The Final Weeks of PST

August 12, 2008

Hey everyone,

The past week has been a crazy time for us soon to be volunteers as we prepared for our LPI or Language Proficiency Interview. I thought the test went well, but we’ll have to see how well the test actually went when I get my score in a couple of days. Although studying has continued, our pace has slowed considerably. We have all hit the proverbial wall and our brains are crammed to their respective limits with Armenian conjugations, declensions, and a wide arrange of vocabulary words. PST (Pre-Service Training) has been a true test of learning and endurance. Even if you’re not having the best of days you still have to go to language lessons, teach, and go to all of the Peace Corps sessions that are mandatory, not to mention we all live and interact in a culture and language that is completely foreign to all of us. I feel that this must be one of the hardest things one can voluntarily go through.
When joining the Armed Services, servicemen and women are usually not, if ever, completely engulfed in the culture and language of the theatre they are operating in. Obviously there is a more existential threat or reality that our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan live with everyday, but in Peace Corps the support mechanisms that help soldiers deal with life away from home are simply not there (here). For many volunteers internet access might occur only once a month or for even longer periods of time, whereas in the armed forces servicemen usually have the most modern telecommunications equipment available.
Truthfully, I’m not trying to compare the Armed Services to the Peace Corps. Scanning the annals of history one can clearly see the need for a strong military, and I too would definitely agree with this assessment. But at some point we need to try to put a price tag on peace, I know it wouldn’t be good for the military industrial complex, but if we would listen to our honest leaders of the past, mainly Eisenhower, I think we would quickly see how many problems we are creating at home by perpetuating the need for new weapons that clearly outclass any our enemies or the rest of the world has to offer. Only to sell and/or give away the former generation of fighter planes, air defense systems, and infantry support technologies. By continuing this cycle of expensive R&D and cumbersome implementation followed by a fickle way of selling, trading, and gifting arms, the United States has positioned itself on the losing end in battle of arms procurement.
Throughout the world this procurement battle has become a battle of attrition, well to a certain degree. For instance currently the U.S. is fighting a two theatre war, none of which the United States’ can fiscally afford to fight. Even though I see the need to be fighting, especially such a threat as global terrorism, the means by which we (America) must do that must be reassessed. Sooner or later we’ll have to drastically cut back not only on social and domestic programs, but also on defense spending and our overseas infrastructure. By that point we will have already armed half the planet with weaponry comparable to ours, but a little less effective. Yet at that point we as a nation will be less able to keep those people who have our weapons from fighting each other.
In some ways we are seeing it now in Georgia. Although Georgia as a nation could never withstand the full strength of the Russian armed services, or even a partially mobilized Russian army; its ability to defend itself was somewhat amazing, but predictable. If you count the number of planes shot down, the Georgian air defense shot down more Russian planes than the Iraqis shot down American planes during the two Gulf Wars. At first glance this comparison seems illogical. Iraq is a larger country with more natural resources and had a larger GDP than Georgia in 1991 and in 2003. However, with US weaponry and know how the Georgians were able to down as many as 10 Russian planes (actual number remains uncertain). Although it is true that as soon as Russia genuinely wanted to take South Ossetia and Abkhazia it was fairly simple for them, but the fact remains that many of our high tech weapons are out there. I hope when push comes to shove, the people we’ve been giving these weapons to so generously will still our allies.
Back to the volunteers in Armenia and how we deal with stress. Our group of volunteers is dealing with the stress in a variety of ways. In my village many of us go running late in the evening when the temperature drops. There are meditation and yoga groups that meet every Saturday. Of course many of us write, read, and phone home on a somewhat regular basis as well. Yet these calls come out of our pocket. We also have many dinners, parties, weddings and a variety of celebratory occasions to attend as well. Sometimes these events are a great way to think about things other than learning Armenia, but sometimes these events can be quite stressful as well. It’s very difficult to always be extremely happy to everyone, especially when scores of people are continuously trying to vie for your attention. Overall at every party we have a very good time. Armenian people love to dance and as my friends know, I share this love for dancing.
Last Friday night, the 8th of August we had a huge dance party. Initially this party was planned just for the girls and women of our village. However, at the last minute they decided to invite the boys and we definitely brought out some crazy dance moves. I think the girls were surprised by some of our moves; one of my friends, pulled out the walking handstand, another had the running man perfected, and I provided my patented Mark dance, with my crazy arms and sleeve pulls.
Both of our LCF (Language and Culture Facilitators) or language teachers were there too. One of our teachers, Zhasmina, is in her mid-50’s and she brought her daughter and husband from Yerevan. Her daughter was 31 years old and works for Human Rights Watch. Her husband was a very nice and knowledgeable man. Her husband has also travelled to Atlanta, where he met with professor friends at Emory University. My other language teacher/LCF is the youngest of all of the language teachers. She is a 24 year old who just finished her English language training in Yerevan and she specifically studied political translation. Not only are both teachers dedicated and extremely smart, but they are also great dancers.
Now for the fun geopolitical issue happening in the Caucuses. Right now I am watching Dmitri Medvedev (President of Russia) and Nicolas Sarkozy (Leader of the E.U. and France). They are officially announcing a tentative cease-fire between the Russian and Georgian armies. Right now South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two regions formerly part of Georgian territory are in Russian hands. It’s very difficult to tell who started the fighting and who exactly is to blame.
From what I can tell most Armenians are very pro-Russian, partly due to their nostalgia of Soviet times and partly due to their geographic proximity to Russia. Because of this geographic proximity, most Armenians speak Russian and many Armenians seasonally work in Russia.
Here in Armenia we pick up Russia’s main television stations. Russian news stations are vehemently anti-Georgia and also strongly anti-American. Most Armenians I’ve talked to about the issue are pro-Russian and they think Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakhashvelli has made many mistakes since his election a couple years ago. Recently, Georgia has been pontified by the EU and the United States, as a prime example of successful democratization in the Caucuses and among other post-Communist republics. However, Saakhashvelli has been very close with Western nations and companies. Recently, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceylon(Baku, Azerbaijan. Tbilisi, Georgia. Ceylon, Turkey) oil pipeline opened which was an oil deal that spat in the face of Russian hegemonic dominance in the region. Russia clearly doesn’t like the path Georgia has been taking in recent years.
Earlier, the US Ambassador to the UN Amir Khalilzad delivered a tongue lashing to the Russian foreign minister to the UN, but his Russian counterpart retorted with an even more vehement statement while using a paternal accusatory tone. Later on however, it seems like Medvedev and Sarkozy have come to some sort of compromise. They’re calling it a 6-point plan to end the fight, which includes: re-positioning of troops, beginning of peace talks between Georgia and Russia, and one of the most important points is to end the fighting without an emphasis on preserving the territorial integrity of Georgia. I don’t know if the plan will work at this point I’m rather doubtful and I only know what is broadcast on CNN International, BBC World News, and Russian News Channel 1.

Hope every one is doing well back home, even though the summer is coming to an end.

Love,
Mark

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.