Parties. Second Trip to Karabagh
We began the month of August in celebration of Sam's birthday party and second restaurant opening. Sam is the co-owner of Square One, a great restaurant in Yerevan. This year he and his partner are opening a poolside Square One, located in a fairly new country club. Sam is not pictured here unfortunately. He was busy busy tending to the needs of his guests. When I asked him why he was working on his birthday he replied, "I'm not working...I haven't worked a day in my life." It's good to love what you do. 
Sam arranged for live jazz music, which was very enjoyable. Eventually though, they broke out the CDs and we danced to Armenian pop.
Of course, Lalai and I had to do a photo shoot, as usual. We thought the pool at midnight made for a nice backdrop.
The other day, Sylvie, Lalai and I came across the Square One party featured in a magazine. There were two pages chock-full of photos, layed out just like the celebrity parties you see in People magazine. After scanning the pages for ourselves, we decided it was probably a good thing that we didn't appear!
My host sister Anna, when looking at these pictures, recognized the gentleman above-- they were classmates in high school! Now he plays in a local band. Below is one of many goodbye parties we had at the end of the summer. Birthright Armenia had over 80 volunteers at its peak and is now down to only 9. Most volunteers come during their school breaks.
Hayro and Tigran are my colleagues at Heifer. Here in the Heifer office kitchen we celebrated their birthdays with cake, watermelon, chocolate, champagne and wine. Hayro is a trainer/workshop leader for Heifer beneficiaries and Tigran is the executive assistant. After putting his two young ones to sleep at night, Tigran works on his Ph.D. dissertation: The role of mercenary institutions in the 10-11th century penetration of Turkic elements in Asia Minor and the Middle East. Tigran tells me I have Armenian eyes.
More colleagues-- from left-- youth program leader, accountant, information systems manager, veterinarian, and trainer.
Another excursion to Karabagh! Lalai and I decided to go a second time. This time the group was only 13 instead of 42. Lalai and I have become addicted to her ipod, especially when on the road. Too bad we don't have double earphones. We've provided consistent, dynamic, live choral entertainment for our compatriots on all Saturday excursions. At least WE'RE entertained! Our repertoire is impressive and we've even produced several music videos-- in motion.
Another photo shoot on the way to Karabagh, at Tatev Monastery.
I have a thing for cliffs. The closer to the edge the better. My Mom has an even worse obsession though. She once told me, as we were making our way through the windy roads up the Oregon coast, that she has the urge to go straight when driving toward a cliff. Must be something in our blood?
People were drawing closer and closer during the shoot. By the end, I was barraged by an enormous crowd :-) (shown below). They begged me to be in a picture with them, which I granted. But I declined requests for autographs.
The young man above was one of my biggest fans. He followed me out of the gorge and waved as his car passed our little bus. You can ask my photographer (also my co-performer) if you don't believe me. Others might say he and his family just happened to be going home at the same time.
Below I'm pictured with our gracious host and a Captain in Shushi, which I have a bad habit of calling Sushi. He is a sweet man, contrary to his stern looking face in the picture. Behind us is the mosque, in which Azeri Muslims worshipped when they comprised 50% of the Shushi population, before the war 10 years ago. Now there are no Azeri's to be found in Shushi and the mosque is dead inside.
View from Gandzasor Monastery, deeper in Karabagh. It's a long road to get there, but well worth it.
Sweet kids in Shushi.
I think they liked being photgraphed.
A typical looking building in Shushi. So much has not yet been rebuilt since the town was destroyed in the war.
As Grammy and Papa would say, these men are "sitting and watching cars." Though they might only see a handful of cars come their way on a given day. Dogs are pets in Armenia (unlike in most of Indonesia).
One part of Shushi which has been rebuilt is the local church, which is very nice inside. On the right, which you can't see, was an all female choir-- they were amazing! It's normal to stand for the service in Armenian churches.
We got to see a few of Sushi's...I mean Shushi's...treasures this time. The view below was one of them. Later in the day we hiked way down into the gorge to a magnificent waterfall. When I saw the fresh water I jumped into my swimsuit and entered the deep pool of water.. I could hear Honey's voice saying "Don't dive!" otherwise I would've dove in like the guys were doing. As you can see, Lalai is a cliff-lover wanna-be.
But I'm the real thing.
Here's the entire group in front of Shushi's new church.
I also have a thing for crossing precarious looking bridges. Did fine. Showed off. But on the way back my sunglasses slipped out of my pocket into the water. I asked who wanted to be a hero. Arsen, third from the right, in the above picture, got a chance to show off too. He found them for me! It reminded me of all the times we lost things from the end of the dock at Tri-Pass...keys, glasses, and now cell phones (Butch knows who I'm talking about!).
