In the last five years I have been fortunate enough to contract at various times a peculiar, random virus that causes fever and other oddities. Several years ago I laid incapacitated in Vanadzor with an obscenely high temperature and the delirious fear that my eyeballs would shoot out of my skull at any moment. While on a business trip to Irvine, California four years ago a different virus caused my gums to recede in response to a high temperature. My mouth was in such pain that I was committed to a diet of fruit-flavored kefir since I could not chew. This year, the fever brought fatigue and a violent, persistent cough along with it.

This cough is unlike any I have had before in that it literally drains me of any energy and ability to function normally. For the first couple of days the cough—actually a series of hacking coughs--produced no phlegm, but I felt that my lungs were being ripped apart with my body quaking, attempting to purge whatever had been obstructing normal airflow.

One week ago while at work I was about to take a long snooze at my desk, as if I had been belting back shots of vodka at lunchtime (Hovik, I don’t regularly do this, no worries). No amount of instant coffee or tea set me straight. I left late in the afternoon and went promptly to bed as soon as I got though the door. My weeklong sentence at home had just begun.

By the next morning the cough started along with a moderate fever. A work associate had been complaining of similar symptoms so I knew I either caught his bug or else something very close. Before long I felt as if a quarter-pound weight had been affixed to my upper chest limiting my ability to breath in deep—not an unbearable feeling but nevertheless there. My hips and elbows began to hurt and headache set in as well, undoubtedly brought on by the fever. But I never had sinus congestion during the entire week. The coughing, which came in waves, was nothing I had ever before experienced. Following each attack was a wall of fatigue that made me collapse into bed. The sound of each coughing episode resembled that of a man chopping wood at a rapid pace, and the force expelled was probably just as great. The amount of phlegm glued to my lungs seemed infinite. At night my body was deprived the luxury of sweet slumber as I was too busy coughing my lungs out. And Chi Chi was nearly always by my side, making sure I was all right.

As for treatment, the first night when I woke up from the nap after coming home I drank two cups of weak black tea laden with cornelian cherry (hon) preserves. The hon apparently has some kind of therapeutic properties—perhaps antioxidant, not exactly sure. They even distill vodka from it (if you can actually find the real thing). A friend from Boston once swore to me that a death of a cold was coming on during one of his visits here, and his host gave him a cup of tea with a spoonful of hon preserves sitting at the bottom of the cup. The next morning all the symptoms he had—congestion, sneezing, coughing and so forth—were gone. Too bad this miracle berry has never had such an effect on me.

Apparently, a heaping spoonful of red raspberry preserves (uncooked) is excellent for reducing temperatures, so Anushik was making me about five or six cups of that diluted with hot water a day. I was even making it for myself when she was away just out of habit. Then there was the honey. Armenians swear by honey for just about any ailment related to the nose, mouth and throat. They make special ointments out of it and rub it on various parts of the body to numb whatever pain is there. I must have consumed—I am guesstimating—about a half kilo of honey during one week’s time, but probably more. Usually the honey was mixed with freshly squeezed lemon in hot water which didn’t make it so sweet. I didn’t want to eat anything—I was practically forced fed baguette slices that were sometimes smeared with honey. A couple of nights ago I had a sudden craving for a kebab sandwich, and that made Anush and her mom happy as it was a sign of my health improving. Good thing there’s a great restaurant right up the street to oblige.

Anush also ended up finding some expectorants in the form of pills (no Tussin here, unfortunately). One was a natural concoction called “Melon” which seemed to help but not all that much. Then she found a drug produced by a German firm, Hexal (Armenians love German technology). That stuff basically opened up my lungs every 10-15 minutes to let me hack away, full blast. Sometimes I felt like I was drowning during these episodes, with my eyes wide open, mouth gaping, arms flailing. Terrible.

Now that most of the coughing has finally died down I’m hoping to return to the office tomorrow and to a normal way of existence. We went for a short walk today to test my strength—it was the first time being out in a week! Although I was moving about just fine I noticed that I was not able to breath deeply as I normally do, as if the air was thin. My lungs are still on the mend. I’m assuming in another day or two I won’t notice that any more. And by the weekend maybe I can get some more kebab into my stomach.

Last Sunday Anushik and I decided to attend mass at Khor Virab, which is located in Armenia's Ararat region about 20 miles from Yerevan. Unfortunately, by the time we got there just after 1:00 pm it was already over.

Seems I haven't written about Khor Virab before on this blog. Khor Virab is where St. Gregory the Illuminator was tortured and imprisoned in the late third century for preaching Christianity to Armenians. He was left for dead there, in his own personal hell for 13 years while nourished by a woman living nearby who took pity on him. It wasn't until King Trdat had contracted a mysterious debilitating illness that he was pulled out of the pit in order to cure the king. Trdat fully recovered, and subsequently declared Christianity as the state religion. You can actually go into the pit (there's two of them), which is protected by a chapel adjacent to the main church. The path leading to it is very narrow, and you need to climb down a ladder to get down there. I have never entered the pit and don't plan on ever doing so.

