I've been told there are milestones for every PCV. The invitation, staging and arriving in country for the first time are easy ones. The first time you have a major cultural faux pas is one. The first time you have a culture shock related breakdown is one. The first time you get a weird Peace Corps illness is another. Well! Consider that last bridge crossed!
I've not felt insanely healthy since getting to country, mostly due to altitude changes, new allergies, extreme changes in diet and increased workload and physical activity. But the past 2 weeks or so I've been feeling REALLY sick. I finally broke down and went to see the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO). I was in Yerevan already, and wanted to talk to them about multiple things, but whatever this weird stomach/digestive thing was I wanted to get that taken care of ASAP because I was just feeling horrible. I walk in and the first thing she says to me (before hello) is "Whoa, you've lost a lot of weight!" I was quite proud of this, but apparently it was cause for worry. So after quite a few tests, questions and more gross things, I was diagnosed with a fancy name which means a bacterial infection in my stomach and intestines! (It feels just as good as it sounds) How do you get it? By eating feces tainted fruit, especially grapes and tomatoes. Since I don't like tomatoes, grapes were my downfall. In other news I'm never eating grapes again.
I got medicine for that and so far haven't noticed a change in my health except that I didn't get violently ill on the marshutni ride back from Yerevan, so that's a positive I suppose. While I was there in the Doctors office, they also wanted to give me a blood test. So since I'm a fainter she was keeping me occupied by asking me if I have anything exciting coming up. "Oh yes! I'm going on a vacation to Ethiopia in November! I'm so excited." She just looked at me and said "You need a lot of shots for that." 5 actually, on top of Malaria pills. This trip was not thought out well at all! I got the first of my shots in the office that day, and have to return to Yerevan for my rabies (you read that right!! RABIES) shots. Once I get to country I have to go straight to the PCMO for Peace Corps Ethiopia and get another shot. I also have to start taking malaria pills 3 days before I go, all throughout my trip, and 3 weeks after. The only upside to all this is that it is free. But I'm especially not excited about those rabies shots...
I don't think I've mentioned my Ethiopia trip on here yet? Whoops! So yeah... I'm going to Ethiopia! I'll leave Yerevan (after picking up my pills of course) November 23rd, have my book club meeting and leave on the 26th for Ethiopia. I'll fly through Dubai (where I have a horribly short layover and won't be able to see anything). After an 8 hr flight I'll land in Addis Ababa. Yes, I'm going alone, but I've already had several Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Ethiopia offer to meet me and show me around, and even stay with them when I leave the city. I'm hoping to spend 1.5 days in the capital and 5 days in the "bush." What's on my agenda? Seeing monkeys and lions at a national park, seeing some old churches underground and doing some great hiking! In the city, I hope to go to the continent's largest spice market, see some mosques and visit Lucy. And of course, eat some amazing food! Now why is this trip happening? I have absolutely no idea! I was going to go to Dubai with a friend but after she decided she wanted to go elsewhere, I didn't want to go on my own and was really neutral about going there. So I started looking up where else I'd want to go. I have 2 trips already planned, but wanted to see at least one more place during my Peace Corps Service, and with timing it would have to be fairly soon. I found a flight for Ethiopia and immediately thought "YES! THIS IS IT." I've had their food. I know a bit about their history. I did some research on what I could do over the course of a week and bought my tickets. It's very unlike me to be so impulsive, but I'm excited I'm going, despite the shots....
So going back to real world Armenia. I got back last night from 10 days in Yerevan. Yerevan is an amazing place, but it is expensive and I'm officially drained. The HIV/AIDS training ended strongly and we all learned a lot. Below are some of the photos from that.
I've not felt insanely healthy since getting to country, mostly due to altitude changes, new allergies, extreme changes in diet and increased workload and physical activity. But the past 2 weeks or so I've been feeling REALLY sick. I finally broke down and went to see the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO). I was in Yerevan already, and wanted to talk to them about multiple things, but whatever this weird stomach/digestive thing was I wanted to get that taken care of ASAP because I was just feeling horrible. I walk in and the first thing she says to me (before hello) is "Whoa, you've lost a lot of weight!" I was quite proud of this, but apparently it was cause for worry. So after quite a few tests, questions and more gross things, I was diagnosed with a fancy name which means a bacterial infection in my stomach and intestines! (It feels just as good as it sounds) How do you get it? By eating feces tainted fruit, especially grapes and tomatoes. Since I don't like tomatoes, grapes were my downfall. In other news I'm never eating grapes again.
