Odds and Ends

Daylight Savings Time did indeed arrive while I was away – so now the sun peeks over the ridge at about 8:10 am and it is bright past 8 pm. The outdoor cafes are starting to open and I am getting a sense of the late-night town that Yerevan will become in summer. I think that being outdoors should help with the cigarette smoke, but not if everyone smokes outdoors!

While I was away, Yerevan was invaded by Iranians – in a peaceful sense! For Iranian New Year, wealthy Iranians and college students come to Armenia to drink, dance together and party in general. I’m told it’s quite a scene! Then again, I am not a drinker, dancer or partier, so I probably would have avoided the crowds had I been here.

Also, an elderly lady in Georgia (the country) was hunting for copper and accidentally cut the cable that provided internet to all of Armenia. True story. The internet was apparently down for hours! And she is being thrown in jail.

On the first leg of my vacation flight I had a sense of how snowy and mountainous this region is. We flew over the Black Sea as well, but all I could see were clouds. Maybe next time?

When I went for my introductory meeting with MCA-Armenia this week, my host mother/sister waited until I left and then threw a glass of water out the door after me (she told me first that she was going to do this). It’s for good luck. When I realized that I had left behind the piece of paper with the address and contact info (even though I remembered where I was going and who I was going to see, I thought I would feel better with the piece of paper), she had to do it again! It must have worked.

April 7th, yesterday, was Motherhood and Beauty Day – another candy and flowers occasion, marking the end of Women’s Month. According to my tutor, the day was set after independence to distance Armenia from the Soviet holiday of International Women’s Day, March 8. But that one stuck as well, so instead there is Women’s Month and April 7 is the end of it. She said there is also a Christian significance to April 7 – this was the day that the Archangel Gabriel told Mother Mary that she would be a mother. Hence motherhood day. And she said that she (and I) were special because our birthdays are just about nine months later.

My tutor also talked about some nomads that once lived in Armenia. I mentioned that someone told me I might be a nomad, looking for a home – and she stopped me immediately and said NO! Nomads do not look for a home. They just pick up and go and then pick up and go again. So if I am looking for a home, a place to belong, then I am not a nomad. An interesting perspective….

I mentioned the Azrou RPCV that I met last week, but I haven’t yet mentioned another connection! Just before I left for vacation, I heard from a PCV currently in Morocco. She works with my counterpart (her site is outside Azrou though), and he asked her to work on a web site for the new artisana (which is still not finished, so I am glad I didn’t push for an extension!); she wants to take what I have done and build on it. He didn’t remember that I had done one, I suppose, but my successor had told her about it, and Tariq, the Program Manager, had used it as an example of a successful PCV project. I am so glad that someone wants to build on my work! She also told me that the new Morocco Country Director is eliminating the Small Business Development program after her stage leaves – so whatever she does has to be sustainable. I know that change is inevitable, but it was sad to see that. I asked the Armenia CD (who had just left Morocco) what he thought and he seemed sad too – and remarked that he didn’t know the impact on the volunteers and staff (not to mention the artisans…).

Change is Coming

Last month I alluded to some drama; I’ll talk more about that now. We PCRVs had a meeting with the head of programming for Peace Corps EMA (Europe, Mediterranean and Asia), who was in Armenia for a week; she was here mostly to discuss programming for the two-year volunteers, but as long as she was here, she met with us to see if there was any feedback she could bring back to headquarters. I think that the meeting led all of us to think about our assignments here. Brian chose the timing of her visit to announce his desire/intention to leave Homeland Handicrafts; Peace Corps staff worked with him to find him another assignment here. Gordon and Jeanne had some good feedback and good insights into what they are doing and what they want to accomplish while here. My feedback was focused largely on the orientation that Peace Corps had for us when we arrived, but I also looked at my job description and realized that I didn’t feel well-utilized as a Peace Corps Response volunteer. A sentence in the job description mentioned the need to roll up our sleeves – and I realized that all I had been doing since I started is roll up my sleeves. I hadn’t really been able to get an actual project going, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to. I rewrote my job description so that it would be more reflective of what I thought the needs of the organization were and what I could bring to it based on my experience – i.e. writing a marketing strategy and plan and doing some of its implementation.

