Katie K
Katie Kowalski Joined: September 4th 2007
Logged in: September 17th 2007
Logged in: September 17th 2007
For more information about Habitat for Humanity Detroit, please visit www.habitatdetroit.org, for more information about Global Village trips, please visit www.habitat.org
Travel Blog Posts
Today is our last day of the Global Village trip and a great had been planned for us. Melik, David, and Ani picked us up to take us to the Holy See Edminjistan. Being that it was Sunday, both churches we visited had masses in seesion- it was a great experience to see how the traditional Armenian masses were held as well as seeing the historic churches. It was very beautiful, and Ani and David did a wonderful tour of the campus. Afterwards we went back to Yerevan and had lunch at Square One, a restaurant that served American cuisine. While we were eating, a group of Peace Corps members sat at the table next to us- many were from the US, including one guy from Sterling Hgts who went to high school with my cousin! ... read more
Buckets!
Maliek, Gohar, and David (a HFH Armenia volunteer who is Armenian, grew up in Jordan but lives in Yerevan as he is going to the university to be a dentist), picked us up from the hotel to take us to our last day on the worksite. Since we finished moving the lava rock to the attic yesterday, our task today was to do some landscaping- leveling the front and backyard, filling with dirt, then covering with pebbles. As our team enjoys the "bucket brigade", we gladly accepted this task! When we arrived to the site, we were joined by Hamlet and Amalik, Hraj, Sarkis, Hacob, and a couple of the neighbors. It was a great workday and we were able to finish the front yard before lunch. It was very hot out, so we were sure ... read more
Today we headed straight to the worksite and started the highly anticipated "bucket brigade"! Our task for the day was to carry buckets of the lava rock up to the attic, and to bring enough rocks up to form a 5-6" layer across the entire attic floor. This was a nice break from plastering and painting and gave the team a different experience. Gohar also explained that by our team helping move the lava rock, we were doing something that would be much more difficult for the homeowner to finish by himself. Our team glady accepted the challenge! A pulley and rope were set-up, hanging from the roof trusses. Hamlet, his brother, Hraj (who has been working with us everyday), and Hamlet's cousin, Sarkis, were in the attic awaiting the filled buckets and would spread them ... read more
This morning we traveled to beautiful Lake Sevan, about a 45 minutes from Yerevan with Maliek and Ani. As we were driving, Ani was telling us many great stories about the Armenian culture as well as tales about Lake Sevan. Lake Sevan is the biggest lake in Armenia, and has many vacation homes. Two churches from 900 BC sit atop a hill that is surrounded by the lake, we parked the minibus and climbed the stairs to look at the churches. As we were walking up about 200 stairs (counted by Sandra), an older Armenian gentleman serenaded us as he played his small guitar. He seemed to be dressed in traditional Armenian wear, which added to the beauty of this area. The churches were amazing, old tombstones sat in front of the entrance that were gathered ... read more
Before we started work today, Gohar, Meri, and Maliek took our team to visit some of the families who are in their homes, including 2 families that were supported by Habitat Detroit and Masco. It was an absolutely amazing experience. One of the homes we saw that was sponsored by HFHD and Masco was a beautiful home and an experience I will never forget. The family has 3 children- 2 girls and a boy. The 2 girls had drawn a picture of their house that read "thank you Detroit", they gave this to us as a gift and I will be sure to bring it to the HFHD office to hang. The mom brought out a great spread of fruits and juices, it was such a welcoming and lovely gesture. Although we thought we were invasive ... read more
Gohar, Maliek, and Lilita (HFH Armenia staff, corporate donors) picked up our team at the hotel to take us to Hamlet and Amalik's house to do more work. After instruction, we continued on with plastering, finising both bedrooms and working on the main room. With the practice from yesterday, and new tips from Hacob and Maliek, our team felt much more confident doing the plastering work! Timing was perfect as we finished the main room and was ready for the lunch break. Amalik prepared a wonderful lunch, having potatoes stuffed with spiced ground meat, ground meat rooled eggplant, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, a dish that had chopped mushrooms, parsley, peas, and potatoes and bread, including lavash, a very traditional flatbread. Every meal there is a great assortment of juices to compliment the meal: plum, black currant, ... read more
Frankfurt, Germany
Sept 9th- After over 24 hours of travel with a 9 hour layover in Frankfurt (which turned out to be wonderful break as we were able to leave the airport and take the Bahn to Maktplaz for a nice walk in the marketplace and lunch at a cafe) the team arrived safely to Yerevan! Our team was warmly greeted by Gohar (HFH Yervan staff-Global trip coordinator) and Maliek (HFH Yerevan staff-driver and construction supervisor) at the airport at 1am Armenian time to take us to our hotel, Hotel Shirak. After much needed sleep, Gohar and Maliek as well as Ani, (a volunteer for HFH Yerevan) took us on a city tour, then eating lunch at a wonderful Armenian bookstore cafe, Artbridge. After lunch, we went to the Armenian Historical Museum to see great artwork by many ... read more
