We left the village this morning to return to Yerevan. We had to leave the cat behind. I had attempted to ask the villagers if they wanted to keep it, but all they would tell me is, "che, chem uzum", which means, "no, I don't want it". So, I left it in front of the town center.
Along the way to Yerevan, we visited yet another ancient Armenian church; this one was right near a canyon. We've probably visited at least 10 early churches, including some that were from the 4th century, when for the first time, buildings were being built with the intended purpose of Christian worship. <tangent>After having visited so many old church buildings, when I get back to the United States, and attend church services at First Baptist Church in Newport News, it will probably come as a shock to me the lack of pencil-thin candles and candle-trays, khachkars and other stone carvings, ornate robes on the derhayr (pastor), and the Armenian language; and also the presence of a projector screen/projector, pews, guitars, drumset, amplifiers, organ, pianos, stained glass windows, a baptismal pool in the back of the sanctuary, brick rather than toof rock, and most strangely of all, electricity. My friends at FBC, if you are reading this, do not be surprised if I walk backwards out of the sanctuary crossing myself and addressing Pastor Seley as "der hayr", and start lighting candles everywhere. However, there is one very important thing that is the same. We are worshiping the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and praying in the Holy Spirit. </tangent>
I am now in Yerevan. This evening, I got to meet up with Rafayel, one of my friends who used to intern at Jefferson Lab. My other friend, Ani, was supposed to meet with us, but dueto certain circumstances, was unable to meet up with us. Rafayel showed me the cascades, which are on a hill, overlooking most of the city, and from which one has a view of Mount Ararat on a non-cloudy day (today the top of Ararat was not visible). It started raining hard, so we took a taxi back to the hostel. And here I am again at the hostel, watching weird pop music video on the flatscreen TV.
Tomorrow I go to Karabagh, which is 7 hours away, and will be staying there two nights, and then returning to Yerevan on August 10th and then leaving Yerevan the next day to go to Gyumri. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with Ani next time I'm in Yerevan, on August 10. She has yet to call me back to let me know if the evening of August 10 will work for her.
Also, today I purchased a duduk (a type of Armenian musical instrument for 7000 dram. (about 20 dollars). It sounds kind of like a saxophone, except it's made of dziran (apricot) wood, has a double reed, and is shaped more similar to a recorder. It's the same type of musical instrument used in the soundtrack of the movie Gladiator (which i have not watched). The duduk is truly a breath-taking instrument, and by that I mean you have to blow very hard into it otherwise you make no sound, and you get out of breath quickly by playing it. The breathing on duduk is much harder than an ocarina. (well to be fair, with the ocarina, the fingerings are less intuitive than with the duduk, since the holes on an ocarina don't need to be in a line, and therefore generally are placed wherever it is most ergonomically convenient to put them. But it only requires a little bit of effort to memorize the fingering placements on an ocarina, whereas, it takes an increase in lung-power to improve one's duduk playing.)
I'll have to post a video of me playing the duduk at some point. But not until after I improve at it.
Along the way to Yerevan, we visited yet another ancient Armenian church; this one was right near a canyon. We've probably visited at least 10 early churches, including some that were from the 4th century, when for the first time, buildings were being built with the intended purpose of Christian worship. <tangent>After having visited so many old church buildings, when I get back to the United States, and attend church services at First Baptist Church in Newport News, it will probably come as a shock to me the lack of pencil-thin candles and candle-trays, khachkars and other stone carvings, ornate robes on the derhayr (pastor), and the Armenian language; and also the presence of a projector screen/projector, pews, guitars, drumset, amplifiers, organ, pianos, stained glass windows, a baptismal pool in the back of the sanctuary, brick rather than toof rock, and most strangely of all, electricity. My friends at FBC, if you are reading this, do not be surprised if I walk backwards out of the sanctuary crossing myself and addressing Pastor Seley as "der hayr", and start lighting candles everywhere. However, there is one very important thing that is the same. We are worshiping the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and praying in the Holy Spirit. </tangent>
I am now in Yerevan. This evening, I got to meet up with Rafayel, one of my friends who used to intern at Jefferson Lab. My other friend, Ani, was supposed to meet with us, but dueto certain circumstances, was unable to meet up with us. Rafayel showed me the cascades, which are on a hill, overlooking most of the city, and from which one has a view of Mount Ararat on a non-cloudy day (today the top of Ararat was not visible). It started raining hard, so we took a taxi back to the hostel. And here I am again at the hostel, watching weird pop music video on the flatscreen TV.
Tomorrow I go to Karabagh, which is 7 hours away, and will be staying there two nights, and then returning to Yerevan on August 10th and then leaving Yerevan the next day to go to Gyumri. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with Ani next time I'm in Yerevan, on August 10. She has yet to call me back to let me know if the evening of August 10 will work for her.
Also, today I purchased a duduk (a type of Armenian musical instrument for 7000 dram. (about 20 dollars). It sounds kind of like a saxophone, except it's made of dziran (apricot) wood, has a double reed, and is shaped more similar to a recorder. It's the same type of musical instrument used in the soundtrack of the movie Gladiator (which i have not watched). The duduk is truly a breath-taking instrument, and by that I mean you have to blow very hard into it otherwise you make no sound, and you get out of breath quickly by playing it. The breathing on duduk is much harder than an ocarina. (well to be fair, with the ocarina, the fingerings are less intuitive than with the duduk, since the holes on an ocarina don't need to be in a line, and therefore generally are placed wherever it is most ergonomically convenient to put them. But it only requires a little bit of effort to memorize the fingering placements on an ocarina, whereas, it takes an increase in lung-power to improve one's duduk playing.)
I'll have to post a video of me playing the duduk at some point. But not until after I improve at it.
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