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.

Home, Sweet Home in Yerevan

Property #2 wins the day!

Welcome!

After looking at four properties in central Yerevan, our American clients with a lot of requirements settled on the spacious three-bedroom. Big advantages:  light, quiet, proximity to office, and high potential for entertaining. AND, in the end, the landlord came down to their budget as well. 30 steps? Not SO many.

The runner-up property, despite some advantages, simply could not overcome the unlighted entry and questionable elevator. And then there was the street noise and not as much privacy.

As Denise and Rilla settle in, they will be enjoying a well-equipped kitchen but definitely have to go shopping for reading lamps because the chandeliers in every room just won't do for reading, especially in the bedrooms.

But just to make it feel like home, this apartment even has a "doghouse" bedroom for unexpected guests!

Eager as they are to begin eating at home, our intrepid travelers are going out tonight to attend a concert at the Opera House by I Solisti Veneti, a chamber orchestra from Italy. No grass growing under those feet!

Stayed tuned for neighborhood explores and early reports from the National Gallery.

 

House Hunters International - Yerevan Style

Can these Yerevan short-timers from a quiet New England community find a place to live in Yerevan?

That was the challenge Denise Johnson and Rilla Murray brought to us at HHI. Here for professional reasons for ten weeks, they were looking for alternatives to a hotel room but had a long list of requirements that made the search challenging, especially on their budget. Their "wish list" was long:

• fully-furnished down to the linens
  
• two bedrooms and two baths and lots of light
  
• a building with a lift
  
• a quiet neighborhood (here is the evidence they are newbies to Yerevan) but an easy walk to key points of interest
  
• air-conditioning
  
• wireless internet
  

The only thing they didn't ask for was a parking space (whew).

Before we even started,  they ruled out a lovely apartment based on a walk by of the street address on Mashtots Avenue. Just too noisy for them. 

Intriguing marble staircase leads to open air patio.

Property 1: Newly remodeled two-bedroom, two bath apartment within their budget with surprising features, such as a marble staircase to a large rooftop patio and an accessible shower with a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor. 

DJ gives a signal of her opinion of Property #1.

The old garden shed style entrance door and 65 steps up to the apartment offer a chance to be creative with grocery shopping. If they keep the bedroom doors open, light from the bedroom windows can be shared with the large, otherwise windowless living and dining area. The current view from the outdoor patio is construction on all three sides but that will change as soon as the projects are completed. The full bath right next to the front door means an easy exit for work as soon as grooming is complete. Wireless in the building but not in the apartment; could be added.

Reception room in Property 2 could be a party venue!

Property 2: Large 3-bedroom, 1.5 bath traditional-style (huge

Dishwasher may sweeten this deal!

glass chandelier) apartment with entry hall, two dining areas, fully equipped kitchen, including both a stove with an oven and a dishwasher, and living room that could be used by the US Embassy for official receptions, or as a sports bar, given the size of the TV. In other words, a total party house! Tucked behind other buildings  next to a music school, the building lacks a lift but this sunny apartment is on the second floor--a mere 30 steps--and has huge windows on both sides. Bonus: it is located only a short walk from the office of one of the clients. Landlord agreed to install internet access, BUT he wants $100 more per month than their budget.

Entry to Property #3may be a drawback.

Property 3: Up-to-the minute remodeled two-bedroom, two full bath (one en suite), within the budget, has a bright open style great room and kitchen area with lots of work space and biggest refrigerator in Yerevan. Location on 3rd floor above Military Police Headquarters means added security and by keeping balcony door shut tight noise from the very busy Sayak Nova Avenue is limited. 

Possible drawbacks are total darkness in entry hall and lift that is very likely in need of repairs (and also requires ride to 4th floor and a walk down to third). 



Property 4: Overlooking Swan Lake on the Opera Square, this slightly smaller property offers very modern furnishings in an upscale neighborhood within the budget. The full bath and laundry is conveniently located (for hanging laundry) across the apartment from the bedrooms, overlooking the back parking lot, which is where the entry is. 

The third floor location means steps, but fewer than in Property 1; the pile of cement in the hall on the second floor will be cleaned up as soon as new floors are finished in a nearby apartment. Open living and dining area lack direct light but wireless is in place through cable. By keeping the bedroom doors to the balconies closed, the traffic noise can be minimized.

 

Which property will they choose?

Our new-to-Yerevan clients ruled out Property 1 (65 steps and garden shed entrance killed it) and Property 4 (that pile of cement did not help and they could not imagine walking the width of the apartment to use the bathroom at 3:00 a.m.).

Now they have to do some thinking--will they go for the bright modern kitchen over the Military Police Headquarters despite the unlighted entrance and claustrophobic elevator? 

