2 weeks in Dzaghedzor

I have been living in my village Dzaghedzor for 2 weeks now. I have filled my days with reading, napping, sudoku, kitten loving, exercising and various other activities. The following are some things that happened out of the ordinary from the regular lazing around or that I never imagined in Armenia and was generally shocked by.
One day as I lay in my hammock reading my host sister brought out a white drink with a bendy straw (first shocker) for me to try. I was nervous that it was “tan” a drink they love here that is a combination of their yogurty-milk, water, salt and sometimes greens or rice. It depends on the variety but usually this is not my favorite drink. I took the drink and nervously asked what it was, all I understood in the reply was milk. Uh oh, is this tan? Well, I am trying everything so I put my lips to the straw and cautiously sipped it. Holy joyous moment! It was delicious! A tropical milkshake of bananas and peaches that was so creamy and delicious I sucked it down. Since this glorious day I have been brought milkshakes a few other times and have loved every single one of them. The other day I even got my favorite variety of chocolate banana. Mmm mmm good!
We celebrated my younger host sister’s 22nd birthday, which produced an array of delicious food, drinking and dancing. Particularly interesting this evening was the 11 year old boy that was here with one of the families and became in charge of pouring the wine for the females to toast with. At first he was apprehensive with the magnum bottle of pomegranate wine but soon embraced his occupation as well as starting to pour for himself. And pour, and refill and refill again for himself. I was quite entertained by his excessive drinking and kept taking photos of him , laughing and pointing out that he was going to get drunk if he kept it up. Dinner was breaking up and room was being cleared for the dance floor. I quickly went into my room and to my surprise find the boy, drunk, passed out face down on my bed! Haha. We danced and danced. The first dancing I have done in country and although Armenian dancing it was quite fun. This was despite the fact that one of the older gentlemen who was present for the party kept trying to kiss me while we danced and I ended up with a lot of sweaty slobber on my cheeks. The drunken child was taken from my room and carried home and I evaded any horrifying moments.


host mother, Gayineh, me and my tatik

Getting Crunk


My papik


Dance Party!

Uncle Maxim and his mama

Running here is an event even more so than in my PST village. I am quite the spectacle on the side of the road and cars will slow down to a crawl as they pass me to see what this crazy person on the side of the road is up to. Sometimes very creepy. But I keep it up hoping they will get used to me because it is really beautiful in the morning as the sun rises over the mountain ridges. And I thoroughly enjoy the boysenberries growing on the edge of the road as a mid-running snack.


Secret doors to secret gardens

The gardens i run past every morning

This monstrosity sorta looks pretty in the morning light

Sunrise over the mountains





Off Trail adventure

The missing clue...





Picking boysenberries

I was beckoned into a home for coffee and a snack. These scrumptious tomatoes were brought out from their garden.

Last Monday evening my family wanted to take me into Kapan. I thought we were going to have dinner at my tatik’s house but instead we bought an incredible variety of sweet cakes and pastries from the bakery and went over there to eat these and grapes.

We stayed for only about 15 minutes and then headed out to adventure around the town.


After a quick drop in at the church and lighting of candles we hit up the carnival that I have been so anxious to try. Sort of.


We rode the bumper cars and they all found it hilarious when I put on the seat belt because of course they don’t use them on real roads so why would they wear them for bumper cars? Next up was the roller coaster. I am a lover of rollercoaster’s in America, but this one while never exceeding 10ft off the ground was the scariest thing I have ever been on. Hard plastic seats that were slippery, not seat belts, open sides to go sliding out of and only a small bar on the front of the car to hold onto. Plus each car is on one wheel on the one track that goes around and around. Terrifying. Next up was a swing-type of ride.


It actually had a lap belt although I am sure it was not actually doing anything to help preserve my life but a fun ride.



We ended the evening at the hotel in town where Ira used to work sitting on the balcony with ice cream and cognac.

Last week my host mother beckoned me into the kitchen. We want you to learn where everything is in the kitchen so that you can prepare your own food when we go to Russia. Russia? When are you going to Russia? Next week. Oh. Interesting. And when are you coming back? We don’t really know, but sometime after September. Great, over a month of no host family where I will have to fend for myself in this foreign teensy town and hopefully continue to integrate into the community. I have since found out that my tatik will be shuttled in to stay with me here. That should be fun because I really like my tatik and can understand her much better than my host mother who speaks mostly Russian with some Armenian mixed in. Oh, and who I am coincidentally terrified of. So here’s to girl time with my tatik in September!

And I went swimming again! But this time in a pretty legitimate pool that was tiled, crystal clear and long enough for me to push off and take two full strokes before reaching the other wall. Flips! Handstands! Some pool “volleyball” with the famdam and I was feeling great. It was in the evening so it started to get a bit cold though and as I was getting out to get back into some warm clothes my sisters called for me to come where they were. It looked like a bathroom so I assured them I was fine dressing outside. No no, come in here! All righty then. And to my everlasting surprise and delight through a small door from that bathroom was a sauna. It was fantastic! I still find it hard to believe that there was an actual sauna in my village in Armenia but think that the house we were at may have some involvement with, err, less than reputable business. All speculation of course.
I have also acquired a kitten. She is adorable!

Her name is Sonya and provides a lots of entertainment and adds pleasure just when sitting on my lap or chest while I read, write or sleep. She is a family kitten but keeps rather close to me as I don’t grab her by the head, kick her 3 feet into the air and then catch her or any other atrocious things I watch my family members do daily. And respectively they are probably the most generous and loving family that an animal in Armenia could hope to be with. One thing she loves to do is sit on my chest and as I blink she becomes captivated with my eyelashes and will then paw my eyes. For the time being she is not a vicious cat so this is a very gentle tap but I am hoping it does not become an open claw to my eye as that could do some serious damage to my retinas. All in all it is great to have animals here at the house.
So those are the adventures and oddities I have come across recently and look forward to discovering and experiencing more!