This Week in Armenia

A package arrived! Several volunteers here have been waiting for packages, and that led our Safety and Security Director to make some calls. It seems that the Japan earthquake disrupted worldwide logistics, and all the packages bound for Armenia were in Poland or Russia. They’re slowly starting to come through. They seem to be coming through last sent-first to arrive. I know of at least two that are still on the way. It’s good to get packages!

I went to the dentist on Tuesday to get the first of two fillings. I was surprisingly anxious about it – or maybe not surprisingly, since it had been so long! But all went smoothly – well, I had to go back on Wednesday to get it ground down a little bit; it was impossible to say if it felt right when I was still numb from the novocaine. But that happens, right? Right? It’s still a little sensitive, but that’s normal, right? I’ll go back next Tuesday for the other one. All kidding aside, I think the dental care in Rabat, Manila and here has been superb – Peace Corps finds highly qualified local dentists. As for “normal,” I smiled as I wrote it because the non-native English speakers here use it often – where I might use “usual” or “common.”

I read “Three Cups of Tea – The Young Reader’s Edition” and “Three Cups of Deceit,” the Jon Krakauer e-book that came out at the same time as the 60 Minutes expose decrying author Greg Mortenson. My thoughts on the book – the Young Reader’s Edition was a quick read, and I’m happy having invested that amount of time on it rather than reading the normal (!) edition. I’ve been told about this book for years and am kind of glad to have waited until now to read it, so that I knew going into it that much of it was discredited. I think there are still valuable lessons in there about building relationships, grassroots development, education being a way to a more peaceful world, and the importance of trying to understand people of different cultures. As for the e-book, while it was interesting to read about which parts of Mortenson’s story had been fabricated, it was even more instructive for me to read about his NGO and possible mismanagement there – transparency and accountability are so important! Some people have great ideas and don’t necessarily have the skills to implement and manage them, yet they don’t want to cede control. This rang a few bells - but more, it is good to keep in mind as I search for the next chapter in my work life.

And speaking of work life – this week I had a chance to work on some fact sheets for the various components of the Water-to-Market part of the program. I enjoy the research and the writing, but this week everyone has been too busy for me to ask how to get additional information that I need, so I couldn’t finish them. Instead, I also updated my final report to Peace Corps on Homeland Handicrafts and looked through my Morocco GAD (Gender and Development), VSN (Volunteer Support Network) and Harassment Working Group (no acronym!) files and sent documents that I thought would be helpful to volunteers and staff here. My counterpart told me that one of the Environment officers (the one who organized the tree-planting) asked her if I was available to help him with reports and she said of course; I’m glad someone asked for me!

And why was everyone at MCA-Armenia so busy this week (actually, since I have started)? Because the CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation was visiting. The CEO generally visits each country at the beginning and at the end of the Compact. That’s it! So this was a pretty big deal. I was honored to be invited along for some of his visit. Wednesday morning was to be a canal visit. I was told to stand by…. And then it got quiet in the office, and I realized everyone had left without me! That’s okay; I was productive. Thursday I did go along, as he (along with the Ambassador and the Prime Minister) opened two pumping stations. I hadn’t seen any pumping stations yet, so I’m glad they remembered to bring me. Thursday night there was a reception at the Embassy in his honor, and I was invited to that. Ho-hum, another reception at the Embassy! This time I saw some people I knew and met others who I enjoyed talking with. The Ambassador is leaving Armenia on June 9; I hope there’s time for another get-together before she leaves, but if not, I told her our Easter dinner was the highlight of my time here!

My tutor is also leaving soon, for PST (Pre-Service Training) for the new group. I don’t know if I will continue after that. Last week she ran through what she calls “the presentation” (where she talks about herself, using everything I’ve learned, and then I have to do it) and it sounded not at all familiar. I knew what she was saying, but only because I knew what she was saying; my comprehension was just off that day. And I realized that unless I know exactly what someone is saying to me, I will never really be able to have a conversation here. Not that I could be expected to with three hours of tutoring a week. Since I started at MCA-Armenia I have done no studying or practicing – and now I that I’ve had a lot of lessons, I have a lot of vocabulary and verb tenses that could benefit from study and practice. At least I actively listen – to people and to Zina’s omnipresent radio and TV – and I can pick out words and sometimes through context can figure out what is going on. This week, my tutor and I made it to the end of the alphabet! I love being able to – can I say I am reading if I don’t know what the word means once I figure out what the letters are? It’s more like a puzzle or a code. She also told me that I was very good at the logic of language and that I should continue to study them. It has always been an interest of mine, and with compliments like that, who knows?

My tutor also said it usually rains throughout May in Armenia. I think it’s rained every day so far, though not all day long. But she also said it doesn’t usually rain as much in April as it did this year. It’s been cool this week. But something tells me that soon it will be 90 degrees and remain that way until I leave.