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  • Armenianization. Let The Process Begin

    ARMENIANIZATION. LET THE PROCESS BEGIN

    October 25, 2013 | 21:08

    Armenian News-NEWS.am launches a new project -Arianne & Armenia. The
    chess player of Philippine descent is known to Armenians as the
    girlfriend of Armenian Grandmaster, Olympic and World champion Levon
    Aronian. But few people know that she now lives and works in Armenia
    and can even be more frequently seen in Yerevan streets than her
    celebrity boyfriend. Every Friday Arianne will share her impressions
    of Armenia and tell about the difficulties and charm of living and
    working in our country as a foreigner in love with Armenia.

    Arianne Caoili's short bio:

    Of Filipino and Dutch descent, Arianne is an Australian economist,
    Olympic chess player, entrepreneur and jazz enthusiast. As a
    management consultant she works in both private and public sectors,
    with professional and academic interests in the crossroads of business
    and public policy. Born in Manila, Philippines, Arianne has travelled
    the globe extensively and lived in Germany, France, Australia, the
    US and the Philippines for family, work, study or chess. Topics she
    enjoys are Russian foreign policy, competition policy, behavioural
    economics and political philosophy. In her free time, Arianne enjoys
    ballroom dancing, martial arts, cooking, and wine.

    Armenianization. Let the process begin

    "You're what?" - exclaimed my mother in disbelief, as I very casually
    informed her during a recent telephone call that I will be spending
    this and next year in Armenia to work and live, and that I have
    postponed the arduous academic journey which should be starting
    this October at Oxford. My decision was met with similar scepticism
    (and at times, sheer repulsion) by friends and colleagues, who
    can't understand why I would leave Australia - the world's happiest
    country (according to the latest OECD Better Life Index) and ranked
    2nd byThe Economist for The Best Place to Be Born in 2013. Although
    these indicators can't be taken too seriously, they do have a point
    that seems to resonate with foreigners and Armenians alike.

    Levon's family are also trying to understand whether I have gone
    mad, and my work colleague here in Yerevan thinks I may very well
    be immortalized in the annals of history as the first person ever
    to choose working in Yerevan over studying at Oxford University, and
    Armenia over Australia. Several of Levon's friends have unashamedly
    made bets on how long I will last. I for one cannot lend myself to
    this shallow consensus.

    Martin Luther King once said, that "if a man has not found something
    he will die for, he is not fit to live". There is a unique pulse to
    be detected in Armenia: and it's a very strong one. It is a passion
    for a higher cause, a bigger purpose that infiltrates society from
    the very top to the very bottom. I can't quite put my finger on it,
    but I certainly want to catch whatever it is Armenians have. When
    in Yerevan I feel that people hold a hope for something that Armenia
    could be; it is this hope that gives their living a sense of purpose.

    I recently saw Djivan Gasparyan live in concert, and it is hard for
    me to recall anything that powerful (although, being present at the
    raising of the Armenian flag in Istanbul at the closing ceremony of
    the 2012 Chess Olympics where the Armenian team reigned victorious
    was quite extraordinary, and I am tempted to say, would reduce most
    Armenians to tears). One only needs to hear a few notes from a duduk
    to feel a tremendous sense of mandate to bring into fruition the hope
    stamped on the heart of most Armenians.

    Living in a city like Yerevan that is constantly alive is exhilarating,
    especially at night. But it's not only for the parties or the usual
    'city-living' attractions, where one works to the end of themselves
    to enjoy but a few sprinklings of enjoyment, usually crammed into a
    single Saturday and accompanied by over-priced cocktails, artificial
    conversations and a hovering cloud of stress (Sydney and New York do
    that very well). Nor is it for the relaxed, beach lifestyle common to
    Queensland, where I spent some of my childhood years. Queensland boasts
    lazy days of sunshine and sea, with tanned, tattoo-clad beach bodies
    parading around, smiling a tad too much because life is so great. No,
    people in Armenia have a certain element of rage pulsating through
    them - hoping for the future and driven by its past. It is energetic
    and motivating, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

    To my conscious knowledge, my very first encounter with anything
    Armenian was way back in 2000 - when I was grass-hopper height and
    representing the Philippines for the first board and playing against
    Armenia's Lilit Lazarian in the Chess Olympics in Turkey. The game
    ended in a draw: not so bad for the pint-sized ankle-biter that I was,
    but probably not the most desired result for the great and powerful
    Armenian chess team! And of course, I encountered Armenia academically
    (with great pleasure) in the works of legendary historians such as
    Ronald Grigor Suny.

