Blogs from Armenia, Asia - page 20

What to do when not hiking… Well, we are somewhat sidelined. Tom and I celebrated his birthday (last weekend) by staying at one of the Tufenkian hotels 3 hours north of Yerevan. We wanted to complete two of the hikes in the Adventure Armenia book that we enjoy so much. Unfortunately Tom, for the first time, sprained his ankle. But, of course finished the last 2.5 miles of the hike anyway. Our drive north took us past two Yezidi villages. The Yezidis are one of the most numerous national minorities in Armenia. They speak Kumanji, a northern Kurdish dialiect. Their religion, Sharfardin, was the religion of Kurds in very ancient times (information from a book entitled “We are Yezidis” by Aziz Tamoyan). Their villages are without trees for the most part and their streets are muddy ... read more

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

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

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