BLoGGaGE til now…
BLoGGaGE
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
This is basically the first time I’ve ever written something for someone else to read. Here I go; we arrived in Yerevan early this morning after 2, what seemed to be never ending flights. Just our luck we was stuck on the flights with quite possibly the most annoying girl in the world, ever and Forever. Everyone jokes that she’s my girlfriend now, which isn’t funny… I think it’s because I had to sit basically right next to her while she spewed obnoxious and irrelevant nonsense FOR 10 HOURS.
We flew into Yerevan’s Airport which gave a clear view of Mt. Ararat, arriving in Yerevan’s newly built terminal was a surprising experience because by far it was the cleanest and nicest airport I’ve seen. Shortly thereafter we received our 21-day Visas and headed out on our bus towards Central Yerevan where we would see our apartments.
All the guys are put together in an apartment that’s on the corner of Nalbandian St. and Toumanian St. which is a five minute walk from essentially everything in the city. Our Windows face the street with a balcony that views other apartment complexes, shops, and is about 2 to 3 blocks away from The Opera which serves as a major social center for nightlife and cafes in Yerevan.
In my first day in Yerevan I went with my CYMA group to the Post office and Phone call center to call home, I spoke with my mother for about 5 minutes to let them know that we arrived safely. After this I went back to our apartment took a much needed shower and got ready for Lunch. Surprisingly my group decided to eat hamburgers and fries at a diner in Yerevan which surprisingly had a California Theme. Next we went to get some Armenian Soorj at a nearby cafe and went to the market to pick up some water. The next couple hours we spent resting until we went out to celebrate Sarah’s 20th Birthday at the Sayat Nova Restaurant. So our first day wasn’t the craziest day but I had a great time just acquainting myself with where I’m going to be living for the 2 months of my life. Cheers.
Vaughn
Thursday, 21 June 2007
And we’re back…So CYMA group 2 arrived this morning and we had some excellent French toast to celebrate their arrival. I’m gonna try and make every single BLoGGaGE different than that of the one before it, creating the ultimate unique BLoGGaGE… And so it goes.
What I expect to gain:
1. A greater appreciation of Life… so it goes
2. A religious awakening… so it goes
3. A greater sense of Who I am… so it goes
4. Higher proficiency in speaking/reading/writing Armenian… and so it goes
5. Hackey sack skills through the roof.
I’ll think of more soon…
Currently Listening: John Mayer - The Heart of Life
Vaughngis Jan
Monday, 25 June 2007
Today marks the beginning of the Internships for the CYMA groupies that are staying 2 months. Mike, Serop, Adrianne and I are all working at Nerses Mets Medical Center. As of right now I have no idea what to expect or what the working conditions are going to be. I’m pretty anxious to get working, to see what I can teach but most importantly learn. Over the past 4 or 5 days its been interesting and alot of fun trying to acquaint myself with a totally different style of life. Well anyways we’re supposed to be leaving for Nerses Mets in like 8 minutes exactly, but until then I’ll just keep writing.
I’ve been MIA from BLoGGaGE Land for a few days but let me give you the quick halftime recap. We took a Yerevan tour to visit to Mayr Hyastan which is basically the equivalent of America’s Statue of Liberty, the statue sits atop a Huge hillside overlooking Yerevan facing Mt. Ararat on this day there was a cloudy view of the summit but most days the clouds just burn away and reveal that peak.
We visited Sassooni Tavit, St. Sarkis which is the headquarters of the Diocese of Armenia; we also visited the Yerepuni Fortress, and Zvartnots which was the ruins of the first circular built church in Armenia.
Last but certainly not least was my favorite stop of the day, Holy Echmiadzin, The mother church of Armenia, the oldest and First Armenian Church, building began in 301 AD and was finished in 2 years built atop a pagan church and for obvious reasons. Symbolically that Christianity in Armenia is above Paganism.
Ok, So a quick aside, I just got back from my first day of getting acquainted with my internship at St. Nerses the Great Medical Center. It defiantly was not what I expected; I expected to see a run down hospital with operations going on in the hallway. Even though this would be humbling and somewhat fun, the place was much cleaner and much organized. Organized into 7 floors ranging from Proctology to Orthopedic Surgery. It turns out that each of the four us interns will be cycling through each floor to get a taste of what each field entails. After this point we’ll be able to stay on the floor that we most enjoy. It seems like we may get some great opportunities to learn and observe surgeries which would be the coolest thing, ever.
