Vobsche?

So Armenia has one of the world’s oldest wineries, as it was found in the same cave as the world’s oldest shoe. One would assume that Armenia would have had loads of time to perfect their wine making abilities, and demonstrate them at the Areni wine festival (6 October). False.

The Areni Wine festival was an interesting experience I’m glad I got to take part in. The music and dancing is what saved it from utter failure. The festival itself consisted of about 50 booths selling things, maybe 20 of them being wineries. I had hoped that the other booths would be local artists and vendors selling various crafts, but it was practically all old ladies selling junky toys from China. There was a cigarette claw machine game. Yes, you heard it right, a claw machine that cost 100 dram to try and grab a pack of cigarettes. Extremely amused by the prospect of winning a *gasp* pack of cancer sticks, I had to try it for myself. The well designed Russian machine made it impossible to grab a plastic-covered pack of cigarettes, which is I guess, a good thing. 

100 dr per try!

The wine at the festival wasn’t great, and wasn’t terrible. I am by no means a wine connoisseur, and actually have no real experience with wine (beer is my thing!). I can tell, however, a good wine from a bad one. Some of the best wines I’ve had are from Germany or the USA. In any case, the festival was fun, however quite hot as there wasn’t any shade. We were joined by the American ambassador to Armenia and his wife. I learned that the family’s 5 children all went to…JMU! I could’ve sworn I was the only Duke in Armenia…

We visited the cave nearby, where the world’s oldest shoe was found. The cave tour was extensive – (they even showed us where they performed ritual sacrifices of young virgin women… no bueno) and the dust won me over quickly so I left and wandered around.  The best part of the day was ending it in Noravank, one of my all time favorite monasteries. It is known for its two-story church, and the super fun staircase one has to climb to get to the upper level. I liked exploring this monastery – there were many nooks and crannies I could find to escape the tourist mobs and enjoy some peace and quiet. There was also a random pit, which I climbed down into. When I was ready to emerge, there were lots of Russian tourists looking at me strangely and saying things in Russian. Check out the photos for some interesting views of Noravank.

Work week was anticlimactic, so I’ll go straight to the Armenia vs. Italy football match! I love football (as demonstrated by my loyalty to Borussia Dortmund…) and I was very excited for this game, especially because I had seen Italy play against Germany in Dortmund two years ago. I don’t particularly like Italian style football as they like to fall down and roll around to waste time. We ran around before the game to try and find face paint to show our spirit. I painted my whole face red, blue, and orange, not thinking about how I was to get it off later. It didn’t matter. I looked like an Armenian warrior-woman with my blue stripe accenting my Armenian nose. We were told that there would be security and any bottled beverages wouldn’t be allowed in the stadium. Not only was there no security, but the vendors selling drinks would pour the drink from the packaged bottles into weird plastic cups, and then throw the bottles away. I don’t get it – they created more garbage AND wasted half of the liquid that wouldn’t fit in the cup. Go figure. 

All out!

 Armenia played very well against the obviously favored Italian team. Due to some questionable calls from the referees, Italy was awarded an early PK, which dampened the spirits a bit. After Armenia got its first goal, the stadium went wild! It was so brilliant to see the national pride and spirit of Armenia. Even though we lost, Armenia demonstrated its power and determination, which I think was definitely more important. Afterwards we went back to the city center, where I got plenty of weird looks for having paint all over my face. At home, the water had already been cut off, as it was after midnight. After lots of soap and makeup remover, I no longer look like the warrior princess.

Coming soon – song about the Marshrutkas. Seto & I are writing a masterpiece in Armenian about the system we all hate to love, but love to hate. Also the Vobsche Awareness Committee & Marshrutka Joy Patrol are in the works...