lost in translation
no, im not really feeling like bill murray's character from the *excellent* film "lost in translation" (well, maybe sometimes)- but last night i went to a karoke bar. i sang a heart-wrenching rendition of "let it be" along with my tour guide from our karabagh trip, arsen. i was with arsen, my host sister, arsen's younger sister, and two of arsen's friends, making last night my first night here that i was out with exclusively locals. not to pat myself on the back, but i was quite happy about that. basically, the point is that the home-stay has been a great change, and i really appreciate delving more and more into armenian life with armenians instead of running around expensive restaurants with american (and a few canadian, eh?) armenians.
this week was relatively uneventful, although tomomorrow, the celebration of vartavar, which is essentially a huge water fight for locals, should be quite fun. during the week, i went to work like a good boy, and as of today have been to almost every church in the center of yerevan. i think i already mentioned katolige and krikor loosavorich (the smallest/oldest and largest/newest), but this week i went to zoravor, another old church nestled behind some apartment buildings. (ive mastered the phrase, "excuse me, where is ____"). the next day, kristine, most host-sis, went with me to s. hovannes (where she was baptized 5 years ago, actually). we met the priest there, and talked for awhile, which was a nice change from my usual, go in, look around, light a candle, watch people ("ethnography"), and leave. today, i went to st. sarkis, where there was a wedding going on, on my way back from the parajanov museum (more on that in a sec), it was a zoo, i swear there were at least 4 brides coming, going, and milling about in front of the church.
so, the parajanov museuem. for those of you that dont know, his most famous work is called "sayat nova, or the color of pommegranate". imagine a series of dali paintings with very little movement turned into a film about one of the most famous armenian troubadours. (for those of you with excellent memories that are learning armenian history from my posts, you will recall that sayat-nova spent the last years of his life at haghbad, the monastery where i will be hopefully staying in a week or so). i've seen the film twice now, and am now the proud owner of this film, as well as another one recommended to me called "a requiem". now, seriously, this guy was nuts. he was imprisoned during the soviet era for nationalistic tendancies (a big no-no), and one of the rooms has his works from this period. so, in addition to the crazy films, this man did hundreds of crazy collages. all kinds of materials for the various collages. everything from glass to a self-portrait by john updike given to parajanov that he turned into a collage. nuts. really fun. the museum was meant for him to live him and is a duplicate of his house in tbilisi, georgia, but he died before it was all ready for him (i believe). i made some conversation with the guy who was semi guiding me around (turning lights on and off and making sure i didn't take off with anything). basically, ive gotten to the point where i can generally convey what im trying to say, although im sure i sound like a 4 year old most of the time. no problem, im happy to be improving, and happy to be speaking.
as a final note, this morning (or early afternoon as the case may be), before i went out, i sat around with my host mother talking (which is always fun to talk with my host family, thats why my armenian has been able to improve). her mother came over, and so i had another round of coffee with the grandma, and then we played tavloo (backgammon). she beat me twice (once, i was way ahead but she rolled 3 doubles in the last 7 rolls), and i beat her once. not the most relevant thing, but a fun detail.
okay, basically, im freaking about because i only have three weeks left. i know that its almost half of my total time, but it seems like there's so much more to do still, so much more to see. im making plans to have some kind of adventure next weekend to both get out of yerevan and to see something ive never seen before.
as a final note, grandma, don't worry about lusine's crazy grandmother. if i see her again, ill make sure to tell her my grandma wasn't too happy!
this week was relatively uneventful, although tomomorrow, the celebration of vartavar, which is essentially a huge water fight for locals, should be quite fun. during the week, i went to work like a good boy, and as of today have been to almost every church in the center of yerevan. i think i already mentioned katolige and krikor loosavorich (the smallest/oldest and largest/newest), but this week i went to zoravor, another old church nestled behind some apartment buildings. (ive mastered the phrase, "excuse me, where is ____"). the next day, kristine, most host-sis, went with me to s. hovannes (where she was baptized 5 years ago, actually). we met the priest there, and talked for awhile, which was a nice change from my usual, go in, look around, light a candle, watch people ("ethnography"), and leave. today, i went to st. sarkis, where there was a wedding going on, on my way back from the parajanov museum (more on that in a sec), it was a zoo, i swear there were at least 4 brides coming, going, and milling about in front of the church.
so, the parajanov museuem. for those of you that dont know, his most famous work is called "sayat nova, or the color of pommegranate". imagine a series of dali paintings with very little movement turned into a film about one of the most famous armenian troubadours. (for those of you with excellent memories that are learning armenian history from my posts, you will recall that sayat-nova spent the last years of his life at haghbad, the monastery where i will be hopefully staying in a week or so). i've seen the film twice now, and am now the proud owner of this film, as well as another one recommended to me called "a requiem". now, seriously, this guy was nuts. he was imprisoned during the soviet era for nationalistic tendancies (a big no-no), and one of the rooms has his works from this period. so, in addition to the crazy films, this man did hundreds of crazy collages. all kinds of materials for the various collages. everything from glass to a self-portrait by john updike given to parajanov that he turned into a collage. nuts. really fun. the museum was meant for him to live him and is a duplicate of his house in tbilisi, georgia, but he died before it was all ready for him (i believe). i made some conversation with the guy who was semi guiding me around (turning lights on and off and making sure i didn't take off with anything). basically, ive gotten to the point where i can generally convey what im trying to say, although im sure i sound like a 4 year old most of the time. no problem, im happy to be improving, and happy to be speaking.
as a final note, this morning (or early afternoon as the case may be), before i went out, i sat around with my host mother talking (which is always fun to talk with my host family, thats why my armenian has been able to improve). her mother came over, and so i had another round of coffee with the grandma, and then we played tavloo (backgammon). she beat me twice (once, i was way ahead but she rolled 3 doubles in the last 7 rolls), and i beat her once. not the most relevant thing, but a fun detail.
okay, basically, im freaking about because i only have three weeks left. i know that its almost half of my total time, but it seems like there's so much more to do still, so much more to see. im making plans to have some kind of adventure next weekend to both get out of yerevan and to see something ive never seen before.
as a final note, grandma, don't worry about lusine's crazy grandmother. if i see her again, ill make sure to tell her my grandma wasn't too happy!
posted by chrisdapor | 3:40 AM
1 Comments:
*excellent* - was that getting at a particular argument between a particular pair of your friends? Or did I just hallucinate that? I miss you! I can't call you! I have no phone number!
Jess
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