Holidays and Observances

Yesterday, on what other people call Mardi Gras, I saw a Lenten menu at Artbridge – so I asked Stepan, the Program Manager, how Lent was observed here. He said that people don’t eat any animal products except for honey – in other words, they’re vegan for 40 days until Easter. But there aren’t many vegans year-round (so I don’t think they think of it as being vegan). My host mother served chicken last night and eggs this morning (thereby answering, at least for this week, the question of which came first); I told her that if she observed Lent I would do it with her, and she said she doesn’t. I had told her when I arrived that I didn’t want a lot of meat, and we don’t have much anyway. This year, Armenian Apostolic Easter is the same day as the Easter of most of the people who celebrate it in America, April 24 – which is also Armenian Genocide Day. More on that when it happens.

Per Lonely Planet, the differences between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic and Orthodox faiths are subtle but ancient. The first differences arose in AD 451, when the Armenians were too busy fighting the Persians to attend the worldwide church’s Council of Chalcedon. The Armenians disagreed with the authorities in Constantinople over the nature of Christ. The Armenian Church sees the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ combined in one body (Monophysite), while the Greek Orthodox sees each nature as separate.

Why 40 days until Easter? It’s an important number in the Bible (Noah, Moses and more), and it’s reflected in many traditions here. The purification holiday of leaping over the fire (which, I now see in Lonely Planet, is called Trndez) occurs 40 days after Christmas (January 6 Christmas, that is). Households that plant lentil seeds at the start of Lent (is that why they’re called lentils? My electronic dictionary says it is from Old French lentille, from Latin lenticula, diminutive of lens, but what a coincidence!) lay red-painted eggs on the bed of green shoots on Easter Sunday (did they intend the pun about households laying eggs?). Ascension Day is 40 days after Easter; more on that when it gets closer; I should probably talk at some point about the New Year’s/Christmas traditions since those are the biggest holidays of the year, even though I won’t be here for the experience.

After a child is born, there is a big celebration – 40 days later. There’s also a big celebration when the child gets its first tooth; another volunteer told me about that one. When someone dies, there is a funeral and three days of mourning – and then another memorial 40 days later. One year later, there is a memorial at the cemetery and if the family can afford it, this is when the stone is – not sure what they call it here, but I would call it unveiled. My host mother has one for her sister this weekend; I may help with (or observe) the food preparation but I’ve decided that I’d prefer not to go to the cemetery.

Yesterday, March 8th, was also International Women’s Day. We used this as an occasion for Gender and Development activities in Morocco, but it’s really a big deal in the former Soviet Union. It was a day off (though my tutor, with nationalistic pride, wanted to work, so we had a lesson), a day of small gifts such as flowers and chocolate (and, of course, craft fair items); I gave both my host mother and my tutor chocolate, thinking that some might come my way, and it did! Similarly, I was told that for the anniversary of the death this weekend, chocolate is an appropriate gift – vodka and cognac are also acceptable, but I think candy is dandy.

And I see that in the U.S., Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend – I love springing forward. They may or may not have it in Armenia this year; it’s still being negotiated, and it may or may not depend on what Russia and Georgia do. I wonder if the World Clocks on the left-hand side of this blog will automatically update – and if that is how I will find out about it!

Some Good News

The beginning of last week had more than its share of drama, but maybe I hit the low point of my service and it will be all uphill from here. I’ll talk about the drama some other time; better to focus on the positive!

All right, so I got bumped from the list for the Ambassador’s reception; I told Peace Corps staff I wanted to meet her at some point, and they told me they’d look into it (of course, I have ways to contact her on my own, but I thought it best to go through channels). They told me that she recognized my name immediately and that she was surprised I was here and that I could contact her directly. And I thought – of course she knows my name; in certain Princeton circles, I’m important. And it struck me how unimportant and anonymous I’ve felt – if not in Morocco, then certainly since I’ve been back. I don’t know how important it is to me to feel important, but it was nice to feel that way for a moment! I’ll email her this coming week.

Other things – I was relieved to find they do indeed have a Laughing Cow-type cheese, it’s just called something else. And I received a New Yorker magazine! I think it’s been two weeks already, and another has not come yet, but getting even one is a joy. I took the Metro a couple of times recently – there’s just one line, running southeast to northwest, but I was impressed! I have always been a subway fan. The stations were grand, the escalators perhaps a tad too fast, the trains frequent and clean and the system not crowded. And it costs only 50 drams a ride! I also finally had an occasion to use an ATM, and I have found that most of them have English as an option, which was nice to see.

