July 27, 2012 (Friday)

So every year the capital city, Yerevan, has a big dance session at one of the central monuments/points in Yerevan and all the volunteers are told to go and experience some Armenian dancing. My sister, of course knowing this happens every year, asked me if she can come and if she can bring her boyfriend… secretly of course.. haha she had the whole thing planned out already! We would go separately and meet him there, then she would be able to hang out with him while I chaperoned, of course haha. It’s crazy all the measures they have to go through just to spend some time together… it’s really kind of sad. It was like the first time she got to hang out with him for more than 20 minutes in like 6 months or something. And they’ve been going out for more than 5 years now!!

ANYWAYS, we got to dance Armenian style with like a billion other people in the middle of the capital city and it was just a lot of fun. The beautiful Cascade, which is where the place is called, was lit and everyone was sweating and dancing and getting to know these Americans who can speak a little Armenian! J  We had a great time.

This is the view from the top of the Cascade. Beautiful right?! And look at all the people down below. They're all dancing! Armenians truly love their dancing and music and arts. SO PERFECT FOR ME, RIGHT!??!?!

Me and my sis. That's probably the most "scandalous" I've ever seen her dress haha BUT that's because we were in Yerevan, and everything "goes" in Yerevan cause "Yerevan is nothing like the rest of the country."

July 26, 2012 (Thursday)

My cat is officially a mama today!

THREE LITTLE ONES!

I woke up this morning, got my toiletries, walked over to the bathroom, and said good morning to my family, “balee louise,” like I do every morning, but this time my papa stopped me and said, “you know Kooka is a mom?” and I said “ya, I’ve known, she’s getting fatter,” and he says “no, she’s a mom now!” I was so excited and shocked cause I swore she was only pregnant for like a month! My sister took me to her room and there in a box were 3 little squirming things. CRAZY! First time I’ve ever seen a baby animal on it’s first day on earth!

It's funny cause just the night before Kooka was acting funny and making all kinds of noises. She kept trying to hide behind my back and look at the crevices in the house but no one ever imagined it was cause she was about to give birth!! She wasn't even THAT big yet! haha

July 25, 2012 (Wednesday)

A group of us are practicing an Armenian song for our Peace Corps “Swearing In” day, which is where all the volunteers who have made it through the training session become official Peace Corps Volunteers. There’s an official ceremony, we sign our names, and get the official Peace Corps pin! It’s the day we commit and start our TWO YEARS OF SERVICE!

Oh right, when is this special day? In exactly 2 weeks! After 2 weeks, we are done with our training, we start our 2 years service, we move to our new and permanent site/village, and… AHH it’s all happening. I’m really here. I really know Armenian. I’m really IN the Peace Corps. Has this hit any of you yet? It’s still such a dream to me…

July 24, 2012 (Tuesday)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAL MOM! I’m sorry I can’t be there to make you breakfast, give you a massage, and a big long hug! BUT I did send you your favorite flowers … with dad’s money HEHE love you mom! You will always be my first mom and THE BEST mom! Haha Sorry I keep calling everyone my mama here… it’s just easier to say than “host mom” and I feel uncomfortable calling them by their names! J

Yeayuhhh my mom is all tech-savvy now and knows how to send pictures! haha proud of you mom :)

I helped bag grain for flour today. My dad went to the field with this big tractor and brought home a truckload of grain. We raked and bagged them so that we can dry bag by bag and eventually make it into flour… somehow. I’m not sure how that works, but I’m sure I’ll be able to watch that soon.

My grandma and papa. Look at our pile of grain! Apparently it's not as much as last year though... oh well.

After some hard work my sister and I decided to have some fun with watermelon! It was a hot day and big slices of “smiley-face” watermelon sounded perfect… so we went at it! It was messy and refreshing and just the best picture moment.

I think we're cute. Gosh it was so hot that day...

July 22, 2012 (Sunday)

So this is how a wedding goes. You go to the girl or man’s house, depending on what side you are related/friends with, then you watch the bride or groom get prepared and have this big ceremonial thing there. I was on the bride’s side this time so we went to her house, watched her brother put her shoes on for her (traditional), then her gloves, and then her veil. Then the man has to come to her house to “pick her up” and we have this big ceremonial “meeting” for them. A couple shots of alcohol here and there, lots of talking, etc. and then we dance her out of her house and head back over to the man’s house with a brand new suitcase for the bride for her first night at the man’s house. We scope around the man’s house and have another little party there, then we finally dance back out and head over to the church for a short ceremony. It’s usually not private and there are other weddings or other people just walking around… kind of odd to me, but that’s how it’s done. Finally after the ceremony with the priest and everything, we head over to the restaurant for HOURS of dancing and HOURS of eating. Dinner usually starts around 5 or 6pm and goes until midnight. The bride and groom usually do a little dance for the crowd, then there’s a dance for the “horovauts,” which is basically the BBQ’d meat that they serve at every single wedding, then like I said, it’s DANCING, EATING, DRINKING, DANCING, and more EATING and DRINKING for 6 hours!

Both the boy and the girls house has this kind of extravagant setting with pretty foods and flowers on a table with LOTS of alcohol on the side for the "pre-party" ...

The girls on the left. My Armenian parents on the right! We went to this beautiful park in Yerevan for the new couple to take some pictures together.

The famous pretty church in Yerevan where the couple got married. There were like 3 other weddings going on at the same  time. It was ridiculous. They really have no privacy in their weddings... it's really kind of strange.

The priest person does all this ceremonial stuff for a bit, then we all kiss and congratulate the now official couple and then we head out to the restaurant!

We had these cute little paper packets with rose petals in them... good idea! Maybe for my wedding .... someday way later.

Dancing… there’s a lot of it… and it’s not the typical type of dancing we all know. It’s ARMENIAN dancing… which is a lot of hand movement and face-paced feet skipping/tapping ? haha Don’t get me wrong, it’s WAY easier to do than how we dance back in the States, but no matter how I dance, I get a lot of stares, awes, questions, and CAMERAS. So many cameras and video recorders. The wedding video man actually took his video recorder and taped me from head to toe while I danced because he was so “intrigued” by the way I danced… I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing and if I was dancing well or badly, but either way, he was not ashamed to get right up in my face and record me… then of course the “Macarena” song comes up and I get so excited cause they were playing a song in English and I get ALL the attention cause I was actually dancing to it properly and everyone wanted to “follow the American.” Ha Ha. I really wish I could dance better so I don’t represent American’s poorly haha L 

July 21, 2012 (Saturday)

Have you ever had curlers in your hair to sleep with before?! I can officially say I have and… it was the worst sleep of my life. LIFE. Dear goodness gracious it was so uncomfortable and I can’t believe people would do this to themselves for the sake of beauty! My hair wasn’t even that great afterwards… such a disappointment HAHA anyways, my second wedding tomorrow! I’m not sure if I’m excited or tired or… haha not sure what I’m feeling, but it’s my second and guess what… it’s not my last! I have another one to go to in a week! “Ai kaez baun!” = Oh My Gosh!