Getting Real - Grcoeries, etc.

 Settling In and Looking Around

Eat more fruit!

 We are unpacked and further furnished with basics, such as small wastebaskets, clothes hangers, baggies (we passed on the zipper bags--they cost over $8 for 10)  and ice cube trays as well as oil and vinegar and spices. In the process we had a follow up visit from the landlord and his wife when they delivered linens for the doghouse bedroom, a second set of keys, and more help with the TV and Air Conditioner. They seem as delighted as we are that we are here.

 Last night the air conditioner dripped outside onto a metal roof. All night. It sounded sort of like someone was hammering haphazardly. At the same time it leaked inside on the hardwood floor. Denise being the light sleeper discovered this problem and put a pan on the inside drip and turned the AC to low. Samuel, our landlord, claims to have taken care of the outside problem. We will find out tonight. Otherwise our location is very quiet.

We are on the second washer load trying to soften up the bed linens, whose thread count I think I can count with the naked eye. Not exactly soft. Maybe I could beat them on rocks somewhere. There is no dryer so I am a happy camper hanging out the clothes just outside the kitchen window on two pulley lines. Except that today in my enthusiasm to make one of the pulleys accommodate a double-taped section, it went off the pulley. I will consult my inner engineer later, when the sheets are dry and off the line as to how to remedy.

We have been to the "big" grocery store, SAS, twice. It's about a ten minute walk from home. They carry a label of Chilean sauvignon blanc we had at a restaurant and liked. This discovery means we can actually stay in Armenia for awhile. 

Hanging sides of pork

The big find though is a HUGE warehouse kind of market, surrounded by additional individual sellers outside. Upstairs is all clothing and flea market items. The food is downstairs. There is everything from dried fruit, nuts, and honey to fruits and vegetables, to hanging sides of pork and beef, poultry, Armenian cheeses, and brooms. 

Taking the Red Sox to Yerevan!

Walnuts on steroids!

There are also spices a la the spice market in Istanbul--beautiful piles of brightly colored ground spices and braids of green herbs. We managed to communicate to get the things we wanted--perhaps being taken financially along the way, but we stuck to the list. It's a place where one could easily go overboard.  

DJ buying chicken and eggs

Oops

We have made only a couple of food shopping mistakes so far. First, we picked up the smallest piece of Armenian cheese we could find at SAS (about 1.5 pounds), thinking it was the type we had been enjoying at breakfast in the hotel. But it was not. And it was extraordinarily stinky and salty to boot. We made a gift of it to Samuel, who loves the stuff. The other mistake was seeing an unusual soft-sided package for what I thought was olive oil. In fact it says extra virgin olive oil on it in English. But it turned out to be mayonnaise made with EVOO. Without internet we can't get to our little Armenian language resource to get some words.

For the most part, people are patient with us and try to understand our charades approach to making  ourselves understood. Some of my German has actually come back from somewhere because some people here have German. Of course, hand gestures and the ubiquitous calculator help.The only real problem we have right now is that the wireless is not yet working in the apartment. Fortunately we have access to a wireless expert from DJ's office on Monday. 

So we are hoping to get that resolved and in the meantime will go use the wireless at the office, which is only 5 minutes' walk from home. I realize how very spoiled I am to have either wireless or 4G access all the time at home.