However, I also realized that I felt worn out and unfulfilled and that changing the job description wouldn’t be enough - if I had the opportunity to change the job, I should grab it. One of the options presented to Brian seemed up my alley; he mentioned it to me and I mentioned to Peace Corps that I would be interested. I went to meet with them earlier this week and I said yes! I’ll be working with Millennium Challenge Account-Armenia. This is the in-country implementation team of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. foreign aid agency created in 2004 to fight global poverty. MCC (per its web site) forms partnerships with poor countries, but only those who are committed to good governance, economic freedom and investments in their citizens (read more about it at mcc.gov). In Armenia they have been working on canals and irrigation systems, something I don’t know that much about, but something a civil engineering major could love (read more at mca.am/en – note that if you google it, the first result is an old site; the new site is the second google result). The compact ends in September, and as they close out the project, they requested a Peace Corps Response volunteer to help with PR and marketing.

When I got there late Monday afternoon for a short chat, there was a visitor from MCC in Washington reviewing the communications. She said that Armenia’s communications are a model they use for other countries. There’s a strong team in place here, and they are looking to me to help with success stories, proofreading and editing in English, and writing articles for the quarterly bulletin. They feel I can offer a fresh (and a Western) perspective; the staff has been working on these stories for several years now. I might also write a blog about the closeout events for the MCC team here. There will be new closeout materials to be produced, and materials need to be made more user-friendly for the U.S. audience (i.e. Capitol Hill). All of this is very exciting! They’re busy this week and next with high-profile events, so I won’t start in the office until April 18; in the meantime I have a stack of communications to read and the (new, since I looked at the old) web site to review, so I have already started!

I went to one of the events today – the opening of a gravity system (I’m guessing that as I do the reading I’ll be able to explain what that is), attended by the President of Armenia, the U.S. Ambassador, the head of the MCC here, the Minister of Agriculture, and more. I’m waiting to see the television coverage of it as I write this. I was wondering if and how I would tell the Ambassador that I changed assignments, and I had my chance when I said hello to her! It was exciting to be there. Afterwards, I went with the MCC folks to the opening of a canal that was funded by the World Bank – this one featured multiple toasts and a complete buffet lunch. In trying to stay close to the MCC folks but also out of the way, I ended up quite near the President! The MCC folks then had to go back to the Embassy for a meeting discussing what would happen in case of a government shutdown.

As for when I finish – that’s not confirmed, but I told both Peace Corps and MCA-Armenia that I would like to leave at the end of July. I indicated that I would be willing to reconsider since there will be multiple closeout events in August and September, but I think I’ll be ready to leave after six months in country. They actually wanted someone through the end of the year, so maybe they can get a second Response volunteer to build on what I do.

And as for how I ended things with Homeland Handicrafts – that’s a story for another day.

Back in Armenia

I’m back from vacation – everyone tells me I look refreshed and happy, which leads me to wonder what I looked like before I left. I won’t go into any details of the trip here (that’ll be for travelsintheoffseason.blogspot.com – eventually) except as it relates to my time in Armenia. As I was on the way to the airport, I passed some of the familiar sites and streets of Yerevan, and I had a beautiful view of Mt. Ararat. I felt happy to be going away but also happy that I would be coming back – which is a good way to be. There were some Armenian connections – but of course, since there seem to be Armenian connections everywhere! And there were some current Armenia PCVs on the return flight with me – we took the marchutni back into town from the airport. So now I have been on my first marchutni! It’s not that big a deal – after all, I’ve been on a lot of developing-country public transport at this point – but I am glad that I can walk most everywhere in Yerevan. When the time comes to travel out to the regions, to visit PCVs or tourist sites, I’m still not sure I have the language for it. I guess if I know the destination that may be enough (I do know how to ask the price and I know my numbers). But we learned this weekend that outside of Yerevan there’s still snow and slush, so I may not be going too far just yet anyway.

