International Women's Day

March 8th is International Women’s Day and it is also an Armenian holiday called Womanhood and Beauty Day. In my village I celebrated at the village hall at a celebration thrown by the mayor’s office.





Children from the school sang and read passages about how wonderful women are and everyone danced. There were champagne toasts (cheap Armenian champagne is really bad!) and we ate fruit and chocolates. I was trying to get out of dancing by taking pictures, but the mayor and the women who work at the mayor’s office got me and made me dance.

Coming out of hibernation...

I know it has been a few months since my last posting, but there hasn’t been all that much to catch you up on. Things for me here really slowed down in the winter and it was definitely the period in which I felt the most isolated and lonely. After all the holiday parties were finished life in the village slowed to a crawl from its normal meandering pace. To be honest I live in a village of 700 people so it’s never going to be life in the fast lane here, but there were a few times when I had to really think to figure out the last time I had left my host family’s house. I mean other than going in the backyard to get to the shower room or the outhouse there were times when I didn’t actually leave my house for three days! Work really slowed down because I wasn’t holding club meetings while school was closed for the holidays and I worked from home a lot which was nice because I had the luxury of working in my pajamas, but eventually it got to the point where I needed to put on some real clothes and do something. It’s like I fell into this hibernation state and my world really didn’t extend beyond my room – I had my computer, magazines, books, snacks from America, movies. Now I should have known that this was going to be my biggest challenge with winter because succumbing to this sort hibernation isn’t exactly new to me. I mean during finals in grad school I only left my apartment to go to the grocery store and when I did I prayed I wouldn’t run into to anyone I knew because I looked a hot mess! I’m a nester – but after too long my nest gets messy, cluttered, and a little gross.

It’s a very good thing that spring time is beginning to emerge because it has given me the motivation to emerge from my winter cocoon and engage with the world around me again. The people in my village have also begun to emerge from their self-imposed winter hiatus – the children can be heard laughing loudly as they play outside at the school and everyone is beginning to go out into the fields and orchards to prepare for the spring planting season. I’ve started walking back from town to my village after my class instead of taking the bus to spend some time in the fresh air and sunshine.

With the changing of the seasons my work has also begun to pick up. At the beginning of February I attended a Peace Corps conference on project development and management with my new counterpart, Ruzanna. This was the first thing for us to work on together and it was a great experience. It allowed us to discuss what we wanted out my service and what the community’s needs and desires were. She works in the mayor’s office and has lots of useful connections and experience working in the village. She is a middle-aged widow with two teenage children. She works very hard to support her family and even though she already has so much work to do she has graciously volunteered to work with me. She had already become an invaluable resource to me, helping me further integrate into my community.

Noor Tari

In Armenia, Christmas (or surb tsnund, Սբ. Ծնունդ) is celebrated on January 6th and it is mainly a religious holiday that marks the kind of unofficial end of Noor Tari and coincides with the Epiphany. Traditionally on Christmas Armenians refrain from eating meat and the traditional Christmas meal consists of fish and Christmas pilaf (rice with raisins).

Now you may asking yourslef then what is this mysterious holiday called Noor Tari you speak of if it isn't Christmas? Well it is actually a holiday that is many days long and begins on December 31st. In Armenian Noor Tari literally means ‘New Year’ and it is best described to a foreigner as the secular parts of Christmas in the States plus New Year’s Eve with a twist. The weekend before my host family decorated the house with lights and a little Christmas tree. In the days before the 31st my family prepared a food for our Noor Tari table. The tradition is that every family prepares a table at their house with all kinds of food, including a turkey, pork, dolma, blinchik, kufta, fruit, mixed nuts, dried fruit, assorted cakes and candies, wine, vodka, cognac, juices and sodas. On December 31st everyone sits at home at waits for midnight. My family got the table ready and watched a special on TV. Then Dzmer Papik (literally Winter Grandpa but his like our Santa Claus) came to our house to see my little brother. We shared a toast with Dzmer Papik and when it was midnight my brothers went outside and shot off fireworks. The tradition is to go around to your neighbors’ houses after midnight to eat, drink, and say many many toasts.




