March 11, 2009 email update from Armenia

March 11, 2009

The past couple days have been kinda slower, just getting things settled. Kevin and Nick got the cell phones! Yea. But my battery in my new pink phone was old... so they went back and got a newer one. We charged the phone all night and in a couple hours it was dead. This one has worked all day so far. Now we have a way to get a hold of someone if we need to! And to get a hold of each other.

We've gone into the city (since we live just a little ways north west) several times. It's a huge city and we're still not totally sure where we are. But I think we'll get a map here soon and that will help. If we were online we could look. Crazy all the things you do online! I think these next couple days we'll be tourists and see some of the sites up close. We've driven past lots of things already...

Speaking of all the things you do online that you notice when you can't be online... the same is true with water, we found out! Yesterday, our neighbor down the street drove by and asked if I'd saved water... it was supposed to be out for 36 hours. Hum. We had plenty of drinking water so I thought we'd be fine, but then I looked down to see both Ruth and Elijah playing in the dirt/mud! Hum. Then we had to go to the bathroom... hum. Shower, mop, dishes... hum. :) We ended up going out to eat with Nick and Olivia and Marina at a Mexican restaurant and the water ended up coming on earlier then expected.

Another thing to watch out for is the power surges. The lights will flicker and stuff. No biggie. But we were told that it can blow out your TV or light bulbs! So we plugged the TV into a box that will take the surge (instead of the TV taking it...).

Let me share some Armenian things that we've noticed. For one thing, it's so rocky. Olivia said it's the land of rocks. Volcanic rocks. The buildings are made out of it and all along the roads and out in the fields there's – rocks. It's also kinda dusty. One day was really windy and we noticed black dust all around the living room by our front door. We'll seal it up a little better... :) And all our floors are tile so they sweep easily. (Funny since our last place in Williston was all carpet!)

The roads here are all bumpy and some don't have clear markings of who should be where. There's some good potholes out there. People are crazy drivers and whip around each other to squeeze past. They have buses and taxies and marshookas. (Somewhere in between a bus and a taxi! Heh.) People who are walking walk out in front of the crazy drivers to get across the streets. And even run to the middle of the road to stand and wait to run the rest of the way across. So they're standing there in the middle of crazy traffic coming and going on both sides.

The businessmen are serious. Kevin has observed this more then me. They kinda try to get you. And don't smile too much in the process. Heh.

Most everyone loves kids. Especially our younger two get lots of rubs on the head and touches on the cheeks. Which make Elijah burst out, “Barev!” which is Hello! He looks for people walking past to say Barev to. He even rolled down the window last night and said Barev to the police officers next to us. They smiled and waved and rolled down their window. Then they turned on their lights to show us. Funny what a little guy can get someone to do!

The kids are all good at saying hello and thank you in Armenian. People love to hear them try to speak to them! :)

People want to see kids bundled up. Our kids think it's crazy warm here so they've been out without coats. When we went to church on Sunday, the building the service was in was colder then outside! So in there, the kids were cold. People around us gave them coats and scarves to help keep them warm. We learned that they look out for cold kids... and that we should always bring a coat or sweater along!

There's a lot of smokers here and the smell of cigarettes is usually in the air. It's not overwhelming but usually there.

A lot of people wear BLACK! Kevin likes that. Heh. They usually are dressed up more then us with nice shoes and the tall, high heel boots. There are other colors, too. But a lot of black. The kids usually have bright coats and clothing.

We feel pretty safe. We were told that there's not much theft. And Nick told Kevin the other day that there's even a security guy for our neighborhood who stays at the entrance of our road. He watches for suspicious cars and stuff. Kevin liked that, I think.

Yerevan has had earthquakes. Olivia said she's felt one. We're glad we're not living in the 20 story, old apartment buildings in the city! Heh. She told us the biggest threat is the Nuclear power plant outside the city! Yikes. They're trying to get it shut down but would like to have another energy supply in place first. Kevin did no like that so much. Heh. But Olivia said that the US Embassy is still here so it must be fairly safe?!

There's no big Walmart or store like that. But there's a lot of the same little stores scattered throughout the city. We were in a fairly “normal” sized grocery store today. But most stores, even restaurants, are littler.

We'll drive by crumbling houses and turn to see nicer big places right close by. Interesting. There's also half finish building scattered around the city. Some of them were soviet buildings that were just never finished, I guess. And some, the people were paid or bribed to build somewhere else in the middle of building.

There's lots of street dogs. We haven't ran int too many up close but a couple nipping at the car as we drive by. They think dogs are stinky. But some people keep outside dogs and more are accepting certain types of pure bred dogs in their homes.

So there you have it. Nick and Kevin are out today trying to pick up a few more things we need. We got lamps today for our rooms. (Which took like an hour, running to the warehouse to get the three little lamps we'd picked, etc...) We also need a little desk or two for homeschooling and maybe a bookshelf and coatrack. We'll see what they find. Nick said it might be cheaper to have someone make us that instead of just buying it at the store.

Oh! Our internet guy might come in the next week. They ordered some part or something that should be in in the next couple days!? That'll be sweet! :) We'll be in better touch once that all comes together!

Now, I better run. It's almost supper time and Elijah's on the toilet. I hope he gets potty trained SOON!! sigh. I think we'll start some schooling tomorrow. Kevin slept a little better last night but still is not completely settled. We love that you're praying for us! We love you. And we're praying for you, too!!

Oh... Kevin has been up to the office downtown where they're working on translating the Fire Bible. He's fixing their computers! Heh. And another missionary asked if he'd be interested in doing some computer stuff with him sometime. Olivia said I'd been asked to speak at a ladies thing at the end of the month, maybe. I'd have a translator. I think by this Friday we should know something about our tutoring. Nick and Olivia's babysiter/friend/assistant might be available to watch our kids for the two hours we spend tutoring. The kids are already comfortable with Marina so they think we should start tutoring already! Heh. It'll be good to get in to a routine, I think. Get involved some, too! We're thinking we'll check out the international church sometime. Get the kids involved in a couple things...

Okay! Gotta run. Superman needs me!
Love you guys!

--If you've replied to me, I still haven't had a chance to check email. Kevin has just copied and pasted what I've written to you and sent it off. He said some of you have replied. Just that makes me smile. I love you friends. Can't wait to lock myself in my room when the net is hooked up and read your love! :) Love you! I'll try to reply to everything you wrote, too!!