September 2004 (Sarahart, Armenia): This is one of our favorite photos from our time in the Peace Corps. The location is high up in the mountains above Sarahart (Alaverdi), located in northern Armenia. The view of the photo is looking northeast along the Debed River valley toward Azerbaijan. During this time in our Peace Corps service, […]
Last weekend, we hosted a Vardavar celebration at our home with fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Armenia. Our gathering included Laura and myself along with our future Peace Corps volunteers Ethan and Autumn, and RPCVs David and Eloise Barshes, and Dominic and Sarah Monley. While we didn’t all serve at the same […]
This past week has found my MP3 player continuously playing the soundtracks to the movies Juno and Into The Wild. I have seen the movie Juno, but only read the book Into the Wild when it first hit the bookshelves in the 90’s. I highly recommend owning both soundtracks. The Juno soundtrack is very catchy […]
Lately, I’ve been reading articles and policy briefs arguing the need to increase the number of American volunteers abroad. The argument is basically that volunteers serve a more important role in establishing peace and stability, as well as promoting a positive image of Americans, than the military does with weapons. Additional benefits to volunteering include […]
The Armenian Genocide refers to the slaughter and fatal deportation of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians as well as intentional and irreversible ruination of their economic and cultural life environments during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire. It is now widely acknowledged to have […]
For the last couple months we have been working with American Councils to have an exchange student come stay with us for a year. After many roadblocks with the local school district and private schools, we finally were able to receive a slot with Eugene 4J School District. Our exchange student is going to come […]
I found this series of articles that highlights current environmental problems in Armenia at “Armenia Now“. The website reports on the current events of Armenia and offers insight into the political process that is shaping Armenia. The article in the top right on the Alaverdi Copper factory was especially intriguing to me because Laura and […]
