The Young Armenian Reporting Project

YARP hello from Elise!!!

“Get ready girls! We’ll be leaving for the ATP soon!” That was my Mom. We were at the Best Western Paradise Hotel in Dilijan, in Armenia. And it really was a paradise hotel, let me tell you that. The Armenia Tree Project (ATP) is a foundation that plants trees in honor of people. Let’s say you give money for them to plant a tree in honor of ‘Stevie Parker’. The ATP would plant a tree and send you a certificate saying that there is now a tree planted for Stevie. Let’s say you want to plant a forest in honor of Stevie Parker for his birthday, you give more money and ATP plants a forest in honor of Stevie Parker. The Armenia Tree Project branch that we were visiting was in Margahovhit village, between Vanadzor and Dilijan. The ATP wasn’t far away from Dilijan, though we did buy some snacks and water for the ride.

The ATP building was beautiful. It serves as an ATP educational center and was  sponsored by Mrs. Ginny Ohanian, an Armenian from Boston, in honor of her husband Michael. The building was painted in various colors and cartoonic trees. There was a large garden in front of the building, and strange little yellow wood things with holes inside them. My mom (Mommy) led Isabelle and me inside the building. To my left, there was a wall sticker of dandelions, the puffy kind that you make wishes on, and butterflies. (Just a reminder that I was allergic to dandelions). To my right was a bookshelf holding not only books, but other things too, like sculptures and photos. There was a large picture of painted tree in front of the bookshelf, which made the shelves look like the branches of the painted tree. Behind the tree-bookshelf were two doors: one had a boy figure silhouetted and the other a girl. Of course, the bathrooms! There was also a staircase to the right of the tree bookshelf, leading upstairs. Here is the bookshelf below.

 

Our mom took us into a short hallway,  then asked a light brown haired woman in Armenian, “Are we interrupting, Alla?” She answered, “No, no. Come in. It’s lunch hour.” At the end of the short hallway was a large room, which I was guessing was the cafeteria. There were windows overlooking the mountains and the garden. Tables filled the room too. There were also three other things: a box with a picture of a bee on it, a tank with a turtle in it, and a tank with two goldfish in it. A black haired woman approached my mom and exclaimed, “Anna! It’s so good to see you again!” When she noticed us she said, “And who are these wonderful girls you brought with you?” I could tell it was our turn to speak. “I’m Elise, and she’s Isabelle.” Isabelle gave me a look as if she could speak for herself. I responded giving her a mischievous grin. The cook came out and placed two bowls of mushroom stew.

The black haired woman, her name was Arpine Matinyan, showed us around the room. She was the Principal of the Margahovit School. “Here we have a beehive.” She pointed at the box with the picture of a bee on it. “Look through that glass over there, do you see all those bees? Inside that box is where the bees make the honey, and also where the queen bee stays. She rarely comes out though.” There were dozens of bees buzzing inside the glass, coming into the box from outside, and going out of the box. The bees coming into the box had yellow beads of pollen stuck to their legs. It was a wonder! I had never seen the inside of a beehive before. Here is the picture of it.

 

And seeing all those bees was truly amazing. “Here we keep Tigran the turtle,” said Arpine. She was talking about the turtle I had seen earlier. It turned out the turtle is named after a boy who comes and takes care of him and loves him like a pet. We moved on to the fish. She didn’t explain much about them. Here is the picture of Tigran the Turtle.

We had now sat down to eat, and immediately, the conversation began. “How’s the school, Arpine?” My mom asked. “Is there anything I can do to help with the school?” Arpine responded, “Well the school gym floor could be better, and the school could use a smartboard.” A smartboard is a board that is connected to a computer and projects what’s on the computer screen onto the smartboard. Smartboard allows a teacher to show classroom full of kids what’s on her computer screen without the students crowding around her computer. Problem solved! But my mom on the other side, wanted to buy Kindles for the school instead, the reading kind without games, mind you. She argued that with Kindles, instead of buying a whole bookshelf of books and having trouble transporting them, Kindle lets one to buy a whole bookshelf of books, several more times as many as one could carry. A teacher can give each child a Kindle and have them read many books on it, instead of buying loads of books at a time. Plus, as my mom noted, Kindles save trees since books require cutting down of trees to be made, which is against ATP principles. Eventually, the smartboard idea won. Margahovit school will get the smartboard and ATP will get Kindles because many schoolchildren from the village visit ATP and can use the Kindles to read environmental materials.

