Chad's Armenian Adventures

[Scott Brady]

Our forum member Chad and his wife Misty are in the foreign service in Armenia. So this is a place where we can live vicariously through them:

Here is their album: http://www.pbase.com/droppdwn/chinese_new_year_in_armenia

This will be a place we can follow their adventures in their Gen 3 4Runner

[droppdwn]

I laughed out loud in my office when I read that you all might be 'living vicariously' through us. My wife and I were in the Philippines for two years before this, and now we'll be living here in Yerevan, Armenia until late summer 2007. Some of you have travelled in Mexico and South/Central America so I'm not sure how different our experiences are (other than the long-term living aspect of course), y no espanol.

That being said, the roads are ROUGH here. I'm talking, MISSING in many places. A formerly-paved stretch of road is sometimes tougher on a vehicle than a nice double track dirt road. That and the various chunks of Russian vehicle that litter the road (it's usually the WHOLE vehicle), the open and missing manhole covers, rebar sticking up in various directions in my neighborhood, and PACKS of stray dogs all make for an interesting daily drive to work. The average Armenian pedestrian wears dark clothing top to bottom, there are no steetlights to speak of, and they don't use salt on the roads (they don't have salt here, and it's been snowing off and on for 8 weeks).

And I wouldn't trade any of it for the world right now! I'll try and drop some tidbits in here from that hopefully you guys (and gals) will enjoy. A good for instance: No matter how much snow/ice we get, the average Armenian lady wouldn't get caught DEAD without her 3" heels! We get looked at for our ghastly hiking boots and cold weather gear.

I just got back from breakfast in the Embassy Cafeteria and there's talk of a summit of Aragats (4090M) in a few weeks. This could involve driving up as far as the bulldozer went last weekend, parking and snowshoeing the rest of the way.

The kicker of course is that there are no medical facilites, tow trucks (thoguh they DO have a dozer up there), no life-line helicopters, no park rangers, and no support. It's a make-your-own fun sort of place!

Chad & Misty (The Jetset Set)