So a couple days after I posted my last blog, I moved into my own apartment. The Peace Corps requires that you live with an Armenian family for the first 4 months in your new site which is a good idea. You have an opportunity to continue to work on your new-found language skills as well as being immersed in the Armenian culture and customs ( like the custom of visiting families during the first week of January I mentioned in my last blog.) You also are more quickly assimilated and accepted into your village through the relatives, neighbors, and friends of your host family. I had a little taste of that growing up in Indiana where both my mother and my father both had two siblings in our town. This experience of clan and "extended family" is even more intense in a small city of about 15.000 residents (I think South Bend was about 100,000 at the time.) Nobody bothers to make distinctions between ”first" and "second" cousins. One of the young men I work with lives with his grandmother and his mother's brother's family who have a small baby. The first time he talked about his "little brother" I was confused. Since everybody seems related somehow, it makes sense to not spend time sorting it out.
So today when I awoke, I discovered a lovely gentle snow falling. Much like when I lived in Denver, the snow in our city will fall and then be gone in a week. (This is not the case for some of my fellow volunteers who get "the real Midwest experience of winter" that I was anticipating.) Since it was Sunday, I figured it would be a good time to take my camera with me when I went to the little grocery store........right across across the street. As you can see in the photo, I also have a bus stop right outside my place. The couple days when it did get very cold or when I don’t have time for the 30 minute walk to work, I am very grateful for the location. All bus trips are 70 drams, or 25 cents. It was also great last Saturday when I needed to carry my laptop to work so I could finish up my Turbo-Tax program online. ( One can have Internet in the house for $30 @ month but I just can't justify spending over 10% of my salary for that. Saving money for a trip to Cairo makes a lot more sense!)
These photos will hopefully give you a sense of a "flat" in Armenia. As I understand it, Russia built these apartment buildings as part of the socialist program. When the USSR collapsed in '92, they were sold as individual units. I remember when I was looking for a place back in November thinking I could just ask the "Apartment Managers" about vacancies. I was a little confused when we stopped at the nearby stores to ask about "vacancies." This is where that "family network" comes in. Somehow we heard through a contact at the local gas company that somebody's sister had moved to the capital of Yerevan to work. I would have never found this place on my own. My rent is $80 a month and I pay for water and gas. I am still waiting to find out what the utilities will be for last month. They gave me my first month's rent free for installing a new toilet, which cost me about the same.
My apartment building is almost identical to every other one you see in our city. I live on the second floor and have a little open air balcony outside the kitchen. When spring arrives, I am looking forward to my weekend cup of coffee looking out at the surrounding forests and mountains. ( Our city used to be promoted in tourist literature as "Little Switzerland".) As you can see from the photo of my kitchen, the balcony also "doubles as a clothes dryer." I used to chuckle when I'd see clothes on the line in winter. And now.......I'm doing it! *;o Since sometimes it takes 3 or 4 days for clothes to dry, I asked Meghan to make a trip to WalMart for some more "skivvies." I am getting pretty good at wringing the last drop of water out of my clothes before hanging them up. Hanging them up with the old wooden clothes pins has been a little bit of déjà vu from my childhood in Indiana.
One of my earliest California memories of Armenia was hearing that the people don't bother to plug in their refrigerators in winter……as the kitchens are cold enough. It's true. I haven't plugged in my refrigerator yet so I don't even know if it works but my balcony is plenty cold to serve as "cold storage." It's surprising how soon one adapts. I actually look forward at the end of work each day of "coming home" to my little place. I open up my copy of "A Year in the Maine Woods" and feel right at home. I was originally disappointed that I was not assigned to Africa as the Peace Corps originally indicated. But now in many ways Armenia seems like the best location for my two years of service. It surely challenges every assumption I brought with me about how life is "supposed to be."
