The Branch Christmas Party

We're still playing catch up on the posts, but at least now we're actually writing about things that have happened this year. Many stories are in the works, such as "Vanadzor Tabernacle Choir", "Chicken Feet" and "Bela's Feast". These have all been written when we were so green---now Vanadzor itself is turning green & we are feeling adjusted and more like real Armenians.

January 6, 2010

This is Christmas Day in Armenia. Church bells have been ringing and we've spotted people walking with lighted candles, but we didn't have time to wander over to the New Church nearby (which we had wanted to do) because we were busy with our own branch party which was spectacular and should give you some good ideas. President Helelyan had announced that the party would begin at noon because he really wanted it to begin at 1:00 and he says everyone is always late. And he's right. When we arrived about 12:00 almost everyone was already there. But we did actually begin at 1:00 with a well prepared nativity pageant by the Primary. Their costumes were imaginative and they all knew their lines and it was done with reverence and enthusiasm. They had a manger surrounded by stuffed animals and they sang Silent Night with gusto. They then sang a cute Christmas song in English which Seda had learned from a CD she has used to teach English to herself and her children. President Helelyan had introduced the program with remarks about the true Church, and how we should love and care for one another, and how grateful we are for the birth of our Savior.

The Young Men and Women then did a little play about how the spirit of Christ is the spirit of love and forgiveness, and about two girls who were mad at each other, but on Christmas Day they reached out and became friends again.

Ani, who was translating for us, said she had just done the same thing and that if she died she'd go straight to the Celestial Kingdom because she had repented. Both little programs captured the true essence of what the Gospel is all about---both what happened historically, and what we should be doing every day.

Then the games began. I'm not a fun person, but these were very clever and even I had fun. The first was for all of the tatiks, including me, to divide into teams and wrap one team member as fast as we could like a mummy, with rolls of toilet paper. It was hilarious---and we should have used the cheap toilet paper, because it's, um, much stronger, and we all had problems with the paper breaking. It was a good lesson in team work.

The YM/YW then played a game where they had to dig through a bag of popcorn using only their noses and tongues to find a piece of paper which told them where to find their prize.

We played "Name That Hymn", as I played snippets from hymns, and the ones who guessed correctly then sang the hymn. There are only 45 hymns translated into Armenian.

Then Santa came!
He was dressed beautifully, with a sack full of presents. He gave a little speech about how he's just Santa Claus, but we really worship Jesus. Each child came one by one and gave a little recitation for him before receiving a gift from the sack and a bag of goodies. The children were well-behaved and happy and content with their very modest treasures.
Then out of nowhere (actually out of 5' x 5' kitchen) came people bearing trays of food. This was after two blessings. They were too noisy during the first one I think. I mean a tray for each person with bread, cheese and sausage, an orange and a mandarin, a cup of Fanta and a chocolate marshmallow cookie.

I helped to wash the dishes later---in a simmering pan of soapy water on the stove. (I'm getting over my prissy hang ups about sanitation. They don't always wash the dishes in hot water, or with soap, or dry them with a clean cloth---sometimes it's been a little scary.) It was all very efficient and tasty. The food, not the soapy hot water. I think they took the left-overs to hungry members,once again practicing what they had preached. They are kind and generous people and we are often told that Vanadzor is the best branch in Armenia.

After lunch the music came on, and the dancing came on. These people love to dance, young and old. This is Azgush dancing. (She died the next year and I dressed her in her Temple clothes for burial.) Some of the members apologized to me about the spirit switch, but I assured them that there was a good spirit during the dancing, too.
It was after the dancing that we had recitations---some sang solos, some recited old Armenian poetry and it was all very theatrical and interesting. Armine told me that after the earthquake Armenians seemed to develop a need to be noticed.

When it was all over I gave Ani her first piano lesson. It went well, although I had way too many helpers hovering around. She is a serene and precious angel, and she'll do well, and I think she's used to chaos. Armenians aren't used to privacy. The Church has developed a very good keyboard course and I'm going to try to make good use of it. Thanks, Mom, for piano lessons----they're finally paying off.

Shnorhavor Nor Tari!!

