Tuesday, December 30, 2008

cultural shock

hm. i don't even know where to begin.

everything was different. to such an extent that for the first week i just was taking it all in, trying to analize the differences and decide whether i like it or not. for the first week i wouldn't dare answering "so do you like it in here?" or "so what's America like?" questions.

now i can. it's a whole different world and it seems like i like both - the one i left behind and this new one.

ok so as you know people don't walk here in the streets. they only drive, even if it's a store across the street or a store on your side of the street just some 200 metres away from you. however people sometimes go running in the streets. in shorts. yes it's cold and it's winter.

people
it's approximately what we all were being told about Americans and thinking those things were unbelievable and exhagerated. strangers will smile at you and say "hello". they are kind of simpler, will expect you to tell the truth. oh and with humor, when they tell a joke they will tell it so that you know when to laugh. they don't really have that dark or sarcastic humor. when they are happy they can start jumping and shouting "woo-hoo!!!". if it's crowded and people will end up bumping into you, you will get "oh excuse me!" with a smile. every time it happens.

also practically everybody keeps animals at home. animals - not animal. Michael's parents keep 2 cats and a dog. Steve and Nicole were keeping 2 cats (who are huge!! you can't lift both at once!) and Nicole got an absolutelly adorable and absolutelly black kitten.







stores and goods



common store is the one where you can buy everything. from cosmetics to groceries. you just take a cart and go to different parts of the store. you don't interact with sales people unless you can't find something in particular. basically it's very much like "yeritsyan and sons" supermarket (together with a dollar store), and goods at all departments will be from some brands - like the sosmetics will be from l'oreal, maybelline, max factor, etc. it's annoying to some extent. in Armenia if i wanted to get something definite but didn't know the name or the brand i could just go to a small shop and say "do you have mousse of strong fixation with curling effect?" they would suggest several brands and it would be it. here i have to find this mousse among all other hair products and then i have to find the one i'm looking for.

so shopping that would take 10 minutes in Yerevan takes hours here. also the way products are placed, you will end up getting 10 times more items than you planned and in fact needed.

also the choice of things is huge. it works the opposite way though. people like about 90% and can't choose what to buy, so they end up just grabbing the first item closest to them and running away not to buy everything.

same with foods and drinks. i said "we need some butter" and to the question "what butter?" i said "like.. butter.. normal butter". good luck with it. they had like 40 kinds of it! salted unsalted, dietic, etc.

miscellaneous
what was one of the first things i noticed was that there isn't just one set of street lights.. there are like 4 sets hanging 1.5 m apart from each other on one line. why??? because!!! so that it's convinient to see the lights from any point.


at bars, people will ask you to show id card to see if you are 21+ or you won't get alcohol.

//////

i wanted to say much more but i guess i'm kind of late with this post and the first real strong shock is behind. and now i'm too excited to get to the next topic and tell about some of my adventures :D

oh and yeah the missing luggage piece was found the same day - they called Steve, dropped it at his place, then we picked it up :)

Friday, December 19, 2008

at OUR home

home, sweet home. so good to know you can just sit down and finally relax, that you reached the destination and that it's not a several hours break only.

rather than describing what the apartment looks like i will simply post some photos. a small note before i start. i didn't take this photos during the very first days.. i took them much later, so it all looked kind of different. first of all there was no christmas tree and deffinitely no cage with a bird :) and Michael cleaned all the place with his brother and put souvenirs and various stuff from Armenia literally everywhere. maybe to make me feel more at home, maybe because it all actually looked very good all together, maybe both :) anyhow, i won't be keeping you reading these lines any more! here come the photos!

the door of the apartment opens.. and you see the following:


now go straight and sit on the couch facing the front door:


that armchair is awesome. it's my favorite place! you can push a lever and the arm-chair will turn into chaise-long (pardon my french however it was spelled).
76 - here i am

now, if you're still on the couch (in the bottom-left corner of the photo you see piece of it) facing the front door and look to the left, this is what you will see - tha place where we are having meals and the beginning of the kitchen :)


now let's sit on the chair by the table and have a look what the kitchen looks like ;)


and now, let's go stand by the lamp (to the left of the arm-chair) and look left.


that's a looong corridor, the left part of which is a huge closet where all kind of things are kept which you just don't know where else to keep or things like you don't want to throw away but are kind of useless. well you know what i mean i'm sure!
to the right there are to rooms. first is bedroom, the second is actually empty and we want to turn it into hobbies' room. straight ahead is the bathroom.

