Fashionably Late Post

Don't Mind how late all these blogs are, I was too lazy/busy to go to the internet cafe:

Tuesday June 26th, on the apartment couch-

So it has been a week since we have been in this amazing country, wait no, it’s only been 5 days.... I hate jet lag. Today was the first day of work at Soorp Nerses Medz. Let me just say that I am extremely psyched to see what's in store for us the next 2 months. They placed me in the orthopedics floor of the hospital. There, I was introduced to Ruben, Ruben #2, GOR, and Haig. Ruben was basically my athletic trainer for the first hour. We had no patients so we worked out on the machines there. Ruben specializes in Kinesotherapy (considering my major is kinesiology, it's kind of convenient). A bunch of old people would come in and have problems raising their arms, so Ruben put them on machines to exercise them. Everything seems to be going great so far and I am excited to experience different areas of the hospital.

Random Funny Stuff:

--There is a chocolate made by nestle called "Chocolate for Men". Each portion of the chocolate has a sign of a woman with an "X" through it, symbolizing that women aren't allowed to eat it. I purchased one of them and they taste delicious and manly.... definitely not for women :)

--Doctors in the operation room take smoke breaks when the operation is getting boring (i.e. washing the area on the body, the final stitching).

--Doctors have bottles of Russian Vodka at work (half empty (or full, however you see it); I can only assume what it’s used for. Also, we play soccer in the office... they are proud of the Armenian team. A Nigerian player was just traded to Hayastan and Ruben was extremely excited to meet him. When the player came in to get his knee fixed, the doctors were more concerned with taking pictures with him rather than helping him out with the knee. I could tell he was somewhat frustrated, but it was amusing to watch.

--I am trying to find the movie Fight Club in Armenian. That is my current goal. There are plenty of video stores here, but none have the bar of pink soap on the cover showing anything to do with Fight Club.

--Crossing the Streets in this country is an adventure. Pedestrians yield to cars. Apparently the automobiles want to run us over, and it's extremely fun to try and dodge them as they step on the gas while you try and cross the street.

Surgeries I have seen thus far:

Hemorrhoid Removal

Shoulder (underarm and muscle repair)

Correction of a deformed foot

Opening of Nasal passage ways

Favorite Place to Eat (so far):

Toumanian Shawerma- Khoravadz and a Pepsi

Favorite Place in Yerevan so far:

Cheers :)

Love,

Serop

Wednesday July 4th, on the kitchen table...

All I have to say is...

I love this country.

Tuesday July 10th, on the living room lazy boy...

Adrianne, Mike and I switched to the Plastic Surgery Portion of the hospital this week. The floor also consists of the Ear, Nose and Throat surgeries. Today we saw a throat surgery. It is my favorite surgery thus far. Don’t get me wrong... shoulder, knee and ankle surgeries are my thing, but there is something about seeing the patient lying down with their throat opened up having a tumor removed, simply amazing. I am getting much more comfortable holding conversations with the doctors at the hospital. Unfortunately my favorite doctor, Ruben, is gone for a month in Czech. He gave me a list of his favorite Prog Rock bands to listen to. His taste in music is similar to mine. He was my favorite one because we would share our opinions on our country and vice versa. Ruben enjoyed Armenia during the Soviet Times, but is happy to have witnessed the country gaining its own flag and improving so much since the troubles it went through right after independence began. Ruben is a cool guy and I can’t wait until he's back so that I can go back to orthopedics. But until then, I plan on observing plastic surgery, anesthesia, proctology, and geinocology. There is so much I want to say but can't find the right words. I love this country so much, but it's inevitable that I'm going to miss some stuff currently in the states (the pilgrims, my family and friends, my dog, and chipotle).

Bye for now, and God Bless!

-Superman Serop

Favorite Place to Eat:

Still Toumanian Shawerma (maybe I should try somewhere new :)

Favorite Place in Armenia (so far):

Geghard (the mountains, river and especially the church)

Monday July 16th, in our freshly cleaned living room apartment...

After a nice dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant by Sakharov Square called Angyoon ('corner' in Armenian), I came home and literally passed out until midnight. Not to mention, our apartment is spic and span because of the 8,000 dram we paid today to have the cleaning ladies work their magic. It’s kind of nice to know there is someone else here that cares enough to wash my bed sheets, because I sure know I don’t. I tried to use the internet again today and, once again, realized that the internet is possibly the most annoying invention ever patented. Not checking email, myspace and facebook is not a good idea. It leads to hundreds of messages that get annoying to respond to. I went and tried today, and just sat at the computer, irate as can be, trying to convince myself that the internet is terrible just out of laziness.