Ok, sorry about that, but back to Holy Echmiadzin, we met with the Vehapar (Catholicos of All Armenians), which was exciting. I’ll be honest I was very nervous waiting for him to come into the room and talk to us because he’s a HUGE deal. He came in, we all stood up showing our respect and he sat down and spoke to us about how happy he was that our youth was involved in coming back to the homeland and becoming closer to God through this spiritual journey. Following his departure from the room we were given a tour of the Vehapar’s home at Echmiadzin. Tapestries Covered the walls of the room that we sat in to talk to Vehapar and these Tapestries marked the most important moments in Armenian History. There are 3 of the most important moments with their respective Tapestries. I only remember 2 of the 3. 1)Armenian Resistance to Persian infiltration to force us to abandon Christianity taking place sometime in the 5th Century 2)Mesrob Mashtots creates the Armenian Alphabet, this unites and gives the Armenian nation a sense of culture and definition, making us a unique people. We entered Echmiadzin and it was by far the most amazing church I’ve seen, to see Badarak in action on that next Sunday was amazing along with the ordination of 7 priests. The Choir was the most amazing sound I’ve ever heard, it was like a filet mignon steak but for your ears, and it was church hymns. That probably mad no sense, it made perfect sense to me, it was perfect and full and I got the chills. The final part of our tour of Echmiadzin was the tour of the museum that is built into Echmiadzin; I like to call it the Chamber of the Secrets to Life. It had the most amazing artifacts I’ve ever seen, I will not tell you what they were, and These are things that need to be seen with your eyes. I didn’t even take pictures, it’s like that.
I guess that’s all I gotta say about that…
Most Current Meal: Lahkmajoon on Tumanyan st.
Because,
Vaughn Eyvazian
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
First Day Of Work: Insane in the Membrane
So today us Interns started at St. Nerses Mets Medical Center. I was working in the Anesthesia Floor and Post Op Recovery Ward. Today I saw a Total of 4 Surgeries: 2 Proctology Surgeries (no description needed), 1 Surgery on the Mouth through the gums to clear the sinuses, and The best one was surgery on Ovarian Cancer to remove 2 tumors, one the size of a lemon the other the size of a Grapefruit. Yeah, think about that again, ITS HUGE. I’m in awe of what I just witnessed, because no one in the states would be able to get this opportunity the doctors for the most part were walking me through the entire procedure and they even let me help them with some of the Pre Op preparations i.e.: Insertion of IV and Insertion of a breathing tube once sedated. It was a great experience I’m just excited that I have two more months of it. The nurses that I worked with were so nice they even made me lunch and coffee they were very accepting and understood that my Hyeren wasn’t up to Par, so one of the nurses is bringing me an alphabet book so I can learn to read and write. We’ll see what surprises the future holds for me.
Today Reminded Me Of: The “AssMan” Episode from Seinfeld
PS: Tonight I went to Cheers; I don’t know how to explain it other than it’s an underground dancing cave, and a place where everybody knows your name. You can always expect to hear some Tata.
