Renewal and Remembrance

While not quite an adventure, experiencing Easter here was different just like everything else is. And this year was even different for the Armenians because it happened to coincide with the national day to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

Some Easter traditions I learned about are similar to the US. People color eggs although the church would prefer that they only be colored red to remind us of Christ’s blood. Using onion skins as a natural dye is preferred but I saw dyes of other colors sold in the markets so it is clear that many people don’t follow that guidance.

While some may engage in an Easter egg hunt, the more popular tradition is to have “fights” with Easter eggs, hitting them against someone else’s to see whose shell will break first and the winner gets both. We were told about kids making eggs out of wood or coating their eggs with other things to make them harder to crack to improve their odds.

Candy is not as popular as an Easter treat, probably because people eat candy here on a regular basis. Nonetheless, I did see jellybeans and candy similar to marshmallow peeps for sale in one store the other day so maybe another US tradition is creeping in over here. They have no “Easter Bunny” here and I was at a loss to explain why we have a holiday mascot that can’t reasonably provide colored eggs on his own.

But in keeping with the fact that Christianity is the state religion, the religious traditions were key. Last weekend, I witnessed the observation of Palm Sunday. As in the US, virtually everyone seems to go to church on Palm Sunday even if they do not regularly go. One difference, though, is that I did not see any real palms anywhere, and someone in my conversation club confirmed the obvious reason – because they don’t have palm trees here (people in the club were surprised to hear that there are palms in New York churches since we don’t have palm trees there either). Here, people brought branches from various plants to have them blessed, mostly willow branches as preferred by the church. Many vendors had set up outside of the main church so you could buy some in case you didn’t have any. The branches are then kept in the home until the following Palm Sunday.

This past Saturday, people again went to church to light candles from a common flame, similar to what I saw at Christmas. Again the vendors were set up outside the church, this time selling plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off as a shield to protect the candles from blowing out. While there was not a service in progress while I was there, I did see a lot of people going to the altar to kiss an icon there. While women often wear a scarf or head coverings of some sort in church, it is not mandatory and the younger women seem to follow that tradition less than older women do. To visit the altar that day, however, all women had to have their head covered and someone was there to make sure that was adhered to. Temporary ones were provided to those without and I even saw two women sharing a longer one. Men did not need to have their heads covered but the women substantially outnumbered the men in the time I was there.

Both times were solemn affairs, but I did notice, as often before, people taking cel phone calls in the church.

I did not go to a church on Easter itself but did attend an Easter meal. A few weeks back, some of my fellow volunteers happened to meet a relative of Gyumri’s mayor (his brother’s daughter-in-law to be exact) and she invited all of us to lunch. It had many of the characteristics of other celebratory meals I had been to (lots of food, freely pouring wine, scotch, vodka and brandy). Traditional Easter dishes were served (rice with raisins, a salad made of potatoes, beets and cream, Armenian pastries, fresh and dried fruits, nuts). Toasts were made to the United States, to Holland (a pair of Dutch tourists cycling through Armenia had joined us), friendship between our nations and other things.

My lunch companions and host

We had also been told to bring pots with us to take home some food that was to be cooked for Easter. While I did not get a potful of my own, I sort of inherited a pot of soup that a fellow volunteer did get and would not be able to eat since she was to be out of town. Leaving the house, we saw a pair of sheep’s heads lying on the lawn, so I think I have a pot of sheep khash in my refrigerator now (see my earlier post about cow khash). Yum.

While Easter is normally a joyful holiday in Armenia (including a text message I got from the main Armenian church – imagine getting a text from the Vatican and you get the idea), as I noted above it was also Martyr’s Day, the day of remembrance for victims of the Armenian Genocide. It marks the day in 1915, when Armenian leaders, writers, thinkers and professionals were rounded up, deported and killed in Constantinople (now Istanbul) under the “Young Turk” government. Meanwhile, over 5,000 of the poorest Armenians were killed in the streets and in their homes. Although numerous prior atrocities had been committed by the Turkish Government against the Armenian people, this day marks the official beginning of what is referred to as the Armenian Genocide.

