I arrived in Armenia a few weeks ago to minus 1 degrees celsius. Bit of a shock after 36 degree plus when I left South Africa... Its obvious to all I'm a foreigner. Besides being slightly darker than everyone else, the red buff-scarf is a dead give away. All the guys wear dark colours, black or dark black. Anyone wearing a different colour stands out like a sore thumb. Women negotiate the snow and ice on the most impossible high-heel boots that make me gasp for air. Ramp models around the world beware!!! Maybe that's why so many Eastern Eurpean women are in the fashion industry, training from their youth to negotiate the most treachorous of icy conditions. Long coats are very fashionable for guys, especially dragging on a Kent or Parliament cigarette, hunched over and eyeing you suspiciously as you try not falling on your arse in the slush as the weather heats up the snow and melts it.
Had my first snowy weather yersterday and it was quite bizarre. White flakes the size of coinds falling from the sky and disintegrating against my jacket. A good show nonetheless as everyone is scurring along for taxis or to catch the metro and me blocking the way looking skywards at the wonder.
One of my greatest shocks was seeing a Hummer in Yerevan. What!!! Between all the Lada's and Soviet cars, we see an example of the ultimate American salute to excessive consumerism! So the world turns...
