This weekend was probably the best weekend I have had in Armenia. On Friday it was another volunteer’s birthday so we went to her house for a khorovats. Then we all took a marshrutni to Yerevan to dance again. It was great because we actually remembered some of the dances. After we wore ourselves out dancing, we went back to the volunteer’s house for her birthday party part 2. The families here consider us part of their families so they go all out for birthdays. I walked back to my house with another volunteer at about 11:30 at night because we were exhausted and wanted to go to bed. Well, sometime during the birthday festivities our families had decided that we were going to Lake Sevan the next day. Problem: We had model school until 5:00 pm. Things got tense when they insisted on us skipping model school even though we were teaching that day. After a long discussion, we decided to take a taxi from model school to Lake Sevan and meet them there. The next day we had language class and our families were trying to make us leave early for model school so they could lock their houses and go to Sevan. It was quite the chaotic morning and by the time we got to model school we were plain worn out. At 5pm We rushed to change into our bathing suits and meet the taxi driver outside, but he never showed up. Somehow miscommunication led to us going in stranger’s taxi to a place we didn’t know; the volunteer’s father told the taxi driver over the phone where to take us.
Once we got to Lake Sevan it was all worth it. It was a beautiful day and all of our relatives were there. We ate khorovats (definitely my favorite meal) and took some great pictures that I’ll post below. My family knows that I use to teach swim lessons so they were very excited to see me swim. The water was a bit chilly, but we dove right in and accidentally swam past the barrier in a few strokes. Most Armenians can’t swim so the barrier begins where the water becomes too deep to stand. Of course our families yelled for us to come back because the water was so ‘dangerous,’ but secretly I think they were proud of us for swimming the farthest. We splashed around in the water and then had our second khorovats of the night. We relaxed by the water and then played cards the rest of the night. We cleaned up and played musical chairs to fit into people into cars. I definitely lost. I was in the back middle seat of my brother’s 2 door car, with his wife and their infant one side and a huge baby stroller on the other. Please email me if you would like the details of my ride home, it turned into quite the adventure, but we finally made it home at midnight.
Today is a holiday in Armenia called Vartavar. Basically it is an excuse to pour water over people all day. The great thing about Vartavar is that you are not allowed to get mad if you wet. I woke up and went over to a volunteer’s house so we could join in on the water festivities. On my way over I was ambushed by the other volunteers in my village and local kids with freezing cold water. Some highlights of today: Surprising our language teacher with multiple buckets of water, throwing water on cars driving by with open windows, chasing a volunteer’s dad until he jumped a fence to escape and tracking mud threw a stranger’s house to throw water off the balcony. By noon, there were at least 40 of us armed with water buckets roaming the main street. I wish the US had a holiday like this one, it was so much fun!
My brand new door :)
Best envelope ever, thanks Mrs. Koehler!
Lake Sevan
bahhahah. I love that you lost musical chairs. and varvatar sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is an advice to all, in the future when swimming at Sevan lake be sure to swim only on designated areas for swimming, usually they are called "leechap" or beach and they have life-guards. Because in many places of that lake during the Soviet era structures were build on top of the water which were made to stand on iron poles cemented to the bottom of water. The above part of those Soviet structures have long gone and were destroyed, however the iron poles remained inside the water and there were cases were swimmers had impact with them and were wounded, hurt, or losing consciousness were drowned.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, there is a Water World Park, with swimming pools and other water attractions like sliders, just 15 minutes taxi ride from Nor Hajn toward Yerevan. It is at the edge of Yerevan, at the beginning of the highway that goes from Yerevan to Nor Hajn or to lake Sevan. On the right side if you are coming from Yerevan and on your left if you are coming from Nor Hajn area. Not a bad idea if you take your currant students for swimming lessons there. But the entrance is not free. Ask them for a special deal for a kid group accompanied by their teachers. Joy & gladness!
And another very serious warning: DO NOT FALL IN LOVE AT LAKE SEVAN!
ReplyDeleteThis is an Armenian legend that happened either at lake Sevan or the Armenian lake Van (which is presently in modern Turkey toward south of Mt Ararat). This real story is about two secret lovers, one living at a village at the shore of the lake and another living at another village at the opposite side of the lake. He used to swim secretly every night across the lake to meet her for their love rendezvous. She used to light a lamp and her lover guided by the light swam toward her. One moonless night her father, who did not approve of their love, discovered how they managed to rendezvous, so he put out the light, while the lover was in half way in the lake swimming toward the light, and he took his daughter away with him, locking her inside the house. The lover swam round and round, looking for the guiding light, but in vain -there was no lamp light by the shore; exhausted he drowned while calling her name again and again.