Then, I went back to my village spot and looked up and there was a kid riding bareback through our picnic area on a beautiful horse!! Not something I would have seen in America. Kelvin (another one of my village people) brought his guitar with him. We sat around singing songs. About 20 of us trainees sat around passing the guitar to other trainees who can play and we sang all kinds of songs. Especially the Beatles. (back in the ussr, let it be, all you need is love) Awesome!! I wanted to help with set up and take down of the picnic area but apparently, I don't know quite how to do it!! I was going right ahead and throwing food away!! Shame on me!! So, I just backed away and looked helpless. In America on the 4th, we all know it means hotdogs and hamburgers. Here it means Harovitz. Harovitz is Armenain for barbeque. They take either pork or chicken and put it one 3 foot long squewers and then put those over a fire. YUM!! And then they cut potatoes in half and do the same thing. Then, you eat that while doing shots of either vodka or wine. No such thing as sipping of wine here!! Oh now!! Throw that wine down your throat. Good stuff too. Sometimes. The mayor cut Jennifer, Elvira and myself off! It isn't very proper for women to drink vodka but we are Americans so it is a little more okay. But then later, my host dad called me over for one last shot of vodka (after the mayor went away) and I turned to my host mom with a "look what your husband is trying to get me to do" look on my face and she said "what do you mean you don't want another shot?!" So, I shrugged my shoulders and took the shot. While going up the mountain, my host dad put his arm around his wife (something I never saw in uzbekistan) and took a hold of my elbow to help my up to the road. Very cool. Okay, on 5th of July, after language class, I went home and there was my sister in law (mary) and my sister (Sona) in the kitchen working on Sona's hair. They had died their hair. They died it the same color. It turns out, when one woman in a family dies her hair, at least one other woman will dye her hair the same color. Apparently, I am a bit armenian because I too had my hair died the same color as the two of them!! Mary took me into vanadzor and I got my hair cut at a place that was ALMOST like a saloon back in the states! My hair cut was really nice (just a trim). It cost 500 Dram ($1) NICE!! AND, they actually had a place to wash your hair! No leaning over face first into a sink and having warm water from a bucket slowly poured over your head like the saloon in uzbekistan!! After the haircut, we went to Mary's mother's store. I bought perfum!! I have been wanting to do that since January!! I bought a watch!! and I bought hair dye. WE went home and had dinner and neighbors came over and we talked (they talked, I sat and tried to pick out a word or two I knew) and then we died my hair while other neighbors came in and talked. There I was in the middle of the living room with Mary putting dye in my hair and my sister sitting on the couch talking with two other women. Lots of fun!! Then we washed out my hair and went into my bedroom and Mary blew dry my hair and styled it while my nephews, niece and sister watched me. I got all kinds of compliments on the color! It is called Cognac in case you are wondering. :) Yesterday, we found out where our sites are going to be. Next week, we are going to our sites. I got another posh site! They wanna make sure that I have a nice site because they think I have been through a lot! (the current volunteers have told me that I am probably the strongest of all the volunteers in armenia because I am doing two psts in one year. What ever!! let's see how long I actually stay!!) I am going to be living in Dilijan which is in the Tavush region of Armenia. Tavush is in the northeast part of the country and is the prettiest region!! Dilijan was a very popular resort town during soviet times. Rumor has it that I will have a lot of room at my host families house and maybe my own toilet!! I will be working at the Dilijan Medical College. Can you believe this? It is a nursing college that trains nurses. 2 or 3 year nursing programs. Eventually, I will be teaching nurses! I will be helping to strengthen the curriculum and I will be helping to acquire resources, oh! and I will be helping to organize seminars and other lectures!! Craziness. There is only one other volunteer in Armenia who is working at a nursing college. It is a posh position. There are also 5 other volunteers in the city. And I will only be an hour and a half outside of Yerevan the capital. Okay, i believe I have talked your ear off enough for now! Thanks Amy for the letter!! I got it today. I will write you soon. Thanks everyone!! Take care! Laura
