Yesterday was a very interesting day.  First let me say that I'm going to get myself into trouble one of these days jumping on a bus or metro not sure of where I'm going.  You know I just don't like to be taken advantage of by taxi drivers, and they charge so much more anyway.  The first day I was here I took the bus to the metro which was quite easy, but then I jumped the metro to Nevsky Prospect.  I couldn't hear the conductor telling the stops so I had to ask other people where to get off.  They were very helpful.  Last night was hysterical!  I was on my way to the ballet.  The desk clerk at the hotel gave me three bus numbers.  I actually thought I had to change buses three times!  They were three buses that went to the Mariinsky Theater.  I asked questions at the bus stop of Russians waiting for the bus and they explained to me to take any of these buses and it would take me directly to the theater.  Next problem, how to recognize the theater when I got there!!  A couple young told me it was a big green building.  I told them everything here was big!  The conductor came to get my passage and I kept giving her the wrong amount, so then the couple gave her my fare.  They showed me a picture on their phone of the building.  They got off and another lady who was on the bus said you need to get off at the next stop and helped me once again even to cross the busy street.  People here are very friendly and helpful, but once again only if you are friendly to them and acknowledge their help.  They don't get much of a chance to practice their English so they are happy when they get the opportunity.

I went to the Church of Spilled Blood yesterday.  It was built on the spot of the assassination of Alexander the II.  It is a beautiful church, full of colorful tiles outside and hundreds of mosaics inside.  It is built in the Russian style which was considered very ugly for many years but is now famous.  This is the second church I've visited here.  I was going next to St. Isaac's but decided against it for the time being. My love of churches comes a lot from studying the architecture, like the Notre Dame  It's hard to describe in a few words but building churches over a long period of time evolved and the Notre Dame is a good example of this with its flying buttresses, etc.  When you visit newer churches they are either beautiful or not and don't have the same allure for me as a Notre Dame or churches lit it.  Besides the Church of the Spilled Blood was built as a monument for a man, just my opinion.

Afterwards I had lunch at Sbarro which was okay, not as good as the U.S.  I listened to American Music, Maroon Five and Move Like Jager as I walked down the street and saw people trying to draw people into restaurants dressed as cheerleaders and American type guys!!Girls with tattoos all over their legs walk along in min skirts.  Guys on skateboards with dreads scoot down the street along with skaters.  You have to be careful not to collide with them!  I looked at the American movie advertisements, still amazed at how many American influences this place has.  Isn't Citibank American too?  It's everywhere and really funny spelled in the Russian cyrillic alphabet. At the airport it was all over their control tower.

So last night was the ballet.  I can't describe to you the ballet.  It was definitely worth every penny of the ticket, and I've never been to intrigued by ballet as this.  The principal dancer from my perspective looked like she had the body of a twelve year old, not surprising.  She was tiny in every way.  It was a large company with at least five men.  The first act everyone was dressed in green with a green backdrop.  The second act it was changed to dark red, the third, white.  The dancers were so fluid, they looked like they had no bones.  It was most amazing to me to watch their hands; they were so perfect.  Of course there were no errors.  The third act was supposed to be the best and everyone thought so, but I preferred the second.  The choreography was amazing. Many of the steps were unusual and interesting. It was in the new theater so I didn't get to see the beauty of the old theater, but I went to see the dancing.  The live orchestra was also wonderful.  At the end of every act, stewards walked across the stage and presented the principal dancers with flowers sent by admirers.  Some didn't receive any and sometimes the men would turn and present their flowers to the women.  

Today I'm off to the Hermitage.  I don't think it will need much of a guidebook. I'll just visit the parts I like.  It's far too big to try to see it all.  I'll go for the Impressionists and Post Impressionists and then take in whatever else appeals to me like Rembrandt and the other Flemish artists.  Tomorrow I'm taking a guide bus that actually has interpretation in English to the Peter and Paul Fortress filled with history on a small island.  It's really hard to understand everything you're seeing here.  Almost nothing is explained in English nor are many of the tours in English at all.  I will take a boat tour of the riverways, but they are only in Russian. After being here  while you realize that most likely many of the buildings you are seeing were once palaces turned into buildings used for other purposes now. Katherine presented everyone with a palace is she liked them.  

