A bit on my permanent site visit

Saturday, July 19, 2008



My, oh my, another week has gone by and it seems like only a few hours have passed. Life has been extremely crazy the past couple of weeks, as Peace Corps’ has put us Trainees through their version of boot camp. Recently I visited where my permanent site will be for two years and luckily it is in one of the most beautiful regions of Armenia. Not only does my site have beautiful scenery, think Helen, Georgia or somewhere in Bavaria, but also the city I will be living in is one of the most technologically advanced areas in all of Armenia. My future site even has fast wireless internet not even most cities in the states have that.



My new host family at my permanent site, who I will live with for at least 3 months, is completely cool. This family has hosted several volunteers over the years, which made my job a lot easier since they know the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps. Yet, more importantly they have adapted and have had experience with foreigners living at their house. Many volunteers’ experience extreme over protection from host families who have never had volunteers before. This is a tribute to the close bonds within Armenian families and their emotional attachment to family members, temporary or not.

Below and to the right there is a picture of my new host father playing shagmat or checkers with some relatives and close friends. This was during the hor-o-vats or barbecue at my permanent site. The men played board games as the women prepared the next course and socialized.

Further down is a picture of the actual hor-ovats, this is how Amrenian's cook their food, but at most home their is an elaborate hor-o-vat grill, here we are at a campground.



My family also runs a dairy factory, which they built after the fall of the Soviet Union and once Armenia gaining Independence. If only more Armenians had ability to adapt like my new host family has done, their country wouldn’t be in such bad shape. Adaptability was and is a key component of success in post-Communist Eastern European and central Asian republics. Many of the folks that I’ve met in Armenia still hope the government will step in and assist them in their day-to-day needs; however the people need to realize the government’s job no longer includes providing every civil service imaginable.



My family’s factory mainly produces cheese, but they also make tan, matzon, and milk. The factory has no cows, but instead all of the villagers bring in their milk every morning and my family buys their excess milk. When the village milk is brought in, my host mother tests the milk’s nutritional value with a machine they bought a couple of years ago with the help of a former volunteer. I believe the machine checks the milk’s fat, protein, carbohydrate and sodium levels. Thus, the family thwarts any of the villagers’ attempts to dilute the milk with water or other liquids.



Also, the dairy factory has another really cool feature; the outside of one wall is covered with solar panels. So, all of the electricity needed to light the factory, run the machines, keep the cheese cool, and heat water is collected by the solar panels. Whenever I see the solar panels I think to myself why am I over here trying to help the Armenians with their environment, when we could definitely learn from them too. I must also remember this solar panel is an anomaly in Armenia and by no means the norm. It should also be noted that my family's success should also be attributed to the help of PC Volunteers over the years.



Today the EEs or Environmental Educators went to Dilijan National Park which was extremely beautiful. The park is in the same marze (Armenian county/state) as I am in, so many of my EE friends were able to see just how beautiful my new site is and many of them were jealous. Dilijan is known for many different attributes including: a wide assortment of beeches, oaks, keni-trees and redwood trees, hundreds of species of birds, the European lynx, and recently the reappearance of the snow leopard. There was also an ancient monastery in the park guarding a bluff and the valley below.



After the long hike we packed 15 sweaty, Peace Corps volunteers back in our van and headed back to Pre-Service Training Sites, but first we stopped at Goshavank Monastery. This is really the first monastery complex, per se, I have seen outside of Echmiadzeen, (the Armenian Apostolic Churches’ version of the Vatican). Goshavank was impressively beautiful and its restoration had recently been completed. There were three huge doomed buildings all of which were use by this particular monastic order, which I don’t know the name of. At the monastery complex there were tourist from all over Armenia, particularly summer camp groups, but there were also many English-speaking people, which was a surprise to us.



(Picture of us Environmental Educators in the cultural center)

Coming up in the next two weeks we have our teaching practicum where we’ll have to teach 9 class altogether. I’ll be team teaching 6 of my classes with another volunteer, then I’ll have three lessons I’ll have to do completely on my own, two of which I must teach only in Armenian. That’s going to be difficult.



We also have a community project which must be completed by August 3rd. Each town which volunteers are currently living in has a community project. For the community project we had to survey a sampling of our villages to see what the needs of our village are and then come up with an effective project to address those needs. My village really has no meeting area for the kids of the town. So were taking this abandoned stone building and converting into a youth play area with a environmentally themed mural. We are also adding soccer goals to the school yard so the kids will have some where decent to play soccer. We have a budget of $0, but we were extremely resourceful for the 4th of July celebration and I’m sure we’ll make do this time as well.



(Shamat cake, my host mother in my PST village made. She is the best cook in town.)


Well it’s getting extremely late here, but as always I hope things are going well in America and I’ll talk to y’all later.



peace.shalom.salaam.
Mark Jensen







Remember this blog is a reflection of my own personal thoughts and reflections and in no way represents the views of the Peace Corps or the United States' government.