I am not usually a big fan of cemeteries....not really a mystery for someone in his 60's. But when I was walking around in my future "permanent site" of Dilijan last week, I stumbled upon these grave stones. I felt a strange connection with the lives of the peoples whose faces I saw. That evening as I read another chapter on my book on Armenian history, I came across the following quote. It seemed to confirm the feeling I had that these were special places. "And perhaps for the Armenians, whose history has been no more than a continuous quest for order, a struggle against an unimaginable chaos, these marshalled plots are cherished more than most. To own a grave is to own land." For people whose history has been over 600 years of being forced from their lands, I am sure the relatives of the deceased found much joy in providing their loved ones at last a piece of Armenia to call their own.

Weekend Fun....

So, this past weekend I decided to walk the streets of the nearby village and see what the locals do. As you can see the men have an outside gathering place for cards and chess. It was fun just to hang out and watch the games! The "tateek" with the soccer ball ( or "football" in Armenia) is not really the goalie in a Senior Citizen League. Rather she is the sweet grandmother of my Host Family who was helping to unload the car after a trip to the river..........and I couldn't resist taking her photo!

Our Village

This was a group photo after we put on the July 4th party for our "Host Families" in the village. We are all in the sector called "CBD" (Community & Business Development) and will be all moving to different villages on August 15th. The intensive language part of training will be over but I am sure we will all be working with tutors as 10 weeks has hardly given us mastery of the language.

Village Life

This is the first year that the Peace Corps has done language training in our particular village. So when the 4th of July came around, it seemed like a good time to provide some American food dishes for our Host Families as well as share a little of our American traditions. One photo shows the young people in the village lining up to have their sparklers lit. Another shows a "brainstorming session" in a school classroom with some of the young adults (18-25). It was a community development exercise to help them identify what they would like to create in their village. The photo shows the guys and the gals in the group comparing the differences on their lists. Yes, the worlds of "Mars and Venus" exist even in Armenia. The first photo is of my Host Mom showing me something my own mother had talked about from her early days on a farm in northern Indiana: how to make butter. All the dairy products my host family puts on the table from butter to yogurt to cheese are wonderfully fresh.

Host Mother's Birthday

So these are some photos from our trip to the nearby river for a birthday barbeque. On the walk down to the ravine, we stopped in a very old chapel that some still visit and light candles. I was struck by the view of the surrounding cliffs that the hole in the wall provided. Once we arrived at the picnic site, we took some time to relax on the stone picnic tables, where my Host Mom practiced her kebob techniques....on her husband! There were some other families there as well enjoying their time cooling off in the water. I am slowly dusting off my former Midwest skills at playing cards and we played a little "Hearts" with the family members. Something tells me that I will need them during the November to April period of winter.