Random thoughts

Did I mention that there's a lot of park space in Yerevan? It'll be full of cafes in the spring, but it's pretty now, too. On one of the hikes at my yoga retreat, I learned that there's one tree - is it the beech? - that doesn't lose its leaves in the fall; its branches have brown leaves all winter. There are a lot of those trees here! And the birds! Armenia is a bird-watcher's paradise. I read that there are something like 365 species that come through here, vs. 450 in all of Europe. There's also a lot of great sculpture here. I think I'll start a photo series. I had Doors of Morocco and Jeepneys of the Philippines (well, that was more a concept than a reality). Sculpture of Armenia seems to make sense.

On our field trip last week (which you'll read about when I get my computer back...), we climbed out of the valley that nestles Yerevan and into the southern Caucasus. It reminded me a bit of the Middle Atlas - the treeless part, that is. It might be a microclimate and it might be deforestation and it might be some of each. Maybe it looks more like farmland in the spring, but now it looks barren, with the occasional quarry or non-operating factory. We overshot our destination and ended up in Sevan, the biggest town by Lake Sevan, but didn't see the lake. Our destination, Charentsavan, has old Soviet apartment blocks and no village charm - at least we didn't see any. The PCV there said that it was her seminar site in training, and when she got it as her final site she cried. I could relate to the seminar-site-being-final-site, but of course I was thrilled to get Azrou. I look forward to seeing other parts of the country, and I know there is some beauty to be found, but if I end up in the office more and Brian ends up in the field more, that's okay too, and I can do weekend day trips to tourist destinations.

I thought couscous would be found everywhere every day in Morocco, only to find that it was a Friday lunch and only-special-occasion-other-times food. Well, in Armenia I expected yogurt to be plentiful, only to find that it's a once-in-a-while evening thing; perhaps an accompaniment to borscht or another dish, or mixed into a beverage called tan that I have not had yet, or used as a soup base. Also, what we think of a lavash is not the lavash eaten here. Here it's soft - more like a thin wrap - and you tear off pieces and either roll your food into it or you eat it with your food. And while you can get American coffee and sometimes fancier drinks such as cappuccino, true Armenian coffee is what we might call Turkish coffee (but don't call it that here!), finely ground with a thick sediment at the bottom.

We met with our tutor yesterday. She's been one of the Peace Corps language teachers for years and loves to teach. We'll have tutoring twice a week for now, 20 minutes on the alphabet and then an hour lesson and then time for questions and practice. The PCVs get three months of four hours a day, and we won't have that time to spend on it, but I look forward to learning what I can. For now, Brian and I will do it together, and at some point we may switch to solo lessons.

This is a culture where people don't want to say no or to ask for something - because they don't want to bother you. It is also a culture where if you order something in a restaurant and they bring you something else, they will say, "this is better."

One final cultural note for today - we were advised not to make eye contact or smile at strangers who we pass on the streets, lest that be misconstrued. People here don't greet or smile at each other. I find that I have to make a conscious effort to look unfriendly...