On Saturday morning, bright and early at 8am, I went to Pilibos (Armenian School in Hollywood) where the Cleanup was going to begin. There was a sea of orange shirts in the school yard, which made me feel better - I wasn't the only one who had woken up at 6:30am on a Saturday to come clean streets. About 400 people ended up showing up by 9-9:30, and after a few speeches (Der Hayr praying for us, City Councilman Eric Garcetti's message, Armenia's Consul's message and the AYF's message) we were lined up, split in 3 big groups, and sent off to different parts of Little Armenia carrying rakes, brooms, trashbags, shovels, gloves, and masks.

Overall, the event went REALLY well. No major problems...and I have to say that it was quite fun! Most of the people on the street were of course Armenian and were glad to see us clean their sidewalk. :) At one point, we were inspired by a homeless sev dude to use a shopping cart to carry all our products and water, instead of having to lug them around...(see pic). It got REALLY interesting when one of the little kids in our group, Eric (see his shirt), got hold of the megaphone and entertained us by singing "Jan Bales Bales", "Yerevani Aghchignere", and other Tata/Aram songs. He closed the Cleanup for us with "Mer Hayrenik". Cute kid!

After the Cleanup, we drove to Fresno to go to the AYF's Harout Barahantes there. The night went really well and of course, Harout was as entertaining as always - except I don't really like him without his beard.... it's not Harout.

Busy weekend! Now... I'm getting ready for another busy week!

TSUH! :)~