This old church and royal palace was destroyed by either an earthquake or Arabs.

Same church. There are ancient churches with fabulous history all over Armenia.

Many games of backgammon, chess and cards in the shade.

Downtown Yerevan. Paved shopping promenade in this area for pedestrians only.

There is a roundabout with no island in the middle with stop lights that no one seemed to be paying attention to; people and cars all mashed together to get through.

Bread served with our meal. It was like a tortilla shell full of air served with a side of hummus.

I sat behind the driver of this bus. You paid as you got off. 

When someone put the coins on the carpeted dash, he flicked the coins under the quilt. 

I got the giggles.

Mrgashen (pronounced mir-cosh-en)

This was Evelyn's training village for 3 months.

On the way here from Yerevan we saw beautiful countryside. There are apricot orchards, grapes, strawberries, pears, cherries. Some very poor farms. Some houses extremely well-to-do (bribed.)

The neighbours of Evelyn's host family greeted her as we came into town.

 The "mom" and girls squealed out the window. A cute welcome.

Back yard of Evelyn's host family was all garden, with a cow barn, chickens and some fruit trees.

Gohar milks the cow, plants the garden, makes cheese (panir,) cans vegetables. 

She said she works all day long.

Gohar (the mother) had an outside kitchen with fridge (eggs on top) and did her canning here.

She also makes lavache here. Primitive wiring, no luxuries.

Gohar fed us a high tea. I had coffee so thick! It was customary to turn the cup over so the "mud" would drain out and someone would tell your fortune. 

Tea is served with very sweet strawberries and cherries for sweetener.

An hour later we had dinner. Horavatz (barbecue anything - we had chicken) with potatoes, matsun, panir, cukes, greens, currant juice, and some other things I can't remember the names of.

Gohar walks her cow to the pasture every morning. It joins the other neighbourhood cows 

for the day and someone herds them back to the village in the evening. 

Each turns off the road into its own gate. That was some sight to see.

Neighborhood kids greeted Evelyn everyplace we went.

Typical home in Mrgashen. 

School toilet. It has a flusher, you just have to have good aim. 

Lots of the public toilets along the highway are similar.

Some Mrgashen homes only have outhouses.

We chatted with these neighbour ladies. Each was knitting on the same sweater, a back, a front, 

and a sleeve. They were the cutest little old ladies, (my age, ha ha.)

They were happy to visit with us.

Gohar with her cow. She doesn't allow anyone in the barn with her.

Mary (6), Joyce, Nellie (5)

Gohar's daughters.

Gohar and husband Gnel with girls.

Gnel works in Yerevan, 10 to 12 hours a day. He earns $300 a month.

7 days a week, no vacation.

Their long range dream is to move to America.

Lots of poverty here, lots of kids and happy people. The streets are narrow, no sidewalks, always someone sitting on the bench beside the door chatting.

Evelyn was welcomed by most of the town with hugs and smiles.

We walked through several streets and it was like we were on parade, a special happening that day. 

On the way to Evelyn's village Vardenis, there's a gas station that consists of 4 cans of gas on the side of the road.

Yerevan city transport is a small bus called a marshutni. You can stand in line for a mini bus, small bus, large city type bus, van size, rattle trappy, and also used from China bus. No telling what will pull up with your route number on it.

Some cars have gas tanks (think propane type) in the trunks. At a gas station, the attendant fills it from a special pump. You must be out of the car. When done, everyone opens windows to air out the fumes.

Our taxi being re-fueled.

Some of the city buses have gas tanks on the roof.

Brian, you'll be getting some of these coffee beans.

They cost 2000 dram for a 2# bag.

We saw a vendor hauling his wares in a wagon made out of a folded up buggy. 

Another man was pulling a homemade horse watering trough with wheels attached.

There are 96 peace corps volunteers (PCVs) in Armenia right now.

The next group comes in a week for 2 years. The current 2 year group goes home in July and August.

Evelyn's Peace Corps office where her bosses work in downtown Yerevan.

Soccer is big in Armenia. There's a huge stadium in Yerevan. 

In Evelyn's first village, kids were playing soccer in a playground with no grass at all.

Seems to be a shortage of deodorant here. Smell was strong at first in the taxi. 

Then we must have gotten used to it.

Visited Freedom Square in Yerevan. Consists of government buildings and a Marriott Hotel. 

Every night there's a fountain light show for 2 hours with music played over a loud speaker and water "dances" in time to the music with lots of color.

Fountain Light Music Show

There's a lot of garbage in the gorges, rivers with lots of dirt, rock and cement in the poorer sections. 

We toured the first christian church in Echmiadzin, built in 301. There's a seminary there where men come from all over the world to learn. It is said that Thaddeus and Bartholomew came here to spread the gospel.

My friend David. 

He started telling me something about Obama and my guide told me he didn't like him. 

I told him I didn't like him either, and he became my friend.

Echmiadzin Church

 Potty stop anyone? At least you didn't have to pay 100 dram to use it like most places. 

At one stop, the girl even doled out the tp. She expected a tip, but we were just finlanders. 

