Breaking the silence: Days 4-7

Hi guys, sorry about not updating in a while, I've been fairly busy with AIESEC stuff. On Thursday (Day 4) I had to prepare a presentation for all the AIESECers in Armenia about the UK. So I spent the afternoon doing that. It went down quite well, and after I introduced them to a new AIESEC Dance:

Friday

Today was spent sorting out various AIESEC Bristol things, sending emails, writing business plans and generally planning and scheming. I also had a wonder around Yerevan, having a look at a few nice places.

Saturday

Today I had quite a busy day. I got up with Ishxan to go and visit the bank where he works. It is quite a nice building with air conditioning near the city center, so I think he is doing quite well. The only issue is new employees in Armenia have to work very long hours, and often on Saturday too. Apparently there is an issue with lots of workers becoming ill from working too hard and having to retire early.

After seeing the bank I went up to the AIESEC office to meet the MC* who gave me my brief for the summer.

I will be in charge of setting up AIESEC Rau (the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University), a new LC* in Armenia. I have a team picked by the MC, and two months to get us to LC status. I have some very good AIESECers on side, so I am confident we can manage it.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent coming up with a plan for the LC. After that I went to a birthday party of an old AIESECer Nune, which was at a karaoke bar. Everyone had a lot of fun, and it turns out that Ishxan is a very good singer!

Sunday

Today was the first meeting of AIESEC Rau, at the secondary school attached to the university where our office is located. I got to meet lots of new members, as well as Laura, who is here from Australia on an AIESEC exchange.

Some of the RAU members

I did a presentation, explaining my plans, and we worked out which group everyone is going to be in. We will hopefully increase recruitment over the next few days to get more members involved in AIESEC.

After that I went home for a nap, before more planning, and another delicious meal from Ishxan's mum.

Monday

Today was spent in the AIESEC Armenia office, sending off emails and planning out various parts of setting up the LC. I worked on a few things for AIESEC Bristol, had to be done but not very interesting.

At about 6 the TM team showed up for their first briefing, which the MC VP TM* ran partly in English (so I could understand) and partly in Armenian for the difficult bits. Everyone seemed enthusiastic and ready to get recruiting.

After this we had a member meeting, with all the Armenian AIESECers, where the new LCP* of AIESEC in Yerevan was announced. I wish Sargis lots of luck, and look forward to working with him over the summer!

When someone gets elected in AIESEC we throw water on their head. Not sure why.

*Management Committee, run AIESEC Armenia, not allowed to be called National Committee as this is illegal in some countries like Cambodia. All MC members in Armenia are graduates who are working part time for a company and part time for AIESEC.

*Local Committee, AIESEC committee for one university or area, made up of President, Vice President for each functional team, and team members. All of whom are students.

*Management Committee Vice President of Talent Management

*Local Committee President, what I am in Bristol

Yerevan Loves Linux: Day 3

Today I went into the office as normal, checked a few emails and uploaded some photos. Then Gor and I went off to see the University with Noune (pronounced Nu ney), another AIESECer. Noune studies Theology, so first we went to see the Department of Religious Studies, which is in an old Soviet building. I was told it was built when Turkey took control of the old university (it used to be near the border, then the border changed).

We then went to see the language center, which was very new and shiny. In Yerevan State the buildings are either quite old (from the days of the USSR) or very modern (built in the last 5 years). The diaspora, Armenians living abroad, send lots of money back to Armenia. This money seems to be spent on big construction projects, like the Cascade or Uni buildings, the result being a patchwork of old and new.

Old (theology classroom)

New (language department)

After going by the ultrasound training center, where the receptionist was happy to show us around, we headed to the chess school. Armenia won the world chess championship this year, and they take their chess very seriously. Children as young as 4 come here to learn to play, and it is always full of old men playing chess.

Oh and on the way we saw this graffiti. It made me smile.

After that we took the Metro, which is very small with only 10 stops. This mainly because it is really hard to build a metro in a city where half of it is 500m higher than the other half. The line is very deep, like most Soviet underground systems, and the station was very large and impressive (although there were no signs at each stop saying which station it was, you have to count).

