eh to lazy to think of a title. It's about teaching the new volunteers, but really just about my living arrangements while I did that

I was staying near the new training site where new volunteers are learning Armenian and also English teaching skills last week. One thing I have picked up here is wearing slippers in the house at all times. In the older houses the wood floors can be either uneven and impossible to clean, so people normally wear slippers or sandals of some sort inside.

So I am staying in this apartment while doing my teaching and I wasn't sure where I'd be staying, I was assuming I would get a hostel in the capital and take the bus to the training site every morning. But we had an apartment for trainers, so that was nice. But! But I didn't bring any slippers. And the apartment was nice, clean, but even so, it was so strange, walking in a house without any slippers! It was so strange, and one of those things that I'll probably keep doing in the US. I did that a bit in college, living in crappy places, but here it has become a whole new thing.

Another thing is light switches for restrooms on the outside of the room. There was a newly renovated restroom, and I kept forgetting to turn the light off when I would exit the bathroom because I'm so used to turning it off once I'm out of the restroom. I did this multiple times.

Another interesting thing about this apartment was that it was very much lived in. They had bookshelves filled with books, pictures, paintings.

My second night there I was looking through the books and noticed some books in Russian that read: MAPK TBEN. which is russian for mark twain! Mark Tven is how they say it as they don't have the 'w' sound.

Oh! And I got to mention the term stag 'n drag in my tech classes with the new volunteers! We were talking about activating schema, and also to be wary of concepts that don't exist, or are represented differently in Armenian culture.

So if you're reading this and you're not from Erie Pennsylvania you are probably asking, "What the hell is a stag 'n drag?"

It's basically a big party for the bride and groom-to-be which involves drinking, gambling, raffles, etc., all to raise money for the wedding. Oh and it's on Urban Dictionary.

goodnight