MY GREEK VACATION

So, I left Armenia for 10 days and went to Greece. It was lovely. I stayed 10 days in Athens and 7 days on Crete in the seaside down of .  I saw the Acropolis and other Greek ruins, ate wonderful food, did a botanical garden tour on a Segway (the most fun), and swam in the Mediterranean every day while on Crete.  I walked high up on a goat trail every morning in Panormos.

First restaurant where I ate Greek food - on the Platka..

Temple of Athena, or Aphrodite, cannot remember . . .

Nightlife on the Platka - area surrounding below the Acropolis..

There are outdoor restaurants/tavernas and shops with

everything to be found... The platka is open until  well after midnight..

The flea market as they call it . . .

On the Acropolis . . .famous goddess temple . . . 

The Parthenon on the Acropolis . . .

Parthenon - under renovation/construction

Amphitheater seen below the Acropolis

Acropolis Museum pieces . . . 

Walkway leading to apartment where I stayed in Athens

just below the Acropolis . . .

The original Olympic stadium . . .

Changing of the guard, Greek Army regulars in front of

the president's house  . . .

Me on my Segway . . . I loved this thing . . . It was the best . . .

View of the Acropolis from a nearby famous mountain where

I had dinner one evening . . . .

Car I liked and wouldn't mind having :-)

Favorite taverna for dinner in village of Panormos on Crete . . .

Panormos seaside village . . . Taken from cliffs on

morning goat walk . . .

View of the Mediterranean from goat walk cliffs . . . 

Favorite taverna sign . . .You had to go in and look in the

oven to decide what you would have for dinner.... opened at 6 p.m.

Kitty City station . . . cats everywhere and all well fed

at the stations and in the tavernas and restaurants. . .

Favorite cafe for morning cappuccino after goat cliff walk . . . 

Cats getting fed at the taverna . . . Everyone feeds the cats. . .

Got inadvertently caught up in a demonstration in front

of the president's house the last evening . . . 

View from my balcony in Panormos . . . .

NATIONAL POETRY CONTEST

A number of years ago a Peace Corps Volunteer created and made sustainable an English spoken national poetry contest for Armenian school children.Now there is a very active Peace Corps volunteer committee to organize and make this happen on an annual basis March through May of each year.  It was my pleasure to enable some of my students to participate this year.

The contest begins at a PC volunteer or not a PC volunteer public school.  Students in grades 7-12 can participate. A list of selected poems from Robert Frost to Keats is generated each year with a different selection for 7th and 8th graders and for 9th through 12 graders.  The student his or herself selects their poem, memorizes it and practices with their English teacher or volunteer.   A school contest is held and the best chosen reciter from each grade in each school participating goes to the regional contest.  Then the best in each region goes to the national contest in Yerevan, Armenia's capital.

The students are judged on of course the words of the poem, correct pronunciation and the feeling given to the recitation.  From the 'feeling,' a judge can deduce if the student really understands the meaning of the poem.

I had two of my students, Narine and Nellie in the regional contest in Hrazdan this year. They were both in the 8th grade. Narine went on to be in the national contest in Yerevan.

Narine and Nellie, Hrazdan regional contest

Narine, Nellie and me at Hrazdan regional contest

The girls and me at the national contest in Yerevan. ..

Narine and me after the national contest. . .

The national contest was held at The American University in

Yerevan. This was the girls' first visit there and very exciting for them.

With this year's regional and national contests I introduced music into the contest atmosphere by providing musicians from my school along with me to play before the contests started and in some contests during the break while the judges were making decisions. The music was both Armenian and American.  I had two second grade boys playing the Armenian drums called 'dhole,'  Nellie and I played fiddle and guitar with Armenian and American folk tunes and Hannah (another PCV) and I played flute and fiddle together with Armenian and American folk tunes.  This as the first time this has occured - music at the poetry contests and it was a great cultural exchange opportunity for Armenians and Americans.

Second graders playing 'Dhole' Armenian drums. . .

