A Weekend in Malishka

On Saturday morning, I woke up to my (Akunk) mother Silva making my favorite little pastries to send with me on my journey. I was only leaving for a few days but the whole family said goodbye like I was leaving for good.  It felt nice to have them send me off so genuinely. Obviously, for my host father it can be awkward in those situations, so to settle our shared uneasiness I gave him a karate kick and headed for the door. (Sometimes, I feel like the boy Grigor never had… We karate chop at one another on a semi-regular basis and one day he was swinging from the door frame kicking his little legs at me. It was awesome).

In Yerevan I started feeling a little bit queasy and even more so as the counterparts showed up to escort us to the metro station. The already hot city started to feel suffocating walking around in jeans with a full backpack. When we got down to the track it was much cooler and I started having cold sweats. This might be the first time I experienced anxiety in this form. It was so odd because mentally I wasn’t freaking out, but my body was.  Luckily, the five other nearby volunteers and I were all travelling together. After four stops we got off and headed to the bus, where we loaded the private university bus that a counterpart (and host brother to a separate volunteer) had organized for us. At this point I was not looking forward to the two -hour drive but I just put my shades and headphones on, and then passed out.

After arriving in Yeghegnazdor, I took a 15-minute marshutni into the village of Malishka with my imposter counterpart. She unexpectedly took me to her personal home instead of my host family’s home. After meeting everyone in the family, eating a meal, checking out the garden and suffering her cousin’s 21 questions, I was losing steam and patience fast.  Instead of picking up on this, she suggested I take a nap at her house… so I made it very clear I was ready to go see my new host family.  Once in their house, I ate the meal that they had prepared for my arrival and introduced myself to another 10 people and answered another set of 21 questions. As you may imagine, I was completely exhausted. Luckily, after my kidnapper left the house my new host mom picked up on this and told me to go relax in my room. I was so, so grateful for this reprieve.

It’s hard to describe the amount of energy it takes to go through these introductions. In my room I had to seriously pull it together, because honestly, in that moment I wanted to be home. I wanted to never leave the room and sleep through the weekend. Instead, forty or so minutes later I exited the room, then sat and watched as the women made dinner. It was an incredibly delicious vegetable soup, which helped me to feel much better. My host family was so gentle with me; it was exactly what I needed.

In the morning I finally met my counterpart and the director (principal) at the school where I will spend the next two years teaching English. I am so grateful that my school has electricity and amazing resources. With grant money, a computer and projector was bought for the English classroom. I am stepping into a strong foundation and it is giving me great ease of mind. Yet, I also know what I must now live up to; the legacy of Chad the American volunteer lives largely in my village. He only left this past April and all were sad to see him go. I wish he was around to show me the ropes a little bit, but wishing won’t do me any good. I shall simply have to prove myself without the help of an established volunteer. 

Unlike most other regions, all of the volunteers before us will have returned home by the time we move there.  All but one early terminated and she is leaving a few weeks before our move.  She gave us a lot of sound advice and showed us a great café.  I met with my other future site mates there and hung out for a couple of hours. The next day was very low-key. I did meet around 20 more people but in a much more casual setting. I was so happy to tag along with my new host mom Siranush to her girlfriend’s house. I spent the afternoon laughing and trying to follow the gossip amongst this friendly and warm group of women. They are all teachers within my new school!! It was a wonderful way to get my foot in the door, and I look forward to seeing everyone when I return for good in August!

…And guess what, my new h.family has a cat!