July 4, 2012 (Wednesday)
Happy Independence Day! Happy 4^th of July!

My friend Kate and I attempted to make a feast for our families for this special “American day,” and it turned out alright, but it definitely wasn’t the best! Our baked macaroni and cheese ended up hard and crunchy, the fried chicken was okay, I attempted to make guacamole and chips, but most of them have never seen an avocado before so it was just strange to them. The potato salad was probably the most successful. Then there was a cake, M&M cookies, chocolate, fruits, and fruit punch (with a bit of vodka hehe)! There were no men at this little party cause the dads were all at work and none of our brothers were in Armenia anymore SOOOO just the girls had vodka shots and drank wine haha my mom loved it. Armenian’s really love their alcohol and making cheers every single time.

Later that night my dad took me to the mountains to his “secret place” where him and his friends go to all the time since they were young to get drunk or have BBQ haha it was BEAUTIFUL! In the mountains near this church he put a table, and stuck all these tiny wax candles along the mountain-side. It was a real romantic setting, but with a bunch of old men and my mom and sister HAHA the moon was also super big and the stars were everywhere! I was so in love with the night I didn’t know what to do with myself. I just kept saying “shaut siroon, shaut shaut siroomem” (really pretty, super duper, I love it a lot). One of his friends had this HUGE lighter and if you know me at all, I always have a lighter with me, it’s a weird thing, but I told him I thought it was super cool and he just handed it over to me. Now I have this huge lighter displayed on my desk! Loving it.

June 30 – July 3, 2012 (Weekend)

My new host family. New location. New job. TWO-YEAR COMMITMENT SITE.

I really don’t feel like writing everything cause there’s just too much and I’m so tired! I’ve been taking ginseng pills to get over this exhaustion, but I think I just need one day to sit around, listen to music, watch shows, and be a couch potato haha I know, I’m lazy! But because I want you to know all the little cool things I did this weekend, I shall list them! à

·         My new family makes me eat CONSTANTLY. All the time. Every minute, every hour! It’s ridiculous how skinny they are for the amount they eat! Granted they don’t eat like pigs, but they do eat all the time and force-feed me every chance they get!

·         My new mom doesn’t want me to call her “mom” cause she thinks she’s too young to be my mom and it doesn’t seem like my parents want to grow up or be considered old haha they’re cute. Super adorable young couple.

Minus my new sister who was taking the picture!  

·         New sister and brother. Sister’s name is Areksia, she is 15, and she has the most gorgeous long light-brown slightly curly hair. Brother’s name is Karlos, he is 13, and he is obsessed with soccer. He even gave me this little pink soccer ball keychain and I got to watch him play in his school team. He plays every morning and he’s really good too! I introduced UNO Cards to them and now I have to play it EVERY night with them haha (bad choice :p)

·         My new “papeek,” grandpa, is a goof! He always pushes the back of my head and says I’m his new girl and then goes off in speaking Russian and German to me with such enthusiasm. He’s kind of crazy… haha honestly! He’s odd and loves to just keep talking even though my face obviously shows complete confusion. He also comes to the kitchen in the morning and takes a shot of vodka HAHA I will definitely not have a dull moment with him.

·         I have a second-floor bedroom with my own bed, closet, desk, baby crib, mirror, outlets, and windows! I AM SET. Also, the house is being re-built right now so when I come back in a month to permanently live there, my room will be newly painted and things will be fixed-up a bit. On that note, I had to take my first cold shower in Armenia cause our shower is a bit old, but I think my new parents kind of knew I had to take an uncomfortable shower so later that day they went and got a new shower head and installed it before night time came around. SO SWEET! My dad was so excited that he dragged me into the bathroom, turned on the water multiple times just to show me how smooth it was, and made me feel the hot water. I think I will really love them.

·         One thing I do want to complain about are the lambs outside my window! Every morning, 6am, they are “BAAAAA-ing” like crazy and it sounds like kids crying for their moms. Every morning I was there I ended up waking-up at 6am because of those darn sheep! Haha I guess I’ll have to get used to it. No biggie! Peace Corps always tells us to be “flexible.”