On my way

Leaving for Yerevan tomorrow for the last time! I'm packing up all my belongings I brought to Armenia.  Tuesday morning I will start my adventure to all the sights I wanted to see in Eastern Europe, at least most of them.  I'll start off in St. Petersburg.  Ever since living in Kazakhstan I've wanted to visit Russia.  Getting all the VISA etc. isn't easy, but I'm on my way.

I posted a notice on Facebook that I was taking messages to Eric Snowden, who is somewhere in the airport in Moscow.  No one wanted to send a message knowing President Obama reads all emails now!  It's pretty funny.  I think people in America are finally starting to realize that we are not always the victims but sometimes the perpetrators.  It's about time they woke up.  How can we save our freedom if we avoid facing those who are taking it away?  Until July 9 and St. Petersburg.....

Conferences in Ukraine

January 26, 2013

One week later, now sitting in the airport in Kiev on the way to Moscow.  This trip has been so exciting.  It’s been the best part of my year so far!!  I arrived in Kiev and met up with my Regional Language Officer, Jerry Frank, and two other Senior Fellows, one who is a former journalist, and one who is a lawyer.  We spent three days in Kiev touring and eating.  Kiev is just beautiful.  It is so modern with so many beautiful buildings.  There are onion domed churches everywhere you look, and they are all painted like birthday cakes. 

It was quite cold with about eight inches of snow on the ground the day we arrived.  The snow and weather weren’t so bad, but there was a layer of ice almost everywhere and we had to be on a constant lookout for falling.  It’s difficult to try to see the sights when you’re always looking at the ground!  We went up a funicular to see a church at the top of the hill.  Christmas feels so turned around here.  Just as we are taking our decorations down, they are putting theirs up.  Now it is the end of January and the decorations and Christmas music are still in full swing. I had received my Holy Water in Armenia before I left, only to get showered by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.  People were also filling up bottles of water and the priest was sprinkling water on the heads of the crowd.  When one priest saw I was taking pictures, he rushed to the side of the other priest and they both posed!  It was quite comical.  I’ll send the pictures when I have my wire!! 

We went to a McDonald’s in Kiev that was the largest McDonald’s I have ever seen.  People in this part of the world really like McDonald’s; they are everywhere.   I think it’s really funny because all I hear is that Americans are fat because of fast food!  The restaurant was several rooms with a hostess that tried to find a seat for everyone, often difficult to do.  Then other ladies clean up after you when you finish.  It was quite busy.  We also went to a street market and picked up a few souvenirs that were made by the locals.

On Saturday, we boarded the train to go to Lviv.  The train was really nice and clean with an overhead t.v. with movies, WiFi, and a food bar in the adjoining car.  Every now and then a worker would wheel the cart down the hall and sell food.  We arrived in Lviv quite late and couldn’t wait to get some sleep.  We had spent the last three nights talking, joking, and comparing notes about our local posts.  The next three days were spent at the ELF Conference.  It was so amazing; these people are all so impressive and such interesting people.  The one thing about them all that continues to amaze me is how quirky they are!  I just fit right in!  They are almost all quite creative people, actresses, and writers, teachers, who lived and traveled all over the world.  Some of them look strange and some of them just act strange!  They are a lot of fun.  After we finished our ELF conference, we participated in the conference at the local Ukrainian Franko University.  The Ukrainian people are so friendly and smiling all the time.  It’s is so nice to spend time with them.  I attended mostly workshops about technology.  I think it is going to be a good way to keep myself entertained over the next five months.  I’ve learned a lot.

My presentation was on teaching reading and writing for elementary and beginning English speakers.  You would be amazed at how the teachers here receive the information about teaching methods in the U.S.  I am one of the few teachers here that has actually spent a lot of time teaching in the U.S. and certainly one of the few elementary teachers.  They are so grateful for ideas and new methodology.  I used several foldables in my presentation and showed them how to make different types of Word Walls and graphic organizers.  It was really fun!

My presentation for the ELF Conference was on using Social Media.  Because of the low budget for materials I received from the Embassy, I have no money to buy supplies for my universities.  It has gotten to be a real joke with all of us; every time someone says $900 all the fellows know what they are talking about!  Everyone else received $2200. It’s a long story why this happened, but it has been difficult and I’ve had to come up with creative ideas for materials unable to buy anything!  So, my presentation was on using Edmodo to teach medical terms using the television show, “Grey’s Anatomy”.  I showed them how to use Wordle for vocabulary, and they were laughing looking at words like rectal exam, etc!  It was effective and practical though, and I certainly showed them what you could do with no money!