We went hiking on Sunday! I had heard about this hiking group; Jeanne and Gordon went on an outing with them last Sunday and they, Brian and I all went this past Sunday. We went to the ruins of an old fortress (a short hike), an old monastery (a long and at times muddy hike, thanks to snowmelt – but there was also still snow), and Khor Virap, an important church that was built on the spot where Saint Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for thirteen years in a pit filled with poisonous insects. He stayed alive because he was secretly fed by Christian women. When the king at the time started to go mad, Saint Gregory is said to have cured him, and in gratitude, the king adopted Christianity and Armenia became the first Christian nation (in the small world department, Gregory was from Caesarea, which I had just seen while on vacation!). You can climb down into the pit – apparently it’s well-lit – but since I had hiked so much, I didn’t do it. I’d like to go back there anyway – there’s an iconic shot of the church with Ararat (or, if you’re at the church, an unobstructed view of Ararat) and we didn’t see it because it was cloudy.

There’ve been some April showers this week – I didn’t think it would rain anymore at all, so I welcomed it. More, spring arrived while I was away! Flowering trees are in bloom – apricot and plum and some cherry, I’m told. On the way to our hiking spots we passed several orchards with rows and rows of flowering trees – so beautiful!

Saturday I got back in the Yerevan swing. I had plans for breakfast at Artbridge with some PCVs I’ve befriended. I got there a little early (and they were a little late) and who was there but the Country Director and his family. It was nice to talk with them about my work and about Armenia. They were with another family – I thought I recognized the woman and she thought she recognized me; turns out she works at the Embassy and she had seen me at the event I attended before I left. But wait – there’s more! She was a PCV in Morocco – in Azrou! My site! The Country Director (who had been Country Director in Morocco just before coming here and had also been a PCV in Morocco) never put us together until we were together. Very cool!

After breakfast I met another set of current PCVs and we went to the Vernissage – I’ve been there now with several people, and each time I go with someone different I see new and different things. One of the people I went with is thinking of forming a women’s cooperative at her site, so Brian and I talked with her about it over lunch; maybe we’ll go down there and meet her artisans.

And Saturday night was capped off with an orchestra concert – Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. A fine welcome back!

From Culture Smart Armenia - General Info

I read Culture Smart Armenia on the way here, but now that I have been here for a while, I've been looking at it again. I'll note some things here and add my own observations. Culture Smart is a great series – it’s a quick read. Culture Shock is more detailed – there isn’t one for Armenia; for Morocco and the Philippines I read both. Opportunity? I think you have to be here longer than I am going to be to write Culture Shock Armenia!

One thing that struck me in both readings is the golden summer light around 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Yerevan can be very dry and dusty in July and August (it is already very dry now!) but "a phenomenon that shouldn't be missed is the gold-tinged light of the Caucasus region on a summer afternoon. Around 3:00 pm, one is treated to an amber glow that is uniquely special to this part of the world." I look forward to seeing that! That sounds like the time to take an exercise break and walk up the Cascade. Or maybe I will enjoy the light from the office window if it is over 100 Fahrenheit.... Yerevan is located in the Ararat Valley, which has the lowest elevations in the nation and is also the main agricultural region. Here, crops enjoy the longest duration of sunshine in the world (2700 hours a year).

The book says the economy is 17% agriculture, 36% industry and 46% services - without a mention of the high unemployment rate. It also says that 64% of the population lives in cities and towns - based on what I have seen that seems like a reasonable number, but I wonder how that compares to other countries, developing and developed. Literacy is 99% and life expectancy is 73 years.

Armenians call themselves Hay and their country Hayastan, after Haik, a descendent of Noah, who rebelled against the Babylonians and led a return to the land around Mt. Ararat. One of Haik's descendants was said to be Aram, a military leader who expanded the borders of his country; the Greeks and Persians began to refer to the land as Aram's country, which is one interpretation of the origin of the name "Armenia."

During the early days of Christianity in Armenia, masses were sung in Greek. The king wanted to develop and promote the Armenian language, so he assigned the task to Mashtots, who developed the alphabet. In the end, he not only created the language, but also provided one of the first translations of the Bible into a modern language; his translation is considered one of the best in history.

