It’s hard to imagine I’ve already been in Armenia for a full
week! After a few days of
adjustment, I’m easing into life in Yerevan and things are going well. Here are a few happenings thus far:
• Skiing at
Tsaghkadzor
This was on my second full day in country and first weekend
excursion with Birthright Armenia.
We traveled about an hour north of Yerevan and up into the mountains to
the resort. The weather was
absolutely gorgeous, the lift ticket and ski rental were cheap, and I got the chance
to meet a bunch of other Birthright volunteers. (Sitting on a slow chairlift for 10 minutes each run
provides a great opportunity for small talk.) All in all, a great day!
• Adventure to
Lake Sevan
My host parents like to take Sunday drives outside the city
when the weather is nice, so last weekend we went up to Lake Sevan for some
sightseeing and a picnic. There
were many Kodak moments (my host mother loves pictures!) and it was another
beautiful day. In a month or two
when I start having ocean withdrawals I’ll know where to go!
• My first
Armenian dolma!
My host mother made stuffed grape leaves for dinner and they
were delicious! In the states you might see dolma on the appetizer menu, but
this was dinner. A pile of dolma
and bread. You can’t go wrong.
• The bank
A visit to the bank seems like a fairly straightforward
experience, but when few people speak English, and everything is written using
a different alphabet, life is hard.
After waiting through one line only to have the man shake his head and
point around the corner, someone helped me check in at the computer kiosk and
take a number. Think supermarket
deli. When I went around the
corner to find the row of tellers, the large TV screen showed I had about
twenty numbers ahead of me. We’re
no longer talking deli, this is like the DMV. You would have thought they were giving the money away! After a good 25 minutes they called my
number and I gave them my Benjamins in exchange for some Armenian drams. I’ll be using an ATM from now on…
I started work at both my volunteer placements (American
University of Armenia and Armenian Environmental Network). I’ll be tutoring in the math and
writing center at AUA. At AEN it
looks like I’ll be doing a little bit of everything, from grant writing to
research. I’ll definitely tell you
more about both places soon!
In other news I have not yet gotten lost walking in Yerevan
or in metro, so I’d call this week a success!
Hitting the slopes
Me and my host mom and Lake Sevan
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