10 Things I Hate/Love About You

Zach Dyer
USA

10 things that regularly annoy me about Armenia:

1. dairy
2. not knowing what hunger feels like anymore, but always being thirsty
3. the supposed difference between the letters գ, վ, and ք
4. that no women sit in the front of a marshrutka even if 20 of them are cramped standing in the back and no one's sitting up front
5. entitled diasporans
6. that if you ask a young person about their dreams, they usually include leaving Armenia
7. superstitions, especially those that are health-related
8. that the english word 'bribe' is more commonly known than the word 'please'
9. trash. everywhere.
10. they make their ice cream with butter

10 things I strangely love about Armenia

1. the fact that no matter who I talk to, after "where are you from, are you armenian, how long are you staying," the next question is "are you married" from a woman and "do you like our women?" from a man.
2. marshrutka drivers
3. the fact that saying someone is fat is not insulting, just a description
4. freshly made cherry juice
5. the phrase "problem chgah"
6. how good the tap water tastes
7. the sheep at my bus stop in the middle of the city
8. pomegranate wine
9. that strangers are typically trusted because they typically can be
10. THEY MAKE THEIR ICE CREAM WITH BUTTER!!