One thing that was mentioned by Peace Corps when we got here is the amount of foreign aid – for a while, Armenia received more money per capita than any country except Israel. The diaspora is still responsible for a lot of money pouring into the country – without it, Armenia would be much poorer. The global economic downturn, therefore, has hit Armenia hard. Another thing noted by Peace Corps is the effect of the war with Azerbaijan – 750,000 Azeris left Armenia for Azerbaijan and 400,000 ethnic Armenians left Azerbaijan for Armenia; of those, 35,000 (if it’s not a typo) have accepted Armenian citizenship – meaning that the rest have not accepted that they may not be going back.

Another thing that I may as well note here is that when Georgia was invaded in summer 2008 (I remember watching coverage of that when we were at COS conference in Morocco – at the restaurant at the American Embassy), the Peace Corps volunteers in Georgia were evacuated to Armenia. They stayed for a few weeks until it was safe to go back. Amazing, to me – yet just the other week there was a big protest here, one of the biggest in a while (we have received texts to stay away from the area when a protest is scheduled and somehow I seem to end up walking near them – this might have been the third since I’ve been here, but this seemed the biggest and most serious), so who is to say that something requiring evacuation won’t happen here?

From the Hard Drive - The Medical Kit

I always think it’s interesting to see what is in the medical kit – it’s different for every country. You’ll have to go to my other blogs (you know you want to!) to see what was in those kits. It may be that the biggest difference is in the other items we’ve been issued – the water filter, the two space heaters, Yaktrax, and the fire extinguisher. In Morocco we had a bicycle and an allowance for those who needed space heaters. In the Philippines it was a life vest and I had to buy reverse-osmosis water on a regular basis. In all countries (though it is possible I never set mine up in the Philippines) PCVs get a CO/smoke detector.

According to the Health Manual, this is what is in the kit - antacid tablets, anti-fungal cream, antibiotic ointment, lip balm, eye drops (though not the ones I use; I brought enough to last until I go back for Reunions in May), two kinds of anti-itch cream (hydrocortisone and Calagel), antiseptic skin cleanser, sinus decongestant, antihistamine, oral rehydration salts, cough drops, iodine tablets (to disinfect water when filtering is unavailable), Tylenol, ibuprofen, and Pepto Bismol (I’m not sure how that differs from antacid).

Our kits were cobbled together (Washington, D.C. didn’t send kits for the PCRVs – tsk, tsk!) so what is actually in mine is a little different. Things listed above that I have – the lip balm, rehydration salts (two different kinds!), antibiotic cream (not ointment, but that’s okay), antiseptic skin cleanser (different from the one mentioned in the manual, but also okay), ibuprofen, Tylenol, antacid, two kinds of throat lozenges, Benadryl, anti-fungal cream, only one kind of anti-itch cream (the hydrocortisone). So – no eye drops, but they’re the wrong kind anyway. No decongestant, but I can always request some; there are plenty of pharmacies here, too. No iodine tablets, but I’m not going to go on multi-day camping trips; I buy bottled water whenever I go out, since the reusable bottle I brought with me doesn’t last me all day. No Pepto-Bismol, but I haven’t needed it yet, in any country.

Things in the kit that I have had in medical kits before (and therefore make me suspect that the Health Manual list has only highlights, not a complete list) – a whistle, sterile pads, bandaids, adhesive tape, scissors, tweezers, latex gloves, an Ace bandage, a pocket First Aid manual (actually, two), and the Peace Corps favorite – a generous supply of condoms. Maybe the Health Manual lists only those items that need instruction on when to use. Things new to me here – hand sanitizer (nice!), an instant cold compress, anti-diarrheal tablets (surprised at those – in Morocco they wanted things to run their course, pun intended). Tampons are also available on request (first country for that!), but I still have my Keeper. I know this is information you wanted to know!

The Health Handbook says that PCVs here get the following vaccinations upon arrival (I received only one when I got here, and had a couple before I left, so I guess everything else is current, plus I received some in my other countries that aren’t needed here) – Inactivated Polio, MMR, Tetanus/Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Influenza, Swine Flu. I’d like to get my teeth cleaned while I am here, and I can pay for it myself if I need to (as I did in the Philippines).

