Our Personal Preview of the Next 2 Years

Last week we got our permanent site announcements, met our counterparts for the first time, went on a four day visit to see our schools, introduced ourselves to our new community, and met our new host families. Needless to say, it was a big week.

This is a picture of all of the A-25s on the map of Armenia where their new site placements are. I'm up near the top, but the cool part is I'm only 2 1/2 hours away from the capital, 20 minutes away from Lauren, and my site, Vanadzor, is stunningly beautiful.

Day 1 - Meeting the Counterpart (Saturday)
Us TEFL volunteers will be working with an English teacher in our schools for the next two years. This way, we are not only helping students, but we're helping teachers learn new methods to help their students for years to come. We were introduced to our counterparts Saturday, and then continued to have a full day of activities to get to know each other and figure out how to work with each other. There are some major cultural differences between Armenia and the U.S. Those differences are exaggerated when you compare ways of doing business, especially when that business is teaching. However, after spending only about a half an hour with my counterpart, I discovered she was probably the most open-minded, enthusiastic Armenian woman, let alone teacher, that I've met. When doing a blind activity where we had to write down our priorities for working together and then share it after, we both put student learning above all else at the top of our list. Other priorities we had in common included building the relationship between us and figuring out ways to involve and help the community. A few more similar activities later, and my counterpart, M, turns to me and says, "I think we have the same brain. We think in the same ways." From our planning habits to even bits of life philosophy, we melded surprisingly well. This is a big deal. The cultural differences between us are vast and many other volunteers went through a very awkward day of realizing those differences and navigating them to the best of their ability. I feel as if M and I spent the day realizing our similarities and being amazed at how similar personalities can sometimes come together across the world.

After a day of planning together, M and I hopped in her brother's car for the drive up to my site. Cue a two and a half hour car ride without a single bit of awkward silence. It was amazing. M talked to me in only English and asked that I correct her errors, while I responded in only Armenian and asked M to do the same for me. It was fantastic, and we even stopped on the way to see some local sites.

On the left is a cross that was put up in 2015 for the 100th year anniversary of the Armenian genocide. It is made out of 1,716 crosses, one for every year that Armenia has been a christian nation. They add another cross every year. On the right is the Armenian alphabet carved out of stone. I am standing in front of "eh" which is what my name starts with - էմիլի.

After our car ride and sight seeing, I arrived at my host family to find my new host mom speaks some English and would rather be more of my friend than host mom. My new host sister is 17 and speaks amazing English, which helps a lot for miscommunication problems. I also have a 14 year old host brother, my host dad, and his mother in the house (who I will probably be calling my host mom from now on).

Day 2 - Helping a Local Business? (Sunday)
I woke up in my new site, my new bedroom, with my new family. It was very comfortable right from the beginning. I had a chill morning hanging out with the family and then went to meet one of the local PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteer), O, who has already been at my site, and Caleb.

Caleb is in my A-25 unit and is placed in Vanadzor with me. I just got permission from him to include his name, but he is the C I've mentioned in previous posts. Caleb and I were in our very first Skype language lessons together back in the states, did our practicum together, were placed in the same village and language classes together, and now will be site mates. We joke that we can't get away from each other even if we try, but really, I'm happy that I've somehow been paired with someone who I've really enjoyed getting to know since January. I'm sure we'll get to know each other much better over the next two years, and I'm excited for that opportunity.

Anyway, Caleb and I met downtown and O, the volunteer already in site, brought us to a local cafe. He explained that he helped two young Armenians start up this business, and two months later, they were considering closing. O wanted us to help him sit down with the business owners and come up with a new business plan for them by calculating their losses and profits. About a half hour in, O discovered I was good with numbers, and set me to work. Later, he had to go, but asked if I would stay and continue helping. So I ended up sitting with these two business owners and going over the rest of their new plan with Caleb. It was actually a lot of fun and made me feel like I was finally doing something instead of just being trained. The best part was, about an hour in, O tells Caleb and I that we actually know the young woman we were working with. Her father is our driver for the Peace Corps and he takes us to and from training everyday. He is super kind and we were ecstatic that we got to help his daughter.

