February 20, 2013

I got my Valentine’s Day gift today! KooKoo, my bunny! Now I didn’t realize that “kookoo” could mean “crazy” til after I turned my “Armenian brain” off and turned my “English brain” on, but I swear it’s a cute name for Armenians.

I was eating corn while my student was describing the bunny to me via Facebook and he kept telling me the bunny was yellow, and as I was eating corn, aka “koo-koo-roos” in Armenian, VOILA! “KooKoo” it was to be named! Cute, right? … ?

KooKoo’s Tale

Day 1.

Hey, kiddo! Welcome to your new family! ~ KooKoo came with an older friend, Lulu, but I just didn’t have enough space and time to take care of the both of them. But they both had a blast with my COAF (Children of Armenia Foundation) class and our lesson for the day was about animals and how awesome they are :) :) :)

Look at how many friends KooKoo came with! Thanks Narek for KooKoo and thanks Argishti for bringing LuLu for the day so KooKoo wasn’t lonely.

I bring KooKoo home in a shoebox with one of my old skirts for comfort and without any hesitation he starts to chow down on the greens I brought for him. He’s a little piggy! Eats any chance he gets haha.

My host sisters first time actually holding a bunny. Props for her courage! She was scared KooKoo would pee or poo on her, but good thing there were no accidents there! BUT, an hour later our cousin Minas comes over and takes a liking towards KooKoo, picks him up and puts him on his lap… it took one second, “PISSSSS” right on his lap! We all told him it was good luck, which apparently Armenians really do believe, and I told him that it was because KooKoo especially liked him.

KooKoo sprawls out his legs on my belly and we take a nap together next to the wood (sheep poop) burner where it’s warm. Later that night I let him sleep in his box in my room and man was it a tough night! I woke up to thumbs and skitter-skatter at 2am, 4am, 5am, and 6am… it was like having a new puppy at home! I kept waking up thinking he somehow jumped out of his box and was jumping about everywhere. End of Day One.

Day 2.

KooKoo meets two more of his cousins, Manya and Marine! Just like everyone else who had seen him the other day, they’ve never seen a rabbit like him before, with his color and eyes and ear size… he’s a special one. A real special rabbit. They all say he’s probably from the wild and different from the usual ones bred at home. He’s my little gift from God cause He knew I needed something fluffy to keep me company and that with all this unfriendliness towards animals I’ve been witnessing lately, a sweet harmless bunny could help me somehow display love and affection towards animals and help that practice spread to my neighbors and community.

KooKoo gets a free box! I asked the market lady if she had a box to spare and she asked me what it was for, “what’s it for? You going to store clothes in it or something?” Sure, that would’ve been a normal response. Nothing new. But then I go and give her a shocker, I whisper, “no, it’s for my new bunny.” Let me tell you, this is so much more hilarious if you knew their culture and if you heard this conversation in Armenian! Haha. She looks at me with huge eyes and just smiles and giggles.

An hour later, we go back to the store and I ask her for the biggest diapers she has. She says, “for the bunny?!” with the strangest look on her face… “yup, for my bunny.” She pulls out these huge granny diapers, 300 drams a piece, my host sister looks at the size of these diapers and says, “what kind of baby wears this big of a diaper?!” She was dead serious. HAHAHAHA. We all had a good laugh then left. On our way home my host sister tells me that the people in the store thought it strange I was spending money for an animal because you would never “waste” money on an animal in the villages. I hadn’t realized! But COOL, I made someone in my village think about me and my actions towards caring for this animal. Let others think I’m strange for caring so much about a bunny, if it’ll make them notice and think about how much love I have for a “useless” animal… hey, at least it’ll make them think.

House made! Sign up. Umbrella up. Water bowl, tunnel tubes, bed, pee pad, and cuddly companion!

KooKoo pees on his diaper! TWICE! But I don’t know if that’s just coincidence or I got a one-of-a-kind bunny that’s complete genius.

He got his first slice of apple today and absolutely loved it. Devoured it.

I get peed on when I was trying to comfort KooKoo after my host sister gave him a scare… and man does rabbit pee smell awful!

IT’S A BOY! KooKoo’s a boy! It’s official! I kept saying “he/his/him” without actually knowing if he was a he or a she, but today my host grandfather took a long look and concluded KooKoo was indeed a boy.

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February 15, 2013:  I say Football now!

