It’s been a while since I blogged, I’m sorry about that, looking back at my post history I realize it’s been 2 weeks since I gave any update of what I’m up too. In my defence, Emma drew the blog jackpot and got to blog about our Dilijan trip. Life here can be quite hectic, you move about with your life and the days just seemingly dissapear without you understanding whats happening. This post won’t be a deep dive into anything really, instead I’ll just give some short notes on everything that’s been happening lately. Since my last post about hiking at Azhdahak there’s been quite a few different things I/we’ve been up to, lets get started.
Dilijan
So where do we begin after a two week hiatus? I’ll try to pick up where Emma has ended her posts since to be honest I don’t really think I’ll remember everything if I dont. Two weeks ago we went to Dilijan on a hike. It was truly a awesome experience. The experiences of the previous hike fresh in our minds (and bodies), we chose to do a medium level hike from the HikeArmenia app and found one from a lake called Parz Lake to Dilijan. Emma’s done a great job writing about the trip so I won’t go into much detail more than say that I’m in love with the nature in this country, and that using my drone here is so much fun. The only negative thing about droning is the time it takes to do editing afterwards. Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually super fun, it’s just a matter of trying to find time to do it.
Moving
After living with my host mother Margarita for a month it was finally time to move. I am very thankful about the time I had with her, I got to practice my every day Armenian, be pampered like you wouldn’t believe and find myself spending time with an extremely caring and warm person. I look forward to meeting her again, going ahead of things I can say that my Mother arrived to Armenia together with Emmas mother and I really look forward to introducing them to Margarita. Even though I miss her it’s nice to live together with Emma again. A month apart has been a long time and I’ve missed the small things in our lives, like annoying Emma by being myself or eating breakfast while listening to music etc. It feels like one part of the adventure is over and another one began.
Meetings & Greetings
Both Emma and I wrote about our meeting at the Swedish Embassy, it was so much fun hearing Birger and Razmik talk about their exciting mission in Armenia and everything they’re doing. Since then we’ve been put in touch by the Embassy with a outsourcing/recruiting company called Minds, curious about how the Swedish work culture and recruiting climate looks. I have also been to the European Delegation in Yerevan, talking with Karen Azaryan about the European Union’s mission in Armenia. We’ve somehow together with Razmik from the Swedish Embassy started a little group for Swedes in Armenia and had our first after work with them last week.
One thing I love about these types of meetings is how open people are to actually seeing us and sharing their stories, I feel so humbled about it and feel that I want to learn more. This friday I’m meeting a very interesting gentleman, an American-Armenian lawyer who’s living in Armenia. I’m also trying to get a meeting with the Country director of the World Bank. It’s quite hectic as you can here but it really gives you food for thought hearing what everybody does and how motivated they are doing it.
Geghard, Garni & Gata
This past sunday has been all about the 3 G’s. Visiting Geghard Monestary, followed by the Temple at Garni while eating Gata (Armenian pastry). We went together with two wonderful co-volunteers named Inna and Sama. Now, Geghard Monestary is a 13th century monestary that’s partially built into a mountain. Garni on the other hand is a pagan temple in a very greek/romanesque fashion from the 2nd century AD. I love these excursions around the country seeing the rich history of Armenia. It feels like there’s something to discover wherever you go. The sunday culminated with a performance by an orchestra and Armin van Buren. The reason behind the performance was the WCIT 2019 conference in Yerevan. It’s one of the biggest ICT conferences in the world and I was lucky enough to go together with colleagues from Ameriabank. It was so cool hearing the orchestra playing songs from the different countries whom the performers came from.
WCIT 2019 has been really interesting and it’s been taking up my time these past days. Even though some sessions have been kind of generic it’s still a very nice experience hearing about the future in ICT with topics such as machine learning, cyber warfare/defence, block chains, smart cities etc. Oh and Kim Kardashian was there, because why not right? It feels so random but also so fortunate being in Armenia right now. Seeing Armin van Buren play one day and hearing Kim talk about something two days after.
Mom and Mom
To top off all of the small fragmented pieces of our life these past week is that our moms came to visit as of today. They will be staying for a week and it feels so nice seeing my mom and Emmas mom again. I’ve missed them both and just getting to spend time with them today has been great. It’s my mothers first time in Armenia as well and I’m happy to be here to get to experience it with her. It’s been a long day starting with them arriving at 6 AM. The time tables of flights coming to Yerevan are really horrible. It’s almost always flights departing or arriving in the middle of the night.
We started off slow today with just a breakfast at our place followed by a quick sightseeing tour, naping and dinner tonight. But we have a busy schedule to maximize their trip and ship them back home full of experiences (and gata). I wish my sister and my dad were here as well, but even if it didn’t happen this time I look forward to another visit as a family here.
Anyways, this will have to do as a update for now. I’ve probably missed a couple of hundred things but I’ll update you again when I remember it. Next up for the blog is to post drone videos and photage from the 3 G’s day and prepare for an upcoming 4 day trip together with Birthright. More info to follow!
Armenian adventures 