So as the titel already reads, its nice to return to the place from where i was once at the very start of my FSJ. Around 10 months ago I first joined the „German Mobile “ ( A self invented and patented name by the way )into the south in its little PR and educational journey. And well, now I was joining the GErman mobile for basically same mission just with a little diferrent content in the educational section. Last time we went to open and set up the new german corner in the Kapan library and this time we where doing a small educational Messe in the same building with the DAAD aswell as holding teacher fortbildungen. But before I spoil everything ( There still are a few cool things heh) Ill just get into the whole thing. Enjoy!
So just ass the last trip into the south, to get some atcual work done,we met as early as humanely legal ( I believe it was around (8:45) at the Goethe Centrum to help Dana pack the Bus with all the necessary materials. Oh! And the „we“ means Elisa and I. Im not sure if i mentioned that before but while Martin helped out with the Exams at Ayb, Dana came up to me and asked me who id like to bring with South and well, the decision fell onto Elisa. So she was also part of the team. We arrived adn i was happily surprised because the bus was uch bigge that the one almost a year ago. This one had arund 13 seats and was a trasporter while the lastone had around 6 and was more of a Van isch car. So while we packed more and more of the team slowly turned up. First the twoteachers who would do the fortbildungen Srbuhi from Ayb and.. another one whose name ive stpidly forgotten haha. Then Jakob from the Embassy and finally MEghri from the DAAD. Basically just a small extension from the previous team. The ar around 9 we started our drive down. I wont describe how the drve was haha but there are a few things id like tp say. After we passed the Pass , breaking away from the view from thr ararat, I must saythat i had the whole way remembred in a diferrent way.. maybe it was becuase when i had the first trip, i was barely in the country. But i justs didnt recognize the way at certain/ from certain points. Secondly we sadly passed the little restaurant where we where last year but we did find a very good alternative so I definetly didnt mind.There we en´ven met a german turist group whichw as pretty funnyy because we made fun of them haha, and there was a bit of stress since the entry code for Luisas German proficiency test for her camp in germany wasnt working , but we managed to get it all done on thw way. I just listned through a few albums on the drve and just enjoyed the view out of the window. The Ntaura had definetly changed form the last time and it was all just more green, helathy and virile since the last visit was more towards the end of the summer. Allin all the drive was around 6 hours and i was alrady getting waves of nstalgia ass we drove down the valley to Goris.But yeah we arrived nicely in out final destination in Kapan around early Noon. We quicklz loaded out things off at the hotel before meeting again and driving up to the Library to unpack and prepare evertzhing for the next day. And yet again,as wer where slaving the boxes filled with materual up to the big hall, there came a (If not the same one like 10 months ago) crazy old man following up and yeah haha. But we slaved it all uo and I was alrady sweating like a pig. It was so ho and humid in that big hall. Like sweat was dripping down my nose hot haha. But we started building up the individual stands, hanging up posters ont the wall, setting up the reception and more and around about an hour later, the place loooked bomb. The catering company also build up their things so it really looked pretty professional haha. I swear i took photos but whie looking throug the gallery i cant find any so yeah. wack. But here are two others :
Jacob doing nothing on his lazy ass, Haha jk, this was during a break we took becuase it was too warm during building everything up.
Us leaving after the set up before the big day.
After the whole build up we walked back to our hotel and wher egiven just freetime until 6 where we would meet again to eat a collective dinner. Me and Elisa chilled in our room, drew and I think just relaxed after this long sweaty day haha. I dre the view from out balcony and it worked out better than I thought. When we met up, we walked to the same restaurant we ate dnner at last time, this time, taking a seat outside though. We ordered water, xorovats, a good ass brosch, braed, fried potates, vegetables, salad and probably a few other things that i missed haha and had a break dinner. This time though, the xorovats wasnt the best meat and it was primarely fat which was on the bones, but i also got afew pretty good pieces so nothing to complain. We just sat, ate, drank and talked about alot. Kapans rising rive, its history (Kapanskiye tapachki) , Danas and Meghris carrer here, the Ayb work load and much much more. IT was a funny evening. We went to bed satisfied, tired and lulled by the lvely sounds of a billion frogs in the river (which we allowed to reproduce because Arthur wasnt there;) (Too early joke haha (This format is so confusing issnt it?))).
