Bittersweet Ani

Ani was the capital of Armenia during the Middle Ages. The city borders extended across the whole Ararat Valley. Unfortunately after World War 1, Armenia lost Ani and all of Western Armenia to Turkey. Today, Ani and all points west belong to Turkey.

We were lucky enough to get 'invited' to see Ani from the border with Turkey. This is not permitted very often, but our tour guide was a very well known Armenian professor and he apparently had some connections.

So last Saturday we piled into several marshutkas and headed down a long, windy very bumpy road to the border of Armenia and Turkey. The border is bascially an electric fence that dips through hills and valleys. There is also a resevoir that has a fence running through the water. Half Armenian, half turkish. Crazy!

Russian soldiers escorted us through no mans land up to a cliff. On the other side of the canyon, probably about 1,000 meters was the ruins of Ani. We could see tourists walking through Ani pretty clearly from the border. We could also see a turkish flag flapping in the wind. The tour guide told us Turks tell the tourists that come to visit that Ani contains very ancient Greek ruins! Since the border with Turkey is blockaded from Armenia, to get to the Ani side I would have to travel up through Georgia and enter Turkey that way. 1000 meters away but a 12 hour distance to travel.

Seeing Ani in person was a bittersweet emotional experience for me. A Russian soldier was barking at us to turn our cameras off, that pictures were not permitted.I secretly took a few, but it was disturbing to me that it had to be a secret. We perched on the cliff and looked out across the canyon to Ani. I tried to imagine the thriving capitol it once was, but mostly I thought about my grandfather. This was the closest I would get to his hometown of Kharpert, Turkey. I picked some flowers and put them in book to bring home with me.

This upcoming weekend a bunch of us have decided to skip the hiking excursion and instead spend the day at a water park in Yerevan. We also plan to check out the Genocide Memorial. There is a huge flea market that takes place every weekend in Yerevan, so I'm hoping to hit that up!

Mama Sveta and Papa Vahan

As my Armenian comprehension improves, I'm learning some interesting things about my Gyumri host parents.

Mama Sveta is warm, loving woman. She really likes the shirt she is wearing in this picture. I think this was the fourth day in a row she was wearing it. She is a pretty conservative woman, kind of odd she likes this shirt so much. Anyways, Mama Sveta was trained as nurse but has been out of work for seven months. The two hospitals in Gyumri have consolidated resources into one surgery hospital (with the help of U.S. funding). Good for that hospital, but not for the people at the other hospital like my mama. I can tell she is depressed. She doesn't know what to do with herself at home. She has a really hard time getting up in the morning. She made me breakfast the first couple of mornings, but she has started not waking up in time recently. It's actually fine with me, because I'd rather grab a coke lite and a muffin at a local bakery than gulp down last night's boiled chicken and fried potatoes.

I've asked her if she could work at another hospital or maybe do something else, but she says the other hospital is too far away and she is not trained to do anything else but be a nurse. I can tell they are having a hard time. There is always enough to eat, but our food is very simple and plain compared to some of the meals other volunteers are indulging in.

Mama Sveta is always telling me to "Ger, Ger Katie Jan" or "Eat Eat". I could have eaten them out of house and home and I don't think she would ever be satisfied. Before one excursion, she stuffed fistfuls of chocolates and candies into my bag to eat on my excursion. WHo can say no to sugar for lunch!

The shower situation has been interesting at the house. I took several bucket baths at first but now we have a semi working shower (thanks to the Birthright requirement). Papa Vahan installed the showerhead and pump but the shower is very tempermental. It usually is pleasant for 10 seconds and then get hotter and hotter until it is almost scolding. Then it turns freezing cold. I have razor burn on my legs and my hair feels gross from shampoo remnants! Mama Sveta is very concerned with my showering. Now that she is aware of the problems, having experienced them herself, she feels the need to pop into the bathroom while I'm showering to get the temperature update. I swear, one day she popped her head in three times. No shower curtain, by the way. I kept telling her it was fine, but she kept coming in! Sevana's mama insists on washing her hair for her. Luckily, it hasn't come to that.

