The villages of Armenia are extra special to me. I lived in a village for 6 months when I first got into the country for my mission. There is a special way of life there. Even though there are problems, there's a lot of good to focus on as well. It's like truly getting to travel in a time machine. The people are extra friendly. And the air is so quiet aside from the chuckling chickens, the loitering lambs, and the.... pigs. We made sure to go to a couple different villages while we were there last month. At first we didn't know anyone but before we knew it, we'd visited nearly everyone on the road.
Preparing dough for lavash
Um, creeeeepy dentist chair and old insturments. No thanks, I'll keep my cavities...
I feel like this photo symbolizes the problems of women in Armenia. Faceless, isolated, in the kitchen.
Village life
This particular village was right on the border of Turkey! I wanted so badly to cross over just to say I had been there.
Seriously, we drank so much homemade juice.
I love how they never waste fruit by throwing it out when it's soft or bruised. They simply cut away the bad parts and serve what is still good.
This woman was awesome. She let us in and then took us to everyone she knew so we could photograph them.
A Turkey village
Filling up sacks with flour
One of my favorite moments was when I asked our new friend if she knew anyone who made lavash she literally stopped right there and said "yes! Right here!" and we walked into that yard and there were two women just finishing up! A miracle. haha Lavash is their flat bread of sorts. They stretch the dough over a cloth board and then stamp it on the stones lining the walls of a pit with fire at the bottom. The dough quickly cooks on the hot stones and they scrape it off and boom. Lavash.
She gave us a huge bag full of lavash.
First time seeing pigs being herded
Bee hives
This family gave us homemade cheese, lavash, dried fruit and nuts from their tree.
Then they showed me their animals
These pigs were so happy and playful. It was a delight to witness in contrast to the inhumane lives most future bacon dinners live in America. These pigs even had their own toy ball they played with!
Kids playing on an old bus frame.
I loved the tree growing on the porch of this abandoned building
I will always have a love of villages and small towns anywhere I go! Cities are interesting in their own ways but if I had to choose one over the other, it would be the simple life.
If you've missed the other posts here are the links:
5 comments:
I hadn't seen all your pig pictures, and I love them so much!
Your photos are breathtaking.
I enjoyed sharing in your village experience. I am glad to know now where two of my favorite photos came from that were in your original presentation. That would be the lavash lady in the picture in the yellow coat where she is standing and has the full on face view with the fabric wrapped around her face. And then I love the cow picture where you were in the barn and have The one cow looking directly at you. I too like the more simple life of our small towns and villages.
I really loved the picture of all the shoes on the porch. The pig herder was awesome too! And all those many, many clotheslines in all your posts--I will never take my dryer for granted again!!
Love the pigs! Also, I still love that first curtain pic with the plant's vine reaching toward the light. How fun that you got to reconnect with these people, but especially some dear friends. Oh, and that bread seems so unsanitary to me! Haha! It looks like they are making it in a coal mine or something and then, let's just load it in this old dirty multipurpose wheelbarrow...I am sure they are careful to keep it clean and I am sure it's fine, but I am also pretty sure they would shut you down in the US. ;)
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