I knew I’d be experiencing new things in Armenia but one thing I for sure didn’t want to experience was the smell of gas.

I know my parents will probably freak out when they read this and wish for me to just go home but eh. Worth sharing anyway. Last night when I came home my host sister Armine asked me to step out on the balcony and smell the air. Weird question I thought, but okay. She explained that she had a stuffy nose but was sure she could smell something and needed a second opinion.

She was right, it did smell weird and quite much of it. She calmly said “it’s probably just a gas leak outside” and she was going to call a guy about it. I asked if we should be worried and she shrugged and said “nah, only if it’s a big leak and people decide to smoke. Then its a big explosion”.

Funny thing is that I would assume that if you can feel a heavy smell of gas out in the open, it’s probably a significant leak. And another funny thing is, like 80% of the Armenian population smoke like chimneys. So I freaked out, while Armine called “the guy” calmly and was told that if we still smell it in 10 minutes we should call again. Luckily we didn’t, it had probably been a rusty car passing by. But what if the smell would have been there after another 10 minutes; imagine how many cigarettes you would have time to light during these 10 minutes?

My worries and maybe exaggerated feelings aside, two good things came out of this; 1) we survived, and 2) Armine plugged in her gas sensor, apparently she doesn’t use it that often.

Safety here is something else, for sure.