Or will they stretch their budget and go for the big three bedroom with lots of light and a dishwasher that is only five minutes' walk from the office?

Watch for our next episode to find out! (And apologies to HGTV).

Welcome to Armenia

The best thing about arriving at one's destination in the evening is that no matter how long you've been traveling, the opportunity to move directly to local time is yours. And we all know that moving to local time is the key to killing jet lag. So I was lucky to get settled into the hotel by 9:00 p.m. I got unpacked just enough to find my nightgown and my head hit the pillow for the better part of eight hours of heavenly sleep.

Breakfast selection at The Congress Hotel

Monday morning I woke up feeling normal and especially grateful that it was Labor Day in the U.S. and thus a holiday for the U.S government-funded program Denise is working for. That meant we were free to get out and explore and just relax, a pleasure that felt earned and deserved. We started with the breakfast buffet, which would please people from most of the world--Asia excepted. I was delighted to find fresh, flavorful tomatoes and cucumbers with fresh Armenian cheeses. The croissant might have been good but was covered in sugar.

A sign of modernity!

A morning "explore" took us in minutes to the heart of Yerevan, Republic Square. Built in Soviet times, four curvilineared buildings, two with bell towers (one with a clock)  make up the corners of the Square and wrap around an oval full of morning traffic. On our way to the Square we walked through tree-lined gardens and now-dry fountains bordered by outdoor cafes where people were hard at work sweeping and hosing down for a new day. Two things struck me immediately--lots of very nice benches and a good supply of places to get rid of trash. Most of the benches are wood and wrought iron, with the Yerevan url imprinted on the ends. Surely a sign of modernity, I think.

On the Square itself we found the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which shares a building but not an entrance with the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. Another building holds the national art museum and national history museum (again, separate entrances), which is high on our go-back-to list. We found a post office that actually had post card stamps for the U.S., which we bought from a woman who sat in front of a spectacular Soviet-era stained glass window inside the building. Having done our Reinka duty by entering a Post Office on day one, we have yet to see post cards anywhere. We also had the world's most expensive latte at the outdoor seating of the Marriott Hotel--this was justified as an antidote to the weak coffee served at breakfast. 

On a tip from a friend we walked up Northern Street to Opera Square. Northern Street has a story. It seems a few wheeler-dealers in the government used the power of eminent domain to seize property but then put it to private rather than public use. The store facades are huge and showy--with shops of Armani, Bally, Ferragamo, etc.Traffic was removed to create a pedestrian mall. It made for nice walking but felt bare and sort of like a Hollywood set. It turns out the backs of the buildings are not actually finished--so we were in fact walking through a "set." The EU Court has ordered significant damages be paid to the parties whose properties were seized for false purposes.

Opera Square

The top of Northern Street opens into the wide, welcoming Opera Square, which is ringed by benches and flower beds.A short walk along a heavily trafficked Mashtots Avenue nearby took us to the address of one of the apartments that may be a possibility for our temporary digs. Too much traffic on the street, we decided, despite the excellent location. The lesson learned on this walk is that places of interest are much closer than they appear to be on the maps...so maybe we have more geographical freedom in finding an apartment than we thought.

The rest of the day was designed to enjoy the hotel pool and relax in the sun. The deck chairs here offer the delightful option of a little personal sunshade for your head, which put both my head and my Kindle in the shade for easier reading. The water in the pool was sun-warmed and the area never really got crowded, so that except for the incessant pop music coming from the empty bar area, it was mostly quiet. We took immediate advantage of the presence of a Thai massage tent at pool's edge and each got a body scrub with oil. When it was over I felt I had shed the last vestiges of travel dust. But getting there took several steps and led us into international financial intrigue.

Note massage tent at end!

To make an appointment, I had to go to the hotel's business office and order the treatment and get a three-part form with the appointment and price on it. I presented the form, as instructed, to the front desk with my Capitol One VISA card and was told they do not take Capitol One VISA (despite the VISA signs plastered all over the place). Eventually they took mine, but refused to take a second one for Denise. Our original theory was that because Capitol One does not charge its cardholders international exchange fees, we suspect the business has to pay those and thus Best Western won't accept Capitol One. But that got shot out of the water later in the evening when Denise went back to try to pay for hers with a Chase VISA, which they also refused. Both times they said there were problems in the transactions with those companies and their bank would not let them accept them. They urged us to use their cash machine and just get cash to pay for the service. Now we are feeling this is some kind of scam to push us toward cash (clearly better for them) or toward a credit card we have yet to present. Stay tuned to see if they will take Bank of America or a Master Card.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Is anyone enjoying air travel anymore? Maybe those in first class. Or those who bought their way through faster security checks. But the excitement of the destination carries me through the cattle car experience of coach travel. 