He told me he's going to kill a sheep for me when I come back in a month! haha.. yay(?)

·         Watched my mom milk a cow for the first time this weekend! It was interesting. It looks like hard work too. Her hands were tired after one cow and this might sound weird, but the cows utters (?) looked red too haha eew. I told her next time I would try and do it, but I was too scared to try this time. The milk was also really interesting to look at. Later I watched her make the milk into cheese. She told me I can make the cheese next time as well.


  

Super SUPER fresh milk.



·         Went to a nearby English teacher’s house to meet her and her new twins because she really wanted a volunteer in her school, but the school director didn’t want one so instead she wanted to meet me and become my friend. Again, she fed me like I had an endless pit in my stomach, and of course, I had to eat or else it would slightly be offensive! Haha but by the end of it all she wanted me to be her kids Godmother! I said I was down and that I would be a part of the whole Armenian traditional ceremony and everything! Ahaha AWESOME.

·         Went to see the school I would be teaching in for two years and meet the school director and a couple teachers… I AM SUPER BLESSED. The school is only about a year old. It’s absolutely gorgeous and big and FANTASTIC! I was shocked as to how beautiful it was. Apparently the President of Armenia even came to congratulate the school and take a look. He might even provide some new furniture soon. We have a computer lab, sports complex, and really nice classrooms. The pictures explain it all!

·         My counterpart and school director and other teachers were all super glad to see me. No one had any “beef” with me and they all wanted me there. Previous volunteers and staff would tell us that a lot of volunteers had it rough with people who didn’t want them there and would give them a hard time, but I don’t think that will be my case at all! My director can speak some English and already told me she wanted me to start a choir group and have them perform a month after I arrive there because it’s Teacher’s Day in September and it’s her dream for students to perform in English.

Like I said, I had to come back to Yerevan alone, but it really wasn’t bad! Not scary at all and actually really comfortable cause I had some time to myself and got to relax and listen to some music for 2 hours in a relatively smooth ride in a big type of tour bus. My 2-hour ride was also less than $3! Can’t believe how cheap things are here. I gave the grandpa sitting next to me a piece of chocolate half-way there and he was really happy J After getting off the bus I had to take a Marshutini to the Peace Corps office, but I didn’t really know my way so the bus man helped me. After getting on the correct Marshutini, I guess I missed my stop, but the driver asked me where I was supposed to go and he said that he would turn around in 5 minutes and help me out. He made me come up to the front to sit with him so that he wouldn’t forget about me again haha and then after getting to the right stop, I tried to pay him but he wouldn’t let me! He said it was free and that he was just glad to meet me. Isn’t that sweet?! Armenians are just too kind. Again, I am IN LOVE with this country!

While I was away this weekend my sister in my first village, Gayane, text and called me every day. Kept making sure everything was okay and reminded me constantly that she missed me and was so alone L We even skyped each other one night so she can meet my new family! I AM TOO ATTACHED TO MY FIRST FAMILY! How in the world am I going to leave them and start all over with this new family?! Such a dilemma. I really have to be careful about this. If you know me at all, you know how attached I can get to people and things and animals, etc etc! Yikes.

On the day my brother was leaving for Russia I text him, said my goodbyes, and called him a “houss (pig)” one last time. He later called me an hour before his flight at the airport and we had an understandable conversation all in Armenian with jokes and everything! He said he was glad to have met me and that he was sad to go! That was it! Gone for a year or more…

I came back to my home here in my small village and was greeted with huge hugs and kisses from my mom and sister. And that was that weekend! Glad to be home. Is that weird to say? It was a “home sweet home” feeling and man did it feel good!

June 29, 2012 (Friday)

Saw a double rainbow!!! Surely made my day J Wrote my name in Armenian in the fog on the window of our bus and just watched the double rainbow for 30 minutes. Sounds like a scene in a movie… I even had my headphones in playing Chris Tomlin.

