Mt. Ararat watching over Yerevan - the symbol of Armenia
Yerevan is the capital of Armenia and has approximately 1.2
million people or so (although some say much less). It has most of the
same things you would find in a western city: an airport, opera house, museums
etc. There is also a lot of outdoor markets. The biggest one I have
found is the Verynysage market which runs on Saturdays and Sundays. You
can buy ANYTHING there from books, to jewelry, to puppies, to souvenirs, to auto
parts. You of course have to barter for everything. The price quoted
is usually double the real price. As a foreigner it is difficult for me to
get down to the real price, but even the price that I bargain for is generally
very reasonable by Canadian standards. Also, I don't feel bad paying a bit
more since the venders generally really need the money.
This is my backyard! The other side of the buildings is a fairly major road (Sayat Nova Ave.). I often see men working on cars or children playing back here. There is always laundry hanging outside. During the day it is nice and bright, but at night it is essentially pitch black. So I'm always careful to be on guard and keep an eye out for hooligans. I have a one bedroom apartment which is actually quite nice with most of the creature comforts I would have at home.
This is my local
bakery! Every day I go in here and ask for my fresh loaf of
bread: "Adeen Hrazdan pazhaloosta" which means "Hello, how are
you doing today? I hope that all is well and that the bread is very fresh
today. How is your cat doing?" ok ok, so it really just means
"One bread please"...close enough. Buying bread has been even
easier lately because they now recognize me. This means that I don't have to push my way to the front and ask, they just see me
and go in back to find me an extra fresh loaf. They also have very yummy
pastries!
Here we find the cascades. Yerevan is surrounded on three sides by hills, and this goes up the side of one of them. It was originally planned to be a very large fountain, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, construction was stopped. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it is essentially 1000 steps or so up to the top. This is where I start most of my runs. You can also see in the background one of the many cafés that are all over the city during the summer.
This is another
scene from my backyard where you can see the local cat
possee. There are, no joking, about 10 stray cats that live
back there, most of which are kittens. They are very territorial too.
Whenever a large cat gets too close, they all gang up on him/her and drive them
out. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love cats, so it is VERY
difficult to resist petting them. However, it's hard to know what diseases they could
be carrying, so I stay away. Stray animals are a big problem. There
are also a large number of stray dogs that roam the city and have a nasty habit
of nipping at my heels during my runs.
Here we have a shot of my sturdy Soviet-made stove and some of the food I eat! The stove is wonderful. Gas burners rock my world. The oven is a bit difficult to use since there is no way to gauge the temperature except for the height of the flame. A few things to point out. My laundry detergent is the one labeled Barf - they make all sorts of cleaning products. I think the name is just hilarous, but the locals generally don't understand why I think it's so funny. The Flips are potato chips. The ones on the right are chicken flavour - I'm not all that impressed with them. The ones on the left are banana flavour - I'm working up my courage to try them. The little white bottles are what I use to purify my water. Everyone tells me it isn't necessary, but I do it anyway just to be sure. And finally there is the Kilikia beer on the left. A 500mL bottle can be had for about 75cents or so. For the interested, other notable beers here are Kootayk and Ehrabuni (sp?).
Here is a picture of me with Grand Candy, the mascot of the big candy chain which has the same name. They have a store downtown where you can buy candy and also these hot doughnut type things with icing sugar. Very tasty indeed. Grand Candy and I go waaaaaay back.
I thought I would take a picture of this to show you a comparison of the languages. These are road signs to Lake Sevan and to Gekhard, a famous monastery. Armenian is the language on top, followed by Russian and then English. I know about 5 words in Armenian and can not read the letters. My Russian is coming along - I am probably up to about 200 or so words, but it is still hard for me to form full sentences.