IST, In-Service Training, is a multi-day conference usually held 4-6 months after a Peace Corps volunteer’s service started. It’s a time to reconnect with our fellow volunteers and the Peace Corps staff. And because of our new level of experience, it is a great time to give more advanced training needed for the rest of our service.
For me, this time, it was a 3-day conference held 4 and half months after I arrived here in my village. IST has two parts. The first is training for both the volunteer and their host-country counterpart. And the second is more Peace Corps-specific training for the volunteers. For us, the first part with our counterparts was only one day. But it was important because it was about managing projects and their funding. And after that, for the second part, we had several more days of technical training. Besides the training, it was a great time to reconnect with our fellow PCVs and use the time away from our permanent sites to recharge.
Checking in to our hotel
Even though we all keep in touch online, after being apart since swearing-in, it was great when I saw volunteers waiting to check in at reception. Just those few moments while waiting to get my room key lifted my spirits immensely. I couldn’t wait to spend more time with my friends.
From the outside, the hotel wasn’t anything special. But it was centrally located and only a few blocks from The Cascades district. But the surprise came when we got to the rooms. Oh, did I tell you the name was the Opera Suite Hotel! Oh, boy, was it a suite! It even had a kitchen. Although I didn’t spend much time in it, I definitely appreciated it. It was by far the nicest place Peace Corps has ever put me up, and I had the room all to myself.
PACA / PDM
Anyone who knows Peace Corps, knows they love their acronyms. On our first day, we had sessions on PACA, Participatory Analysis for Community Action, and PDM, Project Design Management. Because this was an introduction to managing projects and funding, our counterparts were invited too. Unfortunately for me, my counterpart, Lucine, was called back to our village school and couldn’t attend. I know she would have enjoyed it but we could work on it when I got back to school. Since we worked in groups, it was easy to join in with other volunteers and their counterparts.
Like PST, the training followed a similar format: a presentation to give information, then volunteer-counterpart work, sharing with our table group, and then sometimes some gave highlights to the whole conference. Our PACA manual is pretty large and covers everything, but there would be no way to go over it all in a 1-day training. So, we only worked on a few key parts to get a feel for how PC sees our putting together would be like. And towards the end, they did touch on how we can fund our projects. But that also entailed more manuals that we could download later. ha ha ha More manuals. 🙂
Armenian Education Foundation
The best part of the day for me was a special guest, Moneh Grigorian, the president of the Armenian Education Foundation (USA). She was visiting Armenia and gave a short talk on the work her organization does. I was especially keen because they help schools with things like desks. With the huge jump in students from refugee families, we desperately needed more desks. Because they replace ‘all’ the desks in a school, they mainly work with smaller schools of 180 students or less. With the 40+ new students, we were up to 260. So, I wasn’t sure my school qualified but I went up to her after her talk anyway. And she said “Definitly Apply!” A good sign for sure.
Help the Armenian Education Foundation by donating today! All donations go directly to making a difference to the students in Armenia. Just click HERE!
A time for reconnection
While many of the other volunteers like to go out in large groups, I prefer more one-on-one time. So, during our meals at the hotel, I tried to talk to everyone. But I especially wanted to spend time with Arina. Even though I’m twice her age, we seemed to connect better than with others. So, half of the time, I spent time with her at meals and we even went out to dinner a few times.
One evening, I took two volunteers, Arina and Colton, to my favorite off-the-beaten-track restaurant, Lahmanjun Gaidz. Lahmajun is a kind of Armenian pizza. Even though it was closing time, we were able to get more than enough food “to go.” And as before, the owner and chef, Gaidz, was so friendly and the food so good that I’m sure the others will come back (Colton did just that the next evening). Another night, Arina, Becky, and I went to a Korean restaurant, Kim Yum. It’s so nice to go out and be able to talk to everyone and not feel you missed someone.
More Technical Training
The next two days were more technical training. Most of it was program-specific but we did have some sessions with Medical about self-care and getting ready for winter. But the bulk of the training was more for our TEFL Certificate coursework. So, in the end, I was glad Technical was only 2 days.
Pizza Party at Joanne’s
The highlight of the week was a pizza party at our Country Director’s new home on the outskirts of the capital. It was so nice of her to invite us as they had only moved in several weeks before. The volunteers and staff had plenty of food to eat (so many vegetarian choices), things to drink, and people to talk to. I got a chance to visit with my online PC language instructor, Anna. She is such a nice person, but a teacher too, and asked about my continued language learning. And the biggest highlight was Camden convincing almost everyone to sing karaoke. I belted out “Country Roads” for my turn at the mic. A good time was had by all.
Back to site, sort of
On the final day, packed up and said goodbye to my very nice hotel room. Gave out a lot of hugs for folks I might not see for a while again. And left with Camden in a taxi for the short rainy ride to Abovyan (from there I took a small bus to my village). Unfortunately for me, I had to come back the next for a dentist visit (to fill a cavity).