(not the best photo to illustrate the bedroom. sorry :) there is a closet and a dresser that you can't see.)
82 - getting up

yes that funny thing is a lamp and it's awesome :D


yes it's all dark red and fluffy in the bathroom :D



except for the bathroom and kitchen all area is covered with a carpet (as in every other apartment/house here) so everybody walks barefeet or in socks at home. sometimes in sleepers but it's rare as i figure. guests take off their shoes and stay in socks too or barefoot :D ) nobody has the wooden floors which need the special care. i love carpets, and i love walking barefeet.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

meeting HIM

so there I was, standing at Detroit airport, cuddling with Michael, feeling strange and dizzy. i can't say i wanted to sleep though, i just needed to. there was a board with a list of hotels and their numbers. Michael called "Day's Inn" and we started waiting for a hotel car to pick us up.

when we got to hotel, we chcked in and went to our room. i took a 365 photo:

75 - in his arms


the room was small and very cosy. kind of reminded me of marriott room.. the light was very soft. the first thing i was to do was taking a shower! then i put on some make-up, and changed the shirt. i had one shirt in the carry-on to get changed into, however i had no wish to open up the main pieces of luggage.

after the shower and all that i felt like a woman again, not like some tired strange creature of neutral gender :D:D

we decided to go down and have something to eat. i wasn't really hungry, but my body needed some "fuel" (food). it was a nice american bar, which was actually not very different from those in Armenia.. just everybody was talking english and watching TV in english. there was a christmas tree right behind our table. i was just sitting there, watching people of all kinds, and feeling myself like in a movie.

then we were to order food. i saw "nachos" among appetizers, and decided to get it since it was something familiar at least. and we ordered some wine.

nachos.. appetizers... the lady brought... should i say a plate? it was more like a tray filled with nachos. i ate some and then i was full! so when the lady came back she asked "oh you didn't like the nachos?" implying i didn't eat at all. i said i liked them just it was kind of too much!! later Michael said probably those appetizers were for 4 people - like when you go with a company, you can get one appetizer instead of each person getting one. but yeah it was funny :D

anywhooo. we had to get up at 5.30 in the morning to go back to the airport. ok now some explanation. we couldn't go from Detroit, MI to Cleveland, OH directly. my destination point was Detroit. from there another flight was booked - from Detroit to Chicago, from Chicago to Cleveland. why? because the direct flights are available only when you are coming from overseas - that is to say if my destination during the first flight was Cleveland, i would go directly to Cleveland from Detroit. i can't say it's stupid, because people who come from other countries arrive at an international airport and then go to their final destination directly.

i could go to Cleveland directly - but Michael couldn't. but oh well +/- another airport.. who cares since we are together.

so there we were half-asleep, going through some customs to finally go home. we went to get something to eat after everything was done. i called mom again (the first time i remembered to call was at the hotel). we had a croissant (or smth like that) witch chocolate and capuccino. it was good.

i don't actually remember much about the flight.. i think i was reading a book and listening to music, but the brain was kind of switched off anyway :D

Chicago airport sucked. there were no moving paths and you had to walk much distance just on foot. it was then when we found out Michael's phone was gone! i remembered we used it when i was calling mom.. but when we were getting up from the cafe table at Detroit airport i double-checked on the table to make sure we didn't leave anything. then we realized that Michael put his coat among other things on the shelf on the plane. so probably the phone just fell out of the pocket and stayed on the plane. that sucked even more! we couldn't get ahold of anybody :D

the plane we were to go to from Chicago to Cleveland was tiny. i mean *tiny*. my carry-on (which was of standard size) was way too big to go on the shelf, and it was placed somewhere in the bottom of the plane - just at the entrance me and other people with same problem would give the carry-ons to the stewardess and go occupy the seats. on one side of the plane there were double seats, on the other side - just one. it was just like a flying bus i swear! but it was comforting to know that after this flight we would be home...

i took some photos when we were about to land - the first one is the plane going through clouds, the rest.. you know :D ah and also - the third photo is how i actually saw it all - the contrast and colors are not corrected. so i got quite a grey and dull image.