Nellie and me on guitar and fiddle . . .

All of us together . . . .

Me and Hannah Frantz playing together in Yerevan.

Up until this time of PC service Hannah had been only a 

classical flutist.... She is now an experienced flute player of

 Armenian and American folk tunes !!!!  We also played together

at our swearing in ceremony last November. 

1.   

DAN & WHITS GENERAL STORE IN NORWICH VERMONT HELPS SCHOOL CHILDREN IN ARMENIA WITH PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER

I am a Peace Corps volunteer in Hrazdan Armenia. I teach English to school children in grades three through eight at one of the local public schools, School # 14.  My home town is Norwich Vermont, where I shopped at Dan & Whits almost every day for one thing or another :-)  When I came to Armenia last August I brought with me three or four Dan & Whits reusable shopping bags thinking they might be useful.  In fact, I used them to carry around from classroom to classroom the white boards I purchased for the children to write sentences and do other exercises relating to our English classes.

The Armenian schools are not well funded. We have no electric lights and very little heat in the winter, so the children wear there coats, hats and mittens in the classroom all winter as do I. The blackboards have holes in them as do many of the walls. The only classroom materials the children have are their textbooks and a copy book (notebook to write in). They have nothing else. So, I purchased 13 whiteboards so each pair/table of children would have a board to write on.

Eventually the Dan & Whits reusable shopping bags began to wear out. So, I emailed Dan Fraser and asked him if he would send me more bags for carrying the whiteboards around school. The children actually argue over who will get to carry the bags.  A few weeks later about 20 Dan & Whits bags arrived via the Hay Post :-) So, now I carry and keep all of my school supplies in the Dan & Whits bags.

So, just wanted to say here thank you to Dan Fraser and Dan & Whits for helping the children of Armenia. Your thoughfulness and generosity is so appreciated.

Here are some pictures of the inside and outside of School # 4 in Hrazdan Armenia.

The outside of School # 14 built by the Soviets in the 1980s.  Yes, just one old Russian

car parked there during the school day. The teachers do not 

have cars. 

Inside of a typical classroom . . .

Also thank you to Nancy Osgood and The Norwich Public Library via Nancy for sending me children's books and magazines :-)

I love my friends and neighbors and Dan & Whits General Store in my home town - Norwich Vermont....

LEDJAN - LIFE IN AN ARMENIAN VILLAGE

Ledjan is the village of my LCF (Language Cultural Facilitator) Satanik Papyan. Satanik was my LCF during PST (pre-service training).  She was in her third trimester of her first pregnancy during our PST time and I was monitoring her blood pressure and fasting blood sugar during that time.  Since PST I have visited her and Abel, the baby, and husband Gorg three or four times since last November. This little family also has a small apartment in a soviet high rise in Vonadzor. I have posted other blogs about my visits there.  Now that it is warmer months we visit in Ledjan.

Ledjan is a tiny village in the mountains of northern Armenia just outside of the town/city of Steppanavan.  It is a lovely little village where life has remained the same since Soviet times.  The cows are taken to pasture every morning by one of the village. The old houses each have their own garden and most have livestock. There is one school in the village.  Heat is via old tin woodstoves and usually only one room is heated where the family congregates in the winter months. The bedrooms are not heated. Families have lived in this village for many generations. There are one or two marshutni per day that go in to Steppanavan where one can get a taxi or another marshutni to Vonadzor or Yerevan.

Village life is getting up early to milk the cow and farming all day. Each family is virtually self sustaining for food and subsistence. Most men do not have jobs and if they can they go to Russia for work/labor and the wife/mother takes care of the farm and the children by herself.

I will tell a story in pictures of life in Ledjan.

This is Satanik's mom and dad, Edward and Larissa.

They purchased this home about 30 years ago, 

It is the in the village of Ledjan, where Edward grew up.

The couple first lived with Edward's mother a few houses down 

the road.

Edward's mother, Satanik's grandmother and

Abel's great grandmother. She is in her early 80s. 

