The Writers' Hotel front view. For whatever reasons we
could not figure out, the entrance is in the back.
Sculpture - I believe of the Russian writer/poet Pushkin,
Armenian writer Charens, but not sure.
Looking out the back of the hotel. Relief work of about
20 Russian writers embedded in the surrounding enclosure walls.
Sculpture in the front of the hotel.
Kecharis Monastary in Tsaghkadzor from
seventh century. There are regular Aremanian
Apolistic services here on Sundays, memorial candle lighting
places inside the chapels and weddings take
place here frequently. One never walks out of a chapel
with their back to the alter, so we always walk out
of the doors backwards facing the alter.
Another view of Kecharis Monastary..
Susan in front of the Obelli brothers sculptures. They
were famous Russian/Armenian intellectuals: scientist, writer
and medical doctor. There is a museum in Tsaghkadzor
which we visited with their writings, medical instruments,
photos etc... and furniture. They had a home in Tsaghkadzor.
Me at our favorite café in Tsaghkadzor at the Kecharis Hotel.
There one can get an Americano, espresso, a latte and almost a real
western/American breakfast of an omlette (the omlette comes
on top of a piece of lavash - traditional Armenian flatbread) or waffles :-) Yay!!!
Me and a stray cat at the ski lift restaurant area in
Tsaghkadzor. There are few if any indoor pets
outside of Yerevan and stray animals just
fend for themselves. Dogs, cats, puppies, kittens
are in the streets. I take any extra food from my home
to them every day.
Christmas never really did feel like real Christmas here. But, I received so many cards, and the packages are still coming in the mail. Each one has meant so much to me and makes me feel close to home. Actual Christmas day I went to school as it was not a holiday here. We had Christmas carnivals in school and I played jingle bells on my violin many many times while the kids sang it in Armenian. I do have a string of white lights and some Christmas ornaments hanging in my room. My sister Kathleen sent me candles for my windows that came two days ago. I have virtually the only Christmas decorated windows in these thousands of apartments in Hrazdan. Ruzan tells me they all know it is the Amercan's apartment windows with the white lights and candles. There is a Christmas tree and other decorations in the downtown area and tonight they will have a New Years Eve celebration there at midnight....
The above represents solely my own thoughts and opinions and in no way represents the United States government or Peace Corps.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Armenia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Armenia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely