Did I forget to mention that before training was over, we finished our community project benches??? This first picture is the two finished benches. Look closely at the ground under the benches. We cemented the posts in ourselves. The next day, we noticed that a road crew had added fresh pavement, firmly holding the benches in place. (See ground in second picture.) Let’s hear it for sustainability!
Two Finished Benches!
Brian and our favorite training village kid, sitting on one of the new benches, (set in the ground with brand new pavement) after our very last morning workout before leaving our village.
Our swearing-in ceremony was wonderful, very moving and meaningful to all 40 of us swearing in. It represented a lot to us: recognition for giving up two years of our lives to help others, confidence from others in our ability to do good here, thanks from our host country nationals for coming, and the official start to all of our individual hopes and dreams of fulfillment while we are in Armenia. As I get bogged down in day-to-day life in my permanent site, I have to stop and remember why I decided to come here; and thinking back to swearing-in and how I felt that day helps me do that.
It was also interesting during the ceremony for me to listen to the English/Armenian translating going on and try to pick out Armenian words that I could recognize. The two MCs were both A-18er’s, and it was encouraging to see how far we might be with our language in a year if we really work at it.
USA, Peace Corps, and Armenian Flags
If you would like to watch the recorded version of the swearing-in, you can do so here. It is in two parts. The first part starts out with a Peace Corps video, then gets into the speeches, the Peace Corps pledge (around 36 minutes), receiving our certificates (You can see me at 40:19), our singing, a skit, and more singing. My friend Joe is the soloist (singing in Armenian) at 43:44.
The second part is all after the ceremony. It starts with my friend Brian playing the piano. Later, you can see people taking pictures and walking around.
Our 2011 PST Training Group, after our swearing-in ceremony
The following morning, we said our good-bye’s to our training village host families and friends, loaded our things into vehicles, and headed off on our way to our permanent sites.
All of my luggage, ready to move to my permanent site
And now, here I am, trying to get used to new people, a new house, a new town, new scenery, new weather, a new job, new words (it’s called “bar bar” and it’s a local dialect), a new language teacher, a new routine… And trying to remember who I am in this completely new context. Is it a new me? We will see…
Me, a former volunteer here on vacation, an Armenian friend, and my two site mates, exploring our new home.
Typical view around my area. Lots of brown. High hills (Do we call these mountains? I don't know.) fields, and brick houses.
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Hi Siroon Jan:
This is George from NJ, there might be more than one George since the area of NJ & NY has most Armenian concentration after Los Angeles of California; however it can be only me one George, an American-Armenian that you have never met; since as a matter of fact I have been doing a lot of hits to your blog. The reasons can be because I do not read something you post at once but read some and leave the rest for another day, also I did some commenting there, and I use mainly your blog as an easy rout for other blogs related to Armenia (thanks for the links). I have long pondered on doing my own volunteering in Armenia (so far I went as a tourist) and still might do it in near future but what is keeping me is the excessive second-hand smoke in that part, it makes me sick. By the way I enjoyed your landscape photos but it looks I can not enlarge them anymore, may you consider and go back as before, I know you have a limited space for each post and if you exceed the limit the photos will be rejected but at least try to make those photos that in your opinion are price-winners of the landscapes enlargeable. Thanks for your blog and for everything that you are doing for Armenia and her people!
Hi, George! Thanks for identifying yourself; this clears up a few mysteries for me! I will see what I can do about the landscape photos. I purposely reduce their size so they load more quickly, but I could probably make an exception for some of them. Try again in a few days. – Ev