Spring?!!

It seems that were there groundhogs in Armenia, they would predict the impending arrival of spring, for it was quite cloudy here on Groundhog's day. And it also seems (*knocks on wood*) to be coming true, at least for the moment. The temperatures have been getting above freezing most days, and the air frequently feels springlike--especially on sunny days. This, by the way, only applies to Yerevan and Yeghegnadzor. I fully expect to freeze when I go to Hrazdan again this weekend...

But let me back up and explain.

For the last couple of weekends, I've been heading out to other towns around Armenia to do interviews and research. (Yes, fulfilling my actual purpose as a Fulbrighter.) Somehow all of a sudden I became insanely busy, between teaching English 3 times a week, studying Armenian once a week, stuff at the studio, and then long weekends out in the countryside. Two weeks ago I went to Hrazdan and absolutely froze because first of all it had been getting warmer in Yerevan and nobody warned me that Hrazdan is much colder (I didn't realize that it's virtually next door to the ski resort Tsakhgadzor...which, by the way, I can't spell). And due to the whole lack of indoor heat issue, it was a cold weekend. But a very productive one!

Then last weekend I headed southwards to Yeghegnadzor, which was completely opposite weather! It was sunny and warm (on Saturday I didn't even need a scarf!) and everything was melting, leaving the streets an absolute mess of mud. But eminently preferable to freezing. I have clearly lost my love of winter. It might come back when I'm back somewhere with central heating, but for now I can't wait for spring!

So anyways, while in Yeghegnadzor I got to do a little sightseeing in addition to interviewing--we went out to the church that's near there...Noravants (or something like that. I'm awful at remembering names unless I've heard them lots and lots of times.) Of course it's stunningly beautiful, as are most such places in Armenia. It's up in the mountains, and there are red cliffs surrounding it. There are two church buildings, and there used to be an academy as well, but now just the foundations remain. On one of the churches you can climb up these stairs to the second floor but they're very narrow and there's no handrail or anything and well...it's probably better attempted in tennis shoes than boots. On the way to and from the church, we drove through Armenia's Grand Canyon. It's absolutely amazing, especially when the fog was amassing near the tops of the cliffs. I'm told that the American Grand Canyon is even more impressive, but well, I've never been there...and this was pretty awesome.

But speaking of fog...
I took a marshrutka to Yeghegnadzor, and the road you take to get there starts off on a flat plain south of the city, and then goes through the foothills and into the mountains. It was sleeting in Yerevan and on the plain at the time, but visibility was good. Then all of a sudden we hit a super-thick fog. Visibility was maybe one car length in front of us. Now any sane person would think that this would curtail the giant game of chicken that is played on curving, two-lane mountain roads with barely a guardrail. But that sane person would be wrong. No, the fog just adds a new level of excitement. Because you still pass anyone whom you deem to be driving too slowly. And you do so despite the fact that only about half of the oncoming cars are using headlights, and despite the fog being so thick that you can't see the cars til they're nearly even with you....basically I'm amazed that I'm still alive.

But as suddenly as it appeared, the fog disappeared because we got above it in altitude. And that was pretty awesome, looking out across the mountains and seeing the fog below and the clouds above wreathing the mountaintops.

And Yeghegnadzor itself is in a stunningly beautiful location, surrounded by mountains that look like they're right out of Lord of the Rings or something. I am definitely going back in the spring!

This weekend I'm going to Hrazdan again, but this time I'm going prepared! Warm sweaters and long underwear! (Although just watch--it'll be warm there too just to spite me!)

And I guess that's about it. Pictures to come on facebook some day...but for now the internet is being highly uncooperative so it'll have to wait.