June 27, 2012 (Wednesday)

ONE MONTH SPEAKING EXAM.

We’re one month in and everyone at the Peace Corps office is curious about our language progress! It wasn’t the “official” test, but they wanted us to feel how it was like and just see where we were at in this stage. Long story short, I didn’t study at all because of the wedding yesterday, but I didn’t care because I’m already in one of the top classes and I can get my point across most of the time! That’s all I need right?! Anyways, to celebrate our one month exam/anniversary, Kate and I decided to go to the town over to buy ingredients for chocolate chip cookies! Neither of our families have ever heard of a cookie so we thought it would be a nice gesture and an experiment in itself as well!

Blah blah blah, we made M&M Cookies and they turned out pretty darn well! My family liked it and so did hers. SUCCESS! The end!

June 26, 2012 (Tuesday)

GUESS WHAT?! I went to an Armenian wedding today! A traditional Armenian wedding! It was for my boy cousin who I never met, but he lived in the village right next door and was marrying this girl from two villages over.


I got to skip out on class = YAY

Mama and Papa. Sister and Brother. PRETTY

I got my hair done by the village hair dresser and it was less than 4 bucks! I didn’t want her to do my hair at first because the Armenian hair-style is a bit crazy for me, but it turned out okay! I guess you can see and judge for yourself, but I thought it was alright, unless of course my sense of style is turning Armenian already haha

I don’t have the time or energy to write all about the wedding now, and probably won’t write about it later, BUT it was a great day and I had tons of fun, and my mouth was open for a lot of it just because it was so interesting, and I danced like an Armenian and got to be a part of the intense festivities of the day.



I had to speak in front of all the guests at the wedding because I was “the American” and was apparently more interesting than the bride and groom HAHA oops ><

The host introduced me as “the Korean from American who is Christian and single.” He later told me I’m the first Asian he has ever met who was Christian… what the heck?! HAHA he was SO intrigued that I was Asian and Christian and from America.

My papa made me dance. We ate and ate and ATE...



June 25, 2012 (Monday)

ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY IN ARMENIA! One month ago today I arrived in Armenia! I can’t believe how time has flown and I can’t believe I’ve done all the things I’ve done so far. Like I keep saying, I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS COUNTRY and I can see two years flying by in the blink of an eye.

MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF THE DAY THOUGH….    SITE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Today’s the day we find out where we will be for the next two years and who our new host family will be AND what level kids we will be teaching AND at what school AND who our counterpart teacher will be! Basically… it’s a BIG DAY!

I can’t say exactly where I’ll be going on this blog, BUT I can tell you that I think I will LOVE it and I know that I will have running water (hopefully hot as well) and that I have a toilet INSIDE, which is probably one of the most important matters. I think I also get the whole second floor of this house to myself, which sounds like a dream to me! I have a grandma, grandpa, papa, mama, 15 year old sister, and 13 year old brother J I will be teaching at a Secondary School and have two girl counterparts to work with. One is the same age as me and the other is only about 10 years older. I’m SUPER excited to meet them and start working with them!

June 24, 2012 (Sunday)

Village Game Day! All the volunteers in my village and I created a game day for our village so we could get to know the children and families around us.

IT WAS RAINING CATS AND DOGS! Just an hour before we were supposed to start! We were bummed but we knew that the kids here were nothing like the kids in America …. Haha they’re more “tough” here HAHA so we went out at the time we posted and there were kids waiting out in the rain! About 30 minutes later the rain stopped and we were able to play all the games we intended to: hot potato with water balloons, limbo, sharks and minnows, three-legged race, red light green light, etc etc! It was tons of fun, we had books as prizes for the kids so they could read more at home, and the kids seemed to really appreciate it all.

The best part of it all was that an hour after our “game day” ended, I went out into the streets to go to my family’s market and every single kid I saw on the way said “barev” to me with a smile, which before they were too shy to say anything and would just stare. ISN’T THAT EXCITING?! It’s been raining a lot lately, but as soon as it clears up a bit I’ll definitely try and play more games with the kids out on the “football” field (I’m still getting used to calling soccer “football” haha)

June 23, 2012 (Saturday)

 Finished a drawing I was working on ever since I got back from the art museum today! Looking at art really made me want to draw and everything… done! What do you think? It’s “Twiggy” … she was a famous model way back in the day and I think she’s way too skinny but still really pretty. I’ll have to draw more cause it really relaxed me for the past couple days. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on that as well!

We learned the verb for “to get fat” today… I hope I’m not getting fat! It’s a very high possibility though cause there are potatoes and bread at EVERY SINGLE MEAL. You can’t have a meal without bread… it would be completely taboo if there was no bread on the table and EVERYONE eats bread at EVERY meal too! Goodness I am going to come home with a belly full of bread and potatoes and it won’t be pretty!