A while later Alla Sahakyan, who is the education program manager at ATP, took us out to see the garden in front of the building. Don’t think it was a sunny day though, there was a slight drizzle which would turn into a downpour later on. First Alla showed us kinds of trees that ATP grew in the garden, and also other trees and plants that are in the Red Book. Alla also showed us  what the strange yellow thing with holes in it was. It was a “bug hotel”! There were holes in it so the bugs could get in, and it was painted yellow, since bugs are attracted to the color yellow. I had never seen anything like it, except in cartoons where there were literally bug hotels! It was surprising to know that things like this existed. Most people think that bugs are pesty little things that eat your plants, but these bugs eat the weeds and help the plants grow. I wonder if there are worm hotels, too. Here is the picture of the bug hotel.

Overall, the meaning of the ATP is to plant trees in Armenia, and what I think is amazing, is that ATP has already planted forests in Armenia.  Many trees have been cut down in the history of Armenia,  but the ATP helps plant them again. Going to the Armenia Tree Project was a wonderful experience, and I think everyone should pay a visit and learn the quality of trees on this planet. Without trees there would be no paper, no log cabins, no wooden bookshelves, no pencils, no firewood, you name it! Another wonderful thing about ATP is that there are many schools that contribute to the ATP, and students help plant trees too. You can go to sleep today, knowing there will be more trees in the world tomorrow.

Here is a link to Armenia Tree Project in case if you got inspired by this post and would like to donate to ATP and plant trees and forests in Armenia!

https://www.armeniatree.org/en/intro.asp

I just stood there, enjoying the sun send its rays from the tip of my nose, and dance down my legs to where my feet were kept secure in my aunt’s hand-me-downs that were now mine. I snapped back from my daze to make my eyes level with the mountains as a chorus of about five frogs sang their solos and finished by sending ripples across the water as if breaking glass. I pulled my chin downwards to throw the rock I was holding. I kept on staring at it soared through the air and then plummeted down with a satisfying “Ker-plump!”

Look closely to see a frog.

Elise, my mother, my aunt, (yes, the one who gave me the shoes I am wearing…), my uncle, my aunt and uncle’s ten-month-old son Yuri and I are all at Bjni village for three days. I guess you could call it a three-day vacation. While our family was in Bjni, we came to a stream to see a geyser of mineral water.  It wasn’t that much of a geyser because there was a pipe covering it as you can see in the image below.  Yes, I am also wondering why the rocks around the “geyser” are orange. Well, all you smart folks who think you know everything, it turns out the rocks are orange because there is iron in the water mixes with air and turns the rocks orange. That was just the simplified explanation.

 

 

“ԻԶԱԲԵԼ! Այստեղ արի! Ռզում ես կամուրջը անցնենք?” And of course, that sounded pretty interesting and exciting because, well, who doesn’t! Wait a minute, I never translated what my uncle Hovik asked! So he asked if I wanted to cross the bridge. Yes, there was a bridge crossing the water.  So, of course, after the wonderful show the terrified frogs gave us by jumping into the water as if on cue, we crossed the bridge. I don’t regret my choice, but it was a pretty wobbly bridge. And as if the bridge wasn’t wobbly enough,  Helen, my little sister (more like a monster), started jumping up and down trying to scare more frogs.

 

Something white caught my eye in the water. I took a closer look and I noticed it looked like a white frog lying on it’s back. I strained my eyes till they were literally bulging out of my head. Then I realized what it was. If you haven’t guessed already, it was a dead frog. Ya, it was only a DEAD FROG!!!!!! So I crossed the bridge like I intended and like I saw from the shoreline on the other side, all I found were uninviting prickly-thorny bushes. I wasn’t really surprised about my discovery because the stream ran across a mountain. The higher up you go, the fewer trees and more thorny bushes there are. If I walked upwards, maybe a few-hundred yards, I would probably reach the top of the mountain. I would’ve loved to climb the top of the mountain but there just wasn’t any time. It was getting dark. As Elise and I clambered down the mountain and ran to catch up with the others, the sun was going down. It was about time to leave. As it was getting late into the evening, I remembered that we hadn’t had dinner yet.

As the car drove away from the beautiful mountainside and zoomed toward where the little houses were clustered, a thought occurred to me: how would I write about this wonderful experience in the blog…

YARP hello from Elise! This Yarp post will be about the mountains in Bjni (Budge-nee). Unlike other posts, this one will be like a story.

