What an incredible and yes Lena, warm and fuzzy feeling I got from being a part of the Shushi preschool project. Madlene and the donor made it to Shushi on Sunday and she called me here in Martuni to tell me to come with the beddings. I called for the van which was going to bring the stuff on Friday, but the driver had gone to a village and his wife was not sure when he would be back. I went to the center of town and hired a taxi, which along with my car, we were able to load up all the beddings. The taxi had to drive slower than me, as the roof-rack was loaded really high with mattress-pads.
I drove ahead and made my way to Shushi in about an hour. Madlene, the donor and Madlene�s soon to be Godson�s father, who drove them to Artsakh in his car were waiting for me at Der Antrias�s house. Der Hyr was not home, but his Yeretzgin, really cute and very smart children and mother-in-law were there to entertain us and serve us hot tea and sweats as we waited for the taxi to come. Just before the taxi arrived, someone was called to bring over a key to let us into the preschool so we could deliver the beddings, which would be presented in the morning. Two women arrived from the preschool and we drove over. The taxi and my car were unloaded. Madlene, the donor, Madlene�s soon to be Godson�s father and I drove to Stepanagert, where we had a pizza dinner. At dinner we discussed the donor�s project and the donor told me that thanks to Madlene and her generosity of letting him stay at Hotel Madlene, he has more money left that he was going to spend on this trip (hotel, food and other thing) and wanted to do more for the preschool. What the donor had so far provided was 30 complete sets of bedding and the need the preschool has is for 49 beds, meaning 19 more sets. Though the money he had left would not cover 19 more sets, it should be enough for at least half that.
We finished and headed off to Karendag, which is a village under Shushi, where Madlene and the donor have friends who we would spend the night with. After driving around Karendag in the dark, we found one of their friend�s houses, but he as not home. We drove over to another friend (who the donor had called before us coming) were we sat for tea and the donor and Madlene reminisced of visits they had years before. The other friend that we had gone to see heard of our arrival and came over. He took Madlene and I to his house, where we stayed the night.
We sat and talked for hours about all sorts of different thing. By the time we went to bed, Madlene had already laid down and fell asleep where I guess they had planned for me to sleep and gave me Madlene�s room. Lights went out and before I could fall to sleep, Madlene�s friend begins to snore. Now this is something new for me. I�ve been living alone for a few years now so I�m not really use to noises like that when I sleep. I could not close the room door as the woodstove was in the other room and I would freeze. Maybe if it was light snoring, I could deal with it, but this guy was chopping down an entire forest. I mean if you could capture the energy he was putting out, you could power a small city or something. On top of that, every now and then someone and I wont name names, starts to talk in their sleep. After 5 hours of listening to all this, I fell asleep. Two hours later it was time to get up. So we got up and had breakfast. I had fresh hot milk with honey and bread.
We went back over to the other friend�s house, where my car was and loaded up and head to the Shushi preschool. The director of the school greeted us. She was very happy with the donation. The donor had also brought with him some toys that the Disney Company had given him for the preschool. As we took a tour of the preschool, the beds were made with the new beddings and the toys were put under the Christmas tree for the kids. As the donor was dealing with paperwork with the director of the preschool, Madlene and I visited with the kids. They were so cute and very talkative. After a few songs and poems, the beddings were all ready. We took a few pictures of the kids next to their new beds and then made our way to the Christmas tree, where the kids danced and sang in a circle around the tree. When they were giving the green-light to pick gift, they were so well behaved. I was really impressed with this, as I�ve been involved with gift distribution in the past and it was never this calm. No mad rush, just walked over and took a toy. We finished with a group picture and the kids thanks us and went back to their classroom. Madlene and the donor had to go back to Yerevan so we left each other�s company.
I headed home and got here about 1 p.m. I knew that as tired as I was, if I slept right then, I would wake up at midnight and not be able to go to sleep. So I got on-line and talked with ShooshiG for a bit, telling her about my day. As sleepy as I was, I needed to stay awake. As we were chatting, I got a call from a friend that I was planning on seeing in Stepanagert, but since I was so tired, I had come home without stopping in at his work. It turns out that he was on vacation and had come home to Martuni. I invited him over and let ShooshiG off the hook for having to keep me awake. My friend came over and we talked for a couple of hours. He left and now my body was reminding me that I needed to sleep. It was 5 p.m. and still too early. So I got back on-line and read the news posted on Groong.
At 6 p.m. and just as I was ready to pass out, my neighbor comes over to tell me that my neighbor who lives across the street from me that is the commander of one of our bases here in Martuni is celebrating his birthday and I�m invited. Oh great, here I am ready to pass out and now I have to go to a birthday party. Well I could not say no, so I got dressed up and went over. I have to admit we had a great time. The food was great, the toasts were great and the best part was the live music, which was accordion and drum. They drank a toast to the neighbors and me and one of my neighbor�s (the one that came over to invite me) told me to say something (kind of an addition to the toast). So when I stood up to talk, the room got dead silent. I mean you could hear a pin drop, I kid you not. So I said what Raffi M had talked about as far as me being here is not that big a sacrifice and that in the time I have been here, as bad as things may have gotten, I also see and believe that we are going in a direction that there will one day be a stable environment created, where the little kids in the room (who now that I think of it were also sitting quite and listening) will not see what we have seen in the last 10 years. We clinked glasses, drank and the music continued. At 9 p.m. I excused myself, went home, lit a fire in my woodstove and passed out.
