Poshwanderer Wants Books!!

And so Poshwanderer is resurrected for now.

All in the name of a good cause. . . 

As a Birthright Armenia alum, I've joined forces with the Birthright Alumni Committee here in Los Angeles to work on a project for collecting children's books and sending them back to Armenia. We are working with the Civilitas Foundation in Yerevan, as part of the Library Renovation Initiative. The foundation is working to renovate and upgrade ten libraries (one in each province of the country) in order to transform them into true community centers to foster intellectual stimulation and greater civic development. My role in the project is to help create "Children's Corners" in these libraries, where kids can go to learn, interact, hang out, and just have fun. Being the bookworm that I am, this was the perfect project for me.

Our goal is to collect over 1000 books in English, Armenian, or Russian in order to stock all of these libraries. Our first event was a book drive in Los Angeles this past weekend. We had a wonderful turnout, lots of great food, fun, and conversation. We collected about 300 books. That's enough to furnish one library. One down, only nine more to go!

If anyone would like to contribute by donating books, or if you would like more information, please feel free to get in touch with me at sdauniversal@aol.com

Here is a link to Birthright Armenia's Facebook page, if you would like to find out more about the book event or the organization (the Birthright Armenia experience is highly recommended, I promise you wont regret it!):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141250&id=200989853324&ref=mf

Astral- the armo club

One other thing that I just had to see here was the Opera club. This club is in the basement of the Opera house, and it is supposed to be the ghettoest mirror club in all of Yerevan. Thanks to my luck, we go and they tell us that they close at 11:30. Yeah right. So we detoured to another place, Astral. This club is equally ghetto (but it has no  mirrors to dance in front of).  I just so badly wanted to see a mirror club, but anyway.

The club was full of high school kids- most of them on senior trip from America. Very entertaining. They even has belly dancing and break dancing shows. Who does that in a club?? 

It was an experience nonetheless.

We even became local celebs featured on a paparazzi site-check it out:

http://paparazzi.am/newblog/?p=3448#more-3448

Mokka patisserie

You can get a bit of Paris in Yerevan at this patisserie. The dessert just looks so beautiful here, it tastes pretty good too. But my favorite part was the Alice in Wonderland decor, I just wanted to take the place home with.

If you're ever there go for the peach trifle. It sounds weird but it's really good. 

On an unrelated note, I've become such a local that when the waiter hands me an English menu he says : "Vochinch vor kez el em angleren talis (Is it ok if I give you an English menu?). Ya!

Cascade

The area surrounding Cascade has to be one of my favorite neighborhoods in Yerevan, because  you have such a beautiful view of the city. It's like a small corner of Europe in Yerevan, with cobblestone streets, lots of statues, and of course the Cascade steps. Unfortunately, the Cascade project is not complete because the developers ran out of money- but they made a great start. Hopefully one day, they will complete the project and it will house a modern art museum all the way at the top!

Phoenicia

If you ever need to propose to someone while in Yerevan, Phoenicia is the place to do it. The restaurant is like a charming little cottage, located right next to the Cascade- perfect location. The cuisine is Armenian with a French flair. By Yerevan standards it is definitely on the more expensive side, but it's well worth it. 

The service is impeccable, the food is creative, and the wine is gigantic. I was served with one of the largest wine glasses I've ever seen. It was so cool. It's just too bad the restaurant was completely empty.

(Images from top: the outer door to the restaurant, the empty interior- hey at least we had the place to ourselves, Ani- my fabulous dinner companion, the mediterranean platter,  my imam baldi (an eggplant dish), the huge wine glass).

Malkhas Jazz Club

Yerevan has some really hip places...for example, Malkhas Jazz Club, named after the most famous Jazz musician in Armenia. This one is the brand new location, done up in a completely American style, with glass walls, bamboo, and showcases of their own brandy. 

The place offered cigars, cocktails, some really awesome ice- cream and great music. If you're ever in Yerevan, don't miss this place.