I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted! Time has been going faster and faster here, and when you combine that with an internet connection that has been becoming steadily less reliable and the fact that I've been fairly busy...well...the blog entries form in my head and never quite make it to publication.
I promise I'll try to be better about blogging in the future!!
So...let's see...when I last left you, I had just acquired a new pipe for gas, and was hoping to soon have heating. Well, I have since acquired a gas heater, and though I am still rather concerned about the prospect of dying of carbon monoxide poisoning, at least hypothermia is less of a danger.
I've acquired some other new household objects as well--just this evening, I bought a drying rack and saucepan (well, I find these items exciting anyways). This means that I can do laundry whenever I want, and that I can cook more complex dishes...including attempting to replicate the extremely delicious mushroom soup Nelly made for lunch today. I should probably buy some sort of mat or something that I can put under the drying rack though...otherwise I'm going to end up with a flood. So yeah...my list of domestic objects yet to buy now just includes a dishpan, the mat for under my drying rack, a kitchen lighter, and another rug for my back hall, because my floor just gets way dirty from my shoes. I might make another shopping trip tomorrow.
Now on to the more interesting stuff. At the studio, things have been super-quiet--a lot of the time it's just me, Nelly, Inna, and Tigran. It's been cold lately (although this week has been warmer, thank goodness), so to save energy, I (and Adrineh when she's there) have moved into Inna's office. Besides which it's just more fun that way--it's kind of pointless to have one person per office after all.
Today this German guy and his Slovenian friend/cameraman were here--they came on the 19th, and Anush went with them to Kharabagh (I swear I've started spelling it differently every time I write it...once upon a time I used to spell it Karabakh...I think Kharabagh is more accurate...but I'm not sure.) Today they were back and filming in Yerevan. They're nice guys, and their presence meant we had an extra good lunch which included the super-awesome mushroom soup.
The guys in Kenya are doing well--their trip is almost complete. The two Harut's leave tomorrow...everyone else leaves the 29th. Vardan and Arman will then be coming straight back, but Vahe and Vahagn will be staying in Dubai for a couple more days. From all the pictures they've sent back, Lamu really does look like paradise...I think I'd like to go some day...
This past weekend, I finally got my research really underway and went on a three day roadtrip to Sisian. (I have been corresponding with Peace Corps volunteers for a while, and I had planned this trip earlier, but circumstances beyond my control postponed it to last weekend) I really lucked out with the weather--managed to get in my trip between snowstorms, and the weather there was actually unseasonably warm, which was nice. I stayed with a Peace Corps volunteer in her house and hung out with a number of other volunteers. I also managed two interviews, and realized that this project would go much better if I spoke Armenian. It was funny sometimes, when we would be with some of the villagers, because if everyone was speaking Armenian, I couldn't understand, but if I spoke Russian with them, the Peace Corps volunteers couldn't understand, and if we spoke English together, the villagers couldn't understand. So I really need to learn some Armenian so that I can at least follow a basic conversation.
I'm actually improving on that front...depending on what the conversation is about, if it uses verbs from my list of like 10 verbs that I know, I can sometimes figure out what's going on. But I'm going to hire a private teacher, I think, because I would be learning much faster if I did.
But back to the weekend in Sisian--the first night, we had spaghetti and carrot cake (from scratch!) which was highly delicious. We also just generally had a good time hanging out. The next day, we went to a nearby village where one of the volunteers is stationed. He introduced me to his counterpart there, who is a really awesome guy who is planting a forest. The whole area is amazingly beautiful, and after the interview and a delicious lunch with many toasts in both Armenian and Russian (the latter was just for my benefit), we went with him to see this monastery. And now before I tell you about the monastery, I have to back up and tell about something which happened a few weeks ago...
A few weeks ago, I was asked if I would be willing to do the English voiceover for a film about Garni Geghard. Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I agreed. After all, I speak English, and do a pretty decent job of reading aloud. How hard could it be? Ha!
So it turned out to be an 18 page single spaced text, translated word for word from Armenian. It made very little sense. And it is very difficult to read something poetically when you don't understand it and it's not written poetically. Granted it's much harder to be poetic in English than languages with noun declensions because rhyming is so much easier when your words all have the same ending...
But anyways, after much discussion and argument, we convinced the guy that he needed to get the thing retranslated...he eventually found someone to do this, and that same person agreed to narrate the film, freeing me of the obligation.
Now the reason I tell you this, is that the beginning of the text related the story of this Armenian queen who was being pursued by bandits or some such and crossed herself and jumped with her horse down into the canyon and survived, and then out of thankfulness became a hermit of sorts in this cave that had three springs, after which she wrote poetry and taught classes from behind a curtain. She also had a hand in founding a monastery.
Well, by complete chance, the monastery I visited just happened to be the one that this queen is tied with. There was a plaque placed there by the British Council that explained it all in English. What are the odds that I would randomly end up at that monastery?
Anyways....
On my way to Sisian, I took a group taxi--more expensive, but a faster mode of transport. On the way back, I decided to take a marshrutka and save the 1000 dram. Although...in the end the cost is about the same because I then had to pay 1000 dram for a taxi from the bus station to my apartment. But whatever.
The marshrutka back to Yerevan is supposed to leave around 9am. I was told that it fills up quickly and I should get there by 8. Well...I was the first one there. By a lot. After I had been there for a bit, the taxi driver who had driven me and the Peace Corps volunteer to the village the day before opened up the door to the marshrutka and told me that I should go sit and wait in his taxi instead because it was warm, and in the marshrutka was cold. Having no reason to refuse, I went over and sat in his taxi, which was in fact much warmer than the marshrutka as its engine had just been running. And so I sat there and watched the people go by. For quite some time. At one point, the taxi driver came and turned the car on again for a while to warm it back up. I talked to him for a while...in addition to being a taxi driver he's a journalist for a major Armenian paper, and the Russian Аргументы и Факты. Then his daughter came by and needed a ride somewhere. I made to get out and go sit in the marshrutka, but he gestured for me to stay where I was...so I went along on a brief road trip to another part of Sisian. I was starting to worry that the marshrutka might leave without me but with my backpack which was saving my seat, but we made it back in time.
And I guess that's about it for the news from here. Going to Thanksgiving at the Embassy next week...and on Sunday I'm going to church with Nelly at Etchmiadzin, so that should be pretty cool! But for now I'm going to wrap up. I promise I'll try to be better about posting in the future! But if I don't post again before Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!!!
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