Friday August 26th:
I met up with Gagik again, and he sold me the new duduk. It sounds much better than the old duduk. I noticed that Gagik is attempting to learn English, and has asked me how to say English words like, "hear", "breath", "read", "repeat", "play", etc. He decided to take a sticky note and write down all of the words in english he's trying to learn on there: the Armenian word, followed by the English word transliterated with Armenian letters. The sticky note looks like this:
լսել հիր
շունճ բրիտ
կարտալ րիդ
նորից անգամ րիպիտ
նվագել պլեյ
տուն հոմ
դու յու
հանգիստ րելաքս
հոգնած թայրդ
etc.
I might need to start charging him for English lessons one of these days. Maybe 5000 dram an hour. that would be about half the amount he charges me for duduk lessons. Also, he taught me how to do the vibrato (vibratsia in Armenian)
Saturday August 27:
Birthright Excursion at Lake Sevan! We left Gyumri on the bus at 6:30, while it was still dark, to go there. In the later part of the morning, we went birdwatching. We saw several types of birds through the binoculars. Unfortunately, no storks today, but I did see some a few weeks ago and got a picture of two of them. Then, we went to one of the shores and picked up trash, for a community service project. Afterwards, we went on a boat cruise, in a wooden boat designed to look like the ancient boats from the Kilikian kingdom era, but with a modern engine and stuff inside. It was cold and windy, but it was fun though. Then, we went to the peninsula (which I had visited previously with LCO) where there are two churches on top of there. Since this was my second time there, I decided to have a look around to see if there was anything I didnt see the first time I was there. Behind the churches was a trail, leading to a summit near the end of the peninsula. At the summit is an abandoned building. I climbed onto its partially-destroyed roof, and surrounding on all sides (except for a thin isthumus) I could see water. It was a breathtaking view, which I did not get to experience the first time I had visited the peninsula. Afterwards, we went back to Gyumri, and by that time it was already dark again. So we left in the dark and returned in the dark.
Sunday August 28:
Since it was a free day for me, I went with my host family to the village where my host father, Tigran, is from, and visited at his dad's place. Tigran's father owns a grocery store, which is connected to his house. There, we had khorovats (Armenian barbeque). In the backyard, the two boys (Hayk and Gevork) and I played games such as hide and seek, and also stick fights. I had to go easy on the kids, because ...they're kids. They had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went back to Gyumri
Monday August 29:
Not much really happened. Another duduk lesson with Gagik, improved on what I had learned the previous lesson. At the end of the day, I asked Amalya, my supervisor at GITC to tell me what my next assignment is. She said talk to Arevik, the receptionist, but unfortunately Arevik had already left for the day.
Tuesday August 30:
I met up with my cousin Vahan, who had decided to come up to Gyumri with his friends for the day, for lunch. It was fun. We explained to his friends the story about how we had met in Yerevan 6 weeks ago and that I had not recognized him (scroll back through previous blog entries to read the full story). After lunch, I showed him and his friends my workplace, and introduced them to some of the staff there. After he had left, I asked Arevik what I'm supposed to do. She said talk to Aram, one of my coworkers.
Wednesday August 31:
First thing in the morning I met up with Aram. He said to hold off until tomorrow. On another note (no pun intended), during the duduk lesson while attempting to sight-read a traditional song Dle Yaman, I accidentally played it fast and jubilantly, ignoring the tempo marking "andante cantible". Gagik's response was something in Armenian, about how it's a sad song about the 1915 Genocide, not a happy song. Playing Dle Yaman like it's a happy song is kind of borderline offensive. Oops... He then showed me the correct way to play it, andante cantabile, like it say on the music. He also assigned me a few other songs to practice. I'll have to make sure to read the tempo marking next time I sightread music.
I met up with Gagik again, and he sold me the new duduk. It sounds much better than the old duduk. I noticed that Gagik is attempting to learn English, and has asked me how to say English words like, "hear", "breath", "read", "repeat", "play", etc. He decided to take a sticky note and write down all of the words in english he's trying to learn on there: the Armenian word, followed by the English word transliterated with Armenian letters. The sticky note looks like this:
լսել հիր
շունճ բրիտ
կարտալ րիդ
նորից անգամ րիպիտ
նվագել պլեյ
տուն հոմ
դու յու
հանգիստ րելաքս
հոգնած թայրդ
etc.
I might need to start charging him for English lessons one of these days. Maybe 5000 dram an hour. that would be about half the amount he charges me for duduk lessons. Also, he taught me how to do the vibrato (vibratsia in Armenian)
Saturday August 27:
Birthright Excursion at Lake Sevan! We left Gyumri on the bus at 6:30, while it was still dark, to go there. In the later part of the morning, we went birdwatching. We saw several types of birds through the binoculars. Unfortunately, no storks today, but I did see some a few weeks ago and got a picture of two of them. Then, we went to one of the shores and picked up trash, for a community service project. Afterwards, we went on a boat cruise, in a wooden boat designed to look like the ancient boats from the Kilikian kingdom era, but with a modern engine and stuff inside. It was cold and windy, but it was fun though. Then, we went to the peninsula (which I had visited previously with LCO) where there are two churches on top of there. Since this was my second time there, I decided to have a look around to see if there was anything I didnt see the first time I was there. Behind the churches was a trail, leading to a summit near the end of the peninsula. At the summit is an abandoned building. I climbed onto its partially-destroyed roof, and surrounding on all sides (except for a thin isthumus) I could see water. It was a breathtaking view, which I did not get to experience the first time I had visited the peninsula. Afterwards, we went back to Gyumri, and by that time it was already dark again. So we left in the dark and returned in the dark.
Sunday August 28:
Since it was a free day for me, I went with my host family to the village where my host father, Tigran, is from, and visited at his dad's place. Tigran's father owns a grocery store, which is connected to his house. There, we had khorovats (Armenian barbeque). In the backyard, the two boys (Hayk and Gevork) and I played games such as hide and seek, and also stick fights. I had to go easy on the kids, because ...they're kids. They had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went back to Gyumri
Monday August 29:
Not much really happened. Another duduk lesson with Gagik, improved on what I had learned the previous lesson. At the end of the day, I asked Amalya, my supervisor at GITC to tell me what my next assignment is. She said talk to Arevik, the receptionist, but unfortunately Arevik had already left for the day.
Tuesday August 30:
I met up with my cousin Vahan, who had decided to come up to Gyumri with his friends for the day, for lunch. It was fun. We explained to his friends the story about how we had met in Yerevan 6 weeks ago and that I had not recognized him (scroll back through previous blog entries to read the full story). After lunch, I showed him and his friends my workplace, and introduced them to some of the staff there. After he had left, I asked Arevik what I'm supposed to do. She said talk to Aram, one of my coworkers.
Wednesday August 31:
First thing in the morning I met up with Aram. He said to hold off until tomorrow. On another note (no pun intended), during the duduk lesson while attempting to sight-read a traditional song Dle Yaman, I accidentally played it fast and jubilantly, ignoring the tempo marking "andante cantible". Gagik's response was something in Armenian, about how it's a sad song about the 1915 Genocide, not a happy song. Playing Dle Yaman like it's a happy song is kind of borderline offensive. Oops... He then showed me the correct way to play it, andante cantabile, like it say on the music. He also assigned me a few other songs to practice. I'll have to make sure to read the tempo marking next time I sightread music.
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