Days 3&4 - Observing my Counterpart and Exploring my Community (Monday & Tuesday)
As I observed M teaching, we continued to meld extremely well. The suggestions I gave my counterpart for more student-centered lessons were implemented by her the very next day. Peace Corps staff who has been training TEFL volunteers for years had never even heard of a counterpart being that responsive before. I know it is still early, but this has been an incredible start to my counterpart relationship. I was received warmly be the whole school and given lots of ideas for what the school wants and needs. I'm excited for all the possibilities there will be for improvement moving forward.

I also explored some of the local things to do. My host ?friend? (supposed to be my host mom, but actually calls her mother-in-law my host mom), N, works at the local American Corners. It is an amazing resource in our community, and the people there will be fantastic connections for me in the coming two years. They have lots of English books and movies to lend out, a modern facility, and host English clubs for kids who want to learn more and improve their English outside of school. I got to sit in on a club and the kids were incredible. I stayed after the club was over because N was getting off of work a little later and we were going to go home together. I spent the next hour talking in Armenian with the wonderful women who work there, while they taught me some new vocabulary and helped with my grammar. This will definitely be a valuable space for me in the next two years.

On Tuesday, our last full day on our site visit, Caleb and I met up downtown. I decided to walk from my house (only about a 15 minute walk to the main part of the city). Down the main street by my house is a beautiful park where you can sit at picnic tables or even use some old soviet paddle-boats on our little lake. This particular day, the view stunned me, so I tried to capture it for you all.

As if this wasn't amazing enough, shortly after, Caleb and I discovered a seemingly never-ending շուկա (shuka), which is basically a market with tons of open stalls. This shuka was incredible with tons of food, clothing, and other options at a third of the price of what was in the capital city. We literally went in the shuka on one end, got a little lost, wandered for a while, and came out on the other side of the downtown area. All Caleb wanted to buy was some shoelaces because one of his broke. We didn't know the word for shoelaces, but stopped in the middle of like four shoe stalls and tried to explain what we needed. The shopkeepers were all patient and eager to help, and after we all understood each other and had a laugh about the communication struggle, one of the shopkeepers just gave Caleb his choice of shoelaces. For free. He refused to take any payment. Later, I was trying to buy some cologne. It's very cultural here to be wearing smell-good stuff. This too turned into four or five people eagerly trying to help, with some communication laughter, and lots of kindness. It was all an unforgettable experience.

Overall, I feel as if I hit the site placement jackpot. My closest friend here, Lauren, is in a beautiful village about 20 minutes away from me. I'm sharing my site with a fantastic volunteer that I'm comfortable with. My city is small enough to be cozy, but big enough for some modern conveniences. My counterpart is amazing and my school is welcoming. My new host family is the most perfect fit I can imagine. It rains a lot, but the sun usually comes out and gives us a rainbow. I am overwhelmed with how grateful I am towards the people who had a hand in my placement.

Not everything is perfect, but many volunteers are facing more challenges with their new sites than I am. I have some guilt over the struggles some of my friends will face that I won't. I also have some regret that they will be challenged and forced to grow in some ways that I probably won't. However, I suspect I will face different challenges in time, and perspectives may change as we all really get settled into our sites. This also puts me in a position where I can offer support to the volunteers who need it, which I plan to take on as a very real responsibility. I contemplated posting all of this for awhile because I know there are other volunteers who are probably upset, worried, or anxious about their sites. I'm beginning to finally learn to take the good as it comes though and not worry as much about the things I can't control or the things that haven't happened yet. That being said, I am just going to be grateful for what I have and try to do the best with what I've been given, while offering any help I can to those who were given something different. At least that's the plan.

I will try to do a shorter update soon. This one was really long. Thanks for any of you who have stuck with it to the end!

Կարոտում եմ ձեզ և հուսով եմ որ դուք լավ եք։ Սերի հետ, Էմիլի։
Karotum em dzez yev husov em vor dook lav ek. Seri het, Emily.

I miss you all and hope you are doing well.
With love,
Emily