Pictures 2
Hello out there in radio land. Please excuse the delay, our internet has been down for the last few days. We have had the last three days off from our internships, and had a mostly free schedule. On the 1st we went to Ashtarakhitzor for Carla’s birthday accompanied by the Yaldezians’ cousin Suren and his wife and kids, and Lillit who used to work at our hotel and now is one of our local buddies. Ashtarakhitzor is a restaraunt/river/zoo/dance floor/concert hall/awesome in the an area called Ashtarakh(I’m sure I’m spelling this wrong). I also learned that tzor, at least I think, means ravine. We feasted and danced, and Lillit surprised us by getting up on stage and singing “I Will Survive”, you gotta love those Russian-Armenian-English accents.
On Saturday and, for some of us as well on Sunday, we went to the Vernisage which is the flea market in Yerevan on the weekends. There’s tons of junk, but there’s tons of nice stuff too. I’m pretty sure that half of those people were standing in the same place selling the exact same stuff the last time I went four years ago. I havn’t found a Tavloo (Tavli, Tavla, Nardi, Backgammon) Board yet, which was my mission before I left, hopefully my luck will change. The Tavloo Board vendors are some of the most ruthless people on the planet. You so much as glance a board and they turn into rabid dogs, and it seems the less Armenian you know, the faster the speak. At the Vernisage negotiation skills are a necessity, I for one, was cutthroat and got some pretty nice stuff, the girls tended to be a little less frugal, but i guess that’s natural. I’m sure a lot of you reading this right now will be receiving gifts, and if you don’t, then you’re either not that important, or we figured you didn’t want 300 Dram rotary girder for a 1977 Russian-made Lada, ’slightly broken’.
On Saturday night our group became complete. The ‘Brit’s - Victoria, Noushig and Alex arrived and it feels like they have been here since the beginning. Armenian in a Brittish accent you ask? - Straight Awesome. Since they’ve come our laughter level has gone from an 84 to like a 92.7. From now on I’m gonna say “What” without pronouncing the “t”, it gets a pretty good laugh from the Americans, a pretty confused look from the Brits, I’m sure when the month is over they’ll all want to kill me anyway, so I may as well go out in a blaze.
Sunday was Vartavar which is a holiday that originated during the pagan times and now has been adopted by Armenian Christians. I’m not to sure on the details but I do know it has to do with blessing of water but basically until the sun goes down every kid from ages 4-17 roams the streets with buckets, squirtguns, cups, bottles etc filled with water and nails anyone and everyone with water without guilt, remorse or prejudice. I shouldn’t say prejiduce because the girls got it 10 times worse then the guys. I actually wanted to hide in the room all day, but one by one we wanted to go back to the Vernisage so a few of us went and braved the battleground. We were actually involved in a car chase from the Vernisage to our hotel. Straight out of French Connection yo, ’twas pretty awesome….no bullets, just water.
On Monday we went to a free dance performance at The Cascade in honor of Sahavorutyun Or (Constitution Day) AND after that the Armenian State Band played american music in honor of American Independence Day followed by a wicked fireworks display all hosted by the good people at the Armenian Assembly of America. “Wicked” in this sense means about 5 minutes of fireworks with no more than 2 in the air at one time, but it did us proud nevertheless.
Yesterday some of our interns started Armenian language classes….I wish Suzzi the instructor good luck, …but so far I think they’re going well. We’re all accelling at different paces whilest here but I can happily say that at the very least all of us have gotten really good at ordering food and asking for the hashiv(check), and learning the cool slang terms like Aper, Loodz, Ari, Elli, and Aziz.
We have a lot of stuff planned for the rest of the month. I’m actually pretty anxious to get out of the city and see some real Armenian living. We’re all doing fabulous and we don’t miss you at all.
Here’s some more pictures - hope you enjoy them.
Morning service Badarak at St. Gregory’s on Sunday.
Suren’s Bus. This was our ride to Ashtarakhitzor. No shocks, 20 m.p.h. max, good tunes - it was sweet.
Happy Birthday Carla!
Carla, David, and there little cousins, Sadanik, Pierre.
Gggrrrrrrrr…
Some of the gang in front of the Ashtarakhitzor stage.
Lillit singing. She rocked the house. We’re all going Karaoke ASAP.
Me dancing in front of the stage. I’m not Matt Ash, but I’m alright.
The party didn’t stop on the ride home. I love to sing but as a guy i’ve never felt so outbumbered as far as song selection goes in all my days.
The gang with Father Sarkis Petoyan of St. John, San Fransisco. We had a humerous time with our old friend Der Sarkis, we discussed everything from religion in Armenia to the importance of the fourth generation American Armenians, and toilet paper.
My life reached its pinnacle when I made David cry. Don’t worry, he wasn’t missing Mary Ann, he was laughing really hard because I’m so hilarious. “Just a few drops man, just a few drops.”
The damage of Vartavar.
Snazzy Hats.
The Cascade. This is where the open air concert was held. 537 steps to the top. We only went up like 30 of em though.
The men’s part of the dance production at The Cascade.
Some old friends at The Cascade
How cuuuuuutttee.
Happy 4th everyone!
More to come later. Hi to my fam. Kiss JoJo for me. And to all of you, hope all is well in the U.S. (or “Yankville” as our English friends so eloquently put) and in the U.K.
July 7th, 2005 at 3:57 am
These are the best words and pictures, together on one page, that I’ve ever read… on this website. Say hi to our WD peeps in Hayastan for me! And a special word-up to Der Sarkis.
July 7th, 2005 at 9:59 am
WILL LEVON DODD III your updates really go up in the rankings next to all our other classic yankee and brit writers! i’m glad you’re all having a good time! i’m desperately waiting to hear a brit speaking armo, tape a message for me yeah? take care! =) ~Lorig M~
July 13th, 2005 at 1:13 am
Will…duuuude, I’m still crazy jealous that you’re there and I’m not! Enjoy EVERY minute of it…it’s more than half way done =(. We miss you and are enthusiastically keeping up with all your adventures, via blog. Miss ya!
July 13th, 2005 at 10:27 pm
Will -
Mom here - I was very excited to get an email from you from Armenia. I think of you over there and wonder what is going on. Now I know. You are hilarious and I miss that. I am so happy and excited for you and your friends to have this experience. It sounds really wonderful and something to treasure for life! I put the website on my favorites so I can look and see what is going on. Send me more emails so I can keep up. Thank you so much for thinking of me and letting me share your experience (even if it is only by email). Have a great time and be safe.
Kristie