Wednesday afternoon we took a bus tour of a castle about one hour out of town.  The countryside was quite beautiful with a lot of plots set aside for people who still use the old system of using these little plots for growing vegetable in the summer.  They said it is not very practical now as far as making money goes, but many of the older Soviet people are stuck in that way of life.  The castle was small but very beautiful and we enjoyed hearing about the history of how the area was inhabited by the Poles, Austo-Hungarians, and Russians.  They have such a history!

Last night we took our boss, Jerry, out to dinner for opening his apartment to us when we arrived early for three days.  We now call it the Jerriot!  We went to a restaurant called Amadeus.  The waitresses were dressed in pretty dresses, and there was a two piece band playing Dr. Zhivago.  The food was really good.  I had gypsy shashlick, which is Russian barbecue.  We all laughed the whole dinner and had a great time.  The head of the language department at the university where we presented joined us as well as Jerry’s assistant from the Embassy.  We walked home in the snow and watched the ice skating rink, some kind of igloo you could go into, and ice sculptures on the lawn.  It was quite pretty. 

Last night at 10:35 we boarded the train from Lviv to Kiev.  It was an overnight train and arrived in Kiev at around eight the next morning.  I slept in the cabin with Alyona, and it was more comfortable than I would have imagined except that the temperature was way too hot!  The train consisted of fourteen cars, all sleeping cars.  I felt like I was in a Soviet mystery or spy story, everyone speaking Russian and the surroundings looking like something out of a movie!  The conductor came and woke you up right before arriving and served coffee or tea.  I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed hearing Russian again.  When we arrived they said the temperature was -14 Celsius. 

Now onward to Yerevan, and then home to Vanadzor.  Comparing and Contrasting Kiev and Vanadzor is shocking.  They are like two different worlds.  I hope I didn’t make too many mistakes; I’m quite tired!

Oh there is so much to say about Armenia!  I have read one book written by an Armenian American and now am reading the second book, the Burning Tigris.  The Burning Tigris is a New York Times Best Seller.  After reading almost two hundred pages of this book, I asked myself, why do we send missionaries all over the world to try to convert people who hate us, and we don't take care of our fellow Christians who have died in the name of Christ and are suffering terribly because of it? In the late 1800's and early 1900's, there was a genocide in Turkey against the Armenians because they were Christians.  They were also prosperous like the Jews in Germany.  The missionaries came from all over the world at that time and built schools for the Armenians and helped them so they were some of the best schools in Turkey.  The Turks didn't have schools that compared to them.  The Armenians were in Turkey because that land had once been theirs, and they have been there since Noah.  Ararat is their national symbol and it does not belong to them anymore.  During and after World War I, Turkey decided to ethnically cleanse Turkey and there were strong nationalists feelings.  They tortured and killed the Armenians in the most horrible ways including burning them while they were dancing, raping them until they died and taunting them.  They put dogs on horses and said, "Where is your Jesus now? Why doesn't he come down from heaven and help you?"  The Armenians were actually crucified like Christ.  They were deported from Turkey into Syria and left to die in the desert if they were not shot first. All of this is documented especially by the Ambassadors who were there are the time, like Henry Morgenthau.  And in the middle of all this in the late 1800's during the first massacre was Clara Barton.  I haven't heard this name in a long time.  This book is about the American response.  She led Americans in the struggle to help the Armenians and was 75 years old at the time.

At this time of the year when Christians are preparing for Christmas, please remember the oldest Christian country in the world who named Christianity their national religion in 300 A.D. and are descended from Noah, the Garden of Eden, and the people of Nineveh   And if your church sends Christmas boxes to poor children, remind them that Armenia is one of the poorest countries in the world and many of their relatives were Christian martyrs.  We should take care of our own and support our brothers and sisters in Christ.

In the meantime, I have been to Yerevan many, many times lately to take care of issues involving my permanent resident card. Things don't come easily in countries like this.  Yerevan is in the process of decorating for Christmas, and I can't wait to see the finished product! There are beautiful decorations everywhere!  People are preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year's together for two weeks.  Their Christmas is on December 6.  They eat fish for Christmas and go to church like us.  I can't wait to see what it is like!

