At home in Alaverdi (Armenia, natch)
Early September, 2000 - one of my first letters from site:
I'm sitting here in my new home (for the next 2 years) in Alaverdi - a canyon town in the north of Armenia. Despite being in the north, it's one of the warmer sites in Armenia - one might even say HOT right now at 2:00 PM. A mazy town with twisty streets and alleys, tons of stairs everywhere. After 2 years here I should have great legs - if I'm not dead first. A river runs through it, with an ancient crumbling bridge (disintegrating stone lions et al) at one end of town, across from the copper factory belching smoke. You can taste it in the air, the heavy metal coating your mouth on bad days. Lots of trees - and lots of trash, blowing about the ground or in small burning heaps here and there, or in the river as per norm. Some sadly abused and overflowing dumpsters where I put my trash in the hopes it will actually go away somewhere.
I've been here a week so far - arrived last Saturday, and it's all still very new and confusing - not to mention my language skills are still pretty pitiful, which doesn't aid in the struggle.
At first it was quite dismal. I got in on Saturday, as I've said, riding the marchutney up from Vanadzor with one of my counterparts (I have two - neither speaks English) who escorted me to my apartment and then buggered off to her own life. I had to wait for the P.C. driver to come with my mountains of things (including my water filter) - I had had nothing to eat, and was nursing a half empty bottle of Fanta. And couldn't leave. ARGHH! Not a joyful occasion. But he came at last, and brought all my stuff, and it was good. Aside from the fact it wasn't a water day (every other night for 2 hours here) and there wasn't a lot of water stored, and the place was filthy. Sort of surface clean, but the grime of ages on everything, a thin layer of dust overlaid. So I had to clean before putting anything away - all in all, it's kind of lacking some of what I'd been led to expect. It's one of those times when you really really miss WalMart, evil as they are. It could be so easy, though...
Pots, pans, dishes, silverware, furniture, and linens are supposed to be provided. Some of that was somewhat true. I had 4 plates, 4 spoons, 4 forks when I first arrived, and some of the normal furniture (i.e. bed, sofa, table, 7 dining room style chairs) and bed linens. 2 teacups, one small glass, and a teakettle. It was looking pretty bleak - OK, I fully expected to have to buy some of the stuff, but not so bloody much! I could even handle buying it if I could figure out where I could get it (hence the urge for WalMart, sick as that may be). My stores have increased somewhat since then (3 pots and a frying pan - solid aluminum! - 4 knives, a couple of bowls plus some stuff I bought myself) but there's still more I'm looking for. Mostly simple stuff - like a cutting board, a bread knife, a couple of normal sized pots and pans (she keeps giving me really small stuff - 1/2 sized or so), and boy! it would be nice to have another shelf in the refrigerator. I know I'm a greedy American - what can I say? It's my culture! Embrace it! A bedside table, a desk, some shelves and some hooks, more clothes hangers... o, the list goes on. A fucking clean house would be nice, for that matter - I'm making progress, but it's slow. All the walls need to be cleaned, and the bathroom is a scary prospect.
Some notes on my apartment: There are two hallways, arranged in a ‘L’ shape with the front door at the top of the ‘L’; one big room with a tiny porch off it straight ahead (at the bottom of the ‘L’); a tiny kitchen at the end of the short end of the ‘L’ hall; and a largish bathroom tucked between the entry hallway and the kitchen. In the bathroom I have a huge, defunct, water heater, a normal toilet, and a bi-level tub. The walls are tiled to about halfway up, and there’s a central drain that the floor slants towards (very handy for the bucket baths). I’ve added two plastic ‘trash’ cans – one small one for TP by the toilet, and a large one for water storage – the bathtub also serves this function. No sink – I’ll be brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink for the next two years.
There's a window between the bath and the kitchen. The refrigerator in the kitchen is the larger dorm size; my stove and gas ‘balloons’ are from Peace Corps. No oven, and sink is truly tiny. There’s a dish cabinet on one side, but no other cabinets or counter space.
The balcony off the main room is about half the size of a standard elevator, with double ‘French’ doors. There’s a stack of boxes by my bed, currently doing service as a bedside table; there’s a huge wardrobe cum bookcase cum cabinet cum entertainment center - everyone here has one – against one wall in this room, still half full of my landlady's stuff. Dark wood, heavily and glossily varnished, lots of trim – really quite elegant in its way. There’s another one of these things, a far less elegant pearlized gray plastic laminate entity, in the main hallway - some coat hooks, an overhead shelf, and a mirror above a box thing. The bottom half of the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen is clean, the kitchen is clean, and maybe half of the bathroom – that’s a daunting task. Exposed pipes, that huge defunct thing squatting in the corner, and the tub - god only knows what's lurking under it. Oy vey.
Yeah, I know I'm in the Peace Corps and these may seem like odd things to be bitching about - but here they're not. It's a very "Westernized" world in many ways. It really wouldn't be half bad if I could get some shelves, my assorted oddments, and a desk. And get it clean.
But here and now it's almost midnight (there have been some breaks in my timeline - I've signed up for karate, seen Matt, annoyed my neighbors, and gotten my laundry) (among other things) and I'm tired. Tomorrow I'll go to the Red Cross with Matt, go to the PolyClinic at noon, and something else I'm forgetting now. Besides writing you, of course - and since all my mail is still going to Yerevan, I'll just have one more letter to write and I'll be caught up for the nonce. Whooo-hooo! All progress is to be celebrated, no matter how small -- and note that I am NOT bitching at ALL about the amount of mail I'm getting (keep on writing, folks!), just how long it's taking me to respond. At any rate - it's bedtime for Bonzo. Good night, wherever you are...