The metal door clanked as I opened it. “Mama, I’ll be waiting for you outside!” I yelled into the house in Armenian. My mom and I were going on a stroll to the shop, as well as a hike in Bjni. A jingling of key startled me as I turned around to see what it was. My mom was locking the door to our Bjni house. She was wrapped in her favorite orange jacket, and blue jeans with sneakers. “So, are you ready to go?” She asked. “I was born ready! Let’s get going already!” I responded.

The old path to the shop was full of rocks, pebbles, cow/goat dung, and trash. There are even a few animal bones, not that it’s not a safe place to go. My mom and I carefully picked our way single file through the narrow path. As we walked, the sound and smell of goats disturbed my thoughts. We were walking past a farm on one side of the path, and a garden on the other. A dog barked somewhere near the town. A stray probably, I thought. Gushing water sounded overhead. I paused for a while to gaze at the mountains, wishing I could climb them. One mountain I especially wanted to climb, since it had a cave at the top. Who knows what could be in there?

Ducks waddled near another farm in the little town of Bjni. My mom and I were walking on the bordering land next to the river. As my mom and I crossed the bridge that led to the other side of the river, I peered over to look at the bottom of the clear, flowing river. “Careful,” my mom said, since the bridge had no railing. As I mention this, I am not trying to say that Bjni isn’t safe. Hardly any danger at all in fact. Any way, the river was filled with reeds. When we reached the other side, a car zoomed by. There aren’t many cars on the road in Bjni, but when there are, they are mostly old time cars.

“Isn’t Թագավորանիստ beautiful?” I asked my mom. Translated, that would mean, “Isn’t the Bjni Fortress beautiful?” The ruins of the ancient Fortress came into view. The Armenian flag at the top blew in the wind as my mom answered, “It really is.” A few cows passed by as the clouds uncovered the sun, silhouetting the mountains. Suddenly I understood the beauty of Bjni and why my mom wanted to come here so often. Just a glance at the rocky mountains with their jagged peaks, the cows climbing the grassy hills, the Bjni fortress, and the small cozy little one-roomed church, the best place for prayers.

   

YARP hello from Elise! I will be telling you about the new airline that started flying to Armenia, Qatar Airways. If you are flying to Armenia, and searching for an airline, I recommend Qatar Airways. Let me tell you why: What Qatar provides is good entertainment, comfort, and good food.

In terms of the entertainment, there was a screen in the seat in front of me. On the screen you could watch movies, play games, listen to music, see how far you are during your flight. There are also three cameras on the airplane, one on the tail in the back, one facing down, and one on the bottom facing the wheels. If you didn’t have a window seat, you could check the footage of the cameras outside, which will remind you how cozy and safe you are in the plane. It was especially fun to look at the one facing bottom during takeoff and when the plane is landing, because you could see the runway during takeoff and landing.

In terms of the comfort, Qatar airways provides blankets, pillows, sleep masks, and headphones, all of which can be very comforting at times. If you want to go to sleep, you could put the sleep mask on, adjust your pillow, and warm up under the blanket. If you listen to music when you go to sleep, you could plug the headphones into the screen in front of you, the armrest, or on a device you brought from home and listen to sweet calming music (if that’s your preference!).

Here comes my favorite: food. Some people think food on airplanes doesn’t taste good, and some think it tastes like heaven. On Qatar Airways, flight attendants list a verbal menu from which you can pick your food, and once you place your order you get it before you can say ‘Qatar’. Also, Qatar Airways provides quite a few drinks. There is coffee, tea, juice, and water. There might be more. Most of the foods come with a dessert too, like a small piece of cake, chocolate or ice-cream. You can also eat food you brought in a carry on, or you can buy gum before your flight. Gum can be helpful during takeoff and landing, because if you chew on something, there are fewer chances of getting your ears plugged.

The flight from Massachusetts to Armenia, via Doha, added up to around sixteen hours. After you arrive in Armenia you may start feeling sleepy during the day, and wide awake at night. That means you are jet lagged. Since Boston and Yerevan are both on opposite sides of the planet, when the sun is shining in Massachusetts, Armenia is facing the side of the world where the sun is not shining, therefore it is night. This means, when you are in Armenia, you may start feeling sleepy during the day. Eventually your body adjusts to the time in Armenia.

Overall, I think Qatar Airways is the best way to fly to Armenia.

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!

YARP hello from Elise! Today I’m going to tell you about Bjni. Bjni is a village not so far from Yerevan. The village was first established in 5^th or 6^th century. As you can see, Bjni is a very old village.

