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 :)

May 31, 2012

I was walking to school, which is only a 3-4 minute walk, but my brother happened to be driving out so he drove me to the front of school where we were all meeting, I come out and all my peers say “whoa, little miss princess rolling up in a Benz” haha we have a Mercedes tehehe J Now I’m picked on for being the “princess.” The End.

May 30, 2012

My parents own a market (“hanoot”) down the street and our class had a homework assignment to find market items and ask how much they are so I brought all my peers to the market and my mom was more than happy to help us. She kissed me goodbye when we were done and ONLY me so I felt super special ^^

My new friends and I started to take 30 minute walks in the morning just to get some fresh air and some English in our systems haha it gets stressful being silent and unable to have conversations for a whole day! The first morning we went to the “left” of town and saw just endless fields of green and lots of cow poop on the streets. The next morning we went to the “right” of town and found this graveyard with an old grandpa guarding it. He came up to us and asked if we’re the Americans, we said yes, he looked at me and said “chae Americatsi” meaning I’m not American, so I said “yes Koreatsi-em” à “I am Korean” and he looked so much more satisfied HAHA then he kept saying I was Buddhist, but I assured him I was Christian and even gestured a cross… he was insisting I was Buddhist even after all my words and gestures… apparently Asians have to be Buddhist? HAHA it’s cool~!

We get a lot of “what-the-heck-are-these-girls-doing” looks when we take our walks cause Armenians don’t really “exercise” or “take walks,” but these walks have really helped us bond and get our morning “health” walks in before our long language classes so we have decided to make them a daily thing J

This is what I see five minutes from my house! BEAUTY. pure beauty.

May 29, 2012

I WAS WRONG. We don’t have a dog, a cat, and a rabbit… we have a dog, a cat, about TEN rabbits including two GIGANTIC mama & papa rabbits, two grown pigs, two piglets, two doves, and a bunch of chickens/hens. SUPER AWESOME! (*cough* Dasom be jealous! *cough*) I even got to get our morning eggs from the hens right from the nests (do you call them nest? I’m not sure haha)!

Trevor and the kid rabbits. Big papa rabbit on bottom left (HE'S HUGE). baby piglets on top right. and Gucci on bottom right!  love that dog. I miss my Romeo! 

                                  

I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M LEARNING ANOTHER LANGUAGE. It’s been fun but frustrating feeling like I can’t speak with my family or have deep conversations with my sister. Gestures and one-word answers just don’t get you far! I must say dinners have been quiet… But this is me complaining when I have NO RIGHT to whine! I really have the best of situations and OF COURSE language is going to be tough! Who was I kidding?! Like my new mom keeps telling me, “one month, you will be good.” I want to believe her! I just can’t wait to get there…

Papa told me today he wants me to eat a lot so I can tell my real papa back home that I am being well-fed haha isn’t that the sweetest?! He came back home later with a handful of yellow and purple flowers for me… took out a knife from his pocket, cut the bottom of the bouquet, and put them in a glass of water so I could put them in my room. I really feel like the princess J He went to the mountains with my uncle and aunt to pick these special herbs and greens for food and tea and said he thought of me when he saw the flowers. Papa is hardly at home cause he’s always at work, but when I see him every morning before I wash-up he says “Balee-louise” and “Vonts-aek?”… “Good Morning! How are you/sleep well?” Our conversations have been short, but he tries so hard to have conversations, jokes with me, and stuffs me up with lots of food!

Flowers on my drawers from my papa :) 

My sister and I did our nails together while listening to Rihanna and Eminem on my laptop today haha apparently Armenians are really into Eminem and Tupac haha. Anyways, as I was doing her nails, I realized all her fingers were callused and her hands worn… she is only 22 and the youngest of 3 and yet has to do all the household chores… culture shock?!? I think YES. The girls in an Armenian family are responsible for most or all household chores: cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing, serving, guests, etc etc. The boys of the family work outside but when they’re home they have no responsibilities. If they need their socks from their room they’ll ask the girl to go get them. Things like that are somewhat similar to the American culture where little siblings are bossed around to do things by older siblings, but it is so much more intense here and in a very different perspective.

First day in my village. My mama and sister took me to this small church thing on top of the mountain. 

I still can’t believe I’m here! And I still can’t believe I can shower tomorrow morning! Who knew I would be so lucky as to shower whenever I want?! I even brought dry shampoo thinking I would be in desperate need of my hair looking somewhat decent haha but like I said… this is an easy transition. My situation won’t nearly be as nice after my training haha

May 28, 2012  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! 

Aren't they the greatest <3 

I’m in the “Princess House!”

When I got the names of my host family there were rumors going around that my house was like the “princess house” and that my family was super sweet and the mother spoke very slow and clearly so we could understand better.

THEY WEREN’T RUMORS! All true. I really do live in THE Princess House and my host mom is the most precious of all moms! BE JEALOUS. I have a grandma and grandpa who live next door, a mom, a dad, one sister who is 22, one brother who is 24, and another brother who’s 25. And guess what?! I’m 23! Isn’t that perfect?!         

22, 23, 24, 25. IT WAS MEANT TO BE.

I complete this little sequence of theirs J I only hope I’m worthy enough to be a part of this family and to live like the princess they have been treating me as. My grandma took my face and kissed me! She took my hand and just kept looking at me with a smile… we couldn’t say a word to each other, but it was such a warm feeling.

