The weather
is still mighty hot here in Yerevan; a heat that can only be cured by the
consumption of ice cream. Before heading to Armenian class one Thursday
afternoon, a few friends and I stopped to buy some ice cream from a local
vendor on the street. He noticed that we are foreigners and asked for more than
2x of what the normal price should be (He wanted 700 drams for 2 ice creams!).
Of course, we aren’t stupid and didn’t end up buying from him but from the guy
one street over. He sold us the two ice creams for a total of 250 drams (less
than a buck!). We went back over to the jerk who tried to rip us off and told
him what happened and he just started cursing at us in Armenian. Quite a
memorable guy.
I witnessed
my first car accident in Yerevan! Zebra stripes are relatively new here, and
pedestrians are still considered inferior to the mighty auto or marshrutka. I
was walking across the street when a taxi came to a slamming halt. The guy
behind him didn’t realize he was stopping and swerved, but hit him anyways. I
was shocked and couldn’t move for a minute! Nobody was hurt, but it was quite
the scary experience. Of course I was honked at to walk so the other cars could
get by. After all, it’s only a car accident.
My Armenian
language skills are changing – though I’m not sure for the better or for the
worse. I have become close friends with
several fellow Depi Haykers who speak Western Armenian, like I do. The
challenge is however, that my Armenian language teacher refuses to accept
Western Armenian as ‘Armenian’ and insists that I should forget all Western and
learn Hayastanci Armenian. She is very insistent, which makes two hours seem
like 6.
Yesterday,
we went to Etchmiadzin on our holiday, the 21st anniversary of
Armenia’s independence. Our taxi driver drove a really crappy Lada that looked
like it would explode any minute. Naturally, it was hot outside and the cab was
like a sauna. What’s even better is that our cab driver got pulled over by the
police for speeding with 4 foreigners in the car, intrigued by the situation. We
sat in the car for 20 minutes while our driver smoked his trusty cigarettes and
argued with the two police with big soviet hats. Somehow he got out of paying
for a ticket…bribery?
Today the
marshrutka I was riding broke – Like the trunk flew open and oil was leaking
from the bottom. Quel surprise. I wonder how these rickety things will work
during the winter season…
New photos, check them out!
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