Biyahhhhhh,
Vaughnnnnnnnnnnn
Sunday, 1 July 2007
Just For Now
As we drove our bus through the Armenian countryside I began to realize what everyone says about your first trip to Armenia. Someone once said that your trip to Armenia is the mark in your life. From this point I will only know life before Armenia and life after Armenia. This one is for the five kids outside our house in Yerevan that treat us as their own, sixteen and seventeen already smoking cigarettes, this one is for the boy who clung to the metal poles that hold up that clump of grapevines, blending in quietly and carefully picking sour grapes. Keep in mind he’s about twenty feet in the air not an ounce of fear as he barely makes it down. This one reminds me of my dad, I’ve only seen pictures and heard stories of what he was like when he was a kid but in this instant this boy looks at me and I looked back. Something clicked, something so simple as someone picking grapes outside allows me to make my connection. I watch him from our kitchen window. This one is for the family that was walking up the incredibly inclined hill up to Datev full of smiles as our bus descended. I’ve realized why this place is amazing, I never believed it before I came but I know now. Our trip to Karabagh, the trip through Armenia inspires me. I know that everything from the Dirt on the side of the road, the Thousands of trees covering our Landscape, the bugs, and the birds; my entire heritage. My people have explored these lands, touched the earth in this spot, climbed this cliff in that spot…
The most important thing I wanted to talk about was the lesson I’ve learned; I’ve learned that life here is simple, passing by makeshift homes with makeshift walls and seeing the fullest smiles I’ve seen in my life. You don’t get these smiles anywhere else, this is the truth in this land. Life is simple, Life is good, and my people love life. I’d like to say that my grandpa was the one to teach me to love life, without ever saying a word about it. Never sweat the small stuff because the people here don’t even have complexities in their life to fret upon. And its good, and something as simple as a smile is definite proof of the true appreciation of life in Armenia. I always tell myself in a difficult situation things could always be worse and it helps me appreciate the important things and keeps me optimistic. I’d say they live the same way here. If there was a lesson I could tell everyone to learn here in Armenia is that they should adopt this mentality. I’m realizing more and more the less I need and want things in life, because right now I have it all. This God given opportunity has so far been the best time of my life. Yesterday we were in Shushi and we saw the cliffs where the fighting between 17 Armenian soldiers and the Turks and Azerbaijanis began. The cliffs were amazing and truly provided the great panoramic view of the lush nature that covers this Land. On the way back to the bus we ran into some kids playing soccer, instantly joining, and playing a game of soccer with them was such a rewarding experience because it was spontaneous. I ended up being on the team with the kids and learning their names after they came up to me to introduce themselves was exciting. I tried my best to give them the best opportunities to score goals and we did, at least 4 or 5 using awesome soccer skills. Regardless seeing these kids score goals and scream GOOOALLLLLL and run around and their smiles and just being there in the moment and giving back really makes you put life into perspective because without moments like this, how is it possible to live life. Moments like those give purpose, give passion, give inspiration to write, to teach, to help and just be happy living life. So thinking about it now, this one is for Miran, Gevork, Garnick, Hovsep and Eric the futbol club of Shushi and how they brightened up my life. Giving me a inspiration to preserve the quality and happiness you find in your life, because its there, its in everyone, its just up to you where you choose to look and how you interpret the gifts God gives to you. The gift given to me was in the form of five kids who probably don’t know life outside of Armenia or Shushi for that matter, but know how to play futbol. I’m kind of tapped out of words right now and I’m getting kind of car sick from this bus ride but I want to leave you with this. Life is a Precious gift, Don’t fret everything happens for a reason and everything works out in the end. If it was meant to be meant then it’ll happen, if not… Don’t sweat the small stuff because miracles happen every day and in various forms, if you’re too busy worrying about small complications in life you could miss these golden opportunities. Much Love. Peace.
Just for now,
Vaughn Eyvazian
July 5th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hey Vaughn!
What you wrote is like Filet Mignon steak for our minds - amazing writing that is inspirational, truly touching, and makes those of us who can’t be in Armenia with you all extremely proud to be represented by somebody like you and your colleagues there with you.
Like you said - don’t sweat the small stuff - and SURELY don’t worry about the world coming to an end today…it is already tomorrow in Australia!
Keep living it up and soaking up all that you can whilst in Armenia…so it goes.
Cheers, hovig
July 5th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Hello Vaughn
Your words touched us deeply! Keep up the great blogs son. They are part of your memories and will be treasured. We are glad you are having a fulfilling time!
Regards,
Mom and Dad
July 8th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Vaughn your blogs are awesome! I am soo glad you are having a good time! I wish I was there, and I wish everyone would have the same viewpoints as you! Keep up the great work!
July 9th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Vaughn…your bloggage’s made me cry..I fell in love with Armenia and I am glad you guys are getting to continur this wonderful experience.
July 9th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Yekhbayr Vaughn,
This is a definately a great read. It’s good to see you are having such a fun and enriching time in Hayastan. Reading this makes me want to visit some time very soon. Take care and keep up the posts.
