follow the bouncing ball
heh! There isn't one! You'll have to sing along without its' aid....
Every year there's a big party when the new volunteers are sworn in - all the volunteers that can make it go to the city that training took place in that year; watch the swearing in; pay their money down and eat out at a restaurant with all the new volunteers. There are silly skits and at least one song composed for the new volunteers, it's a chance for those volunteers who haven't been involved in training to meet the fresh batch of faces. The 'old' volunteers present the new volunteers with silly presents as well, typically all stuffed into one of the small lidded red buckets that everyone ends up using on a daily basis - I had three or four in my apartment.
Usually pretty much everybody ends up pretty throughly trashed - which was fairly typical of most volunteer gatherings, and one of the reasons I avoided a lot of them. That year the training and the party were in Gyumri - I rode over with Tiffany's counterpart-to-be and director of the Language Center, Yermonia. Tiffany was late to the swearing-in - she had gone out for food and missed the bus - and her host father brought her dog, which shat in the building. Not too impressive, overall.
I think that was also the year Ambassador Lemon (aptly named, as it turned out) spoke at the swearing in ceremony. There are all the new volunteers there, the old volunteers who choose to come, the Armenian host families, the Armenian counterparts with whom the volunteers will be working, and various local powers-that-be. The Ambassador's speech was all about us being his 'eyes and ears' in the field - great. Half the Armenians already thought we were CIA (or as they would say 'Ka Gu Bu', the KGB), and we're not even supposed to hang around the embassy when we're in Yerevan because Peace Corps wants it to be clear we're NOT associated with the intelligence network. Thanks, Ambassador.
The next morning after it was all over, I stuffed myself in the Peace Corps vehicle along with four or five other volunteers and their luggage and Hovik, one of language instructors and got back to Alaverdi. Tiffany's dog got carsick and puked inside, and down the side of the car. I didn't write about any of that in my email, though.
This is what we sang to the incoming volunteers at the party after their swearing-in as official PCVs. Quite hummable, really….
• To the tune of 'Ring of Fire' •
Site is a scary place
Everyday those kids will ring
"Good Morning, what is your name?"
In your second year you'll hear the same
CHORUS:
I fell into a steaming bowl of haash
I grabbed that hoof and I wrapped it in lavash
And it burns, burns, burns
That chaser shot
That chaser shot
The taste of haash is sweet
When it's made by your tateek
You'll gnaw the flesh right off the bone
Then spend the whole day on the throne
Dr. Char is really cool
She'd love to hear about your stool
Dr. Anna will fix your splints
You'll be dazzled by those leopard prints
CHORUS
In the towns around Sevan
Fishing's what they live on
In the bus - fish three feet deep
O, but those bribes are steep
In Gavar they're drinking shots
And you have to drink the next kaynots
To refuse just ain't no use
'Cause the next one's a 'bari luis'
CHORUS
Koghb is way up there
You're the first, they're bound to stare
You're all headed for brand new sites
But eastern Turkey - that just ain't right
Noy Embrieyan - there are land mines
And snipers behind the lines
Cross the border, don't buy the farm,
But you'll come back with just one arm
CHORUS
The Clarkes - a bitter fate
You arrived just one year late
As A-9's it was worth the wait
But the way you drink is pure A-8
The road to Kapon is long
The marchutney stench is strong
Six long hours on a road of dirt
Fall asleep ………Stepanakirt
CHORUS
Gyumri - the pizza's fine
Running water all the time
At your site, life ain't lush
You'll have to pour to make it flush
In the south the winter's cold
And some of you may want to fold
Just stay warm, the time will pass
An immersion heater up your…… (quick to chorus)
CHORUS
(repeat 2x)
Glossary:
Haash - a traditional Armenian dish made from cow hooves. Doesn't it sound good!
Lavash - a thin flat bread, similar to flour tortillas, but bigger.
Tateek - grandmother
Kaynots - a drinking toast
Bari luis - good morning (literally 'kind light')
The Clarkes - originally part of the A-8 group, they were med evac'd during training. They returned (with some small misadventures enroute) with the A-9's. Such dedication!
Marchutney - minibus, popular form of transportation. You'd be amazed (horrified) how many people can cram onto one. And, during the summer, a lot of those people aren't taking regular baths…..
Sevan, Gavar, Koghb, Noy Embrieyan, Kapon, Stepankirt, Gyumri - Armenian towns and cities.
The reference to Eastern Turkey is because some of the brighter A-9s decided to sneak over the border during training - hey, their host village was close, and they thought it would be a kick, I guess. Needless to say, they got caught by the border police - it's not exactly an open border, and the guards tend to be a bit touchy.
