sorry its been so long

So its been a while since my last post. I got really busy in May. I survived my first year in the Armenian schools. Not that there is something dangerous about Armenian schools, which could be inferred from me using the verb survive. But it was a challenge, that is what I wanted to convey with the verb survive. I met all of the challenges. A major challenge was,and is, the language barrier. But I have worked hard on my Armenian and have seen it improve. Not any huge leaps, but bits and bits of improvements. I also met the challenges by teaching health and english. I have also done leadership mentoring and have started to do a bit of small business advising. And the summer is filled with opportunities as I have many summer camps to work. And I am also really excited to be able to go home for a couple of weeks. It will be a good summer with a good year put behind me.

felt like a RA today

For three years as a RA I put up hundreds of flyers about events I was doing in the residence hall. Today I posted several flyers in my school advertising a seminar a fellow Peace Corp Volunteer is doing along with her Armenian counterpart. They are going to come talk about education and work opportunities for girls in Armenia and abroad. After I put up the flyers all the girls seemed really excited about it. And unlike residence hall which have been saterated by flyers by RAs for many years, my school has not been and the flyers got a lot of attention. I am really excited about the seminar, hopefully we will have a good turnout. And it felt good to be a bit of a RA again today.

being Green without knowing it

In this essay

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1366516800&en=4c931d0a068a2a1a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Michael Pollan argues the benefits of gardening. Currently I don't think a lot of Americans garden. But I know that most Armenians do, and by doing that they are helping the environment. My apartment building is surrounded by small, family gardens where they grow many food staples. I don't think most Armenians are thinking about their carbon footprint, but garden to support their families. I think we in the more developed, western countries have a lot to learn from other countries that not considered as developed, but maybe do less damage to the enviroment than we do, and are probably Green without knowing it. I hope to pick up some gardening skills from Armenian friends and take them back to America with me.

this weekend in Yerevan

So this weekend in the capitol I will attending a meeting with an HIV/AIDS NGO to talk about national strategy for education/awarness and then on sunday I have another meeting with fellow PCVs. Will try to update then.Will not be spending the night, will be in and out.

twitter

so last feb or so I got on twitter in an attempt to get news updates sent to my gmail via google talk. That didn't work out too well, but my cousin Robert sent me his twitter and I find that is really useful for small updates, so I have started twittering. I think I am www.twitter.com/bcal but not sure. I have also put my twitter feed on the blog, it should be directly to your right. So I will have this for longer posts where I try to be all philosophical and reflective and twitter for quicker updates. Enjoy!

lots of teaching

So this summer I am teaching about Iran, the UK, and the Ukraine. I have 45 minutes for each lesson, with topics such as Culture and history. How I will teach topics such as Iranian culture and British history in 45 minutes not sure, but it will happen somehow. . .

A typical day at school

I begin my days by waiting for an oversized van to come pick me up. Marshutnis, the russian word for these oversized vans, are a major form of public transit in Armenia. My neighborhood is home Jermuk's resort and factory workers, and the marshutni takes me,along with the workers, to my school near the resorts and bottling factories.

Usually I arrive at school between 9 and 10 a.m. depending on my wait, which is anywhere from zero to 35 or 40 minutes. When I get to school if I have a lesson prepared I am shuffled from classroom to classroom where I teach. I then teach, always with help of an Armenain teacher.

If I do not have a lesson or there are no time slots for me to teach in, I usually do a close listening session to one of the teacher, Armenian-English dictionary in hand and attempt to pick up some new words in their oral context. Learning words within their oral context is good way to learn, and an a vital part of immersion language learning.

I also work on future lessons, and help out at the school however I can. I talk to students alot, I am issued scores of Barev Dzes(Armenian for hello) everyday- and I always issue them back. I also learn lots of Armenian slang and youth speak during these times when I talk with students. This another important part of langauage immersion.After classes I work alot. I do lots of English tutoring with students at both local schools. I also help local college graduates with projects and to help them take their English to a higher level.

I usually finish around 4 or 5(someday later) and head back to little America, my apartment. After speaking Armenian all day I enjoy consuming a few chapter from a good history or novel. Then Economist and New Yorker also provide great english for enjoyment(Thanks so much to Uncle Ish for the Economist gift subscription and my parents for shipping them in every month!!).

This is not to say to that I don't enjoy Armenian. I love learning Armenian and am honored to have the chance to learn it. The Armenian language is ancient, rich, and beautiful. But everyone has a special attchement to the native language. My appreciation for English has grown, just as my appreciation for Armenian has grown.I think it will be a joy to have mastered two languages. I have not mastered Armenian yet, linguistic barriers remain-but I am confident that I will master it and those barriers will fall.

Although homesickness and linguistic make life a challenge, and at the same time joy, I have many opportunities to help at my school. My chief opportunity is to help these students to better their world and their future.Every typical day, even though it is typical is packed full of amazing opportunities. These opportunities are what makes me able to get up everyone and to go wait for that oversive van to come and pick me up for another typical day at school.