NASA!!! i saw it with my eyes!!! i was like WOW!!! :D


there was ice right on the landing path!!

anyway. after landing we went to get my luggage. there was one piece.. but the second piece was missing! but oh my god how did they happen to loose just one piece? and not on international flight but on a local one?? that second question was comforting - at least we knew it was in america :D so we went to the company desk which was "american eagle" or smth like that. and had to wait in a long que of people who were actually going somewhere. so since we were the last ones on the line we waited for about 25 minutes just to say "you guys lost our luggage. now what?". Michael filled out some forms and they asked me to describe what the luggage looked like and what the bag contained. the problem was we couldn't even give them a phone number to call to since Michael's phone was lost! so Michael gave Steve's number and we decided to get phone numbers first of all, to call Steve and my family in Armenia.

quick note: you know the blue wrapping of the luggage they do at Zvartnots airport don't you? nobody else had it in America :D probably there was some wrapping service somewhere but people didn't really use it and anyway it was see-through, not blue :D. actually the lady at the Detroit airport asked if i was coming from Paris, Charles de Gaulle airport. i said i was coming from Yerevan, but i went through exactly that airport. the lady said the only place she knew they would do such kind of wrapping was there :D

then we walked to Michael's car. during the drive home i was just looking out of the window. the sky was grey, there was no sun, no mountains, the building were 1 or 2-stroreyed. big buildings though. the roads were smooth. another thing i noticed was that there were like 4 or 5 sets of traffic light hanging on one line. i asked Michael why they didn't put just one. the reply was "to make it easier for everybody to see from any line of the road" i laughed. yeah america takes care of its people's comfort...

then we arrived. i saw a parking lot in front of some 3-4-storeyed apartment block. to the left of it there were some trees and as i found out later it was the park - it started right there. at first Michael unlocked the front door of the whole block (all people living in that apartment block have a key to that door). then we went up one set of stairs and there was a looooooong corridor with a carpet. looked like a hotel corridor at first :D then Michael unlocked the door.. and let me in.

we were at home.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

flight to America

Dec 4th

PREFACE

... alarm clock made bounce out of bed. looked at the time to find out i slept for 3.5 hours. great just great! worst idea ever! but oh well...

started getting ready to go, doing last small and annoying bits of packing, not really thinking or reflecting on the flight or my departure. with all these last hectic days i hadn't really thought much about it. i was just doing things, being there in Armenia in mind, not in America and not on the plane. so now i felt i hadn't prepared myself for the flight. i mean i didn't think anything through or didn't try to remember what i should do and how, didn't think of what to do in emergency situations... in fact this was my first flight since 96, and 3rd flight in my life. however the previous 2 were so different - i was not alone, i was a kid, just looking around, not worrying about *anything*. now i was to be on my own. completely.

i wasn't thinking about this all then. i was just making sure everything is packed. then Marina-Narine-Khachik arrived on their car, Hovik arrived on his - we were to go on his car. suddenly smb rang at the door. Goharic and Gabriel came over to say goodbye. i was in the shower. :D quickly got dressed, called Mary and Helen, they came over and we were set to go. me, Helen and Mary sat on the backseat of Hovik's car, talking on the way, waking up, watching how the night was slowly creeping away. i had never seen the city at such an early hour.

then we found out Hovik thought my flight was at 8.45 not 9.45... so we arrived 1 hour before we intended to be there. i took care of the registry and luggage. once everything was done, we sat at a cafe to have some coffee and talk. it was such nice and warm atmosphere that it looked like everybody forgot why we were there and we were just enjoying ourselves. we watched the sunrise and took some photos together.



