Patinage

Amassia adore patiner sur la glace. Au début c'était difficile de trouver un endroit agréable à Erevan, mais depuis 2-3 ans déjà le lac des cygnes (Karapi lidj) est ouvert au public toute la semaine. Les patins peuvent etre loués, mais il faut laisser son passeport au commis. Mais cette année, Amassia a recu comme cadeau des nouveaux patins de Dado et surtout des patins canadiens. Alors chaque samedi, elle va patiner pour quelques heures au parc, proche de l'opéra. Ca coute à peu près 2 dollars et ca vaut la peine, surout le matin, quand il n'y a pas beaucoup de monde.

Skating at the Karapi lidj, nice experience and good music!

cost: almost 2 dollars per person + rental (if you don't have your own skates)

Comment: if with kids, better to go around 11 am , less people. And if you need to rent skates, don't forget to bring your passport.

fun!!!

For the Holidays, the Republic square is filled with Soviet Santas, most of them drunk, standing beside weird animals and christmas decorations and inviting children and families to take pictures. Around them, within a very tiny space, you could find some horse/pony rides and other entertainments. I was panicking a little bit and stressing out, because there was a lot of people and not everything was secure and safe for the kids. But they enjoyed most of the rides and then friends joined us and we went to an italian restaurant.

Republic square for kids

last sunday before school starts!

Enjoying the train rides at the Hrabarag with friends.

Manti night with the staff of the Women's Resource Center

Varanta and Vayk helped me prepare our favorite dish, Manti, and share it with my staff from the Women's Center. It took us 3 hours, Varanta stayed till the end helping and chatting endlessly. It is a tradition in Armenia to celebrate the new year by visiting relatives and friends houses and feasting with them. Most of the Restaurants just started opening today, but very few people are on the streets or outside. Everything is still slow. People are recovering from the holidays, from all the drinking and the eating...I started working 2 days ago. The center was frozen, all the water pipes were broken again this year. So we are trying to heat the place for the past couple of days with the staff. The center reopens for the public on monday and we are getting ready to start all the activities soon.

Partyyyyyy!!!

After hibernating for almost 5 days, we finally called Diguine Anna our devoted babysitter to stay with the kids so we can go out for the first party of the year at Square One, organized by Deem Communications and Aftershock. The place was packed! we danced non-stop. Sam, the godfather , Araz, Gohar, Arsineh...and most of the people I know were there, enjoying the music, dancing and going crazy (meaning Araz:)

the ice queen -- skating show

Place : The Sport Complex, Hamalir
Time: at 5pm on the 4th
cost: 2000-3000 AMD (almost 10$)

Good show for the kids during the holidays, the artists were invited from Moscow. Nice Light show and great costumes. The kids loved it and the place was heated!

Visiting Amassia's friend

Yesterday we were invited at Nane's house, Amassia's best friend from the Waldorf school, for a traditional Armenian New Year's feast. We talked a lot about the education system in Armenia, since other parents were also invited. We discussed the importance of Waldorf school in the Armenian society and how it is preparing a more conscious and responsible future generation.
The kids had a blast running everywhere in the small apartment under the supervision of the Dadig of the house (the grandmother). We couldn't stay long since we had reserved tickets for the Ice skating show at the Sport Complex.

Celebrating Christmas

Celebrations in Armenia start on december 31st at midnight and lasts until January 13th (the old new year). For the days preceding the celebrations, almost all the women of the households are busy cooking, baking and cleaning the house, while the men are hunting for the best deals in food, meat, fruits, vodka and chocolates.
Ishli keofte, Khozi bud(roasted pork), dolmas and sweet sujukhs are a must for the Armenian New Year feast. Most people go overboard, taking loans from friends to buy all the food necessary for the week.
So at midnight everybody is gathered around the table, and once the countdown is done, the eating, dancing and endless kenats start, and vodka is poured like water. Then around 4-5 am january 1st, people go out visiting friends and families, eating again, drinking more, and greeting each others with hopes of a better year. And this ritual continues for almost a week.

So everything stops in Armenia from the 31st to the 13th; no bread, shops are closed as well as most of the restaurants.

This year, Raffi and I decided to stay home and relax with our 3 kids. We did lots of shopping for food on the 30th and rented a dozens of movies to watch. Most of our friends were out of town, visiting their families, so it has been very quite and slow, but i am enjoying it so far.

Salut

Voila apres toutes ces annees je cree ce blog pour faire part a mon entourage de ma vie en Armenie, des enfants qui grandissent trop vite, de l'Armenie qui change sans cesse et de mes projets qui n'en finissent pas.