9/29 - The Day of the Australians

No, I have not forgotten which “A” country I’m living in. This post is going to be all about Australians. Armenian-Australians from Australia visiting Armenia. (Say that five times fast).

It all started this morning as I was walking to school. I ended up walking with some of my neighbors/students (this is common, as between the two houses next to mine there are six school-age children who are in my classes).  So as we’re walking along, Hrispime, a 12^th grade student, tells me that there’s someone from Australia visiting our school today. The only other information I got was that the mystery Australian was near their age, a student.

The first few hours of school were normal, regular classes. I mentioned the phantom Australian to one of my counterparts, but she had no idea what I was talking about! Around midday, just after my last class ended for the day (I know, right?), a lot of hustle-and-bustle started up. Kids were running around frantically, teachers were talking even more than usual, and I hear the word “ավտոբուս” an awful lot. So I go downstairs, and sure enough, there’s a giant coach bus sitting outside our school! Sure enough, lots of teenagers start pouring out of it. I notice they’re wearing sneakers, jeans, and are carrying with them other first-world possessions. In other words, instead of just ONE Australian, we got a busload!

As it turns out, a former resident of K-Town has since moved on and lived in America, Australia, and now is back in Armenia. There is an Armenian school in Sydney, Australia that all these students go to. They’re all of Armenian descent and speak perfect Armenian. They’ve been in Armenia for about two weeks, mostly around Yerevan. This is the first and only school in the regions that they’d visited. It was so wonderful to watch them all interact with the students from my village. They toured around the school, played some volleyball, and watched a skit performed by some of our 12^th formers.

I really don’t think I can put into words how great it was watching the exchanges between the Armenian students and Armenian-Australians. Additionally, I got to meet some people who live in Yerevan and speak PERFECT English. One woman, who I talked to quite a bit, had actually lived in New York City for a while and was good friends with a Peace Corps recruiter there! She was pretty damn excited to actually meet a Peace Corps volunteer here in Armenia.

On top of everything, after school, an American woman came by who’s making a film of some sort about Armenia. She didn’t even recognize me as an American, which was pretty shocking! I didn’t talk to her much since she was trying to film stuff and, well, I wanted to get home.

All in all, it was a random and awesome day. It just proves that you never know what to expect here!


UPDATE:
Exhibit B (of not knowing what to expect): Later this afternoon, as I was home alone (a rare occurrence), two men arrived to deliver something. They didn't knock, just came right in. And what were they delivering? A sink! Now, I don't know if I've really mentioned this here on the blog, but we don't have running water. I'm really not sure what the sink is for. But my host family got home shortly after and they don't seem to think it's abnormal. 


I'm so confused.


Exhibit C and D: A few hours after the sink, a washing machine and giant refrigerator arrived. Most of my extended host family is here, helping put things together or rearrange the kitchen. I also think I heard the word "shower" at one point, but I don't want to get my hopes up. I did ask about the water situation, y'know, the lack thereof, and my host uncle said that he was going to "bring" water to the house. How? I'm not sure yet. It seems that men here like to be Mr. Fix Its like in the States.


Still confused...