Two different days. First picture of the double rainbow! Do you see it? Second picture of THE biggest rainbow I've ever seen in my life! And you can see the end too!

I’m going to my new site tomorrow for three days as a sort of “trial.” I’m excited and scared and tired and happy all at once. I’ll let you know how it goes! One thing I do know is that coming back from our new site, we have to figure out how to travel on our own back to the capital, Yerevan. Peace Corps wants us to “study” how to get around on our own haha eeeks!

Just found out my brother is leaving for good in two days! After this and that he is finally leaving and I won’t get to see him off cause I’ll be in my new site! My new site is about 2 hours away from Yerevan, which is about 45 minutes away from my village right now, so a total of about 3 hours. My brother said that with his driving and knowledge of the roads he could get me in less than 1.5 hours, but he won’t even be here anymore so it doesn’t matter! I’ll just have to make the 3 hour trip to come visit my family here.

June 28, 2012 (Thursday)

“ARACHEEN ANKAUM HAUNDEEPAUL” = To Meet For The First Time
Today is the day we meet our new counterparts and get to know them.
Long story short … I LOVE HER! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! I’ll have to explain later cause I don’t have a lot of time now, but I am SO HAPPY and I know we’re going to be the best of friends. Oh! And she’s short too!! Shorter than me! Heaven sent?! I think YES! Haha

Counterparts sister, Me, Counterpart! Love both of them

Some Armenian English teachers and a couple volunteers at our first conference together!

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!

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

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!

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. 

June 15, 2012 

I should NOT have said what I said yesterday. I come home and find this man and my two brothers getting ready to kill our second and last fat pig. And of course, being as curious as I am I had to sort of kind of watch … ahhh!

They took a rope, went inside the pen, chased the pig for a good couple minutes, tied the top of his mouth and his tail, walked him out, tied him to a tree, and then… I turned my head, screamed, and did the whole girly thing. I could hear the squeals, shrieks, and then silence. My brothers kept saying “ari ari” meaning “come come” but goodness I was clutched up next to my mother and she just kept telling me it’s nothing and that it doesn’t hurt, “vocheenj, chae heevaund.”

Again… cutting, skinning, cleaning, bagging, and selling of this poor huge fat pig. That was the end of it.

I guess on a brighter note, I had some really good BBQ “horovauts” and the baby pigs get to see sunlight for the first time soon! They’ve been kept inside since they were born and have never been out! I can’t wait to help bring them outside to their new outdoor pen (still sad, but I’m trying to see it positively).

Random fact I just learned from my sister: you have to be baptized three days before your wedding and for those three days after you are baptized you can’t shower. Then you shower the day of your wedding! Kind of interesting I guess. Also, if you’re pregnant you can’t go to church apparently? That’s what I understood from what my sister was telling me.

June 14, 2012 

We had a “Central Day” today where we (A-20’s) got to meet the A-19 group and got to play flag football with them. It was exciting to see how excited they were to see us! Haha they really wanted to get to know us, hang out with us, answer all our questions, and be somewhat of our mentors since they’ve been here for about a year now. It was really encouraging to see how enthusiastic they were to be with us.

So that was all fun and games… then on another note, I come home and…

There’s a dead pig in our garden… blood and cut-up pig limbs all over the place. These men from the capital city, Yerevan, came to buy our pig cause it’s from a village and is super fresh and “juicy” apparently. Then my brother would taxi them back for less than $20 when it’s like an hour away, but that’s a lot of money here. My sister said they get a lot of money for one pig. And let me tell you, this pig was HUGE, so I’m sure they really got their moneys worth.

Later, instead of feeding me the actual meat of the pig, they fed me its heart and lung in a sort of stew haha eeeks not really my “cup of tea.”  I had a tiny piece and ate other things instead. But I did get to watch my mom cut the meat and it was really scary! I’ll try uploading the video of it later, but she basically took this knife and this hammer-like tool and hammered into this meat and its bones and everything. It really was an interesting sight! You had to be there.

Last note, I’m really glad I didn’t see the pig get killed. Would’ve been traumatized.

