Wednesdays with Tatevik - February 17, 2010

Tatevik Revazian
Denmark

This week can be defined briefly as the entertainment week.

Friday was Deannas birthday (congrats again☺) and sadly Brandon’s leaving party. We started at Deannas friends house and continued the party at different places. What a night!

Sunday was an amazing day!!! First my cousin got engaged so I experienced a real Armenian engagement. It is so much more traditional than in Denmark. Afterwards I went to a huge Valentine party. The brother of my friend (from work) was invited to this party organized by ABSOLUTE. It was a semi party/semi concert thing and we had lots of fun! We ended up at a quite fancy club at a special Valentine event. I was not ready to go home, but unfortunately work starts at 9AM).

Monday was one more day with meeting new interesting people! I spend most of the day with my friend from work, Olga. She took me to see her friend’s dance studio which was great. He started everything from scratch and they were all extremely motivated. It was wonderful to see!

Afterwards we went to a goodbye party for an Italian guy, Michelangelo, we met Friday night. Many of the volunteers were present and we had a great time eating home-made pizza.

Yesterday I had a great day at the Arbes child development and rehabilitation center. I was with the group with the youngest children – they are 3 and 4 years old. They don’t really speak, but one of the children tried to say my name. This really teaches me to be happy for the smallest achievements in life. I stayed there the whole day because the President’s wife visited the center (Rita Sarkissian). I was allowed to take a picture while she toured around the center.

In the evening I had Armenian classes and I took Michelangelo with me.

Although he only had one night left in Armenia he was very motivated to learn the Armenian alphabet. I was really amazed how fast he actually learned – especially given that he does not even speak Armenian!

After two hours he actually ended up reading short sentences.

Next week my goals is a bit more sleep!

Wednesdays with Tatevik - February 10, 2010

Tatevik Revazian
Denmark

This week my mum visited me from Denmark which was really amazing! We visited family members and went to the theatre. I would really recommend seeing the comedy “Don Juan.” It was a wonderful piece! I really did not expect it to be that good ☺.

Saturday we went to Ashotsk village which was an AMAZING experience.

I tried to ski for the the first time in my life. I have bruises everywhere now and it feels great. I was stubborn so although I fell really hard I continued. Next time I have to learn how to stop – it might be a huge help. It was so much fun to see everyone struggling to climb the mountains and as a result then falling.

While I was buried in the snow a guy helped me up and apparently he was from the team who might be going to the World Championship from Armenia. He gave me lessons and I improved very fast. Skiing is wonderful! The view was also fantastic. Being surrounded by mountains all covered in snow while the sun was shining would improve anybody’s mood.

Monday we went to the SOS Children’s Village. Most children living there have parents, but they were living under socially difficult conditions. The government does not support the Village, and the biggest sponsor is FIFA. These children have all the possibilities they could think of to be able to take care of themselves. SOS is willing to pay for any university they want to enter in the world no matter what the costs. But these children are not interested probably because what they need is a family and if they can’t have that, they don’t want anything. 6-7 children live in one house with an SOS aunt. All the employees at SOS are called aunts and uncles. These houses were in really good conditions. One of the children sang Armenian songs for us and it was just breathtaking.

Today I had my first day at the child development and rehabilitation center before going to work. I must say I was amazed by the people working there. I admire their patience because it is challenging to take care of the children, who are almost all autistic. Although there were only 4 children and two 2 employees and me working with them, it was still difficult. The children require constant supervision.

I must say I really liked their method of work. The day started of with a “welcome song” during which every child was acknowledged, then games, and at the end cooking together. The staff involved the children in the cooking process which I think is incredible although it was difficult. I felt very welcome by the children although they could not express themselves vocally. This is going to be a challenge for me!

At Mission East I am still working on the communication plan. I had a good feedback meeting and I know what the next steps are in the process.

Wednesdays with Tatevik

Tatevik Revazian
Denmark

Work is still fantastic. I have started writing the communication plan for the project and it’s interesting starting to analyze the material I have. Hopefully the output of my work will help Mission East.

Last week two diplomats from the Norwegian Ministry came to Armenia. The director of Mission East decided to bring me along to their meeting, lunch and a visit to the Matenadaran (museum of illuminated manuscripts with impressive old Armenian books).

They were very happy to meet a Danish speaking person, me, in Armenia, and it was great for me to experience how the two cultures interacted. I could see several differences and small misunderstandings throughout the day. At meetings in Armenia it is very common that people answer phones, but in Scandinavian countries, you have to turn off your phone before starting a meeting. The meeting was not as organized as Scandinavian meetings are, and it was quite fun to see such a huge difference. More examples could be mentioned!

On Saturday we went to Dilijan and stopped by Lake Sevan. Both places are quite different in the winter, but it was still very beautiful to see. We saw a very beautiful church Haghartsin that had been renovated.

We also viewed an exhibition and I was very surprised at how cold it was inside, and how the employees managed to work there without even complaining.

Afterwards we went to a small shop where a family produced different things out of clay. People in Armenia are really good working with their hands. I am impressed! After the trip a lot of us went out to a bar. It was nice spending time together in a different way.

The last update from this week is my visit to the child development and rehabilitation center in Yerevan. I was amazed to see how well disabled children were treated there. There were many experts in different areas that worked with children with both physical and mental disorders including autistic children. I was very, very touched because this is not how disabled are treated in Armenia. Most are excluded from society because of lack of opportunities of education and medical treatment. And also because families are embarrassed to have a disabled person at home. This mentality is an outcome of the Soviet mentality where the system is built on the “survival of the fittest” concept. I asked if I could volunteer there a couple of days a week and they were very, very happy. I talked to my manager at he told me it would ok that for me to do some of my work at home, so I can help out! The center is closed on the weekends. The children there were amazing and I just can’t wait to start volunteering there!