Spain vs. Armenia

This past weekend was pretty good. Thursday Hector had a birthday party at his house. It was nice to get together with all the other people in the area. Well, Pat and I got to Hector’s house around 3 and already when we got there, food had already been prepared. We basically went straight to eating. Now, if you have been good, and have been keeping up with my blogs (not Will, Brandon, TJ- oh wait, basically most of my best friends) you may remember that Hector’s mom is like the Food Nazi but in the way that she forces food on you. Well, that night, Hector’s family made my two favorite foods, khorovats (Armenian bbq) and Tolma (cabbage or grape leaf wrapped meat/rice and spices- really good). So, basically, I ate from 3, when I got there, till 9, the time when I honestly felt like i was going to pop. I have never been so full in my life. After the food, we had coffee and paklava (not baklava, but paklava- basically the same thing). Probably the most delicious pastry I have ever had, even though things don’t taste nearly as good as when you are starving. I was just the opposite, super full and it still tasted amazing. No. I didn’t eat one, or two, I ate 3 pieces of this paklava and a slice of cake that tasted like s’mores and a piece of Hector’s birthday cake. Yes, as you are, I too was wondering where the space was forming for me to stuff all this desert even after I was already about to burst. Needless to say, I slept like a champ that night. I just couldn’t move off the couch for two hours. Awesome.

The following day, I didn’t go to school, but went into Yerevan to get some work done at the Peace Corps office. I had a lot of high hopes to collaborate with the various organizations and all but two said they weren’t interested. This was great news. Both of those organizations had good reason too. The British Embassy asked, “well, how would you like us to help” and I told them that any information they had would be great... They didn’t have any information but they said if there was another way they could help, they would, even with other projects. The other organization... well lets just say, I don’t really know why I called them. That organization was about pregnant women. Actually, we (myself and the person I was speaking with) got a good laugh out of that).

However, there was one conversation that was pretty funny. At least to me and really awkward. Apparently I had called the same organization twice, which was impossible because they said I called an hour ago but I was just calling down a list. Anyway, just trust me when I say it was impossible but it went like this:

Me: Hello, Im Daniel calling for Peace Corps... blah blah blah
Lady: Yes, you already called
Me: When?
Lady: an hour ago
Me; Are you sure you spoke to me?
Lady: yes
Me: who did you talk to
Lady: what is your name
Me: Danny
Lady: yes, Danny called
Me: Danny who? From Peace Corps? I don’t think I called before
Lady: Yes, you did
Me: I don’t think I did, are you sure it was Danny and not someone else
Lady: Danny called
Me: (totally confused with Vanessa laughing in the background) Uh, Im really sorry then.
Lady: just send an email
Me: ok, thank you bye

So I think there was some major miscommunication because he English wasn’t that great, and neither is my Armenian. You can see how this can be a problem. The actually conversation was a lot funnier now that I look back on it, but I was so terribly confused...

Anyway, that went well. I got a good amount of work done and a lot of organizations are interested in working with Peace Corps. Now I just have to meet with them and get stuff solidified.

So, then Saturday. I went to the market, and met up with Ashley who is here on a Fullbright and we ate lunch together with Michael. Then Michael and I walked around together. I met with Ani that night and we walked around the city and then... SPAIN VS. ARMENIA.

This was awesome. So the “Martuni 6” (that is what we and other people call us because there are 6 guys in the Martuni area). Well, Vincent didn’t want to come so it would have to be the Martuni 5. Hector got tickets way in advance. There are 3000,4000, and 5000 dram tickets. 5000 dram is about 15 bucks. It was awesome. We were basically on the field. we were between the corner and the center of the field and there was no one between us and field. Now, let me explain about security. For a country that is so nice and a country were there are no guns, there was a whole crapload of security.

So while we were walking to the stadium, it began to rain, and I was hungry, so I stopped at a little stand and bought a shwarma (its kind of like a gyro). Really good because it was fresh. I saw the guy put the raw meet onto the skewer and cook it. So, I walked alone to the stadium in the rain. When I got close, there were so many people there and i was like “crap, what a line”. Actually, it was people just standing outside. They just didn’t have tickets. It was weird because the stadium was not even close to being sold out. Anyway, I just walked myself up to where the police were forming a barricade and the police man said “ticket” and I showed him my ticket. Now, this is just a barricade. It didn’t have anything to do with the real ticket place where they rip your ticket but there was just a string of police forming a barrier. Crazy. Then i walked about 50 feet and I was met by another barricade where I had to show my ticket again. This is where they ripped it and I went through a huge gate. Then on the other side of the gate, there were more police EVERYWHERE. I met up with Kyle and we walked to our seats. You know those tunnels that lead you into the stadium, there were huge iron gates in the tunnel where there would be 5 or 6 police people there and they wouldn’t let you in unless you had the correct seat for that area. It was crazy. The police were really nice though and when I got lost trying to figure out the stadium, they helped me out and one guy walked with me.

The game itself was really cool. I had never been to a professional soccer game before and it was so nice being so close to the game. You could almost smell the grossness of the players. Actually you couldn’t at all. But anyway, the game was 2-1 Spain. Spain won on a PK. It was a pretty good game. After that, we left and walked back to the center of the city.

Sunday was the 2791 birthday of Yerevan so the center of the city was completely closed down. So no taxis, no buses, no nothing really. It was cool though because the whole place was really decorated. I would like to come back in 8 years and be here for the 2800 birthday. That is really old. I spent a lot of time at the office, but sitting on the couch. I really like the couch there. I take a lot of naps there when I am waiting for people to finish with their computer work.

All in all a really good weekend. This week with be nice and relaxing. Nothing I have to do this upcoming weekend so that is nice. Should be pretty nice.

Anyway, hope all is going well in the states. Just wanted to say in general because some people have expressed interest in sending me stuff. There is a flat rate box if the contents are going to be heavy. 52 dollars for 20 pounds shipped anywhere in the world by USPS. Definitely put insurance on it because I still have not received a letter I should have gotten a long while back. Also, NO chick-fil-a sandwiches please. It takes a month for packages to get here and meat will not hold for that long.

Oh, and someone tell Brandon to email me back. Preferably TJ since you are the closest. On that note, Im going to need someone who knows him to call him and tell him to tell Brandon to write me back.

Ok, until next time...