Absolutely soaking wet!
Hello everyone!
Greetings from Yerevan - which yesterday was a water park unto itself. On the Sunday of the Feast of the Transfiguration in the church, Armenians also celebrate Vardavar. Vardavar was a pagan water festival of sorts that somehow got reappropriated to coincide with the Transfiguration when Armenia adopted Christianity.
The entire city goes absolutely bananas on Vardavar. Teenagers, little kids, etc. all stand on the streets, in their courtyards, on their balconies, etc. and dump buckets of water on people walking by. You're an even bigger target if you're female, probably also if you're American. Therefore, within 5 minutes of leaving our house yesterday, I was completely soaking wet. Alex had 2 small water guns to protect us, but 2 guys with gallon jugs of water attacked us on our way to Artbridge for breakfast. I looked like I had taken a shower in my clothes - luckily I decided to not dry my hair that morning for fear that this exact thing would happen. I also left my camera at home, which was a smart move.
Pifer and Alex were pretty wet, too. We ate breakfast, in a restaurant, around other people, WHILE COMPLETELY SOAKING WET!!! The waiters thought it was so hysterical. I was so irritated. We then were attacked again on the way home. People will run you down to squirt you with water and are absolutely relentless. I know this is supposed to be a happy and fun holiday, but Pifer and I agreed we think it's completely miserable. But, at least the little kids were having fun.
Otherwise it was a pretty eventful weekend. Saturday Pifer and I took our first marshutka ride (well, it was my first ride, his second) to the Nor Malatia area of town to attend morning service with Alex's cousin Justin - who is a seminarian at St. Nersess - and their French friend Alex. We went to Soorp Yerortutiun (Holy Trinity), and it was very beautiful - almost brand new! After church we went to the Vernissage - the open air market - to do some shopping and came across some interesting purchases. It was ridiculously hot, so we headed home to relax for a while. Then Pifer and I met up with Justin and French Alex again at a cafe near the opera and sat around telling funny stories all night. It was shad fun!
Sunday, as I mentioned, was Vardavar so we spent a lot of the day running in and out of buildings avoiding getting soaked. After drying off at home after the first attacks, Pifer and I took a cab to Libaridian's apartment for a gathering of some people he knows in Yerevan. We were there all afternoon and had a really nice visit with, of course, intriguing discussion of the state of the world in general. Then, Pifer and I picked up Pifer's mom - who arrived in Yerevan Sunday morning - and ate some dinner and showed her our apartment. She's here for a week, and it sounds like she will be seeing and doing some interesting things. We might go on an excursion to see some monasteries with her on Thursday.
As for the coming week, it'll just be a week of work for me - hopefully with a day off on Thursday for that excursion. We have about 3 weeks left, so it's time we sit down and figure out the last few things on our "must-see" list and make sure we see them! We have to make most of the time we have, cuz it's going to fly by!
I still miss all of you and am looking forward to coming home. Keep in touch! love, sara :)
Greetings from Yerevan - which yesterday was a water park unto itself. On the Sunday of the Feast of the Transfiguration in the church, Armenians also celebrate Vardavar. Vardavar was a pagan water festival of sorts that somehow got reappropriated to coincide with the Transfiguration when Armenia adopted Christianity.
The entire city goes absolutely bananas on Vardavar. Teenagers, little kids, etc. all stand on the streets, in their courtyards, on their balconies, etc. and dump buckets of water on people walking by. You're an even bigger target if you're female, probably also if you're American. Therefore, within 5 minutes of leaving our house yesterday, I was completely soaking wet. Alex had 2 small water guns to protect us, but 2 guys with gallon jugs of water attacked us on our way to Artbridge for breakfast. I looked like I had taken a shower in my clothes - luckily I decided to not dry my hair that morning for fear that this exact thing would happen. I also left my camera at home, which was a smart move.
Pifer and Alex were pretty wet, too. We ate breakfast, in a restaurant, around other people, WHILE COMPLETELY SOAKING WET!!! The waiters thought it was so hysterical. I was so irritated. We then were attacked again on the way home. People will run you down to squirt you with water and are absolutely relentless. I know this is supposed to be a happy and fun holiday, but Pifer and I agreed we think it's completely miserable. But, at least the little kids were having fun.
Otherwise it was a pretty eventful weekend. Saturday Pifer and I took our first marshutka ride (well, it was my first ride, his second) to the Nor Malatia area of town to attend morning service with Alex's cousin Justin - who is a seminarian at St. Nersess - and their French friend Alex. We went to Soorp Yerortutiun (Holy Trinity), and it was very beautiful - almost brand new! After church we went to the Vernissage - the open air market - to do some shopping and came across some interesting purchases. It was ridiculously hot, so we headed home to relax for a while. Then Pifer and I met up with Justin and French Alex again at a cafe near the opera and sat around telling funny stories all night. It was shad fun!
Sunday, as I mentioned, was Vardavar so we spent a lot of the day running in and out of buildings avoiding getting soaked. After drying off at home after the first attacks, Pifer and I took a cab to Libaridian's apartment for a gathering of some people he knows in Yerevan. We were there all afternoon and had a really nice visit with, of course, intriguing discussion of the state of the world in general. Then, Pifer and I picked up Pifer's mom - who arrived in Yerevan Sunday morning - and ate some dinner and showed her our apartment. She's here for a week, and it sounds like she will be seeing and doing some interesting things. We might go on an excursion to see some monasteries with her on Thursday.
As for the coming week, it'll just be a week of work for me - hopefully with a day off on Thursday for that excursion. We have about 3 weeks left, so it's time we sit down and figure out the last few things on our "must-see" list and make sure we see them! We have to make most of the time we have, cuz it's going to fly by!
I still miss all of you and am looking forward to coming home. Keep in touch! love, sara :)