Armenians celebrate New Year's with a passion. Then on January 6th---tomorrow---they celebrate "Christmas" as a religious holiday. We'll have a branch party which will take most of the day. They have so much planned I don't know how they'll get it all in. The branch president's office is filled to the brim with barbie dolls and games. There are more barbie dolls than there are people in the branch. But knowing Armenians, & Georgians, too, they'll just stay in a box and be put up on a shelf. I could write a whole dissertation on how children here aren't covetous and wanting the latest toys endlessly. In fact, this is as good a time as any to say how content and grateful the people seem to be with what life is giving them. (I told my grandchildren about our 10 year old friend whose sister asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he shrugged, and said "Nothing!"----it wasn't something he ever even thought about.) Vanadzor was in the big earthquake 20 years ago---not hit quite as hard as some areas. But everything, still, is torn up and raggedy and in terrible repair. (Part of that is because it's so expensive to go to Home Depot and fix things up--wait, they don't have Home Depot. But if they did they couldn't afford it. Remember these are people who buy parchment paper by the centimeter. ) BUT the point is that they remember when they had NOTHING--no water, no food, no nothing, so they are very grateful for things as they are now.



So, now, a quick trip through New Year's. January 1 we spent about 5 hours with the branch president's family. This is the formula: They have a lavish spread, in his case a roast pork, and a roast chicken, and plates full of dolmas, big displays of fruit, nuts and dried fruit, small bowls of salads (not as we know them--usually very mayonnaisey potato, or carrot salads) pickles, olives, platters of sliced sausages, bottles and bottles of drinks, pastries, blinis. It's quite tasty. We stayed so long because we were having such a good time. They are the only actual family in the branch--with father, mother, son and daughter all active. We talked about many things, mostly about how the Gospel has blessed their family. His occupation is selling fruit on a little part of the sidewalk--he has a lot of competition, but we talked about how keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and closing on Sunday, and paying his tithing and going to the temple has blessed their lives. (p.s. Since I am blogging very randomly, and after the fact, you need to know that since New Year's he has found a good job as a meter reader--another blessing. And since then he has lost that job. If I edited everything I've posted it would literally never end. ) He was very proud of the fact that, unlike most of the people here, he didn't have to go into debt to provide his New Year's feast. Even the head of the Armenian church has chastised the people for borrowing money so they can impress their neighbors with big spreads at holiday time. (An Armenian joke: "What would an Armenian do if he won a million in the lottery?" "He'd pay off debts." "And how would he pay off the rest?") I told them Americans do the same thing--only it's with big houses and cars and toys. There is nothing quite like a Georgian or Armenian dinner. We sang Silent Night (Loor Gisher, Sourp Gisher) and the time really flew. I was embarrassed that we had stayed so long, but they seemed to think it was fine---they are very gracious.



Then on Saturday we went to Seda's. Seda has been to the Temple, and has two wonderful teen-aged children, who stayed at the table and were sweet the whole time we were there. Same menu, basically, and her daughter, Maneh, had made the pastries. They all end up with tons of dirty dishes, and no dishwasher, but this is their big, once a year thing. Her husband is very, very nice and they have a happy and very loving family. All of her family, in Russia, are members. She is the Primary President and does a wonderful job with the children. She is the kind of person who, if she lived in Salt Lake, would be on the General Board. I have hired her as my housekeeper, at the branch president's request, and against all my own inclinations, and when I came home early yesterday she was washing my windows on her own initiative. She is very thorough, and she's teaching me Armenian, too, and helping me find my way around the city. (p.s. I am now her 2nd counselor, and loving Primary.) She's going to help me go buy a stove on Friday. Her home is actually much nicer than mine. I can take bucket baths all day, but I''ve got to have a stove. (p.s. my new stove burns everything, but I'm working on my stove skills.)

Sunday we went to Rosannne and Roland's. He used to be the Branch President and they''ve been to the temple several times. He's the rare Branch President who doesn't go inactive after being released. Only menu change was that they had a whole ham, which was very good. And she made 5 different pastries,including baklava. After that we went to Armine's. She has two daughters--Arax and Ani--and they are something straight out of Pride and Prejudice. Arax is wild and crazy, beautiful and funny. Ani is serene and industrious and beautiful and sings like an angel. I'm going to teach her to play the piano. They have both served mini-missions. Their father is a character. He and Elder Blunck hit it off, after a brief tiff when Elder Blunck refused to drink wine with him. But the inspiring thing to me was how they all adore him, and even though I know Armine yearns for him to be baptized (which would involve giving up much in the way of lifelong habits), and take her to the temple (she's been, and she says "The Church is my Life!!) they all treat him with great respect and love. We had a very kind of Dickensy time---people took turns singing and dancing, and we ended up with Christmas caroling---Elder Thylin is a Swedish Jew, and he sang Swedish songs, Elder Stephenson sang O Holy Night, Ani sang a plaintive mid-Eastern song, there was dancing, & it was a beautiful evening.