We had SO MUCH FUN doing these. Mama told me she has never laughed this much :) 

After a 40 minute “marshutini” van ride my group of 12 trainees finally made it to our NEW HOME for the next 3 months. When we made it to our school all of our host families were waiting outside for us with anxious smiles, excitement, and even some with flowers and balloons! We found our families, went our separate ways, and our journeys began!

I came to this brick wall house with a bunch of gardens in the back not knowing what to expect and when I stepped inside I thought to myself, “this can’t be real.” I never thought I was signing up for such luxury! There’s no way I get my own padded bed, closet, desk, and hot-water-no-hole-in-the-ground-toilet bathroom!

WHAT THE HEEZY?!

I almost feel like I’m cheating something. Don’t get me wrong! I love it. But this really wasn’t what I was expecting! I had so many images in my mind and this didn’t even come close! But then again, who knows, after my 3 months training when I have to move out and go to my permanent village of 2 years, it might be a different story. Most volunteers live in places with no electricity, hot water, or actual toilets haha that’s where the real crazy fun begins :p

Anyways, I have a pet dog named Gucci outside and a cat from Russia named Kooka inside. We also have a white rabbit with HUGE ears I can’t remember the name of. I can’t wait to bond with my sister like a best friend especially since we’re basically the same age. My mom and dad seem very happy and try everything they can to talk to me (with hand gestures). My brothers smoke outside for my sake even though smoking inside is the norm! Neighbors came from all around to say hi to me like I was some “prize” haha. THIS WILL BE GREAT.

Now if only I can become fluent in Armenian by tomorrow… that would be great J

All the kids haha so cute 

Our LAST NIGHT! before we all separate into our own host families. How exciting and intimidating all at the same time! It really all begins tomorrow...

We have been prepared, told what to expect (sort of haha), and are ready to pack-up, AGAIN, and move into our new homes with new families for the next 3 months! We have had only two language classes so far and yet we will be dropped off to our new homes tomorrow afternoon and will live with an Armenian family in our villages during our Pre-Service Training (PST). How in the world am I going to say ANYTHING to them?! I love getting to know people and finding out about their lives and what they're interested in, but I have a strong feeling there will be a lot of silence, hand gestures, and maybe even some miming going on tomorrow for dinner haha GOTTA LOVE IT! Like Peace Corps says, we gotta be flexible!

Just a few interesting facts they taught us about Armenian families today:

~ Children are THE center of attention in the Armenian family. I will be considered a child of this family. Therefore I'll be getting TONS of attention (which I'm used to HAHA just kidding :p)
~ No shoes in the house, no flip flops to work, no laying on top of bed covers, no jackets or jeans on bed.
~ I will be fed A LOT. If my plate is slightly empty, it will be filled. If I say I'm not hungry, my plate will be piled on with food. If I'm on the table for dinner, there WILL be a shot glass filled with vodka... ARMENIAN vodka... very strong potent stuff that you ALL know I can't handle haha
~ You can't wave or talk for long periods of time to the opposite sex in public or it will be considered taboo... or they'll assume "something else."

There were loads more that we learned but those were the few that stuck out to me. I'll let you all know more about my family and village and situation as soon as I figure it out! I can't wait to tell you all about it. For now, I will leave you with a picture of my dear family back home cause starting tomorrow I will be a part of another family! hehe
I CAN'T WAIT

Me, Mom, Dad, Lil' Sis Jeanie, my baby Romeo.
(Yes, I had long hair. Always did except for now!... Armenia will soon see it that long again!)
 I LOVE YOU FAMILY YU!  I'll jump back into this family 2 years later! hehe

WELCOME TO ARMENIA!

We arrive at the airport at 4:30am and Peace Corps staff were waiting outside with signs for us, a huge shuttle, and a truck for all of our luggage haha. LOTS OF LUGGAGE.

They take us to the ruins of Zvartnots Cathedral from the 17th c. AD to see the sunrise at this breathtakingly beautiful historic location, have breakfast, and meet all of our new PC staff.

It was dark for a good while before the sun rose haha it was way too early.
See the sun rising on the top right?! Those are the Mountains of Ararat in Turkey... which they stole from Armenia :(

We were tired, cold, excited, in awe, nervous, and a bunch of other emotions all at once, but we all had this adrenalin rush and just had a good time while enjoying the view. For Example.... lol

New friends. Such blessings.
We went down to the torture chambers underground haha funnn
Top left: David's "myspace picture" which I called "FOB picture" haha
Bottom Left: my first roommate Marisa who is just so darling!

We got back onto the shuttle after a few shpeels here and there and headed off to resorts somewhere about an hour away. Blah blah blah blah blah. Food here is GREAT. Instead of losing weight, I think I will be gaining according to the Armenians and PCV's already here... haha SAD. I got placed into a village of 5 villages with 12 other trainees. I will be in small village and with 3 wonderful teachers (Hasmik, Anna, and Inga) who will help us, train us, teach us, and be with us for the whole 3 months of training in our village. I've been told I will be living with a host family on my own and they will most likely have children! Yipee. Just what I wanted. We had our first language class today for just an hour and learned all about safety, health, and what to expect.

Alright, well it's way past my bedtime. I am exactly 12 hours ahead of y'all so my 8pm is your 8am haha Okay! One last picture :)

The view outside our resort. All mountains. All green. Such beauty.
(NOTE: Thanks David for letting me steal all your pics AGAIN!)