My New Address!

Copy this over to a Word Document and Print it out and put on boxes or whatever your sending. All of it, it needs both the English and the Armenian. And don't trouble yourself with trying to write the armenian... lets just be serious now. Just Copy, Paste, Print, then Glue...Its the easiest way to do it!!!

Alex Lord 15 Sisakan Street Apartment 8 3501 Sisian, Armenia Syunik Marz

Հայաստան Սյռւնիքի Մարզ 3501 Սիսիան Սիսական փողոց 15/8 Ալեքս Լորդ

Ethiopia Part 1 - The Art of Travel

So I had a very interesting experience going from my small town in Armenia to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I left Dec 19^th, to make the 4-hour trip up to Yerevan, then planned on leaving the 20^th to go from Yerevan to Tbilisi, Georgia, and my flight was leaving on the 21^st at 3:30 am. My flight path was as follows: Tbilisi, Georgia-Munich, Germany, Munich-Frankfurt, and Frankfurt-Addis Ababa. So the trip up to Yerevan was interesting because I get on the Marshutni, public transport, and there is a woman from Addis Ababa on the van with me. I spent the 4-hour trip discussing the differences between the Armenia and Ethiopia, and what I have to do while in Addis. Her and her husband, who is from France, were very nice. In Yerevan we exchanged information and both promised to talk after the holidays. So in Yerevan I stayed with some friends that night, and planned to leave for Tbilisi the next day around noon. When I woke up I was explaining something about our PC ID’s and why they have our passport # on them when it hit me… I left my passport in Sisian, 4 hours away. I couldn’t believe I had done this, I made lists on what needed to be done and everything, but somehow Passport didn’t make it on any of those lists. So I called my site mate Ben, who went to my apartment, got my passport, and gave it to the marshutni driver to hand to me in Yerevan. Oddly enough, I was totally confident in my passport making in with no hiccups. Only problem was that the marshutni was leaving at 12:30pm, it takes on average 4 hours to get to Yerevan, and my marshutni to Tbilisi was leaving at 5pm, from a different Bus station. So giving everything went perfect, my passport would arrive at 4:30, and I had 30min to go half way across the city. To put my mind at ease, I went to the station where the marshutni was leaving from and negotiated a taxi that was going. This way, the taxi could wait for me if anything happened to the passport on the way from Sisian. It was a little more expensive, but I was also sharing it with 2 other people, and he agreed to take me all the way to the airport, which would save me money in the long run. Passport arrived a little before 4:30, I tipped the driver 1,000 dram (3$) and say he is a lifesaver. My Taxi picked me up and I was in Tbilisi and at the airport by midnight. Little did I know this was only the first of many problems and events for this trip.

Flying from Tbilisi to Munich was no problem, easy, maybe a 3-hour flight. Once I got into Munich the fun started. Right when I landed snow began to fall. And when I it was time to board my flight to Frankfurt, the airline closed the Frankfurt airport due to weather. Yes, I was one of the thousands of travelers stuck in airports during the 2010 holiday season. So as I was discussing options with the flight crew for Lufthansa, they informed me that even if the airport opened within the next 2 hours, I would still my flight fro Frankfurt-Addis because they were so backed up with other flights that needed to go out first. So I made decision, and told them to get me a train ticket within Germany from Munich-Frankfurt. My thought was, no matter when the airports opened up, if I am already in Frankfurt, I only need to catch one plane and not 2. The 2^nd being within Germany from Munich-Frankfurt. I thought it made more sense to wait in the airport that was taking me to my final destination. So they paid for a 4-hour train in Germany. Which turned out to be amazing. I had only spent one day in Germany back in 2007, and so I saw a new Germany, a beautiful, snow covered Germany. Once I got into Frankfurt, it was a Madhouse!!! Thousands of people just waiting in line, and sitting around, and laying on cots. So I found what line I needed to be in, and after about an hour of waiting, I got to a desk. This woman said my flight was already canceled and she only had one flight that she could put me on stand by for. So I took it. So I had about 11 hours to kill in the airport. So I walked around, ate some food, had a good German beer, and spoke with other travelers stuck in this Voyager’s Limbo. We shared experiences and laughed at how worked up people would get about airlines that were handing out free food, and they would get so mad if all they got for free was ham and not turkey. Its free food people, its much better than paying 10$ for McDonald’s. So anyway, I waited at the gate for my potential flight that was supposed to be leaving at 11pm. They announced there are 31 stand by passengers. I thought, “O Great, im spending the holidays in the Airport.” So as they are calling names and filling empty seats, people are waiting like it’s the Price Is Right and running to the gate when their name is called. They say, “We have only 2 seats left…. Mr. Lord and (don’t remember her name) Please come to the Front Desk.” BAM!! Im on the flight!!! Im excited cuz this means I may be finally able to get some sleep. I look at my check in Ticket and it says seat 1D, I think to myself, SWEEET, I get the Emergency Row with extra legroom. So im getting on the plane, talking to some little cutie that attends Boston College and is traveling to India to see her family, and I walk straight on and they say, “Your seat is to the left, very front row.” But everyone when they walk on the plane is taking a right… I think to myself, hmmm interesting. I part with the cute Bostonian girl and walk to the front row, find 1D and my jaw drops… I AM IN 1^ST CLASS! You betcha. I sit down and instantaneously a glass of champagne is handed to me. Did I mention the flight is 7.5 hours to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia? O Ya. I sat in the lap of luxury, and the complete opposite of everything meant to be Peace Corps.

