Mud

Mud had probably been our worst experience here so far, and it could get a lot worse. We have to walk on dirt roads to get anywhere from our house, and when it rains - and we've had dramatic thunderstorms almost every day for a couple of weeks - those roads quickly turn to mud. We end up walking with big globs sticking to our shoes. It seemed at first that Armenians were somehow able to walk through it without getting dirty: our teachers come to school with almost no sign of mud on their little shoes or sandals. But that has probably had more to do with their particular route to school: I suspect they've been able to walk through grass and on small rocks to get from their house, which is on a different street, to the main road, which is more or less paved. Yesterday, however, our host family's shoes were all caked in mud too. Clearly they were unable to get around it too. This is somewhat comforting: at least our mud-walking skills are no worse than those of at least some people who grew up here.