The water here seems to be less plentiful, and I find it necessary when there is a good trickle and hot water, to take a bath immediately and wash my hair less there be none later!  I still am having trouble with food, but it is getting less of a problem. I don't know what bothers my stomach, but I suspect some of it is the cheese.  I wondered why it tasted so strange.  Well I have never eaten sheep cheese!! It tastes straight off the sheep!  The Mormons told me about a store where I could buy Mozzarella and other cheeses like Gouda!  I just hope they're not trying to convert me too!

The weather is holding out here pretty well.  It is cold, about 32 or a little less from what I can figure out.  I have no weather report, and since it was supposed to rain yesterday and snow today, I guess it is not very accurate either.  I have warm boots and a nice warm coat that I brought from the U.S., North Face to be exact, 700 fill of down.  I've bought two pairs of fur lined boots since being here, totally necessary, and I find if my feet are warm all's right with the world.

I'm really looking forward to going to Italy December 26.  I'll spend ten days there and then return to Armenian and prepare to go to the conference in Ukraine with the other English Language Fellows and a Ukrainian university.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Please remember those less fortunate than yourselves!

November in Armenia

November 3, 2012

My, how time flies!  I’ve been so busy the last two weeks, that I haven’t had time to write hardly anyone.  This weekend I do have Sunday off, so I’m hoping to do some catching up.  Lesson plans take up quite a bit of time, because I’m always exploring some new way to teach something in English.  Like in my Linguistics class, they have asked to learn medical, law, and technology terms for their exams.  Fortunately for me when the law request came through, I had planned a mock trial to help them understand how democracy and the court system work in America.  The trial was about Curly Pig and how B.B. wolf tried to poach him.  I picked a story I knew everyone would be familiar with.  I found out in the meantime, that they do not have jury trials in Armenia.  All trials are by judges who are often corrupt and susceptible to bribes.  Although we used a script from the Illinois Court System website for teaching law, we added quite a few things like picking a jury and giving a sentence.  My best class had me bending over laughing by the time they were finished and the parts they wrote themselves were the best parts.  In jury selection they asked questions like: Do you like to eat pig?  No, I’m a vegetarian.  Do you think all wolves are scary?  No, I like all animals.  Have you heard about the wolves coming into the villages and eating animals?  Of course I have, but these stories are for children, and I am an adult! Is it true that you are the pig’s lover?  They were quite inventive and understood what questions and responses they should give in very little time.  By the time our trial was completed the students could identify all important vocabulary in English for trials and all were involved!

In the meantime I started an Action Research project with another colleague in the hopes of getting funds to buy materials and novels for our university.  I have three beginner classes of high school and college students who are being taught English through memorization of dialogs.  Ruzanna and I are starting an English Lab that we will use to teach our students and to give workshops on how we use these materials.  This includes graphic organizers the students are making, Word Walls, posters, etc.  It will be interesting to see the response from all.  We started with the students on Thursday and they were totally engaged in the project with the subject matter being on their level and they could finally understand what was going on.  I’m reading them a story and while reading, they fill in their graphic organizers for animals, family, holidays, colors, etc.  After they complete these, they will write about the story using the graphic organizers and the Word Wall.  They are having fun and learning.

I cannot teach English grammar here or punctuation, because their students have been trained using British grammar which would only confuse them.  I would also have to be an expert in teaching British grammar to explain the differences, and if they start using the American forms, they will fail because their teachers don’t understand the difference.  For example in America, we put a comma before a conjunction in a compound sentence.  In British grammar they don’t!  They also learn to pronounce words using diacritical marks like we used to see in old British dictionaries, but I don’t think are used in America now.  They are soooo complicated, and we often have discussions about how I pronounce things, but then part of this is because I’m from the South!  I have to be careful and pronounce the “th” in words like clothes.  The Kazakhs told me clothes had two syllables and we never agreed!

Today is my first workshop for Elementary teachers at the Armenian Teachers Ass.  It will be interesting to see how many come and how they will perceive this lesson on Brain Based Learning.  Everything here is about 25 to 50 years behind!

Okay for all you people totally bored with teaching.  This is an interesting country with many facets.  While riding to Yerevan we pass through the highest area of Armenia in the mountains where many Kurds live.  Our university’s director explained that these people combine paganism and Christianity and have some strange habits.   You can’t tell them from anyone else, but they live in a farming community.  The Armenians have been so discriminated against that the last thing they want to do is discriminate against another group.  They leave each other alone.