Every year there's a big party when the new volunteers are sworn in - all the volunteers that can make it go to the city that training took place in that year; watch the swearing in; pay their money down and eat out at a restaurant with all the new volunteers. There are silly skits and at least one song composed for the new volunteers, it's a chance for those volunteers who haven't been involved in training to meet the fresh batch of faces. The 'old' volunteers present the new volunteers with silly presents as well, typically all stuffed into one of the small lidded red buckets that everyone ends up using on a daily basis - I had three or four in my apartment.
Usually pretty much everybody ends up pretty throughly trashed - which was fairly typical of most volunteer gatherings, and one of the reasons I avoided a lot of them. That year the training and the party were in Gyumri - I rode over with Tiffany's counterpart-to-be and director of the Language Center, Yermonia. Tiffany was late to the swearing-in - she had gone out for food and missed the bus - and her host father brought her dog, which shat in the building. Not too impressive, overall.
I think that was also the year Ambassador Lemon (aptly named, as it turned out) spoke at the swearing in ceremony. There are all the new volunteers there, the old volunteers who choose to come, the Armenian host families, the Armenian counterparts with whom the volunteers will be working, and various local powers-that-be. The Ambassador's speech was all about us being his 'eyes and ears' in the field - great. Half the Armenians already thought we were CIA (or as they would say 'Ka Gu Bu', the KGB), and we're not even supposed to hang around the embassy when we're in Yerevan because Peace Corps wants it to be clear we're NOT associated with the intelligence network. Thanks, Ambassador.
The next morning after it was all over, I stuffed myself in the Peace Corps vehicle along with four or five other volunteers and their luggage and Hovik, one of language instructors and got back to Alaverdi. Tiffany's dog got carsick and puked inside, and down the side of the car. I didn't write about any of that in my email, though.
This is what we sang to the incoming volunteers at the party after their swearing-in as official PCVs. Quite hummable, really….
• To the tune of 'Ring of Fire' •
Site is a scary place
Everyday those kids will ring
"Good Morning, what is your name?"
In your second year you'll hear the same
CHORUS:
I fell into a steaming bowl of haash
I grabbed that hoof and I wrapped it in lavash
And it burns, burns, burns
That chaser shot
That chaser shot
The taste of haash is sweet
When it's made by your tateek
You'll gnaw the flesh right off the bone
Then spend the whole day on the throne
Dr. Char is really cool
She'd love to hear about your stool
Dr. Anna will fix your splints
You'll be dazzled by those leopard prints
CHORUS
In the towns around Sevan
Fishing's what they live on
In the bus - fish three feet deep
O, but those bribes are steep
In Gavar they're drinking shots
And you have to drink the next kaynots
To refuse just ain't no use
'Cause the next one's a 'bari luis'
CHORUS
Koghb is way up there
You're the first, they're bound to stare
You're all headed for brand new sites
But eastern Turkey - that just ain't right
Noy Embrieyan - there are land mines
And snipers behind the lines
Cross the border, don't buy the farm,
But you'll come back with just one arm
CHORUS
The Clarkes - a bitter fate
You arrived just one year late
As A-9's it was worth the wait
But the way you drink is pure A-8
The road to Kapon is long
The marchutney stench is strong
Six long hours on a road of dirt
Fall asleep ………Stepanakirt
CHORUS
Gyumri - the pizza's fine
Running water all the time
At your site, life ain't lush
You'll have to pour to make it flush
In the south the winter's cold
And some of you may want to fold
Just stay warm, the time will pass
An immersion heater up your…… (quick to chorus)
CHORUS
(repeat 2x)
Glossary:
Haash - a traditional Armenian dish made from cow hooves. Doesn't it sound good!
Lavash - a thin flat bread, similar to flour tortillas, but bigger.
Tateek - grandmother
Kaynots - a drinking toast
Bari luis - good morning (literally 'kind light')
The Clarkes - originally part of the A-8 group, they were med evac'd during training. They returned (with some small misadventures enroute) with the A-9's. Such dedication!
Marchutney - minibus, popular form of transportation. You'd be amazed (horrified) how many people can cram onto one. And, during the summer, a lot of those people aren't taking regular baths…..
Sevan, Gavar, Koghb, Noy Embrieyan, Kapon, Stepankirt, Gyumri - Armenian towns and cities.
The reference to Eastern Turkey is because some of the brighter A-9s decided to sneak over the border during training - hey, their host village was close, and they thought it would be a kick, I guess. Needless to say, they got caught by the border police - it's not exactly an open border, and the guards tend to be a bit touchy.
posted by meg at 6:22 AM
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