Post Dos

So hard to get used to the fact that I have access to a computer only once or twice a week.....
Anyhoo, some of my blog followers have told me that my blog seemed very pessimistic and I seemed upset. I would like to assure everyone that I was not mad at all. I am very used to the ins and outs of Armenia so I am not upset at all, I am actually very excited by the improvements taking place in Yerevan, which I mentioned in my previous blog, although briefly.
Since I do not write my blog every day I would like each of my blogs to have a theme. This week my theme has been "The return to Armenia".
On Monday and Tuesday we met with Arpi Vartanian (the country director of Armenian Assembly of America in Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh). Arpi came to live in Armenia several years ago during the "cold and dark" years when most of the Armenians did not have electricity or water in their homes. She has come to Yerevan with candles in her suitcase and has been here ever since. You can discuss anything with her starting with clothes and ending with the security issues facing Armenia. She is one of those people who has proved that it is possible to live and work in Armenia.

On Monday we had lunch at a cafe and on Tuesday we visited Parvana ( a restaurant in the Hrazdan valley). The restaurant had a dance floor and was built to resemble an Armenian village. The singers had very well trained voices and sang Armenian, Russian and Arabic songs. The song "Im axper'" (my brother/friend) was ordered at least 16 times by Edo and his friends from Iran and by Grish and his "axperner" :)
There was a belly dancer who performed well but I still think the star of the night was a little girl in a pink polka dot dress who did not leave the dance floor for a single minute. She danced to slow songs and fast songs and she enjoyed herself so much that everyone wanted to dance just by watching her. As armenians say "havesov er paroom".
We also had our first Armenian lesson on Tuesday I went by to help out as an assistant teacher.
I was assigned a student and so far I've taught her seven letters, several words and her first written armenian sentence. In the past I've taught children that were 6 - 8 years old the armenian alphabet and spoken language. Although I loved my children and they were really smart, they did not have the patience to sit through a two hour lesson or do their homework most of the time. It is so different to teach someone who wants to learn and is not running circles around the table :) Also my birthright (depi hayq) student is old enough to understand why is it important to learn this rare language that only a few million people speak in the world.

Yesterday evening we met the director of Viva Cell MTC (one of the largest mobile phone companies in Armenia). The head of Viva Cell Armenia is also an armenian who has decided to return to Armenia and has moved here with his family. As we walked into Viva Cell I realized that to this day I had not seen any company in Armenia that was built or run so well . The building was clean, it had large meeting rooms, each floor could only be accessed with a security card, the floors had spacious offices and large windows, there were security cameras in the hallways and antennas which were for wireless internet. If I did not know better I would think I was in Germany or France (not in America, because the style was too European).
We had a meeting with Mr. Yerikian (CEO of Viva Cell) and he told us about his experiences. The main message of his speech was that we can and should return to our Motherland. My main concern was the corruption in Armenia and how Viva Cell was able to overcome the corruption. Mr. Yerikian believes that if you are clean (as in you're not trying to cut any corners or bribe anyone to get ahead), have a good lawyer and you pay your taxes every year there is nothing to be afraid of.

Mr. Yerikian also discussed an interesting topic which he calls "corporate responsibility".
When I mentioned that all of my relatives and friends really like Viva Cell and wanted to thank him for all the "charitable" work he had done, the CEO of Viva Cell corrected me. He said, "What we do is not charity. We call it coroporate responsibility. We believe that as a corporation which operates in Armenia, we have a responsiblity of developing this country and giving back to it's people." ( This may not be his exact quote but this is a short summarized version of it) I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. In the US I am very used to the individualistic approach, no one really thinks that bettering the society around them will also benefit them. I usually have heated arguments with people trying to explain to people (mostly in terms of healthcare and insurance issues) that if everyone lives well around you ( has less health problems, is well educated.... etc) then you will benefit also. There are less murders, crimes and so on......
Viva Cell has done so much and has been so successful because as they say they "BELIEVE".....

Last week we saw a play in the Toumanian Puppet Theater called the "Aunt from Paris". The director of the play Narek Durian lived in France and has only recently returned to Armenia. The focus of the play was also the return of Armenians to their Motherland. It was a hillarious comedy but had a very important theme.

I think my fingers are about to cry so I will end this post, but before I end it I want to put out a question that I will hopefully further develop in my next post.
Who am I? A diasporan Armenian or an Armenian? An american Armenian or a Hayastanci?
( I was born in Yerevan lived here till I was fourteen. Then I moved to Texas and have lived there for the past nine years. According to my armenian relatives I am an American, according to anyone you ask in the US I am an Armenian.........) So which one is it really.... or am I just suspended over the Atlantic ocean somewhere????

