UNHCR

So here’s the update. Day three of my internship. Its pretty awesome. I feel like James Bond.
The UN building is in the main square of the city. Republic Square, if yer keeping tabs on me in GoogleMaps. The UN building is maybe 4 stories tall. Surrounded by a big steel fence, painted UN blue. We walk up to the gate, and the security guy buzzes us through the gate. He’s chillin in the guard station behind bullet-proof glass. That’s security clearance 1. You’re in the gate. I then walk up to the building and enter, up the stairs. There is another guard behind a window in the entryway, also chillin behind bullet –proof glass. Watching the security camera screens. He buzzes us through the main solid steel door. Heavy as hell. In you go. That’s security clearance 2. The main entryway is impressive. Straight ahead is the main conference room. Double glass doors with the emblem of the UN in blue across them. Armenian flag to the left of the doors, the UN flag to the right. The UNHCR office is up on the second floor. Keypad with a entry code on it to get in, in the morning. That’s security clearance 3. Badass.
So, our shared office for the interns is alright. I get a computer, so that’s cool. Not much privacy, but hey…I’m an intern, right. There’s one Armenian intern that shares the office with us. He’s part time. Works as a security guard to pay the bills.Nice enough guy. There are 14 people in the office. 2/3 of them are Armenian. The rest are European UN folks. Everyone seems super nice. Its good to be here.
I wanted to clean up, so I went and got a haircut and a shave before my first day. The hair is short, a little longer on top. The beard is trimmed close and manicured. I think I look like a banker or a fascist. Untrustworthy in either case. Went out and bought 5 dress shirts, a pair of slacks (I need a few more) and a pair of ties this week. I need some nerdy cardigans to go over my dress shirts. And I’m even thinking about buying a businessman-type button down charcoal long coat. I know, I know. Holy shirt. Transformation! Yikes! Eurotrash! Next thing, I’m going to be drinking martinis with an ascot on, listening to the Scorpions or shitty Russian techno. But you don’t understand. Everyone here dresses well. They look good. And more important than that, they look like they feel comfortable looking good. So I guess I’m a little intimidated. But I gotta admit…in the morning, going in, all dressed up. Yeah. Believe it. I look damn good. I mean, I’d do me. Ha.
So the internship itself. We are working on a bunch of stuff. Or rather, they are. And I’m trying to learn about it. Different refugee populations. Keeping up files. Monitoring of different shelters around the country. Border station monitoring. Training Border Guards in effectively recognizing when someone is a refugee. I think its all super interesting and important. A lot of work revolving around Sexual and Gender-based Violence. SGBV. Domestic violence is much more common and less spoken of out here. So theres that.

The UN building has a cafeteria where we have been eating lunch every day. It may get old eventually, but so far, so good. They have a ‘salad bar’ of pickled beets, sauerkraut, shredded carrot with vinegar, pickles and some other stuff. You don’t see a lot of fresh greens in this part of the world this time of year. The Main courses are barbecue chicken, baked gyro meat and sliced potatoes, mushroom soup, borchte, a kind of cross between stir fried rice and rice pilaf, an Armenian kind of Chicken Cordon Bleu, creamed spinach, collard greens and many other things. Its heavy, but its good and it seems pretty diverse. Cheap, too. We can usually eat lunch there for under $3. I had dinner last night for $1.25. Three kind of Armenian ground beef, pepper and onion quesadillas.
The beer isn’t amazing, isn’t bad. We went to an expat bar last night that seemed pretty cool and they had some good looking drinks. One was vodka, blue caracauo, cranberry juice and sprite. I might try that some night. The screwdrivers are cheap of course, as there is tons of vodka. I also tried the Armenian national drink the other night, which is Armenian cognac. Apparently Stalin used to send 20 cases of it to Churchill every year.
Also, I heard a good Armenian joke last night. It helps to know that you are taking your life in your hands everytime you cross the street here. There are very few traffic laws that are consistently adhered to… (translated into English):
An Armenian man in Yerevan is driving fast down the street. He blows through a red light and an Armenian Police officer pulls him over. When the cop walks up, he says to the reckless driver “Didn’t you see the Red Light back there?!?”
The driver says “I saw the light. I didn’t see you.”
That is all. Someday I’ll get around to describing my new apartment!