I went to the inauguration of an arts center for children,
in a little village
an hour away from Yerevan.
the center seemed well built
activities will include painting,
sculpting,
carpet-weaving,
and needlework.
I examined the tools for working with wood or metal,
everything was functional,
drinking water was running from the taps,
the place was clean
with a lot of windows
and a nice patio.
there was a garden with all the vegetables you could dream of:
eggplants
tomatoes
okra, etc.
and tasty walnuts
and the poplars all around were turning yellow,
and I thought of my dad,
because whenever I see a poplar tree I think of my dad, well,
that’s since I compared him to one,
in a poem,
on Father’s day,
this year.
there came a priest
who sang a prayer for the opening of the arts center,
and I thought,
that’s good religion. See,
the people here are not hardcore believers,
well,
that’s my opinion,
yet they always visit their churches,
and they often invite a priest who’ll sing and say a few good words,
in Armenian,
and it’s beautiful,
it’s always beautiful.
The melodies of those prayers are just great.
the center was built and is financed by the family of an
Armenian artist who studied in the UK,
and lived, and worked there, and in Italy.
He died when he was only 37;
He had planned to help establish creative activities in Armenia.
an arts and crafts center will surely be beneficial to the local children,
there is no doubt about it.
I saw some of the kids’ works,
decorated pebbles,
wooden game boards,
ceramics,
etc. and I thought it was all excellent.
there was a mancala.
That was the first time I saw one in Armenia.
“What’s this?” a man asked me.
“An African game,” I said. The man turned to his wife, and said,
“It’s an Egyptian game,”
“It’s an African game,” I repeated.
“Yes,” the man said, “an Egyptian game.”
the children were beautiful,
and they behaved well. There was a violin, a cello,
and the wine was good, for once.
the next time I go there, I’ll bring a kite.
[Picture: Somewhere out of town by reading_is_dangerous] (Picture taken earlier this summer, before the loss of my camera)
in a little village
an hour away from Yerevan.
the center seemed well built
activities will include painting,
sculpting,
carpet-weaving,
and needlework.
I examined the tools for working with wood or metal,
everything was functional,
drinking water was running from the taps,
the place was clean
with a lot of windows
and a nice patio.
there was a garden with all the vegetables you could dream of:
eggplants
tomatoes
okra, etc.
and tasty walnuts
and the poplars all around were turning yellow,
and I thought of my dad,
because whenever I see a poplar tree I think of my dad, well,
that’s since I compared him to one,
in a poem,
on Father’s day,
this year.
there came a priest
who sang a prayer for the opening of the arts center,
and I thought,
that’s good religion. See,
the people here are not hardcore believers,
well,
that’s my opinion,
yet they always visit their churches,
and they often invite a priest who’ll sing and say a few good words,
in Armenian,
and it’s beautiful,
it’s always beautiful.
The melodies of those prayers are just great.
the center was built and is financed by the family of an
Armenian artist who studied in the UK,
and lived, and worked there, and in Italy.
He died when he was only 37;
He had planned to help establish creative activities in Armenia.
an arts and crafts center will surely be beneficial to the local children,
there is no doubt about it.
I saw some of the kids’ works,
decorated pebbles,
wooden game boards,
ceramics,
etc. and I thought it was all excellent.
there was a mancala.
That was the first time I saw one in Armenia.
“What’s this?” a man asked me.
“An African game,” I said. The man turned to his wife, and said,
“It’s an Egyptian game,”
“It’s an African game,” I repeated.
“Yes,” the man said, “an Egyptian game.”
the children were beautiful,
and they behaved well. There was a violin, a cello,
and the wine was good, for once.
the next time I go there, I’ll bring a kite.
::: ::: :::
[Picture: Somewhere out of town by reading_is_dangerous] (Picture taken earlier this summer, before the loss of my camera)
I searched on Wikipedia for Mancala, and found, “The first evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board and several rock cuts found in Aksumite Ethiopia in Matara (now in Eritrea) and Yeha (in Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th century AD.”
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