I have news!! Big news! 2 big things. I’ll give you 1 at the beginning and 1 at the end. So as promised, my first piece of big news: I HAVE INTERNET! PERMANENT, ALL MINE, GLORIOUS, INTERNET, which only took 5 weeks :)
Now on to more serious things...
This week was difficult. I’m on week 5 (even though I’ve only blogged twice) of PST, which stands for Pre-Service Training. It is basically Peace Corps Boot Camp and boy is it ever! When you’re in PST you can expect full days of language classes (4 hrs a day, 6 days a week), technical classes (where we learn about business... stuff?) and Peace Corps policy classes. In other words I’m insanely exausted. This week I just kind of hit a wall. A person can only take so much! When combined with a foreign language, different culture and a constant state of confusion, that bar is pretty low. I had done well up until this point but I hit my limit.
I’m stressed. I’m tired. I have the worst allergies of my entire life. I’m ready to start working and instead I’m stuck in class. Its frustrating. My family situation has also been a source of stress, with the Peace Corps staff getting involved. The other family moved BACK in, which brought a lot of noise and tension since they know I’m the reason they got kicked out in the first place. Its been rough. There have also been some real difficulties with food and culture differences. Not to get too specific, but basically I had to explain that yes, americans do have to eat food! That apparently was news....
Its really not that there was one thing that was bad, it was just 1+1+1+1+1 ect. It adds up quickly!
I have more than 1 day of journaling where I said things like “This better be worth it!” and “I don’t know why I did this!” And one that I thought was particularily clever “I’m so glad nobody told me that the Peace Corps was easy, because I’d hunt them down and hurl a brick at them!!!”
Yeah... its been rough.
BUT amongst the thorns there were roses. I noticed some personal growth. If something was bothering me, I wouldn’t just take it in the name of diplomacy. I spoke up! (Something I’m used to at home, but across language and culture, it is a lot harder) I met again with the man who wouldn’t shake women’s hands and stuck my hand out and made it awkward till he had to shake it. I took the initiative to go to people’s houses and meet more community members. Those are all good things. Silver linings and all :)
One last issue before getting to the good things... friends. I’ve never been the most popular person, or someone that had huge amounts of friends. My whole life I’ve had 1 or 2 close friends and thats it. I wanted to change that, but events “transpired” this week which made me very aware that I am an outcast in the social group of Americans that live in Karashamb with me. I am different. This was really hard to accept, because I had this image in my head of a “Peace Corps Volunteer.” They are friendly with everybody, they are active, they take initiative, they learn everyday, they are strong, ect... Subconsciously, I thought “Well if I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer, I’ll be these things too!” Unfortunately life doesn’t work like that and this week provided a painful reminder that I am infact the same Emily that left America, but with a few improvements. My personality isn’t going to change. The way I interact with people will not change. I may grow here and here, but I’m still going to be me. This may seem like common sense, but it was a wake up call to me...
On to good things! My host sister is unbelieveably kind. She has been so fun to get to know. Her wedding got postponed this week, so she was very sad. But as with everything, she takes it in stride. When she does get married, she’s moving to Russia, so unfortunately it will be hard to foster our relationship after that, but I’m certainly going to try. Most of the best memories I’ve made so far have been with her.
For example, on one stormy night this week I broke out my sudoko book and sat at the kitchen table while drinking tea and worked on it. She came and asked me about it, so I explained what it was. She has a degree in Mathematics, so naturally she was curious. For several hours, we sat at the table and ate, laughed, listened to music and did sudoko puzzles together. I learned that she loves Celine Dion and I reccomended she check out Josh Groban “the man, Celine Dion.”
A few days ago I had a meeting, so I dressed up quite formally. I wore a button down shirt, a nice necklace and black skirt. I polished my shoes and everything. I also wore my beautiful Kate Middleton replica ring. Well I had my meeting and came home to a group of people. I was able to talk to a few people and introduce myself. My family then chimed in “Emily is going to marry a very rich man!” I was confused at first but let it slide. The second time I made sure I understood and they said again, “You are going to marry a very righ man.”
Wait... what??
“What are you talking about?”
“Scott, he is very rich, yes?”
“Um... no? Why do you say that”
“Well look at this ring he gave her!!” and all hands and eyes went to my hand. I understood immediately and said, “Oh no! I bought this!” Well then came, “Oh! So you’re rich!” NO NO NO its fake its fake! They didn’t believe me and took it off and admired it, impressed that I could buy such a ring. (I wish!) I then said,
“No! It’s a fake. It is a copy of Kate Middleton’s ring. *blank stares* Kate Middleton. Duchess of Cambridge...”
Still nothing... So I took a different approach.
“Kate Middleton. Princess. Prince William’s wife. England. Beautiful. Her ring.”
More blank stares came before I got “This ring is a copy of a princesses?” YES! “An american princess?” *head palm*
Me and the rest of the Americans got a good laugh out of it.
So... my piece of good news. Today was site announcement day!! For the past month I’ve been in the dark about what exactly I’ll be doing or where exactly I’ll be living. All I have been told is that I’ll be living in Armenia, doing Community and Youth Development. But today was the announcement of all the information all 31 of us have been dying to know!
So at 3:15 today they gathered us in Nor Hajn around a huge painted map of Armenia. We stood in a circle with other volunteers and they called out our names one by one and led us to our spot on the map where we’d be living for the next 2 years. They would also give us a packet of information that included where we’d work, our host family, ect.
So my name was one of the last called. They told me to go north. I walked north.
“Nope! Keep going” they called.
I walked a few steps more and looked back unsure.
“Keep going north!”
I walked more and looked back one last time.
“Walk into Georgia” (The country to the north of Armenia)
I landed on a tiny town 30 minutes from the Georgia border and 2 miles from the Azerbaijan border. The second most northern town on the map.
Noyemberyan
The name means “Amernian November” and is a small community of 5,500. There are 3 other volunteers within 20 minutes of me, one is a fellow A21, Danny. I’ll be living with a young woman and her two girls, 1 in 6th grade and 1 in 1st grade. Their house is a 5 minute walk from where I’ll work. I’ll have 2 jobs:
1. YWCA (Yeah, I was confused too) but seriously. I’ll be working with women and young girls, coaching and holding trainings to help create female leaders of this fine country. We’ll work on ways to make them more employable and run camps ect. I’ll be working on providing girls and women information about health, sex, puberty, healthy relationships, and university prep. I’ll also be working behind the scenes with the staff and business related things.
2. Support for Noyembryan NGO. This works in promoting economic development in the region. They work on supporting and creating production facilities, reduction of extreme poverty, socio-economic reform, and anything else that prevents migration. (Armenia has a 40% unemployment rate, so movement to Russia and other countries is a HUGE problem.)
I get to visit for 4 days next week and I move permently on August 8th, the day after swearing in. Until then, I’m in beautiful Karashamb.
1. YWCA (Yeah, I was confused too) but seriously. I’ll be working with women and young girls, coaching and holding trainings to help create female leaders of this fine country. We’ll work on ways to make them more employable and run camps ect. I’ll be working on providing girls and women information about health, sex, puberty, healthy relationships, and university prep. I’ll also be working behind the scenes with the staff and business related things.
2. Support for Noyembryan NGO. This works in promoting economic development in the region. They work on supporting and creating production facilities, reduction of extreme poverty, socio-economic reform, and anything else that prevents migration. (Armenia has a 40% unemployment rate, so movement to Russia and other countries is a HUGE problem.)
I get to visit for 4 days next week and I move permently on August 8th, the day after swearing in. Until then, I’m in beautiful Karashamb.