And the reason to use the ATM? To pay cash for my repaired computer! Last week they had told me that Europe was out of stock on displays – so “about a week” had turned into a month and then into what seemed to be never. I came up with Plan B – buy an external hard drive and have my Macbook hard drive copied to it, and borrow Brian’s dying spare computer for the time being. That seemed only a temporary solution, though, so I initiated Plan C – asking a PCV whom I’d heard was going home for vacation to carry my computer, send it to Martha to get fixed, get it back from her, and bring it back to Armenia. He replied instantly and enthusiastically that he would do so. And the Universe, seeing Plan B in motion and Plan C get started, sent my display to the Apple affiliate store – they called the next day, I brought the computer over, and I picked it up that evening!

Most of last week was spent preparing for two craft fairs, one held yesterday (another weekend day worked… I am racking up the comp days!) and one today. International Women’s Day is tomorrow, and it’s a big gift-giving holiday. We sorted through the inventory, placed some rush orders for additional product, worked on a marketing piece to go on the tables, and tagged and priced just about everything we had. The fairs were well-attended; we sold a fair amount of product and made some good contacts. We were particularly pleased that a product line we had come up with – taking existing crocheted heart magnets, key chains, “anti-stress” squeezies and the like but making them in the colors of the Armenian flag – was extremely popular. I was also pleased that I could quote most of the prices in Armenian (I don’t have all the numbers memorized, but I have most of them now!) and answer a few other questions. I’m tired, though, and glad to have a holiday tomorrow! It really has been non-stop since I got here.

Trip to the South - Part IV

One of the best aspects of the trip to the south was staying with PCVs at every stop. Peace Corps Armenia did a great job of telling the PCVs that we were coming and to be welcoming towards us - they have been extremely friendly (even if one of them said it's because they're all tired of each other's stories and eager for new blood). The PCVs who hosted us were great; it was nice to get a slice of volunteer life. I can't say that I'm tired of my home stay, but I went out to Artbridge for breakfast with a PCV earlier this week, and I felt as if I had gotten out of prison. Sometimes, "how was your day?" and "what time do you want breakfast?" is just more conversation than I want to have. And then I feel like bad company when I spend most of my time alone in my room or I stay out because I can't just go home, drop off my stuff and go back out. Fortunately, as I mentioned this to yet another PCV the other day, she said that everyone feels like that in home stay!

The PCVs here all live in furnished apartments - there are enough emigrants whose families hold onto their apartments that there are plenty of furnished apartments available. So most PCVs already have a bed, dresser, couch, table and chairs, and complete kitchen setup. The settling-in allowance that they get, then, is enough to get a little extra - maybe some bookshelves or (what I spent a chunk of mine on) an internet stick. Very different from the situation in Morocco, where most of us had empty apartments and then furnished them. The PCVs we visited all had water for only part of the day. I didn't bring soap because I didn't anticipate showering, but two of them had electric hot water heaters so shower I did! Peace Corps supplies the canister of cooking gas here - a remnant from the first post-Soviet groups, when gas was in extremely short supply. The first two places we visited were cold - in fact, Kapan was so cold that it reminded me of my winters in Morocco; the Goris PCV kept the heat high in her one heated room, and it was a welcome relief. Still, two of three nights I barely slept; I was glad to get back to my home stay bed, which is comfy and cozy (I also missed my white noise machine, with its sound of ocean surf).

Our first night, I brought out my three decks of cards in order to spread piffle across Armenia; we also played Bananagrams. So much of my Morocco experience included decks of cards - not that I can't have anyone over for cards while in home stay, but I haven't yet. It was a fun evening. The second and third nights we did a lot of talking - another thing about Peace Corps life that I haven't had that much of here. It was good to get some background about the NGOs and about Peace Corps Armenia - some issues are country-specific and some seem to be the same everywhere! Particularly memorable was the breakfast we cooked in Kapan - French toast and hash browns. Again, some of my great Peace Corps memories involve cooking with other PCVs! In all of these towns, there are several PCVs (a very different placement strategy here); the night we were in Goris, there was a birthday celebration for one of them so several PCVs from the area met at a restaurant for dinner.

In the Philippines, most of the time when I traveled I stayed in hotels; here, because it is less touristed than the other countries in which I've served, staying with a PCV may be the most attractive or perhaps even the only option. Many places of interest can be visited on day trips, so I don't know how often I will stay with people, but I've met a few people of interest now, and I may end up traveling to spend time with them. Again, we shall see! Already this week there are signs of spring; in fact, Armenians consider March 1 the first day of spring. I know it is still snowing outside of Yerevan, but here we have seen more sun this week than we have since I arrived. In midday it is too warm for my winter coat and boots. Already there seem to be more people out. Ararat is still mostly hidden, but it's clear enough here to look in the mountain's direction to see if you can see it. The scores of outdoor cafes are still closed; when they open, the city will be transformed. But it's definitely in the air.