I went to the Armenian Church in the hopes of sitting and reading my Bible for an hour.  I don’t understand any of the service.  Much of the service looks similar to the Catholic service but there are some things quite different.  They make the sign of the cross with their opposite hand and touch the ground sometimes.  I don’t know what this means and no one can tell me.  As the priests walk around the altar sometimes covered with a curtain like the Holy of Holies, they shake large disk on poles that have beads on them and sound like rattles.  The priest wears a gold habit with a hat that looks similar to a crown. The other members on the altar wear black hoods that look similar to something the Klu Klux Klan would wear.  I know it sounds sacrilegious, but it’s the most similar thing I can think of. Every time they touched the ground I sat down only to find they were still standing.  I never got to read the Bible except for the 15 minute sermon of the 2 hour mass!

About three weeks ago I started taking Yoga.  I go two to three times a week and surprise to me, my instructor speaks English quite well.  He learned it in India where he was being trained as a Yoga instructor.  He teaches quite differently and is very good.  He’s also a very religious person and explained some things about Armenia to me.  He said no one understands the church service, because it is in old Armenian which no one speaks.  He said during the Soviet era many Armenians became atheists and don’t practice any religion any more. He also said that there are now many different sects or religions in Armenians which have taken more people from the church. While we were taking Yoga, he used his prayer beads, and I asked him about them.  I have been surprised to find that Greeks, Catholics, Armenians, and Muslims all use prayer beads, and they all look similar.  Georgiou is very interesting though because he can tell you when you use the right fingers; the finger is connected with your heart and helps you in many ways. I call him my Guru, which he likes.  I will take a picture later and send it.  He looks like someone the Beatles met while in India, rather wild looking! He also told me it was okay to sit and read the Bible or meditate and not get up and down.  I’m so relieved.  I will get more just reading!

Two weeks ago we had our Broadway Night although it was at 2 p.m.  96 teachers and students came from two universities, and five high schools and colleges. Everyone really enjoyed it and had American punch for the first time also.  They were all involved in answering the questions on their programs and asked if we could have more events like this.  

Last week 25 of our students attended the Armenian Teachers Conference in Yerevan where I presented Games and Drama to teach English.  None of the ideas were new to me but helpful to others especially the students.  The teachers and students enjoyed the games and don’t do things like this here.  The game I used takes almost an hour and was based on an idea I found in a book that I expanded greatly on.  There was an online author there who asked if he could use my idea for his website.  I really should publish and get paid for these ideas!  After the conference Kristina who was my guest at the hotel, Alex, the Fellow from Gumyri and I, went to dinner at Dolmama’s.  It was quite good but also quite expensive.  We had a really good time and I’ve never seen Kristina smile so much.  After dinner we found a photo machine like you used to see all over America and took silly pictures.  The next day, Kristina and I visited the Armenian Genocide Museum.  It is amazing how much damage the Turks have done to people all over the world.  The Armenians have been persecuted more than most any Christians, because the live in the midst of Muslims.  It was once a large country and their symbol, Mount Ararat, can only be seen from Yerevan in the distance in Turkey.  They have almost no territory now or natural resources as most of it was given to Azerbaijan or Turkey when the Soviets were in power.

A word about the Armenian language, this is the most unusual language I have ever heard.  It is part of a language system which is called Indo-European which I am told no other language is part of.  It sounds like an old Biblical language and has sounds like those in Arabic or Hebrew.  Some words are from the Hebrew language like Shabat which is Saturday or Sabbath; I believe the same in Hebrew.  Other words come from old Sanskrit, and Aramaic.  It is very difficult to pronounce, and I was told the Armenians in America have a different dialect.  I found last night that I could learn Armenian on YouTube.  YouTube has been a life saver for me here.  I watch shows and all kinds of things on it.  I watch the news on my computer.  T.V. is really no use to me here because no stations are in English.  They are very unfamiliar with many things that are common knowledge in American like the Muppets, Sesame Street, the Three Stooges, so quite often they miss humor about things Americans would understand. 