Leaving BTV

Still, the 23+ hours of air time alone had its ups as well as its downs. Despite leaving Burlington an hour late we had a long enough layover in Detroit to find Vino Volo and for the price of a massage whiled away a couple of hours eating marcona almonds and olives and tasting and buying wine--as if we had anywhere to carry the wine. Ingenious rearranging of my backpack contents produced space for two full bottles and one split. I now feel something in common with Cheryl Strayed, who hiked the Pacific Coast Trail with a backpack that was too heavy.

The Delta flight to Amsterdam passed in a blur and soon we were in the familiar territory of Schiphol Airport with its wide variety of shopping opportunities and ready availability of "een lekker kopje koffie" everywhere you turn. The last time I was in Schiphol was 1993, when I was moving back to the United States from The Netherlands. Hearing the familiar Dutch announcements made me feel as if I had never left. Just as we settled in for the aforementioned coffee, it dawned on me that I was missing a bag and that I had left it on the plane--just a knitting bag, but it had some other important miscellany in it as well. Okay, this was an unforced error on my part.

I took off at a trot and buttonholed the first cute blond KLM flight attendant I saw and asked her how I should solve this problem. She directed me to the Information desk, which in turn directed me to the KLM transfer desk...I was two concourses away from my sister and my cup of coffee by this time. Fortunately we had enough of a layover that time was not an issue or this would have produced a 5-star Reinka Heart Attack. Happily another cute blond KLM employee took my information, gave me a card with a number to call, explained that it might take a month to works its way through their system, IF someone turned in the bag, etc. I was feeling pretty annoyed with myself.

Then she went over to a nearby desk and came back and asked me for a description of the bag,  Next thing I knew she handed me the bag. Those efficient Delta/KLM folks had already found and turned in the bag and to the exact spot I was. When I retraced my steps to Denise and the coffee, I was pleased to find the coffee was still warm! I love Holland.

Whiling away the afternoon at DTW

On to the last leg of the journey, which is now feeling so long I refuse to look at a clock or even try to figure out how many hours I have been awake. At Schiphol before you board the plane, your carry-on baggage goes through one more security screening and no liquids are allowed unless they were purchased in a duty-free shop.  Oops. A friendly Dutch guy who is working security for the flight before ours tells us this good news but also says the security folks have some discretion. As we line up for the final check, Denise tells cute KLM employee #3 about our problem. She explains we bought it in a secure area but not in the duty-free shop in the Detroit airport and did not know we could not carry it on. I am standing by thinking we are going to lose the wine and we could have had a massage for that much money.

Hartelijk dank aan KLM!

The Air Armavia man-in-charge tells us this is a problem, that we can't take liquids on. But then he takes one look at our carry-on bags and says those bags have to be gate-checked. Aha! A new avenue of offense opens up and Denise asks if we can't just put the wine in the carry-ons then since they are going to be checked anyway? No clear response is forthcoming but I sense the tide has turned, so we scramble to get the wine bottles into my carry-on (whose expansion pocket is now needed), put everything through the machines and man-in-charge gives us gate-check tags, looking a little resigned but focusing on his priority which is to get us all on the plane. In the meantime, Denise has lost her boarding pass and KLM#3 says, "Don't worry, I will print you a new one." She is now managing the conclusion of this entire episode for us and smiling. Definitely a down-tuned-into-an-up.Hurray for KLM!


Finally, we board Air Armavia, which is using an old and small 737 that was once in the Aeroflot fleet. In  other words, it saw better days decades ago and smells of cigar smoke from the same era. OMG--another four hours on a plane and the less said about that flight, the better. The whole journey ends on a big up--all our luggage made it, we got our 120 day multi-entry visa, and Sergo, the office driver, was waiting for us with a gorgeous sunset.

Dealing with the Stuff of Travel

Dealing with the Stuff of Travel

My start into packing for Armenia was bright and breezy, full of confidence and a sense of abundance. The assumptions underlying this sunny approach turned out to be incorrect. "We are allowed two bags, right?" I asked Denise. Her reply was unfortunately, "I don't know."

Oops. Upon actual investigation via the Delta website I just got confused, very confused. Someone has worked long and hard on that website creating charts about baggage allowances, depending on class of ticket, origin and destination, whether one traveler is blue-eyed or a frequent flyer. It was too much for me. I was happy to get Mary on the phone who explained it all to me in English while looking at my actual itinerary. Unfortunately the news was  not great.

No, we are not allowed more than one free checked bag on international flights when we fly in steerage (I don't want to get Mary in trouble--she didn't call it steerage.). Just one and not to exceed 50 lbs., plus one carry-on and one personal item (aka laptop case). My thoughts immediately ran to a complete re-thinking of the packing already done. Then I discovered that the pain of a second bag (at least going TO Armenia, where the Delta rules apply) is only $56 IF I check it in on line. The price goes up if I wait until I get to the airport. So now I am back to breezy and thinking two bags.