Trip to the South - Part III

Two years ago, OSCE started Women's Resource Centers in the three cities that we visited; the centers have programs that are political, social and economic. These are funded for three years; next year the funding will run out and the centers are supposed to be self-sustaining. The PCVs in Goris and Kapan started when the WRCs started; Meghri did not get their paperwork done in time, so they did not get a PCV until this year. OSCE schedules meetings - in those cities, in Yerevan, halfway in between, or somewhere else - on a regular basis to review programming and to see if these NGOs are on the way to independence. The artisan projects are just one of the economic programs and are intended to be a way not only for the women who participate to make money but also for the NGO to make some money. But, I learned on the trip, the PCVs work more on overall NGO development than they do with the artisans. They don't have the time to nurture the artisans, and these artisans require nurturing. The intention of the trip was for Brian and me to introduce ourselves, assess their skills and motivation, and say that we would come back and work with them again. I worry, though, that Homeland Handicrafts is relying on the PCVs to be the point people at the local level, and that is not why they are there.

The Goris PCV was at Artbridge about eight months ago and she overheard Tim talk about his history in product development. One thing led to another and he agreed to help the women of the WRCs with product development and with finding markets for their products. Thus Homeland Handicrafts was born. With these WRCs and a separate additional group in Kapan as the core, Tim then reached out to PCVs in other regions (and/or they to him) and he found other talented artisans; in addition, some independent artisans found him.

Brian and I had prepared a little presentation with our backgrounds and experiences and then met the artisans, learned about them, looked at any products they brought to review, and answered questions. Homeland Handicrafts got off to a fast start with a holiday bazaar and then the airport order, so it created the expectation that more new products would be created and more orders forthcoming - and there may be some who believed that we would just buy everything they made and find a market for it. We didn't make any promises, but we did see some disappointment. We also saw the need for some systems and processes - for product review, materials ordering, product quality and consistency, inventory and payment. We did get some ideas for new products based on what they showed us, but that all has to be discussed - and I, for one, think we can't do anything else until we meet more potential customers and find out what they might want - that is, we need a strategy. So the job is shaping up to be somewhat different from what we expected - as I said in the last post, I'm not sure what that means.

What's interesting is that we talked to four completely different groups, perhaps reflective of the populations of the towns or maybe of the WRCs and how they did their outreach. The women in Meghri are all working women who do crafts as a hobby. There are women crocheting bags out of plastic bags (which would be Eco-friendly if they were recycled bags, but they are new, so there goes that marketing angle), and there are women who do "ribbon" embroidery. In Kapan, one set of women is all students at an art school; for Homeland Handicrafts they have made only products decorated with foam roses, but they have learned a variety of craft techniques in school. The other set are housewives who are all friends; they crochet. Actually in all of the places I think the artisans are friends or family members - that's how anyone gets hired or how anything gets done here. Goris was the only place where the women do their craft for livelihood - it is known as a town where almost all of the men work in Russia. Some men send money home, some come home to visit, some do neither. Crochet, knitting, embroidery, and there's also a male woodworker whose products are included in the line (and there are some products that combine wood and embroidery as a result). A lot of the products they recently worked on were on display at the Valentine's craft fair and will be available again this weekend; they're not all on the web site but they can be found on the Facebook Homeland Handicrafts group page. I'd like to see fewer seasonal/craft fair products and more "permanent collection," but that's another strategic discussion. One thing that we did come up with that everyone seems to like - a crocheted heart (one of the things that did sell at that fair), this time in the colors of the Armenian flag. I know I want one!

Trip to the South - Part II

We met again with the Meghri artisans in the morning while the OSCE people met with the officers of the NGO. The NGO women then provided lunch for everyone, and it was on to Kapan. Lonely Planet calls Kapan Armenia's version of Pittsburgh, a town built for the mining industry that surrounds it. The book says that Russians started mining there in earnest in the 1850s (really?) and that the city boomed during the Soviet period. The PCV there said a mine was run by the French and that Charles de Gaulle may have been born there and that his family definitely lived there. A 3210-meter mountain looms over the town, but it was too cloudy for us to see it. And it was very icy! Plus, the streets were dark - PCVs who live in the regions carry flashlights. Stairwells in the Soviet apartment blocks are also dark - really dark.