They are basically grim people, and it is in their nature to be pessimistic and not smile.   This probably is a result of being persecuted, starved, killed, not having any jobs when they get a lot of education, having no hope for the future, and being poor.  What do you think?  Of course they think I’m quite curious!  When I enter the University, the custodians say, “Good Morning, I love you!”  My classmates at Yoga ask why I have such a young soul!  The ladies at the supermarket now wave and say, “hi” like many other familiar faces in town.  This is not something they are used to, and they giggle about it, but find it interesting and uplifting.  It hurts my heart to see people so downtrodden and not to be able to improve their situations, but I know smiles help and they appreciate it.  

It’s Saturday morning in Vanadzor and a beautiful day.  I’ve been sitting at my computer working on reports for the State Department and writing lesson plans next.  It’s quite quiet and peaceful.  My neighbors, as usual, are very quiet, and the only sound I hear is children playing on the playgrounds outside and distant construction.  Children play outside all of the time here, and it is so nice to hear their cheerful voices and seeing them with their friends!  They don’t have access to computer and video games like in the U.S. so they spend time outdoors and visiting friends.  It reminds me of growing up in Mobile, Alabama. 

Last week I went with Aleks of the U.S. Alumni Ass. to visit schools in Stepanavan and Alaverdi, two villages not far from her.  We were accompanied by a former Muskee Fellow who has returned to Armenia but now married to an Armenian American and will return to the U.S. as soon as possible.  We talked about attending the university in the U.S.  The high school students were very interested but of course have no funds to help them.  They could go to the U.S. as foreign exchange students.  On Saturday, we visited high school #5 here in Vanadzor.  It was quite interesting.  We are attended by Edmun who is a current and new Parliament member in Armenia from Vanadzor.  He was there speaking to the students, because he attended law school in the U.S. as a Humphrey Scholar in Human Rights.  He told me that he quit his job as a lawyer and is making 1/3 of what he was making before to represent the people of Vanadzor and guide Armenia to becoming a better democracy.  He was elected as an independent candidate, which is unheard of here!  The people of Vanadzor love him and trust him.  He is everywhere I go, and they believe will be the president of Armenia one day. 

On Saturday night, I went to the town square and met my friend Kristina who is the head of the language department.  We went to a restaurant and had dessert and then walked back to the square for fireworks.  The following morning we left at 10:30 to go to Stephanavan for a fall festival.  It was really interesting.  It was at the end of a dirt and paved road, and there were many people there.  There was a stage there for introducing important people, and of course Edmun was there, many singers, many traditional dancers, and some hip hop also.  The villagers all had tables set up with their homemade food products: some with homemade sausages and soups also.  All of the food was free except for a few items to be sold like honey and jam.  The tables were decorated with carved fruit.  There were many varieties of dairy products: cheeses, butter and mansoun like yoghurt. Many types of bread were available and different varieties of fish. One lady demonstrated how to make string cheese.  Of course when they realized I was an American everyone offered me their food, and I was quite stuffed by time we made the table rounds.  The food was all very good, but I’ve had difficulty getting used to their cheese.  It is much stronger than the cheese we eat at home. 

After leaving the festival we drive to a nearby area called Dendropark which they call a botanical garden or arborarium.  It is an old Russian park and was probably quite nice at one time, but Armenians don’t have the kind of money to maintain things like this.  There were several cottages that must have belonged to caretakers.  There were many roses there and some other flowers, but the main attraction was the walkways beneath the beautiful evergreen trees and the pretty paths.  I kept thinking it didn’t compare to Callway Gardens!  There was a sanatorium nearby that people come to for their health, and I explained to Kristina if you told an American you were taking them here they would get quite upset, because it is too close to the word sanitarium which has a totally different meaning!  We decided we should visit the sanatorium in Vanadzor and find out what kind of facilities they have!

We were accompanied by about ten of our students from the linguistics class who paid to have a van for the day.  They also brought with them lots of food and after leaving the festival we drove to a campsite, and they made Kharovats out of chicken and pork, skewed potatoes, fresh vegetables, fruits, breads, pastries, candies, wine, and fruit juice.  The young girls here don’t have to be asked to help with preparation; they do it all themselves and Kristina and I watched and admired them.  After they finished eating they turned up the music behind the van, and danced traditional Armenian dances.  They are so much fun to watch and so enthusiastic about their culture. 

