my sunday trip

So like people in Armenia know it was raining all night and most part of the day in Yerevan and in other parts of the country. Nevertheless me and mom still went to this 1-day trip. At first we went to Khor Virap.

I had taken photos of everything there already so, took only several.


Here I wanted to take a photo of myself for my 365-days project, but didn't manage to run all the way to the wall in 10 seconds (can't set timer to more). However I mdae it in the second one... but the angle was a bit different and the reflection of the wall can't be seen well enough :(


what i didn't know the last time I was here with Michael, was this path leading to the top of the hill (yes Michael, it's only a hill in Armenian standards :D) The view from there was picturesque and beautiful!


the raindrops kept falling on the lense of the cam.. that's what the blurry white spot is


mommy with her life-long friend Goharic (Gabriel's mom. Gabriel is one of childhood friends).


then we were to go to Noravank but on the way there visited house museum of Vazgen Sargsyan and Paruyr Sevak.

this was a present to V. Sargsyan... it's Noah's Arch made of stone and bronze i guess. really beautiful work!


some trees at Paruyr Sevak's garden. it was a very very beautiful garden with many trees.. but it was c-c-c-cooooooooooooooold there! so i didn't take much photos and ran back to the bus :D


then finally we arrived at Noravank. I can't describe with words how beautiful it was so i will just show it with photos... but you have to see it with your own eyes. the rocks, the gorge, the hawks (or smth like that) flying here and there...



The Noravank is a complex of 2 churches. the name means "New monastery" and the architecture was very beautiful and had unique elements that i had never seen on any other church here. For more history just visit Wikipedia article here, as i can't write better than it's written :D



The other interesting thing was that an architect had carved the image of the God the Father, which was actually forbidden and is forbidden because of the question "and what does he look like?". In the hand was Adam's head, symbolizing the world and the foundation (sorry i wasn't paying much attention to the guide's words here because was looking around :D ). Also there were signs of the Moon and the Sun carved, symbolizing changes and stability respectively... Armenian Yin-Yang :D. Then there was a water drop symbolizing the truth, the pureness, which came after the Word (and the word was the beginning). and on the final piece Holy mother of God and small Jesus are depicted. And the surprising thing is that they are on a carpet (which is unusual depiction for armenian style).



That was what the guide told, and he actually caught my attention since the story was interesting.

some photos from inside of the church:


i don't know whose bright idea it was to burry people inside of the church so that you will actually walk on graves, but i have seen this in several other places here..

Now the fun part - the stairs (no it's not just design element, they have practical use). you could fall easily from them and there was nothing to hold on from - only the wall of the church. Also it was wet and slippery but oh how could i skip the fun? (even though i had climbed them once several years ago). i'm a small girl but it was a bit difficult for me to climb, and i can say that anyone who has broader shoulders than i do (many people go under this category) will find it very difficult and dangerous... but it was worth it!



view from inside to inside and outside :D


view from outside:


landscape photos



then after we spent some time here, we started the way back. it stopped raining and the weather was fine and the sun was shining. on the way back we made a small stop at Areni village famous for its wines. we went to the wine factory and tried some wine there, but it wasn't really good (Armenian standards ;) )
so we left the factory and bought some wine from local people who made it themselves. there were stands at the road all over this village!

there IS happiness in this world! i'm in heaven! :D:D:D




I took some more photos from the road... but don't want to post them here and now. i will make a post "photos from the road" someday :)

the photos posted here can be found in this album:

Noravank

stormy soul

yeah, that's me. Had some fun with photoshop editing... however my neck is hurting badly now :((( from shaking the head to make the hair fly (as you figured i didn't take just 1 photo, i took MANY until it was what i wanted)

To see what i've been busy with these 3 days click here.

REMINDER TO MYSELF:
i need to keep some sort of list of promises i gave to random people... especially things like "we (me and Michael i mean) will visit you when we come to Armenia". today i promised that to my swimming trainer...

life is like a river...

i've finally started taking swimming lessons, and this time is for good and rather serious. i mean i don't want to skip any of the 3 days in the week and well my swimming has improved greatly! right now swimming along the pool (25 m) is a usual thing for me. of course i have to improve my crawl (or front stroke) a lot, but still :) the difficult thing for me is to throw arms in pace with breathing. but well all i need is practice now. also i've learned to swim breaststroke with head above the water (what we call 'frog') which is nice for relaxing, but again i need to work much on it. the next step will be the butterfly. Anyhow, so i go swimming 3 days a week, and each swimming lesson lasts 2 hours! then i go the sauna and relax some, then come home, and feel that my energy level is at 0. but it's really great! i can't understand how i have been missing out such a great thing for years!

right now "mini brazil" or "mega latino party 3" is taking place and i'm at home, curled up with my notebook on the sofa and don't feel like moving.

