Chaos, Beautiful New Terminal, and New Years in a Hospital!
So once again, I'm in Armenia (atleast for 14 more hours)... This time around, things didn't go as smooth as other times. I left L.A. on the 18th of December, and was stuck in London until the 22nd. I couldn't believe the unorganization and chaos at Heathrow -- all caused by some fog. Ummmm, they know it's a foggy city (this is not breaking news to anyone), so why not prepare for it? Why let things become sooooo chaotic, that they have to FORCE people to stand in tents outside the terminals in the freezing cold?? Needless to say, I was QUITE frustrated and tired by the time I finally got to Armenia. The fact that we arrived at the new terminal somewhat eased the frustration though :)
The new terminal is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It is a carbon copy of the airport in Buenos Aires, and was so organized that I almost wanted to double check whether I was really at Zvartnots or not. I was quickly brought back to reality when I realized my bags had definitely not arrived. A few days later I received one piece, which was luckily my luggage with all my clothes. My box with all the orphanage gifts however didn't arrive until January 5. (Atleast it arrived before my departure!)
It's not news to anyone that sometimes, some people have some digestion issues upon arrival in Armenia (or any foreign country for that matter). However, since everything with me has to be done in "extreme-s", it would not suffice for me to just need a few Imodiums... no no no. I ended up spending New Year's Eve in the hospital, because I had what they called, "dysinteria" (which is some sort of intestinal infection). I spent a few days hooked up to an IV and taking cipro--after which I was perfectly fine! :) I have to add a sidenote here about healthcare in Armenia.... (since we've had this discussion before).
The night I went to the hospital, at first I went to Nairi Hospital on Broshyan. It is a private hospital owned by the president's wife (so I've heard), and so I thought, things might be a bit better there. Boy was I wrong! The doctor was sooooo unprofessional--for example, he spent 15 minutes lecturing me (while I am crying in pain) about why I waited until 4am to come to the hospital if I am sick. He then proceeded to speak about how much everything is going to cost, making a list that ended up totaling hundreds of thousands of drams (more than $1500). So we left Nairi, and went to the hospital that's right by Yerevan Lake (across the lake from the American Embassy). There, the doctor asked me questions, checked my stomach and recommended that we go see a specialist at the Nork-Marash hospital since he thought I had an infection. So that's how we ended up at the Nork-Marash Infections' hospital. The doctor there was GREAT! She explained everything to me, not only in Armenian but in English too. She brought me all the receipts so that I can file a claim with my insurance, and took care of me as if I was her own daughter. The condition of the hospital was good, the nurses were excellent--- competant and pleasant!
Anyway, a couple of days later I received my box with all the gifts for the orphanage children, and spent the next few days doing some shopping and wrapping up all the gift bags. We wrapped over 400 gifts... more about that (with pics and youtube video footage) later! :)
TSUH!
p.s. - :( so sad that I leave Armenia tomorrow.. hopefully the fog will continue and I'll be "stuck".
The new terminal is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It is a carbon copy of the airport in Buenos Aires, and was so organized that I almost wanted to double check whether I was really at Zvartnots or not. I was quickly brought back to reality when I realized my bags had definitely not arrived. A few days later I received one piece, which was luckily my luggage with all my clothes. My box with all the orphanage gifts however didn't arrive until January 5. (Atleast it arrived before my departure!)
It's not news to anyone that sometimes, some people have some digestion issues upon arrival in Armenia (or any foreign country for that matter). However, since everything with me has to be done in "extreme-s", it would not suffice for me to just need a few Imodiums... no no no. I ended up spending New Year's Eve in the hospital, because I had what they called, "dysinteria" (which is some sort of intestinal infection). I spent a few days hooked up to an IV and taking cipro--after which I was perfectly fine! :) I have to add a sidenote here about healthcare in Armenia.... (since we've had this discussion before).
The night I went to the hospital, at first I went to Nairi Hospital on Broshyan. It is a private hospital owned by the president's wife (so I've heard), and so I thought, things might be a bit better there. Boy was I wrong! The doctor was sooooo unprofessional--for example, he spent 15 minutes lecturing me (while I am crying in pain) about why I waited until 4am to come to the hospital if I am sick. He then proceeded to speak about how much everything is going to cost, making a list that ended up totaling hundreds of thousands of drams (more than $1500). So we left Nairi, and went to the hospital that's right by Yerevan Lake (across the lake from the American Embassy). There, the doctor asked me questions, checked my stomach and recommended that we go see a specialist at the Nork-Marash hospital since he thought I had an infection. So that's how we ended up at the Nork-Marash Infections' hospital. The doctor there was GREAT! She explained everything to me, not only in Armenian but in English too. She brought me all the receipts so that I can file a claim with my insurance, and took care of me as if I was her own daughter. The condition of the hospital was good, the nurses were excellent--- competant and pleasant!
Anyway, a couple of days later I received my box with all the gifts for the orphanage children, and spent the next few days doing some shopping and wrapping up all the gift bags. We wrapped over 400 gifts... more about that (with pics and youtube video footage) later! :)
TSUH!
p.s. - :( so sad that I leave Armenia tomorrow.. hopefully the fog will continue and I'll be "stuck".
posted by shooosh at 6:56 PM
1 Comments:
A picture and maybe YouTube footage of the new terminal would be great as well!
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