AEKDB
Armen
July 9th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Vaughn…….you sound just like Serop…What a great read!!!
Serop’s mom
July 9th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Vaughn,
Such inspirations, such hope, such fablous words and amazin observations. I have been wishing to go for years, but am waiting for the little ones to grow, but wow! Tears just flowed as I have read your Blog. Sensational, awesome and a chill up my spine.
Keep it up and enjoy! We may have a fabulous M.D in our future in you.
Cousins from MA
Susan (Bergoudian), Kim Eric, Drtad and Deran Hazarvartian
July 9th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Hey my sweet nephew Vanig,
I am in awe of how you have become such an awesome young man. You keep surprising us with all your hidden talents just busting loose…first the lead role in Hair Spray…playing the guitar and singing…terrific by the way…and now a very masterful writing with deep heart and emotion. So cool that you are connecting with the people, the history, the heritage and finding yourself. Amazed at how much visibility and experience you are gaining at the medical center. Take it all in and appreciate every moment as you are! These are the times of your life…it’s all about right choices…love…peace…action…and you are doing it all. Enjoy and God Bless! Relish the moments with your cousin Lena and all your wonderful friends.
Love, Hugs and kisses,
Auntie Hasmik and Uncle Dikran
July 10th, 2007 at 6:23 am
Hi Vaughik Jan~
Love the blog and sharing your experiences in Armenia with you…shad cooleh!!!
Everything we have loved and known about who you are….shines through your blog.
Have fun and enjoy the rest of your journey!!!
Barevs from all of us nana-jan! xoxoxo!
July 10th, 2007 at 11:22 am
vaughn i love you. i’m so proud of you and can’t wait to hear the stories. live it upp brothaaa
regards and much love,
mel
July 10th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Chad…teach meee!!! Man your awesome. Armenia is a very special place, but more then anything dude you get too see some heavy duty action at the Med Center…NICE.. aight stay safe and dont fall for any armenian BS..if they say Nazook, they might be talking about a girl haha.
Peace brother
SerujAAA
July 12th, 2007 at 8:08 am
dear vanig apper
Your blog is wonderful.its realy from deep of your heart. When I`m reading ur blog and that fablous words that u use in it I remember a book that is read it many years ago. The author of that book have some experience like u .he was visiting his homeland(armenia) for the first time.and I think it would be interesting for u to read that book when u are in Armenia.its name Journey to Ararat. By:, Friedrich Parrot(an American writer).Ur writing is amazing and its full of emotions. Reading this makes me become proud of being Armenian and have such e beautiful homeland. I tell to my family about ur blog and they are also interested about ur experiences in Armenia.u will soon see Araz and Sevan in yerevan.i also put your blogs link in my blog and let my friend to know about it.
Have fun and enjoy the rest of your journey .keep up your blog.
regards and much love
Arameh Eyvazian
July 12th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Wow Vaughn! From reading your Blogs I feel like I have almost been to Armenia myself. I can’t believe you get to witness surgeries like that… I must say I am extremely jealous. Hopefully they aren’t too bloody, because as far as I can remember, you get a little squeemish. I know you are having a great time over there, and its amazing to see what you write. You seem more inspired than ever before. Say Hi to Mike for me pledge bro, and sorry to say… but a trip to the Dylon Stylon is in need my friend. Keep writing and we will be here waiting with a pair of hedge clippers to get through that beard! LOL!! just kiddin. One love Bro.
AEKDB,
Dylan
July 13th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
To my favorite nephew,
Great to hear you are having a good time. I am glad you are getting hands on experience at the hospital and that you are able to handle it. It is a high calling to be an MD and I have no doubts you will be a great one!
Your Dad is still tearing up the walls….Challenge……Challenge!!!
Love….kiss my gorgeous daughter for me…Uncle Dikran
July 27th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Hey bud, reading this was very interesting. Sounds like it really is the experience of a lifetime for you. I hope everything continues to go so well. We all miss you back home. See you when you get back
BHC,
Jackson
August 20th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
The way you showed us how that experiences were, was really interesting and skillful. While reading your blog I felt that I have been there playing soccer with you…that was really cool… you’re a good soccer player dude…
Thanks for sharing this with us