Yesterday I went to the Mayor’s office to pay my property taxes and while there, I ran into a man who is in charge of the heavy equipment depot. His name is Arthur and I like him for his well thought out opinions.
Arthur, Vova the Mayor’s accountant, Onnik, the Mayor’s engineer and I talked about a recent gathering at the high school that Arthur was present at and the Mayor’s daughter told me about a couple of days ago.
They gave 4 questions which the students, parents and staff gave their opinion on, one of which had to do with manors and properness. Thought the answers were not all that important, the Mayor’s daughter told me that my answers were exactly the same as Arthur’s.
As we were talking about properness and manors, Arthur gave an example of how manors and acceptable practices differ from those in the West. Vova added that he knew that we know that our practices we know are not what they do in the West, but we still do it them maybe out of habit.
Arthur went on to tell about how he was present at a gathering at the Amaras monastery, where they had 50 guests from the West and for washing before the meal they shared, a bar of soap and 2 hand towels were available for everyone. He said he knew that this didn’t make the guests comfortable and that he thought that they expected for there to be 50 bars of soap and towels.
Arthur went on to tell that they passed a village where a villager offered to one of the guest a baked good that to some would look to be unsanitary since in a village there is dust and dirt everywhere. The guest tried to refuse it, but the villager insisted and the guest took the baked good, but in the end didn’t eat it and just took it with them. In return, the guest gave the villager a wrapped candy bar. Two interesting things that Arthur said was that first the guest felt that he had a debt to the villager and gave a candy bar to even the score, though when you are a guest in some ones house, I guess here you are not expected to give anything in return for something offered (I’ll have to ask others if this is true or not). The second thing he said is that people from the West are only interested in taking clean and wrapped edible goods from anyone.
I told Arthur that I personally don’t see anything wrong with the soap and towel issue especially since it was summer and if the guests chose to, could air-dry their hands and when you visit someone’s house, they have soap, though in restaurants in the West, they use liquid soap or on airplanes they do have small bars of soap.
As for the eating and other traditions that are not Western, I said that as the saying goes, “When in Rome, do like the Romans”. I’ve never turned down anyone’s hospitality and have eaten my share of Oxen yogurt that has been sitting in the hot summer sun while my guest from the West cringe in fear of eating such offerings.
And what triggered me to write all this? Well it would be the recent logs from Madlene and Raffi about Khash.
Khash for me really does not do much as far as a food (nor does the idea of having to wake up so early). What does it for me is the male bonding that comes with Khash. It’s all about guys getting up early in the morning before the sun comes up and drinking toasts to a good morning and talking and being men. It’s all about getting your wife to stay up all night to keep the fire in the woodstove going to cook Khash. It’s about indoctrinating our young boys into manhood. It’s a way us guys show our togetherness. It’s a Tim Alan Tool-Time moment (for those that remember that television show. Is it still around?). It’s part of our present day culture and for me it’s doing like the Romans.
Though I was not brought up with the traditions of sharing soap, towels, eating warm Oxen yogurt and boiled cows feet, I really don’t see anything wrong with this part of our culture and certainly don’t see why our people should feel the need to change what they have been doing so long for people with a different culture.
I feel the need for some male bonding. Better get me some cows feet next time I’m in Stepanagert. Let’s see if my retired cop neighbors are interested?
And just for the record. To date, I have not gotten sick from eating any of the offerings made to me, even things that have been sitting out that should be crawling with harmful bacteria.
Arthur, Vova the Mayor’s accountant, Onnik, the Mayor’s engineer and I talked about a recent gathering at the high school that Arthur was present at and the Mayor’s daughter told me about a couple of days ago.
They gave 4 questions which the students, parents and staff gave their opinion on, one of which had to do with manors and properness. Thought the answers were not all that important, the Mayor’s daughter told me that my answers were exactly the same as Arthur’s.
As we were talking about properness and manors, Arthur gave an example of how manors and acceptable practices differ from those in the West. Vova added that he knew that we know that our practices we know are not what they do in the West, but we still do it them maybe out of habit.
Arthur went on to tell about how he was present at a gathering at the Amaras monastery, where they had 50 guests from the West and for washing before the meal they shared, a bar of soap and 2 hand towels were available for everyone. He said he knew that this didn’t make the guests comfortable and that he thought that they expected for there to be 50 bars of soap and towels.
Arthur went on to tell that they passed a village where a villager offered to one of the guest a baked good that to some would look to be unsanitary since in a village there is dust and dirt everywhere. The guest tried to refuse it, but the villager insisted and the guest took the baked good, but in the end didn’t eat it and just took it with them. In return, the guest gave the villager a wrapped candy bar. Two interesting things that Arthur said was that first the guest felt that he had a debt to the villager and gave a candy bar to even the score, though when you are a guest in some ones house, I guess here you are not expected to give anything in return for something offered (I’ll have to ask others if this is true or not). The second thing he said is that people from the West are only interested in taking clean and wrapped edible goods from anyone.
I told Arthur that I personally don’t see anything wrong with the soap and towel issue especially since it was summer and if the guests chose to, could air-dry their hands and when you visit someone’s house, they have soap, though in restaurants in the West, they use liquid soap or on airplanes they do have small bars of soap.
As for the eating and other traditions that are not Western, I said that as the saying goes, “When in Rome, do like the Romans”. I’ve never turned down anyone’s hospitality and have eaten my share of Oxen yogurt that has been sitting in the hot summer sun while my guest from the West cringe in fear of eating such offerings.
And what triggered me to write all this? Well it would be the recent logs from Madlene and Raffi about Khash.
Khash for me really does not do much as far as a food (nor does the idea of having to wake up so early). What does it for me is the male bonding that comes with Khash. It’s all about guys getting up early in the morning before the sun comes up and drinking toasts to a good morning and talking and being men. It’s all about getting your wife to stay up all night to keep the fire in the woodstove going to cook Khash. It’s about indoctrinating our young boys into manhood. It’s a way us guys show our togetherness. It’s a Tim Alan Tool-Time moment (for those that remember that television show. Is it still around?). It’s part of our present day culture and for me it’s doing like the Romans.
Though I was not brought up with the traditions of sharing soap, towels, eating warm Oxen yogurt and boiled cows feet, I really don’t see anything wrong with this part of our culture and certainly don’t see why our people should feel the need to change what they have been doing so long for people with a different culture.
I feel the need for some male bonding. Better get me some cows feet next time I’m in Stepanagert. Let’s see if my retired cop neighbors are interested?
And just for the record. To date, I have not gotten sick from eating any of the offerings made to me, even things that have been sitting out that should be crawling with harmful bacteria.
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