(I forgot to mention the cobbled-together kit when I gave feedback on orientation recently; I’ll have to think about mentioning that. So far I’ve used only the extra things I was given after my initial consultation – the calcium, eye vitamins, multivitamins, and dental floss. Well, that’s not exactly true – I’ve had headaches just about daily and am going through the supply of Excedrin Migraine that I brought with me at an alarming rate. I recently felt unwell and got a thermometer, which I ended up not using, and Vitamin C fizzy tablets and a Russian version of Theraflu, if Theraflu is the thing you put in hot water when you feel something coming on; I ended up not using those either. The Medical Unit is supposed to supply sunblock – they’ve been out, so I had to buy some before my vacation and get reimbursed. I see in the manual that insect repellent is available – I guess I’ll need some when it gets warmer. Haven’t seen bugs yet; what a change from the Philippines! In Morocco we could get Lubriderm and Vaseline from the Medical Unit too – not so here, since they are readily available in stores. I’ve now been through the Volunteer Handbook, the Safety and Security Manual, and the Health Manual – that just leaves the language books, one of which I can’t use without knowing the entire alphabet, and the Cookbook.)

From the Hard Drive - Some Impressions

Yerevan is a beautiful city, with the pink stone. There was one architect in the ‘20s who designed the street plan and most of the beautiful buildings; they’re at a human scale and have nice details. The Soviet apartment blocks behind are also somewhat nice, since they too are of the pink stone. The streets are wide, the sidewalks have designs in the pavement. There are trash cans, and there’s no trash. The air is breathable (other than the cigarette smoke) and there are construction cranes everywhere. Yerevan is a relatively new city; in greater Armenia, Tbilisi was the cultural center.

Nick, the PTO, is an American married to an Armenian, and he told us that people are moving on from the genocide. Maybe it’s a generational thing – the Volunteer Support Coordinator, an Armenian, told us that the genocide is very much on people’s minds and that there isn’t a single family in Armenia who wasn’t affected. My host sister is 65, and almost the first thing she told me is that her parents were both genocide survivors. They were orphaned at age 12 and made their way to Russia, where they met. Her father was a chemical engineer, and in 1944 he spent a year in the United States working for duPont. Her sister was born in Russia, and then they moved to Armenia and she was born here. She was a computer scientist, but quit her job to take care of her father at the end of his life and then the sister at the end of hers. Her mother was a homemaker and since the girls were both working, her mother did all the cooking. She didn’t really learn to cook until her sister died. She learned English by listening to the Voice of America; her father told her to listen until she understood. When I ask her what something is in Armenian (identifying the food and household items, for example), she tells me the Russian word first and has to think of the Armenian; she has a Russian-English dictionary for when she is trying to think of a word to tell me. Yet she writes in Armenian.

The apartment is comfortable, if a little chilly (ironically, the day I moved in, there was an article in the Times about central heating making us fat, and how you can lose a few pounds by shivering). She has a thermometer in the foyer and it seems to be 60 degrees in here. I have on a few layers, but in Morocco I could see my breath! If it gets colder, I do have those two space heaters that Peace Corps gave me, but for now, one is my towel rack and the other is still in its box (they’re two different kinds). My room has two beds, one made up for winter and one for summer. The winter one has a wool-stuffed duvet for me to sleep on and one for me to sleep under – a wool-blanket sandwich! It’s warm and comfortable (in our culture session, Armine told us not to put shoes on the bed, and I said, “or crumbs.” Brian said, “I remember you and the crumbs.” I haven’t seen him in two years… is my aversion to crumbs that memorable?). There’s a dresser with some space for hanging things and a shelf for my toiletries. My room also has two covered trunks, on which I have put my luggage (kind of an auxiliary dresser), a round table with four chairs (wood, not plastic as I had in Morocco!) and a little round table for the filtered-water dispenser. There’s no rug on the floor, but I have toasty slippers thanks to Elisa, and I have room between the two beds to do my yoga.

