I don't think you should do that.

Coffee is a main stay of life here in Armenia. It is offered whenever you meet someone new and on a typical day you might drink five cups. My Balkans friends will know what I’m talking about when I say it is strong, one spoon full of coffee grounds for about a shots worth of water. In this area of the world from Bosnia to Iran and all in between you will find this thick dark brew. So with coffee being such a main stay its important to always have access. Sitting in the teachers’ lounge the other day I watched as a teacher prepared a cup. The heater is a set of electric coils that get hot set in a clay mold that eventually boils the water. This particular heater had had its electric cord spliced and re-taped in three different places before inserting itself into the bottom of the bulky heater. As it was heating the water sparks began to fly and the heater fizzled out. In America this means time for a new one (actually the electric cord breaking the first time means time for a new one) but when money is little and ingenuity is high you don’t throw it away. So she took out her ink pen with the heater still plugged in and spitting sparks she drove the sharp end of the pen into the hot coils and moved them around for a while. I watched in amazement wondering if when she was inevitably shocked if her hair would stand up on end and if she’d turn transparent so I could see her Skeleton like they portray in the movies. But she just kept fidgeting with the heater as I kept thinking to myself that I should really stop her before she kills herself. But persistence paid off and the coils shot back to life. A few minutes later she enjoyed that cup of coffee that I thought was going to cost her her life.
In other news Saturday I attended a hockey game in Yerevan where I saw North Korea beat the South African hockey team 4 to 2. The stadium was a beacon of Soviet architecture with its huge marble columns and bulky square hallways. We got to the game with twenty minutes to spare expecting to have to really search for seats in the 2,000 plus seat arena but amongst the 100 or so other spectators we managed to find some good seats right behind the two teams.
I also managed to lose my voice at some point and so when I got back to my site I wanted to buy some orange juice but I didn’t have quite enough money with me. So in my pitifully quite voice I asked if I could get the juice and bring the money tomorrow and in such a small community where you really do know your neighborhood grocer he gave me the juice and now I’m on my way to pay him back.

Not the best customer service.

The other day I went to Yerevan, the capital, for a quick day trip. From my village there are hourly buses and from Yerevan there are hourly busses back to Artik. The last one from Yerevan to Artik leaves at 6:30 unless the bus driver decides he doesn’t want to go back which is what happened to me the other day. I was able to share a taxi back but the bus is much cheaper and I don’t know if it was because I was the foreigner or just too nice but I got to pay the most as the others only had enough to pay for the bus fare. Oh well, it wasn’t that much. On the way back to Artik the cab started jerking to the left or the right indiscriminately which is bad because we have some steep roads to climb and a sudden jerk the wrong way and we might be compost at the bottom of a gorge. So first we stopped to look under the car which didn’t work so the next time we stopped and kicked the tires, which also didn’t work, finally we put air in the tires, which also didn’t work but by this time it was dark and well too much trouble to worry about. So as we’re making this journey we’re listening to some different music which takes up the awkward silence unless the taxi drivers phone rings (which it did a lot) then the music gets turned off and he talks for as long as he wish’s and I think to myself “hey, I was listening to that”! This experience wasn’t the first in a long series of not so great customer service as far as the transportation service here in Armenia goes. For example, the driver of the bus always has to smoke at least three cigarettes and of course he’s in the front so we all breathe in his smoke. Passengers aren’t allowed to smoke on the moving buses but there’s a loophole. I said moving buses so when we are parked waiting for passengers anything goes. I also took a taxi once to a nearby town and right before we got to the town the driver stops without explaining and gets out and goes into a restaurant for about ten minutes. I’m still sitting in the back wondering what’s going on. After he emerges with a to-go bag I figure we must still have a ways to travel, but no ten minutes later we arrive. Same with bus drivers, on plenty of occasions the whole bus stops and we all wait while the driver runs some errand. But the mentality is different here I suppose. We’ll all get there eventually. I have had one good customer service experience involving transportation. Once I went by train to a village and didn’t get off in time. Frantically I tried to pry open the train doors but we had already started moving. This passenger called the conductor from a box in the back and he stopped the train. I got off and walked back so that was convenient. All the experiences are amusing and not completely irksome after all we’ll all get there sometime.

