The world's oldest shoe and a snake pit: Weeks 8 and 9

My time in Armenia is coming close to an end now, and I think though it will be nice to get back to normal life I'll be very sad to leave. In terms of AIESEC work things are quite relaxed now, as I hand over to my replacement and get together the EB* for the next year.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been up to a fair amount, so I'll try hard not to make this blog post too epic...

Trip to the museum

Over the last few weeks I've been to Republic Square a lot of times, and I think it is my favourite place in Yerevan with lovely soviet-era buildings (normally an oxymoron) as well as the dancing fountains I mentioned before:

However I've not been inside the huge museum which overlooks the square until now. With a morning free me and Karen my host decided to have a look around the bottom 3 floors that house the National History Museum.

Armenia has an incredibly rich history. Their position in middle of major trade routes meant they were frequently invaded by several different empires, however at one point Armenia controlled a huge area of land.

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos inside the museum but there was a huge amount to see. When Lake Sevan was drained by the Soviet Union a large number of preserved artefacts were discovered, including a 2000 year old wagon, which was on display.

Another one of the main exhibits was a shoe dating back to 3500 BC, the oldest in the world...

It looks a bit like a pasty

Moving house

The next day it was time to move again, this time to stay with Arman, a member of the OGX* team and his sister Shushan. Again I noticed the Armenian approach to houses, while outside the block of flats was quite plain and the exterior wall unpainted inside the flat was very nice.

Arman has a large collection of English films, so we've been watching a few of them. I think he is glad not to have to watch movies with his sister, whose tastes seem to be limited to rom-coms. Their parents are currently away in their cottage for the summer holidays, and should be back next week, so we're all cooking together although it's quite hard to find the ingredients for the recipes I know in Armenia.

Khor Virap


A couple of days after moving house me, Elize and her family drove up to Khor Virap, one of the most popular sites in Armenia. Right next to the Turkish border (as in about 50 meters away from the first fence) this church is built over the pit where Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 13 years, with only the old woman who would sneak him food and the snakes for company.

You can climb down into the pit through a metal ladder tucked away to the side of the church's altar. It's about 6 meters down, and a bit of a squeeze for me (not many Armenians are 6 foot 1). Fortunately they had got rid of the snakes and put in a few lights, but the air was still very stale, and I was finding it hard to breath after only 5 minutes down there.

It was the pits

We also climbed up the hill next to the church to get a better view of the border. Sadly Mount Ararat was pretty hard to make out in heat haze, but you could see all the countryside for miles around.

Afterwards we went for a picnic in the shade before heading back to the city. Elize's dad is a keen photographer and was very pleased with all the photos he'd managed to get from the day.

As for Gregory the Illuminator eventually he was released by the King in exchange for curing his madness, and went on to convert the whole country to Christianity so I guess it all worked out in the end.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Next time: Adventures in Yerevan markets and my last days in Armenia!

Also because you demanded it, a photo of That Place, the bar in a car park.

*EB - Executive Body / Board, the people in charge of each functional group in the Local Committee

*OutGoing eXchange - In charge of sending people abroad

Brit Pop and a Dog called Barks: Week 7

This draft has been sitting on my laptop for a long time, just got it finished up so there will be more to follow!

This week has again been fairly busy for AIESEC work, as we're getting to the stage where we need to have a full plan for the next year. However I've had a little bit of time to see the sights as well as a few other things.

Last Sunday, after I got horribly sunburnt at Lake Sevan (it's pretty much all better now!) I went to the AIESEC Armenia handover party. This was a big event where the new team for AIESEC Yerevan was announced, with the traditional glass of water over the head.

I also met a lot of AIESEC Alumni (ex-members) including Manu, who along with two other people both called Gaya has set up a group called Indie Libertines. They organise indie music parties in Yerevan, where the musical scene is pretty dominated by metal.

It happened that later that week they were going to be running a British music night at one of the clubs in the city. Naturally being the incredible expert on the UK indie music scene I was instantly recruited to help out. Sadly Armenians aren't quite ready for dubstep :(

The party was pretty great, they'd decorated the place with a giant Union Jack on the ceiling and had one of Yerevan's 7 indie bands playing covers of Oasis and the like. I'd put together a little UK pub quiz for everyone, and was quite proud to see how quickly they learnt they could cheat on their iPhones.

Not quite sure what they'll do with the 6 foot long Union Jack now...

The next day I moved house once again, this time to stay with Karen (pronounced Kharen) an AIESEC Alumni. Karen lives with his family (including aunts and uncles) in a sort of compound of 3 houses, in a part of Yerevan known as Bangladesh. It's called this for pretty much the same reason we'd call a part of a city Timbuktu although it isn't actually that far away, only 40 minutes on the bus.

Karen lives with his Mum and Dad on the top floor of one of the houses along with his brother Armen and Armen's wife and 1 year old son. However the bottom floor of that house is currently uninhabited so me and Karen have moved in there. When I first arrived I was met by a very woofy dog who appropriately enough is called Barks as well as their slightly quieter hunting dog Jacque.

Woof

On Saturday me and a few AIESECers went to the Genocide Museum in the park just outside the city center. It was a short walk up hill though some nice woods and gardens, but apparently on Genocide Memorial Day (April 24th) there is such a long line of people you can end up spending a whole afternoon walking slowly to the top in the middle of a huge crowd so quite a few end up fainting!

The museum itself consists of a memorial with an eternal flame, as well as a large exhibit hall that tells the story of the genocide through photos, documents and contemporary accounts. The Armenian Genocide isn't really covered in UK history lessons so if you don't know much about I'd advise reading up on it here. It was quite moving to hear the AIESECers I was with tell me about what happened to their grandparents, including how one fled Turkey with their mother and hundreds of orphans.

More updates to follow soon, sorry for neglecting the blog recently, a combination of laziness and busyness. Watch this space!