We had two meetings in the afternoon but only one the next morning, so we had time for a stroll. The NGO is near the main church, and we walked over to see it. Carved into the door were pomegranates and grapes - Armenia's finest. We walked in and there was a baptism taking place. Only a few family members were there - we had learned that there is a big party 40 days after a baby is born, so maybe baptism is a private ceremony. I also noticed that the few women who were there had their heads covered. I put the hood of my coat up, but we felt it was time to go - not before noticing that, as we had learned, Armenian churches have simple interiors. We walked on to the main square and down a side street and that was our exercise for the trip.

There's another town in the region that looks big enough to be a PCV site, but its mine doesn't meet international safety standards, so no PCV can live there. Instead, it was on to Goris, which is said to be one of the most beautiful towns in Armenia. It has stone houses (made with round stones and mortar, not blocks of volcanic stone) and volcanic pillars on the slopes outside of town. It also has a cave city on the other bank of the river, but we didn't see that. It is known for oghee, homemade mulberry vodka; I had tried some in a restaurant in Yerevan and one sip was enough for me. It is also a gateway to Karabagh; those of you who have been following all of my Peace Corps experiences will not be surprised to learn that we absolutely cannot go there. Goris was even icier than Kapan - it's amazing that more people don't fall and break bones here!

All of the places that we visited on this business trip might be interesting to see again for pleasure. There are caves and standing stones around Goris (though the bigger stones were on the way down, between Yerevan and Goris), history museums, some ruins, perhaps hiking. Near Goris is Tatev, with a jaw-dropping view of a monastery by a gorge. If I go back for business again, it would be nice to see some of the sights. Will I go back for business? Would I haul all the way down there for pleasure? I really don't know. And I'm not sure what it means that I don't know.

Thursday morning was the last of the meetings, and the ride back from Goris was only about four hours long, though we made a long stop so the OSCE program chair could buy roadside wine - near the area where the world's oldest winery (6000 years?) was found, they make wine and sell it in re-used Coca-Cola bottles. Brian stayed behind so that he could travel back via public transportation with some PCVs and learn how to do it - I took the free ride in the big white SUV, and had some interesting conversations about Armenia, the developing world, Europe and more.

I'll still write more about the meetings and about staying with the PCVs.... I'll add, though, that yesterday was Gorbachev's 80th birthday and they had a special about him on TV. I asked my host mother if she liked him, and she said that he was good for democracy (she even used the phrase "tear down this wall") but not good for Armenians because he didn't do anything about Karabakh. The other day in the Peace Cops office, I was talking with the Safety and Security Coordinator and I asked him if he ever dreamed that in his lifetime the Soviet Union would break up. He said, "of course not; we were the most powerful country in the world!"

Trip to the South - Part I

They say Armenia is a country of microclimates, and I feel as if I saw a dozen or more on the way south. Right outside of Yerevan, the terrain is flat and barren, though maybe it looks more agricultural in the spring. Orchards and fish farms appear, then vineyards and the occasional town, and then the mountains. Sometimes they are covered with snow; then you round a bend and there's no snow, and then around another bend there is deep snow, and sometimes you are in the clouds. Sometimes there are evergreen trees on the slopes, and then no trees, and then deciduous trees. Up we went, and down, and up, and down, through two or three distinct ranges. Along the Silk Road we traveled, more or less the only road between the capital and the south; it's amazing to think of the caravans that traveled the same route through the centuries. Now the caravans are comprised of trucks with Iranian license plates. And now that I see the twisty mountain roads that they travel, I understand why everything in Armenia is so expensive. The highest pass we conquered, in deep snow, was over 2500 meters.

We stopped for coffee near the turnoff to Armenia's stone henge - where we were told that there is evidence that Armenians built England's Stonehenge. All right, if you say so. There was no time to explore, nor would we have seen much given the snow - this trip convinced me that there's little point in doing any pleasure trips before the spring, and that spring will come to Yerevan way before it comes to much of the rest of the country. There are still several museums in Yerevan to see, and several emails to respond to, and things to read and write - not to mention lots of work! - so I have plenty to do.

We were in a big, white OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) SUV, and for some of the eight-hour drive to Meghri we talked, and sometimes I read, and sometimes we listened to the radio. There are some recordings I want to find to bring home - the duduk is the traditional flute here and it makes beautiful music (I never saw "Gladiator," but if you have, the soundtrack is duduk music); Charles Aznavour is a French-Armenian crooner who I can now recognize in just a few notes (Cher is of Armenian descent as well, but I haven't heard her here). The Russo-pop can be fun too.

