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Thursday:

In the evening before dinner, we climbed a very steep mountain nearby the village.  It took us about an hour and a half to climb up to the top.  The slope was about a 60 degree incline (about .3 radians, for nerds).  At the top, there was an altar, with several khatchkhars and other Christian icons around.  Also on the altar are soft candles that people had pushed onto the altar to spell their names on there.  Most apparent at the altar, however, is a full-sized wooden cross.  Several pieces of cloth had been tied to the cross.  When Arman, our archaeologist, got to the top, he asked in Armenian for a knife.  I was not sure what to expect.  I thought he was going to cut off a piece of his own shirt or something and tie it onto the cross.  However, what he did was the exact opposite.  He cut off the pieces of cloth.  I asked why.  Since he doesn't speak much English, all he said was "very bad, not Christian".  I later found out that this tradition predates Christianity, from pagan times, when they would tie a piece of clothing to a tree or bush when they got up to the top of a mountain, and I inferred that it's disrespectful to tie it to a cross.  He and I stayed at the top after the others had left, as he and I were praying at the top, while the others had left to explore a different peak.  So, coming down the hill it was just myself and Arman.  

When I got back down, I decided, quite spontaneously, to shave, which i haven't done since I was in Vienna (VA, not Austria).  At the request of the other participants, I did sideburns and a handlebar mustache.  When I get back to Yerevan, I might shave off the handlebars and just leave the mustache.  I'm not sure yet.  Normally i have a mustache and a goatee, but I don't have time to grow a mustache back yet.  

Friday 

was our last day working at the site.  While I was working the wheelbarrow during the second-to-last hour of our work, we got a flat tire.  So, instead, we used buckets to transport the dirt out of the hole for the last hour and a half of work.  THE last hour and a half of work we will do here in this village.  We are now done with that.  

Saturday:

today I am borrowing Haig's orange dongle again to write this blog entry.  Also, I found out that i will be working with the Gyumri Information Technologies Center starting a week from now.  I received a message from birthright about this:  http://www.gitc.am/Gitc/

Oh, and by the way, if you want to see the pictures I and the other participants have taken on this trip, go to www.lcousa.org.  Some of the pics are mine, some are taken by the others.  Then you wont have to wait for me to post to facebook a week from now.