Yesterday was Vartavar. I can’t wait to show people the pictures. Our backyard was a war zone. Kids would come from other neighborhoods to drench people that were already soaking wet. I wake up to the sound of kids screaming outside and I immediately start hauling down the ammo that the guys reloaded the night before (like 10 massive jugs of water). The kids loved that we played with them because I think they like the idea of soaking the Amerikatsees. The war escalated with our presence and basically continued until people were too tired and cold to get even more wet. I got a video of some old grandma dumping a bucket of water on Mike from like 3 stories above. I think my favorite part was dumping an entire bucket of freezing cold water atop Stephanie's head as she was almost dry. I think she still refuses to speak to me :) What a great day.

Tonight is one of the first nights that I didn’t go out, and it feels great. I know now that I won’t be falling asleep at work tomorrow, and what’s better than just chillin with the boys having tea and ice cream in the middle of the night. Also, Alex and I put in the last 2 pieces of the 1,000 piece puzzle that we've spent about a week on now. Thanks to everyone for their help (Vaughn, Ara, Mike, Peter, Paul, Stef). And I'm pretty sure everyone else put in at least one piece. I'm excited for Will to come this weekend, even though we'll be in Karabagh. As long as he doesn’t take my bed, I'll be excited to see him when we get back :) Anyways, like I always say, I love this country so much and can’t believe a month has already passed. I can’t waste too much time typing this because I need to experience as much as I can. With that said, I’m gonna go back to staring at this puzzle we just finished... oh how proud I am.

Surgeries I have seen thus far:

Shattered Femur Replacement (Favorite)

Removal of damaged tissue from a torn ACL

Uterus Removal

Prostate work through the Urethra

Removal of a Tumor in the Throat

Removal of 59 individual bubble type growths on a young woman’s Uterus :)

Favorite Place to Eat:

Angyoon’s Italian Food

Superman

Wednesday July 18th, in our apartment living room listening to 'The Hold Steady'

As I sit listening to The Hold Steady, a lot of thoughts run through my mind. They are this rock/pop/alternative band with members in their 20's, 30's, 40's etc. They are such a fun loving band and it shows. The music they play sounds so happy and can easily put someone in a good mood, which is ironic considering their lyrics complete oppose that feeling. Anyways, listening to them makes me want to play in a band for a living. Everyone says it’s so crazy to dream about something like that, and I completely agree. But what’s wrong with being crazy? You might be wondering how this ties in with Armenia, I'm getting there :)

Since I have been in this country, I have met such a diverse community of people, specifically the other diasporans that are here. I've met people that came here and decided to live here, I've met people that have lived in dozens of countries, people that have devoted hundreds if not thousands of hours of time helping Armenia for free and even someone that has ridden a bicycle across America (Rafi, love ya man). Hell yesterday we met someone that quit college to go to circus school, how awesome!! These are people I would call crazy. I have always grown up with the mentality that I need to grow up, make money, and eventually have a healthy/happy family. Coming here has made me realize how selfish the American Dream is. I wish I was as crazy as some of the people I have met here, they are amazing. Why stay in a country that is already an adult and ruling the world? Wouldn’t it be much more interesting to witness the uprising of a newly independent country and be a part of it? I definitely think so. Armenia is a baby, let us raise it.

I know this seems like crazy talk but the more and more I think about it, the more and more I want to become someone that accomplishes something like that. Mom if you're reading this, don’t be scared... I'm not gonna do anything crazy because I’m normal, exactly how everyone in America is raised. So this blog goes out to the crazies, the ones that break those norms, forget about what other people are thinking/doing and experience history as it happens without reading it in a text book years later... I idolize you all. I wish being crazy was contagious. Love you all and Asdvadze Bahe.

