Site Announcement!!

So today I got my final site announcement. This is the location of where I will be stationed after my 10 weeks of training, and where I will be working and living for the next 2 years, needless to say, we have all been on pins and needles on where we are going, and more importantly, who will be close to us. SOOO, on to the great news.

I will be placed in the most southern region called Syunik Marz, it a town called Sisian. This is a town of about 18,000 people, and is in a beautiful area. I am excited about it, and I am looking forward to this location. And yet it still gets better….

They told us that all of us CHE volunteers (community health education), that we would be placed in schools. So that is what I have been planning on hearing from them. HOWEVER, I have been posted in a Non-Governmental Organization called the Sport and Art Development Center. It is not a school. It is a training and education facility for sports. They mainly teach and train in boxing and kickboxing, however from what I can understand, they are looking to expand. And that’s where I come in. I will be helping in everyday office work, as well as planning and logistics for summer sports camps. We host and participate in sport competitions not only in the region, but also at the republic level, so we will be going around Armenia to different tournaments. THIS IS AMAZING NEWS FOR ME. My major in college was World Comparative Studies (international studies) and Sports and Fitness. And now I have been placed in a Sport Organization in an international setting. Sounds like I fell into something perfect for me!!!

I am very excited ready for the next step. Thank you to those of you that prayed for a good posting for me. I also have great volunteers around me, and have 2 in my same town, and about 6 within 15km in small villages close to my town. So tons of people to hang out with and share this experience with. I am completely happy and amazed at how great this has turned out. I hope you are as excited as I am and continue following my journey.

I have 2 posts coming soon. Ill give you a little taste of what they are about. The first is about the night all Fantan Americans went into Yerevan and learned traditional Armenian dances under the moonlight with a national professional dance teacher. And the other is my cultural trip to the Armenia Genocide museum. That post will be interesting since I have spent time in Turkey during a study abroad, and Turkey is the country that Armenia is trying to hold accountable as the perpetrators of the genocide. That one may take some time. Keep checking back and I will check updating you!!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

-Mark Twain