Shimmer

Yesterday I had the most extreme culture shock I’ve ever had: 150 Scandinavians invaded Victory Park in Yerevan to run orienteering. My brain totally stopped functioning when I saw 150 Scandinavians entering under the arc into Victory park. My mind simply couldn’t grasp the concept of my two worlds colliding like they did yesterday.

This is the coolest thing I’ve participated in so far here in Yerevan. It was fantastic, even though I felt like somebody violently knocked Scandinavia in my head and ripped it away again when we parted in the evening.

Arrived after 24 hours on the buses

These Scandinavians, mostly Swedish and Norwegian are traveling with World Wide Orienteering Promotion on its 40th jubilee autumn east tour, on which they are running orienteering in 15 countries; their schedule can be found here.

They left Iran the day before heading to Armenia, the border lived up to its reputation and it took them about 8 hours to get through. After this travel the participants were surprisingly fresh and fit.

Positive reactions from the Armenians

The local Armenians were a bit shocked at first, seeing all the tall and blond Scandinavians entering the park and changing into thighs right before their eyes. But after the initial shock, they turned more and more curious.

After all, the concept of tall blond Scandinavians in tights seemed to be quite attractive.

Media attention

Our honorary consul, Tim Straight, tipped some TV-channels and actively recruited interview objects and did some reporting on this groundbreaking event; there has never been such a big group of Scandinavians in Armenia before!

The camera men seemed to be a bit stressed out by the situation; trying to fit tall persons into the frame and having people constantly running by in front of the camera.

After I finished course I got interviewed and explained a bit about how it went. She commented on my scratches and asked: “You are running in the bushes!?”

There was also a turkish-armenian runner participating in this event, he had travelled with the WWOP from Istanbul.

Running in the park

I really enjoyed running the course, it gave me a new perspective on the park.

I had been looking forward to this event for many weeks, and it was even cooler than expected; just look at this smile!

Thank you, Lene

Finally I want to thank Lene for taking all the photos, she has done a great job. When I get the opportunity with a good internet connection I will upload them all in a more decent quality.