Armenian Man Friday and The Cascade: Day 2

I woke up quite early today, in time to wish Ishxan's brother good luck with his exam (he studies computer science too!). With Ishxan at work I was left with his mum. She is a language teacher, and speaks 7 different languages. Unfortunately none of them are English.
We had a very interesting conversation as she cooked me breakfast.

Through signing and using the phrase book at the back of the guide she managed to show me Mount Ararat from the window and talk to me about how it is a good idea to speak Russian. Later when Miqayel came home she told him that it was like Robinson Crusoe talking to Man Friday. I think I will have to work on my Armenian a lot.

At about 11 Sargis (pronounced Sar-kiss) picked me up and we headed into town again. After arriving at the office we met Rafo, an AIESECer I had met the night before. Sargis got phone call from work (he fixes electronics at the hospital part-time) so he had to go off, while Rafo and I decided to see more of the city.

Me at Victory Park

First we went to visit one of the many parks in Yerevan. Next to the paths you can find lots of water fountains, which are very popular in Armenia as the water is so pure. After this we headed off to see one of the main sites in Yerevan, the cascade.

Yerevan in a city of two halves, one 500 m higher than the other. This means that one half gets snow a month earlier that the other and also makes it quite hard to walk from one part to the other. As a result there is a massive staircase called the cascade going down the hill side. At the top is a monument to knowledge, with amazing views of the city.

Monument to Knowledge and View of the City

Because the project ran out of money there is a gap between the top of the cascade and the other section, so you have to walk around a building site to get to the rest. Rafo told me it has been like this for a year, but they should start building again soon.

We walked down the stairs for a while, seeing even more fountains, but as it was in the middle of the day it was very hot, so we walked the rest of the way inside the cascade. Inside there are escalators as well as a few art galleries that will be opening later this year.

At the bottom of the cascade is a garden, with lots of sculptures by Armenian artists, often of important people from Yerevan's history. Beyond that is the opera house, where we went yesterday.

After grabbing some sharma (meat, tomato, cucumber and parsley in a flat bread wrap) we went to meet the Communications team* at Yum Yum, a cafe that is the favorite meeting place of AIESECers in Yerevan.
The meeting was very interesting, and I took lots of notes of ideas for AIESEC Bristol back home. Afterwards we went to the Republic Square, where there was a light and fountain show set to music (it happens every evening, so I will put a video up later)

After the meeting Sargis took me back to Ishxan's place, and I went to bed at after watching some of the football with Miqayel (his exam went very well) and his father.

*Communications: Creates posters and promotional materials, writes the weekly newsletter, issues press releases for events and generally does AIESEC Yerevan's PR.