We had lunch at a traditional Armenian restaurant with the Country Director, Programming and Training Officer, Administrative Officer (actually they both have new titles and are Directors, but I don’t remember the new titles) and the Program Managers – traditional Armenian cuisine (the eggplant dip and hummus dip seemed Mediterranean, there was a cheese plate, there was a chopped-chicken-and-cheese salad and some grilled chicken – so I’m still figuring out what Armenian cuisine actually is). Then we had a session on policy and procedures and an introduction to the library and computer system. The Peace Corps computer system here is quite advanced! There’s a lot of shared information available. Some of it is in .docx form; I had debated upgrading my Office package before I left and figured I could wait. The IT person sent me a link so that I can open up any .docx, but I shouldn’t have assumed the technology would be behind (that is, as behind as I am) – after all, when this was part of the Soviet Union, Armenia was its Silicon Valley! There are advertisements for the iPhone4 all over town (a new market for Everywhere Exercise?). And there seems to be free wifi in every café we’ve been to so far.
At night we four PCRTs (Trainees, because we hadn’t sworn in yet) went to a local PCV hangout, the Artbridge Café. It has a great menu (don’t know if I’ll get to breakfast, since my homestay includes it, but maybe brunch sometimes), sandwiches, light bites, pasta. It also has a non-smoking room – which leads me to my only real complaint so far. Cigarette smoke; lots of it. In the non-smoking sections it’s not so bad, but not every place has one, and you have to go through the smoking section to get there, and just that makes my eyes water. I had left the Febreze behind in my effort to streamline. This could be a real problem.
The next day began with a trip to the bank to open accounts – everything is walkable, and it’s very pleasant. Wide sidewalks, not a lot of traffic (car or pedestrian) – although that may change in the summer. Both Culture Smart and the Safety and Security briefing indicated that traffic was a real danger for pedestrians – cars turn and speed without regard. They recently put in a new street light system that includes time for pedestrians to cross the street, but cars can still turn and/or ignore the system. I don’t want to get lulled into a false sense of security but to me this is nothing compared to some of the other places I have been! Our Safety and Security briefing also talked about petty crime – a lot of it seems to happen on the shared van transportation. That won’t deter me from travelling, but I’ll just have to be vigilant if I take those. Gordon and Jeanne (the married couple) are talking about getting a shared driver to go on some day trips to see the country and I am all for that. Earthquakes are a threat – if one strikes Yerevan, which is in a high seismic zone (the whole country is, but Yerevan is in one of the higher ones), 300,000 people could die, and these old Soviet apartment buildings where we’re living may not be the safest places to be. When we were at Artbridge I heard a rumble – but that was only the Metro line going underneath. We’re supposed to keep an emergency bag ready – I’ve never done it in the other countries because I haven’t had enough extra clothes to set aside, but I would be smart to do it this time. I volunteered to be the warden for the region - now that we are in Yerevan, they’re adding a consolidation point here, and some PCVs who are closer to the city than to any other consolidation point will be in the group as well.
We then had time with David, the Country Director, on the whereabouts and other policies that he wanted to reinforce. He noted that some of the thinking behind putting us in homestays is that we wouldn’t have PCVs wanting to stay with us all the time. They are allowed to come to Yerevan only two nights a month (that policy may change; they can come for the day whenever they like – but still, it sounds as if PCVs are here often) and the temptation to stay with us under the radar may be too much. It was a nice chat – since we’re the first Peace Corps Response Volunteers in the country, they seem genuinely interested in our feedback.
We had lunch at a traditional Armenian restaurant with the Country Director, Programming and Training Officer, Administrative Officer (actually they both have new titles and are Directors, but I don’t remember the new titles) and the Program Managers – traditional Armenian cuisine (the eggplant dip and hummus dip seemed Mediterranean, there was a cheese plate, there was a chopped-chicken-and-cheese salad and some grilled chicken – so I’m still figuring out what Armenian cuisine actually is). Then we had a session on policy and procedures and an introduction to the library and computer system. The Peace Corps computer system here is quite advanced! There’s a lot of shared information available. Some of it is in .docx form; I had debated upgrading my Office package before I left and figured I could wait. The IT person sent me a link so that I can open up any .docx, but I shouldn’t have assumed the technology would be behind (that is, as behind as I am) – after all, when this was part of the Soviet Union, Armenia was its Silicon Valley! There are advertisements for the iPhone4 all over town (a new market for Everywhere Exercise?). And there seems to be free wifi in every café we’ve been to so far.
At night we four PCRTs (Trainees, because we hadn’t sworn in yet) went to a local PCV hangout, the Artbridge Café. It has a great menu (don’t know if I’ll get to breakfast, since my homestay includes it, but maybe brunch sometimes), sandwiches, light bites, pasta. It also has a non-smoking room – which leads me to my only real complaint so far. Cigarette smoke; lots of it. In the non-smoking sections it’s not so bad, but not every place has one, and you have to go through the smoking section to get there, and just that makes my eyes water. I had left the Febreze behind in my effort to streamline. This could be a real problem.
The next day began with a trip to the bank to open accounts – everything is walkable, and it’s very pleasant. Wide sidewalks, not a lot of traffic (car or pedestrian) – although that may change in the summer. Both Culture Smart and the Safety and Security briefing indicated that traffic was a real danger for pedestrians – cars turn and speed without regard. They recently put in a new street light system that includes time for pedestrians to cross the street, but cars can still turn and/or ignore the system. I don’t want to get lulled into a false sense of security but to me this is nothing compared to some of the other places I have been! Our Safety and Security briefing also talked about petty crime – a lot of it seems to happen on the shared van transportation. That won’t deter me from travelling, but I’ll just have to be vigilant if I take those. Gordon and Jeanne (the married couple) are talking about getting a shared driver to go on some day trips to see the country and I am all for that. Earthquakes are a threat – if one strikes Yerevan, which is in a high seismic zone (the whole country is, but Yerevan is in one of the higher ones), 300,000 people could die, and these old Soviet apartment buildings where we’re living may not be the safest places to be. When we were at Artbridge I heard a rumble – but that was only the Metro line going underneath. We’re supposed to keep an emergency bag ready – I’ve never done it in the other countries because I haven’t had enough extra clothes to set aside, but I would be smart to do it this time. I volunteered to be the warden for the region - now that we are in Yerevan, they’re adding a consolidation point here, and some PCVs who are closer to the city than to any other consolidation point will be in the group as well.
We then had time with David, the Country Director, on the whereabouts and other policies that he wanted to reinforce. He noted that some of the thinking behind putting us in homestays is that we wouldn’t have PCVs wanting to stay with us all the time. They are allowed to come to Yerevan only two nights a month (that policy may change; they can come for the day whenever they like – but still, it sounds as if PCVs are here often) and the temptation to stay with us under the radar may be too much. It was a nice chat – since we’re the first Peace Corps Response Volunteers in the country, they seem genuinely interested in our feedback.
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