For a moment today I forgot where I was. As I was riding the avtobus home from downtown Dilijan I glanced at a woman across the aisle and thought she was a colleague from work in Memphis, TN. When she turned her head I was abruptly slapped back into reality. She was not Michaelia but was, instead, a random bus rider with the same hair color and style but a woman I’d never seen before.
What was I thinking??? I had just finished a session with my Armenian language tutor and then tutored a little boy in English myself. Prior to that, I had spent one of those days at my college which seemed non-productive. I was definitely in Armenia. Where else would a person see a huge pig and one of her babies gluttonously gobbling grass along the town’s sidewalk? Does everyone see lonely cows slowly wandering in the street and horses led by frayed ropes passing by? Or what about the countless “watch dogs” that are attached to chains only long enough for them to pace in a small circle around their muddy ramshackled shelters, waiting to bark and snarl at the next passerby?
And even in this day of attention to environment there is litter everywhere, just as we saw in Niger, Africa. Paper, plastic bags, cans, cigarette packages, cardboard boxes are all strewn along the streets and down the embankments leading to open drainage ditches. In fact, my English students had difficulty understanding the term “litter” and especially the words “litter bug”. I am definitely in Armenia. Here it is beginning to warm up and our mornings are now often clear and sunny. But true Armenians know to always carry an umbrella because brief rain showers are frequent and regular, especially in the month of May. I forgot my umbrella today. Where is my head???
As I walk from the avtobus stop, up the steep hill to our street, a young boy is scurrying around a beautiful lilac bush, breaking off long branches covered with blooms. Lilacs are beautiful this time of year. Their scent is noticed everywhere. This particular large lilac bush is in someone’s yard, just close enough to the fence to be reached by the child. I watch him as I get closer. He is careful to make the branches all the same length and discards to the ground any deteriorating leaves. He looks around to see if anyone is watching and sees me approaching. He looks away and begins to walk rapidly down the street. I catch up with him and ask if the flowers are for his Mother, “Ha” he says (“yes”, in Armenian). He’s clutching the beautiful flowers tightly as if I’d snatch them away from him. He’s neatly dressed and his back pack has some kind of furry piece dangling off of it. A rabbit’s foot, maybe??? I do not have the language skills to say anything about his taking the flowers from someone else’s bush, but I wanted to. Unfortunately, this is Armenia, and the practice is not unusual. As the boy continued on towards his home I doubted if he even thought about what he’d done or if his Mother would wonder where he got the flowers. At least he was thinking of his Mother.
My mind is perturbed. It is another roller coaster ride in the day of a Peace Corps volunteer. However, a high had come earlier in today’s class where teenaged students responded positively after receiving dental care information and new toothbrushes, paste, and dental floss. Thoughtful friends and acquaintances and their dentists have sent me enough items to share with several hundred students and the idea is well received. I owe a huge thanks to my retired nurse friends and others in Wilmington, NC, who are helping with this project. Together we are trying to make a difference in a few children’s lives. That is a high for sure.
I must think of each day with its inherent challenges and find a high to balance a low. Today there’s another high---a cold Coca Cola waiting for me in our refrigerator. I do not allow myself to have sugary cokes very often. Today after teaching about dental health and demonstrating the effects of coke on a chicken bone, it seems a bit incongruous to have this treat. This is Armenia though, and I’ll celebrate the ups as well as deal with the downs. I’ll have the coke, brush my teeth, and hope the students remember to do the same! Judy
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