dream outloud

Well, the weekend flew by, and it was Beautiful outside! I went to the Botanic Gardens on Saturday morning, and I just kept having to stop and admire the diamond sparkles on the water, and the way the sunlight turned the leaves gold and ruby. It was fabulous.

Anyways, here's installment 4 of my Armenian adventures... ~c

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Armenia, October 24, 2009

So, yesterday was crazy...and kinda hard. In the morning we got up and had breakfast, and in our minds, everything was already running a1/2 hr. behind. Laurie and I wanted to leave for the market at 9:30 am, but we didn't get breakfast until them, so we left at 10:15, which as it turns out was okay, because the markets don't open until 1-. So, Hayastan, Lova, Hayruit, Laurie and I went to the clothes market in search of hats for the boys at the orphanage, and scarves for the girls. We found black knit "Puma" hats for the boys at about 650 dram, and then we opted for warm tights for the girls instead of scarves.

We got back around 11:30 (yeah - we're power shoppers), which is when we were supposed to leave for the orchard. We left around noon, and went to see the ARM orchard, which is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, but Rozik really wanted us to see the progress they're making on the irrigation line, take pictures, and evaluate. They're doing good work putting in the pipe line, but it's all totally arid...it's gonna take a while until the land is ready to plant.

So, after that, we had to rush to get to the orphanage in time at 1:30 pm. We met with the director, and then played some haphazard games with the kids in an assembly, and gave them some gifts. The director is saving the warm weather gear for later in the year so nothing gets lost before it's cold. He was funny, and had Laurie write out a receipt to keep him accountable. After the assembly, we played with the kids for a while, but my heart just wasn't in it. [which may have been in part to the fact at least a couple of us have been having some rather serious intestinal problems since our arrival.]

When we got back to the ARM grounds, we had a big, late lunch...and cognac. Lova's own moonshine. We took at 1/2 hour break, and then went to work on the dining room. It's in bad shape. But, Jim was on a mission to accomplish something - and we did. We dusted, and washed the windows...but then we just pushed dirt around the floor "washing" it. I'm all bout working, but if it's totally inefficient, it's just frustrating to me - not productive. "Washing" this floor in the manner we were doing it, was the equivalent of picking up one pile of stones, rock by rock, and moving it 10 yards away - for no reason. It definitely got to me - but I stuck it out, and kept my mouth shut (a great feat in and of itself!). Anyways, Lova came in and played "the voice of reason", which was awesome, and timely. We cut off around 1- pm, and after talking a bit went to bed.

Now, I'm just hoping and praying that today will be productive in a good way!