I have much more to report on next, including my 10 day stay in Getap village.
Sam arranged for live jazz music, which was very enjoyable. Eventually though, they broke out the CDs and we danced to Armenian pop.
Of course, Lalai and I had to do a photo shoot, as usual. We thought the pool at midnight made for a nice backdrop.
The other day, Sylvie, Lalai and I came across the Square One party featured in a magazine. There were two pages chock-full of photos, layed out just like the celebrity parties you see in People magazine. After scanning the pages for ourselves, we decided it was probably a good thing that we didn't appear!
My host sister Anna, when looking at these pictures, recognized the gentleman above-- they were classmates in high school! Now he plays in a local band. Below is one of many goodbye parties we had at the end of the summer. Birthright Armenia had over 80 volunteers at its peak and is now down to only 9. Most volunteers come during their school breaks.
Hayro and Tigran are my colleagues at Heifer. Here in the Heifer office kitchen we celebrated their birthdays with cake, watermelon, chocolate, champagne and wine. Hayro is a trainer/workshop leader for Heifer beneficiaries and Tigran is the executive assistant. After putting his two young ones to sleep at night, Tigran works on his Ph.D. dissertation: The role of mercenary institutions in the 10-11th century penetration of Turkic elements in Asia Minor and the Middle East. Tigran tells me I have Armenian eyes.
More colleagues-- from left-- youth program leader, accountant, information systems manager, veterinarian, and trainer.
Another excursion to Karabagh! Lalai and I decided to go a second time. This time the group was only 13 instead of 42. Lalai and I have become addicted to her ipod, especially when on the road. Too bad we don't have double earphones. We've provided consistent, dynamic, live choral entertainment for our compatriots on all Saturday excursions. At least WE'RE entertained! Our repertoire is impressive and we've even produced several music videos-- in motion.
Another photo shoot on the way to Karabagh, at Tatev Monastery.
I have a thing for cliffs. The closer to the edge the better. My Mom has an even worse obsession though. She once told me, as we were making our way through the windy roads up the Oregon coast, that she has the urge to go straight when driving toward a cliff. Must be something in our blood?
People were drawing closer and closer during the shoot. By the end, I was barraged by an enormous crowd :-) (shown below). They begged me to be in a picture with them, which I granted. But I declined requests for autographs.
The young man above was one of my biggest fans. He followed me out of the gorge and waved as his car passed our little bus. You can ask my photographer (also my co-performer) if you don't believe me. Others might say he and his family just happened to be going home at the same time.
Below I'm pictured with our gracious host and a Captain in Shushi, which I have a bad habit of calling Sushi. He is a sweet man, contrary to his stern looking face in the picture. Behind us is the mosque, in which Azeri Muslims worshipped when they comprised 50% of the Shushi population, before the war 10 years ago. Now there are no Azeri's to be found in Shushi and the mosque is dead inside.
View from Gandzasor Monastery, deeper in Karabagh. It's a long road to get there, but well worth it.
Sweet kids in Shushi.
I think they liked being photgraphed.
A typical looking building in Shushi. So much has not yet been rebuilt since the town was destroyed in the war.
As Grammy and Papa would say, these men are "sitting and watching cars." Though they might only see a handful of cars come their way on a given day. Dogs are pets in Armenia (unlike in most of Indonesia).
One part of Shushi which has been rebuilt is the local church, which is very nice inside. On the right, which you can't see, was an all female choir-- they were amazing! It's normal to stand for the service in Armenian churches.
We got to see a few of Sushi's...I mean Shushi's...treasures this time. The view below was one of them. Later in the day we hiked way down into the gorge to a magnificent waterfall. When I saw the fresh water I jumped into my swimsuit and entered the deep pool of water.. I could hear Honey's voice saying "Don't dive!" otherwise I would've dove in like the guys were doing. As you can see, Lalai is a cliff-lover wanna-be.
But I'm the real thing.
Here's the entire group in front of Shushi's new church.
I also have a thing for crossing precarious looking bridges. Did fine. Showed off. But on the way back my sunglasses slipped out of my pocket into the water. I asked who wanted to be a hero. Arsen, third from the right, in the above picture, got a chance to show off too. He found them for me! It reminded me of all the times we lost things from the end of the dock at Tri-Pass...keys, glasses, and now cell phones (Butch knows who I'm talking about!).
I have much more to report on next, including my 10 day stay in Getap village.
posted by Sophia Malkasian at 5:22 AM
2 Comments:
I never thought "Sophie B.P" withdrawal would be this difficult. Missing yerevan and my pudding so soooo much right now.
Thank you so much for the pictures of Armenia and telling about your "adventures". You are a very beautiful girl! Maybe we can meet sometime?
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