A work in progress. The rugs are not going.

Coming back is another story and information is not available as to the potential damage for having excess baggage. This is because our return trip involves a stopover in London (I hope you are still with me in this labyrinth) and the Delta rules don't take over until we leave London. Thus, leaving Armenia on Air Armavia, we are limited to one checked bag not to exceed 70 lbs. So fewer items but twice as heavy? Does this make sense? Is it going to matter if it makes sense?

DiploDaughter tells me to face it and get over it now. It will cost what it will cost to get out of Armenia with the stuff we have. This brings back nightmarish memories of traveling within China as if we were playing by international rules. Unfortunately internal flights have much smaller baggage allowances, it turns out. So all the great bargains I had found shopping in every big city and byway I came to in China were eliminated by the excess baggage charges to get the junk around China on our otherwise spectacular trip to Xian, home of the terra cotta warriors. It took away a little of the charm of finding stuff in China I could have bought in any Chinatown in the US, probably cheaper. So lesson learned. No cheap tschotkes from Armenia unless they are going to be within whatever damage will be inflicted anyway. In other words, some excess is probably necessary but there are limits.

Back to the packing and decisions such as as whether to take the hot water bottle. I don't want to buy another one. This one I had to buy in a very cold Salzberg for too much money several years ago. On the other hand, it is unlikely to be very cold while I am away and when we get to London the flat is likely to have one. It's not going.

The Value of Procrastination

Quite an accomplishment

Two weeks from departure. Lots of lists of to-dos but I don't seem to be able to DO the items on the list. Procrastination, though, produces some interesting results. Yesterday I started the process of cutting back the garden, for example. Yes, it is only mid-August and the tomatoes have not ripened yet. But before I leave for the fall I need to take down most of the garden as I would if I were here in late October. So why not start now while I avoid other more pressing but potentially more difficult tasks? In no time at all, dressed in a skirt and nice shell and flats (with earrings), I filled a Vermont cart full. Obviously dressed like that it was an unplanned achievement. And there is nothing to cross off the list because taking down the garden is not even on the list.

Then there is the wardrobe cleanout. This started as a  legitimate task, which was considering what to pack for this journey. Now my normally tidy bedroom looks like a tornado hit it--clothes and shoes everywhere, a pile of scarves here, and a big bag of clothes that is headed for the thrift shop. I keep finding things I think I need to take--like my knit sleeveless shells in every imaginable color. Seriously? Do I need all of them? I think to myself, "But how else am I going to spice up all the black," and I end up in a quandary. If experience is worth anything, I know I can take a medium sized suitcase and a carry on and live out of them for two-plus months. I have done it before. But the road between my messy bedroom and rolling out the door is a rough one. At some point my need for order is going to kick in and the packing will be done in no time, making me wonder what was the value of the obsessing over it for so long and putting up with this clutter? There is value, though. I know it. I just have not deciphered yet what it is.

I am having nightmares about being lost--one of my favorite ways of processing anxiety. You know the type--you can't find the hotel room to which you've been assigned and the hotel is one of those with towers that don't connect and it is partially under reconstruction, or you are driving on roads that seem familiar but are somewhere like Texas rather than Vermont and you can't quite find Route 12, which you know will get you home. When I wake up it takes a cup of coffee to get myself out of the dream. I feel exhausted.

Today I am having a little MOHS surgery to remove a squamous cell on my nose. I honestly don't think this is at the root of the anxiety. The cancer is contained. The surgeon will not let me go home until he has all of it (one great thing about MOHS surgery!) and knows he has all of it right then and there. Besides, I am getting a pedicure beforehand.

Irene an Bill enjoying breakfast at the Coffee Corner

In the back of my mind, I am becoming aware that I am putting off a call I must make before I leave.  For two months now I have been promising my parents that I will call the local funeral home and make some "pre" arrangements for them according to their wishes. All fine. Nothing has changed in their plans for years. But I am not making that call. I think about my sister and I both being gone from Vermont and what I will do in the event one of them dies while we are away. They are both remarkably healthy, so I don't really expect this to happen, but true to my usual M.O., I need a plan. I would come home but it would not be instantly and a protocol has to be worked out. The churning in my stomach confuses me. They have both lived good and long lives. My mom is tired. As she says (lots of baseball analogies and metaphors in our family), "I've had my turn at bat." Dad mostly doesn't say anything on this subject. His issue at the moment is whether he should keep driving at age 92.


Okay, so with this awareness some of the anxiety mystery is enlightened. My stomach may be churning but I will make the call, knowing that whenever I lose them in this life I will have them always with me. Back to the lists.