There is an excellent view of Mount Ararat from the compound as the Turkish border is only a few hundred meters away. Unfortunately the weather was overcast that day and not much was visible. Since Ararat appears as if you can reach out and touch it only about 10 days thoughout the year, it is extremely difficult to coordinate when to go to observe the full spender of the mountain up close.


The caption on this panel reads (translated from Armenian), "St. Gregory the Illuminator's Torments."

This place is one of the holiest sites in Armenia, yet the visitors that day were extremely rude and disrespectful to the overall sanctity of the compound. Many people were talking very loudly , chatting on their phones and generally clueless about the proper way to behave. People under the age of 20 generally didn't know how to control themselves. At the time I was livid, but before long I realized that people simply don't know any better.

The religious education in Armenia is lacking, and I put the blame directly on Catholicos Karekin II, who is the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. I have seen the same ill-mannered behavior displayed by local Armenians at nearly every church I have visited  in the country. Even within the church you have people speaking loudly and even shouting to one another. This can also be attributed to a general lack of respect of people for each other and even themselves, but like I said, the education isn't there.

This Catholicos is considered by everyone I have spoken to here as being the head of his own mafia, disregarded as a supreme, pious religious figure. He owns the Nor Zovk supermarket chain in Yerevan, and one of the stores is located right up the street where I live (he keeps a very clean supermarket and offers great prices, incidentally, a great businessman). He presumably has other business interests, none of which I am informed about. The Yerevan residence on the corner of Sayat Nova and Abovyan Streets has yet to be constructed--why he needs one is anyone's guess. He also wants to build a new church at the site of the amphitheater located beside Cinema Moscow, which was ironically the location of a cathedral that was destroyed by the Soviets so that Armenians could go to the movies. But that intention is illogical since very few people have religious inclinations to begin with. Also the amphitheater is frequently used for summer concerts, and there's no alternative venue in downtown Yerevan. You hear people still rave about Catholicos Vasken I who died in the early 1990s, but when it comes to his two successors, people are generally unimpressed and very disappointed.

In any case, people who have yet to visit Khor Virab should go during the week when people are busy at work or school. That way you'll have a full appreciation of the sanctuary and how divine the area actually is.



Photos taken with my Nokia N86 8MP

I just wanted to wish all the female readers of this blog Happy International Women's Day.  In Armenia, today is a national holiday, and everything is closed except for food stores, florists and restaurants, all of which will be jammed packed since everyone is taking out their wives and mothers. I hope you're able to celebrate this special day with lots of laughs, wine and song. Here's to you.

Labels: Thoughts and Musings

On Footprints, my other blog about Armenian issues where I concentrate on political topics now, I wrote about my thoughts regarding the passing of the Armenian Genocide resolution by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4.

Here are some excerpts:

People are probably wondering whether President Barack Obama will actually say the “G-word” this year. It could happen. Some believe that Washington may be trying to pressure Turkey to move forward with the protocols by properly recognizing the Armenian Genocide. After that happens, Turkey is likely to fess up and go through with opening the border, despite its reservations.

I doubt that Turkish officials want to look like absolute hypocrites by walking away from the protocols at this point. The protocols are already up for discussion in the Armenian parliament. They already look bad by demanding that a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict be resolved first before the shared border with Armenia is opened. Naturally the international community (with the exception of Azerbaijan, of course) thinks that doesn’t make much sense. Then again, Ankara is too proud to let anyone boss them around, including Washington. Nevertheless, in the end Ankara can’t do much about Genocide resolutions and condemnations. The Genocide has been recognized by national legislative bodies around the world, and that’s not about to stop.

Since I wrote that post, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her statement to the press was adamant that the Obama administration will not let the resolution reach the House floor for debate. I really don't know if politicians can let this keep happening every couple of years. The last time a similar resolution came to light was in 2007, and it was shot down at the last minute despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's promises that it would be considered for a vote by congressmen.

No one can tell what will really happen this year since Turkey is playing games with the fate of the protocols and is about to infuriate the West, but I can safely say that Turkish officials are really looking like imbeciles in the world's eyes by continuing to deny the facts of the Armenian Genocide. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a dumbfounded Charlie Rose back in December that “I can say very clearly that we do not accept genocide. This is completely a lie.” How long can this pompous repudiation continue?

Labels: Armenian Genocide, Politics

March 1 is considered to be the first day of spring in Armenia. In actuality, the entire winter, if you can call it that, was an early spring.

I can't recall the temperature in Yerevan falling below freezing at any time in December, January or February.  It snowed only twice in the city, and both times the temperature didn't seem to drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit during the day or even at night. My wife and I had to go to Tsaghkadzor as I wrote in a previous post on this Armenian blog to recall what winter is supposed to be like, but even there, on Sunday afternoon when we were about to head back, the weather warmed up quite suddenly and the snow started melting very fast.




About two weeks ago flower vendors nearby the Gomidas Market started to sell crocuses on the sidewalks. Now you can already find tulips, violets and daffodils. I've never seen such flowers bloom so soon in the year in Armenia before.



 This poor guy selling pussy willows is just about to sneeze... bad timing.


I also ran into some spring chickens being sold only inches from someone selling crocuses. Don't ask why--the reason should be obvious: Why not?



Photos taken on my Nokia N86 8MP.

Labels: Photography, Thoughts and Musings