My Home in Tbilisi

Alik Grigoryan writes in his blog.

We are all born and grow up in our paternal home and we get used to the culture of our fatherland, but in the course of time we come across with the cultures of our neighboring countries. During these cross cultural communications we leave tiny particles of our souls in another country and bring particles from their souls to our country.

A few days ago I exchanged a particle of my soul with a particle of Misha's soul. Misha is my a citizen Georgia, our neighboring country. Our school gave us an opportunity to go to Tbilisi to have an eco-lesson with our Georgian peers there. But the aim of our visit was not only conducting an eco-lesson. It was also aimed at strengthening Armenian-Georgian public educational bridges and getting to know Georgian culture better.    

It was a long way but we didn't get bored as we all had great expectations to see a new unknown to us world. On getting to the school we went into a classroom to meet our Georgian friends who were to host us in their families during the days of our visit to Tbilisi. A boy of about my age came up to me and said, “Здравствуй, я Миша - Hello, I am Misha.” I at once realized that it was a handshaking of friendship. We went to Vadzisubani from Havlabar. On entering their house I felt I was in Armenia at our home. An atmosphere of Armenian soul prevailed there. At first I was introduced to his father Mr. Suren, and then to his sister Ilona and mother Nana. I had taken Armenian gata (sweet pie) with me , and when I gave it to Mr. Suren, he ate it with so much pleasure that it seemed he was breathing the air of his native country. The atmosphere in the family was so positive that I felt as if I was at home. I was impressed by the fact that they had preserved their traditions and remained Armenians after living so many years in Georgia. It was a decent home of an Armenian workman. Now I am waiting for especially Misha’s arrival to host him in my family in Yerevan.

Translated into English by Tigran Abrahamyan and Artak Nshanyan