Memories from Armenia

[spiral]

Re: Memories from Armenia

- Playing hide-and-go-seek with neighborhood boys till 1am (no flashlights).
- Going to steal fruits and berries from neighborhood orchards and vines and being chased by the keepers.
- Vartavar: washing carpets and playing with water the entire day long.
- Playing soccer with boys from the another neighborhood and getting into messy fights afterwards.
- Going to "Park of Victory" on May 9th with my veteran grandpa.
- Going to picnics and eating khorovats and watermelon till you can't breath.
- Going with family to collect toot by kilos and eating them till my mouth got red and blue (from the dark toot). p.s.: In New Mexico there are toot trees and couple of times I've been caught eating them and have gotten some strange looks from passers-by.
- Sevan + Dilijan + Tsakhkadzor + Aparan = happy childhood
- Burning ants with a single burning match hitting a single ant. You need to know how to throw burning matches, it's an art, albeit a brutal one. Side story: burning dry grass and brush and telling little old ladies standing in their balconies that it's actually good for the earth.
- Swimming in city fountains.
- Eating "sgushionka' and 'Gogli Mogli'.
- Soviet cartoons: sad, beautiful and deeply moralistic. For instance in the Soviet Beauty and the Beast, the beast dies ... as a freagin beast. If you've seen the Soviet The Little Mermaid, you know what I mean.
- Playing "Cops and Thieves" on our bycicles and ripping by at 100 mph without bike helmets.

Kar, I'm jealous!

[karoaper]

Re: Memories from Armenia

Kar, I'm jealous!

ya, kuro helo m@ lagyan@ ber, nstenk tei khmenk u hushernerov kisvenk.

[ddd]

Re: Memories from Armenia

By the way, one of those haunting memories I have is how I could see from the window of our house, the smoke of when Hamalir was burning. Anyone remember that? This was like in the 80s, either 1985, 1986, or 1987 something around there.

I remember that distinctively. I also remember my eyes watering from the smoke.

A weird pastime during recess was to get with your buddies, put your arms on each others' shoulders, and walk around tripping other kids as they ran by.

[Starweaver]

Re: Memories from Armenia

The taste of apricots and mulberries
Armenian Eskimos Ice cream
All the kids and teachers at my kindergarten
the way the air burns sometimes in midsummer
the way´the neighbour came for coffee every morning
First schoolday, and the first time a i learned ti write in armenian
gee.......... actually i remember a whole lot, maybe even every single accident or bithday.

Ok.now i'm depressed

[Starweaver]

Re: Memories from Armenia

I'll try to name things I have not seen/experienced anywhere else.

Some childhood memories for now. Maybe adult memories later.

- Playing hide-and-go-seek with neighborhood boys till 1am (no flashlights).
- Going to steal fruits and berries from neighborhood orchards and vines and being chased by the keepers.
- Vartavar: washing carpets and playing with water the entire day long.
- Playing soccer with boys from the another neighborhood and getting into messy fights afterwards.
- Going to "Park of Victory" on May 9th with my veteran grandpa.
- Going to picnics and eating khorovats and watermelon till you can't breath.
- Going with family to collect toot by kilos and eating them till my mouth got red and blue (from the dark toot). p.s.: In New Mexico there are toot trees and couple of times I've been caught eating them and have gotten some strange looks from passers-by.
- Sevan + Dilijan + Tsakhkadzor + Aparan = happy childhood
- Burning ants with a single burning match hitting a single ant. You need to know how to throw burning matches, it's an art, albeit a brutal one. Side story: burning dry grass and brush and telling little old ladies standing in their balconies that it's actually good for the earth.
- Swimming in city fountains.
- Eating "sgushionka' and 'Gogli Mogli'.
- Soviet cartoons: sad, beautiful and deeply moralistic. For instance in the Soviet Beauty and the Beast, the beast dies ... as a freagin beast. If you've seen the Soviet The Little Mermaid, you know what I mean.
- Playing "Cops and Thieves" on our bycicles and ripping by at 100 mph without bike helmets.
- that's it for now. All I can say is I wish my children can have the kind of full and happy childhood I had growing up in Armenia in those times.

