Armenia - Yerevan - day 1

Today was our first full day in Yerevan. We arrived last night and came straight to the hostel from the airport. The hostel is quite lovely and arriving at night was perfect because we seen to not have jet lag.

Today we had a great and productive day today! We walked around the city and exchanged money, bought SIM cards to have phone numbers here (although mine does not work because my dumb American tracfone appears to be locked), and went to the Peace Corps office. So many people want to help us plan the trip; it's wonderful. After the PC office we took a taxi to the apartment of a friend of Jill for lunch; his name is Hoveek and he is incredibly kind. We are hoping to hire him to help with some in country logistical planning, facilitation about the history, culture, translation, etc. He is very passionate and enthusiastic and I look forward to working with him. He was the Language and Cultural Facilitator forthe Peace Corps when Jill served here in 2005-2007.

After our lunch and meeting at Hoveek's we took a bus back to the hostel to regroup before heading to a friend's (of Jill's) for dinner.

It was hot here (90) today but it is dry heat so feels okay in the shade.

Still on a quest for an electric current converter; in the meantime my 2 hand pumps are working but I have to use them every 3-5 hours. Makes for some logistics! But we are getting to meet great people along the way. For example I was pumping in the volunteer lounge room at the peace corps office headquarters and we met a current volunteer that wants to potentially help us organize a few things.

Pump update - Jill's friend, Elvira, lent me a pump!!! Back in business with a huge stress gone. Now I have 3 options! 

Dinner was so very lovely and playing with Elvira's two kiddos helped me tremendously because I'd been missing the girls a lot!

Fancy lunch at Yerevan Tavern with Elvira. It is common to order an bunch of dishes and eat them family style. One of my favorites was the aveluk (mountain sorrel) in the back right. Yum!

View of Mt. Ararat (Turkey) while walking around Yerevan.

I think here we were walking to the Peace Corps office but I can't recall for sure.

Shawarma for dinner. Yum! (Not Armenian but scrumptious nonetheless.)