Good morning, good afternoon and good evening readers,

On the 1^st May a national assembly vote was carried out in Yerevan, for the new Prime Minister of Yerevan. Judging by the continuous protests throughout the country, the majority of Armenia want Nikol Pashinyan as their new PM. Alas, this wish did not come to fruition, so due to further protests we stayed at home and the day that followed this event was very strange indeed.

For several days now, we have been unable to take the bins out because the “bin chute” (yes bin chute) has been blocked. I know, I know, “eugh that’s so gross, you should have figured it out sooner”. Well, we didn’t. We had a little snoop around the building, however we could not find the mysterious location where the bin chute ended. I grabbed Amy’s phone, called one of the ever-helpful volunteers and handed it to a stranger outside the flat for some Armenian conversational exchanges. Needs must. The random man was really kind and showed us where the bins went, he even carried some of them for us (there were quite a few). What a diamond.

Next thing you know, he has invited us in for coffee and we are sat in his living room, with his entire family. I would like to mention at this point that he spoke no English what, so, ever. Amy did an absolute crackin’ job of communicating with Russian phrases and we managed to have a comprehensive conversation. At one point he mentioned Angela Merkel, although not sure what was quite going on there. After a lot of cake and a lot of laughing at the hilarity of the situation, we headed back to our flat. For a family to take two young English girls into their home, of whom do not speak the same language as them, and to provide them with such kind hospitality, is inspiring. At home, I am not sure if I would do the same thing because of a fear that something bad would happen. We taught to not trust strangers and to keep them at arm’s length. If I were to invite a stranger into my home, the entire series of CSI: Colchester would play over and over in my head. As if the kind person drinking a cup of tea, were about to knock me unconscious and I woke up tied to the bannister, forced to eat bowls and bowls of jelly until my dying days…

ANYWAY, back on the thought train. Before leaving for Armenia, I had started to talk to strangers more. Come to think of it, on the way back from my interview for this EVS opportunity, I spent two hours talking to this random man on the train about all sorts. It makes you feel so alive when you can make that connection with someone and then you part your separate ways. When I arrived here, I started to miss those sporadic yet amazing connections. When sitting on the bus the other day, I heard the woman next to me speaking English. I decided to “Feel the fear and do it anyway” and started a conversation with her. I told her that this was my favourite view of Yerevan, as we drove over the bridge. We then shared stories and it turns out she also has completed EVS placements abroad, small world hey? We talked about the stresses of the Marshutka (bus) and she told me about her international boss and his “bus episode”. For months he had been paying for taxi’s because he was too scared of the dreaded Marshutka, until one day when he decided to give it a go. They got the bus together and as he opened the door, the door broke. Classic. The bus driver was so angry and was shouting at her boss, she was mortified. I hate to say it, but it made me feel a whole better about my bus episodes! At the end of the conversation we swapped numbers and will hopefully meet again soon.

Whether it’s connecting with a stranger back home, another English speaker in the country you are visiting, or just making connections via other communicative methods, we must always remember to “Keep Calm and Don’t Panic”. You just never know what may happen when you take the bins out.

In kindness,
C x