I'm sitting here in my new home (for the next 2 years) in Alaverdi - a canyon town in the north of Armenia. Despite being in the north, it's one of the warmer sites in Armenia - one might even say HOT right now at 2:00 PM. A mazy town with twisty streets and alleys, tons of stairs everywhere. After 2 years here I should have great legs - if I'm not dead first. A river runs through it, with an ancient crumbling bridge (disintegrating stone lions et al) at one end of town, across from the copper factory belching smoke. You can taste it in the air, the heavy metal coating your mouth on bad days. Lots of trees - and lots of trash, blowing about the ground or in small burning heaps here and there, or in the river as per norm. Some sadly abused and overflowing dumpsters where I put my trash in the hopes it will actually go away somewhere.
I've been here a week so far - arrived last Saturday, and it's all still very new and confusing - not to mention my language skills are still pretty pitiful, which doesn't aid in the struggle.
At first it was quite dismal. I got in on Saturday, as I've said, riding the marchutney up from Vanadzor with one of my counterparts (I have two - neither speaks English) who escorted me to my apartment and then buggered off to her own life. I had to wait for the P.C. driver to come with my mountains of things (including my water filter) - I had had nothing to eat, and was nursing a half empty bottle of Fanta. And couldn't leave. ARGHH! Not a joyful occasion. But he came at last, and brought all my stuff, and it was good. Aside from the fact it wasn't a water day (every other night for 2 hours here) and there wasn't a lot of water stored, and the place was filthy. Sort of surface clean, but the grime of ages on everything, a thin layer of dust overlaid. So I had to clean before putting anything away - all in all, it's kind of lacking some of what I'd been led to expect. It's one of those times when you really really miss WalMart, evil as they are. It could be so easy, though...
Pots, pans, dishes, silverware, furniture, and linens are supposed to be provided. Some of that was somewhat true. I had 4 plates, 4 spoons, 4 forks when I first arrived, and some of the normal furniture (i.e. bed, sofa, table, 7 dining room style chairs) and bed linens. 2 teacups, one small glass, and a teakettle. It was looking pretty bleak - OK, I fully expected to have to buy some of the stuff, but not so bloody much! I could even handle buying it if I could figure out where I could get it (hence the urge for WalMart, sick as that may be). My stores have increased somewhat since then (3 pots and a frying pan - solid aluminum! - 4 knives, a couple of bowls plus some stuff I bought myself) but there's still more I'm looking for. Mostly simple stuff - like a cutting board, a bread knife, a couple of normal sized pots and pans (she keeps giving me really small stuff - 1/2 sized or so), and boy! it would be nice to have another shelf in the refrigerator. I know I'm a greedy American - what can I say? It's my culture! Embrace it! A bedside table, a desk, some shelves and some hooks, more clothes hangers... o, the list goes on. A fucking clean house would be nice, for that matter - I'm making progress, but it's slow. All the walls need to be cleaned, and the bathroom is a scary prospect.
Some notes on my apartment: There are two hallways, arranged in a ‘L’ shape with the front door at the top of the ‘L’; one big room with a tiny porch off it straight ahead (at the bottom of the ‘L’); a tiny kitchen at the end of the short end of the ‘L’ hall; and a largish bathroom tucked between the entry hallway and the kitchen. In the bathroom I have a huge, defunct, water heater, a normal toilet, and a bi-level tub. The walls are tiled to about halfway up, and there’s a central drain that the floor slants towards (very handy for the bucket baths). I’ve added two plastic ‘trash’ cans – one small one for TP by the toilet, and a large one for water storage – the bathtub also serves this function. No sink – I’ll be brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink for the next two years.
There's a window between the bath and the kitchen. The refrigerator in the kitchen is the larger dorm size; my stove and gas ‘balloons’ are from Peace Corps. No oven, and sink is truly tiny. There’s a dish cabinet on one side, but no other cabinets or counter space.
The balcony off the main room is about half the size of a standard elevator, with double ‘French’ doors. There’s a stack of boxes by my bed, currently doing service as a bedside table; there’s a huge wardrobe cum bookcase cum cabinet cum entertainment center - everyone here has one – against one wall in this room, still half full of my landlady's stuff. Dark wood, heavily and glossily varnished, lots of trim – really quite elegant in its way. There’s another one of these things, a far less elegant pearlized gray plastic laminate entity, in the main hallway - some coat hooks, an overhead shelf, and a mirror above a box thing. The bottom half of the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen is clean, the kitchen is clean, and maybe half of the bathroom – that’s a daunting task. Exposed pipes, that huge defunct thing squatting in the corner, and the tub - god only knows what's lurking under it. Oy vey.
Yeah, I know I'm in the Peace Corps and these may seem like odd things to be bitching about - but here they're not. It's a very "Westernized" world in many ways. It really wouldn't be half bad if I could get some shelves, my assorted oddments, and a desk. And get it clean.
But here and now it's almost midnight (there have been some breaks in my timeline - I've signed up for karate, seen Matt, annoyed my neighbors, and gotten my laundry) (among other things) and I'm tired. Tomorrow I'll go to the Red Cross with Matt, go to the PolyClinic at noon, and something else I'm forgetting now. Besides writing you, of course - and since all my mail is still going to Yerevan, I'll just have one more letter to write and I'll be caught up for the nonce. Whooo-hooo! All progress is to be celebrated, no matter how small -- and note that I am NOT bitching at ALL about the amount of mail I'm getting (keep on writing, folks!), just how long it's taking me to respond. At any rate - it's bedtime for Bonzo. Good night, wherever you are...
posted by meg at 7:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home