The first days in Armenia have been eventful. I mean, how often do you move to a new country (albeit temporarily), move in with a new family and get introduced to your new workplace within 3 days?
It felt really nice waking up after our trip here, and finding out that Emma had the day off as well. We met up in downtown Yerevan, also known as Kentron, which literally means Center. Walking from my new home to the Republic Square, at the heart of Yerevan was like being hit with a wave of impressions. How the people dressed, the smell of a city I’ve never been to, the way they spoke, the architecture. It’s kind of funny, in Sweden I hear Armenian once in a blue moon and you go into red alert straight away, searching for the source and trying to earsdrop what they’re saying just because you can. Here I was tired just by walking 20 minutes because that reflex was still in me, the only difference is there are 1 million people speaking Armenian with each other.
The day was great, we got to hang out, it kinda felt like dating again, another thing you can’t really say that often in a established relationship. We passed by my workplace, the Birthright Office and said hi and strolled up and down the streets at random for a couple of hours, it felt great being able to walk freely again after our long journey here.
Walking home was a fun challenge, I have to admit, I used google maps and made my way home as the night made its entrance. I made it all the way home but got confused, which entrance did I come from? Three older ladies were sitting outside talking and I excused myself into their conversation, only to find they knew more about me than I would have ever thought. The conversation went something like this:
– Can you tell me where 36d is, I’m looking for ma…
-Margarita yes, you arrived this morning right? it’s on the fifth floor in that building.
I was 50% impressed 50% scared, they probably already knew my blood type as well. I got home and told Margarita and she just shrugged it off, she said something along the lines of “oh, they are the BBC of the neighbourhood”. Apparently they know everything so mission successful on their part I guess.
The next day was my first day at work. It was as uneventful as first days can be. Mainly struggling with access rights to my new workplace and meeting, greeting and forgetting the names of 95% of my colleagues. They are however really nice and I think and hope I’ll be able to contribute in their tasks.
I’ll write a little bit more of my work once I get going but for now I’ll just end this post with a couple of random pictures.
Armenian adventures 