My host brother made it to a football/soccer league in Yerevan! That’s a big deal here. Once you get into one of these type of teams you can eventually be recruited into an actual team like Barcelona or Real Madrid (which are the top 2 famous teams here in Armenia). For many Armenian boys here, becoming a soccer player is like a dream, a way out of their villages, a way to the top and the riches… their “ticket out.” Reminds me of the movie “Hoop Dreams” where many African-Americans look towards basketball as their one-way ticket to riches and fame and a life outside of where they’re from. My host brother lived and breathed soccer… it was all he could think about day and night: school, soccer practice, soccer with friends, home, soccer game on the computer, YouTube clips of soccer, Facebook pictures of famous soccer players, and then a soccer game on TV. If there was extra time in-between somewhere he would kick a ball around in his room.

Now that he’s on this team he has to go out to the capital city every day after school for practice. Yerevan City is a two hour drive out from our village.

2 hours there + 2 hour practice + 2 hours back = SACRIFICE.

Boys from villages out of the capital city really have to change their whole lifestyle. Families have to figure out how to get their sons out of the village and into the city in order to not waste time and money going back and forth every day. There’s no way the whole family can pick-up-and-go because of family ties in the villages and/or farms, and especially the high-expenses of living in the capital so instead the boys have to move out on their own, live with an extended family member who’s willing to help out or somehow rent a room, if they can afford it… it’s a big move for these small village families, but it’s a move they’re willing to make for the smallest chance that their son will make it to a Barcelona or become a Christiano Ronaldo (or David Beckham for those who don’t know the first).

I realized this type of chance seems a lot more plausible to these families than the chance of education being able to take them high places. Not to say everyone is this way, but even from a cultural view the difference is so apparent. Growing up all I could think of was school, homework, test, school, homework, test, and then a project here and there. This was what everyone was doing, there was competition in school, and we had to get our A+. Again, like I said, not everyone is this way in America, but there’s a huge difference of what is “norm” or “expected” in America and in Armenia.

America: Go to school, listen to your teacher, get good grades, pass your exams, do your homework, read “To Kill A Mockingbird” for English class, and make your Solar System for science.

Armenia: Go to school, listen to your teacher, grades don’t matter cause you’ll pass the class anyway, bad grades reflect worse on the teacher than on the students, no real exams, homework is more or less optional, go home and help the family on the farm.

Now don’t go thinking it’s all like this, but can you see the difference? 

February 14, 2013: Valentine’s Day “սուրբ վալէնտինի օր”

Let me tell you, Valentine’s isn’t really a big deal here. I went to school and everyone said “barev” like it was a normal day, no hearts, no red or pink, no candy grams or secret Valentine’s, and not a single flower or teddy bear in sight! How strange! Definitely made me realize I wasn’t in America. Again, culture shock! It felt kind of good in a weird way, but it was also kind of sad … in a sad way, hah.

The night before I stayed up til 2am making heart antenna headbands for myself and my host brother and sister because I knew this holiday just wasn’t something Armenian’s really celebrated and I wanted to make it special for them in some way.

The next morning we took a few pictures and they went off to school. We decided to make a little romantic dinner for our family later that day, but by the time I came back from school and realized how “ordinary” the day was, I lost my “mmph” and just wanted to watch a lovey-dovey movie and curl up in my bed with my electric blanket. A good cry can never hurt, right?!

But then I get a call from my good friend Meghan and she tells me to make the most of it, know that I am loved, and to GO GET A BUNNY (which I’ve been wanting) haha. Great advice, no?

So I did those exact things…

I made the most of it à we wore our heart antenna headbands, cut-out a billion hearts, strung hearts from the ceiling, brought all our candles out to the table, bought chocolates, cut fruit, and brought out the wine yeayuhhh.  

We drank, we ate, we had a romantic family Valentine’s Day evening, and that was that! I was grateful and so was my host family. They’ve never done anything like it before… I was meant to share this day with them … it’s something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. Special things really don’t come that often in their village lives from beyond Armenia, so even this simple heart-decorated table and candle-lit atmosphere we had created was something real unique for them, when for me it was something I’ve done a million times before. I was selfish and didn’t realize this day had nothing to do with me and was more about integrating with my community and loving on my host family.

And what about the bunny you ask?

