It finally happened...

So we all hear stories of when a volunteer accidentally said the wrong Armenian word and something horrible has come out and you don’t know it, and everyone laughs, or cries. Well I was waiting for this to happen, and it finally did.

So for the last 2 weeks, we have had Armenian language in the morning, then in the afternoon for an hour we teach a health related lesson to the local students in our village. Basically everything has been crazy cause we don’t speak the languge very well, and we are trying to be creative, so we spend countless hours preparing, then to just barely get our point across, and we have the worst kids known to man, seriously they are crazy, but still a lot of fun. Whatever though, I signed up for it haha

So on Thursday I was teaching a course on nutrition and I made a little game, so as I was holding something up, I wanted them to look at it…..

Let me stop here and give you a small Armenian language lesson. So in Armenian, they have something called the imperative mood. In English, it may sound rude, but here it is used as a command and it is used a lot in the classroom. So to give you an example, if I wanted to tell the students to come, I would just say yekek, and I would be commanding them to come, so it would be like me just yelling, COME! And it can be used for anything, WRITE, GO, READ. So much for asking politely…

Anyway, so I was wanted my class to look at something, and I was trying to use the verb to see, tesnel, which conjugated in the imperative mood is TESEK. So as the class was getting louder and louder, I knew what to say, and I wanted them to listen and look, so I meant to say LESEK yev TESEK, LISTEN and LOOK.

However, here is the punch line. So instead of saying TESEK, I didn’t pronounce the first E, so I said TSEK. And I repeated it like 4 times, TSEK, TSEK, TSEK, TSEK. After which they all started to snicker, and so did my tech trainer who was observing me teach. I forgot to mention that I was teaching 13 and 14 year olds, the age where no one is immature at all… ya right.

So turns out that the word I was saying, TSEK, is the verb to fart…. Ya. So I was repeating it over and over again to some 14 year olds, fart fart fart. And I wasn’t just politely asking, remember I was using the imperative case. So I was commanding them, all, to fart, 4 times. Its like if some one from an authoritative position just started yelling at you to fart instantly. I didn’t know this of course, we don’t use the verb to fart in class, it isn’t on our list of important verbs to know, although it should be.

So after the class was over, I was given this information in my feedback discussion from my tech trainer, and we all had a good laugh about it.

So needless to say pronunciation of every letter in a word is now on my list of things to practice before my final language proficiency test which is on Monday. I don’t think the testers would appreciate it if I walked in and started commanding them to fart….

“Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn.”

What I have learned since moving to Armenia: Part 1

Things I have learned in Armenia: Part 1

How to sheer sheep

How to bath and make tea with the same pot of hot water, simultaneously

How to brush, rinse, and wash my face in 4 oz of water

How to hide candy in any and all pockets discreetly so I don’t have to eat it when it is offered, which is every 4 minutes

How to make a potato in 3090948974 different ways that are edible

How to live off 3$ a day (still working on that one)

How to make it look like I have bathed, that one gets more fun after 6 days of no water

How to shower while standing in a bucket, and using a second bucket for washing, so I can conserve water and re-use it

How to some what effectively use a squat toilet

How to combat sweating by putting more clothes on….. odd theory

How to wear the same clothes for 4 days straight and still smell atleast moderately ok

How to protect my self from flies landing on my face during the night

How to protect my food from flies, that one is also a work in progress

How to navigate through cow, sheep, dog, and bird poo all at once while walking, day or night

How to use a squat toilet at 2am, in the rain, while I am sick, and feverish

How to go to the bathroom without having to leave my room at 2am, when its raining and I am sick, oh yeah, multiple methods

How to make Armenian coffee

How to become every kids best friend that is under the age of 16, just kick a soccer ball

How to say thank you 5 different ways in the same language

How to take away back pain, just whack yourself with stinging neddle plants

How to eat the same meal for 3 days, and always look excited about it

I learned that I don’t like eating goat heart and lung for breakfast, or at any meal for that matter

How to decapitate a goat, hang it by a tree, skin it, then eat it 4 hours later, i didn't actually do this, but was inadvertently a witness

That everything was actually invented in Armenia, whether you knew it or not, and every Armenian will tell you that

That my body can produce more sweat by sitting in a 90 minute marshutni (public, cramped, hot transport) ride that an entire 90 min soccer game in Florida during the summer heat

That hospitality for Armenians can happen at 7am or 11pm, you will always be invited in for coffee any day, any time, any weather condition

That Armenia is one of the most beautiful and interesting countries I have ever been too

This list will keep growing, part 2 will be here soon…

"Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken."

Kickball

This is a short post, I am hopefully going to do a better one sometime this week.

So yesterday we had an epic game of kickball. It was all the A-17 vs A-18. That is the current group that is in Armenia that is a year in, and everyone that is new. So we traveled to a local village that had an indoor facility where we could play. The A-17’s were talking smack all day, claiming to be undefeated since they won this game last year against the A-16’s.

Not sure why, but I just walked up and became the coach for the A-18’s. We went through the rules, and the game started. We didn’t do very well the first inning, it was 4-1 to the A-17’s. Over time though, we slowly regaining ground on them, and it was a very good game. Their was a few questionable calls by the ref, who was an A-17. Conveniently might I add. The ref was also the pitcher, kicker, and base coach. Ya, your seeing why they are undefeated. In the last inning we brought it back to 10-9, we were down by one. I was pitching, and got the third out by laying out in the air to catch a pop fly, which felt great when I landed on the gym floor beneath me. Not really. So then we had a great play, confidence was growing, game got tight, we were ready to kick and take the lead….. and perfectly they call the game saying the facility wanted us to go ahead and leave. Which is still questionable if you ask me. And now we are gonna have to wait till November to allvol conference to beat them in basketball. We will let them enjoy the little bit of victory for the time being….