NNow the next day was the big one! It started with a stale breakfast at the hotel and then with a final check of the tings we set up the day before. All was good and the German eductaion faire could start off. I was tasked with elisa to the reception . The people would be lead tp us thrpugh teh banners and we would greet them, check if the registered themselves before and iff so they would get like a welcome baggie. There wher etwwo baggies though, one for the german etachers and one fro the rest of the etacheing force and administration. That is connected to the big thema of the fair which is „Deutsch im Sytsem “ or „GErman in´the System“.
The big idea about „Deutsch im System“ is to introduce or strengthen the interest in german or the german lessons in the countrys region by trying to promote it in evey subject posssble and implement those subjekts and topics in the german lessons. Thats why notoly german teachers where invited.
But so yeah, there was a bit of chaos at the reception but due to my russina skills, Elisa germanness and the occasional help from danas familair and well knowsn face, did we manage to register all but 2 people ( who didnt arrive at all). There was even a camera team there from a local media source ! So after the registration they all went in and got to hear a talk from dana, meghri , jakob and a few others about the cooperation with germany and its language and the usual things. I was waiting for the last two people who never came haha but i didnt mind. After the little opening conference, there was a small bruch/snack break whichw as provided by the catering company and after that the german teachers got to take part in the included Teacher fortbildung.
A Seminar group during work.
There was where Elisa and I got time off and we went home to have a lovely Nap, whcih Dana critisized haha. We headed back at around 4 becuase thats when the whole event would be coming to an end and we would have to build up the tech for the film screening of „Lotte an´m bauhaus“ an hour later. Another cool thing we two wheere looking forward too was Anna. Im pretty sure , if youre a consistant reader of this blog, that youve heard of her before. She is a german student and wever been out with her before and she also even won the big DAAD Stipend for three years in germany, which is retty fucking bomb haha. But she comes from Kapan and since its summer holidays she was coincidetally returning to Kapan on the day of the screening which emant we could still hang out with her a bit. Which was pretty dope. I had been spamming and annoying her though her Insta Dms ( the way of communication here) to come and watch the screening and she said that she will appear wih a friend so that was cool! And well of course while building the qhole beamer and things up, there where issues. We firsted switcehd the beamer and fater that worked there was an issue with the Sound. Though the like auditorium next tothe hall had the fattest audio system control panel id seen in my year, it didnt manage to play out the sound of a usb cable haha. After we all stalled a bit and waited, the „master“ came and fixedd it up in 5 minutes. But still, nerve wrecking,nerve wrecking. And so the movie started. I of course wont talk about the conetnts pf the film except for the fact that it deals with the „Bauhuas“ art school and the females associated with that movement. Around at the 10 minute mark, Anna and her friend joined quietly so it was all gooood. 😀
A picture of the fountain square i took after the movie ended ^^
After the movie we quickly dissasembled everything we happily started talking to Anna. We arrangde that we would go eat Dinner at her home village „Geghanush“ or Beautiful Village. So we met up later and had a small walk to the near bye supermarket (Of which there are 4 in Kapan according to Anna) and did some quick shopping. Some beer, juice, fruits and vegetables before hopping into her dads car after introducng ourselves to him and driving up into the mountains to their village. It was about a 20 minute drive where we talked with eachother as best as we could ( her dad cant soeak german and Elisa cant speak russian so it was confusing haha). We got a small lecture about the _____ pollution near the village which incerases daily due to the heavy industry. We arrived at her village and it was really a village. Like I dont know how to explain it but just take it as a fact. Her family house was a two story wooden house with a small „yard“ in the front. She showed us around the rooms, going into the history of her family through some „artifacts“ and explaining the houses histroy and the use of the rooms and etc..The history is quite crazy haha there alot to write so ill just.. dont ^^. But all while we where getting a small tour , her dad was preaparing and starting to cook the dinner, which was home marinated fish grilled with lavash and vegetables. So we sat down to eat and it was a great time. We talked about how she was happy that the germans she met wernt that „bpring“ and one thing that I remembered is that I have the „Armenian Energy“. We even managed to incorporate her dad pretty well and I think we all had a blast. At one point her dad just chilled onto the near couch not to disturb us and yeah, we brought up to topic of the „Maulbeeren“ Homemade vodka, and luckily they did have a bottle of it storied and where nice enough to give it to us. Which was great hahaha. At around 11 I think we drove back and where invited to a tea in ther apartment in Kapan but we where both pretty tired and still ahd work to do the next day plus the drive back so we nicely declined and said that we would catch up next time we would be down in Kapan. Picturs abut this will still be comign xD
And so , me and Elisa where dropped off at our hotel and elevatored up to our room, fell on the bed and and went right to sleeping^^.