Bjni has a very beautiful sight of the mountains in Armenia. Some of those mountains even have caves! Usually you see cows or even horses roaming those mountains. Other animals such as goats, chickens, roosters, sometimes foals, and calves are kept in barns.

One of those mountains has a castle built on it! The name of the castle is Takavoranist. Real Armenian kings and queens used Takavoranist as a resting stop while traveling. In addition, Bjni has three ancient churches, and one of them is very small. I could probably touch the top of the door. Inside there is a small room full of Bibles. The church is on a big cliff with a lot of big rock formations.

Speaking of rocks, there are many types of them in Bjni. There is a type of rock formation that looks like series of columns. Another one I call the “person rock”. It looks exactly like a man wearing an old fashion hat with a rifle swung over his back.

Next, I have something great to tell you! A man named Albert Afrikyan opened a factory in Bjni. The equipment in the factory is made from scratch. The factory makes jam that they take to Yerevan and Russia to sell. The money gets sent back to the owner of the factory who pays the workers salaries. The workers buy things for their houses. This makes their houses better and makes the shops bigger and improved.

In conclusion, Bjni is one of my favorite villages because I like the view of the mountains. It just makes me happier to think that Bjni is going to be growing day by day. Bjni will also be growing prettier too and it will be attracting more tourists to my beloved village Bjni.

YARP hello from Elise! Well, you want to know about food? You asked the right person! In Armenia the food you can get really depends on where you are. In Bjni, a village not so far from Yerevan, you can pick fresh fruit but that does not mean you can’t eat fruit and vegetables in Yerevan. A common food in both Bjni and Yerevan is khorovats (barbeque). It is an Armenian tradition to eat khorovats on special occasions such as weddings or birthdays. Khorovats is sometimes served with grilled vegetables. Khorovats is served on  wooden sticks and tastes good wrapped in lavash.

Lavash is Armenian bread, sort of like pita bread only much longer and much thinner, almost like paper. To make lavash the way they do in Armenia you can look and see the link at the end of this post.

This is not with details but there is a hole, like an oven, in the ground that gives off warm air with fire on the bottom. Then you spread the lavash on a matt/board, and stick it in the hole in the ground. After two minutes, you take it out, let it cool and that’s how you make lavash.

Another typical Armenian food is dolma. Dolma is cabbage or grape leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice, pepper, salt, tomato paste, oil, dried fruits and various greens. Sometimes Armenians also stuff apples, tomatoes or pepper with this meat mixture.

One of my favorite dishes in Armenia is lahmacun. Lahmacun (pronounced Lah-ma-joo) is basically Armenian pizza. Lamacun is made of lamb meat, garlic and various greens on a thin piece of bread. Lahmacun is sometimes served with lavash or tan, an  Armenian drink made of  yogurt, water, chopped cucumbers, and salt.

All of these foods are made from old traditional recipes and take a long time to make, but if you are going to make one of these foods I told you about, you have to have patience; it’s worth the wait for it tastes like eating heaven itself. Now, If you had questions on food that I probably answered, can you answer mine? If so, can you tell me which food you would like to taste the most? And remember, this is only a breadcrumb of all the foods in Armenia.

YARP hello from Isabelle! Today I will be telling you about Armenia’s amusement parks. Compared to Disney World, Armenia’s amusement parks are very small but still very fun. I visited one of them just recently. There are lots of fun activities there.

My favorite one (adults can’t use it) includes a gigantic beach ball. An average ten-year old can stand in one. The balls can float on water with someone in them. (Please do not ask me how those balls float on water with someone in them. Please ask your science teacher). Then an employee deflates them and you get in. After, the employee inflates the ball once again and pushes the ball with you in it into the water.

I was not sure I wanted to do this. I also don’t want people to think that I am afraid of everything. As I take off my shoes I notice that I am shaking. Horrible thoughts came to me. What if there is a hole? What if the ball sinks? The water is only up to my waist but still… Then when a few moments pass and the ball was deflated, the employee told me to get in. I get in and as I wait for him to inflate the ball I feel excited and super scared at the same time. Then the ball suddenly jerks into the water. I look back and see the faces of my mom, my sister, my cousin, my grandmother getting smaller, smaller, smaller, and smaller. Aaack…. M,m,m,mo,o,m,m,my,y,y? I say. Oh my god! Boy, does it eco in here. Inside it is a little damp, but I soon realize that this is not scary at aeeell. Sorry about that (he he) I just did a backward somersault! (This is very, very, very, very FUN!! )

In conclusion, on this ride I overcame my fear of sinking. Also, I learned how very heavy things can float. I hope you will come to these amusement parks some time. Stay tuned for more YARP and check out my photos of the gigantic beach ball below!

