Kapan, page 2

Kapan Class

Once again, a new location brings a whole new class dynamic. Like the other classes, this group was quick to grasp the basics of web page building and managed to put together pretty interesting class projects in only a few days. In addition to teachers, there were also a psychiatrist and a hospital administrator. A number of students came all the way from the city of Goris, about an hour away.

In each workshop, students built small websites that were to be posted at the end of the week at armeniaweb.biz. Many of the students concentrated on topics close to home: the sites and the history of the Syunik region. Combined with the links from the Gyumri and Vanadzor classes, we may have the most unique guide to Armenia on the web! But we also had sites on local schools and hospitals, hiking and even Eminem... (Unfortunately, we had a little trouble with our internet connection in Kapan, so we weren't able to post the sites from those classes yet.)

Mountains outside Kapan photos of the fabulous class barbecue to come!

Where this class really distinguished itself was in cooking! The students organized an excursion into the mountains, renting a bus and bringing all the food for a fabulous Armenian barbecue. I was so impressed by their cooking skills. In addition to roast pork, they roasted eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes, and served it all as a big traditional Armenia feast, complete with lavosh bread, fresh cheese, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, and vodka, of course. I told them they really had to create a website devoted to Armenian barbecue.

I have no photos to post of this fantastic dinner--I left the memory chip out of my digital camera! Lia lent me her camera--which uses this old-fashioned material called "film"!--and has promised to send me the photos when developed. I can't wait.

Gevorg and Jean After the certificate ceremony Gevorg was our local tech guru

The highlight of each class was the certificate ceremony on the last day. Avik produced these really nice laminated Certificates of Completion, with signatures from me and the Embassy's Public Affairs Officer and a nice U.S. seal. I think these certificates meant a lot to the students, and they certainly earned them. It takes a lot of work to go from zero web design knowledge to building your own website in 6 days, especially when you consider that the classes were slowed down by the need for translation.

I am really proud of what we accomplished in these three short weeks. Big thanks and kudos to Avik Petrosyan for peerless organizing of people, locations, hardware & software (with a lot of help from Ani Khachatrian), to Vahagn Petrosyan and Lia Avetisyan for making it possible for me to communicate, and to the tireless Aram, our driver, who logged 7000 km during the three weeks between transporting me and traveling with Avik to all the locations 2 or 3 times to be sure everything was set up.

Go to Kapan / Page 3