Last weekend, as you know, my host mom and brother left to visit my sister up in another city about two hours away. That left me here. Alone. It was nice to have the house to myself but it was getting a bit lonely. My neighbors however took really good care of me and made sure I was not left hungry. I was still recovering from my illness and each day I would explore a bit further away from the village to see if I could stomach the trip I had wanted to go on to my old village. I went into Martuni and did some errands and found that I was alright, so the following day, I decided that I was ready to make the two hour trip to my old village. I went by myself. It was rewarding to know that I could get on the autobus into the city, get on the right marshutni and then tell the driver when to stop. That’s right, when you want to get off the marshutni, you just tell the driver to stop. So, when I got close to Charentsavan, I told the bus driver to stop on the highway. I got out and luckily there was a taxi that was waiting for a passenger. I got in and off I went.
Now let me explain this. You know that phrase “all roads lead to Rome?” Well quite literally, all roads lead to Yerevan. It is a very inefficient way to travel because it literally uses the hub-and-spoke system of travel. You have to travel to Yerevan, get off, and then take another bus to the city where you want to go. So, this bus was going from Martuni to Yerevan and my stop was along the way.
Anyway, I got to my old house and my grandparents were there. The rest of the family was still at church, so I visited them and talked for a while and then went up to my old room and took a little nap until my family came home. You don’t realize how much you have learned until you have been away for a while but I actually felt like I knew Armenian. I spoke to my old host mom with little to no trouble at all. It was a great feeling. Of course they know what words I know and can use so that was helpful but what a great feeling. They were really excited that I had come back to visit and it was very obvious by how they were acting.
They made me horovats. They killed a lamb just for me. I know that’s weird, but it was a very warm feeling that they did all this for me. I had forgotten how much I liked that family. I was talking to the last guy that lived there, Jon, and he said there is no other family like them so I was really lucky and blessed to have been with them during my training. After we ate, I just hung out with them and talked about my site and what I was doing with my work. Later on that night, we watched Ben Hur. Its interesting watching that movie in Russian. I had no idea what they were saying but it was still a good movie. Maybe that’s what they should do to determine good movies. If it is still a good movie after you watch it in another language, it must be good... Maybe not.
That night I shared a room with my old host brother because my old room was too cold. It was funny because I have a bad habit of snoring and i think that annoyed him. In the middle of the night, I awoke to a pillow hitting me in the head. I got the point. The next morning, I got a good laugh out of it.
The next day I went into Charentsaven and met up with a friend. We talked for a while and then I had to leave around 4. I made it back to my village with no problem. I had gotten back thirty minutes after my new host family had gotten back. Since I was gone, they decided to extend their stay visiting my host sister in the other city. We conversed, but I was really tired so I went to bed early.
So speaking of the title. It is quite cold here. I already have to wear long johns. There is a lot of snow on the mountains behind our house. I’m beginning to worry what this winter will bring. From my understanding, the cold is about a month and a half early. And I don’t think its a front, because its been cold for quite some time now. For me, being from the South, this could be an interesting winter.
Until next time.
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