This was post numero dos from armo-holic

toodles

Armo holic in Yerevan blog one

My summer has finally started and with it my blog. On June 12th I boarded a plane in Houston and flew to Los Angeles and thus began my summer adventures. This summer I am an Armenian Assembly of America Intern in Yerevan. I have been in armenia for the past week and have had a flood of new experiences.
So what do interns in Armenia do? Do we really work????
If you leave it to our employers than the answer would be NO. They know that you are an intern from America and all they want you to do is drink coffee all day, show up to work late, leave early and basically do nothing. Now this situtation would be ideal if we hadn't come here to know what it's like to work and live in Armenia. I am sorry but I am not here for two months to drink coffee with chocolates all day. No, I do not want to skip a day or two and yes I do want to work just like everyone else.
Armenia is a developing country.... Not everything here is perfect, it is not the ideal homeland that many people who haven't lived in Armenia imagine.
Several days ago I visited the Yerevan State University Chemistry and Physics department. The buildings were old and dilapidated. You could see that there was an effort to make it look presentable. The walls were freshly painted and there were some new desks in the classrooms, but the overall state of the building was terrible. The stairs were broken, there was trash all around the buildings, some of the windows were cracked and there were some posters on the walls which have been there since Soviet times. The cafe we went to down the street had brand new tables and chairs, a fountain in the middle which was shaped as a ship and a spotlessly clean floor.
Now this drastic difference leaves you thinking, does anyone here really care about our scientists, artists, poets and our Universities in general. Of course it's much more important to have a beautiful cafe next door then a good learning environment for our nation's brightest students........
Although I see the dificullties that Armenia faces today, I am an optimist and I believe that the development of this country will just take time. A long time probably but I believe that it will happen.
You can't help but notice the improvements that have already happened.
For several years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we did not have electricity, heating or water in Yerevan. You can imagine if we were freezing in our apartments in the winter and got water only for one hour a day, what was going on in the villages outside of the capital.
Now there is electricity 24 hours a day in most of the homes. Water is still a problem in certain areas but most of Yerevan has water all day. Many organizations have helped out the villages and provided them with new equipment to make sure that they can work the land and feed their families. There are organizations which go to different villages and have classes with the local children and also have tranining sessions with the local teachers. There are also organizations such as the SOS Children's Village which helps orphans and abused children.
On Wednesday June 17th Birthright (Depi Hayq) organized a visit for us to the village. Each house in the village had eight children and they had a SOS mother. The children called her mom and referred to each other as brother and sister. It was very touching to see especially with the younger children who would not leave the side of their "sisters" or "mothers". Each of the kids was very proud to show their talents, some of them had amazing painitings, many could sing or dance and some played the piano. Villages such as the SOS village help develop the talents in these children and also encourage them to do something with their lives. If it wasn't for such organizations most of these orphans would not be able to afford a college education and would end up working in a grocery store or driving a taxi.
Speaking of taxis, the most educated taxi drivers in world are probably in Armenia. I remember taking a taxi last year while I was in Yerevan and my taxi driver was an engineer who had many years of experience, however since he was older and could not support his family by working as an engineer he became a taxi driver. Another taxi driver was a jeweler, some were chemists others were architects. None of these people really want to drive taxis but they do it to put food on the table.
Waiters are also an interesting breed of people. Not to generalize but waiters in Yerevan will probably get really high marks if anyone was to take a "rudeness" poll.
On Thursday we visited a restaurant called "Shirvan". A group of us walked in at about 11:45p.m. and ordered several drinks. The waitress told us that the they will not serve alcohol and food after midnight but that we didn't have to leave at midnight. At 12:15 the owner came up to us and asked us to leave. We had not even finished our drinks. When we got upset about it, he told us that the waitress had warned us that they closed at midnight. After about 15 minutes of arguing we payed our bill and left the place. You would think that she wouldn't sit us at 11:45 but it's Yerevan and apparently we were supposed to sit there for only half an hour.
There are the exceptions to the rule and it really makes your day when your waiter/waitress treats you well in this city........

So these have been my thoughts and adventures this week.
This was the first report of an armo- holic from Yerevan........

P.S. I would like to note that I am not an english major and that I am a total beginner in blog writing. So don't judge my grammar too harshly.