December 23rd, 2008
page 1 of 6
posted on 29/12/08
I took pictures over the course of a day in my life to give an example of what it is like to live here.
This is where I sleep. It may look like there are two beds but that is a ruse. I only sleep in the the one on the left. The one of the right is more of a shelf and is not suitable for sleep. You can see my computer on it, I like to fall asleep to sound so I put on podcasts from NPR to lull me to sleep. That is my heater in front of the left bed.
My room has windows on the left that are south facing, so I get plenty of light during the day. They look out onto a few buildings, but they are sealed shut for the season with an extra coating of platic to protect me against the Armenian winter.
I have a toilet and sink that are primarily mine, although neither has any hot water. This can be bad, there is another bathroom in the house with hot water if I need it. The cold water wakes me up in the morning when I wash my face.
I live with a host family. They are very sweet and very kind. They always ask if I am cold and get worried when I leave the house because I am inevitably not bundled up enough. They also give me breakfast every morning before I leave the house. They serve me tea and bread with a variety of things I can put on it which change slightly every monring: jam, butter, cheese, honey, sour cream. Sometimes there are leftover sweets and once a week or so I get eggs.
The only picture I have of my host family is from when my real family came to visit. I will list everyone off from left to right:
Samvel - The father of my host family. He likes to fix and repair things, especially cars and has a garage filled with tools.
Gohar - The mother of my host family. She spends the days at home with Suzanna cooking, cleaning and doing all the difficult domestic work.
My Dad, visiting from the U.S.
My Mom, visiting from the U.S.
My Uncle, visiting from the U.S.
Arsen - The son of the host family. He isn't around much, he works a lot. His runs a shop which paints cars.
My sister, visiting from the U.S.
Suzanna - Daughter in law, married to Arsen. She stays at home as well, taking care of the house and taking care of her and Arsen's 2.5 year old son Samo, who is in her arms. She is the only one in the family with english, and is the one I talk with the most. She is infinitly warm and kindhearted.
Whenever I eat a meal, Samo is always right there curious and talking to me (not that we can understand each other well.) This particular morning he was especially curious about my camera.
So he got out his own camera and started to play with it.