A New Friend and a Conference Call

On Thursday, Timothy Straight, my counterpart, sent me a friend request on Facebook. I had researched him already and he seems nice; his news feed seems nice too! Homeland Handicrafts has a Facebook page too – I thought I had looked for one before so I wonder if it is new.

On Friday morning, there was a conference call with the Peace Corps recruiter, several Peace Corps staff people at post in Armenia, and the four PCRVs-to-be; we’re the country’s first Peace Corps Response volunteers.

Most important, we found out about our living situations. We’ll all be living in homestays in Yerevan, not far from the Peace Corps office and each of us not far from where we will be working. When I applied and accepted, I was hoping not to have a homestay, but after hearing about my situation I think it will be a good thing. I’ll be living with Zina, a single woman who has an apartment downtown, a ten-minute walk from both work and the Peace Corps office. Zina has a longstanding relationship with Peace Corps, running a sort of homestay bed-and-breakfast. She speaks English fluently. It’s a two-bedroom apartment; I’ll have my own locked room. Shared kitchen and bathroom. It’s a good size, clean, warm and friendly (I was taking notes quickly so I don’t remember whether the apartment is warm and friendly or the woman is, but either way, it sounds good!). When I heard this, I felt happy and relieved. It’ll be nice to have a resource and to not have to outfit an entire place. I have some chocolates to give to her as a welcome gift (as per post recommendation), and maybe I’ll pick up a New York souvenir at the airport before I leave.

There’s ample public transportation in Yerevan, with buses, a metro and minivans, each of which cost about 100 dram (40 cents). Taxis are abundant as well. It’s also a very walkable (and runnable) city. It will feel very European. The Peace Corps office is a 15-minute walk from the town center. Grocery stores are open 24/7 and are plentiful. Right now there’s no snow on the ground, which is unusual for this time of year, but a storm is expected on Thursday. Everyone speaks Armenian and there’s a lot of Russian; not as much English as you might expect (I didn’t expect much, so I feel fortunate again with my homestay!). Many people keep the heat inside to 50-60, so bring layers. I think our office will be well-heated (once again, I was taking notes quickly), but we’ll also be traveling out to the regions, so we’ll need those layers. Electricity is the European two-prong and is fairly reliable.

We also heard about our orientation schedule – it’ll be a busy three days! I’ll write about it afterwards (since as with all things, it is subject to change!). I did ask one final question – what might I not have put in my suitcase that I should run out and get? Someone on the other end said, “well, if you like peanut butter…” ‘Nuf said! It’s the number one thing missed by Peace Corps volunteers worldwide. I craved it in Morocco. I haven’t needed it here – in fact, I didn’t even know where in the grocery store it was! But I bought some!

Start spreading the news – I’m leaving today! I fly via Paris – a seven-hour overnight flight. A short (too short!) layover later, it’s about four-and-a-half hours to Yerevan. The time difference between Yerevan and the East Coast is nine hours. So by the time I get there it’ll be around 9:40 Monday night Armenia time. With jet lag and a full agenda, I’ll write again when I can; it may take a few days, but don’t worry!