saying goodbye

would i do it again, if i knew then what i know now? yeah, i know i would.

saying goodbye has been really hard. i'm not ready to leave armenia and i feel i've left too little time to say my goodbyes with my armenian friends. trying to clean and dispose of all the stuff i've collected 27 months has dominated my time (i can't say i've done a great job of doing that yet)...

last night i had a farewell khorovats with my host family and some of our friends- great time. luckily, i'll get to spend my last night in town with them, as im handing in my keys to my apartment and they offered my old bed, a place i can always stay. :)

tomorrow, i'll go to the koghb art school camp and spend the night up on the mountain! monday, i'll say my goodbyes to my sitemates, and tuesday i'm moving out! everything after that is paperwork and goodbyes to other pcvs who are leaving. after the 3rd, i have some pretty ambitious travel plans. (karabakh, batumi, istanbul, athens, cyprus, rome, vienna, and again to rome for a transatlantic cruise to the states, then up the coast home)

to be honest i really wasnt too sure i'd make it through this peace corps experience. at times i was itching to move on, and at times i felt i was wasting my time. but in the end i don't know how to leave this life, these people, the lifestyle, my peace corps friends. so much happens in 27 months away, here and back home. reading through this blog today gave me affirmation that i did do something great here. even though i left out anything bad, (which in speaking with friends might have been a misleading for future pcvs) i think i've been able to share some of the great moments and work from my experience. i hope you've enjoyed reading along-
i'll miss you, Armenia!!
thanks!

good lord, so much has happened!

(this short video shows some the English teaching work I did at the kindergartens over the past 2 years. I didn't get a chance to make the follow-up video this Spring - but they did end up learning the alphabet song & You Are My Sunshine!)


Also....

*We finished remodeling the bathroom!!

*I helped facilitate & participated in Volunteerism & Gender Awareness Development workshops!

*I went to Spain & Portugal with my friends Ashley & Trent!

*We celebrated Ashley's birthday!

*Said "farewell for now" to our good friend Katie!

*Was a counselor at GLOW summer camp!

*Today- the last day of Kindergarten!

update on the bathroom remodeling!

There are so many things going on in my PC service right now. I only have 4 months left! I am trying to complete my projects and I'm helping out with a lot of trainings in the next few weeks. Some new projects I've started: working on a website for both the kindergartens, trying to get a computer at K2 so they can market their handicrafts, helping translate and get a public bathroom grant at the soccer field, and trying to design a reusable shopping bag to sell for a Sports Camp fundraiser.
The bathroom remodeling & sanitation project is almost finished- by the first week in April the construction should be complete and we'll have our final 2 parent health seminars! I've been meaning to send out postcards of the progress to all the donors, but the photo machine is broken at our local Kodak store(coincidentally, they've had me over a couple times to call the parts store in CA). Expect mailed updates soon though! In the meantime, here are some pictures of the progress!

i found an angel

i started painting rocks. well. a rock. so far.
it has a couple layers of acrylic on it then i was playing with watercolor randomly dripping it on top for fun. took a picture. found something interesting. atleast to me, it looks like an angel:)

Sunday hikes

Despite the cold weather we've had here- for the past 2 weeks my sitemates and I have done great hikes around town! I'm part of a volunteer/staff Biggest Loser challenge so I'm fighting the urge to stay inside though I've found so many things to do inside lately. I'm reading through the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series like no ones business. I've decided to go through the 15 days worth of music on my Ipod to get rid of the songs I always skip. I rearranged all the furniture in my house. I'm making postcards for all my friends back home. And painting rocks. And researching health projects and english lessons for my students. Crocheting a hat. Making a board game. Experimenting with chicken recipes. Watching moviestar repertoires in entirety. Studying for the LSAT... Plus I'm addicted to Google News. HAHA.
So, it's good to have motivated sitemates who can get me outside:)

lavanank menk amen or

i havent made the Facebook page yet for K1, but here's one of the easier things we've done during health lessons until then! (PS the music teacher was my host mom!)

They are singing: (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star tune)

Lavanank mer zerkera (We wash our hands)

Lavanank menk amen or (We wash everyday)

Josheluts aroj (Before eating)

Hahahuts hato (After playing)

Lavanank menk amen or (We wash everyday)

Amen or, amen or (Everyday, everyday)

Lavanank menk amen or

Amen or, amen or

"how do we stay healthy?"

The kids at K-1 are already 4 lessons into their lessons for the bathroom remodeling project! We asked,"how do we stay healthy?"during a lesson, and answers were "drink tea!", "drink mint tea!", "wear slippers!", "lemons!", "yogurt!", "don't be cold!". Then Arrevik and I talked about exercise, washing their hands with soap, personal hygiene, the food pyramid, and being happy with friends and family.... ;)
Two days later, we had them draw everything we talked about during "how do we stay healthy?" on a couple posterboards. They drew basketballs, toothbrushes, soap, soccerballs, fruit, fires, houses, families, friends, hearts, flowers, and happy people.

So how am I staying healthy?.... Well, that's something I'm trying to work on right now:) Some of us PCVs & some Staff are planning to do an office version of the Biggest Loser starting February 1st. Exciting!