OMG that's so cool, i remember all that xxxx too. Remember when the truck from the city dump arrived, and they started yelling "Zibil! Zibil!" out in the yard hahaaa

[Vlad_Arm]

Re: Memories from Armenia

It has been 7 months since I took of from Yerevan...
My memories?

powerless dark days in early 90-s, when all the neighbours used to come to our apt and we were playing lotto, waiting to get electricity.
They feeling of night, winter day, when there is a lot of snow kinda foggy, and sometimes snowing (do you remember the smell guys?)
Yerevan in the nights....
Endless trip to school in a schoolbus.
Happy university years, wearing "Hollyday"'s and "Setta"s cheirs out...
The feeling and thought "I am home" when the airplane turns for final approach and you the Masis from the right side of the window over the wing...

[karoaper]

Re: Memories from Armenia

It has been 7 months since I took of from Yerevan...
My memories?

powerless dark days in early 90-s, when all the neighbours used to come to our apt and we were playing lotto, waiting to get electricity.

Man do I ever remember that. Remember the feeling of joy when electricity would finally come. Vlad, did you ever steal electricity from another building. Fun ain't it? Getting electrocuted once in a while was fun too (not really).

Armenians became experts in kerosine lamps and kerosine heaters in those days. The number of times I've burned my hair studying over a kerosine lamp; ehhheeee.

Also remember all the gas shortages. Speaking of lagyans, remember taking one-handed showers in them. One hand would pour the stove-heated water and one hand would wash off the soap. I remember feeling jealous of people who had those water-heating balons installed in their bathrooms. That way they could actually take showers like normal people.

Fun times (not really).

[Starweaver]

Re: Memories from Armenia

Man do I ever remember that. Remember the feeling of joy when electricity would finally come. Vlad, did you ever steal electricity from another building. Fun ain't it? Getting electrocuted once in a while was fun too (not really).

Armenians became experts in kerosine lamps and kerosine heaters in those days. The number of times I've burned my hair studying over a kerosine lamp; ehhheeee.

Also remember all the gas shortages. Speaking of lagyans, remember taking one-handed showers in them. One hand would pour the stove-heated water and one hand would wash off the soap. I remember feeling jealous of people who had those water-heating balons installed in their bathrooms. That way they could actually take showers like normal people.

Fun times (not really).

i'd rather not remeber those days. But since we need to move on and get the best out of those amazing experiences...........how many of you took a candle out in the bathroom with you too pee,when the power was gone,and accidently dropped the candle in to the toilet. See that's really funny. And oh yeah i think we burned my grandfathers Communist-economy books at the stove to get heat, actually i think that was the only time he used them to anything haha

[Vlad_Arm]

Re: Memories from Armenia

Man do I ever remember that. Remember the feeling of joy when electricity would finally come. Vlad, did you ever steal electricity from another building. Fun ain't it? Getting electrocuted once in a while was fun too (not really).

Armenians became experts in kerosine lamps and kerosine heaters in those days. The number of times I've burned my hair studying over a kerosine lamp; ehhheeee.

Also remember all the gas shortages. Speaking of lagyans, remember taking one-handed showers in them. One hand would pour the stove-heated water and one hand would wash off the soap. I remember feeling jealous of people who had those water-heating balons installed in their bathrooms. That way they could actually take showers like normal people.

Fun times (not really).

Oh Yea...
You know.. I'd say those were happy days... Well maybe these were happy for us becasue it was not us thinkin how are we gonna feed our family (At list I have been a kid). Stealing electricity... o yea...but not from other buildings... from "katelni" we had centralized heating, so there was always power in theri lines... Couple of times we had explosions because forgot to turnoff the "auxialry power".. loool....

Taking bath with one hand was not the thoughes part... The thoughest thing was to do the same in thing in winter... (We have been in a cold winter for 2 years, a after "paravoner" were working)
Also the whisdom to solve the problem of keeping that "kerona" lit for maximum time having the minimum neccessary tempreture to survive...

Queues for bread? I guess you haven't fogot them...

O yea btw: my aunt found a way to recycle the candles, to use them multiple times... (GREENPEACE MEMBERS, She will sell her secret... lemme know if you are interested.. lol)




Our parents (or those who were parents at that time) are really heroses... It'd take a strong character not to get lost.

[Vlad_Arm]

Re: Memories from Armenia

i'd rather not remeber those days. But since we need to move on and get the best out of those amazing experiences...........how many of you took a candle out in the bathroom with you too pee,when the power was gone,and accidently dropped the candle in to the toilet. See that's really funny. And oh yeah i think we burned my grandfathers Communist-economy books at the stove to get heat, actually i think that was the only time he used them to anything haha

It's your past... you cannot erase it.


So if someone now helds a competition on running with candles (wins the one who keeps it lit, and gets the first) armenian's would get the grand prize... though it was hard to see around holding the candle becasue it was bright, and all the rest were dark