Thursday, January 24, 2013

Later that day, Jerm emailed this .... Armenian info and stuff.


Later Jerm wrote this:
Not sure if you read my email yet, I explained the CTR ring. my district and teachers loooove it. I have a pic Ill send next week. The Armenians have a kuh, hard c. They also have a suh for soft and a chuh. they rarely have letters combine sounds (its called a dipthong) but usually they just have a letter for the sound. the hymnbook has about 60 hymns, idk about Child of God. Were going to sing I need thee every hour in sacrament. 
  Treats are all good regardless. I love Reeses, 3 muskateers, snickers, and M&Ms. But I have so much candy right now. Im gainin weight, even though I refuse to eat ice cream here. 
The knee and ankle are both doing fine. Yesterday was the best day of bball by far. First I trashed some poor kids (i almost felt bad) then i had the hardest, most drawn out loss, followed by the greatest win against some good kids with too much swag. my toes doing really well too. 
About the emails- let them read my shots on Utah. Bring it. Haha uncle jed said he couldnt argue after living outside. But whatever Alex decides is fine with me. Ive had people say they like the honesty though. 
  I have a bunch of stuff about Armenia to report, but it will all have to wait im afraid. 
 I did get the dear elders, and prefer it during the week, so have the girls do that again. 
Love you much
Jerm

and later still:
Got a few extra minutes so I figured Id share what I know so far about Armenians from my teachers. I was just going to save it all till I got to country but ima forget it all
 
Armenians that live outside yerevan get water for about two hours a day, and its cold. Everyone has a big tank above the shower that fills in the morning, they use that for showering, purify it for cooking, and buy drinking water. Apparently once a year they have a holiday called Water Day, where the entire country basically gets into a giant water fight. Apparently missionaries in nice suits are prime targets. Bro carlson said the hottest day he ever remembered, it was 127 (WHAT?) and it happened to be water day. A kid doused him completely with a bucket of water, and he was dry ten min later haha.
 
Things I learned while teaching- Armenians require a lot of explanation. They arent stupid, but their religion consists of lighting a candle and saying the Lords prayer, so theres a lot they dont know. if you read the first vision in its entirety, apparently all they want to talk about is the presence of Satan. if you point the bottom of your foot (the dirtiest body part you have) at someone its incredibly insulting, so i have to learn not to cross my legs since I cant sit lady like. its also bad luck to shake hands udner a doorway?
the funniest thing is that if you run into someone, then leave, then see them again, you arent supposed to greet them the second time. Apparently their form of second greeting is just by blinking at each other, which is really awk.
 
these people are poor as all, but most of them dont work. they live off pension from the government. over half the country is unemployed, they just hang out all day. discussions can go on for hours unless you force tyour way out of the house. Since theyre so poor we're told not to eat with them, but they'll make food anyway. They go into debt to feed you, so if you dont eat its a huge insult.
 
Other things... most Armenians are trying to learn English. Idk why. But a lot of them know the alphabet and can text and type rough phonetics. Which is cool. And for some reason kids love to run up and yell 'I am a table!" hmm.
 
I think thats all I can remember

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