Water, Water, Water

Water has been a reoccuring theme on this trip for me and I would like to tell you all about it.

I am the designated water girl on our building worksites. As a team, we have been working to put concrete down on the roof and floors of the houses. One and a half buckets of water are needed to produce one batch of concrete. It is my job fill the buckets with water and pour them into the mixer. I'll be honest, it's a pretty cush job in comparision to everyone else working in the bucket line, which is basically passing buckets filled with concrete back and forth. However, water is essential to our project. Without water, there would be no concrete. I have enjoyed having this job because it is easy on my back. I like to think that every bucket of water I pour puts love into the house. I have been surprised by how much I am enjoying this service project. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm not planning on becoming a full time construction worker, but I have enjoyed the feeling of working hard to help a very deserving family. I am also the water girl because I pass out bottles of water to a very exhausted and sweaty team of builders. Indie has started to call me the "Water Goddess". I could be called worse, so I'm not complaining.

Then, there was Water Day. Ugh. Water Day is what our team calls the Armenian holiday that orginated from the church many, many years ago. The priests would splash water on people to symbolize the purity of Jesus. Today, this holiday is basically a national water fight. This sounds like a super fun holiday. I would probably love water day as an 8 year old girl. However, Water Day was definitely not fun for me. A group of us went to church in the morning for a traditional Armenian Orthodox service. The van dropped us off at a pizza place after the service. I had a slice of pizza and an ice cream sunday (yummy!). It was turning into quite a lovely day. This quickly ended the second we exited the restaurant. There were teenage boys stacked outside the restaurant with buckets of water and waterballons. I held up my hands and said in my sternest voice, "NO!". Obviously they did not listen. A huge bucket of water was poured all over me. My church dress and I were completely soaked. I was annoyed to say the least. I felt as if I had no rights. Of course, the men in our group did not get attacked. The teenage boys poured water on us to make our clothes tighter. This infuriated me. Lauren and I decided to break away from the group after that because we wanted to get back to the hotel faster because the rest of the group wanted to go to the internet cafe. We walked quickly and tried to avoid more boys with buckets of water. Lauren and I tried to dogde groups of boys by crossing to the other side of the street. That did not stop one group of boys who were probably around 12 years old. They were following us and I turned around and scram NO over and over again in my meanest, fiercest "Kim Lammers Attorney at Law" voice. Armenian women around the street started to yell at the boys to leave us alone, but they did not listen. I was once again drenched. I was furious by this point. However, I wasn't mad because I was wet. That was fairly harmless. I was mad that I had no right to say no to something because I was a woman. I felt as if I had no rights. To say the least, I feel very fortunate to be an American woman, where I have rights and the right to say no. My heart breaks for the women hear who have no voice. I am more thankful for my rights, my country, and my education than I have ever been from this experience. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I have never felt unsafe here, even during this incident. We are being taken care of very well.

On a brighter note, we traveled to Lake Sevan today. This was a day off of work for us. It was great to bond with the group and our Armenian guides. I got my tan on, my swim on, and oh man, it was great. (Don't worry Mom and Gmommy, I wore plenty of sunscreen. No burn for me). I am really loving Armenia and am having such an excellent time. This trip has been unlike anything I've ever done, including the Mercer on Mission I went on last summer. I am so thankful to Mercer for providing me with this experience. It has been wonderful and I promise to not let your investment in me be wasted.

-Kim Lammers

ps. No spell check on my computer. Please don't judge. I promise I am a semi-intelligent person.