Happy Victory Day!
Yes, May 9 is the old Soviet holiday marking the victory over the NAZI forces during WWII. Many more Armenians died fighting the NAZIs than fighting the Azeris, to put it in perspective. The capture of Shushi in Karabakh marked a turning point in the Karabakh war, and it coincidentally happened on May 9 as well, so now the holiday celebrates both events.
So I jotted down a couple of other little stories I meant to share with you...
When I got back to Armenia and went out onto my balcony to check the thermometer, which goes down to -30 celcius, it had exploded from the cold this winter. Ouch! Coldest winter in over a century.
The second story is funny in a not funny kind of way, and I am surprised Ara did not log about it since he told it to me. In his town, CSR (Catholic Relief Services) undertook a project to bring 24 hour water to all the households. A noble plan certainly. Well this meant that they had to install water meters at each house for the first time, in order to keep the project successful in the long run. Otherwise the water company could not afford to keep the water turned on, just like before, since nobody would pay their fair share. So they installed the water meters, and lo and behold, "water conservation" was born in Martuni. When we think of water conservation in the west, it means watering your lawn less often. In this region it is more like installing a faucet on pipes which have just been left competely open to flow 24 hours a day for years. When I turn off a water tap inside a persons house, they turn it right back on and inform me "it's free", or "it's the one free thing we have left". For someone raised to conserve everything, recycling all that is possible, this is of course a mind boggling attitude. Water purification for drinking water is not free. Pumping water up to apartments in Yerevan is not free. This is why so many places do not have 24 hour water anymore. So now to get to the (questionably) funny part. So many people in Martuni either installed a faucet, fixed one, or turned the one they had off, that... the water main into the town exploded from all the pressure! What a perfect illustration of how much water is just wasted. So anyways, they have now mandated water meters in Yerevan and I think we really are getting close to that magical day when water becomes 24 hours a day. Natural gas lines are also being drawn into homes and apartments at a slow pace, so soon all the utilities will be back to normal.
Yes, May 9 is the old Soviet holiday marking the victory over the NAZI forces during WWII. Many more Armenians died fighting the NAZIs than fighting the Azeris, to put it in perspective. The capture of Shushi in Karabakh marked a turning point in the Karabakh war, and it coincidentally happened on May 9 as well, so now the holiday celebrates both events.
So I jotted down a couple of other little stories I meant to share with you...
When I got back to Armenia and went out onto my balcony to check the thermometer, which goes down to -30 celcius, it had exploded from the cold this winter. Ouch! Coldest winter in over a century.
The second story is funny in a not funny kind of way, and I am surprised Ara did not log about it since he told it to me. In his town, CSR (Catholic Relief Services) undertook a project to bring 24 hour water to all the households. A noble plan certainly. Well this meant that they had to install water meters at each house for the first time, in order to keep the project successful in the long run. Otherwise the water company could not afford to keep the water turned on, just like before, since nobody would pay their fair share. So they installed the water meters, and lo and behold, "water conservation" was born in Martuni. When we think of water conservation in the west, it means watering your lawn less often. In this region it is more like installing a faucet on pipes which have just been left competely open to flow 24 hours a day for years. When I turn off a water tap inside a persons house, they turn it right back on and inform me "it's free", or "it's the one free thing we have left". For someone raised to conserve everything, recycling all that is possible, this is of course a mind boggling attitude. Water purification for drinking water is not free. Pumping water up to apartments in Yerevan is not free. This is why so many places do not have 24 hour water anymore. So now to get to the (questionably) funny part. So many people in Martuni either installed a faucet, fixed one, or turned the one they had off, that... the water main into the town exploded from all the pressure! What a perfect illustration of how much water is just wasted. So anyways, they have now mandated water meters in Yerevan and I think we really are getting close to that magical day when water becomes 24 hours a day. Natural gas lines are also being drawn into homes and apartments at a slow pace, so soon all the utilities will be back to normal.
posted by Raffi K. at 8:35 AM
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