Jan 26-27 Exploring Yerevan with Locals

JAN 26

MORNING RUN

This time I successfully made it to the Kond Pedestrian Tunnel with the help of a local - neither Google Maps nor Yandex Maps gave me the right directions. There was some cool street art inside the tunnel.

On the other side of the tunnel was the Hrazdan gorge, a steep drop to a bit of water. The trail by the children's railroad felt like the woods - peace admist a busy city.

FILMING

Then I met up with a filmmaker for MISTI publicity. We took some shots in a park and also visited Vernissage. I will have to return to Vernissage on the weekend when there are more vendors. We also went to GUM Market, where buyers haggled to give me samples so I could buy their dried/candied fruits. The meat section was also intriguing, with many different cuts. I will have to return. I also bought cheese pastry from a vendor on Tigran Mets Ave - it was fall-apart flaky, literally. Sorry no pictures since I was being filmed.

ARMAT CAFE

Bari axorjak - means "bon appetit" but here it was a dish with beef, eggplant,  mushrooms, and a potato/cheese/mustard sauce 

MACHAR 44

• Eggplant with walnuts rolls
• Hummus and eggplant dips
• Aveluk with walnuts - not as salty, more walnut flavor compared to Gwoog
• Jingyalov hats - not very salty or oily, tastes like restaurant quality (as opposed to street version)
• Arishta with beef - noodles more al dente than Gwoog version, still quite rich & fatty (cooked in beef fat I think)

• Tava Kufta - not the fried version! The beat the meat quite a bit so it's pretty soft.

• Spelt - also buttery
• Phaklava - dough and walnuts, not phyllo

JAN 27

KATOGHIKE CHURCH

It's considered one of the most beautiful churches in Armenia, probably because of the grand stone used as well as its large stature

BLUE MOSQUE

I was impressed by the intricately painted tiles...

...as well as the detailed carpet. This was my first time inside a mosque, but my exposure to Islam prepared me for the custom of entering through the women's door and taking my shoes off inside.

TAVERN YEREVAN

At this point, I have become used to the spread of cheeses, greens, bread, hummus, and muttabal. There was also eggplant rolls with walnuts. We also had...

• Veal shoulder - super tender and flavorful, simple taste of meat, maybe some celery, carrots, onions
• Emmer - ancient grain, considered type of farro, hard to find even in Armenia

• "Summer BBQ" - barbequed eggplants, peppers, mixed with a little bit of tomato. I liked the smokey creaminess of the eggplants 
• Tonir potatoes

• Gata (specifically bagarch) - with extra buttery crust (like American / European pastries)

• Another type of gata - laminated dough filled with dried fruits a bit of sugar filling
• Baklava - dough seemed closer to phyllo, some large walnut pieces, apple-flavored syrup was the best part!

I learned a lot about Armenia while talking with Areg, a professor at MIT, and Pegor, the husband of TUMO's CEO so essentially co-CEO. 

First, in terms of education (all of below is from Areg's POV), America is better in a lot of subjects. For instance, writing essays in history and literature is about analyzing perspectives, as opposed to showing off vocabulary. Also, chemistry is not learning facts about elements, but rather understanding reactions and the context in which those elements exist. Above all, little emphasis is placed on genetics in Armenia since genetics was denounced as a bourgeois science by a prominent pseudoscientist in the USSR.

In addition, I learned that Western Armenian is different from Eastern Armenian not only because of sounds (hard vs soft sound), but also since Western Armenian is closer to Turkish. Both Areg and Pegor found it difficult to learn Turkish, partly because there are so many compound words (words made up of smaller words, which is not super common in English).

Furthermore, Pegor told me a bit about how TUMO gets funding. TUMO Yerevan is self-sustaining since it rents out the upper floors of its building to tech companies. This reminds me of the Jewish developers who build on synagogue ("nonprofit") land. For other locations/franchises, foundations pay for the operations and a licensing fee to TUMO, while TUMO provides the building plans, pedagogical software, and quality control. This explained the mystery of how TUMO could expand so quickly. 

LEBANON SHWARMA

After class, I took the bus (!) to the city center with two of my students. We had three versions of the "Maria" sandwich. All were encased in a flatbread and had a bit of mushrooms. I especially liked the chicken one, which had a creamy, garlic sauce. I also tried my first bottle of Armenian tomato juice.

The students also told me about TUMO was so different just a few years ago. It has become increasingly popular and now everyone, not just high-achieving students, attends.

In addition, I was surprised to hear that most Armenians support the Russians in the Russian-Ukranian war. From my perspective, since Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, why wouldn't Russia invade Armenia too? However, Russia provides heavy support for Armenia, influencing which side they support.