Sorry for the lapse in this but it’s been a shitty couple of weeks, literally. A few IV’s and some antibiotics and I am happily improving. Thought I was headed home there for a while.
Thankfully there are other things to write about. Like birds. There is some kind of bird thing going on. I can’t tell if it’s the swallows coming back to Capastrano phenomenon or the swifts at Chapman school kind of thing…some research needed. Hundreds of little tweeting fork-tailed birds swoop and dive around in the morning and evening. The Armenian name has been translated into sparrow and swallow….by the same person. They look to me like the swifts and build little hanging mud houses where there are perpendicular angles on cement walls. Regardless they are very interesting to watch and apparently are weather predictors. No hawks following them but a few magpies chase them around. Fun to watch regardless.
On other fronts, I spent a week in Vanadzor and Gyumri, two cities in the northern provinces. Lori province, where Vanadzor lies is particularly pretty. Not the city itself, but the country side around it has some spectacular scenery…lots of mountains and rivers and a cool reprieve from the city. This time I took off on a day by myself to the town of Aleverdi to visit a couple of old monasteries. As It turned out I left a little late and only managed to fit one in. So there is reason to return.
Modes of transportation that week varied from taxies and martchukas to local busses and even a tram from Aleverdi across the river to the top of a hill where the monastery was built. Unbelievably the tram cost 70 ARD, the equivalent of about 18 cents! The best ride however was on the back of a 4 wheeler through the woods. We were having a farewell dinner for Oliver at a restaurant way out in the boonies by a little lake. 4 guys were riding around on their 4 wheelers. When I mentioned I’d like a ride one of our drivers set it up….short but a hoot.
Work remains challenging. I am meeting with a fair amount of resistance to change. The shit hit the fan Friday during a meeting held here at the apartment. I was introducing a draft of a new assessment form and blam the plates began to fly (not literally). So a meeting was set for this Tuesday for them to air their grievances, with the previous program changes and with those I am introducing. I actually feel good about that as it’s been simmering. "If you're not rocking the boat you're not rowing". Not sure who said that. In the Marz projects the problems differ. Cliques have formed and some people are being set up to fail by being excluded. Not nice…reminds me of junior high girl stuff. One of my staff has set herself up as the boss and has her fingers in everyone else’s work and the other has been marginalized and isolated. Unfortunately her own behavior aggravates the situation. More fun.
The weekend has been spent watching the World Cup matches…what could be more American than spending Sunday afternoon watching football!
More later. Hope all are well.
