Wednesdays with Tatevik - February 23, 2010

Tatevik Revazian
Denmark

I cannot believe that I only have one month left! Time is passing by so quickly and everyday is special. I want to extend my stay for 3 more weeks. I would stay 3 more months, but I have to go back home and write my bachelor project for my university. But I will be back.

I have slept just a bit more this week as I promised myself. I have started to learn to write Armenian and I can read now, which is fantastic. Of course the level is like an 8 year old, but it’s quite good. I can actually play “alphabet games” with my niece and help her and it is quite fun for me too. I started piano lessons a couple of weeks ago and I am learning very quickly. I played when I was younger, but I haven’t touched a piano since, but it is all coming back to me.

Yesterday I went to a private bar and saw a funny film with Robin Williams. This is the first place I’ve seen a film in English. In the cinema, all the movies are in Russian – even the American ones.

Other than that I’ve enjoyed my time walking through the city and I am enjoying the wonderful weather. We had 18 degrees (Celsius) a couple of days ago. It felt like late spring. So I am quite happy while my family and friends are struggling with the snow in Denmark. Apparently this is a historic warm winter in Armenia and a historic cold winter in Denmark. Lucky, lucky me.

The most memorable experience this week was my first walk alone through the “shuka” (market). I was the only buyer and they were all saying: “kurik jan (sister, dear) come and buy some fruit from me.” I knew that I didn’t have any experience in this area. I was very polite which made me feel a bit obligated to buy something from everyone. Half of the things they showed me I had never seen before. Different kinds of fruits, spices and more.

They found out that I wasn’t from Armenia, which resulted in a huge interest in my talking about the far away country in Europe. And as always I had to answer the question “where do you like it most.” I kind of hate that question because it is impossible to answer. You can’t really compare two completely different countries. I feel at home in both places and comfortable in different ways in both countries.