Feb 1 - 3 Museum Sprint during Last Days in Yerevan

FEB 1

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ARMENIA

The permanent collection of the museum was closed for renovation, so only a few exhibits were open.

The artists in the Impressionist exhibit used the same techniques as European Impressionists, except some of their subjects were Armenian.

I really liked these two paintings below by Arakelian because of the movement in the paintings. Also The one of the left is cool because it depicts a oleaster tree, which doesn't look that big in photos. However, in this painting, the tree looks quite grand.

Another artist that stood out to me is the sculptor Gyurjian. his style is one I've never seen before. His figures are generally quite slender. For instance, his depiction of Jesus Christ is much thinner and less muscular than what I'm used to. Same with his angels. Also, the combination of curvature joined sharply with lines is unlike the Roman / Greek sculpture I'm used to. The closest I've seen before are Egyptian carvings. However, Gyurjian's figures feel more Asian.

Embryo by Gyurjian

HISTORY MUSEUM OF ARMENIA

I met the first people of Chinese descent, not including those from MIT, at this museum. I was both surprised and delighted to see them walk into the museum. When I heard them speak Cantonese, I decided to speak with them. Turns out, they are from Hong Kong and are in Yerevan for work.

There were a lot of artifacts from ancient civilizations in the Ararat Valley, including the leather shoe found in the Areni cave.

A philosophical statement about doors that accompanied a door from 1712

There was also jewelry, such as head adornments, necklaces, etc., from traditional Armenian fashion. One cool fact I learned is that belts represented status. For example,  clergymen had special belts and the bride's family would give a belt to the groom at weddings.

The carpet exhibit was also pretty cool. Apparently, a common theme in carpets is snakes and dragons. I also had the opportunity to watch a carpet weaver at work. She wrapped each pixel of the carpet around the supporting vertical threads. After that she pulled a thread horizontally, she down the colored material and snipped off the excess material.

VOSTAN RESTAURANT

Harissa - korkot (wheat with shells) porridge with chicken. Such good chicken flavor! Infused into the porridge! In addition to pieces of meat, there was also chicken skin and cartilage. Finished with butter.

TUMO

I realized that I picked up a lot of Armenian words through teaching and listening to students. These are the ones that probably won't come up in most intro Armenian language classes.

• Erehek - everyone
• Hartser / Hartserkan / Hartser nuni - questions
• Sus - shut up
• Zhened - shut up
• Pocare - smaller than
• Meze - bigger than
• Havesar - equal to
• Debil - idiot

TAPASTAN

• Curry chicken toast
• Tomatoes, horats, cheese, capers, oregano toast
• Lori (like light cheddar cheese), bell peppers, wrapped in lavash
• Merlot by Trinity 2019, Armenia - didn't know what a Merlot was when I ordered it...
• First impressions - dark, burgundy, tannic
• More fruity when wine was on the top of my palate (not tannic)
• Turns out a Merlot is generally described as black cherry and tannic

Glass! Reflections!

FEB 2

After hearing rumors of a larger Yerevan City supermarket from Melissa, I decided to run there in the morning. Got some dried fruits and sweet sujuk to bring back. This Yerevan City is closer to a Target in terms of product selection.

Look at how nice this supermarket looks!! Only the flowers outside give away that it is a supermarket.

MATENADARAN (ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS MUSEUM)

The Matenadaran museum is filled with old books and manuscripts. Turns out there were a lot of Armenian books printed around the world. This included Venice, Calcutta, Jerusalem, and Echmiadzin. Only the last one is in present day Armenia.

They made dyes for ink from natural plants!

Gregorian chants!

A book on horse medicine

There were also books in other languages, such as Ethiopian and Hebrew.

Interestingly this Arabic "book on salvation" has geometry in it!

One other interesting thing is that the Armenian alphabet was also used for other languages.

The building of Matenadaran was all pretty cool.

