I'm Back! :)

It has been for ever since I’ve had the time to write!  Life in Armenia is going well.  I had some computer issues recently, but it seems that everything is now resolved.  My computer kept putting itself to sleep… it wasn’t shutting down, it was just going to sleep.  But with the help of a friend who has a lot more patience than I do, my computer is now almost back to normal!

So much has happened in the past week.  Interestingly, I wasn’t exposed to new things with the same depth that I have been so far.  I keep getting tidbits of things that I want to explore more.  But I still want to share these with you.

License Plates, Gangs, and Police

For those of you interested in this kind of thing, license plates in Armenia mean something.  License plates are 2 numbers, 2 letters, and 3 numbers.  It seems if you have a license plate number that has all the same numbers (like 88 xx 888), then you have power or money or a combination of both.  Sometimes, you see a series of cars that have the same plate numbers.  I’ve been told that those are gang cars. 

Yes, apparently there is a gang problem in Armenia.  Or so I’ve been told.  I am not sure what these gangs do, because there really isn’t a drug problem in the country.  Maybe they are just Mafioso types who go around and try to extort money from local business.   I wish I knew more.  I doubt it’s a City of God kind of thing (yes, it is the second time I mention the film on this blog… you should see it.  It’s fantastic).  I tried running a Google search, but came up empty.  I guess am just going to have to find a way to fit a discussion about gangs when I talk to locals.  I am going to have to add it to the list.  As I said, I’ve been getting tidbits of information lately, but I can’t seem to go deep.

The other morning, I woke up to police yelling stuff on loudspeakers.  Actually, I am going to go off on a tangent here.  The traffic cops (called something like “janabarayin vosdigan”) wear GIANT hats and yell things out of loudspeakers they have built in to their cars.  I often hear them yelling.  I can’t make out the words, but the voice always sounds the same.  I think it’s a pre-recorded message telling people to pull over.  It’s probably one of the most irritating things in Yerevan.  So I am glad my apartment is not right on Abovyan street.  My building is behind the building on Abovyan (it’s in the middle of the block).  So it’s much quieter… usually.

Back to the story.  The other morning, I woke up to police yelling stuff on loudspeakers non-stop starting from maybe around 7am.  Now I should mention that the business day starts at 10 am in Yerevan.  So 7am is very early.  When I left for work at 9.45am, they were still screaming, and when I went outside, they were ALL over the place. 

There was a pair of cops outside my building, another pair around my building, another pair by the sidewalk and on street corners, etc.  They weren’t doing anything.  They were just standing around and talking to each other.  And they were only on the corner of Sayat  Nova and Abovyan.  I didn’t know what it was about, but I certainly was NOT going to ask.  I just kept walking.  

I later found out that the Armenian President was speaking at the Ani Hotel, which I can see from my window.  So the traffic cops had been yelling for hours for people to move their cars.  The problem is that, like with any city, there is a parking shortage here.  So people who had parked their cars in front of the Ani Hotel probably live 2 blocks away and couldn’t hear the cops yelling into the loudspeakers.  It was irritating.  You just have to laugh.

Media

Yesterday I visited a children’s center that is funded entirely by donations.  The place is really cool and runs an after-school program for at-risk kids.  Apparently, one of the major cell phone companies in Armenia donates every year to this Center, and the check always has a note that says “advertising” in the memo section showing that the funds come out of the advertising budget.   This is because the Center has good relationships with journalists for PR purposes.  Apparently, every time a company or business is mentioned on the news, the company has to pay the station.  So essentially, the news is an advertising medium.  I was shocked! 

I knew there were issues with the media here.  The subject has come up often at work, and the organization where I am volunteering has an ongoing project that is trying to change that.  But I didn’t realize that companies were paying to be on the news!   I thought the media was just painting a rosy picture of things or maybe misrepresenting consequences and reactions.  But I didn’t think air time on the news was for sale!  This was an interesting discovery.  I guess I will stick to CNN International for my news.

Religion and Emos

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of posters saying things like One People, One Apostolic Church.  The posters have been warning people to stay away from Jehovah’s Witnesses and from gay and lesbian porn sites.  The posters are so ambiguous.  I want to read what these people are saying, but the posters are plain and have no website info.  They also don’t indicate the name of the group or organization that is putting them up.  I wonder if it’s the government putting them.  I also wonder if the posters warning against gay and lesbianism are related to the anti-Emo movement.

Yerevan authorities recently began aggressively taking Emos into custody for questioning partly because of a belief that they were gay. The police also claimed these kids were threats to society because apparently some of them committed suicide.  The Emo is the latest youth/teen subculture.  They dress in eccentric clothes, wear dark makeup, and listen to a certain genre of music.  They are “Emos” because they are all about showing their true emotions regardless of whether they are happy or sad.  Every generation has this group of “eccentrics,” if you will.  I immediately think of hippies and punks.  These arrests were a major cause for concern for human rights groups as these kids did nothing wrong.  They were just being singled out for being different.  Besides, since when is teenage suicide a new issue?

I suppose the people are always afraid of what they don’t know.

Christmas in Yerevan

The shops and the City have started putting up Christmas decorations!  It’s getting cold outside, and it has already snowed a couple of times… though I’ve missed it both times.    The City is so beautiful!  There are lights everywhere, and pretty displays.  I am going to try and take some photos and post them.  It’s so festive!  It’s definitely starting to feel like Christmas. 

The Cleaning Lady Experiment: An Update!

Well, I have made progress with the cleaning lady!  I am beginning to think that she has instructions not to speak to the staff.  Maybe her job is to appear invisible.  

The other day, I noticed that the cleaning lady was finishing up in the kitchen as I was getting ready to leave.  I deliberately moved slowly to try and get into the elevator with her.  I figured I could strike up a conversation while wait for the elevator.  Plus, our office is on the top floor, so we would probably be alone in the elevator for a while before others got on.  I thought it was the perfect opportunity for a conversation. 

So I moved out before she did and waited by the elevator.  She had collected all the garbage in the office, and there was a lot.  She is such a tiny lady!  She is under 5 feet tall and weighs maybe 90 lbs soaking wet.  I saw she was struggling to pick everything up, so I approached her and tried to help.  She looked mortified and didn’t allow me to help her.  It’s not as if the trash was exposed!  It was all in bags!  I take my trash out every day!  It was no big deal.  But she wouldn’t let me.  I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, so I let it go.

We walked to the elevator together, and I pressed the button since her hands were full.  I said “ge nerek, yes tser anoune chem kider.”  (excuse me, I don’t know your name).  She said her name is Angela.  I told her I was Rubina and that it was nice to meet her.  She said “you’re not from here.”  I explained that I was from Canada and now live in the United States.  She asked me if I was there permanently.  I told her I was only a volunteer, and that I would be there until February.  By this time, we were on the elevator on the way down, and others had started getting on.  Once others got on, she just looked down and stopped talking.  I felt that she was embarrassed.  She was holding a lot of garbage.  I am sure working as a cleaning lady was not her dream job as a child.  But there’s really nothing humiliating about it.  Though I admit, people in the elevator were staring at her as if they had never seen a cleaning lady before.  When we got off in the lobby, I wished her a good night.  She responded in her usual demure way.

The next day, I said “pari luys Angela vonts ek aysor” (good morning, Angela, how are you today), and she gave me her usual head nod, whispered something, and didn’t look me in the eye.   So I wonder if perhaps she is either embarrassed or if she is not allowed to speak to the staff.  Maybe they’ve told her she’s not allowed to chit chat.   I guess I am going to have to corner her in the elevator again.