Saturday, I washed all of my clothes by hand in the bathroom. It took about 2.5 hours! Mama Sveta enjoyed coming in periodically and asking if I was tired yet. Maybe they felt they had to prove to me that washing clothes was back breaking work. I really had no doubt that it was, but I guess it was good for me. After all of my clothes were out on the line, Julia pulled her friend out on the balcony to look at my clothes. I still wonder what they were snickering about. Were my clothes not bedazzled enough for them, were they laughing at my underwear with the monkies on them? Guess I'll never know.

Papa Vahan is not home much. He drives a truck for the Russian Army.He seems drunk a lot to me, but I never really see him drinking. He chuckles when i talk and he seems to make fun of his wife a lot for his own entertainment. I think it is harmless, but I think it annoys Mama Sveta. One day I came home and he was 'sleeping' on the living room floor. That was interesting. He finally woke up, laughed at me in his little stupor and waddled off to bed. At dinner, Vahan reminds me a little of my own armenian grandfather. He whines and talks like a baby to his wife...mama get me this, mama please get me that. I'm so hungry, it's so hot in here! The sun is in my eyes, mama! She puts up with a lot from him, but he is a good guy overall. Just a big kid in a mans body.

Julia is typical young adult. She is twenty. She just finished college and is going to a teaching university in the fall. She has more clothes than i do. Tons of bedazzled shirts, matching handbags and a cupboard full of lotions, cosmetics that she probably received as gifts over the years. She will not use them. I think it just makes her feel good to have them and smell them once in awhile. She does love her mousse though and her makeup. I'll have to post the picture of me after she did my hair of makeup. i'm a haystani beauty queen!

She texts on her phone a lot and dances to one horrible armenian song over and over again. She gossips a lot about her friends and neighbors. I think she wonders why I cut my hair short and why my clothes are so plain. I humored her on Saturday and went shopping with her after my laundry a thon. I bought some things to help me fit in. It was a fun day of haggling and exploring Gyumri on hot summer day. My new capri jeans say 'jeans' in little fake rhinestones on the left cuff. Shad Siroun.

The worst day ever

Yesterday...

I woke feeling like a small armenian squirrel was slowly dying in my lower intestines. I had gotten about 4 hours of sleep after a day long excursion in Lori. The trip was great but exhausting after a long week. Anyways, there were about 10 of staying at the crack den. Sleeping in a room with a bunch of girls takes me back to my Americorps days! Not much sleep to be had.

Unlike most sundays, yesterday we had a training day with Anoush in Yerevan. We all sat around a table on a woman's back porch for 8 hours! The squirrel in my stomach was not pleased. It was hot and I was tired and in pain. I made many many trips throughout the day to the small outhouse in the backyard. I was hoping for a clean toilet with soft toilet paper and nice soft bathmat. Instead I got a turkish toilet, meaning you squat over a hole in the ground, a broken flusher, lots of flies and a leaky faucet. Awesome! What a great place to spend an afternoon!



I was miserable. I should have just walked back to the crack den to rest, but I didn't want to come back to Yerevan another day to listen to the talk again,so I suffered through it. While everyone ate salads, fresh cherries from the tree in the backyard, and homemade dolma, I stuck to bread and mint tea. I really have not had a stomachache this bad in my life. Nothing would relieve the pressure and cramping until I threw up. That was the climax of the day!



Finally we left Yerevan at 8pm. I walked down the muddy path to my house with a bottle of water in one hand and a big box of club crackers in the other. Of course along the way, a couple of dogs decided to bark at me. So i dropped the crackers to pick up a chunk of cement. I was in a foul mood and wasn't about to let some horrible dog attack me. I think they saw the look in my eye, and scattered as they approached.

Mama Sveta took pity on me as she saw me hobbling to the apartment. She made me some delicious mint tea and had me lay on the couch during Armenian Idol.

Today I feel a lot better, just kind of weak. I'm sticking to bread and water today. I'm not pushing it!

Trotting around Armenia all day everyday is starting to catch up with me. I think this weekend I'm going to pass on the excusion to a cave and stick around Gyumri. Brian, a peace corps volunteer here, says the best place to be in Gyumri on Saturday is Robinsons. Robinsons is a tree house restaurant with great beer and food. Sounds perfect.

Settling in..

