On Sunday an international philanthropic bazaar was organized at Marriott Hotel. It was supported by the association of diplomats’ wives and by first lady Bella Kocharyan. The income will be spent to take care of the needs of women and children in Armenia. During the “international philantropical bazaar” the embassies of other countries in Armenia presented their souvenirs and cuisines. First lady Bella Kocharyan was in the center of attention. The wife of the RA foreign affairs minister, Nani Oskanyan was keeping her company. Nani Oskanyan was delighted and said to the first lady: “The bazaar is better this year”. Bella Kocharyan was buying small and beatiful things. The first lady bought (for 10.000 dram) a yellow scarf from the French exhibition and a new year tree toy from the stand of Nina Hovnanyan and presented it to a journalist from “Republic of Armenia” newspaper. She was buying souvenirs and presenting them to people there.
The meeting of Bella Kocharyan and Marco Climente (the wife of the ambassador to Italy) was impressive. Mrs. Climente hugged the first lady and asked her to approach their desk, then she put a furry scarf on her neck and started to walk in the hall like a model to show how beautiful it was. This active lady was trying to make everyone sure that their souvenirs and goods were the best there and tried to gain the attention of the people. Mrs. Kocharyan bought a big book and hand made pillows from the Thailand exhibition. The wife of the ambassador of Iran was sad, she was sitting near their stand in a sad mood. During our conversation with her she said that she enjoyed staying in Armenia, because we followed traditions too. A cook from India said that he liked Armenian “tolma” very much. Anyway, while the wives of diplomats were buying souvenirs, wives of famous businessmen were trying the couisine of different countries in the hall and were discussing the styles of Bella Kocharyan and Nani Oskanyan. While the bazaar made us recall the open market for souvenirs, tha hall reminded us about the environment where there is gossip: there were even some people who claimed that this bazaar had political purposes and things like that.