Maggie's Journey to Armenia

Barev!

The A-18′s are half way through Model School Practicum. I think I can speak on behalf of nearly everyone when I say, this been the most stressful part of Pre-Service Training. Our days look something like this:

9-12pm Language
2-4pm Model School
6-8pm Lesson Planning
*homework and meals in between

Model school is a great way to observe the Armenian school structure and how students learn (and behave) best. We have already had our fair share of trial and errors this week.

Although we cannot wait for these two weeks to be over, we know that means PST is coming to a close. It will sad to say goodbye to everything that has become comfort and familiarity in our Armenian experience thus far. We have so many questions about the unknown that the next few months will bring. Who will be our new (close by) support system? What are we supposed to do those first few weeks before school begins? What does our organization expect from us? How can we be teachers if we have barely grasped the Armenian language? We are aware that many people have walked in these shoes before and we are confident that everything will work itself out in the end.

-Maggie

This weekend I took a break from language classes, technical training, and cow stampedes to visit Sevan, Armenia. Come August, this will be my home for two years. There will be two other Peace Corps volunteers living in my town.

I will work at the largest school in Sevan, a 20 minute walk from my home, team teaching the National Healthy Lifestyles curriculum (for 8th and 9th graders), a Life Skills class (not really sure what that is), and Physical Education. It is hard enough for me to separate the Anahits from the Armiks so volunteering in a school with 750 students and 75 teachers should be interesting. My counterparts and school director had me in for coffee and seem really nice. If they learn to speak at my kindergarten Armenian level, then things might be perfect.

The family that I will be living with in Sevan (for at least the first 4 months) is completely different from my current village family. My host mother is Ukrainian and my father and brother will be working in Russia during the school year. I have a 25 year old sister who speaks English and an adorable 12 year old sister. I’m trading in farm animals for a potato farm (fine by me). The women of the family are great cooks. My host sister even mentioned getting spices in Yerevan so we can make some Mexican food together! I look forward to starting a semi-permanent life here soon.

Today I travel back to my training village, bringing my school director with me for her PC conference. The A-18s have four more weeks left of Pre-Service Training, including our two week Practicum School Model.

Barev,

We celebrated the fourth of July on Sunday with our host families. While planning the event, all of the mothers said that they do not eat beef at horovats. To our surprise, we didn’t have enough hamburgers; they loved them. There were all sorts of fun successes that day. My host sister couldn’t stop talking to her friends about ice cream floats the next day! It was great to celebrate but I was also a little nostalgic. I love (and now miss) fireworks!

Another exciting event since my last post is that we received our site announcements! I will be living with two other volunteers in Sevan. Although I hear the winters in Sevan are the most brutal, I am looking forward to this placement! I am a CHE volunteer and will be team teaching the National Healthy Lifestyle curriculum among other things.

This weekend, I came to Sevan to meet my new host family and co-workers. My family seems great, perhaps more “modern” than my current village family. My host sister speaks English which I fear will hinder my Armenian language training but I will want to work that much harder.

Tomorrow, I meet my counterpart and school director. I guess I should get some rest….besides, all of the bugs are attracted to the light on my computer screen.

Bari Gisher!