We are still in Shushi.
We woke up early had breakfast and went to the nearby church. It was empty, it had 3 benches, and pictures of the saints, then walked to the nearby school, The Shushi school.
We met the 5th grade students, we sang the national anthem, and listened to their poems. We talked to eachother, exchande gifts, and email addresses.
We went to their computer room, and played computer games, later went to their art room, they had made a minuture of the pyramids and their school and other significant simballs from all around the world, then we had a group photo, and walked back to the hotel. We took our bags and with two small vans we travel to Amaras.
The journey was relatively a long ride, the roads were fine at first but later it was unpaved, and bumpy, regardless, the scenery was still beautiful. There were lots of mulberry trees, and saw cows and a snake crossing the road.
At Amaras we visited the Monastery was built by St. Gregory The Illuminator around 310 AD, for his grand son Gregory, who was buried in a room under the alter.
We went down stairs to check it out, it was dark we used my father’s flash light and saw the monument. The room was small and had a secret passage which led to a small river, this passage was used to transport vital materials during the many encounters with the enemy – the Mongols, which destroyed the Monastery many times, and the Armenian people kept rebuilding it many times.
The Monastery had a school, it was the first Armenian school it was started by Sourp Mesrob Mashdotz, and Sourp Sahag Bartev, around 400 AD, they gathered all the kids and thought them the Armenian alphabets.
The school had stone walls and alphabets were carved in the ceiling, this helped the students to look at the alphabets and continue to memorize them while they lean back and relax when they get tired.
The Monastery was huge, it also had a hall, they performed weddings, in the front wall it was carved a picture of the bride and the groom their heads were attached and had crown on them, this symbol represent unity between the two, two bodies united with one head.
The Monastery also had a stable were they kept their horses and their mules.
We stopped at a nearby restaurant for a quick lunch and then continued our journey.
Next stop, The Museum of the Fallen Heros.
The museum had 3 rooms with walls full of pictures of all our heroes that gave their lived for our freedom, I felt very proud and honored for being an Armenian.
After a short drive we stopped by a rug factory, we saw women making rugs, they were very fast.. I bought a beautiful small rug, it has the alphabets on it. Degeen Ardemis negotiated with the seller, and we bought it for a good price.
Later we stopped by the Monument of Dadeeg Badeed, which reminded every one that Artzagh and the mother land Hayastan belong together, and they can not be separated.
It has the shape of husband and wife, and Mount Ararat and poker Masis, together it represented the unity of both lands. We had to rush back to the bus as it started to sprinkle little bit.
The scenery was beautiful even in the rain.
We returned to our hotel washed and had dinner, and we entertained the parents with plays and songs.
Went to our room about midnight, packed for tomorrow, and fell sleep right away.
Tatiana Nalbandian