When you don't know the bus routes and have limited language skills, traveling in a new country can be a real adventure. I can still remember my first solo trip to the capital of Yerevan. Getting there was easy. The return trip was another matter. I was told that I could catch the bus back to my city at the bus station on "Abovian." How difficult could that be? After one of the locals showed me which bus to get on, I felt like it was "mission accomplished." Mission Impossible turned out to be a more apt description. Twenty minutes later I found myself leaving the city with
the bus approaching a fork in the midle of the road. One arrow pointed left to my city and the other pointed right to another city called . . . Abovian. Đ¢his 19th century Armenian writer was famous enough to have both a street and his home village named after him. Fortunately the bus driver was kind enough to stop the bus in the middle of nowhere and flag down a bus going in the opposite direction for me. It was not to be the last time that the kindness of locals rescued me from my errant wanderings.
So here I was five months later, preparing for my big adventure to the capital for a New Year's Eve rendezvous with my fellow Volunteers. I had been warned that it was a limited bus schedule for New Year's Day so ...."Good luck, getting back." And it was imperative that I return the next morning at the request of my host family. While Americans are just winding down their holidays on January 1st, the Armenians are just "winding up." I had been told that all the businesses close down for at least the first week of January to accommodate the tradition of family visits. During that week apparently everyone is expected to have a buffet ready on the dining room for at least two dozen visitors who might drop in. ( Apparently, cell phones have been a blessing since families get a little warning now!) This time it was no problem for this seasoned veteran of bus travel as I successfully located the only bus leaving for my city that day.
Such was the prologue to my first Christmas in Armenia. It is now January 10th and I am sitting here trying to remember what exactly happened that first week of January. One thing I know is that I was actually glad to go back to work on the 8th just to have some relief from all the eating and drinking.
My expectation was for a simpler, quieter holiday. I was relieved to be spared all the pre-Christmas sales in November, the December mailbox filled with Wal-Mart flyers, and the never-ending schedule of college bowl games. Here in Armenia I thought it would be wonderful to see what it was like to, as the slogan goes, put the Christ back in Christmas. The Peace Corps had stressed during our training the importance of 301AD when Armenia had become first Christian State in the history of the world. I would just have be patient and wait for January 6th, the date the Eastern Churches had chosen for Christmas.
So during all these family feasts, I waited. And January 6th came and went with no religious festivities. It was just another day of family visits. I had this feeling like I had missed the bus again. Guess it takes a while to learn the bus routes in another culture. At least next year I won't have to be disappointed by false expectations. I can just enjoy it enjoy the Christmas season in Armenia for just what it is: a celebration of family ties.
