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.

Last weekend I got to join my Host Father's brother as he took his son back from a home visit to the army base for his second year of service. We stopped for some fresh produce for the meal that was coming up at the end of our journey. I could not resist the photo of the laundry hanging across the Main Street when we stopped. In the small villages everybody knows everybody's business anyhow, so I guess having a rip in your BVD's is not a big deal...........for it is public information on the clothes line!! About halfway into our journey, we saw a horse tethered along the highway so we joined him for a group photo. The country was beautiful, verdant hills and clouds dotting the background. Two days later I found out this is the area, Dilijan, that I will be assigned to after August 15th for my 2 years of service. I felt like I was at the location for the "Sound of Music" although something tells me my perception might change when we are into our 5th month of winter!! (Will find out if my REI purchases live up to their pricing.)

We are putting on a 4th of July party for our Host Families ( no cooking for them for a change...) and then we visit our future sites from July 9th through the 14th. Dilijan is known as a tourist site for visitors from neighboring countries and I will be working in the Dillnet Business Promotion Center that works to expand the influx of the tourist dollar. This is not an industry I have any experience in so I hope I can make a contribution in some way. I am looking to my upcoming visit to the area and seeing the forests and nature preserve they are known for.

Hope your 4th of July......is filled with light and joy.

The best part of our 2 hour trip to the army base was sharing in the close knit family bonds. When we got to the base we picked up the nephew who was still on base and brought him over to another relative's home for the favorite event on the Armenian social calendar: Hooravats......the barbeque. The fact that it was raining did not dampen the spirits at all as we found cover ......and the cooking began!! Before we left from the family home, the "papeek" from upstairs came down to say hello and invited me up to his flat. I enjoyed the traditional cup of coffee and the joy that radiated from his 5 grandchildren. The fact that he had lost full use of one leg and he had use his crutch up the two flights seemed to matter little compared to the joy of sharing his family and providing a guest the favorite gift in Armenia: "hospitality."