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Trying to Make a Buck in Armenia: A Man Struggles to Stay in Business
Garegin Habajian, who goes by the nickname Gagik, operated his own fuel business from his home garage on Davit Bek Street in the Aresh district of Erebuni. One by one, cars would pull up in front alongside an old oak tree that wraps around the frame of a bench missing its wooden seat.
Two oversized funnels made from sheet metal, with long, tapered stems that are inserted into the gasoline tank, were at the ready on the bench. When there were three or more cars waiting in queue, his teenage boys—both of them competing tae kwon do athletes—would run over, funnels in hand, popping off the caps and filling away.
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Great story. Especially liked the fact that Gagik prefers to speak Western Armenian in Yerevan. I do as well and get some stares, but what the heck – Armenian is Armenian. If you ever heard what passes as Armenian on the streets of Yerevan, you’d do a double-take.
According to UNESCO, Western Armenian is an endangered language. Their website only lists Western Armenian spoken in Turkey. Isn’t it also spoken in Beirut?