I got medicine for that and so far haven't noticed a change in my health except that I didn't get violently ill on the marshutni ride back from Yerevan, so that's a positive I suppose. While I was there in the Doctors office, they also wanted to give me a blood test. So since I'm a fainter she was keeping me occupied by asking me if I have anything exciting coming up. "Oh yes! I'm going on a vacation to Ethiopia in November! I'm so excited." She just looked at me and said "You need a lot of shots for that." 5 actually, on top of Malaria pills. This trip was not thought out well at all! I got the first of my shots in the office that day, and have to return to Yerevan for my rabies (you read that right!! RABIES) shots. Once I get to country I have to go straight to the PCMO for Peace Corps Ethiopia and get another shot. I also have to start taking malaria pills 3 days before I go, all throughout my trip, and 3 weeks after. The only upside to all this is that it is free. But I'm especially not excited about those rabies shots...
I don't think I've mentioned my Ethiopia trip on here yet? Whoops! So yeah... I'm going to Ethiopia! I'll leave Yerevan (after picking up my pills of course) November 23rd, have my book club meeting and leave on the 26th for Ethiopia. I'll fly through Dubai (where I have a horribly short layover and won't be able to see anything). After an 8 hr flight I'll land in Addis Ababa. Yes, I'm going alone, but I've already had several Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Ethiopia offer to meet me and show me around, and even stay with them when I leave the city. I'm hoping to spend 1.5 days in the capital and 5 days in the "bush." What's on my agenda? Seeing monkeys and lions at a national park, seeing some old churches underground and doing some great hiking! In the city, I hope to go to the continent's largest spice market, see some mosques and visit Lucy. And of course, eat some amazing food! Now why is this trip happening? I have absolutely no idea! I was going to go to Dubai with a friend but after she decided she wanted to go elsewhere, I didn't want to go on my own and was really neutral about going there. So I started looking up where else I'd want to go. I have 2 trips already planned, but wanted to see at least one more place during my Peace Corps Service, and with timing it would have to be fairly soon. I found a flight for Ethiopia and immediately thought "YES! THIS IS IT." I've had their food. I know a bit about their history. I did some research on what I could do over the course of a week and bought my tickets. It's very unlike me to be so impulsive, but I'm excited I'm going, despite the shots....
So going back to real world Armenia. I got back last night from 10 days in Yerevan. Yerevan is an amazing place, but it is expensive and I'm officially drained. The HIV/AIDS training ended strongly and we all learned a lot. Below are some of the photos from that.
After this training ended (with more jaw dropping facts), I immediately went to the Peace Corps Headquarters in Yerevan and started PSN training. PSN is the Peer Support Network for volunteers. Basically, if someone is having a rough day or is thinking about quitting or just needs a listening ear, they can call up a PSN member and be guaranteed time, privacy and help. I applied a few weeks ago and got selected! I was thrilled because the application process was actually rather competitive. So right after this training I went there and had 2 more days of training. I felt like a total party-pooper because I literally had 300 drams left in my bank account and couldn't go out with everybody to celebrate when we were done and I also had to turn down a birthday party of a fellow Karashamb-er, but I went back to my hostel, curled into bed and watched a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory. Time well spent, I think.
I got to my bus stop and apparently was 4 hours early! Whoops! So I sat on a bench and read my book (Moby Dick). This girl came up to me and sat down and asked me a few questions about the upcoming buses that I was actually able to answer. (Major win for me!) She then obviously asked about my accent and we got to talking about why I was in Armenia, who I was, and what Peace Corps does since she was very curious. She was headed to Sevan. When her bus arrived, she stood up and handed me a bottle of perfume that I recognized as quite expensive. I took a sniff and said, "Oh yes, very nice" and she said, "No, take it!" So I took it, spritzed a little on my wrist and gave it back. She refused to take it back and said, "It is a gift." All I could think to say was, "But, why??" She answered "Because you are an American helping our country. Thank you." And she walked away.
That says everything about Armenia right there. Hospitable even to a strange American woman reading at a bus stop. Sometimes this country and this job can be downright frustrating and impossible to understand, but sometimes 5 minutes can change your entire week and make you feel like you really are in the right place at the right time.
I got to my bus stop and apparently was 4 hours early! Whoops! So I sat on a bench and read my book (Moby Dick). This girl came up to me and sat down and asked me a few questions about the upcoming buses that I was actually able to answer. (Major win for me!) She then obviously asked about my accent and we got to talking about why I was in Armenia, who I was, and what Peace Corps does since she was very curious. She was headed to Sevan. When her bus arrived, she stood up and handed me a bottle of perfume that I recognized as quite expensive. I took a sniff and said, "Oh yes, very nice" and she said, "No, take it!" So I took it, spritzed a little on my wrist and gave it back. She refused to take it back and said, "It is a gift." All I could think to say was, "But, why??" She answered "Because you are an American helping our country. Thank you." And she walked away.
That says everything about Armenia right there. Hospitable even to a strange American woman reading at a bus stop. Sometimes this country and this job can be downright frustrating and impossible to understand, but sometimes 5 minutes can change your entire week and make you feel like you really are in the right place at the right time.