St. Stephen's Armenian School

Today was definitely bittersweet. It was bitter, because it was our last day in our amazing Armenia. It was sweet, because 97 years ago today Armenian generals, freedom fighters, and more fought for Armenia, and its independence. That shows how Armenian people fight for there country and religion. All of the fighters are our heroes today. One very important person was Aram Manougian, who announced “Ոչ մի քայլ դէպի ետ, միշտ առաջ։” to all the Armenians.

In the morning we woke up, got to breakfast, and drove straight to Sardarabad. On the way there we sang a bunch of songs.

When we got to Sardarabad, there weren’t a lot of people yet, so we decided to get front row spots. When we were settled in, waiting for the president Serj Sarkissian, we saw the little military scout kids in their uniforms. Then came the interviews. We all got interviewed a bunch of times. They asked us where we were from, and what we knew about May 28th. After that, all the soldiers were in there straight lines walking and practicing for the president. One group was practicing with drills and they were amazing.
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Today in the morning we went to Alexander Tamanian’s statue. Alexander Tamanian was the person who in 1923 drew the map of Yerevan that would later in 1924 be approved. They still continue Alexander Tamanian’s lay out until this day. Next to the statue there are other little statues donated by Gerrard Gafesjian. They are all over the place they are mostly metal and some rubber. And after the statue you see the prettiest part of Yerevan (in my opinion) the longest stairs I have seen in my life, they are called the cascades. We went up and down them, they are really pretty.
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Today we ate breakfast and walked to the Metro station to take the train to Madenataran. We got our tokens and got on the train. When we arrived at the next stop, we started to walk toward Madenataran. It was a long and tiring walk, but we finally got there. We took some pictures next to the big statue of Mesrob Mashdotz and his student. We went into the building and met our tour guide. We started to look in the main hall, which was designed to look like Geghart monastery. We saw the manuscripts Msho Jarndir and Donatsouyts or Hsgah and Tuzoog. We saw the first translated bible and book. One manuscript was so old and rotted, that if you touched the parchment it would shatter. I couldn’t even read the writing on it. The pictures in the books and manuscripts were drawn so elaborately and carefully with the colors from natural sources. We got to see those sources in another display cases. There were plants, such as herbs and wheat, that were mostly found in the fields of Ararat mountain. One display showed the Vortan Garmir, a bug that gives off red dye. That was it for the tour; I loved it a lot.
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We started the day with breakfast at the hotel then hopped on the bus. Then we headed off to
Keghard. Once we arrived in Keghard, we had to climb a small hill. At the top, there was a big, rocky, thin hill where there were 5 holes, big and small, sorta at the bottom nobody can reach, like higher than a giraffe. We had to grab three rocks and try to throw them in a hole for our wish to come true. Even the grownups did it. Unfortunately, nobody made a rock in but some were really close, they just bounces off from the inside and came out.

Before we went into the church were we lit our candles we saw a rock that had fallen from the top of the rocky hill. Everywhere around the place, you can see carved crosses on the walls. And in a church you can see the walls have been carved into. The ground was not muddy but rocky, but there was little puddles of water. In a separate small room was some water came from that we drank. It tasted like regular spring water. We got to go upstairs from the outside to. We took a lot of pictures around the small waterfall we passed by and then headed to the bus down the hill. Before we got on the bus, there were some carts were people were selling things. Some people got key chains with scorpions for there little siblings(dead) and some necklaces with crosses.
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When we woke up, we had to have a quick breakfast so that we could go to the best candy store in the world, Grand Candy! It was a five minute bus ride to the shop, and when we got there all of us tried to get through the door at once. The ceiling had little remote controlled planes and helicopters flying around. Once we got into Grand Candy we ordered 10 vanilla and 10 chocolate bonchiks. A bonchik is like a small Armenian version of fried dough. It has either vanilla or chocolate cream on the inside and powdered sugar on top. We each were only aloud one bonchik, but we devoured them. They were so good! Then we went next door to the chocolate store and bought many boxes of delicious candies. We also bought many of their famous truffles and enjoyed them while we were getting on the bus. Then we dropped the parents off at the hotel and then kept driving to the statue of Sasountsi Tavit.
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This morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, then left with the bus for Lori. We would be making some visits to important sites on the way there. We were going to first stop at the Letter’s Park, where all the Armenian letters that are engraved with beautiful designs are placed. On the way there, we saw a beautiful view of Arakadz Mountain and Ara Mountain. The fields were filled with yellow flowers and nice green grass. We finally got there. In front of all the letters was a man-made lake with a little fountain. Some letters were next to each other, and some of them were by theirselves. There were also statues of famous Armenian people. We took a picture next to the letter’s the Armenian S and V for Soorp Stepanos and Varhjaran. Then, we all took pictures next to our letter.

