Greetings from Armenia

Hello Babies!!!!

I finally made it! I am here in Armenia which is about an hour outside the capital city of Yerevan. The A-20 group has been here since Friday morning. When we arrived, the country manager and other Peace Corps Armenia staff took us to the Cathedral of Zvartnots (c.650 - 659 A.D.) to watch the sunrise. It is tradition for when new groups arrive each year and it is really special. I just posted pictures on the FB, so check them out there.

It's absolutely mind blowing that it is just shy of one week since my last blog post. Yesterday I started drafting a blog post that was going to have the break down of my travel and simply recalling those three days was tiresome, so I dropped that idea. So much has happened, I have met so many new people and been told a great multitude of things, trying to put together a succinct post is proving to be a challenge. I feel like my head to going to explode... in a good way.

This is the short of it: Tuesday I flew to D.C. and had about a 5 hour introductory session there. The next morning all 44 of us gathered our (overwhelming) luggage and headed off to Vienna. After a nine hour flight, we had day rooms right near the airport and had a to chance to grab some rest. I took a bath. Later that night we flew out around 10:30pm and arrived in Yerevan at 4:30am. Next was the cathedral, then an hour drive to our remote location. This was my first opportunity to sleep since the day before and I passed out like a rock. We were briefly introduced to our teachers and one another. For the last two days we have been in language, health, security and technical sessions that are about one hour each but last throughout the day. Luckily last night I went to bed and woke up at my normal, it feels great to be adjusted to the time.

Tomorrow I meet my PST host family. I am so very excited to unpack my things and get settled in. I will be there for approximately 11 weeks, whereafter my service truly begins and I am moved to my permanent site. I don't want to get ahead of myself, though. The next three months will be a great challenge, but I welcome it. Thus far I have been diligent with my yoga, writing and meditation practices and it seems this has helped to keep me both balanced and... nice.


Later gators!