Overall I am having a lot of fun here. The work is mixed, frustrating at times. The psychologists who are old timers are not responding well to their role as general counselors and social workers....work that people with no higher education but training by MSF can do. So far they don't get it. The new young ones are adapting. Heads may roll. Oh dear. My plate feels full and I have some disagreement with the "powers that be" on how adherence should run. That causes some days to be stones. However there's glitter in others and good people to work with.
Social life is great. Last weekend was two museums in Yerevan and a 12 hour bus tour outside the city seeing various old churches and monasteries and walking a bit. Dinner out Monday when the new Field Co who arrived for the Marz team. Smart Philippine guy, doctor. Unfortunately I ordered a chicken dish from Georgia I used to like...maybe it was sent overland from Georgia.....sans refrigeration. Anyway I got food poisoning. Yuk.
On a more positive note, there is a light show every night in Yerevan at Republic square. Lots of colored fountains and lights choreographed with a rather odd assortment of music...Edith Piaf and Elvis Presley. Very cool anyway and worth staying up for! And going again as the preogram changes.
This week included a field trip to our Marz programs in Vanadzor and Gyumry. WOW, gorgeous up there . It's a 2 to 21/2 hour trip via Lake Sevan and some winding roads through the mountains. I wish I was based there! Vanadzor is the third largest city but quiet with live music to wake up to, lots of birds, roosters etc. Very bucolic. And in the countryside lots of cows and sheep in the fields...and theroad. Lots of new life as the rolling mountains are totally green with fields and trees. The morning sky and the fressness of the air were a tonic. We had one meal at a restaurant built on the hillside with platforms hanging out over the roiling river.
Amazing.
More later.
J
