Lake Sevan & The Broken Foot

A couple of weekends ago I went to Lake Sevan with a bunch of other A17s to celebrate begin at site for a month. Lake Sevan is one of the largest alpine lakes in the world and a popular vacation spot in Armenia. A bunch of us met up in Yerevan to catch the marshootni to Sevan which is always entertaining to have a group of Americans on a marshootni especially when you have luggage. We were all so excited to see each other that we piled in the back of the marshootni with all our bags on our laps and laughed the whole way while the Armenians facing us stared.

Once we arrived in Sevan we met up with Hayley – the volunteer who is assigned to Sevan to get supplies for the weekend. As with anywhere we going walking into a store with more than one American is always a show. Hayley’s host dad was with us and once we finally got all our stuff and were almost done checking out the store manager came over to the register and made the cashier unpack everything and recalculate it. By this time all the customers were standing around the register watching us. After all was said in done they said we short 4 dram (which doesn’t actually exist because 10 dram is the smallest unit here)!

When we finally made it to the peninsula we got settled in our dolmiks (metal storage containers that have been turned into cabins). We all got so excited hanging out and talking that by the time we decided to start making dinner it was dark and we had to go collect firewood. It had been raining a lot in Sevan so all the wood was wet. Earlier when we were at the store we kept asking Hayley’s dad that we needed to get firewood and he kept saying spasi or heto which means wait or later, which seems to happen a lot when we ask for things here. After we couldn’t get the fire started because the wood was wet we called Hayley’s dad and he brought us some dry wood. By this time it was 9:30 and we started making our dinner. It was so good we made quesadilla-tacos! We melted cheddar cheese we bought in Yerevan between lavash (Armenian flat bread) and used it as the shell for taco meat and fixings! They were amazing mostly because I’ve had nothing but salty Armenian cheese that doesn’t melt so having cheddar like heaven. Is it sad that having cheddar for the first time in four months is one of the best things that has happened in a while!
Saturday the rest of our group came into Sevan and the party could truly begin! We walked up to this old church on a hill overlooking the lake and took some amazing band photos. Rani loves taking band photos which are fun pictures that you would but in the cover of an album – the pictures are on Facebook and they are amazing! That night Hayley’s dad came and helped us prepare a horavats (Armenian barbecue) and then had an awesome dance party! Sunday we were all moving a little slow so we just hung out and played cards.

Later that day I was walking out of one of the cabin and as I turned out of the door to shut it I stepped off the stairs leading into the cabin and landed on the side of left foot. At first I thought it was nothing because I walked back to the other cabin where everyone was, but later when I tried to get up I couldn’t put any weight on my foot. I had a large bump on the side of my foot and it was starting to swell. A couple of the boys carried me out of the cabin and we wrapped it and did the whole RICE thing. The rest of the time I couldn’t put any weight on it so I hopped around on one foot or sat watch in my chair while we made spaghetti for dinner. The next day with the help of my lovely friends I made it back to Yerevan where I went to see the Peace Corps doctor. I wasn’t alone because Amanda had to see the doctor to so we braved a night at the PCMO because Monday was Armenian Independence Day and apparently you can’t get an x-ray on a holiday in Armenia! Tuesday we went to the hospital to get an x-ray and it turned out that I had an evulsion i.e. I chipped on the outside of left foot. So they had to give me a cast that I have to wear for a month. The hardest part about the hospital was that everyone was talking and I couldn’t understand what was going on and the Peace Corps doctor wasn’t translating anything. I knew that it wasn’t a big deal but I wouldn’t want to go there if something really scary was happening just because when you are at the hospital and you have no idea what is going on it’s just awkward and confusing. According to the Peace Corps doctor I got the most expensive fancy cast, it’s made out of fiberglass and it is removable. I can walk on my cast but not too much because otherwise the corners rub on my ankle and I’m starting to get sores. I have to wear my cast for a month, which isn’t too bad but is still no fun!