I haven't written in a while because the crazy schedule seems to follow me everywhere,
I guess it's not just a US thing it's already my second nature.
I have to make it to every event, try to see all of my relatives, the most lost and forgotten friendseven if that means waking up in the morning looking like a monster after
only four hours of sleep and trying to put as much "lemon-aid" on my eyes as possible
to cover the bags under them.....
So in my last blog I asked this question about being a diasporan or an Armenian and what exactly I was and surprisingly in this past few weeks that question has been popping up everywhere....
Starting from interviews to radio or newspaper
Journalist: "Do you consider yourself more Yerevanci or Amerikaci...." me: I consider myself both..... journalist: "No but if you had to choose one...."
My new found friends: But you don't look armenian at all..... You look hispanic.....
The random lady at the church who asked one our interns to be her children's godfather: "You don't look Armenian"
me: Yes, I am Japanese and Hispanic.....
Lady: I thought soooooooo
our coordinator: You have an accent when you speak armenian you don't speak the Yerevanci barbar......
coordinator: Bayc du mern es.... (as in you're one of us, very contradicting opinions coming from one person)
coordinator: Sofia's lived in America too long now she's a feminist. ( when I climbed on top of a tank without help)
unknown: but you're not american, you're armenian, you're a stanci......
relatives: you don't fit in, you dress differently....
relatives: you look really american in this picture... ( I have no idea what this one means)
There are many more examples of this woderful phenomenon, I call "The america stanci mexica jap phenomenon".
So since even one person can't decide for himself/herself what am I really.....
I have decided long time ago that it doesn't really matter what these people think, what
matters to me is what I think and what I feel.
I think I am both and I think being a mix is the best, I love it and I wouldn't change it....
I get the best of both cultures, I am very thankful to my parents for bringing me to Texas and giving all of the opportunities which I could have never had in Armenia....
I am also grateful to US because in many aspects it is a wonderful country with many opportunities..... It really is "the land of opportunity".
I love Armenia, it is my home, I have a special connection to Yerevan, which I can't really explain with words.... Even after man stare at you as if you're the last girl left on this earth,
even after taxi drivers try to rip you off I still love it.....
There is not one choice I am both a diasporan and a hayastanci......
Also, it doesn't really matter if you are a diasporan, a parska hay, a beiruta hay, a erord masci,
a kharabaghci, a rusa hay, a goriseci, or pink with purple polka dots, as long as you feel armenian
you like the culture and you want to call yourself an armenian none of the other things really matter.....
Really if all of the armenians in the world stopped one day and considered our wonderful yet very sad and long history they would understand that most of the armenian problems came and come from within. The root of our problems is division, and Armenians divided can not and will not stand (I don't remember who said that but some genius has already told this to our wise but yet stubborn people).
If you tell someone you're a Gyumreci/Lennaganci that already tells a person who you are, some people I've met do not want to deal with Lennagancis others love them.....
None of them really ever stops and thinks let me see what kind of person he/she is, no Lennaganciya u verj dranov hartzuh pakvec, urish ban chenq uzum lsenq (they are lennagancis and that says everything).
This weekend we were in Karabagh and on the way stopped in Goris, everyone really felt the
difference between Yerevancis and Gorisecis or Kharabaghcis. The capital of Karabagh Stepanakert was very clean although it was not as rich and diverse as Yerevan but the streets were much cleaner and the people were very curteous and nice.... It's not that in Yerevan you don't meet nice people but here even the waitresses were nice....... Now why do Yerevancis consider them a different bread of people I don't really know, so what if they may speak a dialect not similar to the Yerevanci armenian they are still Armenian.
Gorisecis also speak a different dialect, but they are as armenian as you can get.... Goris was a
beautiful city surounded my mountains covered with forests, in the words of one of our interns "These are really the places you fall in love with".
So over the weekend our schedule was pretty tight. Basically most of our trip came down to two words "eat" and "bus".....
The trip to Karabagh is about seven hours but we stopped in Goris and spent the night there before heading to Stepanakert.
The bus was a new kind of roller coaster which none of us have experienced before. So this roller coaster starts off pretty calmly and then starts hitting you against the walls and the ceiling, you have to make a huge effort not to fall out on the floor or get brain damage by hitting your head on the ceiling. After we were shaken and stirred this way for about two hours we arrived to Karahung (armenian version of stonehenge), after about ten minutes and some original yet quick pictures we headed to Devil's bridge, some more shaking, snack eating and sleeping later we arrived at Devil's bridge an amazing place which reminded me a lot of Sydney (Australia). Some more eating, joking, singing and napping and we arrived at Tatev monastery, one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. A huge monastery on top of a mountain, wrapped in forests with the most amazing view, a library, a bakery and numerous secret passageway designed to get you away from the enemies when the monastery is surounded. The whole trip was a long string of events all happening in one day. Before going to Karahunj we had stopped for lunch and also saw Shaqe waterfall. I don't think I have ever had such a rich schedule full of so many amazing places and all during three days......
to be continued.........
Oh P.S. before I forget I just want to write down some main events which I don't want to forget.
Meeting with minister of Economy visit to Parajanov museum.
Meeting with minister of the Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan.
Meeting with the director of Huntsman building company.
Visit to Gyumri.
Golden Apricot Film Festival
Meeting with Armenian Young Women's association
Interviews
Meeting with the vice qaghaqapet of Yerevan
Visit to Sevan
Waterworld
Meeting with the US ambassador
I can't think of anymore, but I'll add them once I remember
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