Month: August 2015

YARP hello from Elise! Today I’m going to tell you about Lake Sevan and the mountains of Armenia. Let us start off with Lake Sevan. In fact, I am at Lake Sevan right now. Sevan is a mountain lake with beaches. Because Sevan is a mountain lake, it has clear/non-salty water.

 

Sevan is surrounded with villages. I am at Tsapatakh, one village with a great view of Sevan Lake. My hotel, Tufenkian, is built right on the edge of Tsapatakh. Tufenkian is not so far from Sevan, so my family and I usually walk to Sevan to watch the sunset.

At Sevan, I take off my shoes and let the water splash over my feet as I collect cool rocks to take back to America. At Sevan there  are a lot of them. I found one that was all grey like an ordinary rock, but it had a white circle around it. Some of the rocks are even colorful! There are rocks with grey (your ordinary rock), green, a cool color, and sometimes even blue! (your extraordinary rock color).

Lake Sevan is surrounded with hills and mountains. Some of the mountains have green rocks. The mountains with green rocks mean that they have copper in them. One thing that is intresting about those rocks is that they make the road green! Those mountains even used to be copper mines. Another mountain is called Cracked Lip mountain (also known as Arayi Mountain). Cracked Lip mountain got its name a very interesting way. There used to be a big lake on the top of this mountain. Well, Cracked Lip mountain was a dormant volcano so its top was flat but a little deep. When the water started to flow down the mountain, it created a path. That path makes the mountain look like it has a cracked lip. That is how Cracked Lip mountain got its name.

As I said, the hotel where I stayed in is named Tufenkian.  The hotel’s name is “Tufenkian” because Mr. Tufenkian is the man who created it. The hotel is designed to be part of the village. The hotel is made of rocks. When Mr. Tufenkian started making his carpet factories, he decided to share Armenia with other people outside Armenia so he also built hotels.  Tufenkian built the hotel so the people in the village can have a job. Plus, 80% of the workers in the hotel are from the village. At the hotel, there is a swimming pool, chess, checkers, and each room at the hotel is two-storied. The beds are super soft and you can even rent a bike!

These are all the great things about Sevan and the mountains of Armenia. Armenian just isn’t the same without mountains and rocks. At Sevan colleting rocks, at Bjni exploring caves, and at Tufenkian, resting at a swimming pool, I just can’t leave all these things behind! Armenia is a wonderful place and I just can’t believe that I still have to go to America.

YARP hello from Isabelle! Today I will be writing about schools for all of you to read but especially for my third grade teacher at Thoreau School in Concord, Mary Gallagher, who has requested that I write about schools.

We will actually be talking about one specific school. As many of you may know, my grandmother, Susanna Ohanyan, is a founding principal of this school. The name of this school is Ohanyan School. Ohanyan School is from 1^st to 12^th grade.  Today we only will be talking about the summer school at Ohanyan which I attend very year. Here’s their website: Ohanyan School.

In our summer school we study the following subjects. In the morning we usually have Lego club or math. Then we have Russian or English, chess, drawing, history/story time or art, and last but definitely not least, Armenia’s main language, Armenian. In Lego we usually make whatever we want or the teacher tells us what to make. One time I made a boat and even the boys thought it was better than what they can do (in our class the boys think they can make better boats and cars than girls.)  In math the teacher gives us math problems that are age appropriate. In Russian we have to talk only in Russian, in which I am not very good. In English class I am the best student. In chess we usually have races. In Armenian, I am fluent in speaking but not that good in reading.

In Armenia the children are like children anywhere else. In summer vacation the children are playing all day long. One problem is that some of the boys think that they are better than the girls. I think that is totally wrong because men and women, boys and girls should all be equal.

In general boys naturally grow more muscles than girls which means boys might be physically stronger than girls. That does not mean that only they should take the lead. I am just glad than nowadays gender does not matter. What I mean by that is that women can become anything boys can become. Women can fly to space as well as men can fly into space. Women can vote and they can become Presidents. They can go to the best universities.

Some of the strongest scientists are women. Margaret Mead was a famous anthropologist. Marie Curie created the X-ray machine that now saves lives. Rosa Parks helped African-Americans to get more rights and equality in the US. In Armenia, there are many famous women chess players that won championships. For example, my chess teacher at Ohanyan Summer School is a chess champion! We call her Ms. Vati.

In conclusion, I like coming to Armenian summer school at Ohanyan and I hope more Armenian children living in different countries will join us next summer! Here are some photos from my Ohanyan Summer school from this year!

                                                  

YARP hello from Elise! Today I’m going to tell you about Armenian comforters and pillows because they are a natural , energy saving, warm and soft way to sleep.

For pillows, let’s start with chickens. In Armenia chickens are very important (not that other animals aren’t important, just that I’m going to tell you about chickens). In Bjni village there are a lot of them. In Armenia, people use the meat of chickens for khorovats, and the feathers for pillows (the ‘down’ feathers). First you get a pillowcase. Then you wash the feathers and stuff them in the pillowcase and you have an extra soft pillow!

Comforters are made differently.  To make comforters, you need sheep. In Bjni some people keep sheep. When people sheer their sheep, they use the wool for the insides of their comforters. After they sheer the sheep, then the people wash the wool and put it out to dry. When the wool is dry, the women hit it with a long wooden stick. They hit the wool with a stick because when the stick hits the wool, the wool separates, and when it separates, air can come in. When you stuff the comforter with this wool, it becomes extra warm, energy-saving and extra soft, which is perfect for a cold winter night!