Accidentally drinking beer at 10AM, and enjoying the peace of Armenia

With about two hours of sleep in me, I hopped off the train with all the luggage and walked out to the front of the train station. This was my introduction to the Armenian morning. I think it was around 7AM and I could still feel some of the tiredness, but the excitement of being back here quickly brought me back to life. Enough for us to throw our things into the back of a taxi and head over to the location we'd be staying in while searching for an apartment. We arrived, grabbed a coffee, and felt the heat of the day slowly spread over the garden outside. This must've been the longest three hours of my life, because shortly after that we made the decision to go and grab something to eat having failed to get actual food for the long ten hour train ride from Tbilisi to Yerevan, plus another half hour or so in the taxi. We had a strong craving for Lahmajo. A really good dish that's somewhat in the middle of being heavy and light as a meal. Basically a thin bread that's crispy and flakes, with meat in the middle, to which you squeeze lemon juice over it before folding and eating.

For the entire duration of being there, this cat of which I'm certain I've seen before decided to come up and beg for some food. Meowing in a really quiet manner. But also kept making this really weird face at me. It'd just squint real hard and sit there like that. Looking directly at me without moving.

Walking under the intense Armenian sun was a surprise. Something we both had forgotten since the past year. We knew it was dry, we knew Tbilisi's hot weather was a more damp one. But I don't think we were really prepared for the fact that it was hot. Walking down the dusty streets, feeling the heat coming from every object around us. Naturally, once we reached the cultural centre that serves as a creative space -- a shop, a restaurant and cafe, but also a theatre and hotel -- I had a thirst for beer. I needed a cold refreshing beer. To which I chose a Kilikia. The food came, the beer came. And both were just divine. It felt like I have ascended into the stairs eating that thing. Oh, how I had missed it. But towards the end of it all, I realised something: it wasn't lunchtime. It was actually ten in the morning. Just three hours had passed since we jumped off the train. It felt like an entire lifetime had passed. No longer did I find myself questioning why the cultural space was so empty at what I assumed was lunchtime. No longer did I observe the aged workers cleaning like they had nothing else to do. It all made sense now.

With a bit of shock we finished up and walked around the town. That sun was brutal still. And more surprising that it could be so warm so early. We walked around and took note of how so little had changed, finished up our chores, and returned home. More coffee. And a bit more time spent outside in the garden, on a swinging chair just appreciating finally being in a peaceful, natural environment again. Where car horns are not heard. Where cranes and magpies fly above. Lizards run rampant around the dry dirt of which pomegranate, peach, and grape trees reach out from. A little bit of a breeze appearing as the weather slowly turned a bit stormy into the later part of the day. Cream-filled gata to boost the energy as the tiredness would sometimes appear. Though after this I still crashed here and there, really struggling to keep the eyes open through some apartment hunting online. Such a long day, but I actually really enjoyed it. It felt like I had lived a thousand little lives and stories within one regular day, where back in Tbilisi the days just morphed together into some disappearing fast-forwarded nightmare. It's good to be back in Armenia.