Week 3

The End of Week Three

I am wrapping up second full week of training as a Peace Corps trainee (PST we are called in the vernacular.) I must complete ten weeks of language, culture, and what ever other challenges are placed before me in order to become a Peace Crops Volunteer (PCV).

My first day was spent in Washington D.C. where I met the rest of the team and we had our first day of training.  I am working with an amazing cohort of young people varying from recent college graduates to people early in their careers of some type of service.  I am the only person retired and not planning what job I will seek after my years in the Peace Corps.  The group was very welcoming to me and several of us went out for dinner.  The next day and a half was all travel.  We left the D.C. hotel flew all night  landing in the morning in Pairs.  I did not get to pick my seat so I was in a center row in the middle.  The little boy in front of me dropped his seat on my knees and went to sleep.  I did not sleep the entire flight.  We left Paris in the afternoon and I could not sleep on that plane either.  I think I was beginning to be as excited as a little kid at Christmas.  We landed in Yerevan and were greeted by the Peace Corps Staff and several serving volunteers.  The media was even there to report on the newest volunteers from America.  After we had all our bags, we were whisked away on a coach to a mountain resort two hours from Yerevan.

The resort was an old  resort once used by the Soviet leadership as a vacation spot.   It is need of some repair but they were very nice folks and were rebuilding many of the out buildings. We spent the next four days in culture training, Peace Corps expectations, and language. I finally started getting some sleep. (Thank you to my roommate's Night Time Advil.)  After the first night, several of us got up early and walked or ran. I even got out my TRX a couple of times.

Along one of the trails was the Church of the St. Mother of God, built around 1207.  It is now just ruins but it was special to see.

Along the way was a Karchkar (Stone Cross).  These stone carvings are all over Armenia.  I intend to photograph as many as I can.  This was my first one.

 After our training in the mountains, we were taken down the mountain through Yerevan to meet our families we would live with for the next ten weeks.  Our families were to meet us at the local school which would be where my group would be taking language classes.  Only eight of the forty two volunteers are in my village.  We were greeted by the school principal, the local mayor and, most wonderfully, the students.  We were celebrated with the tradition of breaking bread and dipping it in salt.  Then a dance troupe performed and these little cherubs below sang with angelic voices. At some point in the song, all of the local citizens and  hosts who were watching the ceremony began clapping in rhythm with the song.  We joined in and the children beamed.  It was incredible.

Then we met our host families and away we went to struggle through our first day of broken Armenian and English.