To this day, the Turkish government denies the occurrence of an Armenian Genocide. And while the US Ambassador attended a memorial service, the fact that President Obama has not yet used the word “genocide” in commemorating the event is a very sore point with the Armenian people and the Armenian diaspora.

Every year on April 24, masses of people go to the genocide memorial in Yerevan to lay flowers in memory of the victims. I visited the memorial last summer and, while there are always flowers there from the people visiting on a given day, the quantity brought on the commemoration day is understandably much larger.

Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial

The memorial flame and flowers last summer

April 24, 2011

But not all of the remembrance events are the same either. On April 23^rd, for the 11^th consecutive year, a youth group in Yerevan has held a torchlight procession, including the burning of a Turkish flag. The government, which has been working for some time on rapprochement with Turkey, disavowed the action, which was responded to with an Armenian flag burning in Istanbul [article here].

While rain had been in the forecast for Easter (as it has been raining most of the month) it turned out to be a beautiful day. A good day to be both happy and solemn as you wish.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

In the past couple of weeks, a few things have happened that have made life a little more difficult. I have written before about the exploding water heater, the subsequent (short lived) absence of water and the month long absence of hot water. That is all in the past now. Next was the dog bite. I was on my way to the gym I joined (yes - I found one and a discussion of that as compared to the ones in the US warrants its own post sometime later) and was taking the shortcut I had discovered from my apartment to where it is located. The shortcut goes through a residential area, although one that is a bit more, shall we say, rustic. It passes through an area with "domik" housing and where steps have been fashioned into the hillsides for passageways. Between the sets of steps there are dirt paths that wind between the houses, many of which have irregular property lots. And the area also has a lot of dogs.

It has always been unclear to me about whether the dogs you see roaming around are stray or belong to people. My Gyumri host family's dearly departed Gosha, for example, used to disappear for days and wandered around on his own. You sometimes see people walking dogs on leashes but that is a rarity and I have only once seen a dog on a chain outside its house. So the dogs I pass in this particular area could be guarding individual houses or they may just be stray.

In any event, sometimes I pass through and the dogs just watch me and don't make a sound. Other times one starts barking and every other one in the area joins in. One dog at the top of the hill that sometimes started this chorus I nicknamed "The General" as I seem to recall a kid's movie with a "leader" dog who passed messages through a community of dogs. But I digress. I had been told a while back that the ones guarding a property will usually only bother you if you cross onto their property so I never worried too much as I keep to streets and stay out of other peoples' business. We had also been warned in pre-service training not to look dogs in the eye or you may provoke them. I don't know if the first is true but I can tell you the second probably is. Walking up the hill, the General started barking at me. I was in a bit of a mood so I stared at him to show I wasn't scared. But when I passed, he lunged and bit my calf. I spun around, threatened to kick him and moved my arm is if to throw a rock and he backed off. I discovered the skin was broken in five places even though my pants didn't appear torn. On the way back later, he started again but this time I had a rock, raised my arm as if to throw it and he backed off (and - yes - I walked there deliberately so as to not let him win). Since then, I have continued to walk in that area but have noticed dogs are more scarce since then (although not entirely absent). Some do still make a fuss when I pass but I have adopted the practice of keeping a rock with me just in case. As I have written previously, dogs here tend to be maltreated so the threat of harm to them is usually sufficient to make them back off. I had been hesitant to get into that mindset so as to not perpetuate it but now we see how far that got me. But I also wonder about the reduced presence. I have heard about "round ups" where people shoot stray dogs periodiocally and sometimes (relatively) domesticated ones get caught in one. A fellow volunteer tried without success to save her neighbors' dog who got shot recently. Yes, there is a problem but I wish programs like another volunteer suggested (to neuter strays and create shelters) would be adopted. There is one in Yerevan, but again...this ain't Yerevan. So, I have been receiving rabies shots although they are not as painful as everyone but me seems to have heard about (it's five shots in the arm over four weeks - not 14 in the abdomen). I need to make a five hour round-trip journey for each shot that takes five minutes to administer, but at least I have more dedicated reading time.