Life is about Experiences, Don't Miss Any

Tonight I was up late watching the Germany Vs Spain world cup match. In Armenia it didn’t start till 11:30, so it didn’t end till around 1:30. Just before the game was over my host dad came home from a long trip out to another section of the country where he was selling Honey. He asked me to help him with something for 5 minutes before I went to bed, I agreed.

We were breaking down the back of his truck and I had to stand on top of our barn in the middle of the night waiting 25 minutes for him to loosen the bolts so he could hand me the planks of wood. I started to become frustrated, because I have language at 9 am, and this has been way passed 5 minutes.

After about 15 min of waiting, I started to walk around on the roof, and I just happened to look up. And what did I see? I saw a clear night sky, with every star imaginable shining and looking down at me. I stood in amazement, silently, just gauzing upward toward the heavens. It was quiet, dark, and unmistakably one of the best moments I have had since I have been in Armenia.

You could see every star that God has ever created, in every direction, they seemed endless. It was something I had never seen before. I mean sure, I have seen stars, but not in a sky that seemed to be showing them off to me. It was like I was being presented a gift, only for my eyes to see, and for me to share only with myself. I felt so infinitely small. They looked like little diamonds in the sky, and no I wont start singing a Beatles song.

But rather I would like to remind those that read this, take time out of each week to do something that just drops your jaw. Something that takes your breath away. These events are the ones that make you realize that, life is about experiences, and you only have one chance to get as many experiences as you can. Not only is it a big world, but that world is yours to discover. It is waiting for you. Whether it be a one day road trip through Washington state, or going to a festival and celebrating in a new country, or even teaching health in Armenia.

Few and far between come these moments when you realize that there is a bigger purpose, and that you can but only make a ripple in history, so how big do you want that ripple to be. I know that I wont change the world by teaching health in Armenia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. But I can affect all those that I meet and maybe change one small thing in their lives. And if you add every Peace Corps Volunteer, just in Armenia, and multiply it by how many lives they can affect in Armenia, then take those that were affected and spread the same change a little further, you get numbers that only a few in history have reached alone. And you get a ripple that went from a small village in Fantan, Armenia to a world wide effect. It happens everyday, you just don’t see it. Little ripples that combine with other little ripples, and that eventually become a big ripple, and creates change that took a small girl from a poor uneducated village, to Medical School, and returning to that village to educate, treat, and change that village. It is this affect we are trying to have on our small villages and students we teach. It is this effect that we sacrifice 2 years of our life for; not for the betterment of ourselves, but for the generational effect we could have on a village, town, or nation. This is why we do it, and for everyone at home still wondering why, now you know. So I dare you to do something that takes your breath away in the next 3 days. Something you have never done before, or something that gives you that feeling of escape I have been writing about.

The Peace Corps isn’t about finding myself out in the middle of an Armenian field, only to return home changed and a better individual. Will that happen, most likely, but not in a field, and not on purpose. It will happen through cold winters, struggling through conversations because we don’t speak the language very well, and giving in to letting go of the “I am from America and I need to fix everything” mentality. Let this experience, or whatever experience you are after, fix you. Let it get inside your soul, breath it deep into your lungs, and live in it as much as you can with your own eyes. No one can have that experience but you, so take it, make it yours, and don’t give it back. Keep it with you forever and let it change who you are deep inside of you. To me that is the true definition of fulfillment. And that is why we serve…..

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"

-Ghandi

Evolution of Dance

So one friday evening all the PCV's in Fantan were allowed to go to Yerevan with our Language teachers for an amazing experience. Were went to an outside traditional armenian dance class. There had to have been 300-400 people there, mostly around our age, just there to dance and have a good time. The teacher is a Armenian legend and brought his studio dancers with him. They were all dressed in the traditional wear and were great. We learned about 4 separate dances. They all basically require you to be in a line or a circle. And you move around in a circle. They were a lot of fun, and they have alot of fun while doing this.

They had one dance that is a Men Only Military Dance. It was great, i really wanna try and learn that while i am here. It is a lot of jumping and hand smacking. There is also a dance called "The Lord's Dance" which of course i am gonna learn also.

It was great to see the you g and old coming together. The young Armenians of 15-25 were there to learn their traditional dances, and be a part of something that their ancestors have been doing for thousands of years. Some of them even trace back to Pagan times in Armenia. This connection of National Identity and Ancestral Influences is really something to see in person. If you think about it, dance in America has evolved dramatically in the 234 years we have been a nation. WE have gone from traditional Manor House dancing, to Ballroom, Swing, Ballet, Lindy-hop, and now have such things as Clown and Krunk Dancing. However, this evolution of dance has not carried with it any historical dances that everyone knows. This is something we drop off and forget about. However, nations like Armenia not only still teach these dances, but they also still feel the connection with those individuals that created them. They dance them with National Pride and in an effort to remember those in Armenian history that danced them before and those that have fallen in the timeline. Every movement has meaning, every step has a precise reason, and every dance remembers the history of a nation. Simple things like this are a large part of the reason why Armenians, here and in Diaspora, look towards the future by looking in their past. They see the great nation that once was and believe one day the Armenia of History's Past will come to fruition again and blossom into the beautiful flower of old. And you can see that, not only in conversation but in speech, dance, work, and everyday life. Every moment for them is in remembrance of what once was and one day will be again. Maybe one day i can learn these dances well enough to bring them back to the states to show you the pride and history of a nation through dance. That is definately an easy task given how much my language teacher, Lala, dances. I hope one day you can see the Armenia of old through dance, it really is a site to see. Until Next Time...

"The truest expression of a people is in its dance and in its music. Bodies never lie." ~Agnes de Mille