Goodbye to new friends and a walk in the woods

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Sunday February 14th, 2005

In a small community, such as we are living in, you get to know and like people quickly. Here are people from widely scattered countries and diverse cultures and yet the community is quite close knit and caring. Just down the hall from us a young family from Armenia have their apartment. They have been here about a month, he studying and she caring for their two children. Their daughter is about six and has been learning English, French and Russian at the school she attends in Armenia. Their son is about three and as he has not attended school yet has no idea what we strange looking people are saying. Today is their last day here. This evening they will go to the Prague airport to return to their home in Armenia. We are sorry to see them go as we have enjoyed getting to know the parents as well as to see their children playing and scampering about the building. The little girl, the BIG sister, is a rather motherly big sister, but then what are big sisters for if not to be “the boss.” She does watch out for her little brother as they go about their activities here. Since this family is our first introduction to Armenians, we have been greatly impressed in many ways. The father is a very hard working student. He was in the library every moment that it was open from morning till late at night. The mother, a very beautiful woman, was delightful to talk to and very articulate. She has very good mothering skills and happy, content children. We hate to see them go but know they have a lot of important work to do at home.

We took a long walk today, walking the same trail that we hiked a week or so ago. Most of the ice is gone, so we were able to walk further up the Sarka Valley. At one point the trail goes near a very craggy ridge that was on our right. A second craggy ridge came in from our left and was separated from the first ridge by only about sixty feet. The two ridges are separate only because of the erosion of the small stream that runs through the valley. (Nancy- I saw people walking along the top of the rock ridge. Obviously one of the many side trails leads to the top. I can’t wait for drier weather when I can learn which trail goes up there. I want to see the valley from the highest point. Also, I hope I will have a healed foot. Since the first Saturday here when a woman stepped heavily on my left foot downtown, it has been hurting off and on. Well, right now it is ON with a vengeance. The joint around the base of my big toe keeps swelling and it is impossible to ignore the pain. I am wearing my hiking boots almost all the time since they have a very high toe bed and don’t push on the swelling. I copied the names of BC/BS doctors in Prague off the internet this morning and plan to check about seeing a doctor this week. I have soaked it in cold water everyday except yesterday when I tried warm water as Bill and the Internet suggested. That was a bad idea! The big toe began to throb as it joined the mid-section of my foot in swelling. Hot means swell to me and cold means reduce swelling. If it is broken, I know there is nothing to do but take NSAIDS and soak it. But I am concerned about why it is not getting better. Usually if I make a doctor’s appointment by the time I see Dr. Killian I feel quite well. I call that the “doctor’s appointment placebo effect”. I want to see if the Prague doctor’s have the same excellent healing properties.

We had not walked far when we saw two police cars. The trail at that point is blacktopped and is just wide enough for a small car to drive on. Four policemen were questioning two men beside the trail.

“Do you have our identification?” Nancy wanted to know.

“Yes,” I replied. I had the Xeroxed copy of our passport. We have been told not to carry our passports with us, but to carry a copy of them with the address and telephone number of the seminary on the paper also. If someone steals the piece of paper, or if we lose it there is no harm done and no problem in replacing it. If we lose our passports, we then face the red tape of obtaining a new one.

We passed the policemen and the two men. I was wondering if they were stopping people at random and checking their identification. Now I do not believe they were. We walked on and about five minutes later we heard the engine noise of two cars coming from behind us. It was the two police cars. The passed us and drove ahead about fifty yards where they pulled off the path. The four policemen got out of their cars and started walking along a path going to an ancient house set back in the woods on the opposite side of the valley.

“Something must be going on over there, or someone is hurt,” Nancy said.

We do not know why the police were going to the house. I was curious and it was a bit tempting to stop and watch. The sound of a barking dog at the house made us concerned that someone might be hurt. But then I remembered the advice I had been given while in China, ‘never do anything to draw attention to yourself.’ This is good advice anywhere and most especially when in a foreign country where a person really does not know what the rules are. By the time we returned they and their cars were gone.

After our first walk various people asked us, “Did you get as far as the swimming pool?” We had not. This time we did. Not far beyond the narrowest place in the valley there is a restaurant and an inn. Actually we are not sure if it is an inn or a hostel. Just beyond this point there are two swimming pools that are fed by the stream. I imagine in the summer this is a popular place. (Nancy- I clearly saw a sign saying sauna and massage-at least the word looked like massage. If it is, I am definitely walking back up that path one day when I have more time and checking to see what a good massage costs. Doing retro-conversion for 6 to 10 hours a day like we have the last two week knots up the shoulder muscles something fierce!!)

We returned to our apartment with tired feet, but with the knowledge that we had a good hike with good exercise.

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Photos

Asatur and his son Leon
They left for Armenia and home this evening.

Jasmine and her daughter, Margaret
They left for Armenia and home this evening.