Sunday Recap with SunChild Rebecca

Rebecca Kandilian (USA): A Freak of Nature

Green is ‘in’. Or, so I thought. Well, it is certainly ‘in’ at the office I used to work at. Forth floor of Alan Hancock Foundation Building, at University of Southern California (Go Trojans!) located in the heart of Los Angeles. A place where the use of plastic bags is an absolute taboo and leaving a light on after leaving a room is a crime (not sure if it’s a felony or a misdemeanor). And, really, who uses plastic bottles? As a student worker, I gained the respect of my much older colleagues by replacing my plastic water bottle with a stainless steel canteen one. But, based on four days of observing life in Yerevan, green does not seem to be THAT ‘in’. It is however making its way -- slowly but surely. One of the biggest proofs of just that is the establishment of the organization by the name of SunChild; hence the terribly creative title of my blog. SunChild is a project established by the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets. Now, for the next nine weeks I will be working for SunChild. Frankly, I do not know a whole lot about their projects and I am not yet sure what I will be doing exactly. But, I will make sure to inform and provide a recap of what I do during the week on Sundays. Do I expect everyone to develop hatred towards plastic bags and their cars at the end of my nine weeks? Absolutely not! I hope to do something that will someday somehow in someway make something better or NOT. I can only do my best and hope for best; a good philosophy to live by if you ask me.

Now, since I have not yet started to work and arrived here on Wednesday (May 19th), I have had a couple of days to explore. Soon after my arrival, my host family (i.e. the family I’m staying with for the moment) handed me a map so I can familiarize myself with the city. I couldn’t help but gaze my eyes towards the green and blue areas—representing parks and lakes respectively. What a disgrace right? But, we have these beautiful Hrabaraks people would tell me. But, we also have these beautiful parks has been my answer. I mean how can you turn down the beauty nature offers? I can’t. Anyway, my host cousin asked me where I wanted to explore. I told him “Bnutiun shat em sirum”. Basically, I’m a freak of nature. He responded with something along the lines of “the feeling is mutual”. Off we went to the Children’s Railway. Now, allow me to explain as you may say what would a 22 year old do in a Children’s Railway? It is actually a partial misnomer as it is not just a park with a chu-chu train. It has this beautiful greenery with a river running right through it where Garen and I sat for a while discussing a wide array of topics with the sound of the water fall keeping us company. I wish the cousin did not smoke but that’s a whole another story…

Well, that’s all for this week’s blog.

I thank you for reading. If interested, be sure to check back next Sunday night for another ‘Sunday Recap with SunChild Rebecca’. By then, I wish to have visited more of those green areas on my map and have learned more about what I will be doing during the coming weeks at SunChild.

Thanks again for reading and don’t forget to recycle!

Tune in next week because Sunday Recap with SunChild Rebecca will be appearing on Sundays for the next several weeks!