Աշուն

In memory of my parakeet, Havgeet, who just passed away after 6 glorious years living with her buddy, Juteek.

Sireli blog untertzoghner (readers),

Happy November. The end of October was full of fun excursions, strange occurrences and lots of gata. It has gotten much colder here, and as Armenians like to believe in old wives’ tales, I am collecting plenty of them. For example, today on my ride to school, one of the teachers asked if I am cold. I said yes, that I was cold. Her response? “You need to stay here and marry an Armenian man so you can warm up. You know, that’s why they have the big bellies – they need to stay warm!” My gut reaction was no, and I made that evident through my skeptical facial expressions. She responded “what, you don’t like Armenian men? You don’t want to marry an Armenian?” I had to explain that I don’t think of marriage as something that happens because it needs to. This isn’t the last story about marriage in this blog entry. 

Stampeding ducks!

Our last excursion was to Dilijan, a beautiful region of Armenia in the north.  We visited Parz Lij, a picturesque lake. There were lots of ducks and geese swimming around in the water, and they started coming towards us as we got off the bus. I had my Russian cracker biscuits in hand, ready to feed the swarms! They are surprisingly aggressive, not like the ducks in the Aflac commercials. I wanted to hand feed them, but those duck bills pack a powerful punch. I finished the crackers and was followed back to the bus by a gaggle of geese waiting for more food. What can I say, I’m a bird lady! The Parz Lij property also had a nice café and paddleboats…and a dilapidated marshrutka. The lake itself was surrounded by the majestic colors of autumn. The more we travel outside Yerevan, the more I love Armenia; however, I don’t know if I could live in a village long term. 

Our next stop was a monastery, Haghardzin – I hate to be a spoilsport, but I’m all monasteried-out. For me, it’s me it’s more about what is around the monastery rather than the building itself. There was this really awesome thousand year old tree with a hole in it. The mystical prophecies behind this tree vary, but all of them involve wiggling one’s way through the hole in the tree. There was a group of locals attempting to slide through the tree in their fancy church clothes and expected stilettos. I thought everyone in their group had finished, so of course I laid down in the tree and quickly slithered through. When my head popped out on the other side, I was facing the sky and about 9 Armenian women staring at me. They were as confused as I was – they were expecting one of their group members, not a eccentric spyurkahye. However, they told me that due to my agile and swift performance, I will be married within the year and have a baby boy. That was marriage story # 2. 

Hole-y tree

While the group took a tour through the monastery, Evelyn and I decided to lay out on one of the rock walls, which quickly turned into a stretching session. I didn’t realize it, but we were being watched by a group of young Armenian men who looked confused and impressed by our goofy stretchiness.

When we got back to Yerevan, 6 of us were walking through Republic Square to find something to eat. The fountains started their daily routine of music and water, and the hit song “Cotton Eye Joe” started to play. American ears perked up of course, and we started to square dance. It turned into indescribable silliness when we all started dancing to whatever music was playing. I’m just glad we could entertain the somber locals sitting nearby. Something like this happened again, while Evelyn and I were doing yoga/acrobatics at Mashdots Park. We were practicing some stunts and many children came up to watch us and ask what we are doing. The Norwegian Ambassador to Armenia even wrote in a Facebook post that Mashdots Park reminded him of Norway because there were ‘people on all the benches, and even two young girls practicing yoga’. 

Wednesday was Halloween. Unknown to many Armenians (or cursed upon because it is a Devil’s holiday apparently), Halloween made a casual appearance in downtown Yerevan. Sitting with Simon and Vartan, we randomly came up with the idea to give candy out to kids dressed up in costumes on Northern Ave, because we were told that there were a good number of costumed kids there. Luckily Simon had a pirate hat and eye patch, and I was wearing black and white which matched. Simon was the videographer while I worked on my best pirate ARRRRR and sauntered up and down Northern Ave. I though saying ‘Pari Halloween’ sounded stupid, so I stuck with ‘Happy Halloween!’, as I approached cute kids dressed up as witches, ghouls, or animals. Most of them were confused; someone was giving out candy without expecting anything in return? What language was she speaking anyways? Arrrr? Like take the candy? I think I was asked like 5 times to take pictures with kids. I was having a blast being a goofball and spreading joy and a taste of American culture to Armenia. People were so curious as to where we were from, so it was really fun to mess with them and be even more mysterious. Oh yeah, and I was stared at in the There should be a video compilation coming soon. 

Only the beginning.

This weekend: trip to the border to see the ruins of Ani from afar and then a one night stay in Gyumri. Also, graduate applications sent to UVA, Penn State, Rutgers, and UCLA!