it's Christian here, live in Yerevan reporting back on a riveting Day 2 in the books for our Armenia trip. What a day it has been! We had a completely wonky sleeping schedule, with all four of us later discovering that we had all, at separate times woken up between the hours of 3 and 5 a.m. because we simply could not sleep. Here is to hoping that we have a little more luck tonight with a stable sleeping schedule.
During those two hours in the early morning, we heard noise and movement in our hallway, but I personally was too tired to go outside and find out who had arrived or what they were doing making noise at such an ungodly hour. However, when I got up this morning and stepped into the hallway, who did I see but my beloved Maroon 20 partner Sona, who is here for the conference from Greece (Maroon 20 was the nickname we gave our 2015 Armenia missions team). It was such an amazing surprise to see her there, especially because she had not told anyone she would be attending and I was not expecting to see her there, let alone know she was staying two rooms away from us. I had not seen here in three years, so it was a special moment to embrace and realize that we would get to serve together again in Armenia.
Because today was technically a free day for us as all the groups from around the world are flying in to begin the trip, the four guys decided to head out to grab a tasty breakfast before beginning our day. We decided on a quaint sidewalk café called Hemingway's (he's made his way out to Armenia, apparently). Nicholas and I both ordered omelettes, but they did not come in the traditional American half moon shape. My omelette came in a bowl, watered down with the juice of tomatoes I ordered in it, while Nicholas' came on top of pita bread and served with vegetables. It was a switch-up from what I'm used to, but it tasted fantastic, so I can put that down as another amazing meal here in Yerevan. It seems you can't go wrong with the incredible variety of food available to you here. Certainly a far cry from the boring, bland Russified cuisine of the Soviet era that many people may envision when it comes to Armenia's cuisine (borscht, anyone?).
After breakfast, we decided to explore the central area on our own a bit more, and somehow ended up stumbling onto a little gem of a gelato shop down one of Yerevan's main streets, Northern Avenue. For some reason, even at 10 in the morning, gelato went down fantastically well after our meal, and especially given how hot it already was, gelato was a good choice for everyone. As we were walking, we stumbled across a comical and hilarious scene of a truck that must've been from the time of Stalin parked in the middle of a busy intersection as an older Armenian man was fixing an electrical line that ran over the street. It looked like dangerous work, and ever the kind and caring servant for the public good, George could not help but wonder if this man was unionized or not and was being compensated properly for his exertions (hint: he's not). Picture is included below for your viewing pleasure.
We returned back to the AMAA headquarters to relax and wait until a driver came to take us and our luggage to the Ibis Hotel in Yerevan, where we would be staying for a portion of the missions trip. We ended up napping (or in my case, reading) for about 3 hours, until our very Armo but very awesome driver Samvel (not Samuel, you must call him SamVEL) arrived to take us over to the hotel. We all had our own worries about what a hotel experience would be like in Yerevan, but I am happy to report that the hotel is fantastic, modern and chic, with all the amenities and then some that anyone could ever want. Nicholas and I are sharing a room, as are Pat and George. The rooms, in typical European fashion, are extremely small, but we are all making due. I guess they model the hotel room size after Armenian men's pants here in Yerevan; too tight in all the wrong places. The beds are barely big enough for Nicholas and I both if we are laying straight, but we are enjoying the experience nonetheless. Being on the ninth floor and having incredible views all around doesn't hurt my opinion of the hotel either. We managed to catch an episode of Spongebob (hilariously dubbed in Russian) before we nodded off for a little while to rest.
We took a little time to relax before getting a knock on our door. When I answered, it was none other than our own cousin Alyssa from Ohio! We were overjoyed to see her, as it was her first time traveling to Armenia, and she had wanted to come on this trip specifically so she could serve with us. Alyssa is only half Armenian (her dad is black), and so she doesn't know any Armenian and isn't very close with her Armenian roots, but from the time she first heard about this missions trip, she had her heart set on coming and serving in her home country, and we encouraged her to pursue that goal! Originally, we thought she had missed the reservation deadline for the trip, but somehow she managed to finagle her way onto the team and it was such a funny yet odd feeling seeing her in a place that is completely foreign to her. We normally see her in Ohio or California, so it really was crazy to see her here, thousands of miles away from her normal territory, ready to serve with us. I admire her courage to travel to a country whose language she does not know, and whose people she is not necessarily close with. She has a servant heart and we are delighted to be with her!
At 6:30, we gathered as a group and walked back over to the AMAA headquarters to meet up with the other 100 or so youth from around the world for fellowship and dinner. It was fantastic to see people I knew from Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Lebanon, Armenia and beyond, and to meet new people from around the world as well. The kind women of the Evangelical Church of Armenia, Yerevan had prepared a delicious meal of chicken, salad, and pasta, and it was safe to say we destroyed our plates. Thank you Armenian women, we love you very much. We had the rest of the night to ourselves, so we decided to go as a big group of about 20 of us to a lounge and cafe near the city center where we hung out, ate, laughed and reminisced until around 10.
George, Pat, Nicholas and I headed back early so we could get a full-body workout in before bed. We are determined to stay fit and healthy on this trip, and that means getting in regular exercise, whenever and however you can. It is so helpful when you have other guys who care about fitness just as much as you, pushing you to work harder and achieve maximum results, and so even though we were doing exercises in a tiny hotel room, we got it done and we all feel great as a result! And so, that draws an end to a relaxing but eventful day in Armenia, as we prepare for our first day with the entire group tomorrow. Stay tuned and thank you as always for reading and sharing your thoughts. I am so happy to hear from each and every one of you, even while we are thousands of miles away. Thank you.
Love,
Christian
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| Non-Union, which stressed George out ;) |
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| Pyoorker Kink, anyone? |
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| The lobby of the Ibis Hotel Yerevan |
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| Alyssa is here! |
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