Syria Meets Armenia Meets Russia

 

After this nice day, I decided to walk to the Kumyari district and maybe have some tea. I was invited by a lovely Syrian woman to a party with an Armenian group-she thought it would be interesting for me to come and listen to the discussion. It was a big group of about 30 people and it was a volunteer group that was meeting for a dinner and some songs.

 Usually I fit right in, but not this time. I definitely felt out of place as everyone kind of had their network of friends, but this Syrian woman was so kind to include me. It was a lovely restaurant serving Syrian food that was delicious and I had the Horaa  Obao an amazing lentil stew with some carmelized onions pomegranate seeds. I enjoyed it very much and I sat alone eating it as there was no space for me with the group-sad.

I had some tea and then decided to meet Yulia at TOL for the comedy show. The comedy show was in Russian and while I thought she could translate-she said that would be a bit difficult. I was looking forward to catching the second show as I arrived during the intermission, but there was not one seat in that small underground bar.

Off we went on a walk where we found a nice restaurant to watch live music. There was only one other table there, which is pretty normal for Gyumri-empty restaurants with a few people there. The tourist season is finished, which I find interesting because it is a beautiful time to visit with all the fall leaves falling at the weather is at 70 degrees per day. Everyone thinks the only time to travel is summer- the fall is my favorite time.

Well we enjoyed ourselves and I got to hear my favorite songs with a band of older gentlemen playing guitar and singing the Gypsy kinds.  The family was up and dancing and Yulia and I ordered soup, salad, and shared some potatoes(fries). Then we parted ways as it was 10:30 and time for me to go back to the guesthouse. The guesthouse that said they had heat and it was so cold every night, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them as they sad it was “working.” I just sat in bed with three blankets absolutely freezing. The architecture was beautiful in these building, but there was little isolation.