It's week two for me in Armenia. Things are going great. I don't have time to write today, but I've uploaded all my pics so far!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibbles88/sets/72157600347969124/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibbles88/sets/72157600399293339/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibbles88/sets/72157600399269863/

Work is much busier here than I thought. I'm redesigning the GITC web site AND teaching a month long web design course (Translator provided of course!). I'm working on a new GITC logo now and trying to come up with a game plan for the course. Wish me luck!

Group Trip to Garni and Geghard

Bright and early saturday morning my host papa, Vahan, drove me out to one of the main drags, Tigran Metz st. My neighborhood is a maze of run down houses clumped together. Nothing is paved in the neighborhood and its a big pain for taxis to make it through the streets...very difficult for marshutkas (little vans that are the major source of transport in Gyumri.

So I jumped in the Green vada and Vahan,clad in his russian uniform, drove me out to the main drag avoiding all of the wild, homeless dogs and huge potholes along the way! Birthright rents a marshutka to pick us up in Gyumri and take us to Yerevan every saturday. The driver didn't see me on the street and passed me, so vahan motioned for me to get back in and zoomed off to follow the van. Finally, I was where i needed to be. Alyssa, another volunteer, was chased by dogs as she was running to catch the van. Thankfully that hasn't happened to me yet!

It was the start to a crazy day! During orientation a couple of days prior, Sevan (the Birthright director) told Ryan and I that we would be taking an quick, easy hike to a temple in garni and then have lunch together. well, let's just say the hike was NOT easy OR quick! I thought I was in pretty good shape. Running and biking a lot in dc. Not so much. This hike was like straight up a mountain. We got to the mountain at 11:30, just as it was starting to get hot. The scenery was beautfiful, huge lush mountains, wild orange poppies everywhere, the river rushing in the valley. Sevan told us the last time a group of volunteers had done this hike, one of the volunteers stopped midway through because it was just too much. So here i am walking up this mountain, still not really comprehending that i am in Armenia seeing all of this beautiful scenery. Then all of sudden i started thinking: damn this hike is getting tough, the incline is just getting steeper, wow I'm really hot.


Well, anyways what ended up happening was i threw up my yerevan "Yum Yum" donut at the base of a little tree. The same tree where a volunteer from last year declared that she would not go any further. As quickly as the feeling came to me, just as quickly it passed and i felt okay after some time in the shade. You all know, I am not the athletic type, but I was determined not to appear to be the weakest link, so i pressed on. About 20 minutes further down the path, two other volunteers dropped off complaining of stomach pain and exhaustion. I pressed on. It was well worth it. The view from the church ruins at the top was well worth the effort.

The day really did get better after that. We visited a pagan temple in Garni that was built in 66AD, went to a monasterie in Geghard that has really remained untouched since it was built because it was cleverly built within a cave. They we had a delicious lunch nearby. We sat on a back patio in the shade overlooking the mountains and river. It was amazing to be there!

Finally, we all went back to our birthright apartment which we affectionatley call the "Crack Den" in Yerevan. Not much in there except little pull-out beds and a half empty box of frosted flakes. I almost fell into the toilet on my first morning. the toilet seats here are so flimsy. or maybe my butt is just too big!

We all got showered and ready for a night on the town. The first stop was to meet up with some americans at an irish pub in downtown yerevan. We met some interesting folks and then made our way to a dance club called 'Relax'. That was an experience. A bunch of armenians trying to be westerners. It didn't really work too well! The techno music was horrible and the dancing was horrible (esp a peace corps volunteer who was doing the robot). This armerican guy was making a huge fool out of himself. I think he seriously thought he knew how to dance. It was painful to watch. But a pretty hilarious night. Ryan and I left at about 2:30 am and there were a bunch of cops (vostigan) outside breaking up a fight. We passed an armenian guys with tattoos up both arms answering his cell phone. "What's up homey?".

Alright, next time I'll tell you more about living with my host family. Hope you all are well! miss ya :)

I'm here!

Parev! (Hello)

I've made it to Armenia. Sorry for the delay in writing. I just got computer access today. It's my first day at my job at Gyumri IT Center and I have a little down time to fill everyone in briefly.

I arrived in Yerevan after a very long time traveling. I was able to meet up with another Birthright, volunteer at Heathrow which was great. Ryan and I wondered around London all day tuesday and then caught our flight to Yerevan that evening. We got in to Yerevan around 7 am. I was relieved to actually be done with it all!.