I was really supposed to wait and give my host family their presents the next morning when they opened their gifts from Dzmer Papik, but I could not wait so I played Santa Sarah. My parents sent gifts for my host family from the States and even though they weren’t expected to arrive until January the post office gods smiled on me and they arrived on Christmas Eve.






I was not feeling that great on New Year’s Eve and my host mother has been sick so we stayed home. A few neighbors came over while I was still awake, but I went to be around 1am and apparently the mayor and his family came over and were sad I only made it to 1am. On New Year’s Day my host sister and I went to the mayor’s house and her aunt’s house to sit, toast, and eat. That is pretty much what Noor Tari is – going to people’s houses sitting eating, toasting, and talking. However, when you are an outsider it is mostly being told to eat a bunch of food even though you are full from eating exact same things at the previous houses and questions about how you celebrate in the U.S. and if you like Armenia. People continue to go visit their friends and relatives as well as have people visit their homes over the next week or so. I didn’t go visit a bunch of houses, but every time someone new came over to my house I got paraded around and introduced to everyone as “Our Sarah”. I'm glad I got to experience such a big holiday with my host family and they were glad that I was there. However, next New Year's I hope to be visiting the States!

Christmas in Kapan

Because this was the first Christmas many of us had been away from our families we decided to have our very own Christmas in Kapan. Kapan is only about 200 miles from Yerevan, but to get there you must drive through a ton of mountains passes so in takes about 6-7 hours in good weather to get there. Therefore, the volunteers who live there don’t make it to Yerevan often and they don’t get a lot of visitors outside their marz so it's become a little tradition to have Christmas in Kapan.

There were quite a few of us traveling from Yerevan so some of us took shared taxis and others (i.e. my group) had to take the marshootni. Now the marshootni takes about an extra hour and the three volunteers I was traveling with and I got the last four sets in the back which meant our knees were pressed into the seatbacks in front of us and we got to sit on hard marshootni seats for seven hours. But it was worth it because once we arrived in Kapan everyone met up at one the PCVs, Barbara’s apartment for some Christmas Eve chili. There were 22 of us there and it was so much fun! We had chili and cornbread, played charades, listened to Christmas music, and just had an awesome time.

I stayed at Shannon’s apartment with Danya, Rani, Amanda, and Bryan and Christmas day we sat around her cozy apartment drinking coffee and eating gingerbread cookies while we all knitted and listened to Christmas music. I got to talk to my family on my Christmas morning (their Christmas Eve) while they were snowed in at my grandma’s house. Of course my first Christmas away from Wichita Falls and there is a blizzard and no snow here for a white Christmas! Later on Christmas Day we all head out to Sue’s village Vachakan. We had a Christmas feast, exchanged Secret Santa gifts, and watched ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’. Even though I was far from home it was an amazing Christmas spent with tons of new friends.


Amanda and I were Christmas!


Watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'


Opening Secret Santa Gifts

Haykakan Harsanek aka An Armenian Wedding

At the beginning of December I attended my first Armenian wedding or as the Armenians say a Haykakan Harsanek. It was the wedding of my host cousin Miriam and it was definitely an interesting experience. I left my house at noon and returned home at 1 a.m. Armenian wedding and American wedding traditions are very different.



First my host sister, host mom, and I went to the neighboring village Aygezard to the family of the bride's house to sit and chat with all her female relatives before the ceremony. My sister and I sat with the bride and her friends while we waited for the groom’s family to come over. After about an hour we could hear music coming from outside and we all went down stairs where the groom’s family was coming marching down the street with a four-piece traditional Armenian band and gifts for the bride.



The women from the bride’s family came out of the house and took the gifts from the groom’s family and everyone danced in the street. Then all the women from both families went inside to give the gifts to the bride. The gifts were baskets of fruit and candies. One basket had the bride’s veil, wrap, bouquet and one of her shoes in it. Now you may be wondering why in the world the groom’s family had one of the bride’s shoes…well many of the Armenian wedding traditions involve the giving of money for various things, including one of the bride’s shoes which the groom’s family stole earlier. The women then began to sing and prepare the bride – putting on her shoes, her veil, and her wrap. Then they threw some of the candy from the basket at all of the women and girls watching. My host mom handed me a piece and told me to put it under my pillow that night while I slept and I would have a dream about my future husband. After the bride was ready the groom came up stairs and presented her was a basket of flowers. The bride and groom went downstairs and outside and we all followed. Once we were all outside there was more dancing, this time around the happy couple.