YARP hello from Isabelle! Like every place, Armenia has lots of holidays. Some of the Armenian holidays are Easter, Christmas, New Year, Independence Day, Constitution Day, and Vartavar and a lot more holidays.  You are probably thinking “what is Vartavar”? Vartavar is one of Armenians’ favorite holidays. It is a holiday when people get buckets and fill them with water. After they fill them with water, they splash each other with water.

This tradition comes from Armenian mythology. According to the legend, an Armenian goddess Astghik, who was the goddess of love, beauty, kindness, and water, got captured by a monster who did not want love, beauty and kindness in the world. After Astghik got captured, the world became very dull and boring and full of hate.

One day, Vahagn (the god of fire) could not stand the world like this and saved Astghik. Then he and Astghik got very close together or maybe even married. When he saved Astghik, Astghik poured rose water one everyone. When she did that, the world became prettier and better than before. Based on this myth, people have been pouring water on each other ever since. And Vahagn, ever since he saved Astghik, was known as the dragon slayer.

Now people throw water on each other without warning! It is always more fun than it seems. In conclusion, Vartavar is a very fun holiday. (I would not recommend walking out on the streets on Vartavar because you might get splashed at!).

For a little bit more information please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vardavar

RFE/RL Vartavar Photos

Eastern Diocese Site Vartavar

YARP hello from Isabelle! Armenia is one of a kind. It is good and bad in many ways. Yerevan is Armenia’s capital.  Let’s compare Yerevan to Boston. Unlike Boston, the most buildings in Yerevan are not made of polished glass or shiny material. There are some buildings that are made of shiny material and polished glass but most buildings are made of stone.

The elevators are not quite that nice either. They only have one light which makes them dark but the elevators in Boston are bigger and with lots of lights. Some people avoid using the elevators because they break down. The stairs are not that nice but they are safer than the elevators (especially during a fire).

An average building in Yerevan has about nine floors. There are four apartments on each floor. Each apartment usually has a TV room, a bathroom, one or two bedrooms (no one gets their own room unless it is someone living alone), a kitchen and that’s about it. Each apartment has about nine to thirteen windows. This is a typical building.

We have a house in the country, in a village called Bjni. The house is made of bricks. It has two floors and only our family lives there. We have two bathrooms, one kitchen, and four bedrooms. In the backyard, we have a big cherry tree. In the garden we have other cherry trees, apricot trees and raspberry bushes. The people in this village also live in big houses and they usually have a farm. All the people in the village are very nice (not that people are mean in Yerevan).

Armenia is also made up of good things. For example, there are great hotels and beautiful buildings where people live. There is a hotel that is shaped like a castle from fairy tales. I would recommend that hotel if you have children. There are over 400 hotels in Yerevan. I am not going to describe each one in detail. So, if you ever want to come, you will have lots of places to stay.

Armenia has lots of water fountains. The fountains have lights which makes the water glow. Like most fountains, the fountains in Yerevan can go up high but they go up higher than most fountains in Boston. Children like to go there in the evenings and they like to play and listen to music at the fountains.

Children play outside till it is dark. In each building there is a “group” of children that is always out playing. They have different and fun games. In Boston, children barely ever play outside, and they do not stay out as late as the children in Armenia.

In my opinion people visiting Armenia would like it, and they would learn about the great things in Armenia and its problems.

If you would like to visit Armenia, the link for the list of hotels is: http://tripstoarmenia.com/, or http://www.fructusarmeniacus.com, or www.armeniainfo.am.

 

Here’s a picture of the view at sunset from the balcony of our building in Yerevan–

YARP hello from Elise! Today I will be reporting on stray animals in Yerevan. There are a lot of buildings in Yerevan, and the stray cats live next to the garages of those buildings. Stray dogs tend to live in small fields within residential neighborhoods. It’s a problem because some people get annoyed [some are actually okay with it] and the animals don’t get much food.

Well, now I know what you are thinking. You are probably thinking “Oh, cool!” or “Oh my God! I would not want to live there!” I am an animal lover, so here is how I feel about stray animals. In my building we have a family of stray cats. The mother cat has a grey cat with a coat like rain clouds and green eyes. The father cat (who you don’t see very often) has an orange coat with white stripes similar to a tiger. They have four kittens. The first kitten has a grey coat like the mother cat, only darker eyes. The second kitten is all black like coal. The third kitten is light gray with faint stripes and orange spots on its back. And finally, the fourth kitten is like the third kitten only with an orange spot on the back of its head and back. I am one of those people who is okay with having stray animals around.

