dream outloud

I love traveling!

But somehow, this trip, I was actually ready to come home. I couldn't get to the airport fast enough, and the plane wasn't nearly as speedy as it should have been.

Perhaps it's because I haven't had a day to myself in a month (to the day, tomorrow). Or maybe because it's because it's funny being in a foreign town on a foreign content, and yet people still speak English, so basically, you might as well be home. Whatever the reason, I'm quite happy to be back, and with the prospect of a few hours to myself looming some time in the near future. And clean clothes. :)

Well, I kept a journal throughout my travels, and it's not extremely detailed - just an overview of my impressions. So, I think every day for the next week or so, I'm going to type up one of my journal entries on here, so you can get a feel for the what the past 2 weeks have held for me. I hope you like it.

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Armenia, October 18, 2009

Okay, so it's bee a few crazy days of traveling, and lots of time spent in various forms of transportation.

On the flight to London, we managed to have 1 too many checked luggage bags/boxes, but it all worked out fabulously, because Steve's bag was small enough to be a carry on - Praise Jesus! (and many thanks to guys for being light packers!)

I sat next to a cute British boy on the way to London, and he fell asleep on my shoulder while I watched the Terminator. And when we landed, the group of us were able to spend about 4 hours in London!

We took the Piccadilly Tube to Leicester Square and went to lunch at Pret A Manger ( a local chain, kinda like a Corner Bakery), and then roamed about Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, through St. James' Park and to Buckingham Palace. We even saw the Queen! Well, Steve did - the rest of us were blocked out by the crowds - but they played a little fanfare on their trumpets and everything! It was just so...British!

On the flight to Yerevan, Laurie and I got a little loopy after being up for so long. The dinner packaging had the word "Enjoy" written all over it, and I happened to say "Enjoy!", and stick the seal up across the headrest in front of me, and we thought it was quite funny...in fact, we're still joking about it, probably will be for the rest of the trip.

We safely arrived in Yerevan, and fairly easily got through customs with some silver-tongued Armenian from Laurie. Then, Arman, and Lova were there to greet us (at 1:30 am) with a 15 passenger van, and a Mercedes, which took us to the ARM Grounds.

And then we slept. Yeah. :)

[Side Note: The door to our bathroom doesn't quite fit in the frame, so you have to lock it to keep it closed, but the lock doesn't really work all the great either, so Laurie locked herself in the bathroom...I was about to pull the anchors out of the hinges, when she finally got out...it was really funny.]

Later Saturday morning, we got up and Laurie and I took turns having sourge (Armenian coffee - so good!) with Hayastan (Lova's wife) and cleaning up. After that, and breakfast (with yummy home-made apricot jam), we sat in the sun for a bit, and I went back to bed. :)

Two hours later, we headed for Vernisage (the local flea market), and then to the Genocide Memorial, and Khor Verap (a church nestled in the shadows of Mount Ararat, where St. Gregory the Illuminator was held prisoner in a dungeon for 13 years). We found a random statue on a hillside to explore, and then went out for dinner in Yerevan.

Sunday, we got up at 7...or so I thought... Apparently, my clock was off by an hour, so I felt really bad that Laurie didn't get a shower (which she was really looking forward to). We loaded up the van with our luggage, and all took a sourge break. Then we picked up Dr. Ruzanna and Mary (Arman's daughter), and left for Vanadzor. We stopped at a bakery in Spitak on the way (which was AMAZING!), dropped Ruzanna off at the clinic, and got to church 1/2 hr late.

It was weird.

The building is huge and new and incredibly opulent. A stark contrast to its surroundings, and to what it used to be like. (When I'd visited on former trips, before the church building was completed, we met in a simple cinder block building with no windows, and old assembly room seating, and bare bulbs in the ceiling).

We had lunch at the clinic, checked out the new building (a building was given to ARM by the Armenian government - free of charge for 50 years - and it's right by the clinic...we're still trying to figure out how it's going to be used. A LOT of work needs to go into it...it's basically still just a frame), played with the kids at the playground, and had sourge Round 2.

We went to Arman's for dinner, and stuffed ourselves. Arman's Aunt is visiting them from Rome, and she made lasagna for dinner....but it was just the appetizer! We rolled ourselves to the "Govna's" Hotel (a little joke I have with Jim), and now we're going to bed. Yum...bed. :)