I have been a little missing in action lately. I’m trying to catch up with myself. I have my cousin Sharis in town from LA, the interns, the job, the visitors, the meetings, the birthday parties, the goodbye parties, all the excitement of being in Yerevan through the summer. I’m becoming very sad at the thought that I am officially set on leaving Armenia in a month. I’m not sure how I will adjust back to American life, though in Boston it isn’t so necessary to fully assimilate since I’ll be back among Armenians. I do have an apartment to return to, however, which is something, considering a week ago, I didn’t have a place to live, a job, a driver’s license, a credit card, nothing. Just family and friends, a checking account and a court date for a speeding ticket in April. Oh, wait, I don’t have that either because they scheduled it when I was here and I missed it. I am moving with a very good friend, Mike Dagdigian, at his fabulous flat in the center of downtown Boston for $750/month. While it may take adjusting from my $125/month rate in Yerevan, it’s still extremely cheap for the center of Boston… yeah Mike! Thanks kid!

So the reality of leaving Armenia has sunk in with a few of us as Armen and Kohar are leaving tomorrow morning after a year of being here. Soon after many others will follow. Next, it will be my turn. Though I must admit, there are so many things I do miss… my parents, my car, cell (I’m entitle to appreciate convenience at this point), and good ol’ Armenian community I was trying so hard to take a break from. It will be nice to return refreshed with all new ideas, perspectives and motivation.

Traveling with the interns has been a blast. I haven’t logged in a while, so I must update on the Kharabagh trip. It went MUCH better than I anticipated. We covered it all… sleeping in Datev Vank after the camp fire and feast, Ganzasar with a picnic, soccer game and water fight to follow, a climb from Karin Dag to Shoushi, Martuni, Amaras, and the adventures of getting kicked out of Hotel Kharabagh, as it is now closed down. We met the most random people just walking around Stepanagerd, a few people from Canada, a group from LA, it was quite a trip.

This weekend is Lake Sevan with a HUGE group. I may have to get two 15 passenger vans. Yeesh.

Oh, I finally found my family in Armenia. My grandmother came to visit her cousin, drove to Hoktemberian to search for them because they don’t have a phone. Sharis and I went to visit her and we met a whole part of our family we never knew about. We met our grandmother’s sister who is on her death-bed. She was so excited to see us and immediately understood who we were… Azoi aghcheeguh yev Grigori aghcheeguh… she must be in her mid-90s now.

Too much to catch up on, but hopefully I’ll get it all in before I return to Bean town!