I slightly mentioned it to one of my English club classes the day before and one of my students said he would bring me one next week. YEEE! What a lucky girl I am and what a special Valentine’s Day it turned out to be.

This is the kind of bunny he promised me… I didn’t believe it cause all the bunnies I’ve seen in Armenia all looked the same, black or gray with long ears and not small, but BIG. We shall see what my new baby looks like next week! 

Happy Valentine's Day~!! 

Oh, right… HAPPY 2013! Completely missed out on explaining my New Year’s celebrations in Armenia to you all… it will eventually come along… OR you’ll just have to wait til next year!

Well, can’t catch up now, but here’s February!

February 12, 2013

So this Valentine’s Day lesson plan I made for my English clubs included questions about romance and relationships the students had to ask each other… one of the questions asked, “What do you look for in your future boyfriend/husband?” What was the answer you ask? HIS SHOES. Everyone said shoes, boys and girls alike. How clean they are and what kind of style they are. This is in a country where they don’t have paved roads, cow poop, sheep poop, dog poop EVERYWHERE, mud, etc etc… questionable really… really REALLY impossible to keep your shoes clean if you ask me. I don’t know how they do it. It’s kind of ridiculous actually haha. Oh and the second most popular answer was hair. SHOES & HAIR. There you go. If you come to Armenia and want to impress the peoples, have perfect hair and brand new shiny shoes, and you’re set!

I come home afterwards and tell my host family some of the funny answers my students had given to my questions and how I thought it was interesting that shoes were so important to Armenians, I mean I kind of already knew, but I never knew it meant THAT much.

That’s when they tell me . . . ….

THEY HATE MY BOOTS.

Haha! They’re two sizes too big and apparently EVERYONE could tell, but no one said anything ‘til now. I’m telling you, if I were back in the States this wouldn’t be that great of a problem and no one would really notice cause our shoes aren’t the first thing everyone looks at… right?? Or am I completely off… ??

Apparently shoes are a BIG deal here and because I’m an “American” I apparently get some slack because “I’m not studied” as they would say it. They all say that America has clean streets and paved roads so I just never had to worry about it and therefore don’t know how to keep my shoes clean. These people carry around separate wet naps just for their shoes in case a speck of dirt gets on it… which really, I DO NOT GET. Like I said, they don’t have paved roads here, dirt is EVERYWHERE, mud is deep and squishy, and the mixture of different farm animal poops… haha they gotta REALLY clean their shoes like crazy. But anyways, so I guess my boots were “too big for my short small body” as was said, and they were “all covered in dust/dirt” which couldn’t really be cleaned because my boots are leather… haha. I just had to say it. We laughed for a good hour about my “big dirty boots” AHAHAA.

February 13, 2013 : Jump Over Fire Day!

You jump over the fire three times… once for God, second for Jesus, third for the Holy Spirit… all so that they can give you blessings in your relationships. I still haven’t heard all about it or read up on it, but I know that it’s mainly for newly weds or couples who are serious about each other. My host mother made this mixture of barley, honey, popcorn, and candy for us to eat on this day… she said that barley was for an abundance of love, candy for sweetness in the relationship, honey to keep the couple stuck together, and popcorn… I forget.

Funniest thing about this traditional holiday? The newly weds have to jump over the fire together. Funny, right? Haha no, the man has to carry his wife over the fire three times! Can you imagine? The running joke is that he has to make sure to not catch her dress on fire! Haha it’s no joke! It’s so true… fire is so unpredictable; it can be low and small one moment, then big and flaming the next!

We made a small fire in our front yard and jumped. Good traditional safe fun! ^_^

On another not-so-fun-topic… animal cruelty. THUMP. Sorry, I just can’t NOT say anything…

The fate of animals here, especially dogs and cats… I’ve never felt worse… or rather, I’ve never felt like this before. This is a COMPLETELY different sort of sad. I used to worry my baby Romeo would be home alone for too long or that his food wasn’t tasty enough for him, but here… man, MAN OH MAN is it different! Armenia… I just. I worry the puppies here are going to freeze from the snow or get eaten by a wolf at night or even get kicked by an angry man on the street JUST BECAUSE… it’s terrible. Tragic. WTH?!? This is not a normal kind of worry. These animals are not supposed to live like this… looking into burnt trash or even eating another animal’s poop cause they are just THAT hungry. What can we do to help???

