The End of Orientation… AKA – Throwing us into the Deep End

Orientation was the five days we spent at a beautiful resort in Aghrevan, Armenia. It was fast-paced. Full of jet-lag, jam-packed training sessions, studying the language, and hiking during any spare minutes we could find. I bonded with almost everyone in my unit in some way or another, and the excitement level and the nervous level were both very, very real.

Once again, there was waayyy too much happening to adequately describe it all, so I jotted down a few tidbits that I wanted to share with everyone.

#1 – The food. Whoa, the food. It was delicious, or as we say in Armenian, shat hamov eh. Granted, it’s probably not the healthiest, but that’s fine because you’re eating every hour and a half so there’s only room for a few bites at a time anyway. Actual conversation as follows: Me – “These eggs are ridiculously delicious.” Fellow Trainee – “That’s probably because of all the salt, butter, and oil.” I’m definitely going to need to figure out a way to control some of my diet over here, but don’t worry, there is an absolutely 0% chance of me going hungry in the next two years.

#2 – “Authority is a big thing in Armenia, but with that comes loyalty and faithfulness. Getting a blessing from the top, or the people who have authority and credibility, is important.”
“Loyalty and trust are so big that every single family has one shop that they will go to. It doesn’t matter that another shop was cheaper or had fresher eggs. This is how three little stores in one village can all stay open and thrive.”
I don’t think I need to add much here. I thought that these two quotes were a good way of showing that different values don’t mean better or worse. There are different advantages that come with such a loyalty-heavy culture. I think many Americans would argue that a merit-based culture is preferable, but this has definitely helped open my eyes to the value of not ranking different ways of doing things. Each value system has perks and downfalls, and each would probably be advantageous in more contexts if we weren’t so fixed on using only one system in our own culture… using only whichever system we know best.

#3 – “Learning trumps teaching. You can’t serve what you don’t understand.” This quote is especially pertinent for our first three months. It’s so succinct and really hits home for me. For now, my focus is entirely on learning everything I can. I am studying 90% of the time that I am conscious and the other 10% I am using what language skills I have to complete the tasks needed to survive (such as asking what time dinner is, actually eating dinner, or figuring out where the bathroom is, and when I can shower). A fellow volunteer mentioned that one of their measures of success for PST was to dream in Armenian. I haven’t gotten there yet, but I imagine it is bound to happen sometime soon.

There were so, so many more powerful moments during orientation, but a lot of the themes and hard-hitting points I wanted to mention will undoubtedly come up again during my service. I already have so much more to tell as I have been in my home stay with my first host family for a week already. However, currently I have about 15 minutes (if that) of internet a day, so I am updating as I can.

I don’t think there is a way to smoothly transition someone into being thown into a new culture, with a difficult foreign language, where we live in someone else’s home, who we can barely communicate with. The Peace Corps did the best they could to prepare us, but it was definitely still a shock. We all survived though, and we all were able to focus on the highlights, too. While I’ve heard some comical miscommunication stories, I haven’t seen one volunteer who dislikes their family or feels defeated.

I personally already love my host family. I have an Armenian mama and papa, who are pretty much the same ages as my actual parents. Their children have all grown up and moved out, so it is just the three of us. They are incredibly loving and take super good care of me. “Im papa” (my papa, in Armenian) is very protective and was quick to tell my LCFs (Language and Cultural Facilitators)  who live in the village with us that I am well-protected anywhere I go because I am his daughter now and he has a huge family and everyone knows and respects him. “Im mama” dotes on me, worries about me, feeds me a ton, checks in on me often, and does her best to learn English while I am learning Armenian so we can communicate better. She is incredibly patient with me and will repeat sentences ten times at the rate of a snail if that’s what it takes for me to understand. They made sure I was able to Skype my American parents and even told me to invite my parents here. “Im papa” even tried to tell my parents that he was going to keep me because I was such a good daughter, although I think my real Dad objected to that one. It was a good moment, and I definitely leveled up in my translating skills from infant to toddler.

Like I said, I have lots more to tell, but it will have to wait until next time. For now, I sign off with one very happy thought - How lucky am I that I could go all the way across the world and still feel the love and support that is my rock back at home while finding an amazing amount of love waiting for me here as well?