PART 1 - from YEREVAN to PARIS

then it was time to go... standing in line, waiting to walk through the gate.. i felt kind of numb. started hugging people, trying to say smth to cheer them up and not to make them cry, once i gave a hug to aunt my eyes went wet, then hugged mom, and quickly walked through, telling myself "you will get back to this moment. you have no right to cry now or be disoriented. you are on your own. pull together!" it worked. especially since i went to some desk to be let out of country. everything went smoothly, nobody gave me any hard time about anything. i was being sweet and nice, and people were smiling at me which made me feel better and more confident.

then i boarded on plane. the stewards were mostly black, and french. their english was very funny. one of the stewards put my carry-on on the shelf for me, i sat by the window. soon a woman and her husband sat by my side.

the woman was about 50, her husband had some business in France and she was traveling with him. it was a nice couple. she kept talking to me, i told her my story, she told me about her family, her daughters, her grand-children. she was nice.

when the plane took off, i felt nothing but curiosity - no fear, no worry - just interest. and i *loved* being in turbulence :D crazy girl i know. i was taking some photos and the lady kept asking me "what are you taking a photo of?" every time i'd touch my cam.







it was kind of annoying to tell the truth. i was trying to read. she was reading a magazine, constantly grabbing on my shoulder, sowing a photo of some crazy armenian lady (really crazy and insane), and wanted me to say smth about it. then i put headphones on and started watching a movie in english. again she kept buzzing me telling me something. i started feeling pissed off. then she went to sleep! it was coooool! then she woke up and started talking about horoscopes, and telling me which sign had what character judging by her children and believing every word on horoscope. i was being polite, but seriously! it was annoying!

the movie was a very good one actually. and at a touching moment my lips started shaking and eyes grew wet. well anything could make me cry really - leaving home and dealing with it all. it just started hitting me. but i bottled it up especially since the woman might wake up and start asking many unnecessary questions. so i pulled myself together and decided to postpone that moment again.

anyway. when we were about to land i was wondering what would happen next, if i would be on time and actually would make it. i had to spend only 2 hours in Paris - and had to find the right terminal. suddenly the captain announced which terminal we were ladning at and oh my god! it was the one i needed for the next flight! i was so happy! then we landed, i wished the lady good luck and she wished me the same and we parted ways for good.

PART 2 - from PARIS to DETROIT

i asked a bunch of people where to go. all of them had such funny english that i wasn't sure i understood them right. then it was time for security control. they made me take off the coat, boots; then i had to take the notebook and other electronic stuff out of the carry-on bag. it wasn't fun at all! then i went for passport and visa control.

the lady had dark skin and actually i believe she was mexican. she was nice to me but it was difficult to understand her. i somehow explained myself and then a big black guy came over since the lady who was asking questions wanted something from him.

guy: why are you going to America?
me: to get married with my fiance - Michael Lambert.
guy: why are you marrying him? marry me!
me: !
me: ...
me: no no only him. you definitely don't look like him at all :D
him: marry me and stay in France!
me: no no no :D

then they gave me my passport and other stuff and i had to wait for boarding. i could have gone to some duty-free stores or could have given a call to Michael or home, or could have found a WI-FI area to talk to people online.. but i decided not to get distracted and not to waste time. and actually in 10 mins after i was done with passport check the boarding started!

it was a different plane - very big. as it turned out there was nobody to sit by my side. so i started reading. i was glad i had some time alone.

one of the stewards came and gave some forms to fill out. concerning the cost of imported goods. i was like "what? geeze how can i evaluate my stuff at all??". but i postponed filling it out. read the book, tried to get some sleep - i think i slept for an hour. listened to some music. cried twice. maybe because of tiredness, maybe because of the stress, maybe because of leaving. probably all together. i couldn't relax - i had to figure out that thing with the form, and i had to think about what i would do when i arrived etc.

i went to stewards' room. there were many of them and i started torturing them with questions. they were cheerful and easy-going.

me: excuse me, can you give me a pen to fill this out?
steward with a pen: but how can i be sure that you will return it? i need it you know?
me: oh well you can sit by my side while i'm filling this out (thinking: and help me with this damn paper!)
stewards: *whistle* oo-la-la!

the steward gave me the pen, the other one told me what to write. he said "just write approximately - who cares? just you have to kind of evaluate all together - cash, and all stuff you are bringing."

me: can i write just "gifts" rather than listing each gift?
steward: yeah it will be fine.
steward 2: gifts? why don't you give some to me???
me: haha
me: but i have stuff like jewelry, clothes...
steward: no no not your things!

as far as i figured i should have written the amount of cash i was bringing and evaluate goods that were to be given to smb else.

