June 19, 2012 (Tuesday)
My older brother was supposed to leave tonight but he missed
his flight somehow! I couldn’t understand the full story, but he’s still here!
Haha I told him God didn’t want him to go cause then I would have zero
brothers, meaning zero chauffeurs, meaning not so much a “princess status” anymore…
right?! Also, my sister and I can do less things because we’re not really
allowed to go to a lot of places without one of our brothers… just because it’s
a “rule” with the family and because it’s “safer” as well. I can say I agree
and disagree, but it definitely was a lot more fun having brothers taking me
places and always telling me they’ll beat up any man who calls me out in the
streets HAHA
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| My family. Left to Right: Garageen, Mom, Pop, Gaeraum, Me, Tateek, Gayane |
June 18, 2012 (Monday)
My baby rabbit is getting so big! I’m excited. He’s MINE and
the whole family knows it. They always ask me how “Pbo-pbo” is doing hehe J
I just found out both my brothers might leave me in a day or
two! They both don’t want to go but in order to make money for the family,
themselves, and their future families they have to because Armenia doesn’t
provide enough job opportunities. Imagine how difficult it must be. They’re so
used to having their mother and sister take care of all their household needs
and now they have to go to Russia alone and work every single day in rough
conditions. I think I’m sad FOR them and not so much because they’re leaving. I
might not see them for a year! Crazy how this is a very common/normal thing for
the boys of these families… sad. Makes me sad. I think I already got so
attached to this family and I’m worried for the upcoming month to come when I have
to leave them to go to my permanent site, which BY THE WAY I find out this
upcoming Monday! AHHH Peace Corps tells me where I’ll be for the next two
years! Like I said, this training is intense, but a sort of vacation compared
to what we most likely will be placed in for the next two years. I will let you
know ASAP!
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| First and only real picture with my older brother before he left |
June 17, 2012 (Sunday)
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Sorry I have to miss out on your
birthday, father’s day, and anniversary! Haha Sad L
Called my “America dad” to wish him a good day and he told
me it looks like I’m on vacation and not Peace Corps, which is sort of true…
for now haha but he’s not lying! It is kind of true!
Anyways, I can’t believe I’m going into my fourth week!
Almost our one-month anniversary in Armenia! It feels like it’s been super slow
and super fast all at once. I can’t believe I’m in the state I am now after
only three weeks. It’s crazy! How does one get to know a language like this and
become a part of a community like this in such a short period of time?!
For example, I went to the market with my mom and brother
today and everyone was asking my mother who I was because we were clinging arms
everywhere and I could converse with her and understand what was going on so I
obviously wasn’t just a tourist. Her answer to all their questions was “she’s
my daughter.” I loved it. Everything about it was so heart warming to me. The
way she always made sure I was clung on to her, the way my brother went back
and forth from us to the car so that we didn’t have to carry much, and just
everything in general … I’ll cry if they place me too far away from this family
after training. Armenia is small but BIG! It would suck to live so far from
them!
They don’t have liquid gas gas, they have actual air gas
gas! Their car runs on the air gas?? Everyone has to get out of the car, the
car has to be completely turned off, and the “gas” (or whatever it is) goes in
through the trunk of the car in this little tube. It takes a long time too, but
apparently it’s really cheap and goes for a long time.
My Sunday surprise this week was apple crumble! I bought
ingredients from the market and Kate and I made baked a delicious (super sweet
><) apple crumble! They don’t have brown sugar in Armenia so that’s why
it was way too sweet, but it didn’t turn out so bad and I bought ice cream to
go with it so it went pretty well. I really hate watching people eat food I
make haha I need to marry a man who will cook for me cause I can eat anything,
I just can’t stand eating my own food in front of others… it’s weird, I know.
June 16, 2012 (Saturday)
OUR PAVEMENT IS FINISHED! “VAERCH!” It’s amazing what the
men here can do, especially compared to the men in America. I think after
living in Armenia for two years my standards will be so much higher of men than
it used to. I think I’ll expect men to be too handy dandy… way beyond “American
man standards” haha
Anyways, COWS SCARE THE POOPERS OUT OF ME! When they’re far
away I’m super interested and it looks cool, but when they’re anywhere close to
me I get spooked and feel like they’re going to charge. That’s another video I
have to show you!
I went to a couple villages over to the city of Abovian by
the bus system they have here and ended up going to a café with some other
Peace Corps volunteers with my brother and two of his Armenian girl friends.
Afterwards we headed out to this famous church with some amazing craftwork.
Apparently this really rich Armenian guy’s daughter is going to get married in
it in a few months so they’re fixing it up. When we got there it was closed but
my brother talked with the security guard and since we were Americans he let us
in and was more than happy to spend time with us “Americans” haha . IT WAS
GORGEOUS. I love everything about this country. I can’t say enough how lucky
I’ve been and I can’t wait for this training service to be over in another two
months and finally start my two years of service here in Armenia.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Armenia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Armenia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Hey Andrea! Good to read your blog again. Hope we can talk sometime while you still have good internet connection! I love the story about you and your mom at the market. So proud of you for getting to know the language and not looking like a tourist! LOL
ReplyDeleteMan, I can't believe your brothers have to go to Russia to work. That's disappointing that so many Armenian men have to separate from their families to make a living. I wonder why there isn't many jobs for them to do in Armenia. From your descriptions of the place, Armenia sounds like a country full of natural resources. That being said, I would think there would be lots of ways to harvest them in a sustainable way and make a living out of it. Like the company that makes my peach jam! They're based in Armenia! I still eat my toast with it every day!
ReplyDeleteJust thought I'd put a "Like" on your picture of the whole family!
ReplyDeleteCrazy Andrea. Crazy adventures. Perfect for you (:
ReplyDelete