Monday, October 26, 2009
We have been having incredibly nice and warm weather for October in Armenia. It’s been cool in the mornings, but by mid-afternoon, it generally gets up to about 70. I’m thankful that I don’t have to be at school first thing in the morning, so when I do leave it’s already starting to warm up. It’s also been good for drying the clothes, which have to be hung out because there are no dryers here.
This week we have off from school for Fall break. While I’m enjoying the teaching, it’ll be nice to have some time to regroup and get ready for the next two months until the Christmas break. On Saturday there is a conference in Yerevan for TEFLs, my friend Barbara and I will go up on Friday and return on Sunday. This will be only my second time up to Yerevan, and I’m looking forward to being able to walk around it for a while. It’s a really fascinating city, with the old and new mixed in with one another. There are a lot of traces of the Soviet era, yet also a lot of new building going on.
Yesterday I walked down to Kapan, which is about 5 ½ kilometers, all downhill. I really enjoy this walk, because you notice different things when walking and you have the time to take them in. Like on Sunday I was walking and all of a sudden I noticed these vibrant yellow and orange leaves on a tree growing out of rock. I’ve probably started on this walk about 10 times so far, but only walked the whole way about 3 or 4. The other times people who are driving down will stop and give me a ride. This is one of the things I like about it here, the hospitality of the people. They seldom pass by anyone without asking if they want a ride. I’ve tried to refuse a few times, but they are insistent. In a way, it’s a good way to meet the people, although most of them are not villagers, but rather visitors to the village.
The one thing I’ve noticed is that Armenians do not just walk for the pleasure of it, or for exercise. Whenever I go out for a walk, they always ask where I’m going. When I say I’m just walking, they look at me strangely, and ask why. When they walk, they have a destination in mind, a purpose. My host family is finally getting used to my just walking, and I think some of the other villagers are also. I’ve been taking my camera with me lately and have gotten some wonderful shots. One day, when I just started out, I saw 4 of the village youngsters playing in the village center and I took their picture. They then posed for me and of course wanted to see the pictures. They were all smiles and giggles.
There’s this older man in the village who is blind. He usually sits on the bench in the center and I pass him about 3 or 4 times a week. He always calls out hello and I answer him. Last week, I stopped and introduced myself to him and explained who I was and why I am in the village. He now calls me the English woman, because I said I was teaching English in the school.