I have now been officially working in Armenia for two weeks. I have luckily landed in an office that takes a unique perspectiv on the midday break known as lunch. For those of you stuck behind the desk during your lunch time (basically everyone I know, unless they are in grad school), think about throwing an office coup to enforce the following:
Every day we break for lunch at 1pm. Our office manager happens to be a tremendously gifted cook who makes a meal for 10-20 people daily depending on whose in and out of the office. The meals are cooked in the office kitchen from 11-1pm. So far we have had stuffed peppers, eggplant, cabbages, baba ganoosh, beef strogenoff, different Lebanese-Armenian dishes, breads, cheese, and fresh salads are a mainstay. We usually eat for 30 minutes, where discussion of work is off limmits. If you do mention a work related topic, someone at the table immediatley screams that you will be "fined" or "beaten" -- interesting humor from the Caucasus.
After we clear the table we have 30 minutes of ping pong. Table tennis is a big deal here. Unfortunately my days of tennis playing have left me with the useless gut instinct to swing the paddle. Swinging renders the ball way over the table. I am slowly learning to use my wrist and talk trash in Armenian. It's surprisingly fun.
Is that flatbread??? That looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteAM - they do have flatbread here (called lavash), in the photo is regular armenian bread that tastes similar to french bread.
ReplyDeletePlease bring this office culture back to America.
ReplyDelete