    I first visited Yerevan in the spring of 2007, when Levon won his match
    against Vladimir Kramnik at the Opera House. Above all, I remember
    the toasts: passionate, lengthy toasts that ranged from the simplest
    of well-wishes to friends and parents, to rejoicing in the future of
    Armenia itself. My early Armenian toasting experiences have made all
    non-Armenian celebrations after them seem lacking for spirit and charm.

    First impressions of Armenia conjure up images of a dismembered human
    body. Its very heart is dispersed around the globe - pumping blood
    (and money) into the homeland with terrific force, and Yerevan is its
    brain - steering the country economically and politically. Armenia's
    veins have been spawned by its great artistic and intellectual giants,
    carrying its historical narratives, which are the beautiful and tragic
    instruments used to transmit the essence of its energy and hope. But
    Armenia's soul - that can be found around the country side, in long
    forgotten villages well outside of Yerevan, in the cuisine and nature
    of regions too often ignored by tourists.

    My first experience of Armenia's country side was travelling in
    a broken down 1981 Volga, with a hint of Khachaturian's glorious
    Masquerade Waltz wafting through the air, interrupted by sporadic
    jolts as my driver friend stopped to avoid groups of slothful cows
    being turned into the village's next feast.

    I have been in and out of the country for 7 years: celebrating the
    Armenian National Chess Team's multiple gold medals, writing a thesis
    on post-Soviet Armenia's economic relationship with Russia, and eating
    my fair share of khorovatz and rak (undoubtedly several kilos worth!).

    I've even gone a little deeper: I took taekwondo lessons at some
    gym in Charbakh with a class of Armenian teenagers, drank tan with
    hovivs in remote villages, and heard enough rabiz classics to finish
    the lyrics of most songs after a few notes. In a recent wedding,
    a close friend of Levon's asked, "how can she not be Armenian when
    she can dance to rabiz like that?"

    However, to live and work in Armenia will be a completely different
    story. It is not the same as travelling from Glendale, Paris or
    Sydney for the summer - I also have to last the winter! The truth
    is: I am absolutely terrified, having read the horror stories of the
    crisis years in the early 1990s, and harbouring a justifiable dose
    of fear generated from a body acclimatized to the scorching heat of
    the Pacific.

    Well, whether I like it or not, the process of my Armenianization
    has begun; and this weekly column intends to share all the wonderful,
    strange and realistic nuances of living and working in Armenia - told
    from the eyes of a not-so foreign foreigner. Put another way, as an
    informed outsider (wedged somewhere between a tourist and a national) I
    will be writing about Armenian society, economic development, business,
    public policy, cuisine, music, and even about what most Armenians
    might deem trivial but I view as bizarre enough to write about.

    I have been blessed enough to have travelled to over 60 countries and
    lived in a variety of places, but I have never felt more at home than
    when in Yerevan. No country has drawn me in with such compulsion as
    Armenia. As a management consultant working full time, I can't think
    of a more interesting place to design, develop and implement smart
    public policy, and learn the nitty-gritty of development from a truly
    regional perspective - and one that is as peculiar as it is stimulating
    due to Armenia's unique geographical and political limitations.

    Armenia offers infinitely fascinating lessons on history, culture,
    family, and most of all, the urgency and importance of hope -a
    sentiment I credit with elevating my heart rate like a daily dose of
    inspiration. As for the much-touted impending doom and gloom of the
    winter months, hopefully the Armenian people and their passion will
    keep me warm enough (and the heating will work).

    Arianne Caoili

    http://news.am/eng/news/177782.html


    From: Baghdasarian
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