There’s a room with a Western toilet (I’ve seen a couple of squat toilets, but they are of the European variety – i.e. bowl, just no seat, as opposed to hole in the ground), with paper, that flushes (I don’t take any of this for granted). There’s a separate room with a sink and a shower stall. Zina has to turn about seven different valves to get the shower water running, but there is hot water, and she was told to expect me to take a shower every day. And so I shall! I’m so, so glad there is hot water. There isn’t in the sink, but I can wash my face quickly with cold water. There’s a living room and her room and a small kitchen and two balconies, which in this season she is using for food storage. It’s very comfortable! Because of the shower/curtain configuration, when I am done the floor is wet, but she insists on cleaning up after me, and also on doing the dishes after we eat. I’ve been offering to help, but she says she is used to taking care of people. If she wants to do that, it’s fine with me! Zina often has the radio on, with a variety of music – Armenian, Russian, American, European – playing; it’s a nice change for me from the same music that’s been on my computer since 2006! At night she watches TV; it’s pleasant background. I’ve been here in my room writing and reading and meditating and doing yoga, but I’ll take breaks and visit with her. It’s about as good as it could get if one has to live with a complete stranger in a different culture.

From the Hard Drive - A Three-Day Weekend

Our first Friday here was Army Day, a national holiday. It was great to be able to sleep late and not to have to get into the mindset of going right to work. I think that all Peace Corps Response orientations should precede three-day weekends! Or at least weekends.

We four PCRVs had arranged to meet at the Cascade, a huge flight of stone steps in an elegant part of town. There’s some construction still to be done at the top, but other than that it’s in great shape – things here look old but they’re not crumbling. Central Yerevan has some straight streets on a grid, some diagonals that cut across, and some curved streets on the outside. I missed the turn onto the diagonal and went way out of my way on one of the curved streets! So I missed the homestay comparisons and everyone had to repeat their stories. We found a nice café, the Retro (pictures of the Beatles, Bee Gees and more on the walls), which has great lentil soup; my work will also be in this location so I see lots of lentil soup lunches to come! It was a beautiful, partly sunny day, so we climbed the steps. From the top you can see Mt. Ararat, which looms over the city. It’s in Turkey (though people here will say it’s in Western Armenia), but it looks very close. I’ll get there on a clear day and photograph it. Interesting to think about Noah landing there – this really is an ancient place.

Tim said that when he moved here he thought about climbing the Cascade every day, and he’s done it maybe six times in ten years. I’m going to try to climb it more often than not, and I look forward to the day when my legs don’t shake on the way down! We then went to another café that I had passed on the way over – the Marrakesh café. Small world… lots of teas and coffees (though nothing really Moroccan other than the name). That evening, my host sister prepared delicious chicken and fries; as a welcome she’s cooking dinner for me for three nights, and then we’ll see what happens – I can pay her and she can cook for me (which is tempting), or I may start eating simple things such as apples and cheese – maybe as I get more comfortable I will cook, but so far I don’t feel inspired to.

Our first Saturday it was rainy in the morning, though by the time I went out, the rain had tapered off. Still, it was nice that we had done our walking the day before and had indoor plans for this day. Brian and I met at Marrakesh for coffee, and then we joined the others and a couple of the Peace Corps staff at the National Gallery. Peace Corps paid for the tickets and a guide – that was nice! The museum has many paintings from the Hermitage, though we’ll have to go back to see the European paintings (and apparently many more are in storage than on display). We saw the Armenian art, which was very good. There were some vivid portraits and some stunning landscapes; my favorites were the marine pictures, with reflections of the sun or moon on stormy water. There were some more modern paintings too, but nothing Soviet or contemporary. There were also three big rooms full of reproductions of frescoes from churches around the country – it was what I expected Armenian art to be (I wish I could have taken pictures so that I could share them!). We found a café for lunch and then walked around a bit, finding the hostel where the PCVs usually stay when they are in Yerevan. We met up with a PCV who we’d met in the office earlier in the week and had a light dinner with her at the first non-smoking place we’ve yet seen – the food was good, but I’d go back even if it were just okay, to be in a non-smoking place!

(And that Sunday I had planned to go to another museum, but then I slipped and fell on my computer. So after a coffee at the Retro – which has since proved too smoky for more than take-out lentil soup - I went to the Peace Corps office to go through some email. I am still catching up! To think that I didn’t bring a laptop to Morocco and somehow made it from September until Thanksgiving without one!)