Again, the stray dogs usually roam the little fields next to the buildings. Other dogs will roam the sidewalks or gardens. One time, Isabelle, my cousin Suren, my grandmother and I were walking and suddenly this cute little white dog came half walking half running behind us. He followed us all the way home until we were at the fourth to last turn where he crossed the road and we departed.

These animals are slowly getting homes and we do everything we can to help. We feed them, wash them, and play with them. We hope you can do something to help, too.

In conclusion, on the one hand, I am glad about having stray animals around because I can play with them. At home, I only have a fish as a pet. On the other hand, I feel sad about this because these animals get a meal only once a day so they have to go through rummaging through the trash. I think that these stray animals should get homes.

Here is a helpful site if you are interested in stray animals: http://www.worldanimalprotection.org/

YARP hello from Isabelle! Today I am going to tell you more about the protests. If you look carefully at the photos of protests on the web, you will see lots of children. If you think about it, the police wouldn’t hurt the children! With children around, the police can’t get to the adults. Isn’t that clever?!

The protests are happening on Baghramian Street because the President’s office is on that street. Some people even get married there at the protest site. When they get married, the police can’t barge in. Sometimes when there are no weddings, and very few children, the people will link arms to protect themselves.

One time, when Elise and I went to the protests, we bumped in to Raffi  Hovannisian. Well, we didn’t really bump into him. First he looked at me. Then we smiled at each other. Then my Mom noticed him and we took some pictures together. It was amazing because I remember the time when I tried at least to wave at him when he was on his hunger strike after Presidential elections in 2013.

For those who do not know, Raffi Hovannisian is a politician and he run for President in 2013.

YARP hello from Elise!

Armenia is wonderful, including the people and their houses. Interestingly, some of the houses are like mansions. Right next to them there are smaller houses and many apartment buildings that are not the best houses in the world. These are not similar to the apartment buildings in Boston. Often, in these buildings, the elevators stop working.

In Armenia, you have a perfect view of the mountain Ararat where Noah landed his boat. Mount Ararat usually appears on postcards. Armenia is full of mountains and hills. People usually write or draw on the mountains with colored rocks.

 

YARP hello from Isabelle!

Armenia is a wonderful place. Sadly, the government wants to make the prices of electricity higher. Most of the Armenians cannot afford the higher price of the electricity. Their solution is to protest. Now there are many Armenians flooding the streets. So much that one time when the government tried to stop the protesting, it brought the fire trucks out. The fire trucks then sprayed everyone with water. The government then realized the mistake they made: the very next day even more people came to the protests. That is all for YARP today. Stay tuned for more YARP. Thank you, and have a great day!

To inform people about Armenia –  People usually compare Armenia to US or other countries. Armenia is different, and YARP will tell you how different it is. We want to give more information to people about life in Armenia.  We hope to explain as to why there are more Armenians abroad than in Armenia. We want to tell about the Armenian culture. In our opinion, Armenian dancing is very elegant; the girls and women all dance synchronized in dresses with fancy patterns on them. The men sometimes dance with swords, or stand on top of each other’s shoulders and dance in a circle.

To attract readers from around the world – from Armenia, the US, or even from Africa, but not in Antarctica (no penguins but perhaps yes to explorers).

To encourage people to come to Armenia – We hope that more people come to the protests in Yerevan and to Armenia in general: if there are more people in Armenia, then Armenia has a chance of being populous. This means that there will be more people to help clean Armenia. Then Armenia will have a chance of being the wonderful place people want it to be.

To tell about the people in Armenia – people should now about Armenians because there are not many of them.  Armenia is nice, so if we do not want it to fall apart, we have to make the population grow.

 

– Isabelle and Elise

Hello! We are Isabelle and Elise Adourian. We are born in the US, but our mother’s side of the family lives in Armenia. We were baptized in Armenia, and we visit Armenia each summer. While in Armenia, we attend summer camp at Ohanyan School in Yerevan. We are 10 years old, and we started this blog this year, in the hopes of keeping it going for several more years.

Our main goal in starting this blog is to bring more people (especially Armenians) to Armenia. Our blog is from children’s perspective but it is not only for children. It is for children ages 1 and up.