Chigitem:

Barev dzez! I cannot believe it's already been a month since my last blog post! I appologize for not being the most productive writer but procrastination seems to have followed me all the way to Armenia! To be honest, there has not been too much to update everyone about this month but I'll try to make this interesting...

September 1st is National Knowledge Day, also known as the first day of school every year here. The school day started out with the older girls singing to the anxious crowd of students and ended with a televised oath taken by the teachers. Unfortunately, I have no idea what I vowed to...maybe next year's 09/01 I'll understand what they are saying.

Since school has started, I have been awkwardly following around my two counterparts, a P.E. teacher and a Life Skills/Healthy Lifestyle's teacher. I have never been in a more consistent state of confusion and awkwardness in my entire life. The school schedule changes daily so I never know where I am going. They do not have a lunch period here and it is also considered rude to eat in front of other teachers. For those of you who know me, that is a huge problem...I love food...frequently. I have to find ways to sneak food and it's probably really creepy of me but I need my dose of energy to deal with those rowdy kids!

So five weeks have passed since all the A-18s moved to their permanent sites. This meant that all of us were allowed to leave our sites and travel in country. A few of us organized a little reunion in my town. We rented cabins on the lake which seemed like a great idea...until it rained continuously. Nevertheless, it was still a fun weekend and great to see all the other Americans. Over half of our group of 55 came.

This coming weekend, the health and environmental volunteers who work in schools have a conference with our counterparts. It will be good to bond a little with my Armenian counterpart and find out how we can work together in the coming 23 months.

*Chigitem: = I don't know.
This is the story of my life.