Then last weekend, while exercising at home, I managed to spill water on my laptop. Yes - I know it is foolish to keep an open bottle of water next to a laptop but there you have it. I learned that the recommended way to address this is to put the computer into a bag of rice for a few days to absorb the moisture but apparently I learned that too late as I had booted the thing up a few times already since the spill. I had some local experts look at it to see if it can be fixed and am exploring other options (like getting a new one brought to me) while I use the various internet cafes in Gyumri. But I have now heard that the keyboard seems to be shot and maybe more so I need to take another trip to Yerevan to find a quality repair person. As a result, my posting has been (and probably will continue to be) delayed until I can write at leisure somewhere where I am not charged by the hour. And someday, I will be able to file my tax return, but that is an entirely different issue. But, at least I have more dedicated reading time. What is surprising to me about all of this is how calm I am about it. In the past, I typically got very worked up about things, even when there was nothing I could do about it. But it is evidence of the effect that a slower-paced environment has on me that I now do what I have to do and get on with things. There are worse things than unplanned trips to Yerevan. The dog bite is better than the broken ankle that another volunteer suffered recently. I am lucky that I am in a country with internet access and in a city where internet cafes are plentiful although I need to again get used to not having access whenever I want it. I can make an electronic estimated tax payment until I can get my return filed. I was probably spending too much time on the computer anyway. As they say here "vochinch" - which literally means "nothing" but one of the uses loosely translates to "What are you gonna do?" And did I mention that I have more reading time?

Yerevan (and a couple of updates)

As I have written numerous times, Yerevan is like a separate country from the rest of Armenia. Having spent a good part of last weekend there, I had time to reflect on all of the things that make it stand apart.

As with the rest of the country, Yerevan has a complex history and it is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. While it had not been a big city, its location was seen as important by both the Persians and Russians who alternated in controlling what is now Armenia over the centuries.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, Yerevan had a population of about 30,000, about the same as Gyumri. When Armenia became part of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, a plan was developed to expand it. Many historical buildings were demolished to carry out the new plan and as a result, much of the architecture has a Soviet flavor to it. But most of the buildings are made of “tufa” and the coloration can be quite interesting, glowing sometimes depending on the light.

Republic Square

Yerevan Police Building and maybe inadvertent inspiration for an Aha video

As I understand it, the Soviets wanted a major city in Armenia (“major” defined as a population above 1 million) and so infrastructure was put in place to permit that. I had heard that doing the same for some of the other cities (Gyumri and Vanadzor) was considered but they never got around to it and the earthquake and collapse of the Soviet Union put an end to the prospect of that. Currently, Yerevan has a population of about 1.3 million – more than one third of the total country.

Yerevan is the seat of the government, home to the more prestigious universities and it has the only true international airport (Gyumri’s is international but only has flights to Russia). It has a botanical garden, a zoo, a water park and - very surprising for the nation that prides itself on being the first to make Christianity the state religion - a mosque. But beyond the obvious things one would expect a capital to have, there are many other differences.

While Gyumri has several Armenian restaurants, a couple of Georgian ones and a nominally Italian one, Yerevan has Chinese, Mexican, Sushi, Italian, French, Indian and the most gourmet of all – Pizza Hut and KFC (I’m still not sure why McDonald’s doesn’t have a presence).

Life tasted great for Chris' birthday celebration

While several cities have cafés that serve as places to socialize, Yerevan also has nightlife – bars, dance clubs and strip clubs (discreetly called “Night Clubs”).

