Every evening we have taken a walk around the city. Considering the busy life I came from, it is really wonderful to find that I can carve time for a 2-3 hour walk or rest or chat every evening. Though I know this leisure will not last for much of my stay, its existence lets me know that I have successfully transported myself to a different place, both physically and mentally. We often stroll to the Cascade which is a long set of steps that flows from a mountain top pointing to the heart of the city. The strip is called North Avenue because the architect who designed the whole city, made it so that the cascade channels a northern wind and bring cool air into the city. Its quite amazing. We've also strolled to the singing fountains in Republic Square where they blast music (American and Armenian-- I was greeted with Aretha Franklin and Cotton Eyed Joe) for 3 hours every night of the summer and have fountain/light shows to go with the music. Its amazing how many people crowd the streets every night just to enjoy fresh air together. Also, my room has a wonderful view of Ararat. For those of you who are not familiar with Armenia... Ararat is a national symbol and a huuuuuuge absolutely awe-inspiring mountain that is almost visible from everywhere in Yerevan. Unfortunately it is over the border in Turkey so many Armenians are never able to go to Ararat even though it is one of their most beloved national symbols (Armenians basically first settled around Ararat around... 5000 years ago). Anyways, enjoy the pictures taken from my bedroom window below. Though I have to tell you, none of them capture its beauty and as usual, my dinky camera can't show the beautiful colors that shine on the snowy top at sunset. However, you'll get a small idea of how great it is. Ararat is one of those things that it is not overrated, it is just as great as all people say it is.
I've begun my Armenian language lessons and I'm stumbling through trying to quickly learn as much conversation enablers as possible while also trying to properly understand the language. Having studies arabic for the past year its interesting comparing the two languages which both are drastically different from Western languages, do not share many word origins, and have different alphabets. As of now, Armenian seems to be much more difficult because it has all these sounds that really trip up your tongue (kh, gh, ts, yeh, tyun, etc.). Who knows though, in a month I could be totally accustomed to it so I'm hoping it will get easier.
I've done some fun activities with Birthright (BR) Armenian Volunteer Corps (AVC) people. On Thursday we went to go see the National Folk Dance ensemble. It was really exciting and as usual I sit up in the balcony the whole time thinking... why don't people wear dance costumes all the time?? Oh... I will never learn. Last night we went to Sevan's house (the director of BR) to play mafia, meet BR people past and present and eat food. Sevan has a beautiful house and a wonderful family so it was nice to be in that environment. Today a group of us participated in a sort of treasure hunt challenge that got us to the outer reaches of Yerevan. We were split up into two teams and given clues on little pieces of paper which took us to: the French Embassy, the Bangladeshi neighborhood of Yerevan (a poorer area), a mercedes dealership (??), and a famous warrior statue (you'll have to excuse my lack of specifics... I'm still having a lot of trouble pronouncing/remembering Armenian names and places). It was a fun way to stretch out my understanding of Yerevan.
In the evening we ended up at the house of an Armenian-Diasporan who has come to Armenia and works now as a wine consultant. He talked to us about the Armenian wine industry and of course, we got to enjoy the fruits of some of the companies that he works for. Walking into his dining room we were presented with a table full of fruit, dates, delicious Armenian sweets and of course, lots of wine. I swear I was Persephone walking into Hades' lair. Anyways, it was great. Relaxing. Yes I'm still in tourist mode. I promise soon I will be talking more about the work I'm doing and the challenges I'm facing. But I really am trying to be positive about every experience I have here in Armenia. I will write more about how I feel about the country, their ideas, my perceptions, their practices and questions I have about Armenia later. I want to give myself the opportunity to run through a mill of emotions before I start reflecting on the "character" or "essence" of Armenia. I don't know if I'll ever feel that I've necessarily earned this right, but what I know is it seems too soon to give my "impressions" of Armenia as of right now.
I am Simajan now. Jan is what everyone adds to the name of someone of endearment so whenever I come home to "Hello simajan how are you!?". If my count is correct I think 7 people have referred to me as Simajan and that is a good number for me.
Please enjoy my pictures and of course I've forgotten my ipod so I can't remember the playlists I've made but I can tell you that I had a Beatles session the other night which was great after reading that Rolling Stones released their list of the 10 best Beatles songs of all time. Here was the list in case any of you feel like joining me for a brief spell of Beatlemania:
10. While my guitar gently weeps
9. Come together
8. Let it be
7. Hey Jude
6. Something
5. In my life
4. Yesterday
3. Strawberry Fields
2. I want to hold your hand
1. A Day in the life
A pretty good list though while I was scrolling through my ipod to find all of them I kept wanting to stop at others. However, my only addition is "I'll follow the sun". I really love this song right now. Its so pretty, simple and perfect.
Enjoy the music and pictures.
All my love,
Simajan
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