The south is just about the only part of the country where you can't make it there and back to Yerevan in one day. Is the western part of Maryland like that? You do go through mountains to get there.... I guess the Eastern Shore is hard to get to though, so the analogy goes only so far. We arrived in Meghri and had a few minutes to admire the mountains in the background before our meeting started. I was once told that the mountains make up for the sea; I am not sure I agree with that, but I did enjoy my two years in the Middle Atlas. And the PCVs whose sites are this far south in Armenia are indeed surrounded by beauty.

And they are close to Iran. I upset friends and family when I posted on Facebook that I was headed for the Iranian border. No intention or attempt to cross or hike, and no time anyway! Because the PCV in Meghri had been med-evac'ed to the U.S., a PCV in the border town agreed to host us overnight. We could see Iran through the fence and across the river, and - though frowned upon - I took a picture of the road sign. A fellow PCV wrote to me privately that he enjoyed seeing the comments telling me that it was dangerous to be that close to Iran, when in fact the real danger was from the road conditions. The OSCE program chair told me that she was advised not to schedule any meetings in the winter, but she felt that if she didn't, it would give the NGOs an excuse not to do anything all winter. Maybe it is just as well she told me this on the way back, after we had crossed through the snow and clouds and fog.

Peace Corps Turns 50!

The Peace Corps was founded on March 1, 1961. Fifty years later, I am proud to be serving as a volunteer. The world has seen many changes since those first volunteers were deployed, but the mission of world peace and friendship is still the same. The three goals - providing trained men and women to countries that request them, sharing American culture with people of other lands, and sharing the cultures of other lands with Americans - remain. From "The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love" to "How Far Will You Go?" to one of the new PSAs, "There Isn't An App for This," Peace Corps has been a life-changing experience, not only for people in developing countries but also - and especially - for the volunteers. This is Peace Corps week - events are happening in major cities across the U.S. and all over the world! Find one near you - and or read more about the 50 years of Peace Corps - at peacecorps.gov.

When we arrived here, we were told that there would be a reception at the Ambassador's house (the Ambassador is a Princeton classmate!) on March 1 and that the Peace Corps Response volunteers would be invited. Well, when we hadn't received the details by last Friday I asked about it, and it turns out we were taken off the list.... Too many Americans relative to Armenians. So to celebrate the anniversary, I am doing a little Third Goal by writing this! I was hoping for a Princeton picture; instead I took some of a different kind on Sunday. I had read in Lonely Planet that "the lower part of (Abovyan Street) has some sturdy 19th-century buildings in volcanic hues of orange and black." Sure enough, it does! I still hope to meet the Ambassador before her term here ends this summer!

On Friday night I was told that, "Europe is out of Macbook displays." Meaning that my computer can't be repaired anytime soon. So on Saturday morning I made a dent in my email at the Peace Corps office. The early bird gets the solitude there - by mid-afternoon on Fridays and Saturdays it is a gathering place for PCVs coming in for the day or overnight, and the chatter makes it impossible to get any computer work done. So I left and I priced out Plan B options (buying an external hard drive and borrowing Brian's extra computer - he brought two! - seems the most workable for now) and then went to the Vernissage. That night I went out with a bunch of PCVs who were in town to celebrate a couple of birthdays. There isn't a McDonald's in Armenia (a la the one in Fes), so where did we go? KFC. Is that Goal #2? 3? Neither? And have I already been here too long if I say that the food looked pretty good? I had eaten an early dinner before the KFC plan was confirmed, so I didn't have any chicken, but I did have some ice cream, and dare I admit that it was mighty tasty?

March 1 is also the anniversary of violent post-election protests that took place here in 2008. We were told to stay vigilant today and to stay away from the Matenadaran, where people were killed. Our counterpart says that Armenia has not been the same since that day.

On Sunday I went to the State Museum of Armenian History. Humans have inhabited this part of the world for millennia, and they left ample evidence here in Armenia. Some of the items in the museum were from as early as 6000 B.C., including the world's oldest shoe. Stones (I hope to see those in situ!), bronze, tools, weapons, jewelry, figurines. There was an exhibit on the Urartu civilization, with cuneiform and ceramics. And there were more recent cross-stones, coins, carpets, lace, costumes. There wasn't a continuous narrative, but what was there was impressively preserved, restored, and displayed. There was also an interesting exhibit of ancient maps - the Armenians have been on the map for centuries too, despite not having their own country for most of that time!

And speaking of map, I still have my trip to the south to talk about! Which I shall do....