so i went to my place and filled it out. when the steward that gave me the pen was passing by i said "hey!"

him: the pennnnnnnnnnnnn!
me: here it is! with a gift for you :)
(i had attached the charm i was wearing on the coat - a little angel, with the word "angel" in russian on it)

the steward held it with fingers with the back side (which was just plain blue) facing him.

steward: oh this is very nice
me: ...
me: turn it first...

and i burst out laughing :D

he laughed too, tapped me on the shoulder and left. i kind of felt good about it. they all were friendly and helped me out so i wanted to give them smth.

then it was time for landing. i looked out of the window and thought "oh god! i AM in America! geeze! i'm on the other side of the planet! i still can't believe it!" America looked strange to me. even the shapeless shapes - like a pond, or whatever, looked designed by human, because they were so perfectly done.

landing... walking through a long corridor... another one... keep going... desks for passport control... "maybe i should have picked up the luggage first? am i doing it right?"... desk 22. i was so tired.. i was leaning against the carry-on's handle.. the man asked me a bunch of questions.. he was being nice too..

man: did you have hepatitis??
me: yeah.. A.. in 98

he got up to ask another guy some things. he was so surprised that i had had it. i didn't care.. the other guy said "that one is okay". then i got my passport back and to my question "what next?" was told to go get the luggage.

i thanked and left. my luggage was standing there and looked like it was the only one remaining. a man suggested me getting a cart. he helped me put the luggage on it. looked like he was wondering if i would yell at him for helping me and saying smth like "i don't need your help! i can do it myself!" and felt relief when i gave him a tired smile and even more tired "thank you very much". i asked where i had to go.

man: to exit.
me: to... exit?
man: yeah :)
me: and what about luggage check, or whatever?
man: no no walk through that gate out. nothing else is needed. you can go :)

i was like WOW!!!!

i walked out.. pushing the cart in front of me.. and then i saw Michael coming towards me. it was over. i was with him. i did it! and i was in his arms.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

last day in Armenia

Dec 3rd
the last several days have been crazy - had to pay so many visits, meet up with friends, pack some...

and the last day was the craziest of course!

finished packing, went to the embassy, got the visa and passport, then went to marriott hotel, for the IRD event. however i practically took no photos... i was tired, and there were many people talking to me (from aunt's work). so i was just socializing.

then i ran to meet up with my friends - Mary, Avag, Niko, Helen, Armine, David, Felix.


with Niko and Avag


with Helen and Armine


with Mary

we went to beerloga. i like that place for some reason. the food is good, and the name "beerloga" has something to do with "bear's den" and something with the beer. and i like the idea and design, the lights there. looks pretty much like some german beer-house of say 18th-19th century. anyhow.



It was a strange company to see together - those were people from different times of my life, all of who i actually call my best friends, but they all are separate companies. and what i loved most of all was that i could be silly around them - very silly, yet what we said could be very serious and deep. everybody was sad about the fact i was to leave (including myself). Mary had signed a card for me and the text was so sweet and touching.. actually if i went out separately with all of these friends, i'm sure i'd cry every time. this way there were too many people and nobody would feel comfortable with crying too much which was my point :D

i don't think i'll find friends like this ever again in my life. i feel connect to them, and i felt connect for so many years. there was much going on between me and my friends, but the friendships were strong and survived. and i hope with all of my heart that they will survive us being apart.

when you get older it's more difficult to make really good friends with new people, to be able to trust someone completely, and share so much. with age and years passing by you become more careful about people, more distant, get closer to the people you knew - relatives, family, oldest friends...

but oh well. c'est la vie.

the funny part was when we ordered tequilla. we were tricking Helen and joking and eventually she stopped believeing us... including the fact we said "you have to lick salt, drink tequilla, and bite a lemon". she decided we were teasing her and decided just to drink tequilla. she turned away from everybody, so that nobody would see her face. she drank, her big eyes grew bigger and popped out. oh man did we have a good time and good laugh! hehehe

i went to bed pretty late... with a light heart (maybe because of the alcohol consumed). i knew i'd have to get up at 6.30 or so... but i just couldn't fall asleep right away. too excited, too nervous, too many things to take care of in the morning.