ANTEB

The four of us stationed at TUMO Yerevan had dinner at Anteb, which was recommended to me by Hayk as a more family style restaurant. However, it didn't have the same homey feel as Gyumri, but that may just be a product of the whole city. Anyway, we had some good Western ARmenian food here.

• Fattoush salad - crispy bread, cheese, sumac. lemon and sumac created acidity and thus lightness

• Hummus and puffy arabic bread (close to Pakistani naan)
• Zaatar and cheese fatayer (flat bread) - lots of cheese and zaatar was more in the backdrop

• Gouvaj - clay pot filled with beef, peppers, tomato base, lots of spices. Really flavorful! Topped with really stretchy cheese and a bread dome!

HOUSE PARTY

We decided to host a house party for the last full night in Yerevan. We had a spread of food (peppers with hummus, ham, cheese, bread, grapes, pomegranate, cookies, chocolate) along with drinks. Jacob also brought some really good chocolate covered dates stuffed with an almond. The softness and sweetness of the date melded really well with the chocolate, as it melted in my mouth.

I also tried the 5, 7, and 10 year Ararat brandy. Well really I tasted only the 5 and 10 year, but smelled all three. Jacob abided by the tasting procedure from the Ararat Brandy Factory, according to Tatiana's instructions. The first is a small sip, where you keep the brandy in your mouth for 2-3 seconds. Then the second sip is larger and you hold it in your mouth for around a minute. For the last sip, you first melt some dark chocolate in your mouth, sip the brandy, and swirl the chocolate together with the brandy. After you have finished, you warm the glass with your hand to release the aromatic compounds. Since I found the brandy to be pretty high alcohol, I only went with the second step, holding the brandy in my mouth for a minute. Everyone in the room sniffed the glass after Jacob warmed it up.

All three brandies had a sweet aroma. The 5 year one was the sweetest and reminded me of maple. The 7 year one had more of an oak aroma. The 10 year one was the most complex; it smelled more of oak and didn't smell as much of pure sweetness. For me, the aroma of the brandies is certainly nicer than drinking it.

We also semi successfully turned band wine into something more palatable. The wine was left out in the open in clear glass bottles for two weeks. It was kind of bitter and just didn't taste good. We added spiced black tea and lemon zest, but that added to the bitterness. However, sugar and lemon juice counteracted that.

FEB 3

I decided to follow in Melissa's footsteps and head to the very top of the cascade for my last day of Yerevan. The climb up the stone steps was quite slippery but the view was so worth it. It was the clearest day since arriving in Yerevan/the week of snow, and the snow covered mountains were breathtaking. In particular, Mt. Ararat towered over all the other mountains in the range. I just stood there for a while taking it all in, feeling the majesty of Mother Nature. Pictures can't do justice for that feeling.

There is an underground passage near the apartment that we have to cross to go anywhere. It's also a mall. I finally took a picture with the giant metronome (it's called METROnome mall). 

The taxi driver who took me to TUMO was very cool. He spoke pretty good English, which he studied exclusively from watching Netflix. He was primarily an electrician, who installed lights in stores and fixed up old computers. But on the side, he also drove and managed two apartments he rented out to support his family. And at night, he studied web design and programming on YouTube. I trust that his 3 and 5 year old children will see how hard he works and will work equally hard. Really shows the entrepeneuring spirit of Armenians.

Speaking of which, I just wanted to note that one common occupation is double brokering. The brother of Nina's friend Davit is involved in that and serves as a middle man for goods between for instance China and America. And he makes much more than the average Armenian - closer to that of the average American if not more. That's the benefit of Armenia's central location.

We also had our final presentations for the class. Since there were four classes, the presentations went on for quite long. My students were quite jittery while they waited through the last presentation. But they stayed because they wanted to spend time with me, they said - so sweet of them! Also probably because I promised them a surprise at the end, aka I played Babadjanian for them. I already miss them dearly.