I got up a couple of times to drink some water and add a log to the fire. When I woke this morning at 9 a.m. it was snowing. As Lena said, it was so beautiful and I too took a bunch of pictures. Maybe it was a couple days late, but it did get me into the Christmas mood.
I drove ahead and made my way to Shushi in about an hour. Madlene, the donor and Madlene�s soon to be Godson�s father, who drove them to Artsakh in his car were waiting for me at Der Antrias�s house. Der Hyr was not home, but his Yeretzgin, really cute and very smart children and mother-in-law were there to entertain us and serve us hot tea and sweats as we waited for the taxi to come. Just before the taxi arrived, someone was called to bring over a key to let us into the preschool so we could deliver the beddings, which would be presented in the morning. Two women arrived from the preschool and we drove over. The taxi and my car were unloaded. Madlene, the donor, Madlene�s soon to be Godson�s father and I drove to Stepanagert, where we had a pizza dinner. At dinner we discussed the donor�s project and the donor told me that thanks to Madlene and her generosity of letting him stay at Hotel Madlene, he has more money left that he was going to spend on this trip (hotel, food and other thing) and wanted to do more for the preschool. What the donor had so far provided was 30 complete sets of bedding and the need the preschool has is for 49 beds, meaning 19 more sets. Though the money he had left would not cover 19 more sets, it should be enough for at least half that.
We finished and headed off to Karendag, which is a village under Shushi, where Madlene and the donor have friends who we would spend the night with. After driving around Karendag in the dark, we found one of their friend�s houses, but he as not home. We drove over to another friend (who the donor had called before us coming) were we sat for tea and the donor and Madlene reminisced of visits they had years before. The other friend that we had gone to see heard of our arrival and came over. He took Madlene and I to his house, where we stayed the night.
We sat and talked for hours about all sorts of different thing. By the time we went to bed, Madlene had already laid down and fell asleep where I guess they had planned for me to sleep and gave me Madlene�s room. Lights went out and before I could fall to sleep, Madlene�s friend begins to snore. Now this is something new for me. I�ve been living alone for a few years now so I�m not really use to noises like that when I sleep. I could not close the room door as the woodstove was in the other room and I would freeze. Maybe if it was light snoring, I could deal with it, but this guy was chopping down an entire forest. I mean if you could capture the energy he was putting out, you could power a small city or something. On top of that, every now and then someone and I wont name names, starts to talk in their sleep. After 5 hours of listening to all this, I fell asleep. Two hours later it was time to get up. So we got up and had breakfast. I had fresh hot milk with honey and bread.
We went back over to the other friend�s house, where my car was and loaded up and head to the Shushi preschool. The director of the school greeted us. She was very happy with the donation. The donor had also brought with him some toys that the Disney Company had given him for the preschool. As we took a tour of the preschool, the beds were made with the new beddings and the toys were put under the Christmas tree for the kids. As the donor was dealing with paperwork with the director of the preschool, Madlene and I visited with the kids. They were so cute and very talkative. After a few songs and poems, the beddings were all ready. We took a few pictures of the kids next to their new beds and then made our way to the Christmas tree, where the kids danced and sang in a circle around the tree. When they were giving the green-light to pick gift, they were so well behaved. I was really impressed with this, as I�ve been involved with gift distribution in the past and it was never this calm. No mad rush, just walked over and took a toy. We finished with a group picture and the kids thanks us and went back to their classroom. Madlene and the donor had to go back to Yerevan so we left each other�s company.
I headed home and got here about 1 p.m. I knew that as tired as I was, if I slept right then, I would wake up at midnight and not be able to go to sleep. So I got on-line and talked with ShooshiG for a bit, telling her about my day. As sleepy as I was, I needed to stay awake. As we were chatting, I got a call from a friend that I was planning on seeing in Stepanagert, but since I was so tired, I had come home without stopping in at his work. It turns out that he was on vacation and had come home to Martuni. I invited him over and let ShooshiG off the hook for having to keep me awake. My friend came over and we talked for a couple of hours. He left and now my body was reminding me that I needed to sleep. It was 5 p.m. and still too early. So I got back on-line and read the news posted on Groong.
At 6 p.m. and just as I was ready to pass out, my neighbor comes over to tell me that my neighbor who lives across the street from me that is the commander of one of our bases here in Martuni is celebrating his birthday and I�m invited. Oh great, here I am ready to pass out and now I have to go to a birthday party. Well I could not say no, so I got dressed up and went over. I have to admit we had a great time. The food was great, the toasts were great and the best part was the live music, which was accordion and drum. They drank a toast to the neighbors and me and one of my neighbor�s (the one that came over to invite me) told me to say something (kind of an addition to the toast). So when I stood up to talk, the room got dead silent. I mean you could hear a pin drop, I kid you not. So I said what Raffi M had talked about as far as me being here is not that big a sacrifice and that in the time I have been here, as bad as things may have gotten, I also see and believe that we are going in a direction that there will one day be a stable environment created, where the little kids in the room (who now that I think of it were also sitting quite and listening) will not see what we have seen in the last 10 years. We clinked glasses, drank and the music continued. At 9 p.m. I excused myself, went home, lit a fire in my woodstove and passed out.
I got up a couple of times to drink some water and add a log to the fire. When I woke this morning at 9 a.m. it was snowing. As Lena said, it was so beautiful and I too took a bunch of pictures. Maybe it was a couple days late, but it did get me into the Christmas mood.
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