how comes i didn't go? well i have a couple of reasons...
first is that i had a very stressful evening yesterday, and then got up very early today to go to the park with Niko and Avag (we met up at 9).



what happened yesterday was that i simply wanted to install photoshop on my notebook. but to do that i needed to use image file and well it said on the disk that i will need to install alcohol 120% program first. i did install it.. after what this wonderful windows vista home edition showed me blue screen of death with a fatal error and shut down. and windows would not start until (like Michael found out) i uninstalled that damn alcohol! to run commander i would need to boot windows in safe mode and THEN call the commander! but well my captain america, my hero and rescuer, was there :D at first he told me to insert a linux live cd... but it didn't work since it didn't give access to hdd directory. then i found the original vista disk and... booted comander from there :D and deleted the files of alcohol 120 manually, after what windows loaded! hooray! but oh when it all was fixed it was around 1.30. if i was a smoker i would smoke much more than one cigarette :D

anyways... so after going to the park with Avag and Niko we went over to Niko's place for '3 minutes' to see his 3d animations (they were cool!). then we watched some 3d cartoons which were great... and the 3 minutes turned into several hours!

i was planning to come home and get some more sleep before going to the pool! but i decided i will be fine. then i remembered i had to refill the internet balance, so i met up with Helen, we walked to the isp, talking and joking on the way, then i finally went to the pool...

when i FINALLY got home (no my legs are still legs, they didn't turn into mermaid tail like mom says), i had to beat the meat for dinner.. aunt said after i beat it, it has to be twice bigger and twice thinner... it was thrice bigger and thrice thinner as a result of my work and well there was meat on walls, floor, and on me :D

then i felt HUNGER! and had to wait for aunt to feeeeeed me! and of course we had some home-made apple vodka (calvados). so after that... oh dear god how do you think i would go to the party after all that? i was just not able to move :D

and well there was more to it... lately i've been going out all the time and spent much less time talking to my sweet white bear than i wanted, than we wanted.

it feels like waiting now. i'm on the edge of saying goodbye to life in armenia and leaving... and i feel good about it. i would change anything in my life if i looked back but at the same time i just can't wait to start a new life, a new life with the best man in the world who i'll call my husband soon :) he puts me into peaceful spirits, calms me down no matter what storm i went through, and oh really... he is the best thing in my life. i love Michael :)

Water-world

31 Aug 2008 - waterworld

So yes, on the last day of summer we went to the waterworld. we = me, Anya, Asya, Alex, Vahick, Vova. I must say that the administration there sucks, because as of 16th of Aug they have made tickets more expensive - classic costs 6500 dr, while VIP cost 6000 in July! and in general they were trying to make money on practically everything, and the service was bad. which however didn't prevent us from having fun.

we swam in the pool some, took some photos, went to the slides. and there was an announcement that there is a photographer on the territory of the water-world secretly taking photos of people and that people can buy those photos. then when i go and stand in front of the slides to take photos of friends, people think i am that photographer who is not in disguise anymore. and they keep asking "did you manage to take that photo?" "did you catch that?" "was it good?" so at first i was kind of lost but then i started using it by telling people to please move aside since i'm taking a photo and they are in my way :D

then i went down the red slide, and when i reached the pool, and got out of it, the lifeguard told me: hey this hair-pin you have is very nice, please give it to me.
i looked at him and he had very short hair, so i said "sorry but where will you stick it to?" and ran away giggling.

to Anya the lifeguards said: do you always come out of the slide so beautifully?
Anya: what do you mean?
lifeguards: by splashing water at us

i think they just stayed under the sun for too long :D.

we had some pizza in between the activities, we wanted to have sandwiches, but there were flies walking on them. (yes this is black PR of the water-world)

yes and there were so very many persians all around. their english was so bad they couldn't understand anybody speaking to them even though people would repeat what they were saying and help with guestures, and would make the place dirty. One of them was wearing 'family panties' instead of the swim-trunks. the lifeguard didn't let him go down the slide and told him to change. the guy and his friends couldn't understand what "anti-hygiene" means. then the persian guy went and changed into the swim-trunks. question: if he had them, why didn't he put them on at once??? Like Alex told us, at the dresser there was a lady who was pissed off by the persians and she entered the men's room while there were men changing and yelled at the persians "how many times do i have to repeat to bring baskets to my desk? you are soooo dumb! why are you coming to our country? get out of here!" and well a furious elderly woman can be very scary and dangerous :D

then Anya, Vova and Vahick started jumping from bungee jump (tarzanka). the rest were having fun watching them. and taking sequences of photos which you can see in that album, and please pay attention to Vova's shadow in those photos :D

then we the girls pretended to be mermaids, and made Alex and Vahick take some photos of us. then we went to the slides again and the water-world was practically empty so we could slide down without waiting in que. that was cool.

then we got dressed and left because the water-world was closing :)

Mega Latino Party Dos (2)

Yesterday our company went to this party! and it was great!