We arrived at one of the main streets in Yerevan, Baghramyan Avenue. Here you can find the British Embassy, and the Presidential Offices. We went round the back to Rafo's flat, where he lives alone as his family live in Russia, where his Dad works in a nuclear power plant (he worked in Iran before that!)

We had bit of an AIESEC party, with lots of AIESEC dances, and also an Armenian snack that is sort of like a very salty cheese string. Met a lot more AIESECers, but I had to go home early, as I had arranged to eat with Ishxan's family.

When I arrived home I had a chance to sit down and grab a glass of water before dinner time (Armenians don't drink water with their meals). Ishxan's mum had prepared an Armenian dinner, with very well cooked pork, potatoes, tomato and cucumber salad (the tomatoes are really fresh, so taste loverly), mangetout and loads more. Fortunatly I hadn't had lunch that day, and had made sure not to eat too many snack at the party, so I was able to try everything. In Armenia they tend to have lots of food for tea, so I was pretty full by the end of it.

After that I headed to bed, a very tired Jamie.

Armenian Man Friday and The Cascade: Day 2

I woke up quite early today, in time to wish Ishxan's brother good luck with his exam (he studies computer science too!). With Ishxan at work I was left with his mum. She is a language teacher, and speaks 7 different languages. Unfortunately none of them are English.
We had a very interesting conversation as she cooked me breakfast.

Through signing and using the phrase book at the back of the guide she managed to show me Mount Ararat from the window and talk to me about how it is a good idea to speak Russian. Later when Miqayel came home she told him that it was like Robinson Crusoe talking to Man Friday. I think I will have to work on my Armenian a lot.

At about 11 Sargis (pronounced Sar-kiss) picked me up and we headed into town again. After arriving at the office we met Rafo, an AIESECer I had met the night before. Sargis got phone call from work (he fixes electronics at the hospital part-time) so he had to go off, while Rafo and I decided to see more of the city.

Me at Victory Park

First we went to visit one of the many parks in Yerevan. Next to the paths you can find lots of water fountains, which are very popular in Armenia as the water is so pure. After this we headed off to see one of the main sites in Yerevan, the cascade.

Yerevan in a city of two halves, one 500 m higher than the other. This means that one half gets snow a month earlier that the other and also makes it quite hard to walk from one part to the other. As a result there is a massive staircase called the cascade going down the hill side. At the top is a monument to knowledge, with amazing views of the city.

Monument to Knowledge and View of the City

Because the project ran out of money there is a gap between the top of the cascade and the other section, so you have to walk around a building site to get to the rest. Rafo told me it has been like this for a year, but they should start building again soon.

We walked down the stairs for a while, seeing even more fountains, but as it was in the middle of the day it was very hot, so we walked the rest of the way inside the cascade. Inside there are escalators as well as a few art galleries that will be opening later this year.

At the bottom of the cascade is a garden, with lots of sculptures by Armenian artists, often of important people from Yerevan's history. Beyond that is the opera house, where we went yesterday.

After grabbing some sharma (meat, tomato, cucumber and parsley in a flat bread wrap) we went to meet the Communications team* at Yum Yum, a cafe that is the favorite meeting place of AIESECers in Yerevan.
The meeting was very interesting, and I took lots of notes of ideas for AIESEC Bristol back home. Afterwards we went to the Republic Square, where there was a light and fountain show set to music (it happens every evening, so I will put a video up later)

After the meeting Sargis took me back to Ishxan's place, and I went to bed at after watching some of the football with Miqayel (his exam went very well) and his father.

*Communications: Creates posters and promotional materials, writes the weekly newsletter, issues press releases for events and generally does AIESEC Yerevan's PR.

Metal Cows and Cotton Eye Joe, Day 1 continued

Was picked up by Sargis at 11 o'clock, and we headed into town. We had to cross over a gorge to reach the center and I was reminded of clifton back in bristol (I will try to take a picture tomorrow)

The similarities didn't last long, as we went further into Yerevan I saw more soviet-style buildings, as well as armenian ones with roman columns. We got out at the main road, where I bought a bottle of water (apparently something only tourists do). Then we headed off to the university to see the AIESEC office.

