Back to Armenia #5

Just some observations I’ve made recently. As we walk down the alleyway by our place on our way to work, I noticed that in a couple of places there are several pipes overhead. They run from the building to a fence on the other side. On the fence side are planted grapes and now the vines are growing and spreading across the alleyway. The greenery is nice to look at, and is providing some shade and in the fall will produce grapes.

July 11th was a holiday in Armenia. It’s called “water day”. There are all sorts of people out and about, filling their buckets, containers and soakers and trying to douse whoever or whatever is in their path. We managed to avoid getting wet, but one boy fired a warning salvo that just crossed in front of Elder P. I think I gave a “mean stare down” to some who may have been tempted but then were warned off. The young elders reported being thoroughly soaked and even though the day was hot, by the end of it, they were still damp around their middles (I guess under their belts).
Another holiday, or I should say 4 other holidays in the year, are similar to our one Memorial Day. They really make a pretty big deal out of leaving this life and it’s insulting to the family if you don’t visit and participate in whatever is going on.

We had an opportunity to go to a “closing” of a humanitarian project. The project was located in the mountains beyond Lake Sevan, so is about a two hour drive from Yerevan. It was the first we’ve seen Lake Sevan so was nice and the scenery is beautiful. It was interesting that there were no trees on one side of the mountain, but as soon as we went through a long tunnel and come out the other side, the mountains were then filled with lots of trees.

In this project, the goal was to bring water to a school that had no running water. The villagers worked along with contractors to dig ditches, lay pipe, and the end result was a drinking fountain with spring-fed running water. At the closing, the ribbon around the project was cut by Sister Merkley and me and the water turned on. A loaf of freshly baked bread was brought out. The very middle of the loaf had a small depression where they put a bunch of salt. Sister Merkley and I broke off a bit of bread, dipped it in the salt and then ate it. I don’t know what the significance of this is, but you have to be careful to not dip the bread too far into the salt or it becomes pretty salty and not so good to eat. They (those attending the ceremonies) also presented us with two big bouquets of roses.

After all the speeches (of thanks for the help and you’re welcome from LDS Charities with a “plug” for the sponsor) we followed the mayor and others to a restaurant for a lovely meal. They served homemade “massun” (sort of like sour cream) in a huge casserole dish. We ate it as an accompaniment to the vegetables and other foods that followed. There was lots of bread and then came kabobs along with onions and greens. Several toasts were given throughout the meal, so we drank a lot of juices. All of the men from the village did their toasting with little shot glasses filled with vodka. They were a pretty “happy” bunch. At this point, we were feeling pretty satisfied and ready to move on, but then the waitress came out with heaping platters of pork barbecue. I took a small rib to be polite, but then one of the men in the party thought that I should eat a big chop so he leaned over across the table and forked the meat onto my plate. I ate a very little and felt bad about wasting such delicious food, but there is a point… We had a dinner appointment with the other senior couples in the evening and needless to say, we couldn’t eat another thing…but did manage a little ice cream (always room for dessert, right?)