The boarding time couldn't roll around quickly enough, and it finally did. However, I'd noticed that Domodedevo posts some additional information about boarding times. You need to be at the gate 25 minutes before the published departure time, because you're bused to the gate. This means that what is printed on your boarding pass may not be right if it was issued at another airport. In my case, it absolutely wasn't right, and if I had followed that, I would have been late.
Like many places around the world, boarding is a full-contact scrum at Domodedevo. I was well-positioned though, and managed to hold my place. The agent scanned my boarding pass, the computer made a strange beep, and she frowned. Then she pulled up a seat map of the airplane, which was a sea of red. "This can't be good," I thought. She did something with the computer, crossed out my seat number, wrote on my ticket and handed it back. "Your seat change," she said, "Now you sit 1A." I smiled, nodded, said "thank you" and went to the plane. Op-up was just fine with me.
The flight was on an S7 Airlines A321 and there are 8 seats in first class. They were all full. Nothing special, the cabin is laid out more or less like any cabin on a US domestic flight. We were greeted on the ground with either juice or water, and once airborne I was offered "breakfast." This consisted of a three course meal served on real china (sorry I didn't take pictures) - the first course was some Russian cold meats garnished with red and yellow peppers, bread, some blue cheese and a piece of fruit served with a sprig of spruce. For the second course, I had a choice of three hot meals which resembled an international economy meal - I chose beef with rice, but there was also a vegetarian option (pasta) and a fish option. The third course was a choice of coffee or tea served with a Russian dessert. I also could have had my choice of over a dozen alcoholic beverages but having had no sleep I was more in the mood for coffee than anything else. Needless to say I got plenty to eat, and didn't need lunch; mind you this was only a 3 hour flight.
A hard landing in Yerevan (too high and too fast), and we taxied to the brand new airport. Everything is new, shiny and modern, and looks like a modern Chinese airport in a third tier city (keep in mind this is a compliment, Chinese airports are generally very nice). Jet bridge in Yerevan, no bus service required. The immigration agent wasn't sure what to do with my e-visa (which I'd obtained online), since they do not get very many of these. However, after consulting with a colleague, it only took a moment to stamp me in, saying "Welcome to Armenia!" Baggage was a snap, Customs just waved me through, and I was out into the lobby to meet the husband of one of my classmates, Vahan.
Vahan already had a taxi lined up, and brought me into town. Apparently there is a taxi mafia at the airport so it's actually cheaper to bring a taxi to the airport from the city round-trip than it is to use an airport taxi. Fares are always negotiable, there are no meters, and at the airport they go up for foreigners. In town, you'll pay a little higher price than a local if you're a foreigner, but I'm told outright scams are relatively rare. The taxi dropped us off near a room I'd rented on airbnb, and we waited for Anna to come meet us.
I got the keys to the place. The building is probably pretty scary to most Western people, but to me - it's just like a Chinese apartment building. China adopted a lot of city planning and construction methods from the former Soviet Union so actually a lot of things here (apartment layout, fixtures, plumbing, city layout and design) are really similar to China. The laundry detergent, however, is uniquely local:
Other Chinese similarities at first glance? The generally high level of organization (in its own way), enjoyment of large children's exhibitions (there was a huge children's exhibition for Constitution Day), an affinity for luxury products (all the major brands are represented here), and Armenians love KTV! I suppose I should not be surprised to see some Chinese influence here, since Armenia was on the old Silk Road. Still, after living in China for three years, Armenia feels really comfortable relative to the Netherlands. People are on the street, streets are a jam of taxis and buses and minibus taxis and cars, the food is familiar (it's somewhere between Turkish and Xinjiang food), and there are even Chinese cars here. One big difference? Everyone so far has been really friendly, and it's genuine. They're curious why I am here, whether I like Armenia (I tell them "a lot" and this seems to be the right answer), whether I know any Armenians in America ("No, but I know one in Holland!") and where I plan to travel. Not having any specific plan is something of a surprise--just like it would be in China or Russia, both societies with a relatively lower tolerance for ambiguity than American society. "You know Americans," I reply, "We don't really like to make a plan, we just make things up as we go along."
Yesterday, I had an early night, after taking in a Constitution Day parade and exhibition, enjoying some local food, and exploring a lot of the city center on foot. Today, I plan to spend some more time in Yerevan soaking up the city culture, and I will rent a car tomorrow to head out of town. After already spending one day of exploration so far, I look forward to exploring more of this incredible country!
