Yerevan discovered - first 24 hours

Sleep was intermittent our first night in Armenia at the Envoy hostel-- much less so than I anticipated. Dad and I stayed in a small private room and Margaret and Mary stayed in a shared room. We all got up and had breakfast in the hostel before heading toward the museum of a famous Armenian writer, poet and play write , H. Tumanian.

We had a chance to have a much longer, less jet-lag induced conversation about her work up north in the village of D'segh (even learned how to properly pronounce it) with the Peace Corps. After the tour of the museum, we headed back to the The Envoy, and decided to move hotels yo a more central location for the next two nights. After some rest and settling in, jet-lag began to hit Dad and I, so while Margaret and Mary met up with Holly, a serendipitous connection from Margaret's doctoral program who's married to an Armenian and was here, Dad and I laid down and rested--which turned into a two-hour nap! Armenians eat late-- esp those in rural areas, so Mary had invited us to her original host familiy's home about 30 minutes outside of Yerevan for dinner and to explore their spacious farm.

We had a wonderful time eating and sharing a very typical, traditional Armenian meal with fresh everything! Fruits, veggies and even pork paddies, that I can assume was from the family pig farm just above the house. Mary served as our translator, but family, laughter and food served as the great connector in this case. Armenians, like many cultures from this part of the world, elevate hospitality as a great virtue and definitely rolled out the red carpet for us tonight.

Home late as our meal and time together ended around 11:30, but full and happy as we anticipate more adventures tomorrow!

Dad's quote of the day: "Whew, what a place, especially Mt Ararat!"