Thursday 27 September 2007

Welcome to Armenia!

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32
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So here's the story about our arrival in Armenia that I promised. Now bear in mind that we had been travelling with two small bundles of joy since 6am the previous day (we had woken up the previous day at 6 am to drive to Dublin Airport, driven over 100 miles to Dublin Airport, flown to Prague, walked around for five hours in Prague International waiting for our connecting flight to Yerevan and finally flown on to Yerevan.) No one tired or cranky here! When we landed in Yerevan at 5 am (all the flights arrive or depart around this time), I thought we would be one of the first persons off as we were sitting directly behind the fancy smancy first class section (you could almost smell the Dom Perignon!)

We had brought a double pram buggy with us for the children and were told that it would be waiting for us as soon as we got off the plane (which is normal for all airlines.) A buggy is considered to be like a wheelchair in that you are allowed to bring it all the way to the departure gate for collection and as soon as you arrive at your destination and leave the plane, it is always waiting for you outside the plane (DV). So anyway as soon as our plane landed and started to slow down (long before either the seatbelt light went off or we were told it was ok to get up), everyone jumped up and jammed the aisles. One of the stewardess's jumped up at the same time (as if she already knew) and yelled for everyone to sit back down. I don't think they heard her because it took a number of warnings for everyone to back down and sit back in their seats (like good little boys and girls.)

I was starting to think at this point that it was going to be really difficult trying to get our overhead baggage with our half sleeping children and the jammed aisles, so I turned to Maria and said "lets just let everyone else disembark first, and then go." So we stayed seated until everyone else get off and then exited the plane. As soon as we got off I started to look for our double buggy, but there was only a small group of mothers with their children standing around (obviously waiting for their buggies as well.) A few minutes goes by and they bring one of the prams, but it wasn't ours.... and then a few minutes later another one, but it wasn't ours... until finally we are the only ones left waiting outside of the aircraft waiting. Another five minutes goes by and I finally ask one of the staff about our buggy and after making some enquiries, we find out that it was loaded into the checked baggage and that we should collect it with our baggage. No problem, at least we are getting somewhere!

So we head into the airport (half expecting
Taline and her friends to greet us, singing and dancing), following the signs which leads you first into the customs/visa area where you buy your three week visa. Now, you can buy your visa ahead of time, but it costs twice as much (where is the logic in paying more ahead of time?) So we get to the back of the line (still holding two small sleeping children) with about 70 people in front of us. We are waiting for about ten minutes and I kid you not... the line didn't move one inch. Now Maria is tired and had all our documents at about this time, so she's finding our tickets and passports, while I'm holding both kids (and Josiah weighs an awful lot.) I had almost lost my will to live, when out of no where, a female employee at the airport comes up to us (probably out of sheer pity) and tells us to follow her. Now, at this point, I would have followed anyone in a uniform anywhere, but I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. We were half expecting to be hit up for a bribe or something. So the employee leads us all the way around the massive line to the very front... with the people at the front looking at us like we are criminals or something and she tells us that we are next (bless you!) So we are paying for our visa when we hear some arguing back where we were standing at the front of the line.

So I ask Maria to tell me what they are arguing about (since my Armenian is still a work in progress.) It seems that the people who were giving us dirty looks at the front of the line when we were brought forward... started arguing with the employee who brought us to the front of the line. She explained to them that we had two small children and that's why we were being allowed to the front... but that only seemed to make them angrier and they started to shout at her! It looked like things were going to turn ugly (probably because Armenians seem to yell and use their hands a lot when they are annoyed.) In the meantime, several other airport employees had heard the commotion and made their way to the front of the line with all the arguing and shouts getting louder and louder. Maria and I are unconfortably standing there (waiting for our passports to be stamped) and hoping to get far away and soon. So after a few more minutes of this going on, Maria hears the female employee who brought us to the front shouted at them something to the effect "what will these people think of Armenia if this is their first greeting and experience here?" This seemed to calm them down (or shame them down), but for a moment, it really felt like the makings of a full scale riot were in the works.

After that, everything at the airport was a little uneventful. We breezed through the visa area and collected our baggage. (One question: Why do they charge for baggage trolleys in dram, when you have just arrived in the country and there is no where to change currency in the bagggage area?) We had arranged for a driver to collect us at the airport, so he was waiting with an appropriate sign in the arrivals area as soon as we walked out. What a morning? Bye for now (DV). Hoveeg.