The End.
Just kidding!!! This was probably the most eventful week of my entire life! Everything has turned on its head and I’m on the other side of the world. Everyone I know is far away and I’m here with strangers (who are strangers no more). I could write 1,000 pages about this week alone, but I’ll do my best to make it brief, however I can’t guarentee it. I’m journaling privately as well (which I’m horribly behind on) so I don’t forget any details. This is just going to have to be the highlights and lowlights of events. As much as I’d love to tell you all about the pillows I’m using and the chairs in my room, I highly doubt anyone would care.
So to start: Washington, DC.
Right after my last blog post Scott drove me to the airport. I’ll keep the details of that morning private, just know it was heart wrenching and the tears flowed like waterfalls and they still are on occasion. Once I arrived in DC, Sean and little Vigo picked me up from the airport. I did end up having to pay an overweight luggage fee (maybe I should have taken out the 10 books I packed?) but couldn’t have cared less. However, what I did care about was the airline breaking my bag! My heaviest bag was without a wheel when I got it off the carosel but oh well! Sean helped me drag it to the car and he drove me to Alexandria to join the Kelly family in a very American dinner of hamburgers on a picnic table. It is always lovely to see them and it was especially nice to get to meet Fiona who turned 2 weeks old that day. When it was bedtime for Vigo and Lochlann, Sean drove me to the train station which I took from Virginia to downtown DC. I struggled a lot with my bags but was able to flag down DC’s rudest cab driver who ended up dropping me off at what I quickly learned was the wrong hostel. I struggled with my bags up the steps and finally made it inside only to be told I was in the wrong place. Because of DC’s NASTY humidity and the workout of dragging a 67lb bag, I had sweat through all my clothes and my hair looked like it belonged in the 70s disco scene. One lady must have seen the disapointment on my face and offered to help me with my bags until we got to the next hostel. No joke, a total stranger helped me drag my bags more than a mile until I got to my hostel. We bonded a bit on the walk so after I dropped off my bags and checked in we went out for a drink.
By the time I made it back to the hostel it was about midnight, just in time for me to take a much needed shower and crash. I was supossed to meet a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer there at 8pm, but had given up on catching her since even before the drinks it was after 10pm. Once I finally got into bed, I opened my laptop and started sending off the obligatory “I made it, I’m alive, the stupid bag broke” e-mails when my facebook message dinged. It was from Lissa, the girl I was suppossed to meet asking where I was. I summerized my eventful evening with the bag and the taxi driver and the wrong hostel and she was very understanding. She asked if I was at the hostel (Duo Housing on 11th Street) and I said yes.
“Where? I looked everywhere just a few minutes ago”
“Bottom floor in a bottom bunk”
“Me too...”
I stuck my head out and called out “Lissa” only to have her pop her head out in the next bed over. I didn’t even recognize her! We had a good laugh about it before passing out.
Lissa and I spent the entire next day exploring DC. We walked from 9am until 8:17pm. Yes, 8:17pm exactly because we were amazed and were bragging that we had explored pretty much all of Washington D.C. in 11 hours and 17 minutes. We were sore, sweaty and exausted but on an increadible high that still hasn’t gone away.
We went all over. The White House, Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Martin Luther King Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, WW2 Memorial, Franklin Roosevelt Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Arlington National Cemetary, Georgetown University, Smithsonian Museum, Capital Hill, The State Department and more! I had bruises on my hees by the time we were done, but it was so worth it!
Lissa is pretty awesome. She comes from a small town in Washington State, just outside of Port Angeles. She is 21 and graduated last year with a degree in Philosophy and has been working as a cocktail waitress at an Indian Casino until Peace Corps. She wants to go on to get her doctorates in Philosophy and teach at the college level. A proud democrat, we had a lot of things in common, including an overwhelming sense of excitement for what was about to come.
The next morning, we got all fancy and headed to the Georgetown Hotel for “Staging.” Staging is a 1 day session with Peace Corps officals and your group. Basically, imagine the first day of highschool. Everyone is just as lost as everyone else and scared and nervous. Except unlike high school, everyone is amazing! We have an increadible group, full of diversity and different backgrounds. We all bonded instantly and have remained close so far. We had no short of 4 PC officals tell us they have never seen a closer group. There are 22 women; Kiki, Pamela, Leslie Ann, Rosie, Sheree, Tamika, Janessa, Cindy, Claire, Ruth, Toquin, Kana, Lissa, Whitney, Bekkah, Jennifer, Bobbi, Aislin, Cortney, Kristen, Maureen and myself. We range in age from 21 to 73 and are from all over the country Literally, we have some southern California people and Nebraska people and some Maine people. There are also 9 men; Ben, Liam, Rory, Zach, John, Scott, Cameron, Danny and Jim. They range in age from 21 to 60. This isn’t counting the 2 quitters. By day 1, we had 1 man and 1 woman drop out.
My last meal in America was a slice of pepperoni pizza and a can of coke. It was glorious.
We met downstairs the next morning and headed to the airport. We were all joking the day before how weird it was that we were leaving for the airport 5 hours early. Nope! It takes for-freaking-ever to corral 31 people, get them and their luggage to the airport, check them in, get them through security and not lose anyone in the process. We made it with about an hour to spare.
