War, Peace, Segway, Family…
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
War, Peace, Segway, Family…
It’s been a while since I’ve had some BLoGGaGE time, the reason I don’t know but I feel that right now may be a good time to write. I can say that it seems like everyone’s doing well and with exactly 2 weeks left before our departure I’ve learned much more than I’ve expected. I wanted to talk about two events, one which happened yesterday and one, which I regard as one of the most important events on my trip. Yesterday, after we had a Mike’s Birthday dinner at The Club where everyone pretty much ate Manti, as a group CYMA went to watch a film at the Nayrie Theatre on Mashtots. The film we watched was “A Story of People in War and Peace”. Filmed from the perspective of Armenian soldiers fighting on the front-line of the Karabagh using actual wartime footage, the director captured the evil that war creates not only during but after. I wanted to talk about this film because up until this visit to Armenia I never knew about the war in Karabagh. Watching this film made me realize what war is about. Included in this film interviews, pictures, real wartime dialogue, brotherhood, death, blood, tears, trenches, family, Pride, Fear, Fearlessness, and finally Birth. Take what you want with the symbolism in each of these words but, watching this film made me realize a few things; these people that fought for the land that I’m standing on right now did it to preserve the history and purity of this land. A few weeks earlier Aleksan asked me if I would go to war if war ever broke out again here, God forbid, but if it ever did. I sat and thought about it and initially I said yeah, but after watching that film yesterday I can say that I have a genuine fear of war. Not in any way does this mean I’ll run from it, but the beauty and pride in that film contrasted by the war’s evil speaks for itself. I realized that the people fighting in that war once enlisted were fighting for their lives, isolated in the mountains, there was no where to go but forward, they either win the fight or lose their lives. And in retrospect thinking about it they were fighting for their land, pride, and family which is why I came up with the idea that they were fighting for life. I will ask you this, what is life without your land, being proud of it, and your family? You may argue, but I say nothing. Bringing up family I think it’s a perfect segway to the next thing I want to talk about.
Before I left for Armenia my parents told me I had family in Charentsevan, a town that was once a center for work during soviet times, but since then work has come in very little amounts. My grandma has two brothers that live here, one who passed away and the other, my Yervant Keri who escaped Iran when my grandmother was a little girl. This leaves my grandmother with little to no recollection of any events with her brother or even what her brother looks like. My parents told me to go visit them, not really forcing it upon me, after all before I came here my purpose was to acquaint myself with Armenia get some Medical experience from my internship. I’ve never left the United States in my life other than Mexico and Puerto Rico (US Colony), so I had no idea what I was getting myself into entering a foreign country. Clearly, from reading all I’ve written up until now you’ll have realized that my expectations were the very least of my experiences, and this is not to downplay the amount I’ve learned from my internship in any way. But its the emotional experiences that I’ll never forget. I walked in the door of my Albert Keri’s house greeted with open arms, not really knowing if I was even in the right house, until I saw my Albert Keri. The funny thing is with my Grandma Astghik’s (Dad’s Mom) side of the family is their defined high cheek bones, its because of this characteristic that I allows me to pick them out of a crowd. My Albert Keri’s mother gave me the biggest hug and like 30 kisses and instantaneously said I looked like my dad. So now I know for sure who I look like. I sat down and talked about life here, life there, where we’ve been, what I’ve seen; after this we had dinner and then I went to my Yervant Keri’s (Grandma’s Brother) house. This experience I cannot explain, within a minute of entering the house I was in tears. I wish I could explain why, I thought to myself, was I sad that my grandma hadn’t seen him, my father hadn’t seen him, and two generations of family later I see him, or was I happy that I made it this far. I’d like to say the latter. It’s funny the similarities you see in family, I guess that’s what makes you family in the end, the similarities in the way you think, act and speak. So I guess it takes a first time encounter with family in Armenia to realize some things, but I defiantly realized that my Yervant Keri watches Soap Operas like my Grandma, Talks a lot like my Grandma, and makes a lot of jokes like my Grandma. My Dad said that they were the forgotten part of the family, stuck in Armenia during Soviet times and still can’t get out, so he said I gave them hope, letting them know that we haven’t forgotten, but I say that its myself that did the learning. At the same time of giving hope and letting them know that we haven’t forgotten, I also learned to not forget blood from blood, family is family, sometimes its rough and sometimes its sweet. We just pray for more sweet times.
To Dad: Everyone says hi and hopes all is well, they toasted to family and they wanted to thank you for all that you had done, they said the money you send makes life possible. They wanted to thank you for not forgetting about them. They wanted to express that fighting between family should be impossible and that you have to work to keep family together and that you’ve done a great job so far. They also said that you were a trouble maker when you were young but other than that you’ve grown up to be a great person who respects the essence of family. Tell Grandma and Grandma they send their love and that they should come to Armenia. They also wanted you to come. They toasted to our family at least 10 times, it was amazing. That’s all.
Fin.
Vaughn-sauce.
August 4th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Vaniges Anoushiges.
You are such a wonderful young man! I’ve read your blogs to grandma (2), and grandpa. Dad has read them also. We are all in tears and filled with pride over your visit to Charentsevan. How wonderful you were able to reach out to our family, to understand who they are, where they live, how they live, and how we can further help them. This is the family we’ve never really seen, but now we know them better. Thank you honey for all that you have done. We are gladed that you ventured out, looked for them, and found them. We also enjoyed the pictures you sent of your visit!
Love,
Mom