IRD event

i better say 2 events.

the first one was the opening of a renowated board school in Dilijan. Ambassador of the US to Armenia, M. Yohanovich, was to attend this event together with the major of Tavoush region (where Dilijan belongs to), and some other important people. I was taken there as a photographer.

the trip started at 7.30 AM which is rediculous hour for me... and even knowing that I'd have to get up early I didn't end up going to bed until 3 AM. I set the alarm to 6.50, woke up and looked out of the window. the sky was black, the moon was shining brightly if I may say so. it was amuzing though :D I called Michael and talked to him for 10 mins, had a very quick breakfast - strong coffee, yogurt and a cookie. got dressed, headed out with aunt. we got into the car, and slowly the darkness outside started to move away, it got lighter and lighter with every minute. i was too excited and was just watching this process (which i actually haven't seen in many years :D ).

when we got to Dilijan it was around 9. we met up with the kids there, and the school stuff. i must say they all were so kind and hospitable, so honest and simple, and so thankful for the help, that I was kind of even surprised! even though hospitality here in Armenia is no big wonder. but here it was different - it came from their hearts. and well, though it was a board school, it looked like a big family. the attitude of kids towards teachers, and that of teachers to kids was very kind, warm, caring. One can't fake such things, one can't make children smile with fake smiles. and these children didn't need to be told to smile. they just did a lot.


her asian eyes
so i walked around the place, took some photos, checked lighting in key places, got myself ready. the morning was beautiful... Dilijan is a picturesque place with serpent roads and mountains covered with forest, and in fall it was simply amazing! the morning was so cool, so calm, so beautiful, that everybody was even in higher spirits.

then the guests arrived. the council, was such a nice lady! she left an impression of a very confident and independent person, with a big heart, very friendly, very open. she was smiling and looked at everything with much appreciation. also she was much more womenly than many american women - she had charm.

i walked around with her and other people and we even exchanged some words sometimes :D it was so natural. it was kind of a strange feeling for me to be there among all these important people with my cam. sometimes i would think that security would just rush in and grab me at some moment :D.







the woman in white is the director of IRD office in Armenia
in the last photo that's my aunt with the ambassador :)


yep that's me with the ambassador :D omg i just noticed! we are almost of the same height!

then the kids gave a small show - there were armenian dances, small theatre performance on an armenian fairy-tale, and some modern dances. the kids giving the theatre performance were extremely tallented. even guests who didn't speak armenian couldn't stop laughing!



then there was a small banquette.. at which i didn't eat anything for an unknown reason.. probably was too excited running around taking photos, or maybe just wasn't hungry yet.

then the ambassador left, and in some time the performance came to its end.

lol also, i gathered all my VHS films and gave them to this school.. now looking at it, it's mostly a collection of martial art movies (with Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan mostly), educational martial art films (on taekwondo of course), and some action movies.. it was somewhat strange to see them there :D but the school has a sports group, so it may be useful.

the other funny thing was to see... a photo of myself on the poster from the last year, from the last event (see here) Yes, i can tell Michael "ENJOY NOW" about myself when i arrive at the US :D.

well and here are some photos of children:




then we headed out back to Yerevan where the second event was to take place. i fell asleep in the car and felt just dizzy when i woke up. i found out that my cam's battery was dying, the other cam was half-alive. i got the third half-alive cam from IRD's head of Armenian office - Rouzanna. i made it, shot the second event too.

i had the very opposite feelings about this second place. it was a special school for children with speech problems. the director and vice director looked like ... like they worked somewhere else at nights. the way they treated the children was so brutal that i was shocked. but from the side it wouldn't be noticable unless you understood armenian. they constantly pinched children, pushed them, yelled at them... it's more to that. looked like their motto was "the children are our enemies".



in the 1st photo: the third from the left is the director (woman in a black suit with white dots... and those... boots...)
in the 2nd and 3rd photos: the woman in red and black is the vice director...

this school had much more means to make things better for children, but the banquette they organized was 3 times poorer than that at Dilijan. the director would keep saying "we don't have furniture. we don't have this we don't have that". she said they didn't have a fridge... but then they walked into a room with one :D she said "it's not ours" if you asked "and whose is it? did you steal it?" she would say smth like "i'm repairing my apartment and brought mine here to use". at the end of the event, when the IRD people were collecting posters and other stuff, that woman came and said "hey please leave your flip-chard to us as present". please explain what she will do with it. she just wanted to get smth else for free, no matter what. i was really disgusted by it all. and was glad that the ambassador wasn't there at least.

in Dilijan, children and teachers were like a big family... here you could only pity the children.

but to finish at the bright note. at least the dinning room and kitchens were renowated and children will use them now. an armenian painter added some paintings to the wall, so it all looked nice :)



i was very tired after i came home, but i was happy. it was an interesting day, and i saw so much, such contrasting sides of basically similar things...

yes and a note to my friends: guys, Vahan (or Vardan?) the photographer wasn't there. there weren't any photographers actually. only people with video cams, from different TV-stations :D

for the rest of the photos visit the album:

Oct 15 - IRD event