I guess I’m getting into all of this because I saved this puppy in-between all these rocks last night and just couldn’t figure out what to do with her. My heart was so torn. I was in my room and could hear this puppy crying through my double-paned window and I obviously couldn’t just sit there so I went out to see what was wrong. I found this tiny black puppy between the rocks and as I was trying to pull her out this boy comes over to help me, takes this huge stone and throws it to the side, grabs the puppy and brings her back to our garage. I held and comforted her until she warmed up and stopped crying, fed her some cheese, and wiped her tears. As I sat there wondering what to do with her, I realized this poor thing was probably thrown out or tortured by some little kids who didn’t know better and left between the rocks far from her mom… I mean, this wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this kind of story or have seen this kind of cruelty here. You can imagine my internal battle. I think I called most of my closest friends, went back and forth in my head about whether or not I should keep her, prayed like a billion times… then the next morning...

I woke up at 7am worrying about how she was and what she was doing… and well, I can’t find her anywhere. Looked in our garage, garden, barn, every crevice, and even pipes, but she was nowhere to be found. I guess He knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it, especially since I was already getting attached.

I guess a burden was lifted, but I just started to imagine all these terrible things about where she could’ve gone. As I began to walk to school I see a fighter dog with his owner getting ready to go to “the field”… it gives me chills… chills of disgust.  I continue to walk. I guess this day was either not for me or FOR ME cause the next scene ahead was a dead dog, not from a fight or a wolf or even a gun, but from starvation. Complete starvation. I almost wish it had been shot instead of having to go through the torture of being painfully hungry. Lying next to plastic bags, old wrappers, mud, and ice… I had to walk by it every day, twice a day.

There’s so much more I can say, but it won’t do anyone any good and will only anger me more and probably you as well, which isn’t something I want for either of us. You can comment all you want and any advice would be great, but for now all I can do is vent, share, and hope that if I show my neighbors and friends here in Armenia how much animals mean to me, then maybe I can change the heart of those few and those few will change a few more, etc etc.

The New Year! 2013. Wow. I've never started the new year in a different country other than America. First time for everything I guess right? 

ANYWAYS... 

So I went on this amazing journey for winter vacation… 3 countries in just 10 days. THREE COUNTRIES IN TEN DAYS! Sounds fantastic already, right?!

Eh, amazing isn’t really the word for it… it definitely was an experience I never thought I’d have and each stop had its own unique beautiful perk and history and food, etc. I won’t ever forget, but THREE countries in TEN days AND on a budget??

Here is what I saw, tasted, heard, and experienced on this trip plus some notes I took on my phone while we were away… things I wanted to be sure not to forget or just caught my eye or even taste buds.

Stop #1: Tbilisi, Georgia.

My two volunteer friends, Kate & Debra, and I took a marshutni (van) ride from a village up north of Armenia all the way to Tbilisi, Georgia. What was supposed to be a 3-4 hour ride turned out to be about 6-7 hours because one, we had to take a longer route to Georgia to avoid the massive amount of snow that had fallen the night before, and two, once we got to the border the van apparently had to have chains on its tires before we could cross and… well… let me tell you, whatever those things were that they were trying to put on our tires were NOT chains… it was like a bundle of wire and rope, some chain, I even saw some duct tape. All the men in the van of course get out to try and help while all the women stayed in watching them put this thing on our tires. At one point we thought we had it, started to drive over the borderline, and SNAP! one falls off and the others are just making a terrible noise. The border control takes one finger, points it back towards the other side, and we start to back-up the van back to Armenia. A few more times of this and we made it through!

iPhone Note #1 = Going through the border control… get to the passport guy, he gives me back my passport and says “Ohio…” I say “No no. I’m from San Francisco. Thank you. Bye.” I walked away confused and later figured maybe that’s how they say “hello” or “thank you” in Georgia or maybe he just had a relative or friend in Ohio and thought I might know the person. I get back to my girls, tell them what happened, and we figured out that maybe he was trying to say “hello” to me in JAPANESE!! Haha oops. 

iPhone Note #2 =

Question = If the marshutni (van) stops in the middle of the street… who or what do you think is crossing the street?