June 11, 2012

My one brother went to wash the car at the football field, because water from home is apparently really expensive, and he came home with about 20 bug bites all over his back! Eeeks! My other brother came back from working and had a swollen hand from a bee sting! They both acted like it was no big deal and I offered ointment but neither wanted any haha these boys, I swear! He said bee stings are good and that it doesn’t hurt at all, and that in fact they’re actually good for your body cause it helps the blood circulation. Really? I mean, either way, his hand was SWOLLEN, but he could care less haha

I got one bug bite so far and it’s basically by my butt, WHAT THE HECK?! Haha I wear long pants all the time, how in the world does that happen…

June 10, 2012

Thank God It’s Sunday! My only day off of the week! Woke-up late, did my first batch of laundry (which it was super awkward to have to hang-dry my undies >< haha), did homework in the garden, and got ready for my first day out of the village with my family!

Went to a church named Hor Virap that looks over the Turkey-Armenia border today! ANDDDDD sort of/kind of saw NOAH’S ARK LANDING! Although technically it’s now in Turkey (bad Turkey!), Armenian’s still consider it their own and it was so good to see their pride in it. The church was BEAUTIFUL and I got to see a wonderful view of Ararat Mountains.

My mom and sister packed a picnic for our family and we met-up with another Peace Corps volunteer’s family, Marisa’s family. It took us about 40 minutes to go through Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, and go all the way to the Ararat Mountains. My dad loves his loud music haha it was even better when a Selena Gomez song came up and I got to sing along to it and explain that Justin Bieber was her boyfriend (because apparently he’s quite famous here too haha) his name was carved in the walls at my school with a heart next to it HAHA.

As you can see in the pictures, the view was just breath-taking and the Ararat Mountains are super high! 5165 meters high! (Sorry, can’t calculate that for you, but it’s HIGH! You can see the snow at the top).

We went down into this tiny little underground cave(?) Not really sure how to describe it, but anyways, the story about this deep down tomb type of thing is that this man, whom they consider a Saint, was the first man to bring Christianity to Armenia. At the time, he was not allowed to be Christian or say he was, but he did anyway so they put him in this deep hole for 8 years as punishment and only gave him this tiny peephole of sunlight way at the top. The only way he survived was because this woman would drop down water and food down the little peephole for him, and of course, he had God watching over him. After 8 years, the King or someone (?) released him and realized that he survived and that maybe God was real, and then VOILA! Christianity became Armenia’s religion and Armenia was basically THE FIRST country to adopt Christianity AGES ago. COOL, RIGHT?!

Afterwards, we went to this real pretty fish restaurant and had a picnic in one of their outdoor rooms. I had a beer with my dad and had to “cheers” every time I took a sip from it cause the Armenian’s really like their cheers.

Had a perfect Sunday. Came home. Skyped with my parents and friends! Then went to bed happy J

June 9, 2012

Welcome my new baby boy “pbo-pbo”! (‘Kiss’ in Korean). He’s only about 12 days old now and I watched him grow from Day 1. His eyes only started opening about a day or two ago and he is just THE most darling thing keeping me sane from all the studying. He sleeps in my hands and when my brothers try to touch him he hates it ^^ YESSSS. Womanly power.

Took the Marshutini for the first time today! They have this “van” system you can take from town to town for less than 25 cents and people just love to squish all up in them haha in a van for maybe 12 people they fit about 20 HAHA can you imagine?! It felt like Mongolia all over again J Anyways, my friends and I took the Marshutini to a couple towns over and got to buy a bunch of items today. I got to finally buy some toothpaste, shampoo, and art supplies! I planned to make dinner for my family tonight so I bought a cake as well and was super excited to go home and make Curry Rice J

Making curry was no easy task with my lack of cooking skills as well as the lack of good quality cooking materials, I guess you could say. Peeling potatoes and carrots never took me so long and getting a gas stove on was never so frustrating! I even called Ester this morning to make sure I knew how to cook curry correctly haha that was the only reason I made a call to the US … to make sure I knew how to make something as simple as curry haha L

