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!