Answer? = PIGS! A family of PIGS! J

So we finally make it to Tbilisi, get out of the van, and realize, these people aren’t speaking English OR Armenian to us…. What?! We got so used to being able to communicate with our new language abilities that we totally forgot what it was like to be so hopeless in communication again. This old man comes up to us asking if we need a taxi and instead of speaking to him in English, which is what should be my first instinct, I speak to him in Armenian and didn’t even realize it! He understands me, looks shocked, but understands me, tells me he is also Armenian, and we get into his taxi haha how useful! We get to our hostel (Envoy Hostel), which by the way is the best hostel I’ve ever been to, both in Armenia and Georgia, got ourselves comfortable and headed out.

iPhone Note #3 = We find out “mama” is “father” in Georgian. It’s the only language that has it switched. How confusing right?! I can’t tell you what “mother” is in Georgian, but look it up if you’re curious haha.

iPhone Note #4 = So I found out how to say “hello” here… it’s NOT “ohio,” but rather “gamajouba.” Haha felt like an idiot when I sincerely thought that maybe “ohio” was a word in their language and not a man trying to say “hello” to me because I’m apparently “Japanese.” Haha “GAMAJOUBA!” “HELLO!”

her favorite statue on the walking tour and my new boyfriend! 

Our hostel had a free walking tour for all of its guests… cool right?! I sure thought it was J Our tour guide was this girl from Armenia so she gave us a lot of Georgian history and related it to Armenian history as well, which made it that much more exciting AND in fluent English!  

tiny hidden waterfall behind our hostel our new Armenian friend took us to 

iPhone Note #5 = They have “transparent police stations” made of glass to say that the police are transparent and don’t hide anything or do secret stuff behind the Georgians.

iPhone Note #6 = Portrait of Jesus in the churches… they say that if you are true faithful person then Jesus will look at you and if you’re not, he will look away … but really I think it depends on where you stand…

There is always a chair for the priest guy in the middle of the church in order to say he is available to everyone? something like that. And then their cross is interesting... comes from an old story about a man who tried to make the first cross out of a tree but the branches he tied were slightly wimpy so bent downwards as such. Am I right? I might totally be screwing that up. Let me know if I'm wrong! 

iPhone Note #7 = I don’t know why they do, but they do à they have a “George W. Bush Street” that goes to the airport. Every taxi driver we talked to that found out we were American would say, “Do you know we have a George W. Bush Street?”

iPhone Note #8 = Foods we ate in Georgia! Khinkali (which you have to eat with your hands if you want to eat it properly in Georgia), imeruli, khachapuri, aljabpuni salad, lobiyani… and there was much more I forgot to write down.

Last but not least we went to the sulfur baths. No wait, we went to The King’s Bath like they call it. We met up with two other volunteers who happened to be dropping by Georgia as well and had an hour to ourselves in a private sulfur bathhouse. The water turned all my silver rings an odd brown color, which apparently rubs off later from natural hand oils. Overall it was nice and relaxing and made our skin feel super smooth and silky !!

The King's Bath. Sulfur baths!

Stop #2: Istanbul, Turkey

One taxi ride straight to the airport and we were on our way to Turkey.

iPhone Note #1 = “Welcome to paradise!” It was written EVERYWHERE around Turkey, in the airport, on billboards, any tourist area or restaurant, etc… have you all heard of this being a “Turkey thing” before? I sure haven’t and I still don’t really understand it, but I guess Turkey = Paradise. Haha.

Again another nice hostel, The Orient International Hostel in Turkey, was in the middle of all the sites we wanted to hit during our TWO-DAY stay in Turkey.

iPhone Note #2 = Hagia Sofia.

iPhone Note #3 = Blue Mosque à prime minister came and there was a crowd of police like no other. Prayer is out loud so everyone on the streets can listen, stop, and pray together. Everyone stands OUTSIDE the church. Not inside. It’s a “Call and Answer.”

1. All the police lining up for this dude. 2. Outside Blue Mosque. 3. The fountains where they have to wash their feet in the freezing cold before they enter. 

We explored everything by foot and map, and let me tell you, we walked MILES. I swear it. We’ve also had to make so many stops because the people there really try to bring you in any way possible: pulling your arm, cheap deals, speaking English, speaking Korean, and most of all, FLIRTING.

iPhone Note #4 = Pick-Up Lines!

Pick-up Line #1: “The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen is here to my right.”

Pick-up Line #2: “Hey lady, look up at me. I’m so handsome. … Really.”

Pick-up Line #3: “Hey cutie, right over here. Darling? No? Princess. Princess.”