Serop

Monday July 23rd, listening to Daft Punk's Digital Love

We went to Kharabagh for the second time this past weekend. I was so excited for the trip after hearing about how it has been the best experience for other Diasporans. The drive there was about 9 hours. We stopped at the 'Datev' monastery. Wow, do I love that place. Datev is a monastery with classrooms, a beautiful church and a courtyard in the middle. If you climb up through some of the walls, you get to this view which is my favorite view in Armenia so far. It over looks this small village and is similar to a Grand Canyon covered in trees. The name Datev was thought of when the final cross was placed into the highest point on the church. When the cross was placed in, the man that placed it in saw the amazing view and asked god for wings so that he could fly over the gorge. "Da Tev" in Armenian means "Give Wings". I found that really amazing because the first thing I wanted to do when I saw the view was fly across. Datev is such an interesting monastery because it’s one of the only ones when you can actually see the classrooms that were used to train the priests. Other monasteries are in ruins. Anyways, this small stop was nothing. What we had in store for us was something I will never forget.

We arrived in Kharabagh some time around 10 and ate dinner at a nice little restaurant that was prepared for us. Dancing and Socializing took place. There were at least 60 people on the trip and I knew very few of them. It gave us the chance to meet with them and see what type of other experiences people are having. I instantly had a connection with many of them and I think it was because we already have a very big thing in common: we're all here because we love learning, experiencing and respecting our homeland.

We then went to meet our host families. From the instant we saw our host mother, we knew that it was going to be a great weekend. She greeted us with huge hugs as if we were her kids. Mike and I were in this house, along with Areg (AVC) and Rafi (AYF). It was great getting to know some new guys, and we made a great connection them. The first night at our house we just talked with HD (Host Dad) and HM (Host mom) made us tea and fed us candy. They have 4 sons, 2 of them off away to college or working. The 2 that were there were 18 and 17. After getting to know them, we hit the sack early. While going to bed, we could hear them playing tavloo, sometimes I wonder if they ever slept because they also were awake at sunrise, before us. The beds in the house were possibly the most comfortable bed I have slept in (in Armenia that is.) I slept like a baby.

The next day, we met up with Birthright at 9 am for our day trip to Ganzasar and Stepanagert. We had lunch near the Ganzasar Monastery and visited the church there. Arsen (aka Best Tour Guide Ever) told us the story about a crucial battle that took place near the monastery. Enemies were bombing the monastery. It was important for the Armenians there to hold Ganzasar for a few hours for reinforcements from Shoushi and Stepanagert to arrive. During badarak, the priest at Ganzasar had to cut the badarak short in order to fend off enemies for 3 hours. It was a success. Because of brave men at that monastery, enemies were prevented from entering Stepanagert, the capital of Kharabagh. This was an important turning point in the war for Kharabagh.

After the monastery, we ate at a little cafe in Stepanagert in which the owners of the place let us play with these baby snakes, something I have always wanted to do. Everyone was psyched for that night because of the big kef that was going to take place at one of the host families house (Saro). But before we left for the Kef, we met up with Mihran and presented him with the Soccer ball and shoes that Arman bought for him. Arman, love you and miss you man. Mihran sends the greatest thanks! It was nice to play another big soccer game with them. After that, the kef took place and let me just say, it was amazing. To sum it up: Amazing Food, Amazing People, and around 5 hours of straight dancing. I had the time of my life. After the party, we went home with our host family and talked with HD for a little bit. I was happy that he had the courage to tell us about some of the war stories he had. We could tell it was a little hard for him to talk about, but boy am I happy he spoke as much as he did. We also got the opportunity to speak with HM who told us about how hard it was for her to keep her family safe during the war, without her husband. I really felt for the family, but it was really uplifting to see how well they were doing now. The problem is that there will always be this fear that the war will start again. It will never go away, and you can see the fear in their eyes, every time they try and talk about it.

The next morning, some birthright kids and I went hiking up the side of this gorge that overlooked the city of Kari Dag (Armenian for ‘under the rock’). Since it’s under a rock, I don’t think there could have been a better name :) It was a great hike and also was another great opportunity to pull off the Circle of Life performed by yours truly.

Then we went home (to Yerevan), sadly. I knew I would miss Kharabagh and I do. The families there had so much respect for us and I will miss them dearly. The whole time we were there, they wanted to ask about America. They wanted to hear about the work, the opportunity, the wealth. They envied us for having such a ‘great’ life. But you know what, they have it all wrong. They envy us for what we have, but the truth is, we should be envying them, for they have all that there is to need: Food, Water, Respect and Love. With these, life is complete and nothing is taken for granted.

So may I propose a toast, for the families is Kharabagh… for the respect, love and caring they had for us, because that’s all it took for me to realize what life is really about. May everyone live their life without envy of what anyone else has, because as long as you have what the people Kharabagh have, you’re set. God Bless, and Cheers.

Serop