Armo holic in Yerevan blog one

My summer has finally started and with it my blog. On June 12th I boarded a plane in Houston and flew to Los Angeles and thus began my summer adventures. This summer I am an Armenian Assembly of America Intern in Yerevan. I have been in armenia for the past week and have had a flood of new experiences.
So what do interns in Armenia do? Do we really work????
If you leave it to our employers than the answer would be NO. They know that you are an intern from America and all they want you to do is drink coffee all day, show up to work late, leave early and basically do nothing. Now this situtation would be ideal if we hadn't come here to know what it's like to work and live in Armenia. I am sorry but I am not here for two months to drink coffee with chocolates all day. No, I do not want to skip a day or two and yes I do want to work just like everyone else.
Armenia is a developing country.... Not everything here is perfect, it is not the ideal homeland that many people who haven't lived in Armenia imagine.
Several days ago I visited the Yerevan State University Chemistry and Physics department. The buildings were old and dilapidated. You could see that there was an effort to make it look presentable. The walls were freshly painted and there were some new desks in the classrooms, but the overall state of the building was terrible. The stairs were broken, there was trash all around the buildings, some of the windows were cracked and there were some posters on the walls which have been there since Soviet times. The cafe we went to down the street had brand new tables and chairs, a fountain in the middle which was shaped as a ship and a spotlessly clean floor.
Now this drastic difference leaves you thinking, does anyone here really care about our scientists, artists, poets and our Universities in general. Of course it's much more important to have a beautiful cafe next door then a good learning environment for our nation's brightest students........
Although I see the dificullties that Armenia faces today, I am an optimist and I believe that the development of this country will just take time. A long time probably but I believe that it will happen.
You can't help but notice the improvements that have already happened.
For several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we did not have electricity, heating or water in Yerevan. You can imagine if we were freezing in our apartments in the winter and got water only for one hour a day, what was going on in the villages outside of the capital.
Now there is electricity 24 hours a day in most of the homes. Water is still a problem in certain areas but most of Yerevan has water all day. Many organizations have helped out the villages and provided them with new equipment to make sure that they can work the land and feed their families. There are organizations which go to different villages and have classes with the local children and also have tranining sessions with the local teachers. There are also organizations such as the SOS Children's Village which helps orphans and abused children.
On Wednesday June 17th Birthright (Depi Hayq) organized a visit for us to the village. Each house in the village had eight children and they had a SOS mother. The children called her mom and referred to each other as brother and sister. It was very touching to see especially with the younger children who would not leave the side of their "sisters" or "mothers". Each of the kids was very proud to show their talents, some of them had amazing painitings, many could sing or dance and some played the piano. Villages such as the SOS village help develop the talents in these children and also encourage them to do something with their lives. If it wasn't for such organizations most of these orphans would not be able to afford a college education and would end up working in a grocery store or driving a taxi.
Speaking of taxis, the most educated taxi drivers in world are probably in Armenia. I remember taking a taxi last year while I was in Yerevan and my taxi driver was an engineer who had many years of experience, however since he was older and could not support his family by working as an engineer he became a taxi driver. Another taxi driver was a jeweler, some were chemists others were architects. None of these people really want to drive taxis but they do it to put food on the table.
Waiters are also an interesting breed of people. Not to generalize but waiters in Yerevan will probably get really high marks if anyone was to take a "rudeness" poll.
On Thursday we visited a restaurant called "Shirvan". A group of us walked in at about 11:45p.m. and ordered several drinks. The waitress told us that the they will not serve alcohol and food after midnight but that we didn't have to leave at midnight. At 12:15 the owner came up to us and asked us to leave. We had not even finished our drinks. When we got upset about it, he told us that the waitress had warned us that they closed at midnight. After about 15 minutes of arguing we payed our bill and left the place. You would think that she wouldn't sit us at 11:45 but it's Yerevan and apparently we were supposed to sit there for only half an hour.
There are the exceptions to the rule and it really makes your day when your waiter/waitress treats you well in this city........

So these have been my thoughts and adventures this week.
This was the first report of an armo- holic from Yerevan........

P.S. I would like to note that I am not an english major and that I am a total beginner in blog writing. So don't judge my grammar too harshly.