May 28, 2014
The first stop today was “Sardarabad”, we went today because it is May 28. May 28 is a very important day in Armenian history because Armenians fought for freedom against the Turks. Winning at Sardarabad on May 28, 1918 was a big accomplishment for the Armenians. And now, because of the victory at Sardarabad, May 28 is a major Armenian holiday. Our class is very lucky to get to go see Sardarabad on May 28.
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May 27, 2014
First we visited Grand candy! We ate bonchiks upstairs. A bonchik is fried dough with cream in it, it was very delicious! Then we had to enter the second part of Grand candy, to see all the little candies. While the parents were paying for the little candy, the kids and Digin Ardemis went to see the Madenataran.
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May 26, 2014
This morning, our first visit was the Yeghishe Charents arch. His famous line is «Ով Հայ ժողովուրդ քո միակ փրկութիւնը, քո հաւաքական ուժի մէջ է». He was a very important writer and poet. He was arrested and killed during Stalin era and it is not known where he was berried. Here, we had a beautiful view of Mt. Ararat. It was my favorite view yet!
Our next stop was the monastery of Geghard also known as “Jayrapor” or “Airivank” church, since it is built from natural boulder surrounding the area in the IV century. It is also known that Christ’s spear “Geghard” was kept here for a long time. Which was brought here by St. Thadeous. It is in the Kotayk province.
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May 25, 2014
To start off the day we visited four famous statues. We saw Vartan Mamigonian’s statue, Antranig Ozanyan’s statue, Sasountsi Tavit’s statue, and Argishti the first’s statue. Vartan Mamigonian was a general in the «Վարդանանց Պատերազմ». In this battle the Armenians were fighting for religion freedom. The artist of this statue was Yervant Kochar. Antranig Ozanyan was a famous freedom fighter. His statue had two big horses next to him. The artist of his statue was Ara Shiraz ( Hovannes Shiraz’s son ). Sasountsi Tavit was an epic hero in Armenian history. He was famous for killing Msrah Melik. The artist of this statue was Yervant Cochar. Argishti the first built the city of Yerevan in 782 bc. Yerevan means victory. The artist of this statue was Levon Tokmajian. The statue was built in 2004.
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May 24, 2014
Today, May 24th, we ventured into the beautiful city of Lori. Our first stop was Letter Park «Տառերու Պուրակ». It is a somewhat big field that has all the letters of the Armenian alphabet. On that field we took pictures with the letter of our names. The letters were made out of a rock called «Տուֆ Քար». This is a very light rock in a reddish brown color. There were also statues of «Մեսրոպ Մաշտոց» the creator of the Armenian alphabet.
As, we drove away from Letter Park we saw a big brown cross that was made out of 1,700 small brown crosses. The next stop was a bakery. The bakery made delicious breads and pastries. My favorite product from the bakery were the cream puffs. They were really good! At the bakery there was a “tonir”. A “tonir” is a big hole in the ground that has a fire and is used to bake bread. There was also a grocery store attached to the bakery, where we bought a couple of things.
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May 23, 2014
Our first stop today was the Alexander Tamanian Statue. It was a lot bigger than I expected, especially the hands! That was because he drew the outline of Yerevan. I thought that The Alexander Tamanian Statue with the garden and the art museum in the back looked so pretty. I think all the statues in the garden were so artistic and interesting.
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May 22, 2014
Today, we saw the first tank to enter Shushi. The tank was enormous. It was built in 1972. We took the tank from the Azeri Army. We took tons of pictures. Then, we went to plant trees in Berdzor. There were ten 10th graders helping us while we planted the trees. After, we visited the trees that St. Stephen’s students had planted in the previous years.
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May 21, 2014
Today, we went to Sose Mangabardez which is sponsored by Armenian Relief Society where we watched little kids dance, sing and say poems. There are 107 kids in Sose Mangabardez. It was really fun watching them perform. We also sang a few patriotic songs to them. Then we said good bye and left.
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May 20, 2014
We went to the Shushi school on Tuesday. We met the 5th graders at the school. The school was really big and looked brand new. We met the principal of the school, and she offered us coffee. We played soccer and basketball in the gym with the 5th graders. It was so fun to play. After a while we went into the school auditorium where we sang Armenia’s national anthem and Artsakh’s national anthem. We said good-bye and left the school.
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May 19, 2014
Today, we are on our way to Karabagh. We started with a very yummy breakfast at the hotel. We went on the bus and we headed to Karabagh. On the way we stopped at “Կոմիտասի Անուան Պանդէոն” and we saw gravestones of famous people such as Komitas, William Saroyan, Silva Kapoutikyan.
We were on our way to “Khor Virab”!!! On our way there we sang lots of songs with Digin Ardemis and the parents. We also played knowledge bowl games on the bus against the parents and of course we won!!! It was a lot of fun on the bus!
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May 18, 2014
Today is Sunday May 18th. We woke up today and had a wonderful breakfast before going to Echmiadzin. Echmiadzin was built in 303 A.D. The town where Echminadzin is located is called Vagharshabad. On our way to Echminadzin we saw Mount Ararad and Arakadz, it was so beautiful. We talked a lot about the history of Echminadzin. When were at Echmiadzin there were many fountains and Khatchkars with different designs. There are 25,000 different Khachkars in Armenia and each one is unique just like each Armenian. The church has no chairs so don’t expect to sit down. Echmiadzin was very beautiful and holds the oldest bible in Armenian history and I kissed it, it was an honor to even be there. We then had lunch at Hai Miasnutuin Katch, it was a yummy meal with lavash, cheese, and potato fries.
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May 16-17, 2014
When we got on the plane to Paris it was huge it was probably the largest plane I’ve ever seen. While we were on the plane they fed us and gave us water. It felt like we were never getting off the plane because we were in it for so long. What I really loved about the plane was that they had mini tv’s and they had all of the great new movies.
The plane finally landed and we were in Armenia. I was speechless. I couldn’t explain how happy I was to land in Armenia and everyone else felt the same, but we were calm and we acted normal. We couldn’t believe we were going to Armenia us fifth graders. Entering Armenia was the happiest day of my life.
Gacia Vosbigian