I can't take credit for the video, which was taken by a new Peace Corps Response Volunteer, Caden, but I did take some fun photos of the group, a few of which are below.
It's been a wild few weeks and it has finally slowed down enough for me to sit down and have some quality internet time. While I catch up on e-mails and this blog, I just wanted to say that I'm really thankful for this job. I've been through so many unfulfilling and dull jobs, to wake up every day here to a job that I love is just awesome! All day is never awesome, but at least one thing each day makes me smile. The past few weeks have been so busy and have been filled with so many awesome things, it makes me wish this crazy journey would never end.
My site mate Alissa was having a dance lesson for local girls the week after Valentines Day. She invited a few volunteers to come up and participate/help. Lucky for me, I only had to travel down the street. 4 volunteers came to Noyemberyan and we spent the weekend together. Since Noyemberyan is so out of the way, we don't see many guests and to have 6 volunteers here, was a pleasant change. When we weren't eating my yummy Velveeta from a recent care package of mine, we were making delicious American meals, engaging in good conversation and preparing for the dance lesson.
The lesson took place on Saturday, February 22nd at the local school and 20 students showed up to learn Hip Hop dance moves from Kiki, a fellow A21 volunteer who lives in the southern city of Sisian. They were all a little skeptical at first but quickly warmed up to it. At the end of the three hour lesson, everyone was sweaty and smiling. It was so fun to watch!
My site mate Alissa was having a dance lesson for local girls the week after Valentines Day. She invited a few volunteers to come up and participate/help. Lucky for me, I only had to travel down the street. 4 volunteers came to Noyemberyan and we spent the weekend together. Since Noyemberyan is so out of the way, we don't see many guests and to have 6 volunteers here, was a pleasant change. When we weren't eating my yummy Velveeta from a recent care package of mine, we were making delicious American meals, engaging in good conversation and preparing for the dance lesson.
The lesson took place on Saturday, February 22nd at the local school and 20 students showed up to learn Hip Hop dance moves from Kiki, a fellow A21 volunteer who lives in the southern city of Sisian. They were all a little skeptical at first but quickly warmed up to it. At the end of the three hour lesson, everyone was sweaty and smiling. It was so fun to watch!
This program was a great way to break up my preparation for the annual Program Design and Management Workshop for volunteers. The training for trainers took place February 11-13th and the actual training happened last week, requiring several long trips to Yerevan. This "PDM" workshop is meant to take volunteers and their Armenian counterparts through creating a successful project in their communities. It covers asset mapping, PACA Tools, ranking needs, creating a vision with goals and objectives, listing tasks, budgeting, and so many more! I loved the training we went through last year and use what I learned there every time we have a project so I was thrilled to pass that knowledge on to the new group. I think most people had a good time and our group created a few really wonderful projects that include a civil society project, disability inclusion project, youth education project and youth leadership project. I won't be around to see how the projects turn out, but hope the participants are able to use the PDM tools to make them a success!
This post is relatively short, since I have a longer project update that I'll post next week (on time, I promise!) and that has been taking up most of my time. When I'm not working on that project, leaving has consumed a lot of my time. Now that my time here is really quickly drawing to a close, I've been getting lots of questions about how I feel or what I'll do. As for how I feel, my rehearsed answer is, "I'm excited to go back to America and continue the life I created there, but I'm not excited to leave and leave the life I created here." It's conflicting but I still have a few more months to go (4 to be exact.) I'm starting to wind down my participation in things and focus more on the next steps which include traveling to MANY places that include Turkey, Japan, Caribbean and Aruba, graduate school at University of North Texas and living on the same continent as Scott! I'm cleaning out my closets and deciding what I want to keep and what I want to toss. Small things like that are keeping me occupied.
I'm also preparing for my visitors! On March 21st, my uncle, Joe Lauer, is arriving in Armenia. Two days later, on March 23rd, my dad arrives! Together I'll get to show them Armenia and Georgia, my host family, and witness them experience what I've lived with for the past two years. I couldn't be more excited!
I'm also preparing for my visitors! On March 21st, my uncle, Joe Lauer, is arriving in Armenia. Two days later, on March 23rd, my dad arrives! Together I'll get to show them Armenia and Georgia, my host family, and witness them experience what I've lived with for the past two years. I couldn't be more excited!