There are cafés with Wi-Fi and one that I have been to that broadcasts BBC news all day. Unlike in Gyumri, there are places that serve breakfast. One bookstore/café that is a favorite of volunteers has bacon, French toast with real syrup and bagels. Virtually all of the staff in the cafés and restaurants speak English.

Almost every village, town and city has grocery stores (“khanuts”) and Yerevan has those but it also has 24-hour supermarkets. The towns and cities have stores that sell clothing and housewares while Yerevan also has Benetton, Swarovski, Guess, Pierre Cardin, Zegna, Bally, Bang & Olufsun and many others.

Gyumri has marshutnis and buses with benzene tanks on the roof for transportation. Yerevan also has marshutnis and some of the old buses but it also has a subway and electric powered buses. And every road that I have been on there has been paved (for the most part).

While most villages, towns and cities have some sort of “culture house”, Yerevan also has theaters with live performances, an opera house and a 5-D movie theater (I haven’t a clue what the fifth dimension is – I only know the one that sang “Age of Aquarius”).

Yerevan Opera House

In the opera house there are ballets, operas, symphonic concerts and pop concerts. The main movie theater has an annual international film festival but you can also see Nicholas Cage train wrecks dubbed into Russian. I am told that they sometimes have movies in English but I haven’t been to one. I have grown content watching things on my computer.

There are wide, tree lined streets that have shops all along them.

Looks better in the summer

There are several parks, including one that arcs around half of the city center. In the main square, there are dancing fountains like the ones in Las Vegas. There is public art all over the city, including works by Botero.

The Cascade, a massive stairway that overlooks the opera house contains a contemporary art museum and, when the weather is nice, concerts and dance performances are held there.

While many places around the country have Peace Corps volunteers, Yerevan has ex-pats. Score one for the regions.

While Yerevan is not a world-class city it is still pretty nice. There are about two dozen museums, including the Matenadaran, which houses thousands of ancient manuscripts. The smallest church in Yerevan (and one of the oldest) sits right in the middle of downtown and there is a more modern cathedral as well.

National Gallery

Matenadaran

Katoghike

Cathedral

The parks and some of the squares have nice cafés that are a great place to pass the time and do some people watching. The people come across somewhat more sophisticated, but the manner of dress that I have seen around the country seems to me a national thing and not a regional one.

At the Vernissage – a large market open every weekend – you can buy anything including Soviet propaganda posters, dental equipment, tacky souvenirs, bad art, nice art, rugs, puppies, Russian pornography, jewelry, antique cameras – you name it. There is a separate market just for art and it ranges from the kinda nice to the downright terrifying.

Like most of the country, the hotels are overpriced relative to the cost of everything else, just more so. In Gyumri, the decent hotels charge about the equivalent of $65 per night and upward for a single room. While some hotels in Yerevan have comparable rates, the Marriott has a rack rate of over $260 per night. [The hostel at which volunteers mostly stay costs the equivalent of about $14 per night.] By comparison, you can get a decent dinner including drinks for less than $20 in Yerevan and there are plenty of places to get food much cheaper. The subway costs the equivalent of 15 cents. A liter of water is less than 50 cents in most stores. Cigarettes are normally less than $1.50 per pack – and much cheaper if you don’t care what brand you get.

While the cost of many things in Yerevan is lower than in other countries, they still seem expensive when you are used to paying prices in the regions and are living on a Peace Corps allowance. A very tasty dessert or a 12 ounce bottle of beer at 1,000 dram (less than $3) compares to an Armenian “gata” pastry at 140 dram or a half liter beer at 500 dram in Gyumri.

And you can pay by credit card, unlike most of the rest of the country. As a matter of fact, it can pay a bonus – at a recent visit to a Mexican restaurant, I paid with my American Express just because I could. The server told me that paying with Amex entitled me to a free additional margarita. Sweet.