Now the third and last day came around and we left the hotel with out things already stuffed into the Bus after the breakfast. This day turned out to be quite an interesting one! Since the seminar still continued in the morning of this last day, Dana let us off the hook and Jakob, asked us if we would be interested/ willing to join him on his errand here in the south. The embassy annually hosts a contest to select a few bussines models/ideas and Jakob was supposed to check out one of the few contestants left in the south. And well , he was told that there woudnt be translator and since he cant speak any russina, it would be a win win for us both if I would come with. And well, elisa just tagged along haha. we where supposed to meet the „owner“ (?) infront
of the municipalities govermental building, soething like a town hall. And soon enough a small sturdily build armenian drove up and jumped out of the car to greet us. We exchanged foraliets and after a small awkward silence about what we wuld do now, we decied that the owner would give us tour of the projekt/ compound while talking bussines. For that we hopped int
his car where we where met with the first cool thing. There was a woman in it who would act like a translator and she could speak pretty good geramn too. We where driven to the village.. the name is a cobination of the words river and village , and ive asked for the name three times again but ie always forgotten so thatls have to do for you readers haha. It was around 50 Minutes by car from Kapan and yeah, on the way we say the lovely southern landscape of armenia. We passed a dam and through dozen of small mountains/ valleys.
Quick snapshot of the Lake and mountains during the drive.
On the drive i found out that the „owner“ had alreay once gotten financial suport from the german govermanet for his ideas. The first time was for a Honey produktion bussniess which seemed to be working well for him. NOw after the long hot drive we arrived at his prpertz where we first drove by the above mentioned honey production. It was a pretty iddylic little spot in nature with a few run down houses/cottages. We where led down near to the river bank where we where served a sample of the tea which would get produced if they would receive financial support, The „new“ Tea would be of course only made by naturally growing herbs since he said that its a shame thout any use. at they just die each year wich he said was a shame. And there was atleasrt 6 different kinds of herbs in that mixture. It was oretty dope. Oh and while drinking tea and talking we also had a taste of the homemade honey and damn. That shit was good haha. We found out that this village was once an aserbajanian but was abndoned due to obvious historical events and now with the help of a few of his friends he is trying to „revive“ the village and nearby areas, We also passed a few dogs on the way and the owner calmly explained that they are here to fight of bears, since it has happened before that a hungry and curious big bear had wanted to get a taste. Otherwise, that conclded out little „oficial“ visit and yeah, Jakob said that it was verve and that the idea would very probably get the financial help for the packaging maschine they are wishing for,
The Beehives on our way into the area.
Two of the rundown houses. Who knows, maybe ill even draw them ^^.
The view from where we would be sitting and enjoying a nice chat.
Where we talked… „Bussniness“ haha.
Since we had to back at around lunch time to pack all the things in again and help with the end , we didnt stay too long and soon where on our way back. On the way we took a small detour to the city where the translator lived to drop her off at work and then we where off back to kapan.
Walking back with the dog, the nicer one haha.
Around an hour of silence, sleeping and sweating later we arrived and thanked the owner for time and headed to the library.In the next two hours we helped with the end of the Event and packed all the things back into the Sprinter. It was so fucking hot haha but I think we where all glad when when the drive back started at around 14:00. This time we had a few more assengers. Meghris mother, Arshaluis and the teachers from Goris joineed us to get a ride back home. In Goris we stopped at the, in the precious trp mentioned, german hotel to have a tea and pachlava with the owner and the head of the newly formed „german ckub“. They talked about strategies to build up relations and oartnerships with germany, companies and etc. while also educating the youth and incrasing interest. I also had the idea that maybe all the going volunteers, could do a small spot in Goris on their way down to Kapan. But we will see how that will turn out. As we where leaving we had to wait or meghri since she bought around 2 Kg of lavash haha and we wher off. On the drive back we also stopped at the little bisto place again and I had one of the biggest meals I had in a while hahah. I had like two plates of different food plus Pizza, but I was strong! And i ate that bitch up :D. Now we arrived at the Goethe centrum n the late evening hours and unpacked all the things we had stuffed into the sprinter. As I we carried it up to Danas office, we where surprise that NElly ) The geothe centrums Chef) Was still there and yeah haha. After all of that was done, Elisa, MEghri and me hopped into danas car. She drove us and dropped us off at barekamutyun which was a shame since the ride was hilarious since Me and meghri joked ariund well with „anmachsprüchen“) which i thought off/invented) connected to her name . We arrived at home tired and that was about it. The second and last journey into the south with the Giethe Institut. A nice time back into some of the first memorabe times I had in my year here.
