Before coming to Armenia, I knew very little about the country, or even where it was on the map! Now, I live with a host family in a small village and am learning about the people, language, and culture. I have 4 pigs which live underneath me in my basement, 18 hens, and cows and horses that gaze up and down the road at any given time. We have a huge garden which has tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, lettuce, potatoes, and tons more (I’ll write more about the food here sometime soon).
A lot of the people in our village work as farmers – tending to the cows or sheep in the field, gathering milk or eggs from the animals, or working in the garden to get all their crops ready for eating.
There are 4 seasons here, probably similar to Connecticut! It gets quite hot in the summer, cool during autumn, very cold and snowy during the winter, a warmer during the spring. We are at a rather high altitude so almost every morning I wake up these days it looks like we are living in a big cloud.
The village life of Armenia is much different than in the United States. There are few cars on the road, 1 school, and a couple of small stores which have necessities for cooking, cleaning, or living. If you need anything else (toys, clothes, etc.) you must take a bus to the nearest city about a 20 minute ride away. There are a total of about 2,000 people in our village and almost everyone knows each other. They take care of each other like family.
The children start school about the age of 5 in kindergarten, and go through 12th grade before advancing to University. The students go to school from 9am-2pm and go Monday-Saturday. Generally, they don’t even get a lunch period!
Our students have finished writing their first letters to you and are very excited to hear from you. The mail takes a while here as it is miles and miles away, but we hope they all get to you!
**photos by Peter Weems
