Jody's Letters from the Road

When I first found out that I was coming to Noyemberyan, I did a search on the internet, wouldn’t everyone.   I had never heard of this little town that I am coming to love. The pictures on the Google search showed a little town nestled in a lush green mountain valley.   I have come to find the city is on the hillsides. Everywhere to go is either up or down.   Very memorably was a picture of their new town football field.   The comments told of their stands and they hoped to expand the field.   I was excited to see this field after working so hard to repair the field in Ayntap. When I arrived, I was glad to find out that the field is very close to the building where I work. I walked over to see the field on my second morning.   I was so disappointed when I first saw it.   The field was in a bit of disrepair because of the lack of financial support these towns for upkeep of the infrastructure.   The goal posts were in much better shape than t...

A few days ago, I took pictures of one of my co-workers because another co-worker is designing banners for a job fair they are holding in three weeks.   It was a laughable attempt at my usual quest for photographic professionalism. And it turned my thoughts to a question in my mind about the costumes we wear in our daily lives. I had already purchased a better lens for such portrait and telephoto shots.   I had planned to purchase a nice tripod later but the delivery from America was such a laughable event, I have decided I shall not order anything from usual suppliers again while I am in Armenia.   I asked the team in the conference room if they were was a tripod I could use.   At first there was a bit of a language barrier as no one in the room seemed to understand what I meant by a tripod.   I finally said a stand to hold the camera and they understood but no one knew if they had one. The project leader showed me a photo she wanted me to replicate o...

Stevie Wonder wrote “Music is a world within itself” in the song Sir Duke. I have always admired musicians who traveled the globe to play with and learn from other musicians.  Paul Simon’s El Condor Pas and Graceland, Peter Gabriel’s experimentation with South African music easily come to mind.   I remember hearing Paul Simon talk about the music similarities of rhythms and chord phrasing without knowledge of each other’s language.  These were collaborations that I still love to listen to.   Saturday, I experienced the beauty of the universality of music. Let me explain. As you know, I am visiting the beautiful and very musical country of Armenia as a guest in the Peace Corps.  I am working with an amazing team who are working to improve the economic situation of the Tavush Region (they call it Marz).  Most evenings I have the honor of walking home with two of the young women with whom I work.   One evening, it was only one of the young women, Nar...