After, we left the park for Abaran, the place where the battle of Pash Abaran, lead by General Tro. We saw the monument for the battle while driving through the town. We stopped at a bakery, where you could smell the wonderful scent of the bread from far away. There was a huge tonir where we got fresh bread from. We all got something from the store and went into the bus for Haghpat.
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We woke up with the excitement of the amusement park last night, packed our bags and headed back to Yerevan. Today we would be going to Datev monastery and tramway, and Jermuk.

On the ride to Datev, we saw the town of Karin Dag, the valley where the Armenian freedom fighters climbed up the steep mountain to liberate Shushi. It was a beautiful sight with all the trees and nature.

When we got to Datev to experience the longest reversible tramway in the world, we were a little late for our ride… but we made it. We got on the little cable car and started off into the valleys and hills. It was a beautiful site to see. The scenery was spread out all around us. We saw three waterfalls sprouting out of the mountainside. We arrived at the other end of the cable and got off the car.
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This morning, we all had to wake up at 7, have breakfast, and get in the bus fast. The first stop we made was at the Mameeg and Babeeg (Մենք Ենք Մեր Սարերը), which symbolizes not only Sdepanagerd, but Artsakh, too. This monument was built in 1976 by Sarkis Baghdasarian. To get there, we had to climb up a big hill, there were stairs, but us kids only used them coming up, coming down, we ran. At the top of the hill we all ran to the monument and stood on it, posing for pictures. Once the parents reached the top, we were ready for pictures. Unfortunately, the flash of a camera and the glare of a blazing hot sun, both getting in your eye, is not the most amusing thing in the world. And so, for most of the pictures we had our hands over our eyes. Eventually, I had the thought to get my sunglasses out of the bus, but by then, there was only enough time to take one more photo. When that photo was done, all of the kids ran down the hill to the bus like we were the most awesome Armenian kids in the world. At the bottom of the hill, a man was selling souvenirs. Nobody but Narine got anything, and we headed into the bus.
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Today, after we had breakfast at our new hotel we are staying at, we headed off to the kindergarten school called Sose Mangabardez. The little kids all had a bunch of lines they performed in front of all of us and our parents. The boys and girls were singing and dancing as well, which is one of the reasons that Narine freaked out over them since they were so cute.

We sang and performed on two poems and songs for them but some of us were jealous because they were really talented. we gave treats and toys to the students.

Later on we visited Khachadour Apovian school and we met 5th grade students.There were 46 students obviously 40 more than us. Some performed individually, standing up, long poems. Some were shy but they did it very well and showed that they were really talented. We also gave them treats which they enjoyed.
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I was very excited this morning, because we were going to Artsakh. We first stopped at Gomidas Aykie, where famous Armenian writers, poets, architects, etc. were buried. When I first stepped into the graveyard, I was in awe. Some graves had interesting statues, while others were as simple as a stones engraved with the person’s name. We saw the graves of Gomidas, Hovhannes Shiraz, and in front of his grave we recited one of his poems, Vorn Eh Medz Hayr Mer Hayrenik. We also saw Aram Khachadourian’s grave, Alexander Tamanian’s, and Silva Gaboodigian, where Digin Ardemis and the parents recited a small part of one of her poems. In the graveyard there were a lot of rose bushes of multiple colors. Then we headed back to the bus to go to Khor Virab, where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years for his beliefs.
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Today (day 3) was a very good opening day. We first had a great breakfast at the hotel but we were a little drowsy from sleeping so late. We first went to Oshagan village and visited the church under which Mesrob Mashdots is buried. And we took pictures next to our name’s first letter’s khachkar (cross stone). After that we went to the Cathedral of Echmiadzin and lit candles. We took an overload of pictures there, and we also got a lot of souvenirs. After that we went to an Armenian restaurant called The cross of Armenian unity. Then we went to dzidzernagapert, first we went to the saddest museum ever then we went to the memorial and took pictures and prayed, we obviously put flowers.
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As you know, we left the school on Friday. On Saturday May 16, we arrived at the Paris airport. It is very different from the Boston Logan Airport. The airport was way bigger. We were very excited. The plane was very cramped and there were a lot of people going to France. We didn’t really understand anything, because it was all in French.
When we arrived at the Paris airport, we had a little stop for breakfast.


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