Vienna, Austria
The flight to Vienna was.... not good. Apparently Aer Lingus spoiled me when I flew to Ireland because Austrian Airlines was nothing like it. Cramped seats with no leg room, screaming babies, TVs the didn’t work, no air vents and chairs that were falling apart (I could literally stick my hand in the chair and pull out foam). Unfortunately, our experience in Austria wasn’t any better than the flight. We were all rather happy to leave. I had been looking forward to my time in Vienna about as much as I had been looking forward to seeing Yerevan, so it was a huge disapointment. We were overcharged for everything, people were openly hostile towards us, one girl I was with got flat out shoved as she was walking on a sidewalk, I was chased off a train by a crazy woman who proceeded to follow me onto the next one, and worst yet- one woman was attacked in a public bathroom! So by the time we made it all safely on the plane to Yerevan, we were all able to breathe a sigh of relief.
I consider myself an experienced flier and have never had an issue with turbulance, but then again I never flew Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Yerevan. I don’t think I’ve every been so close to vomiting without actually doing it. It was rough! But we made it, an hour late, in pitch blackness.
Armenia/Hayastan
As we left baggage claim several members of PC Armenia staff was there to greet us. We all introduced ourselves and converted our money to drams. 400 drams is approximate to 1 dollar, so we were walking around with 60,000 drams or so and all felt like total bad-asses! We were given Snickers on the bus, which was a welcome suprise, before heading off the the Zvartnots ruins. It was increadible! Built in the 600s, an earthquake in the 10th century toppled the temple and a few pillars and bricks is all thats left. What’s so cool is that you can go in it, climb on them, jump in the holes, and really have fun. Behind was a stunning view of Mt. Ararat, the biblical mountain where Noah’s Ark landed, supposedly. We were then bussed an hour and a half north to Argvans (?), a small mountain community where we would begin PST.
PST stands for Pre-Service Training. We aren’t technically “Peace Corps Volunteers” yet. We are trainees. We have to pass PST before we get to do the really cool things. One of the previous volunteers described PST as “trying to take a sip from a fire hose.” Everything happens really fast and for really long periods of time. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we had class from 9-5 and starting Monday it will be even longer. Classes include cross-cultural training, medical information, safety classes, and of course language training. This will go on for 3 months and if we all pass, we get sworn in as volunteers in the capital of Yerevan on August 7th. I’ve really only been in country 4 days and I already have 20 pages of notes! Its Peace Corps Boot camp.
Today, our group seperates. We are split into four villages to live with our first set of host families and will all meet up in a place called Nor Hajn for group trainings. I meet my family later today and will be living with them in a place called Karasoumb, which literally translates to “pile of rocks.” I know absolutely nothing about them but am so excited to get to know them! I have no doubt it will be amazingly awkward at first, considering all I know in Armenian is “yes, no, thank you, chair, bread, I am american, You are Armenian, and I am not a Russian.”
So far this is the just outline, but what I really am excited to talk about is their culture. The little details that make Armenians so unique! I learned a few things online like they are very into their families, they love food and vodka, and hate Turkey (the country, not the food.) But there are somethings I could have never dreamed....
One day for lunch, one of our leaders came over to me and said that I was being disrespectful. While I was just eating my lunch quietly, I had no idea what I had done wrong. Well... I had put my purse on the ground beside my chair. That is a big no-no! You never put your purse on the floor! You also never sit on the floor, because it will make you sterile. (No joke) This has been the hardest thing so far to get used to, suprisingly. You have no idea how many things we absentmindedly put on the floor! Books, paper, pens, cups even! So I’m quickly trying to break that habit. You never blow your nose in public, wear shoes inside or open windows because of the germs. But on the flip side, you don’t cover your mouth when you sneeze. Its going to be so fun trying to figure it all out.
We do have showers here but they’re funny. During one early morning shower I actually was so deleriously tired, I pretended my showerhead was mocking me (In a Russian accent, of course).
“Oh! You wanted a warm shower?? Hahaha, stupid American! You no get warm shower. You get ice shower or boiling shower! Choose wisely!”
While the toilet and I haven’t had any accent filled conversations yet, it would say something similar.
“Oh, you want to flush? I’ll get to it, when I get to it. Maybe its the first flush, maybe its the 10th, lets find out together!”
I’m trying to savor them though since I know its a very real possibility that my days with running water may be seriously limited.
While I’m on the topics of toilets, klenex, toilet paper and napkins are all the same here.
This blog post wouldn’t be complete without talking about what apparently all Peace Corps volunteers accept as a way of life.... direhea. I knew it was inevitable, but... hot damn! There’s a constant line for the bathroom and pepto is like gold in our group. The walls are so thin, I can hear toilets flushing at all hours of the night accompanied by pain filled whimpers. I got mine early and was one of the first to feel better, so I was joking with a A20 and said, “I’m glad I got mine out of the way. It was rough, but I’m glad I’m done.” She just laughed and said, “Oh, you’re so not. You have no idea what is about to come.”
It should be interesting....
I am jetlagged, tired, and homesick. My heart hurts from leaving the love of my life, cats, and amazing friends and family, but I am so happy I'm here!