GOMESH!!

Since arriving in Shahumyan, I have been hearing about this thing called a "gomesh". Literally, this translates into English as "barndonkey", but, I was repeatedly assured, gomesh are not donkeys. Nor were they pigs, sheep, or cows. Having thoroughly exhausted my limited supply of animal-words in Armenian, I pantomimed a few more farmyard creatures (resulting in the endless amusement of our host grandmother), neither were they dogs, cats, goats or horses. I would just have to see them for myself, we decided. Earlier this week,  Grampa George (our host grandfather, whose name is actually Grigor, but introduced himself to me as Georgie, and will forever be to us Grampa George) told me that if I got up on Sunday and walked down the one paved street in town at 7:30 in the morning, I would see lots of gomesh. 

It will not surprise anyone who knows Sam to discover that he had very little interest in getting out of bed at such an ungodly hour on the one day of the week we are permitted to sleep in. So this morning, I got out of bed as quietly as I could, got dressed, slipped on my sneakers and headed out of the house alone in search of Gomesh. I think this might have been the first time since our brief separation at the hands of the PCMO that Sam and I have engaged in separate activities. 

I enjoyed walking on my own, enjoying the sunrise. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed a quiet moment to myself (there are far too many roosters in Shahumyan for any part of the morning to be quiet), but there was a certain peace to the morning, and I relished the sense of calm it brought. I was walking along the street, absorbed in thoughts like these, when a soft, low, bellowing sound broke my concentration. I rounded a corner, and there they were: the gomesh!

I think that Grampa George could have saved me some considerable suspense had he just said they were similar to cows. But he didn't. Nor did their bovine similarities dampen my excitement upon their discovery. I think that water buffalo might be the best way to describe gomesh in English, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

All in all, it's been a fantastic morning.