Shnorhavor Nor Taree!

Happy New Year to everyone. My sister and brother-in-law left town yesterday and now I am getting ready to celebrate the new decade with my parents. Showing them the country has been a treat. Yerevan is all lit up with a huge Christmas tree in Republic Square and there are a lot of dressed up Santas rolling around town.



We explored Khor Vorap, Goshevank, Dilijan, as well as Echmiadzin. Most lovely was Sevanvank, a church perched up on a rocky peninsula that juts out into Lake Sevan. The picture below was taken from there.



We had some delicious meals in Yerevan filled with dolmas, lamb and plumb stews, and lots of khachapuri. Will report more on those restaurants soon.

Armenians here take New Years very seriously with lots of feasting at midnight and visiting family and friends throughout the early morning till January 6th (Armenian Christmas). I have been lucky to have my family here and am reminded by the warmth of all my Armenian relatives in the United States as well as my mom's Armenian family in Sophia and Varna.

A very happy new year to all!

Oh Christmas Tree

My computer crashed, but is back from the dead with many Russian Microsoft applications programmed on it. Coupled with this, I have been preparing for my family to make their way to Yerevan for Christmas, thus the lack of posts.

Preparations have included hunting down a Christmas tree. Easier said than done. I was told by many people that purchasing a real fur tree was illegal. Armenia suffered from severe deforestation in the 90s (in part due to the blockades, the need for fuel was necessary, with no carbons pouring in from the Caspian, trees seemed like a logical choice).

I came to terms with the idea of purchasing a fake. Like in the States, there are tree stands, but only fake trees line the cement. A bit of a shock to see all of these trees with locals haggling over the price, and despite them all looking perfect, I over heard many a family making comments about them not being so great. I finally ended up at a hardware store on the outskirts of town. My tree came in a box, three parts, and was the simplest thing to put together. It stands about my height, a bit over five feet. Over the past week and a half I grew to like my tree.

But the satisfaction of having navigated the tree purchase was short lived. Buyers remorse set in after I noticed a few real trees for sale on street corners. As of this past Monday, fur trees have been popping up for sale everywhere. Even some nice smelling garlands have appeared hung up on strings calling for me to shell out some drams and take them home.

The real thing must be legal after all, but everyone is telling me different stories, and the folks that claim they are illegal are sticking to their story. I guess, all in all, I should be happy that I am doing my part for the forests. And my three piece fake is kind of adorable.

My camera is out of sorts, but soon I will have pictures up, included the massive fake tree in Republic Square. Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 6th so hope to have some fun stories posted by that time as well.

My sister and her husband just arrived. Next up are my parents. If I don't write tomorrow or on the 25th, Merry Christmas to all!

Carpets

Martin the Armenian is the first known Armenian to have come to America in 1607 during the settlement of Jamestown. Martin ventured across the Atlantic to raise silkworms. Armenians, much like their Persian neighbors, have been known for making carpets for over 2500 years. The Greek historian Herodotus (485 - 425 B. C.) wrote that "the inhabitants of the Caucasus dyed the wool with a number of plants having dyeing qualities and they used it to make woven fabrics covered with drawings which never lose their brilliant color"



Earlier in the week, I explored the large market of Vernasage in Yerevan. They have everything. I wandered into the carpet section. Lovely, but expensive.

More on Gyumri

I have never been to an orphanage before. The language professors at Yerevan State University go every year to the same one in Gyumri. Many of the children who live in the orphanage are there due to the deaths of parents or more often than not, socio-economic reasons that make it impossible for guardians to continue living with the child.

The university students brought gifts and the children performed a small holiday festival of sorts for us. Some lovely Armenian dancing was on display, but the best part of the day was one teenage boy sang the beautiful song by Salvatore Adamo, "Tombe La Neige" in perfect French.

Adamo on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-DKXuWuoYM

Unicef puts the number of children in Armenia currently in orphanages at 50,000, I am not sure where this falls comparatively with other nations, but for a country of less than 3 million it's pretty sobering.

Travels in Gyumri

Over the weekend I went with my tutor and his students from Yerevan State University to Gyumri, as city that lies 120 km from Yerevan. It's also Armenia's second largest city with a population over 160,000. The small city was hit by the 1988 earthquake that killed thousands. The photo below is taken from Freedom Square with All Savor's Church in the distance.



It was a fitting time to be in the city as Monday will be a remembrance day for those who lost their lives during the devastating earthquake. Gyumri also lies close to the Turkish border. The Wall St Journal's Joe Parkinson recently did a report on the potential economic benefits of the border opening from the perspective of Armenians from Gyumri.

http://online.wsj.com/video/a-bitter-century-armenian-city-left-behind/7433E2EC-3D08-4414-921F-7FB4990F1821.html

The Russian military patrols the border between Armenia and Turkey. Pictured below are the backs of three Russian soldiers.



I fell in love with the small city. Despite the sadness sown by the earthquake, a subtle beauty exists in the crumbling 19th century buildings. After exploring the town center, we made our way to the city's orphanage. More on that tomorrow.

Gatta & preserves

It took me a while, but I finally found myself liking gatta, the sugary sweet bread in the picture above. I first felt like it tasted too plane, but paired with coffee it works. It's even better with berry preserves. The head of the documentary company's father made these preserves in the pic above. Everyone here it seems, farm or no farm, make their own preserves at home. The berries tasted almost exactly like rhubarb, but it is not grown in Armenia.