How were we supposed to know?

New testament written and illustrated by hand who wrote until she lost her eyesight. 

The book pages are about 8.5x11 each. This was in the museum at this church and is unfinished.

Also here was a relic (something of religious importance) from Noah's ark. Also: a relic (piece of clothing) from a religious person from china who spread christianity, and relics (metal hand with arm bones inside) showing religious gesture from other important religious people.

Evelyn with a Jazzve at the Jazzve Cafe

A jazzve is for making coffee. Put the coffee and water together (sugar too, if you're not already sweet) in the jazzve and boil it until it almost overflows. It will be very foamy when done. At the restaurant, the bill comes in the jazzve.

Kiwi and pineapple anyone? It made my head turn to a peak. Ai-yi-yi!

I added pinches of sugar out of the sugar bowl, yes, with my fingers, and it was still icky.

Restaurant sign.

Twin sisters holding our lunch, lavash. (a sounds like ahhhh)

Large tortilla type bread. When eating, you just tear off a chunk, spread "stuff" on it, add greens, meat, cheese (not recommended - very salty) cukes, matsun (a yogurt type spread) and eat.

When sold, they fold it up in a square and stuff it in a bag. It is unwrapped on most store shelves, and you take as many sheets as you like.

Selling lavash at the market place. Buyer is inspecting.

Beaded looking things are grape/gel type walnuts on a string.

Dried fruit platters with flower patterns on top. If you wanted a taste, she opened a basket from the bottom and sliced it up. We tasted apricots, walnuts, walnut string beads, figs.

More facts:

Victory Day here (last Wednesday) celebrates the end of World War II.

Political head is a president. This is a clan based society. They don't care for the country and it's people, only their own family. They educate their family outside of the country, and yet they're staunchly proud to be Armenian. Go figure!

No Welfare. Families help each other, and many outside of Yerevan have animals, cows, chickens, goats and vegetable gardens. Young kids aren't asked to help out at home. Men hang out in the street. Most boys don't work or do chores. Girls don't learn how to keep house or cook. When she marries, the couple lives with the groom's family, and she is expected to do all the work so she has it very rough. Women are oppressed in many ways.

Tour guide spoke Armenian, Russian, English.

Started our trip to Armenia Monday. Took a day and a half to get there. 8 hour layover in London, and 8 hour difference in time from UP. Had jet lag big time at the airport. Tried to stay awake but it didn't work. London airport was a high class shopping mall.

Margie said don't look up her nostrils.

At Harrod's department store in the airport. Lots of rich stores, out of our league.

Margie and jet lag having a conversation.

Famous Harrod's Dept Store at the airport in London.

FACTS of Armenia:

A is always pronounced as in "ahhh."

Money is called dram. (as in drama)

R is sometimes rolled as in Finn. Oh wait, there is no r in finn. I mean the Finnish language.

Mt. Ararat is a sacred symbol of Armenia which is strange because it really is in Turkey. It was given to Turkey as a gift many years ago, but then there was an Armenian Holocaust, (called a Genocide here,) which was the systematic killing of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through wholesale massacres and deportations, with the deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees.

At the Genocide Museum. Monument and Eternal Flame in background

The Eternal Flame. Many flowers are regularly placed here.

Many trees are planted here by dignitaries around the world,

 and foundations, in memory of the people who died.

 The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between 1 million and 1.5 million people. The entire Turkish/Armenia border is closed to all travellers because Turkey doesn't recognize the Genocide. You can see Mt. Ararat from Armenia. (remember how to pronounce the a)

It is a huge mountain where Noah's Ark landed.

Mt. Ararat

Women dress up a lot! They wear fancy tops, tight pants and very high heels. It's hard to understand how they can walk on the sidewalks because the walks are very uneven and have lots of holes.

Many of the men smoke. Cigarettes are around $2 to $3. Gasoline is $1.50/litre.

Armenia separated from the Soviet Union in 1991. Lots of the buildings that were under construction by the Russians were abandoned and the Russians went home. So they sit unfinished and empty, just concrete shells.

There were 3.6 million people in Armenia. 1 million live in the capitol city of Yerevan. Population has decreased to about 2.9 million. They are leaving because there's no work. Husbands live and work in Russia, and wives and kids live here trying to survive on very little.

View from our Yerevan 4th floor apt. balcony.

There was an earthquake in 1992 that destroyed a lot of tall buildings. An architect who designed the city recommended no more than 5 story buildings so they are more earthquake safe. With the boom in population, this is often disregarded.

I will be going to Armenia on Mon., (may 7) with Margie Helminen and daughter Joyce...till May 21st.  We will be visiting Margie's daughter Evelyn who is in the Peace Corps.  I will post pics. when I get back; possibly from Armenia, but we will see.

          Ina, Great Uncle Wes Kangas, Martin...........

        Brian and Margie Helminen family....15 kids...(evelyn isn't there, she's in Armenia)

Mark and Janie Haataja, parents of Ina Mae

Katrina and Russell Helminen....from Anchorage, Alaska; 2nd pic, two brudders, Martin & Leo