Shoes and Candy

Yelena stayed up late to finish embroidering handkerchiefs for me!

Those who know me best will not be surprised that I've come all the way to Armenia to buy shoes and candy.
I don't know what other people buy when they travel. As long as I have pictures, I'm pretty much content. But as I have mentioned many times in Facebook posts and emails and other blog entries, coming to Armenia is like dying and going to shoe heaven. If I could dump the rest of my stuff in some convenient river to make room in my suitcase for one more pair of Armenian shoes...!
I also made the sad mistake of trying a piece of Russian candy the other day. It has nuts and chocolate and some kind of...gooey adhesive (I won't call it caramel...really, I don't know what it is...some kind of crack-cocaine sugar compound). Well, now I'm addicted.
On the pretext of buying "candy for my students" (HA!) I got Sara to take me to the store and load me up with bags of the stuff. Hey, man, I can quit anytime I want.

Today I taught my last three classes. The students all gave me presents. I was astounded.

"To Jump" with the Third Graders

The adorable Sixth Graders

I'm on my way to have my last dinner with Sara and her wonderful family. I imagine she is cooking something really special for tonight. (Today we finished the rest of the Armenian dolma--with meat--she made earlier in the week. OMG, with some garlic yogurt, it's sooooo hamova!)
As Ara and I say (in German): Ich bin traurig. I am sad.
Tonight we will feast and party. Tomorrow at 4AM, I leave once more for Yerevan to catch an 8AM flight.
I will try to blog more after dinner if I can.