On Monday, my assistant, Ana, (Curt’s future wife!) and I planned for the event we will be celebrating next weekend.  We are having a Broadway night at the university and have invited two universities, several colleges and high schools to attend.  We’re having it at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, because some of the students live in villages and night time activities are difficult for them.  We have 110 seats and have many students planning to come.  We will show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a story they are all familiar with, serve refreshments, and give prizes to the students who can answer the questions on the programs first.  The students will wear formal attire.  It will be very interesting to see how all of this goes over!  The universities all donated money for decorating and refreshments, and we’re quite excited about it.

Today I have nothing else planned except enjoying my free time and catching up with paperwork.  I’ll go out in a little while and do some daily shopping and hope the water comes back on!  The washing machine and I are getting along very well now.  My oven is going great too.  I even found flour at the supermarket.  It was hard telling the girl what I wanted, because I couldn’t remember the Russian word for flour!  Now I know it’s myka, pronounced mooka.  I have learned a few Armenian words also: eeencha means what is it, ha ha – yes yes, cha – long a – no – ha eleya - of course, hotpots – street – shnorkakalootyoon – thank you.  It’s very difficult!  I’ll stick to learning more Russian!

Living in Vanadzor

It’s Saturday morning in Vanadzor and I am sitting at my computer looking over the upcoming week’s plans.  Finally after two weeks it looks as thought my schedule is coming together, so I can plan and think ahead.  My Turkish washing machine in my compact kitchen is going while I eat a breakfast of coffee and the most interesting bread from a delightful bread store purchased on the way back from Yerevan.

My Turkish washing machine is a subject all by itself!  My landlady, who speaks no English, had someone come with her to explain how it works, in Armenian mind you!  Okay, I was ready, then the first day I used “the Sultan” it refused to give me back my clothes, and I discovered it hadn’t even used the soap I had given it!  The next Saturday I was ready again, and yes finally it gave me my clothes back.  I discovered even though the Sultan is slow, it practically dries your clothes before returning them.  I also realized I needed to push yet another button to get it to use the soap.  Help me if I ever decide to use fabric softener!  So today we are doing a dark load, I set the temperature which actually has degrees on it, for the lowest setting and pushed one button for wash and another for soap.  Hopefully at some point today, it will let me hang my clothes on the clothesline.

While we were in Washington, D.C. we were told to get to know our neighbors.  I have been trying to figure out how to do that, because none of them speak English.  Thursday an opportunity appeared.  My downstairs neighbor and her father were trying to rehang her outside clothesline attached to the window after having her windows replaced.  I stood by the window and handed them the wire while they were inside.  Then Ana’s 80+ dad decided he had to cut down the tree branches to make way for clothes, so I held the ladder so he wouldn’t fall.  He was climbing on the tops of garage roofs and cutting branches down; I was sure he was going to kill himself.  Finally the job was completed.  The neighbors thought we were all so funny because we couldn’t communicate, but it didn’t seem to hinder us much!  Now my neighbors all speak to me when they see me, but I have no idea what they are saying!

Last night I went to Sofy’s for dinner.  She is the head of the Foreign Language Department of the Pedagogical University.   She is only 30 years old and got her PhD at 24.  I met her granny who sat on the couch and knitted the whole time; she was really sweet, her sister Sona, and her Mom, who also teaches at the University.  Her mother prepared a wonderful dinner.  She made Armenian shuslik, which is what they call barbecue.  They were thick pork chops cooked over a wood grill with lavash, Armenian bread, and onions.  They were incredible!  She had a table full of wonderful food with salads, meats that were very spicy and tasty, and of course bread.  She served it with fruit juice, cognac, and wine.  The dinners are served here much the same as in Kazakhstan with lots of pickles, cheeses, and meats.  The Armenians use a lot more spices in their foods, and they are quite good. 

I finally got my schedule set up for school.  On Monday Ana and I work all day to prepare for workshops and activities for the Armenian English Teachers Association for the Lori District.  We’re having a lot of fun planning things, and I’m so glad we have the time to spend to get it done!  On Tuesday and Fridays I teach at the Pedagogical Institute to groups of third and fourth years students teaching writing, debate skills, and speaking and listening skills.  I also teach two high school classes that are in the adjoining building.  The students here are better in English grammar than the students in the U.S., because they learn English by the rules.  Their biggest concern is with speaking it and understanding spoken English from native English speakers.  They often learn it from their teachers here who don’t speak correctly, leaving out articles and using rather awkward words.  I have the best part of teaching, because it’s fun for me and for them.  We talk and learn about American culture and sometimes history.  On Wednesday and Thursdays, I go to the European Academy and teach one class of 4^th year linguistics students, a group of students studying tourism, and another high school class.  They are pretty much all concentrating on the same things except the Tourism group, which is studying what there is to see in America.