June 22, 2012 (Friday)

Watched our baby pig get a bath today because he’s sick and I guess it helps somehow? 

We also recently got about 20 new baby chicks and made a little house for them. They’re so cute! To make up for my missing baby rabbit Pbo-pbo, I named one of the new chicks… they’re not as cool cause you can’t hold them and pet them, but I guess they’ll have to do for now L I named one “Shakar” meaning “sugar” in Armenian because he has this little “mohawk" and in Armenia they believe that when you’re scared, your sugar rises … so going along with MY logic, I named him sugar because it looks like his hair is rising from fear = sugar. Yea yea? Haha if you know me at all, that all just made perfect sense! My family thinks it’s hilarious. My brother always says “shakar” when he tries to scare me haha but that’s also because my Armenian is so limited so it’s the only way he knows I understand what he’s talking about HAHA.

June 21, 2012 (Thursday)

My brother was supposed to leave AGAIN this morning but somehow it got all messed up again so he came back, AGAIN! If the drive wasn’t too far it wouldn’t have been a big deal but they have to drive almost THREE HOURS to get to the airport in Georgia in order to go to Russia (for some reason) and it is NOT a fun trip. “Papa” was pretty upset but it seems like my brother is liking it cause he didn’t want to go in the first place haha

Something that made me sad was that I found out my brother was helping this other boy go to Russia with him because this boy, who is only 18 years old, is the only child of parents who are both sick and can’t work. He doesn’t have grandparents and their extended family doesn’t really exist so he has to go to Russia in order to make enough money to help support the family… at the age of EIGHTEEN! And because my brother couldn’t get on the plane cause of that Russian company’s mistake, the other boy didn’t want to go either because it was his first time to Russia and he was scared to go without my brother…. Ahhh I was so heartbroken hearing that. My brother has been to Russia many times so he was familiar, but imagine this little 18 year old going alone to another country to work, not knowing the language well, and having the burden of having to support his whole family. Hurts!

Random but here’s a picture of my cat “Kooka” eating her fish. It doesn’t only happen in cartoons! Cats really do LOVE fish and eat the bones and everything with no problem! It’s crazy … at least it was crazy to me haha

June 20, 2012 (Wednesday)

Saddest Day In Armenia Yet … Saddest Day of the Month… Saddest Day EVER!!!

My baby “Pbo-pbo” died L I left for the capital, Yerevan, early in the morning with the rest of the volunteers and came back to the sad news! My sister says he ate too many greens and just overfed himself, but…. SO SAD! “DAHOREM!”

On top of all that my younger older brother left this morning. He drove me to school one last time even though I live a 4-minute walk away and we said bye. I gave him a stringed paper-crane thing I made for “good luck,” took our first and last picture together, and said goodbye “hajyo.” Later I came home to find a gift on my desk! He wrote “Fore my sistr Andrea. Is Garegeen” on the card with this cute little gold picture holder so I can put our polaroid in it. Super freaking sweet. Can’t wait until I can have a full conversation with him again when he comes back in a year! Haha I hope I can surprise him with my FLUENT Armenian in a year haha I CAN ONLY HOPE.

Sweet, right?!

So like I said, we went to Yerevan as a group today so we can see the Peace Corps headquarters and visit some of the many museums Yerevan has to offer. The city is GORGEOUS by the way! Super modern and like any other city I’ve ever been in before. We got to choose two out of the many museums to go to and I chose the art and history museums. I walked around the art museum with my friend David and we were drawn to all the same pieces, we were “full (“kousht”) of art” afterwards haha that was our new expression of the day. The art was just exquisite and I forgot how much I love to draw… going to a museum made me want to draw so I came home and did so after buying a bunch of supplies at a bookstore in Yerevan.

At Yerevan Square with one of my favorites, David! We're collecting "FOB" myspace headshots together every time we meet, which won't be often anymore because he's placed so far away from me! BOO.
And that's a picture of me in the Armenian Art Museum.

I bought donuts and it was my family’s first time ever seeing them! I’m glad I randomly decided to get donuts and share with my family haha all us fatties in America and our donuts HAHA they loved it though. I’ll have to get them more next time J

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

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 :)

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!


June 17, 2012 (Sunday)

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Sorry I have to miss out on your birthday, father’s day, and anniversary! Haha Sad :(

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

Nice right?!?! All by hand! I watched the whole process. So neat.

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.

My younger older brother and his two friends at the top that he works with at a cell phone company. We had a great time even with the language barrier but that's also because they had such a great relaxed attitude.

 

Church in Abovyan. Kate, Garaegeen, Me!