Now That I Feel Less Jet-Lagged...

I can start filling you in on my whirlwind week! I left on the 6:30 pm jitney and had a car service take me to JFK. The driver did nothing but complain about his job! An interesting last exposure to the U.S. I knew that if I put everything into the big suitcase that it would be too heavy, so I had put the shoes and toiletries into an extra little bag. The big bag was still too heavy, so I had to move things around at the airport, putting everything that wasn’t clothes into the little bag (a couple of New Yorkers, a book, the peanut butter, my chargers). The zipper on it was tearing, so I had it wrapped in plastic wrap. Last year Charlie and I had to buy bags at JFK and “cocoon” them as well. Then at the gate, I had to check my carry-on! This made me nervous – it had all the clothes and toiletries I needed for the first few days (at least I had my electronic devices and Culture Smart Armenia for the plane). 11:30 pm six-hour flight – I slept or dozed and felt all right. A short layover in Paris for me; Brian had been there since early in the morning and hadn’t slept on his flight. The flight to Yerevan seemed quite long – but I finished the book! I’ll write about what I learned in a future post. We arrived on time – but the cocoon stayed behind in Paris (Charlie’s cocoon took a detour last year; maybe the extra bag is not the way to go!). Oh well, at least the checked carry-on made it. Some of the Peace Corps staff were there to meet us, with bottled water and some snacks – nicest greeting yet! – and they took us to the hotel, where it was right to bed.

It’s been hard to sleep this week – every night I’ve fallen asleep for a longer amount of time (two hours, three, four, five) and then I’ve been wide awake for hours (but I’ve forced myself to stay in bed and rest – is that really the way to do it?) and then I’ve fallen asleep for a little longer – and then the alarm has been a jolt. Today I was able to sleep as late as I wanted to and I finally felt awake all day; every other day there has come a time when I have faded. And a lot of information was thrown at us this week! I was never so out of it that I didn’t absorb it, and if I didn’t, it’s all in handbooks for me to read.

It helps that Armenia (or at least Yerevan) is a place of late risers – things don’t necessarily get going until 9:30 am. The time zone seems to be permanent daylight savings – it doesn’t get really light until about 8:15 (we’ll see what it’s like in the summer!) and it stays light until about 5:30. I like it! We walked to the Peace Corps office from the hotel, had an office tour and met the staff. Everyone is very nice! The office is made of the beautiful pink tuf stone (though maybe it looks a little gray in the picture?).

First on the agenda was medical – though the doctors didn’t have my records from Washington. Not comforting (they arrived by Thursday...). So my consultation was in a bit of a vacuum, but out of it I received one more shot (diphtheria/tetanus?), some calcium and some vitamins for my eyes. I’ll detail the medical kit contents later (it differs for every country, so I think it’s interesting).

That’s probably enough for now!