I made a joke in one of our volunteer Whatsapp groups that I wasn’t focused on cultural integration anymore and was focused on OUT-egration. This came on the tail end of our cohort’s close-of-service conference, which ended up extended by 2 days thanks to a late February snowstorm (that groundhog betrayed me). The conference focused on preparing us to finish our service and transition back to life in the US. But its timing of 3 months prior to our real close of service date felt a little like when you say goodbye to someone and then end up walking in the same direction anyway. Coming off that conference, my mind has been consumed by what I will do post-Peace Corps. Booking flights, alerting friends of my impending return stateside, and panicking about my future career and finances. It’s been easy to let these thoughts consume me lately and distract me from my precious time left here in Armenia. But on the first weekend of my 3rd and final March in Armenia, I snapped out of my post-PC planning haze and was reminded of everything that I am going to miss. The weekend started with the official opening ceremony for our new school.
The previous school had been torn down before I got to Armenia and new construction had just begun when I had my site visit. For the past two years, our school has been sharing a building with another school. There had been whispers about the new school opening in 2025, but I was skeptical if it would open in time for me to teach in it. Then, at the end of February, it was finally confirmed that the new school building was ready and waiting for us to move in. Because this new school is one the the biggest in the country now, we had the honor of hosting the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, at our official school opening ceremony. I arrived early that Saturday morning with all the other teachers. We went through some security and metal detectors and then were seated in our brand-new auditorium. Our school director spoke and then the Prime Minister spoke, focusing his message on the importance of education and the hopes he has for all the students attending our school. The auditorium was abuzz after the ceremony with teachers and students taking photos together in front of the newly painted blue walls. I was informed that the excitement for the day would not end there. I was invited to a party for the teachers that evening at a restaurant in town.
It had been a while since I attended a large Armenian party and of course, the teacher’s party lived up to my previous experiences. The tables in the large banquet hall overflowed with cheeses, meats, salads, bread, and vegetables. There was still snow on the ground outside so the blue skies and late afternoon sun created a beautiful scene outside the large windows which made up an entire wall. Soon the first course was brought out, which as always, was khorovats (barbequed pork and potatoes). No matter how many of these gatherings I have attended, I have never learned not to fill up on this first round of food because there is always an equally delicious barbequed chicken course to follow. But of course, I powered through and sampled the chicken as well. Not long after the food was served, the dancing began. It was so fun to watch all of my fellow teachers let loose and enjoy themselves on the dance floor. Of course, I was pulled into the middle to demonstrate my own Armenian dance moves that I have picked up throughout my service. If you remember from my wedding blog post, I’ve mastered the generic side step shuffled accompanied by swirling my hands up in the air to the beat. I even joined in on some traditional dancing involving holding pinkies and dancing together in a circle. I had learned this dance long ago during my training but had to watch for a bit to remind myself of the footwork before I caught on again. I sat back and watched as some teachers danced the Kochari, a popular Armenian dance that is much too complicated rhythmically for my limited capabilities. After the dancing, toasting, and eating had slowed we all called it a night most of us exhausted from the events of the day and the preparations that had led to it.
When I came home that night, I walked into my living room to find my host brother and host grandfather playing Nardi together (a similar game to Backgammon with a few key differences). I don’t know how I managed to avoid learning Nardi up until this point. My host brother explained the rules and then proceeded to beat me in multiple games, continuously assuring me that he felt bad about how much he was winning because I had never played before. I insisted it was fine and that losing was the only way for me to learn. As we played, a couple of different classic Armenian movies ran in the background on our T.V. both featuring the famous Armenian actor, Mher Mkrtchyan. My host sister had spent the day learning to make cinnamon rolls and I treated myself to one of her creations after losing my last Nardi game. I couldn’t help reflecting that night on how Armenian my day had been, seeing the Prime Minister, dancing and eating at the teacher’s party, and playing a traditional game while watching old movies. Just when I had begun to let myself drift away prematurely from Armenia, it pulled me back.
The next day, I accompanied my schools’ English teachers to a conference in Yerevan put on by the British Council. We attended informative sessions and workshops together and took some extended coffee breaks to chat. In the afternoon, my counterpart was a guest speaker during one of the sessions and I was able to watch her share her experience with dozens of other teachers. Part of my role as a TEFL volunteer is to help my counterpart become more confident in her English and listening to her that day, I was so impressed by how naturally she spoke English. Spending time with the other teachers and learning more about teaching at that conference has energized me to work hard to finish this school year strong. I’m so lucky to have such a supportive school and great coworkers and I’ll be devastated to leave them. But I hope my contributions will be felt even after I’m gone.
It’s getting close to the end of my service, but it’s not over yet. There’s a lot more for me to learn and experience and I will be open to it all.
You are a great writer, Camden. Looking forward to seeing you soon. — Judith P