I hate watching people eat anything I make … it’s just a “thing” of mine. I can only enjoy my cooking when it’s just for me ONLY haha anyways, I finished the curry and fed my mom, dad, sister, 2 brothers, 2 cousins, and 2 friends! I really REALLY hope they enjoyed it. Other than my 2 friends no one else ever had curry before and curry is a very “one-way-or-the-other” kind of food. They kept saying “shaut hau-mauv, après” meaning “it’s really good, good job,” but I just got shy and my ears turned red, like usual
-___-  haha. Then we had the cake and my mom & sister asked me why I bought it and I said “inchoo-vouche?” They laughed and were surprised I knew how to say something like “why not?” (I was proud of myself hehe) “Yes siroomem eem euntaneek” ~ “I like my family” <3

Anyways, tomorrow is my one-day of the week off and I can’t wait to wake-up later than 7am, finally do my first batch of laundry, and have a picnic with my family in the mountains later.

June 5, 2012

My brother took us rollerblading today! I had the impression he was going to take us somewhere where they have a roller rink or some sort of flat area, but no, we started driving out and he just stopped on the side of the road where it was sort of better paved and had us skate there! Haha. It was fun nonetheless. I don’t think I’ve rollerbladed since I was like 10 years old. The skates were a bit big, but I can’t complain cause we got to skate next to cows and sheep! Haha when can you ever say you rollerbladed with cows and sheep?!

Afterwards, my friend Trevor happened to see us and invited us to his family’s new restaurant right around the corner. We got there and were offered a beer and ice cream haha great combo. I had a sip of beer and gave the rest to my brother. Then we saw more cows and a lonely donkey pass by. I got to pet the donkey. They all kept telling me to sit on it and I wasn’t sure why, but later I found that sitting on a donkey is good luck and it says you will get married soon or something… haha apparently I should be getting married soon ><

All in all, it was a great ending to a long day of school!

June 1, 2012

I had the previous volunteer who lived in my home stay family come visit today. Her name is Ashley and she’s been in Armenia for about a year now. A couple funny things I realized when she was over was that

1. She really helped me out in a sense that she showed my family a lot of “American ways” and how we like our space, our showers, and that we don’t like a gallon of oil or salt on our food. Also she really helped soften them in the area of letting me help them in the house like putting my own dishes away or helping with dinner and doing my own laundry, etc. Armenia is a very “let me do everything for you cause you’re the guest” culture and they go to extremes to make sure you have it ALL.

2. It was funny to see that she was able to wash-up in like two seconds and jumped right into bed with the same clothes she came here with! Haha no need to change pants or shirt and just comfortably slept in what she had. She laughed and said I would get used to it and would have to sooner or later especially if I want to travel light haha she wore basically the same things the next day except with a flannel shirt on top haha love it.

3. Lastly, I was really encouraged because she said my Armenian was really coming along and that when she first started learning it was such a pain and that she could only speak a few words here and there for the first couple weeks. I guess I’m not as terrible as I think I am in language! It’s just a lot to take in for a short period of time and classes almost every single day is such a drag! BUT the teachers are really great and again, like I said, I can’t believe I can speak as much as I can, read and write a little, etc… it really is amazing.

Today it will have to be bullet points. Haven't had much time to write ....

* Hilary Clinton came to Armenia!
* The US Ambassador came to speak to us for an hour. That was cool (?)
* I went rollerblading on a street next to hills, cows, and sheep.
* I pet a donkey and if you sit on one it's apparently good luck... but I did not do that.
* My Armenian is surprisingly sort of coming along. Yay me.
         [This is how you say Thank You: "shno-la-ka-loot-syoon." Long right?!]
* I saw a baby calf who was less than 24 hours old. SO CUTE.
* Saw a fish get beat-up... then ate it.
* My sister and I made a pizza with bread, ketchup, cheese, meat, and veggies. (pic to come)
* Played soccer or "football" with the kids who beat the crap outta me.
* My middle brother's leaving to Russia for work in a few days. SAD! :(

THE END! Til next time :)