The next stop was the church – they ceremony was at Khor Virap, a beautiful church about twenty minutes from my village. Khor Virap is a 7th century monastery and it is where Saint Gregory the Illuminator (the patron-saint of Armenia) was imprisoned in a dungeon for 13 years. According to legend the King became very ill and began to go mad and his daughter convinced him to release Gregory who then healed the King and converted him to Christianity.



The ceremony was quite short compared to the rest of the festivities and after the priest finished the ceremony the groom’s parents stood at the front of the church with the couple and the wedding party for the receiving line. All the guests went through the line giving their congratulations to the couple. Everyone lined up for pictures outside the church after the ceremony and then doves were released.



After the ceremony everyone headed to the groom’s house for celebratory toasts and dancing. In Armenia it is tradition that when a couple is married the bride moves into the groom’s house with his parents. So when everyone was at the groom’s house the bride and groom arrived with a suitcase symbolizing the exchange of the bride to her new family. After some more dancing the party head to the reception, which was at a restaurant on the highway between Artashat and Yerevan, for more dancing, toasts, food, and drinks. At the restaurant there were large family-style tables full of olives, cheese, bread, fruits, and bottles of wine, vodka, and cognac. There was a three-course dinner 1) pork khoravats (Armenian barbecue); 2) kufta (this weird meat trine); 3) fish. The reception had a MC, tons of dancing, and many long toasts. The bride and groom went around the room and toasted every person at the reception. The bride and groom were presented with gifts from their families, mostly gold jewelry. They cut the cake around 11pm and then did the garter and bouquet toss. The bride and groom went around the room and handed out little plaster statues of hearts and flowers to all the single people in the crowd. Later the bride danced for all the guests and people came up and gave her money. The reception wound-down around midnight, but by the time we got home it was past 1am.

It was interesting to experience a wedding a culture that is very different for the United States. All in all I can say that an Armenian wedding is an exciting fun time, but it is not for the faint of heart because it is a marathon of toasts, eating, drinking, and dancing.

All-Vol Conference & Thanksgiving

An Armenian Thanksgiving with PCVs

On November 20th I headed to Yerevan for our All-Volunteer Conference. The first day of the conference was for my group of volunteers (the A-17s) to discuss any issues we had encountered in our first three months of service. We discussed things we encounter in Armenia that cause us stress and ways to help relieve any stress were are felling at work and in our host families. That night I went to a Mexican feast my Country Director’s with a group of volunteers. The food was amazing! She had a full spread of enchiladas, tacos, beans, chips, salsa, and queso all topped off with brownies and ice cream. Believe me this type of food is not easy to come by in my everyday villiage life here. The second day of the conference was a language camp with sessions on useful topics, such as dealing with landlords, shopping and bargaining, and sector-related language. The third day of the conference was the first time all the Peace Corps Armenia volunteers had been together and it will be the last time. The last day of the conference there was a development fair with many difference organizations working in the development field in Armenia handing out information and anwsering questions. There was also a development panel and career panel with people from USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and European Council. All through out the conference at night after our meetings were done I had a bunch of great meals and went dancing with friends. The last night of the conference we all celebrated Thanksgiving together. A group of volunteers prepared a Thanksgiving feast at the hotel where the conference was held and it was AMAZING!!! We had all the fixings from turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and pie. There were also great decorations including a papier-mâché turkey whose feathers were hand turkeys every volunteer made with what we are thankful written on them. We had coloring book placemats,funny turkey hats, and Thanksgiving tradition. It is funny how being away from home for the holidays brings out the kid in everyone and the desire to celebrate the way you did back grade school. Everyone put on their silly hats and we ran around taking pictures like a bunch of little kids. After dinner we had a variety show with amazing performers like Danny and Ben playing guitar and singing “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and Janet telling pirate jokes. Even though I missed seeing my family back in the States for Thanksgiving I had a fantastic time with all my new friends!

