Fourth of July in Armenia

It seems like such an easy thing to do: play a simple American game with over 30 excitable kids anywhere from age 4 to 18, who have never heard of kick ball, and do not speak English. Okay, I guess it doesn’t sound that easy. More like a super fun challenge and a great way to spend the Fourth of July. Naturally the only thing that would make it better would be to follow it up with a water balloon toss (with same group of Armenians—now even more riled up—with the same knowledge level of this game), and then reward them all with a fireworks display. Intrigued? Read on…

I know this is a bit after the fact, but here is what our village did to celebrate America’s Independence Day (amerikayi ankakhutsyan ora) in Armenia.

Peace Corps gave the trainees a little bit of spending money to put on a Fourth of July Celebration in our villages, equivalent to about $30 US. We were not allowed to spend it on food or drinks. With it, we bought a soccer ball, water balloons, and a few fireworks.

I’m not exactly sure how the word spread, but we let a few people know about our plans to entertain the village, and when we met at the school Monday evening, July 4, 2011, kids from our village had already started to congregate.

We started off by singing the National Anthem, and then had the Armenians sing their anthem.

Me and two other Peace Corps Volunteers from my village

With the help of our LCF (one of our language teachers), the 8 of us Americans explained to the Armenian kids the rules to kick ball.

Explaining Kick Ball Rules to the Armenians

At first thought, it doesn’t seem like there are that many rules. Three bases, a pitcher, outfielders, a kicker who kicks and runs to first base—unless it’s a foul, or the ball is caught in the air and then the kicker is out, (there are 3 outs, by the way—actually we had mercy on them and changed it to 5 outs), then from first base the kid runs to second, then third, then home (but first, What’s a “base???”), but they have to run at the right time, and if the kicker gets out the kid has to run back, and they get out by being tagged or if they forget to run, then….

Kick Ball Pep Talk

We decided to just start the game and try to explain the rules as they came up. We included everyone who wanted to play, both boys and girls, no matter how young they were. We wanted to demonstrate equal opportunity.

I had originally intended to play on a team, but ended up just being the first base coach. The shortest kid got to kick first. Once he kicked the ball, he stood there looking dazed, as everyone cheered. I stood at first base, yelling, “Ari, ari, ari!” Which means, Come, come, come! And finally he did come.

I congratulated him, “Apres!” and explained what would happen next. “Spasi. Heto, vasi.” (Wait. Then, run.) I pointed to second. “Che! Che!” (No! No!) I grabbed his shirt to prevent him from taking off prematurely.

The second player kicked. “Vasi, vasi, vasi!” I yelled and pushed the first kid in the direction of second base. He ran like the wind. “Ari, ari, ari!” I beckoned the second kid to come to first base.

It continued on like this, with me doing my best to explain in my limited Armenian what was expected of the players. In between plays I would try to converse with whoever was nearby. “Urakh es?” Are you happy? And they would always nod and smile, and sometimes answer back to me. I assume they said something along the lines of, “You are an excellent first base coach,” but I couldn’t tell for sure.

I think the first team was finally getting the hang of it, and then the other team was up and I had to start all over again, by trying to tell the kids—who were now outfielders—what to do in this new role. It was hard, as I hadn’t yet learned the words for “ball, catch, or throw.” Vochinch. It didn’t seem to matter because we were all having so much fun.

The sportsmanship was amazing. The kids who managed to understand me explained the rules in much clearer terms to the other players.

The kids all showed great sportsmanship.

They all helped each other out, and everyone cheered for every play, no matter what team they were on. The final run was like a victory for both teams, and it was impossible to tell by the expressions on their faces who had won and who had lost, because they were all equally happy about the game.

The few grown-ups who chose to stay and watch also seemed to be having a good time.

Families from the village who came to watch

Next up, the water balloon toss. Whew!

Filling Water Balloons

We had enough balloons for everyone to have one, so when we finally got them lined up in pairs and I started taking away half of the balloons, they were a bit confused.

Collecting Water Balloons

Then I explained, “Du… du…. du… splash! Heto, du karogh es…” You… you… you… splash! Then, you can… (I’m pretty sure I’m not exaggerating when I translate this to English The above contains all the actual words of my explanation.) Of course, I used a ton of gestures and think I managed to get the point across.

If I could have spoken coherently, I would have said, “You (the first person) hold the balloon, then toss it to the person across from you. Then you both take a step back, and you (the second person) toss the balloon back. You keep doing that until the balloon breaks. (Splash!) Then, you can play again with your second balloon.”

The kids didn't know what to think when I started taking away half of their balloons.

The toss was a riot! I stayed with the younger kids and directed them. Luckily the balloons were not filled all the way, so they bounced on the pavement without breaking when the less-coordinated weren’t able to catch them. The older kids went wild, following the rules for awhile, and then breaking into pandemonium! Water balloons were flying everywhere! It was so much fun!!!

Water Balloon Toss

Water Balloon Toss

The "toss" quickly turned into a good-natured fight

After the balloon toss, we all gathered back at the football field for fireworks. It was starting to get dark, so our timing was perfect. We had about 7 medium-sized and one bigger rocket flare. Each one fired 6-8 times. We lit them one at a time to draw out the effects. The show was short and not nearly so impressive as other fireworks displays I have seen in my life, but without fireworks it just would not have been Fourth of July.

As the night crept upon us, we decided, spur-of-the-moment to do a few races to raffle off the bottles of pop that we didn’t drink, for lack of paper cups to buy from the village khanuts. There were two running races, and a push-up contest, lit by volunteer cell phone flashlights, and that wrapped up the day.

Happy American Independence Day, everyone!