aftershock

oh, my, god.

ok lets rewind a bit.

so everything is slightly blurry, but let me see if i can recap.

so i guess it all started with an attempt to go to the opera, and an epic fail as the show was canceled. because we were all dressed to kill, it was only necessary for us all to stay classy and take tequila shots. we made our way to rock bar and hung out with our new friend/ bar owner, Rudolph (he will factor in again later). thursday was relatively uneventful aside from a trip to the ruins of the ancient city of Erebuni, while friday was not. During the day, we went to the US embassy to meet with a foreign service officer which was very cool. After, we went to the genocide memorial. The genocide memorial was easily the most inspirational trip thus far, and the attrocities that were committed during the Armenian genocide were truly horrific. It was a very sombering event, and afterwards we went to zangou to grab food and hang out with the birds and monkeys tht were randomly there...including the, ahem, excited monkey...so strange. friday night consisted of a pregame trip to rock bar, then on to everyones favorite club ....aftershock. luckily there is only like 20 people in armenia so i spent the entire night dancing onstage and running into people i already knew...like steffan (keep that in mind it will factor in again later). Steffan wanted to practice english so we spent half the night bonding and attempting conversation. we also met a famous armenian singer slash talk show host. when we finally got home, and after about 4 hours had to wake up and go to the ruins at garni and the monastery at gegharv. gegharv is one of the coolest places i have ever been to, because it is carved into the side of a mountain.

now, it should be noted, that i was a wee bit hungover during saturdays festivities (sorry mom). after garni and on our way to gegharv i got the window seat on the bus. now, armenia has alot of stray dogs, and i was watching these dogs as the scenery passed by. at one point, i saw an animal lying down under a tent with a bunch of people, an thinking it was but a dog i looked over at it, however i was alarmed when i saw in twitching hysterically, until i noticed it was not a dog....

it was a lamb with its head cut off.....

needless to say i was a bit scarred by this, but i tried to block the image out of my mind and enjoy the monastery. it was a beautiful place and i finally was able to be distracted from the horrible scene i witnessed earlier. i crawled in and out of the mountains caves, climbed up the hills, and heard there was a waterfall out back. a waterfall! that sounded splendid indeed!

so i exited out the back of the monastery to witness the works of nature, when all of a sudden i noticed an odd smell..... i looked out...

AND THERE WERE PEOPLE SLAUGHTERING ANOTHER LAMB RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!!

between the witnessing of 2 lamb murders, and the remnince of alcohol still in my system, i promptly broke down and started crying....

and the day was not nearly over

after a recoop nap, it was about time to go out again. so Rupal and i went to our favorite 24 hour store to by alcohol and munchies. there we ran into Susie (a girl who works there) and we told her we would be back at 11 to come pick her up and she could come out with us (keep that in mind, it will factor in again later). We returned home and primped, when low and behold we noticed it was 5 of 11. Rupal and i went back to the store to see Susie, and were saddened because she had left early. as we were walking home defeated, we looked across the street and saw her! So naturally,....we sprinted across the street and legit kidnapped the poor girl. we brought her home and instantly traumatized her with our crazy american ways, unfortunately however she had to go home so we sent her on her way in a cab and proceeded again to aftershock.

now it all comes together

we walk into aftershock and notice that there is barely anyone there....except of course steffan, rudolph, and pretty much everyone else we've met along this journey. the dance floor was dead, so i promptly announced that it was time to start the party, and in 10 minutes the dancefloor was wild. i spent time bonding with rudolph over gin and tonics while the crew cut up the dance floor. then it was time to leave, and i wish i could tell you what happened, but lets just say i woke up the next day smelling like purell. luckily, the real world cast are the awesomest people ever and helped carry my embarrassing ass home last night, and filled me in on the details of the journey home this morning...

im never drinking again.

ever

sorry mom

peace

G