Arsen (the Birthright driver) picked us up in the 15 passenger van (just like in Amercorps) and took us to our temporary housing right in the heart of Yerevan. Birthright has rented out a tiny apartment for the volunteers as they come and go through Yerevan. Really it's just a big room for all the girls to share and a smaller room for the one boy, Ryan (currently). I think a couple more boys are arriving in the next few weeks.

Allison, a volunteer from Chicago, greeted us at the door. She had arrived a couple days prior and had been at the apartment by herself. I felt bad for her. She doesn't know any Armenian and apparently had been living on crackers and frosted flakes for a couple of days! I think she was just afraid to venture out on her own. I was starving!! So the three of us walked to republic square and got some hummous, lavash and tabouli. It was delish. Just enough to hold me over.

Went back to the apartment and crashed. Slept for 6 hours while Alison was at her Birthright orientation. The three of us chatted for awhile and then got ready for the outing to the armenian soccer game against poland. What a great game and complete immersion into Armenian culture. I don't know how it happened, but Armenia actually won! The crowd went crazy and stormed the dusty streets chanting Hyastan , Hyastan! with Armenian flags. Some of the volunteers said that Ryan and I brought good luck with us from America. What a great first night!

Thursday, Ryan and I had orientation at the Birthright office and then wandered around Yerevan. Pizza is big here. Armenians love it. Ryan and I split basturma pizza. Basturma is a very garlicky beef jerky. It was very good, but potent.

Friday, we made our way to Gyumri and settled in at our homestay and got introduced to our work sites. My family is so cute. My host sister is named Julia. She is 20 and loves to dance and listen to armenian music. I told her in my broken armenian that I would love to learn armenian dance. So, after dinner for the past couple of days we have had dance practice. She is so graceful with her hands. I feel like an elephant in a china closet. The family is very inviting and warm and they have a great sense of humor. THey have been so patient with me and are almost as eager to learn english as i am to learn armenian. Last night, we got on the topic of women and the differnces between living in Gyumri and the USA. They were so surprised that I live by myself and am independent. Lucine, the friendly neighbor from downstairs, feels very stifled here with her duties as a wife and woman in Armenia. She dreams of an independent life in America. I guess my family is a little more progressive than others in the Gyumri area.

Well, i gotta run right now. The staff is about to introduce me to all the students. Time to smile and nod!!

The Day is Here

I leave for the airport in less than three hours! I've been talking about this trip forever and now the time has come. Needless to say, I'm excited and ready for some travel and adventure. I'm really not sure what to expect. No one has been back to Armenia since my grandfather was pushed out during the Armenian Genocide in 1915.

He spoke very highly of the 'old country', the beautiful language, music and most of all the huge fruits and vegetables! He swore that as a child he would sit on 80lb cabbages! He always encouraged me to learn the language, and would always try to sit me down with the Armenian alphabet and make me sound out the letters. He is probably laughing at me from above right now...saying I told you so. You should have learned this long ago! Oh well, I'll work it out Gramps!! I hope he is proud of me.

I have a 12 hour layover in London. Luckily, I will be meeting up with another volunteer who will also be living in Gyumri. He just happens to be on the same flight to Yerevan, with a very long layover in London. We are hoping to meet at the customs area at Heathrow and then wander around London deliriously together for a few hours. It will be nice to have a travel buddy!

Ryan and I should arrive in Yerevan at 6am Wednesday (Armenian time --9 hours ahead). I really don't know what to expect. How big and cosmopolitan is an Armenian city? What will they think of Armericans? American Armenians? Girls with short hair and nose rings?

I welcome the challenge of being flung into a foreign country. I'm really not that nervous about it. I have my pocket Eastern Armenian phrasebook, I don't mind the taste of vodka and I have enough kashi bars to keep me from starving to death. I read on another blog that some Armenians eat a soup called khash for breakfast. Stomach lining in a garlic broth, with flatbread and chased with a mulberry vodka shot. This is where i think a granola bar will come in handy!

I have already been receiving emails about the Birthright Itinerary for this week. We are all going to go to an Armenia vs. Poland soccer game after a lecture about the current politics in Armenia. On Saturday, we will be going to hiking to a monastery that is hidden in a cave. I hope we have a great group of volunteers, hopefully a few from outside of the US.

Well, I'll be giving a full report as soon as I can!