Recollections and thoughts so far…
So, this will be the first time I am writing a post, so please be patient with me. I would first like to start off with how excited, yet nervous I was coming to Armenia. I had never traveled out of the country before (well, besides from Canada) nor have I ever been on the other side of the ocean. Literally, the extent of my travels have been from the East Coast to the West Coast, and living smack-dab in the middle starting from Milwaukee for 6 years and now in Chicago (you should hear my accent). Sitting on a plane makes my stomach churn, so imagine how sick I felt before I sat on a plane for 12 or so hours to London Heathrow. Inch vor eh. I felt so much better once we had arrived in Armenia. Now, another reason why I was completely nervous to come to Armenia was that I didn’t know a single soul in the group aside from my brother Paul/Boghos. I’m from Chicago and part of the Eastern Diocese, and I know only a few individuals in the Western Diocese. I was happy that Boghos was coming along on the trip with me, even as a coordinator. If my brother were not here with me, I would have been so homesick that I would probably have demanded I be sent home with the pilgrims. Honestly. Anyway, I’ll explain more of that later if I don’t forget.
We arrived around 5am, but we didn’t actually leave the airport until an hour or so later, once we realized that a lot of our luggage was lost. So the marshrutka dropped us off at our respectful apartments around 7:30/8am. Naturally, I thought that at that early in the morning, the streets would be full of cars and people walking the streets. I was wrong. There were several cars on the streets, and only one lady outside, sweeping the front of her store. My roommates and I were dropped off at the wrong apartment, so Taline, our coordinator, walked us down Tumanian St. thru an alley and up six flights of stairs before we reached our actual apartment. From that point on, it was a hustle-and-bustle of meeting new people, making new friends, and visiting so many historical and cultural sights.
I’m so glad that I am interning here in Armenia. My first job is working at the Cross of Armenian Unity in Etchmiadzin with Lena. There, we are co-directing our Armenian adaptation of Cinderella, also known as Mokhrodig. Writing the script was easy, yet difficult. We began writing it in English, but we knew we wanted to translate it into Armenian, so we made sure that we didn’t use words or expressions we couldn’t translate. Thank God Arina was there to help us translate our text. Arina is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. She is patient with everyone and is always willing to help me and Lena whenever there’s a problem. The first day we met Arina, she told us that the Cross of Armenian Unity wanted to promote kindness with a theatrical productions, and seeing as we work with children; it seemed almost destiny to use Cinderella as our storyline. I honestly feel so in-tuned to Cinderella or adaptations of it. The last thing I did in high school was direct a one-act play, and I chose “Cinderella Wore Combat Boots” which is an adaptation by Jerry Chase. It’s so much fun directing it again because I had loads of fun practicing and performing it with my friends back home. The children are such quick learners too! Gohar, who plays the Fairy Godmother/King’s Messenger, had begun memorizing her lines the first day we gave them their scripts! I’m so happy I have a job with some of the most fun-loving children of Armenia. The girls sometimes act like little ges-ginigs, I just want to hug them! And anyone from this group can tell you that I am IN LOVE with any child that I see here. I see an adorable little girl with braids in her hair; I will turn to whoever is standing next to me and say, “Cute kid! Look!” I love it.
The second place I work is the Economic and Values Research Center in Yerevan. It is directly next to the Slavic Instutute (Slavanagan Hamarsaran). I take marstrutka #49 every Tuesday and Thursday to edit their research and surveys. There are four other women (Anna, Lianna, Gohar, and Sona) and one man (Manuk). It’s so much fun coming in here to work because it’s so relaxed and casual. The first day I came to work there, I wore a suit set and low heels, and Anna came up to me and told me, “No business attire at all!! I mean, look at me, does it look like I’m wearing business clothing?” I looked at her, then the other women. They were wearing jeans, skirts, and t-shirts– just everyday clothes. I felt a little out of place, but I corrected myself the next time I went to work. I love both of my jobs. Three days a week, I’m working with children doing my most favorite pastime and hobby, and the other two days a week; I am doing what will definitely be a part of my future job.
So, I have to be honest. These past few days, my legs have been killing me. You might be asking if it’s the constant walking around the city. I am answering no. On Saturday, BirthRight had an excursion to Parsalij and from there we hiked to Goshavank Monastery. The sights we saw on the hike were simply beautiful, yet I could not ignore the excruciating pain that was shooting up my legs. It felt like the time my legs we in pain when we had an amazing race contest two weeks prior and my team and my brother’s team were racing up the stairs of Cascade—after about 30 steps, I was done. Anyway, it had been raining earlier that morning so it was extremely slippery, especially the log and the rocks we had to step over. I don’t think anybody came out of that hike dry. We were soaking wet from sweat and slipping in the creeks. My left knee was killing me half way into the hike, but what would you expect when you slip three times in the same position? Reaching Goshavank Monastery was such a reward. If I’m not mistaken, Goshavank was the monastery in with the priests would write their manuscripts on the stones of the church so that when attackers came to burn their manuscripts, it wouldn’t affect them as much, since it’s on the walls.
BirthRight’s excursion this weekend is a trip to Kharabakh. Unfortunately, I am not going again, but I’m reminiscing about when we went our second weekend in Armenia when the pilgrims were here too. It is such a long drive there, but stopping at Khorvirab, Noravank, Datev, and everywhere else along the way made the drive there so much better. There’s so much about Kharabakh that I loved, it’s hard to get into detail. The sites along the way, and just the view in general were beautiful. Maybe since life is so much simpler and hantard in Kharabakh than Yerevan that I’m attracted to it. I was devastated, however, when I woke up congested Saturday morning with the chills. The only thing I really remember from that weekend was how much tea I drank. Saturday alone I drank 8 cups of tea. I almost had vodka wiped on my hands and feet to get rid of my fever, but that was a little darorinag to me, so I politely turned that down. In total, I drank 13 cups of tea in two days. I had hands touching my forehead constantly. It was pretty intense. When I am sick and I am cold, my eyes begin to water, but when we were at church Sunday morning in Shushi and the choir of young girls of about the age of 11 to 14 began to sing Soorp Soorp, I honestly began to cry. It’s something about hearing the innocent voices of children singing such a hymn that really touches your heart.
I honestly cannot explain to you how in-tune I feel with my religion here. I love visiting the monastaries and churches. There’s still so many more places that we need to visit, though. The one place that I am completely determined to visit before we leave is Sartarabad. It was the place where Armenia defeated Turkish invasion in May of 1918. I don’t know how long it will be until the next time I visit Armenia, but I want to go to as many places as I possibly can.
Since I have written more than two pages in Microsoft Word, I will take a break for today and write again soon.
And, also, I’d like to throw this in, this morning it was quite interesting. This girl came up to me saying she’s an orphan and that she’s poor and needs money. She said that, though, after she had asked me which way Abovian St. was. I told her I didn’t have any money, which was partially true. I had borrowed enough money from my brother to take me to work and back. I tried convincing her I had nothing, and as she walked away from me she told me God would punish me for what I had done. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I was shocked at first, then kind of hurt, and then I giggled. I know, its sounds strange, but it gave me a laugh despite the gloomy, rainy weather we’ve been having lately. Okay, this is enough writing for today. I hope everything is well in America.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Hi Mary,
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am Lena’s mom and I’m so glad the two of you are bringing joy with Cinderella to the young Armenian children. These are days you will both cherish and a friendship that will continue for life. God Bless you in all that you endeavor always.
Asvadz Bahe!!
Hasmik Rakijian