Armenian women age quickly due to their lack of

medical care and extreme hard labor in the village home.

Edward's brother, Abel's great uncle, who still lives

with his mother in the village.

Edward and his grandson Abel. Edward is a PhD

engineer with no work in Armenia. So, he is now a 

bee farmer.

Satanik, Abel, and Satanik's brother.

I bought Abel this jumpy chair.  He is also

this weekend getting his first solid food at 6 months old.

Me holding Abel . . . .

View of back yard bee farm and water tank.

Another view of bee hives.

Edward dressed and working with bees

and repairing old hives.

The old smoker thing Edward uses to quiet the 

bees while he is working with them.

The morning I arrived a sheep was slaughtered. This is

the horovats place where they barbecue the meat. This

morning we had the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Barbecuing

is called horovats in Armenian.  I could only eat the heart

and liver.... lungs and kidneys were not for me.

Shots of village vodka and salads are had with

the horovats as soon as the horovats is ready. We just

sit outside the horovats shed and eat on makeshift

benches and table.  Neighbors come over and few liters

vodka are consumed with the horovats.

Village road . . .

Village house . . .

Neighbors gardening . . .

Edward's tractor and wagon. . . .

Pig stall in barn . . .They also have a few cows...

Pasture. . . They still use

the very primitive scythe with long blade

and handle for cutting hay.

Marshutni to go in to Steppanavan and/or Yerevan.

Notice the pressurized gas tanks up top.

Back of marshutni...

View of the mountains from a high pasture.  These

must be crossed to get to Vonadzor and Yerevan.

CONTRA DANCING HAS COME TO ARMENIA !!!!

     Contra dancing has arrived in Armenia!!  Before I left for my Peace Corps Service I first called part of a dance at Maine Fiddle Camp, with Bill Olson as my teacher.  After that David Millstone took me under his wing and patiently taught me to be a dance caller. He let me call a few times at the big Northern Spy dances and then took me to many of his summer camp gigs in NH last summer. So, I started 'calling' dances for the children and Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterpart teachers here in Armenia.

     I had to purchase a mic and other sound equipment to make this happen. I brought with me some CDs I purchased at Maine Fiddle Camp of Dudley Laufman so I have recorded music. Sometimes I stand in the middle of a circle of dancers at the very beginning and play my fiddle while I am first teaching the calls. 

     Before I did the first dance I was Skyping and emailing David for advice and encouragement and coaching. I was so nervous before the first dance. I had never in my life called a whole dance - 7 or 8 dances. David helped me choose the dances and also sent me via email some music/recordings I needed. I couldn't have done it without him.
     Needless to say - I am now a very comfortable dance caller for mainly simple contra/barn type dances i.e. Gallopede, Virginia Reel, Snowball, Low Back Car and others. 
     This fall a national caller from Boston, Marcie, is coming to tour in Armenia so she will be coming to Hrazdan to call a dance with me and I will dance with the tour group in Yerevan.

School vacation week we danced every day at the Youth Center...

My site mate, Peace Corps volunteer Jim Daly helps me with the dancing and

the kids love him. He is

in Irishman by birth and loves to dance and hear

my fiddle play Irish jigs :-) He can dance a mean  Irish jig

to say the least . . . .

 

 

I have to have a translator, so my host sister Ruzan

fills that role for me . . .She is in the foreground here...

 

Me calling . . . after a few times the kids learn

the English calls - especially Do-Si-Do !!!

 

First dance at School 14 . . . . my school.

Had about 20 kids :-)

 

Dancing the Gallopede . . . .

 

A circle dance . . .

 

Vahe playing Armenian National instrument, the daduke

with me on fiddle. Even though he can speak no English, he

taught me an Armenian tune to play at the Tumanyan Day festivities

at school.

 

Air is held in the cheek while he plays, so he can breath and

play at the same time....

 

     Playing music and dancing with the children and volunteers is what keeps me going here in Armenia. These are the two things that give me real joy in my Peace Corps service.