when we arrived, we took our pina colada coctail, and just walked around the place. There was a swimming pool with red and white rose petals, some tables, place for musicians. When it gre dark a little the dancing started. Meringe, salsa, other latino dances... at the same time people started entering the pool. some boys were showing off, jumping into the pool performing a salto for example.

after some dancing, we entered the pool. but we just couldn't stop dancing! so we were performing the latino dances right in the water! well i had to stand on the tip-toes to be able to move :D. but it was great. also there were some professional dancers, and oh i wish i could dance that well!

then Alex came and got into the pool. since he didn't like the music much (of course how can a metalist listen to that music :D). we started drowning each other. Anya suffered the most :D then there was splashing water at each other (which was a bad idea for me and her since we were wearing heavy eye make-up. yes we were so smart to put it on knowing that there is a pool...)

anyways.. then there were fireworks. and it was just beautiful to look at the fireworks in the night sky from the swimming pool with rose petals. and just being there at this party, having fun with friends.. it all gave a feeling of sort of lightness, joy. we were glad to be there.

when we left and went out it was midnight (12.00)

for photos:

Mega Latino Party Dos	20080803 Mega Latino 2

and now i'm getting ready to go to the water-world with our company!

Sevan

our company decided to spend 2 days at Sevan. Our company = me, Alex, Anya, hers sister Asya, Vahick... and we had an unexpected addition - Vahan, who was Anya's boyfriend, now it's difficult to say what he was though.

Anyways. We bought much food on the previous day and much drinks. The mini-bus we were to take was to head out at 9.00 am, which was a tragedy for people like us, for who morning starts at 1 pm (approximately). So we decide to meet at Alex's office to get things together, pack food etc at 8.30.

However, we were late for the mini-bus and took a bus instead. at 10.00 am we started our journey. When we arrived, we had to wait for the summer-house owner, which we were to rent. The summer house had 3 rooms. 2 were bedrooms which could fit 1 bed each, the other room was a hall. the place was tiny but we decided to stay since there were no alternatives and anyway we weren't going to spend much time inside. Vahan arrived by then (he came on his own). After unpacking and having some lunch or breakfast or dinner, we went to the beach. the water was cooooold! then it looked like raining and we ran back to our house.

suddenly Mary calls and says "hey i'm on my way, please meet me at this crossroad". we were thinking who was going to sleep outside in front of the summer house because there really was no space for 7th person. In general there was place for 5, and there already were 6 people including Vahan.

Me and Alex walked to that crossroad and started waiting. Then Mary called asked to look to the right, pretending she could see me. but to the right i could see nothing but Sevan, the beach and come clouds. then Mary says that it was a joke, and she just made us walk some.

when we got back and told the rest that it was a joke, they thought that me and Alex were joking and that we hid Mary somewhere! so it took us some time to convince them.

then we had some beer, gin + tonic, and Vahan was listening to loud disco music. we 5 were trying to talk, hoping that Vahick's phone will die eventually. and it did! then me and Vahick were trying to take a photo of stars and the night sky. here it is:


in the second photo you can see Venus.. i guess :)

then we got back and Alex put on some metal music. slowly people started getting sleepy. and well it was around 1.30 am i guess. then Alex remembered that he had brought a book on high mathematics with him and we started looking through it. at 2 am we started getting ready to sleep... and when we were ready nobody wanted to sleep except for Anya and Vahan (who were to sleep together in the hall). so me and Asya sneaked into boy's room and we started playing cards. our giggles and loud noises woke Anya up and she joined us. we went to sleep at 4 am!

at 8 am Vahan woke up, went to the shower... and started singing there! loudly! then probably Anya yelled at him, but it didn't help. i was completely woken up at 8.30. i went for a walk and soon girls and Vahick were up too. We were concerned with "what to eat question" when Vahan informed us that he was going back to Yerevan. to tell the truth we were very happy to hear that. :D then we went out to the church, but didn't go inside and took some photos from that hill instead. then went to the beach. me and Anya took a swim and ten it started raining heavily! we had some vodka to get warm :)



then the rain was over and we took another swim and started sunbathing. it was so nice to feel the warm sunrays on your back, to lay on the beach with friends, and to just close your eyes, think of nothing, to lay listless and listen to the lake...



but just like everything, it had to come to its end, and we had to return to Yerevan...

the trip was great, and we hope that the next year we will get together for a vacation again, and maybe even not in armenia, which will be great!

for photos:

24-25 Aug 2008 - trip to Sevan	Sevan

from Alex:

Trip To Sevan

trip to Lori

it was terrific! it was so great that i do believe the next summer me Michael and probably mommy will go there together for a week or so. So to give you some idea where we stayed at, i will post several photos here:

1. this is the hotel



2. this is the mailbox



3. this is the restaurant



4. this is the swimming pool as you guessed



5. shuttle ready for the flight to the moon