The university building is very new (Eurasian University is one of the new small universities that has started recently) with little cactus plants all along the corridors. We went into the office, which was very nice.

After spending some time in the office talking about AIESEC things we decided it was cool enough for us to go out to town. Today was a city-wide music festival, with lots of concerts going on.
First we went to the Moscow Cinema and saw a rock group performing, we also came across this:


Which seemed to be made out of rubbish welded together.
After this we went to check out the big city square, which was surrounded by big Armenian buildings, mainly museums and hotels, We also saw some large brass drinking fountains, apparently Armenia is famous for its pure water (thanks to all the mountains).

We then met up with a big group of AIESECers, from all sorts of different groups. Sadly the only group not represented was TM*, the one I will be working with.

On our way to the final stop of the day we walked past the opera house. In Armenia they take their opera very seriously, and the opera house is considered the center of the city. It's surrounded by cafes and had a bouncy castle as well as a few other things for kids to play on outside the main entrance.

We then arrived at Lovers Park, a newly renovated park near the center. Here they were performing a mixture of country music and blues. The AIESECers tried to teach me Cotton-eye Joe, an AIESEC dance* I've always had a bit of trouble with. Unfortunately the band started playing slow songs, so it didn't really work.

Me and Sargis then went back to Ishxan's place, where I went straight to bed. What a day!

*Talent Management, Looks after the AIESEC members, making sure they receive the training and support they need and organizes all the meetings

*AIESEC Dances, at conferences AIESECers do big choreographed dances, no one knows why

Travel, A language lesson, and Cognac for breakfast

Arrived at Heathrow Terminal 1 around midday, with a few hours before my flight. My luggage was very overweight (by about 5 kilos) however I was able to persuade the friendly woman at the check in desk to let it go as I was off to do a placement for a charitable organisation.

Said my goodbyes to Dad and Will, and headed into the terminal. Got a bit excited when I heard my friend Sara from uni was getting a flight from Heathrow at the same time, but she was leaving from Terminal 4, so I had to pass the time wandering around the shops instead.

Caught the plane to Vienna and then spent another 4 hours doing the same thing, interrupted by a plate of surprisingly good sausage and chips and a random conversation with woman from Thailand who had come to Austria for three days to do a test for a job with the UN.

Arrived in Armenia very early today (4.45 in the morning), and was met by Sargis at the airport. Exciting to get my first look at my home for the next 11 weeks. We jumped into a taxi (no-one else wore a seat belt, apparently the norm in Armenia), and headed into the city.

Yerevan Airport

The Yerevan suburbs are quite different from those in the UK, with lots of 5 or 6 storey apartment blocks, with people hanging their washing out to dry on the balcony. Despite the warnings of the guide book the driver was very sensible, and the roads were in pretty good nick.

In the taxi Sargis taught me my first bit of Armenian:

Barev = Hello

Merci or shnor ha ka lu tyun = Thank you

Ha = Yes

Che = No

We pulled up to a flat at around 5.30 am, and was met by a very friendly but also very sleepy Ishxan, my host for the next 10 days. I managed to grab a few hours sleep before I was woken up at 10am by Ishxan going off to work. Before he went in introduced me to his brother Mikhail, who showed me how to use the shower and then cooked me an Armenian omelette for breakfast!

It was very tasty, and he followed it up with a cup of tea with cognac, apparently another Armenian speciality, although I don't think I will have that for breakfast every day.

First Post

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog. Over the summer I'm going to be living and working in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, as a CEED (a cultural envoy for exchange development) for AIESEC in Armenia.

The idea is that through working with AIESEC* in another country we'll share ideas, learn more about each other's cultures. It's also a great way for me to experience living in a completely different country, and hopefully to have a bit of an adventure.

As a warning to non-AIESEC people there will be a few acronyms popping up in my posts, I'll do my best to explain them at the bottom.

*Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales. A completely student-run international exchange organisation (and definitely not a cult).