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June 18, 2006
Yerevan Day 7
YEREVAN, ARMENIA – A visitor to Armenia is never really sure if he’s in Europe, Russia, Asia, the near east, or the middle of nowhere.
The Soviet state lives on through strong appreciation of the arts and a decidedly Soviet approach to architecture. The hotel staff here also haven’t realized the USSR is dead, and planning ahead seems not to be the forte of anyone in Armenia. The Indian in our group remarked that Armenian Standard Time is remarkably similar to Indian Standard Time, where a ballet might well start 15 minutes late because most of the crowd turns up 10 minutes late. In fact, that’s exactly what happened when we went to see the state dance troupe and a piano/violin recital at Yerevan Conservatory. The state dance troupe did over 20 ballets showing classical European and Russian influences blended with the gypsy, Oriental, Persian, Indian, and Anatolian flavors that have been added over the years.
As for the work sites, we’ve so far worked 3 days on Habitat homes and done sightseeing the other 3 days. These 3 days of sightseeing have particularly annoyed at least one member of our group who expected to work every day--no, not me.
I think it’s important both to sight-see and build houses in order to put the present issues faced by Armenia into a historical and social context. That said, I also welcomed Sunday brunch this morning at the Marriott, the best Western oasis we’ve found so far. We’ve actually been very well-fed, including lunch yesterday that was prepared by the wife of the homeowner whose house we’re helping to build. It’s a small stone structure of perhaps 1200 sq ft; they started building it in 1988 and are just now getting close to finishing.
The apricots here are quite tasty, though they might also have been responsible for the barfing or the runs that have afflicted several of our team members. (I'm doing my best to follow the colonial mantra of "cook it, peel it, boil it, or forget it.") At the lunch where we chowed-down on local apricots, a number of us washed it down with a couple of shots of homemade mulberry vodka to attempt to kill any weird bacteria we might have acquired. Tomatoes and cucumbers have also been popular, along with huge helpings of bread and lavash, which is basically a soft square tortilla shell. Big trays of sweet breads are very common, along with cherries and watermelon. Borsch (Ukrainian beet soup) comes in many varieties, though it’s far too hot to eat much soup. One homeowner’s wife also cooked-up some ground beef wrapped in aubergine (eggplant). Mutton (lamb) is also common, including a very nice lamb shank last night, washed down with a 2000 Areni wine that was a great buy at the restaurant for $7.50. (The high schoolers on the trip have enjoyed the non-existent alcohol rules here, as one might expect.)
Here are some pictures. Click to enlarge.
Yerevan’s skyline lies below Mt. Ararat, the mountain where legend says Noah crashed his arc. It’s in present-day Turkey but historically was part of Armenia. Although the Armenians hate the Turks (who perpetrated one of history’s largest genocides against the Armenians—and still deny it), references to Ararat abound, including in the local brandy.
A distressingly large portion of the population here smokes, everywhere from the airport to restaurants to the job site. In a country where the average person's income is less than $1/day, a pack of ciggies costs about $1.25. This kid's claw game might be part of the reason for the national addiction.
Republic Square is the center of Yerevan. It’s more crowded at midnight than at noon, as the normal waking hours in Armenian Standard Time run from perhaps 9AM to 1AM.
The monastery at Khor Virap, at the border with Turkey, sits under Mt Ararat. Here, Saint Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 12 years in a deep, dark well by a pagan king in the third century. The king was known to throw snakes and scorpions into the well, though he eventually converted to Christianity and released St. Gregory, who went on to be the first Catholicos (equivalent of Pope) in the Armenian church. The well can be visited today by climbing down a manhole-like hatch on the altar of a church on this hill.
This is the team with the homeowner in Khor Virap, where we helped him and his family plaster concrete walls. As noted earlier, he has been working on the house since 1988, so he was quite appreciative of our help. He is on the very far right.
Our other project is this old Soviet building in Gavar, in the north near Lake Sevan. Habitat recently acquired the structure, which had lain half-finished since the USSR collapsed. It will be a Herculean job to finish it, as we spent two days hauling sand up to the second-floor to make cement to finish the floors in four small rooms. Notice the pimpin’ vintage 1970s Mercedes-Benz bus we’re using.
Posted by adrianjo at June 18, 2006 10:20 AM