Firsts in Armenia

First three days in Armenia: The 41 volunteers and PST (pre-service training) staff stayed in a hotel, located just outside of Yerevan in a sleepy little village. This helped us ease into the Armenian way of life and gave us a chance to get our bearings.

My first shower in Armenia: I proceeded to spray the water everywhere, because the incredible water pressure jumped the detachable shower head out of the stall!!! Oops. Then there was no hot water left, so I quickly scrubbed up through the coldness and got out of there. Be flexible.

First foods in Armenia: Lunch: bread, potatoes, coleslaw, salad with onion and cucumber, beef stew, olives, sliced fruit: apples, oranges bananas. Dinner: bread, fried eggplant, jam, cheese, some kind of grain w/ meat patties, cucumber, fruit. Breakfast: oatmeal, eggs, tea, bread, jam, butter, cheese. So far the food is good. The cheese (called panir) is white and very very salty.

Food

Green Pepper and Dolma

First exercise in Armenia: I went for a walk with another volunteer, down a pathway, across a river, and back around. More abandoned buildings. Some Armenians out working and eating. Agh! I couldn’t help thinking, “We’re going to have to talk to these people soon!” It’s an intimidating thought.

Abandoned Building

Second exercise: Played volleyball on an overgrown court using a soccer ball. Standard practice around here, from what I’ve been told. I love volleyball. Armenia’s going to be all right.

Volleyball

First reality check: You can’t flush the toilet paper. It goes in a waste bin next to the toilet.

Second reality check: The threshholds are raised here. Every single time you walk through a door you have to step over a 1.5 inch high barrier. Not a big deal, but if you forget, you trip.

First taste of home: Internet isn’t too hard to get. Neither is phone service. We were all given SIM cards by the Peace Corps so all the volunteers have similar phone numbers. We had to purchase our own phones, but I don’t see that as a big deal. (If you want to call me, let me know and I’ll get you my contact information.) Some A-18 volunteers (one-year veterans in Armenia) were there to help us with electronics and culture questions, which was tremendously helpful. A great big shout-out to the four of them!

Time to face the music: We had our first bit of language training, and found out what towns we would be living in. I will be in a village. It has good fruit and indoor toilets, from what I hear. I’ll be there with 8 other volunteers, and the rest will be dispersed to 4 other villages nearby.

Ready to leave the Hotel