On Friday, I am traveling with Aleks who works for the U.S. Alumni Association to two villages.  He represents all of the Fulbrighters, Peace Corp, and English Language Fellows who are alumni of the program and plans events.  I am going to speak to high school students on what it’s like to go to college in America.  It will give me more of a chance to see Armenia also.

My apartment is very comfortable.  I have three rooms: a living room, bathroom, small compact kitchen, and a small bedroom. It has everything I need.  It’s on the third floor of the building which means it’s not too accessible from the street and not too many stairs to climb every day, just enough for exercise!  The hallways are lit with sensor bulbs so it’s not dark but the lights don’t stay on long enough!  My neighbors keep their hallways and doorsteps very clean, but there are some things about Eastern Europe I will never understand!  The outside of these old Soviet buildings look like slums.  They are pretty shabby!  The inside hallways are the same and you think nothing good could be behind these walls, but when you open the doors to the apartments, it’s quite another story.  They are quite pretty inside.  My neighbors have metal garages outside the building they keep their cars in, if they have cars, and they are locked.  Their cars are Mercedes!  I have never seen so many Mercedes, but Ana tells me they buy used ones, and they are only about $14,000 here. 

Everything here is soooo cheap!  My apartment is $200 a month.  A manicure is $2.00 unless you get gel which is $10.  Lunch is usually $2 unless you get a sandwich on the street, chabereky, which is 25 cents.  I started wondering why I was cooking.  My internet is $10, cable t.v. $10, utilizes maybe $50 a month until I turn the heat on.  Groceries are very cheap too and no preservatives.  I have to constantly remind myself not to buy too much and to use it quickly, and I’m so happy when my bread molds in three days now! Fresh vegetables are everywhere, but I wonder what we will eat in the winter.  There are no canned vegetables to speak of, everything available is in jars.  There is no frozen food except for a few meats.  It will be interesting to see what’s available.  People dry their own fruit here and do funny things with walnuts.

The people are very nice but I’ve gotten stranger looks here than in Kazakhstan.  Everywhere I go people stare, especially if I’m with someone, and they hear us speaking English.  They are curious.

I finally understand why they like Russia so much here.  After being victimized by the Turks and almost killed off, the Russians stepped in and saved them.  They didn’t mind becoming part of the Soviet Union, because otherwise they would have been dead. I’m reading a lot about the Armenian Genocide.  Because they are a landlocked country, they have no way to import goods except through Iran which is another country they are friendly with.  They told me I should go visit there; can you imagine?  It’s hard to explain to them why I can’t go there!  They also have parents and grandparents who wished they were still part of the Soviet Union, because their lives were better then, and they had more security.  I told them Americans don’t understand why anyone would want to be Communist, but then I guess we’ve never been hungry or had a future that was totally unpredictable!

I visited the new church and had an interesting conversation with the priest.  He said he spoke some English.  I asked him what time services are.  He didn’t understand, so I pointed to my Russian dictionary to the word Sunday, and he promptly told me, “Today is Monday!”  I motioned that he spoke in the pulpit on Sunday and what time: numbers 10, 11 and 12.  He pointed to 11, and I told him I would see him with my Bible later!  He smiled.  I also visited the Russian church and the lady who watches the church was very friendly.  She spoke Russian the whole time and noticed my Russian cross and ring and blessed me. 

My friend Kristina is a devout Christian here, and I think we may go to church together. I knew she was a Christian from the things she has in her apartment. She is a widow and has been for about 12 years.  Her husband was killed in a car accident when she was 23, had a five year old son and was pregnant.  It was very difficult for her.  She lived with her in-laws for many years and then moved into an apartment her grandparents left her.  When she did, her in-laws tried to take her son away from her.  She’s a great mother and dearly loves her son; he looks just like his father.  He’s very handsome and is 17 now.  She told me he sleeps with his Bible under his pillow. 

Most of the people here are not very religious just like in other former Communist countries, but they do seem more so than where I’ve been before.  I guess it will be interesting to see what happens during the holidays.  They don’t celebrate Christmas until

January and usually celebrate New Year’s and Christmas all together for several days.  They tell me it’s a lot of fun but too much food!

More later….