So needless to say I didn’t mind having to wait 11 hours, and be on stand by for this trip. It was all worth it in the end… or so I thought.

I left the 30^th at 11am, and had the same flight path: Addis-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Munich, and Munich-Tbilisi. Everything was on time and smooth on the first 2 flights. Then on the flight from Munich-Tbilisi, everything landed on me at once. Basically I had been traveling for around 22 hours, and this flight was a 3-hour flight leaving at 11pm, and arriving at 3:45am. So I planned to sleep the entire way. Fate had a different idea of what I would be doing. So I get on the flight, and am having a great conversation to the woman across the aisle about the state of Armenia as being a CIS country. CIS is the Commonwealth of Independent States, an Organization created for all post-Soviet Nations. It was very interesting because she has a Doctorate from Harvard, and when we talking about health initiatives in villages, she was so surprised to here what I thought about it and how to get it to work. She said she was going to re-design her entire project on Village Health Interface. So as we are having this discussion, 20 min into the flight, some parents with twins around the age of 5 start disciplining their kids. Which makes them cry, and they do not stop crying the ENTIRE flight. Its 1am, and it is as if I am in a day care that was just told Barney was canceled forever, they were soooooo loud. One of the starts crying heavily, and starts cough. And I look at the guy on my right and I say, “That kid sounds like he is going to puke he is crying so hard, the parents may want to…” I didn’t even get to finish my sentence when I turn around and in the seat behind me the kid starts puking everyyywherrrreeee. Luckily the kid missed me by about 4 inches. It was all over the aisle and the back of my seat. I almost puked from hearing, then seeing, then smelling it. Now comes the big finale. The Flight Attendant comes over with a flash light, looks at it and says, “Oh Dear, Im gonna need help with this.” Did she go get another flight attendant, no, did she ask the parents to help, no, what about the kid that puked, no… She asked me to help. I’ve dealt with puking children before, no problem, but after 24 hours of no sleep, I was not in the mood. But she was cute, and I have a soul, so I said yes I will help. I had to hold the flashlight and the trash bag while she rubbed disinfectant wipes on it. And I couldn’t just hold the light, I had to show her where to clean, so I had to actively look for puke for her to clean up. Once it was all done, the parents didn’t even apologize or say thank you, they just let the kids continue to cry. Now come the fruits of my labor. Since I helped clean it up, they gave me a free bottle of a Chilean 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. Not an airplane version of a bottle, a real bottle, the whole thing. And in Armenia, the wine sucks, so I was ecstatic to get this bottle of wine. I drank it with my new friends I met at the Star Hostel in Tbilisi, Georgia (this is my plug for them, its by far the best hostel in Tbilisi). My new friends Tyler and Kat, and April from Hong Kong. Good people, Great times, and Good fun.

Soon to follow will be a post about my time in Ethiopia, look forward to that!!