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
From: Baghdasarian