Yesterday was my moms birthday so if you see her wish her happy birthday. I marked her birthday by sharing a cake with my host family. They all wished her sha-nor-havor (happy birthday) and I found a store that sells huge birthday candles that look like sparklers shooting about a foot high when they’ve been lit. I want to bring some back to the states but I’m pretty sure that security would not look kindly on flammable cylinders packed in my suitcase.
The first week of school has come and gone and I’m still alive which is somewhat of a feat considering my experience from the last post. Yesterday I was told I was being too nice which I can understand because it isn’t customary in the schools to talk to the kids outside of class and shake their hands which is basically the only communication I have with the kids for now. I go to school at eleven every morning but I don’t actually get to do anything until about 1:00. So from eleven to one I sit in the teachers lounge. Then I help the gym teacher who is 24 years old. All boys in Armenia have to do two years of compulsory army service so the gym class consists of the gym teacher teaching the students how to march which actually looks pretty cool. I’ll show you when I get home- just remind me. Then when they go outside they just stand around a pair of even bars and a pull-up bar. I was lucky enough to be pressured into showing off my strength yesterday when the gym teacher insisted that I do some pull-ups. It was definitely awkward because having everybody watch you do pull-ups makes you feel really self conscious, but I’m glad I can at least do a few because it would have been really embarrassing if I couldn’t. After gym class I help teach a short lesson on health. As my language skills remain limited my counter part does a lot of the talking which is frustrating because I want to play a bigger part in actually teaching, but patience will pay off. After our lesson we go outside and play what they call volleyball. We stand in a circle and set the ball to one another, but if you miss then you have to crouch in the middle of the circle and every now and then someone spikes the ball into the people crouched down in the circle. I don’t know what the point of that is and I’ve gotten smacked in the face three times with the ball because of it which isn’t very fun!
The other day I visited an old church with some other Peace Corps volunteers. We took a taxi to get there and on the way back the taxi couldn’t make it up the hill. We actually had to get out of the car and push it up the hill! The grade of the hill was not very steep at all but still the car couldn’t make it up, but we got a 100 dram discount! (That’s less then fifty cents). And this week marks the end of our travel curfew so I’m going to visit some other Peace Corps Volunteers which should be fun.
And why is this post called Armenian Gothic? Because two of my students, brother and sister, dress and look to me like the characters in the painting American Gothic. I wanted to take their picture and post it in my blog, but they were too shy. Oh well, just picture it in your mind.
I want to also thank Avis and Michelle for my letters. They were great to read and if anybody else wants to send me a letter I would be excited to get it! My parents can give you my address or if you leave a comment or send me an email I’ll send you my mailing address. They don’t actually deliver mail here so I was walking down the street when this guy grabbed my arm and said Mik-hi-ail? It scarred me but he explained that he was the mail man and I had three letters waiting for me at the post office which was really exciting and made my day. And it was cool that in this town of nearly 20,000 the post man knew who I was. I certainly didn’t know who he was, but I do now, so next time someone grabs my shoulder and turns me around instead of being startled I’ll be excited because that means I’ve got a letter. Well that’s all I’ve got. Thanks for reading and check back soon for my next post!
Love, Me
