I actually have no excuse for waiting another week before writing my blog entry.
On tuesday and thursday, I had Armenian language lessons with the other Birthright volunteers. We met up with tutors, one or two students per tutor. The lesson consists partly of assessment of how much we know (since some people know more than others), and partly of spoken practice and dialogues, and at the end we are assigned homework to be done by the next class.
On Saturday, we went to Khor Virap (the monastery built on top of the pit where Gregory was imprisoned). On my previous visit to KV, (while I was with LCO) the pictures I took didnt turn out very well, because they would either overexpose due to a bright flash (and thus not accurately reflect how dark it is in there), or be blurry due to long exposure time. I found a way to fix this, which is done by partially covering the flash on my camera, and thus having the short exposure time of a flash photograph but also reflect the fact that it's dark in the pit (the only light comes from an electric chandelier that certainly did not exist at the time of St. Gregory).
Afterwards, we visited Noravank, another monastery (which I had also visited previously with LCO, and described it in my blog as having steep narrow steps leading into the upper sanctuary), and then we visited the village of Areni, which is famous for its wine. Since I don't drink alcohol, this wasn't very interesting for me. I asked the guy there how long it would take to remove the alcohol from a mug of wine using a microwave, and he said around 8 days. (seriously? This seems like an experiment to do when I get back to the states.)
Saturday night we went to Yerevan. Since staying overnight in Yerevan is optional (although everyone did it this time), we had to find our own places to stay. Rather than staying in a hostel, I asked Rafayel if I could crash at his place. He lives with his parents, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece, his sister-in-law's brother and his uncle, all in one crowded apartment. His parents cooked dinner and breakfast for me while I was there.
Sunday around midday was a pool party in Yerevan at the BR coordinator Sevan's house. This was partly a going away party for Hovhannes, who was moving back to his home in Jordan. This is sad, because he was a funny guy. <flashback>When I first met him on the ride to Gyumri my first day in BR, he attempted to guess where I was from based on my accent. "Somewhere in the southern US, but keep talking, and i'll try to figure it out". ... "somewhere in the southeast"... "Virginia" Then I asked him, "how did you figure that out? In the Northern part of Virginia I'm from doesn't even have the stereotypical virginian accent". He then told me that he knew all along from reading my information submitted to birthright, but he was only pretending to be guessing. </flashback>
After this, we went back to Gyumri later that afternoon. And now I am here in the office on Monday afternoon.
On tuesday and thursday, I had Armenian language lessons with the other Birthright volunteers. We met up with tutors, one or two students per tutor. The lesson consists partly of assessment of how much we know (since some people know more than others), and partly of spoken practice and dialogues, and at the end we are assigned homework to be done by the next class.
On Saturday, we went to Khor Virap (the monastery built on top of the pit where Gregory was imprisoned). On my previous visit to KV, (while I was with LCO) the pictures I took didnt turn out very well, because they would either overexpose due to a bright flash (and thus not accurately reflect how dark it is in there), or be blurry due to long exposure time. I found a way to fix this, which is done by partially covering the flash on my camera, and thus having the short exposure time of a flash photograph but also reflect the fact that it's dark in the pit (the only light comes from an electric chandelier that certainly did not exist at the time of St. Gregory).
Afterwards, we visited Noravank, another monastery (which I had also visited previously with LCO, and described it in my blog as having steep narrow steps leading into the upper sanctuary), and then we visited the village of Areni, which is famous for its wine. Since I don't drink alcohol, this wasn't very interesting for me. I asked the guy there how long it would take to remove the alcohol from a mug of wine using a microwave, and he said around 8 days. (seriously? This seems like an experiment to do when I get back to the states.)
Saturday night we went to Yerevan. Since staying overnight in Yerevan is optional (although everyone did it this time), we had to find our own places to stay. Rather than staying in a hostel, I asked Rafayel if I could crash at his place. He lives with his parents, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece, his sister-in-law's brother and his uncle, all in one crowded apartment. His parents cooked dinner and breakfast for me while I was there.
Sunday around midday was a pool party in Yerevan at the BR coordinator Sevan's house. This was partly a going away party for Hovhannes, who was moving back to his home in Jordan. This is sad, because he was a funny guy. <flashback>When I first met him on the ride to Gyumri my first day in BR, he attempted to guess where I was from based on my accent. "Somewhere in the southern US, but keep talking, and i'll try to figure it out". ... "somewhere in the southeast"... "Virginia" Then I asked him, "how did you figure that out? In the Northern part of Virginia I'm from doesn't even have the stereotypical virginian accent". He then told me that he knew all along from reading my information submitted to birthright, but he was only pretending to be guessing. </flashback>
After this, we went back to Gyumri later that afternoon. And now I am here in the office on Monday afternoon.
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