First we got up and went to breakfast. Then we went to Sadarabad for May 28. 100 years ago the Turks came and tried to take over Armenia. The Armenians fought back at the Battle of Sardarabad and beat the Turks back. May 28 is to celebrate our victory over the Turks and establishing today’s Armenia.
When we got there we put sunscreen on. It was so hot and we walked over a quarter mile to where the parade was set up. When we got there, there was not a lot of people, but as the day went on, thousands of people came. We got first row spots, and some people were yelling MOVE!!!!!!!!!!! While others were sharing cold water and shade from their umbrellas.
We saw groups of soldiers marching by. We also saw soldiers riding on horses. The coolest part was when Armenian jets flew over our heads and made the Armenian flag in the sky from their smoke. The bad part was that because of the crowd and hot sun, we had to leave early and couldn’t actually see Sardarabad. But we are going back tomorrow and will share pictures then.
After that, we went to lunch at a lahmejun place and then went swimming at our hotel. At nighttime, we rented space in the hotel and had dinner right above Republic Square. They had set up a huge stage and a light show and there was tons of people all over. There was music being played and people were dancing on the street. We even saw a huge fireworks show and ate ice cream from Scoops. It was a great party!!! We feel so lucky that we could be in Hayastan during the 100 year celebrations.
-Sarine Nigoghosian