C. and I took Vardan and his cousin to the Yerevan Zoo yesterday. Vardan is the kid from Spitak with the kidney disease I posted about a couple of months ago. He is currently in Yerevan for treatment. We all had so much fun. But I couldn't help feeling sad about the situation the animals live in: empty cages with only concrete and sometimes a treestump in it, cages or living areas surrounded by moats with dirty water and lots of plastic bottles and other garbage thrown in by the public. Many of the animals didn't look too well (fluffy hair etc.) either. But on the other hand, as C. remarked, he had actually expected the situation to be worse.

In the evening C. and I had drinks with a friend of his, an Icelandic girl who is working as a volunteer at the Children's Rehabilitation Center in Yerevan for eight months. This girl and I found out we have at least one acquaintance in common (we didn't compare our social circles any further;-) ). Later her boyfriend joined us and still later my boyfriend showed up. Turned out the boyfriends have known each other for about four years...... This is such a small town!!!