Every kids worst nightmare!

For many students in the United States this week is spring break, and it should be spring break at my school but because of a forced three week vacation back in December where the government tried to stop the spread of the Swine Flu the break was canceled. And not only was the break canceled but they also added one hour to the school day! It reminds me of April Fools a long time ago. The day fell on a Saturday and I had gone into my parent’s bedroom. They asked me why I wasn’t ready for school yet. I said it was Saturday I didn’t have school. They insisted that I do and I remember getting so upset that I cried. I was a little kid and the thought of more school was a truly freighting idea. Today I am working the other end of the school spectrum and when I got back after vacation to see that we had added an hour to everyday and that my spring break plans were made in earnest I was not to happy. I didn’t cry this time, but I was bummed and seeing on everybody’s Facebook that their adventures have begun just adds fuel to the fire. But perhaps this is a good lesson in the real world where there is no spring break much less a summer break.
On the other hand I am now teaching four lessons every week. Which doesn’t sound like a ton but it is all done in Armenian and involves games, which are not so easy to explain here. I’m also completing my first grant proposal for the school so hopefully soon we will have some new playground equipment. We’ve also entered that weird seasonal warp where one day its sunny and warm while the next it is snowing and feels like the depths of winter. Our two-day snow storm is melting now, but clouds are on the horizon so who knows how long the sun will last.

Harsaneak Bells

I know it has been quite some time since I’ve written a post so to all my avid readers I’m sorry and I’ll try to do better. Winter has come and gone and come back again. Today I looked out the window and saw snow coming down hard, it was completely unexpected, but while the last few days had been warm I didn’t really think that old man winter had left me quite yet.
Last week I went to my first Armenian wedding. For some reason February seems to be the month of choice for weddings here and it has also been the coldest month so far, but I guess the brides don’t mind freezing their shoulders. They also tend to get married on weekdays here, which was the case with the wedding I attended. Last Thursday I arrived around eleven o’clock to the groom’s house where we sat around for a few hours before loading up and heading to the bride’s house where there was a table of food set up for the bride’s family and the grooms family. The bride came out escorted by her one brides maid and both families on either side of the table made the formal exchange while the guests looked on. Then it was on to the church for about a thirty-minute service. After that we went back to the grooms house where this time the bride and groom sat at a table and ate while everybody watched. And I forgot to mention that at each stop family members from each side dance around with the traditional wedding gifts in their hands, such as fruit, gata- a type of cake, candies, and the grooms side carries some of the brides wedding day cloths. For example, I noticed one lady dancing with a pair of panty hose, which I thought was funny since it seems to me like a weird thing to dance around with at a formal event. And I also forgot to say that the whole family and close friends arrive to the house of the side that they know (bride/groom) before any of the ceremony starts, so everybody watches as the groom gets dressed or at the brides house they watch her get dressed. Then the wedding party follows a guy who carries a large skewer with apples on it as he dances around. So after we got back to the grooms house a fire was built and all the guests jumped over it which no one I talked to could explain why they do this just that its tradition. Finally six hours in we headed to the reception for a traditional horovats (barbeque). The air quickly filled with cigarette smoke and the party began with lots of toasts, dancing and when the meal was served more dancing but this time with plates in hand. Finally, at ten o’clock…eleven hours later…we headed home. It was a good cultural experience, one that I was excited about, but it was long, so I think I’ve done the wedding thing and won’t jump quite so quickly at an invite next time, but we’ll see.
In other news I now teach four lessons a week. My Armenian has gotten to the point where I can take a proactive role in the classroom, and I seem to have become the it person in my community with lots of dinner invitations and people coming up to me on the street. I’ve also been out and about handing out applications for the next group of Peace Corps volunteers who arrive in May. Hopefully there will be a few more volunteers around this area by August. Well, that’s all for now, but I’ll do better writing more regularly, so keep checking and get your friends to read as well!--Michael