yerevan

This is one view of the amazing Mt. Ararat over Yerevan. I have many more from different points of view because I just couldn't get enough. I'm back in the center after my long weekend to Yerevan. We really had a great time. On Sunday we went back to the market (spending probably a total of 4 hours there over the whole weekend), and I bought some really fabulous presents for Mom and Dad and some others (I'm not going to tell you Mom), as well as a green and blue wool and silk scarf, and a modern-ish painting of some dandelions in a glass for myself.

But before that, for our first activity of the day (so that we could cheer ourselves up with fun activities for the rest of it), we visited the Museum of the Armenian Genocide. I was impressed that I could get the rest of the group to go see such a downer of an attraction, but I though it would be really informative about the history and culture of Armenia and about a topic I knew nothing.

We were all extremely moved by the museum, which was wonderfully done, and left kind of outraged that not a single one of us, after 16 years of school, was aware of the Armenian Genocide, despite the fact that it was of the same severity and scope as the Holocaust, which almost everyone knows about in detail. I'd like to take the opportunity to raise some awareness since I assume many of you are as uninformed as I was. Between the 1890s and 1915 (although it began less intensely before that time), Ottoman Turks carried out systematic genocide of between 1.5 and 2 million Armenians. Despite eyewitnesses and photographs documenting the genocide, which are on display at the museum, Turkey to this day refuses to acknowledge that it happened. Just last year, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, an influential and outspoken protestor of the Armenian Genocide, was murdered "mysteriously." The Turks took over six historically Armenian provinces that they still hold today, explaining why Mt. Ararat is a symbol of Armenia even though it lies in Turkey. The genocide was carried out similarly to the Holocaust or even more brutally. It began with able-bodied Armenians-- soldiers and workers-- then intellectuals, then women and children. They were deported to work camps but most were promptly killed, sometimes by crucifixion or burial alive, and sometimes whole villages were burned alive. Many women and children died of starvation.

This may be kind of a controversial issue, and although I don't claim to be a great scholar of the issue, I saw the evidence-- letters and pictures-- of all of these things. Many countries have acknowledged and condemned the genocide, but strangely the US is only doing it state by state, with 40 having acknowledged it. They had on display the City of Atlanta's letter to that effect, as well as Schwarzenegger's signature from the state of California.

Then, after the market, we rested for a little bit and went to look for the famous khorvati street (or as Julian likes to call it, the Meat District). This is where there is a high concentration of Yerevan's famous food, khorvati, or basically what we know as shish kabobs, aka meat-on-a-stick. It was quite a hike from the hostel, and we were invited into one little mom-and-pop place that wasn't exactly a restaurant as it had only 2 tables in 2 rooms, and we were the only occupants. It seemed actually like we were in someone's kitchen and they were cooking dinner for us. We got grilled vegetables, lamb, pork, and chicken kebabi (kebabi being ground meet on a stick). It was served with fresh onions and cilantro, and lavash (or kind of a thin flour tortilla to wrap it in). Of course we had some Kilikya and Kotayk, Armenia's main beers. I loved the pork, but the lamb kind of freaked me out when we realized (the little anatomists that we are) that we were eating around the vertebrae and that the spinal cord was still in the spinal column. Julian was the only one to sample lamb spinal cord, the rest of us passed on it. It was pretty satisfying for not having grilled meat in a while.

The outward appearance of Armenia is definitely more obviously influenced by the Middle East. The music and the appearance of the people are at least superficial evidence of that. They also seem to be better off, with many more ways of entertainment and more fashionably dressed people, possible (but I guess not necessarily) evidence of more expendable income. The infrastructure of Yerevan also seemed much more updated, unlike Tbilisi, which looks like it hasn't had a good facelift in 20 or 30 years. To the left is a park/monument called the Cascade, which goes up the side of a mountain with flowers and fountains at every level. At the big park near our house in Tbilisi, we have a similar large climb-able monument, but the flowerbeds and the fountains are all dry.

We were all kind of sad to be leaving Yerevan since it was a very lively and modern place, giving us many more opportunities for fun than we seem to find in Tbilisi. Actually, I feel a little guilty trashing on Tbilisi and preferring Yerevan, but I suppose it all depends on what you are looking for. The morning we left, we were talking to a Peace Corp volunteer staying in the hostel who was praising Tbilisi for its preservation of some of its history in churches and the Old Town (of

which Yerevan does not have very much), and the interesting and charming way the city crawls up the side of a mountain with small cobblestone streets leading to the houses there. It kind of made me see Tbilisi in a little different, and more positive, light. Yerevan, on the other hand, is a place that is easier for 6 young Americans to find fun and culture, and meet new people. There are not only more social opportunties and more people out and about, but also more art, museums, the fantastic market, and other cultural draws. I'm at least glad I got to see one of the other capitals of the Caucasus, but I think with a new perspective, Tbilisi might be starting to grow on me.