The Branch Christmas Tree

And why I''m posting this in March: This is catch up time ---it's going to take about five more posts to get current. The Christmas tree was put up in the branch foyer early in December, but then came the huge celebration on New Year's Day, and many days thereafter, and THEN on January 6 some people celebrated Christmas as a religious holiday. We did, and the branch did.

I popped five batches of popcorn---the old-fashioned way--- and brought them to a Young Women activity where the YW were going to make a cake, and the primary leaders were going to let me help make sugar cookies for the children to decorate on Saturday. It was bedlam. (I'm adapting rapidly to the unhygienic way of things. I may have to be retaught when I get home.) We had to leave to run many blocks to the marketplace to buy parchment paper for the cake pans---they buy it by the centimeter because that's all they can afford to do. But after going out into the hall to mix cake batter, and cookie dough (because that's the only outlet that worked) and an interlude where they paused to laugh uproariously over my Ikea measuring spoons (these people find great delight in the simplest things, such as Elder Blunck telling them in a branch counsel meeting that unless they were going to talk REALLY fast they'd better allow more than 15 minutes for the meeting) anyway, we had a frenzied noisy chaotic jolly old time, and ended up with a quite pretty and tasty cake, which we then gobbled down, and two trays full of kind of lopsided sugar cookies and a clean kitchen. This activity took place on Wednesday. By the time our meetings were over on Sunday the little tree, with magical LED lights, had transformed into a very charming Christmas tree with strings of popcorn, and cookies decorated with magic markers, and sprinkled with sugar.

Fashion Report from Vanadzor

If you want to fit in you have to wear tight black jeans, tucked into 5-inch stilleto boots, and then navigate through the icy rubble without even looking down. Since I can''t even walk around my apartment without tripping I am setting a new trend of Frankenstein snow boots, and hanging onto Yerets Blunck for dear life. The weather in Vanadzor is the kind where, if you don''t like it, just wait a couple of hours and it will change. One day can be sunny, snowy, rainy, windy, and whatever else there is weather-wise. Sunshine seems to win out most often. Vanadzor is the kind of place that smiles through its tears.

I was recovering recently from a fall in the apartment--I tripped on a raggedy piece of linoleum and fell straight onto my hind end and couldn''t walk very well for a few days because the whole area which would be sitting on a saddle, if I had a horse, was so sore. That's enough--I never did want to be an old lady who talks about her health. One night my reward for suffering in silence & working hard even when I didn't feel good was that we laid in bed and watched The Half Blood Prince and Angels and Demons on the computer. The Elders had watched 6 movies on New Year's Day and we didn''t get to because we were visiting people, although I had popped them 8 batches of popcorn and sent along a bag of candy, (which was a good thing, as they had forgotten to go food shopping, and couldn''t find any open stores ) so we borrowed two of their movies and it was fun. Our rules as seniors are pretty lenient!

My least two favorite topics have been covered so far--health and weather. Sorry.

The View From Our Window

This morning I took a bath with a big pan of drinking water I had heated on the stove. It wasn't too bad. It's not that much worse than every other day when water actually comes out of the tap, and there's enough pressure to ignite the scary old Russian water heater. There's something a little terrifying about having open flames at eye level, while you''re standing in the tub. Every morning I find myself humming "and I must go & fetch the water" as I fill bottles and buckets for the day. In the spring and summer our view will be very pretty, and by then we'll be used to being Armenians, though that is actually impossible because of the concept of TRADITION---which I will write about some day, because I think about it every day.

In Georgia I felt like I had to have a huge sense of benign irony, or I couldn't have survived the puzzling and completely baffling encounters with Georgian culture which kept me constantly off-balance. For instance, in both of these countries one is continually meeting people with degrees in engineering and/or economics. And in most---in fact all--- cases they are unemployed in either field. And both countries could really use some good engineering (because absolutely nothing works right-----it would take too many pages to describe doors that don't close, locks that don''t work, electrical outlets that come out of the wall when you pull the plug, & my favorite, sinks that always have a standing puddle of water because they aren't engineered to slope toward the drain) and some good sound economic policy, although I'm not sure there's such a thing in the entire world. But that's stuff that doesn't matter. Even a bucket bath doesn't matter, once you're dried off and dressed.

What does matter right now is that we are living in the midst of the most quaint, charming, unaffected, picturesque, uncomplicated, simple, direct and loving people I've ever met. They love to laugh, they are genuine and unsophisticated. They are generous and grateful, and, when it comes to the members of the branch, they really get it in terms of the Gospel. It's very humbling.