Because there are so many amenities, volunteers may be tempted to get away from their sites and spend all their free time there. We have a policy that limits the time in Yerevan to two nights per month which is enough for me. I am only two hours away and, while it is nice to take advantage of what it has to offer, each visit also reinforces how deprived Gyumri is. But while I ask myself how the country can allow such a disparity, I also have to ask myself the same about the US – the distance from Manhattan to Camden NJ is about the same in many respects.

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Update 1

Right after my last post, I went to my weekly English conversation club. Given that it fell two days after International Women’s Day, we had decided to make the topic women that the club members admired and each would make a presentation to the group.

Well, as it turns out, everyone seemed to have forgotten that part of the plan. Nonetheless, the other PC volunteer (also male) and I steered the topic into the role of women in society. All of the participants except two were female, mostly university students, and the women did most of the talking. And what I heard still surprises me. Among the opinions expressed were:

• Men are more intelligent than women. While the women in their classes study all the time and the men don’t, the men get equivalent grades and that must mean that they are smarter. No mention was made of the impact that rampant corruption in the educational system likely plays in that phenomenon, but that is a topic for a future post.

• Men are more trustworthy than women. What started as a sub-discussion about gender-typical jobs led to a consensus that the participants would not patronize a female attorney. “Male attorneys will follow the law. Female attorneys will always look for some sneaky way to get around the law and therefore should not be trusted.” I didn’t get into my view that most attorneys in the US are sought out specifically for this reason.
  

For various reasons, a similar view extended to female doctors and other professions. And while this also included hairdressers (they are reputed to pull their customers hair), that is typically a woman’s job so I am not sure how one gets around that.

• Women are frail and need protection from men. The woman expressing this opinion kept saying that “they” are frail and when we pointed out that she is one of “they” and asked if she is frail, she answered “Yes”. This came from a person pursuing a Masters degree at a business university.

As I said in previous posts, it seems inevitable to me that women will have to take a greater part in the historically male parts of society. But, in the meantime, it seems that a lot of the arguments made to keep a segment of society servile have been internalized to the extent that any such changes may come as much of a shock to the women as it will to the men.

And after saying that I had never seen a woman driver in Gyumri, I saw two this past week. And I had been paying attention before – I swear.

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Update 2

After four weeks without, I finally got my new water heater and have hot water again. While it was a nuisance not having it, I had been well prepared the first six months here when I had no running water at all (with my Solak host family) or cold water only (with my Gyumri host family). Once again, everything took longer – bucket bathing, washing clothes and washing dishes required water to be heated on the stove first – but I managed fine and simply worked around it by doing each less often.

But sometimes one does really want a nice hot shower and I learned about the public baths that we have here. I am told that Gyumri has six of them and I am actually surprised that there are not more since there are quite a few people who have no running water. In my walks around the city, I often see people filling buckets from pipes outside and carrying them back to their houses, some of which are literally around the corner from me. Similarly, many people do not seem to have gas so their heating is provided from wood stoves.

At both of the bath places I visited you can rent a room for 45 minutes. One cost 500 dram (about $1.50) and the other is 800 dram (a little over $2) per person (family members often go together and one charges half price for children under 7). While this may sound cheap, I should point out that the average salary here is about $200 per month and a significant number of people are unemployed. Therefore, what I treated myself to for mental health purposes may actually be a luxury to others.

While neither could be considered a spa, I was quite happy with them and actually preferred the less expensive one. You rent a space with two rooms – one to change in and one with the actual shower. The shower heads were high enough to be above my head (a nice surprise), the water pressure was good and the temperature nice and warm. While I was waiting, I had the opportunity to observe some of the other patrons – a mother and daughter one time and a married couple the other. Despite the circumstances that lead people to need places like this, the people did not look any different from others I see around town all the time. While I do not have the comforts I am used to in the US, my set up here is still pretty nice. And it is good to sometimes see how people really live here, making you question how you define a “necessity”.