Day 1 - Thursday 4th August
Hired a mini-bus to take us to our home for the next few days in Karmir near Gavar. The house belonged to the family of one of the leaders who had been on camp so she came along with us to let us in and show us around. Her relatives lived just down the "road" who generously gave us water everyday (between the hours of 8:00 and 11:00am) as there was none at the house. The toilet was a rather rustic establishment around the back of the house so our training during camp came in handy. First activity day was that afternoon in the village school, where we were greeted by 48 girls with balloons, singing God Save The Queen! (Cue tears from Marie) We had to adapt some of our plan on the fly due to the numbers and space available but the session went really well and there seems to be good potential for a guide group to open there in the future.
Day 2 - Friday 5th August
We awoke after a reasonably comfortable (but hot) night to be collected by our wheel for the week, a lovely man in a black-out windowed, booming sound system, chrome alloys, parquet-floored and cracked-windscreened Lada mini-van. Absolutely immense. We travelled to Vardenis where we were met by Satenik (a member of NUGGGS) who was staying with her family in the town. We were invited in for a 'snack' before the activity day. As we prised ourselves back out through the doors and rolled down the street to the kindergarten where the session was to be held, we began to understand just what Cara has been talking about when she says the Armenians like to feed us. We had 17 girls today aged 10-17 and again, the session went well with lots of enthusiasm for starting a group there. After the 'proper' lunch (an incredible Armenian barbeque) we had a stroll around the town before heading back to the house in Karmir. Upon collecting water for the evening, we were informed to watch out for WOLVES!!! at night. Toilet trips became slightly more interesting from then on, with everyone taking a different approach to fending them off. My personal favourite was taking a pan and a ladle to make plenty of noise, and a friend to operate the search light (although Simona favoured the use of a small table fork...)
Day 3 - Saturday 6th August
We packed up and cleaned the house before leaving for the activity day in Geghhovit, near Martuni. We arrived at a school, where we were told that the training had been moved to a community club so we hopped back on the bus. At the club, we were shown the space available, which was a large landing and the boxing ring on stage in a theatre. After umming and ahhing about the best way to use these (and one or two Rocky impersonations), we got set up and had a good session with 25 girls. 3 women came along who were keen to start a guide group so things look good there too. Hopefully we are giving the girls in these villages a good introduction to guiding - the songs, games and crafts are certainly going down well and our translators have made plans to call and offer further support over the next few months.
After the training, Lilit remembered she had an aunt and uncle living in the village so our plans changed and we were invited to stay there for the night. (Apparently, this was only allowed after an argument over who should be allowed to host us, with even the taxi driver offering us a place to stay!) Although we offered to sleep on the floor and cook our own meals, we were thoroughly spoilt and fussed over. We all appreciated a decent bed and the chance to have a proper wash, and enjoyed getting acquainted with the family cow.
Day 4 - Sunday 7th August
After a hearty home-cooked breakfast (of roast lamb, fried potatoes and vegetables), we waved a solemn goodbye to our new auntie and hit the road to Noratus, a large village near Gavar. We were shown to a school with a large hall and even the privilege of tables we could use for our crafts. At first there were only around 15 girls, but moments before we got started, an extra 20 appeared so we had a great session with lots of laughter (particularly during the traditional end-of-session balloon game!)
After the session, we visited the famous cemetery in the village with its beautifully ornate carvings and women trying to sell us socks. Then, horror of horrors - it started to SPIT!!!!! It was that fine rain that wets you through - our translators couldn't believe we still wanted to walk around in it but we battled on. On the road again, we headed to Harazdan, a village 30 minutes outside Sevan, to stay at Simona's aunt's flat. After climbing 4 stories with our heffer rucksacks, we were delighted to find a western toilet which even flushed some of the time that water was available (11am til 2pm). Roll mats came out and the battle for the sofa began. A traditional Armenian meal of sausage and mash was followed by an evening of silly games before bed.
Day 5 - Monday 8th August
A rest day!!! After waiting for the water to come on so we could wash and flush, our favourite Westwood-mobile collected us and took us to one of the beaches around Lake Sevan. The water was refreshing after so many days of dirt and dust but in Cara's words, ABSOLUTELY BALTIC! We had a lovely afternoon of sunbathing and swimming, playing uno and having the odd drink. Before leaving, we climbed the hill to visit the churches and appreciate the beautiful views of the lake.. As we waited for the bus it became a bit nippy , and for one of the first time during the trip the jumpers were out , and we stood and moaned about the weather like true brits .Back at the flat, with some of us nursing some serious sunburn we ate left overs form our picnic lunch.
Day 6 - Tuesday 9th August
Last activity day !!!
We were up and out and on our way to Sevan City, we were early which was nice as it gave us a chance to have a nosy around the school, set up and find the loos! 42 girls showed up, which was great and we had a loud and lively session to finish off our fantastic week of recruitment. Our cajoling also seems to be paying off as Lilit, Simon and Tatevik led some of the craft sessions and games, and are all close to become leaders in September. After the session, we headed to the ski resort of Tsakhkadzor and went up the mountain on the chairlift. At the top, we did a spot of tree-climbing, photo-posing (still determined to make the cover of Guiding magazine on our return) and had a nice chat with an Iranian family who were on holiday. Back in the village, we walked to the monastery before indulging in enormous quantities of pizza. So good.
Day 7 - Wednesday 10th August
Another day the beach awaited us, as did the clouds and wind. We splashed out the equivalent of 85p on entrance to a private beach where the sand had been raked and flattened, sun-beds were provided and a cafe and toilets lay within easy reach. A few of us braved the wind to fit in a spot more sunbathing, one or two ventured in for a swim and others wrapped themselves in towels and shivered. Still, it was lovely to relax after all our hard work.
So, if you're still reading after that epic tale, Happy Thursday and we'll be in touch soon to let you know how the evaluations go and what we get up to during our last two days in Armenia.
Over and out,
Team Armenia 2011
xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment