Melby's Travels

The last day in Gyumri was a bit emotional, especially since I had to say goodbye to the students. After the final presentations, I played Babajanyan on the piano, which turned out to be not too bad considering the state of the piano. Then we had snacks and danced to Armenian pop music. They taught me a traditional Armenia dance, while I taught them the Cha Cha Slide. One thing that surprised me is that when I extended out my arm to shake hands with my male students, they gave me a hug instead - a cultural difference indeed. GWOOG Prior to that, we visited Gwoog for the last time Pochov Apur - buttery red bean soup with homemade arishta. lovely butter flavor and creaminess from beans and smoothness from the noodles Pork khorovats (soft) - well cooked, reminded me of pork from Moldovian restaurant Tatar boraki - squares of noodles / dumplings, served with yogurt. Tatiana really liked this - maybe reminds her of some Russian style foods YAGHLI HOUSE Charlotta salad - cabbage, cheese, let...

While heating up my dinner a few nights ago, I chatted with David the guesthouse host for a bit. He told me about how Gyumri has only recently started recovering from the 1988 earthquake. After the political revolution a few years ago, the new government decided to start investing in Gyumri, in case something happened to Yerevan. Thus, the main street that Nina and I walk on to TUMO and to restaurants was paved just two years ago. So the disparities I noticed in the road conditions in different parts of Gyumri reflect the start of change here. I also asked the students what school was like for them. Most attended schools Mon-Fri from 9am-3pm and have 7-8 classes a day. There are also other schools that run Mon-Sat! But those have 5-6 classes a day. What struck me the most is that they don't have a lunch break in those 6 hours of classes. They only have 5 minute breaks between classes, and even then teachers may run over time into the breaks. Sometimes, students would gobble up food...

 Re: Teaching As we approach the end of the workshop, the sessions are quite intense for me. I have to cover more content and am constantly helping students fix their code. Upon returning from the sessions, I am in need of much rest. Regardless, it seems like students are finally absorbing what I taught them and plus their English listening comprehension is definitely improving.  Also, I noticed that in practically every restaurant thus far, the other diners are usually all groups of men. This further highlights the patriarchal society in that women are expected to stay home while men are free to drink and eat and enjoy themselves with friends. JAN 18 GWOOG GASTRHOUSE Greens - I was expecting a salad, but instead got a large pile of scallions, cilantro, dill, some spicy green, and radishes Kololak Soup - When I searched online for kololak soup, results for meatball soup show up. However, the soup I received didn't have any meat. It was a tomato-based soup with pickled cabbage,...

Teaching update: I had intended to play an American game (Charades or Seven Up) with my students, but we were short on time. Code that I expected to take 5-10 min took 30 min - 1 hour, likely because the students may not be comfortable implementing / debugging Python yet. (I will have to pay closer attention to students already familiar with Python.) I also led the class through the code much sooner than before since I was short on time. The problem is many students don't absorb/understand even after explaining. Lunch: 5x5 Food Court Cabbage dolma with rice and lentils Beet salad with red beans Buckwheat (?) - had lots of flavor / odd taste I'm not familiar with Dinner: Ani Restaurant Pork tabaka with potatoes, peppers, tomato Greek salad There was also live music! It was quite loud and drowned out conversation, so definitely not background music. The dhol (drum), tar (guitar like, except no holes), and keyboard provided support while the vocalist and duduk (loud wind instrumen...

We stayed overnight at TUMO Dilijan, where we each had a queen bed and room to ourselves. The one drawback was that the dogs outside barked and howled loudly through the night. In the morning, the TUMO staff helped us hire a taxi for the day. First, we visited Goshavank Monastery which was built during the 12th or 13th century. View of Gosh (town) from monastery Then we headed to Lake Sevan. Different people want to tell different stories and thus take different pictures. Can you tell which ones I took? Such a vast, beautiful, blueness! Ice forming along the shore Old rubber tires as life saving devices? Not far from the lake was Sevanavank Monastery. At the base, vendors displayed souvenirs and goods for tourists. I bought some syrup and wine of what I believe to be sea buckthorn. Sea buckthorn, I think? Syrup, wine, liquor, 'vodka', oil made from sea buckthorn To reach the monastery, we had to climb several flights of stairs. Look at the craftsmanship! View from monastery Upo...

 We met up with other MIT students in Yerevan today. When we got into the taxi, I noticed that the driver would frequently pass slower drivers and would not slow down too much on bumpy roads. Soon enough, we got pulled over the police, probably for speeding. The poor driver looked quite upset and he must have lost most, if not all, of the earnings from this trip. We went to the Armenian Genocide Museum and I realized that the Armenian genocide had a lot of parallels with the Jewish Holocaust. Armenians were ethnic / religious minorities in the Ottoman Empire and prospered when the Empire thrived. However, they were persecuted when the Empire began to lose power and used as scapegoats for the decline. They were exterminated with the pretext that it was necessary for the Ottomans to win WWI. I also think that the reason why the Armenian genocide is recognized today (while others may not be) is that it was well-documented by foreign journalists - in particular journalists from the pre...

 We visited the Museum of National Architecture & Urban Life, where the history of Gyumri and the craftsmen of Gyumri are highlighted. The tools and products of artisans who were worked with metal, wood, and fabric were displayed. Look at the detailed woodwork along the branch! Intricate parts of a belt Cool designs! FAETON BISTRO - more cool light fixtures! Lamb kebab wrapped in lavash. Kebab was ground meat molded onto skewer and cooked. Also salad. GYUMRI HACATUN - back for another round Khurjin - beef and peppers wrapped inside of lavash. beef cooked in wine. lavash was fresh so perfect texture - not too dry or chewy, soft and fragrant