I think it’s Tuesday. I always get a little confused when I change countries. But, according to our schedule, and my computer, it is indeed Tuesday. We spent today touring around Yerevan. At this current moment, my feet feel as though we walked every square inch of the city, but I’m fairly certain that we only saw a small bit of it.
Our first stop was a coffee shop/bookstore where we had an orientation brunch with our host. It was truly quite humbling to hear how excited the area churches are about us being here. One of the churches we’ll be speaking at has even cancelled their regular Sunday services to invest in their women! I think I even heard that the men are making dinner for us that night!
It demonstrates for me, once again, how much I take for granted in the United States. If I chose to, I could most likely find some type of Christian women’s conference or event to attend every weekend. I might have to leave the state of Minnesota, but I’m sure it could be done. That is not the case here in Armenia. It is a rare event, and a privilege for these women to be able to attend. That God would choose me to be a part of this blesses me more than I can express.
After our orientation, we visited a few shops, saw the Republic Square and eventually made our way around to the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. The art exhibit is housed in a building called the Cascade that was started during Soviet occupation and left unfinished for many years. It’s hard to describe this building. It basically fits into a hillside. Each layer (of which there are several) represent a time in Armenian history. If you’ve ever been to the Minneapolis airport you may have been on the extended escalator that takes you from the tunnel level, past the baggage level, up to the ticketing area. It’s a long escalator that basically “skips” a level on the way up. That is the approximate length of each escalator we took, and we rode on five of them. There were a total of seven, but five got us as far up as we needed to go. The other two escalators continued to take you to the top of the hill and they are used to connect one part of the city to the other. Once we reached the top we had a fabulous view of the city and of Mt. Ararat. Unfortunately, at the exact moment we got to the top it started to rain and hail.
As an interesting side note, Mr.Cafesjian is also part owner of D’amico and Sons restaurants and foods, and he owns the carousel at the Como zoo in St. Paul;.
We finished off the day with a traditional Armenia dinner at our host family’s home. The main dish was called dolma which consists of ground beef, rice, and spices wrapped in grape leaves. It was quite delicious.
And now, it’s time for bed. Tomorrow will be a long, but fulfilling day.
Oh, one more thing. I forgot the cable for my camera to upload pictures so you’ll have to wait until my return home for a few photos. – Sorry, kind of, Pictures take a long time to load so maybe it’s best.