The Spirit of a People

It wasn't but a couple days after I posted the photos of my masonry friends finishing the top of the wall lining the river that a huge storm hit the area.  All the dirt they had piled up for their work unfortunately diverted the water coming down the road behind the wall.....and that whole section of the wall tipped over into the river.  Like true construction people, they were back at it the next day, pulling the old wall out of the river and starting over.  

I don't supposed William Faulkner is required reading in Armenian schools but the people surely embody one of his reflections on man:  I believe that man will not merely endure.  He will prevail.  He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.  After 600 years of being ruled by other conquering nations,  one outstanding aspect of Armenia's national character is endurance.  I have a feeling that over the next couple years Americans will have the opportunity, if that's the right word, to grow in this attribute as well.

When I watched the workers slowly re-build the fallen river wall day-by-day, I was reminded of my earlier visit to a local Medieval monastery.  Talk about patience.....I don't know if my photo will show it but these particular building blocks are numbered from 1 to 16 as they work to stablize the foundation of this 12th Century structure.   You can also see the photos of the worker as he moves the blocks....one-at-a-time on a wooden skid back to their original location. 

In addition to the structural work, the construction project involved upgrading the infrastructure leading up the hill to the monastery so that tourists had better access: paved road, electricity, and gas/water lines.  Even more amazing to me was the billboard highlighting this million dollar project, indicating that the funding was sponsored by the Ruler of Sharjah, a member of the Arab Emirates.  In a time of so  much religious and ethnic conflict, I could not help but find hope in an Islamic leader helping to preserve a Christian monastery.

It was a sunny day a couple weeks ago and I felt ambitious... so I decided to explore the surrounding hills.  You can get some sense of how the village is laid out and the road leading into town.  If you look closely at the bottom of the other picture, you can see the top of a metal statue honoring the Armenian soldiers who died fighting against Germany in WWII.  I am hoping that we have one more good hiking day left on the calendar as 6 of us are going out together on a hike in the forest.  We have been in the Off/On rainy mode the past couple weeks so I am hoping Mother Nature smiles on us.  And if it rains, I am sure we will have a different kind of adventure.  I hired a young man who worked as a guide this summer to take us around as the trails are not well-marked.  One of my "Tourist Business" goals over the next 2 years is to create some hiking maps that we can hand out to tourists.  I have talked to several tourists who came to see the natural beauty of this area and left early frustrated that they could not locate the hiking trails.  With the challenges of today's Post-Soviet economy, we really can't afford to have those tourist dollars leave early.  Getting the trails marked and then finding the funds to print the maps should keep me busy for a while!

So it's not that there are not cars in Armenia, it's just the Peace Corps Volunteers are not allowed to drive one. And considering I can walk from one end of my town to the other in a hour, I really don't miss it. In fact, I think my "ticker" probably thinks it is a good thing that I have a 1/2 hour walk to work every morning. ( We'll see what "the report" is from my toes and fingers when winter arrives shortly. *;o)

So this is my view as I "round the bend" coming into the downtown where the blue tarps are covering some much appreciated Redevelopment. I hear this building is to house the first downtown cafe as there is currently no place to even have a cup of coffee. After a Starbuck's on every corner in the States, this is the other extreme. I envision several more coffee houses and cafes appearing in the downtown next year as the city offices, major supermarket, library and school are all located here. (My office is on the top floor of a 5 story building......so no Stairmaster needed when I get home.)

The other two photos taken on my walk home from work are of the new outdoor amphitheatre under construction and the wall along the river which was getting some much needed aesthetic repairs to the top surface. After spending the past 30 years in the construction business, it seems natural to stop and talk with the construction workers. The next day coming home I was invited to an impromptu picnic by them of sausage, bread and cheese. I guess I need to take more people's pictures! Seriously, the country is famous for its hospitality ............to family and strangers alike.

Earlier this month, Armenia had a soccer game in the capital of Yerevan with their western neighbor and sports rival, Turkey. Although we lost the game 2-0, hopefully some good was done in re-establishing better relations as the President of Turkey was in attendance. Re-opening the border to the west could go a long way to assisting economic recovery and providing access to the ports of the Black Sea.

The next day as I was walking to the bus stop, I discovered something else that Armenia takes great pride in besides their athletes: their artists and cultural heroes.  The two creations of metal and stone in a downtown park were fitting tributes to their respect for the arts in Armenia.

Leaving my small village

I had to include this photo as part of my final days living in the tiny village of Karenis. I walked by this water trough everyday on the way to school in the morning and on the way home, my head filled to the brim with new words. Now when I think of the village, it is the ever-present image of water that comes to mind, rivulets, and streams guided downhill along roads and eventually guided into the orchards that fed all the families. One day as I was finishing a travel memoir about Armenia ("The Crossing Place"), I came across a description that seemed to add another dimension to the water trough I passed every day. These springs were a part of every Armenian journey. I had been on buses which had stopped simply so that people could visit a certain spring, filling up like litrurgants to take water. Many of the churches were built near water, no doubt replacing earlier sites of worship. Water held a peculiar significance for Armenians. Here the water was channelled into a pipe which pushed through a large stone. At the foot of the stone was a trough and the water slopped constantly over the rim of the trough to drain away down a gully. After two months Armenia, I could feel just what he was describing.

During my last couple days of my stay in Karenis, I could sense those things I would miss the most: the sweetness of the people and the land. The "tateek" in my family was in her early 80's but as you can see even in this photo, never lost the sparkle in her eye. And she had a world of patience for the goofy "Americatzi" who tended to put on the hats the women wore in the orchards. I sure came to appreciate the value of humor to relieve the stress of having no idea what you are doing for days at a time.

Group Graduations..........

A friend emailed me recently that I must be in a busy period since I had not "posted" anything to the blog in a month.....Yes, the past month has been a whirl!

But after 11 weeks of wandering around a village where most things were "unfamiliar," we finally had a couple familiar events: Graduation. As part of our "community development work" four of us created a local "Youth Group" before leaving on August 15th for our new " work sites" where we will be for the next two years. I believe it was a learning experience for the teens and us. They learned something about the power of working together and making a difference in their own future. (It is not too hard to imagine how difficult it can be to keep "hope" or a "dream" considering the past 600 years in their country.) And on the Peace Corps side, the Volunteers learned to "trust the process," as there were times we were losing hope ourselves....that the group would make it! We also created (surprise, surprise... *;o) a new flower garden along the walk of their school. Or should I say we did some serious weeding, brought in new soil and put in a couple dozen iris to get started. I am going back to the village at the end of October for a "family birthday" and plan to finish the job, sprinkling in lots of wildflower seeds that I have been randomly collecting as I walked the roads for the past 2 months. Hopefully, some of the seeds will survive the winter and become flowers in the Spring. Hope Springs Eternal, as they say.

The other focus for the past month was the Final Language Exam. While some of the adept language learners achieved their "advanced" and "intermediate" rankings, yours truly was more than happy to be annointed as a......."novice." At least I am one step up from the hand signs that got me through my first couple weeks in the country! The graduation photo is of our village along with our two language teachers. In the back row on the far left is Lee Lacey, the Country Director for Armenia.

After graduation, it felt just like another day of work in Sacramento.....as I went home put on my "grubbies" and shoveled dirt into the school garden, as we were leaving the nex day. I was pleased and relieved to have a couple of the local teens show up on their own to help finish the job with me. It felt like they were starting to take ownership of the project.