Work
Work has been a little slow lately because I missed a week for my conference and with winter setting in life in the village is quite. School has been closed all throughout Armenia for that last two weeks because of the flu and this has led to lower attendance at my English club in my village. At the moment I’m just teaching my two clubs, but I’m doing a lot of research for future projects and I’m hoping once spring is here I will be able to being planning some larger projects. In the beginning of February my counterpart and I are attending a Peace Corps conference on project planning and management so that should help us come up with a more concrete plan for what my role is here.

Last Saturday, I went to a wedding so you will soon hear all about the traditions of an Armenian wedding. Until then...

Love, Sarah

Halloween...Armenian-Style

Last weekend I traveled up north to Tavush Marz to celebrate the Halloween weekend Armenia-style. After meeting some friends in Yerevan we met our taxi driver to begin our supposedly four hour journey. We left Yerevan around 5pm in the cold and rain - until that week the weather in Yerevan had been amazing (the perfect blend of Indian summer and early fall) but of course that has now come to an end. It was especially nice because Yerevan is a walking city full of outdoor cafes and fall is the perfect time to enjoy it.

About halfway through the trip once we started climbing in elevation the drive started getting a little spooky. The mountains were full of low hanging fog and between that and the dark and the Armenian mountain passes it was poetic that we were heading to a Halloween party. We were already running late because we stopped for gas for like half-an-hour and we couldn’t go too quickly because of the weather. We arrived in Berd, the city nearest to the village where we were headed, and our taxi driver stopped driving. We were all confused about what was going on because we were only 30-40 minutes from the village. It was about 9:30 at this point and he just kept telling us that the road was bad and he called the taxi company where someone spoke English to explain that he was going to find us a local taxi to take us the rest of the way. We were all rightfully annoyed because we had hired him to drive us the whole way but know he was saying he didn’t know the way and he couldn’t take us. Finding a local taxi driver of course took time so it was 10 before we hit the road again.

The last stretch of our journey involved dirt roads, mountain passes, fog, and darkness. We just all closed our eyes and talked about how we were so set up to be in a bad horror movie...four Americans in a foreign land driving to a remote mountain village...then it got even better because we got a flat tire! So we got out of the taxi and tried to help our driver change the tire. It was cold and dark and our driver was huffing and puffing while smoking a cigarette trying to change the tire. Then we see headlights coming around the bend, but it seems like forever before we can actually see the car. Two friendly Armenian gentlemen, who our taxi driver knew, pulled over to help and then we were on our way again. We finally arrived at our destination – the village of Artsvaberd – at 10:30pm! Luckily we got to relax with good friends, cook chicken fajitas, and tell the harrowing tale of our journey.

Saturday we hung around playing with Heather’s (the volunteer whose house we were staying at) new kittens, making more fajitas, and trying to stay warm. We carved pumpkins, made kleenex ghosts, ate Halloween candy, and Heater made a cherry pie...all in all it was the perfect fall day. Later that day some more volunteers made it into Artsvaberd in time for a Halloween party!

Sunday it was time for everyone to head home so we all loaded into a marshootni to Yerevan. Before we could even leave the parking lot the marshootni broke down. Once we finally got on the road we were cruising along, but every time we had to go up a hill, which was often because we driving in the mountains, things got shaky. Then on our way up one hill we stopped to pick someone up (smart I know!) and couldn’t get going again. All the guys got out and tried to push but then we started to roll backwards. After 5 or 10 minutes of this another marshootni came up the road and pulled over to help pull us up the hill. That meant we all had to get out of the marshootni and walk up the hill and stand in the cold on the side of the road. The best part was that there were 12 Americans on the marshootni so we just stood on the side of the road huddled up while the Armenians stared at us. Luckily where we broke down was very pretty, which made it better. It took a good 45 minutes before we were up and running again. There were a couple more close calls along the way but we eventually made it to Yerevan. Like all my trips around Armenia so far it was eventful, exciting, fun, and tiring.


The Beautiful View of Tavush Marz


Our Marshootni Being Pulled Up Hill