Fruit Loop/Cheeto Hybrid Deliciousness is, surprisingly, not that name on the package that these amazing little tasties are bought in. In fact, I am almost positive I will never learn the proper name of these snacks since it is printed in Russian or some other language all Armenians can understand. But vochinch (it’s OK), because the name can continue to elude me as long as I am allowed to indulge in their greatness every once in a while. What exactly is a Fruit Loop/Cheeto Hybrid Deliciousness? I am sure you are wondering. Well, it is just as my assigned name implies. It is essentially a pale Cheeto (the fat ones, not the skinny ones- and without the fake cheesy taste) saturated with the incomparable fruit infusion taste of the popular Fruit Loops cereal. In a word: childhood. I have honestly come to expect very little from the snack foods in Armenia, with a few exceptions. While they own the world of delicious fruit, hands down, sometimes their snacks leave one unsatisfied. The story of how I came across the Fruit Loop/Cheeto Hybrid Deliciousness is not great in itself. We had house guests for a couple of days, and on one of the last nights of their stay they went shopping. They came back with some bologna hotdogs (yup, again just as the name implies) and these big, puffy, pale Cheetos. As customary, after dinner everyone sat around the table drinking coffee, snacking, and on this night speaking in a particularly rapid Armenian. I tried to follow the conversation for quite some time, but my brain got tired, and I decided to test out one of these deceivingly plain looking puffs. I am pretty sure I broke out into a smile. It was amazing. I wanted to run to the store, buy some milk, pour it in an oversized bowl, and dump a large quantity of the puffs into it. Of course, I did not. I already have a number of strange habits (like walking around barefoot), why add to add to the strangeness, especially in front of guests. This may seem like a very large paragraph dedicated to a single snack, and while it makes me sad a little bit, I have been assured by longer serving volunteers that the significance that food has in my life is going to increase 100-fold in the next 2 years. What I mean to say, is you should expect more tangents like this one in the future.
**NOTE: I found out recently that the Fruit Loop Cheeto Hybrid Deliciousness has a barbecue flavoured cousin, that is also tasty, but nowhere near as good as the original puff
Onto the shoes/medication fiasco, which are really 2 separate events, but since the resolution was the same I have decided to combine them into one story. Many of you may not know this (unless I decided to write it in my last blog, but pretty sure I was trying to keep my stupidity to myself) but upon my arrival at my house in Dilijan, I quickly realized that I had left 2 boxes of shoes on the marshootney that delivered me here. And no, not 2 big boxes, relatively small ones. But what was I left with, a pair of cheap, bright orange, PINK flip flops. Uh huh, orange rubber flip flops. Upon realizing what a predicament I was in, I jumped into action and called a fellow volunteer, who happened to be on the same marshootney, and asked her what to do. She said she would hold onto the shoes for me until we met again, but also suggested that I make a call to PC and try to work something out. Relishing in her cool headedness and genius, I placed a call to PC and found out that the marshootney would be coming back through Dilijan and would stop by. Well, to shorten this already long story, that did not happen, and my shoes ended up in the PC office in Yerevan. Now, this may not seem like a problem, but what you are not aware of is the PC rule that new volunteers can not leave site for a month after arriving. Yes, I thought I would have to go a month with only a pair of PINK flip flops. I was not ok. In a stroke of luck though, I found out that my site mate was in fact going to Yerevan the next week, and would be happy to pick up my shoes for me, I was very happy. During this week of waiting, I had the unfortunate experience of a migraine, my first in quite some time. I called the PC, and asked if my site mate could pick up my migraine meds for me at the same time that he was getting my shoes. The plan was OK’d and the wheels were in motion, or so I thought. Well. The big day finally came and when my site mate returned, I was handed a small paper bag. Just a small paper bag. Turns out, the shoes were unattainable because I had failed to authorize my site mate picking up my shoes. Fine. I at least had my meds. I opened the paper bag and to my dismay found, instead of migraine meds, four months of birth control. Lets be honest now, birth control is not on the top of my priority list while in Armenia, and I was quite depressed by the mix up. My site mate came to my rescue though, and placed a call to the Doctor, who assured me that they would get my migraine meds. The problem, I couldn’t go into Yerevan to get them for a month. Apparently though, I did something right and Karma was with me. The very next week, after I had given up all hope, I found out that a PCV due to travel through Dilijan was in fact going to the PC office first. I quickly made the call and guess what arrived 4 hours later…MY SHOES AND MEDS!! As happy as I was (and am) of course I need to include the kicker…I only got one dose of the migraine meds. Welcome to my life.
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