Pick-up Line #4: Best one was towards Debra who is older than Kate and me à “Lady I know you can afford this carpet. I can tell.”

SPICE MARKET. Bought all my teas and spices for friends here :) 

We made a friend in the Spice Market. He was real kind, spoke to us in English because he apparently lived in New York City for a while. Was all excited to see Americans haha 

iPhone Note #5 = I thought I was reading “Faith” everywhere and thought “wow, that’s kinda cool” haha oops it was “Fatih” which means “Turkey.”

mmmmmmm... YUMMM.... best baklava ever. super oily but for a once in a lifetime thing it was DELISH.

Went to the Bizarre and bought myself some handmade candles, beautiful scarves for myself and my mom, various teas, etc. By the way they have gorgeous candles/lights everywhere in various shapes, colors, and designs in masses on the ceiling, along the walls, EVERYWHERE. So eye-catching and calming to look at. Decided that I would definitely have a room like it once I get my own house. Can’t wait!

place where I bought my candles and fish restaurant we ate at for lunch where they showed us the platter of seafood we can choose from fresh from the Black Sea.

iPhone Note #6 = Palm trees. Why are there so many?! And how in the world do they survive this cold weather?! There’s snow and ice … hmm .

Last thing on our list before we left for our third country? TURKISH BATH. For about twenty dollars we got soaped, washed, soaped & “bubbled,” then scrubbed til we were completely red, washed again, then massaged, streeeeeetched, and then rinsed. All of that was done on this big warm round marble platform by these big women in bikinis! After all that we sat in the sauna for as long as we could, dunked ourselves in cold water, rinsed again, and it was all over. What an experience! And I must say a great way to end our two days in Turkey.

Our sketchy alleyway looking bathhouse. Really wasn't though. I would love to have another Turkish Bath. 

Stop #3: Athens, Greece

A few more hours and GREECE! That’s all I could about from the taxi ride to the airport and in the plane… Greece was always one of my dream places to visit, especially after Mama Mia and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants J

We arrived in Greece, took the metro for an hour, walked outside all excited to see our first real glimpse of Athens and… GHETTO. The only correct word I could think of to describe what I saw. This was supposed to be GREECE! But man was it ghetto. I felt like I was in a San Francisco or Oakland alleyway! And do you want to know what my iPhone Note was for Greece?? I only wrote one. ONE. Here it is:

iPhone Note #1 = ghetto Christmas tree.

We went to the center of Athens because everyone said there would be some decorations and festivities for Christmas and most of all, the main Christmas tree. You know what we saw?? A regular big tree with some lights thrown on it. THROWN. Not even nicely placed with ornaments or anything, but just a regular tree, not even in the middle of the square, with lights thrown on it. GHETTO. Haha.

Street performances. Street food. Street graffiti. Things like that. 

There was graffiti everywhere, trash, stray cats and dogs, smelly alleyways, old buildings and even churches meshed in with new high-rises in the city. I think I may have expected too much and just didn’t realize that the Greek Islands were something completely different from Athens and the rest of Greece.

We get to our hostel, which looked fairly nice and comfortable online, and … can you guess? GHETTO. Our room was cold with no heater so they hand us this tiny little one-person heater to plug in our room but the light from it is so bright we could hardly sleep comfortably. I ask for three extra blankets so we can all have two to sleep with and they don’t have enough. We end up sleeping cold and uncomfortable, and right the next morning we walked out of there looking for a new hostel.

We get a hotel, which was the same price as the hostel, closer to the center of Athens, with our own bathtub, TV, and HEATER. We all took a long bath cause it’s not easily accessible for us back in Armenia and man was it great. Just wonderful.

4 days in Greece. Four days including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I admit, it was pretty tough... no family, none of my best friends, none of my traditional foods and Christmas festivities... it was tough but we made it through together, the three of us.  

The day after Christmas we got on the metro, got on a boat, and made it to Aegina, the closest island to Athens. It was no Santorini or Mykonos, but it was better than nothing. I guess once I get married I'll have to make my husband take me to Santorini just like Lina found her boo in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants hehehe :) :) 

Aegina Island. There were at least some white houses with blue windows. Nothing like the real islands but I took a picture with all the ones that were similar! :p 

Our last view of Greece before heading back to Armenia. Not too bad, right? I would say it was a great way to end our ten day three countries trip during our Peace Corps service.