Armenian Hospitality

A reader of the Repat blogs commented that service and hospitality in Yerevan are lacking and sadly, he’s right. Yerevan is NOT an accurate representation of Armenia and Armenian hospitality. If you’re looking to meet some friendly Armenians and experience true Armenian hospitality you need to get out of Yerevan.

I had one goal for this trip and that was to get out of Yerevan! I wanted to set out and see as much of the country side as I could. In the months leading up to my arrival multiple e-mails went back and forth between my cousin and I where I would list various places outside of Yerevan that I wanted to venture to and she would group them together into road trips or day trips based on location and feasibility. When I got there we tried to sit down and plan actual trips, but we had trouble getting organized.

My dad took me to see Saghmosavank and I think to date it’s probably the most beautiful of all the churches I’ve seen in Armenia. We stopped at Mughni where the groundskeeper walked around the grounds with us and told us a bit about Archbishop Ashjian’s projects. We went to Ohanavank where the locals were approaching us, engaging us in conversations, asking where we were from, if we had come for the Pan-Armenian games. We popped in to take pictures of a tonir and a young man ran up to us, apologetically explaining that the women were done making lavash for the day, he rummaged through a pile of lavash to find the best pieces put them in a bag and refused to let us pay him for the bread. He asked if we would accept his invitation to come over for coffee. These are the Armenians with the HUGE hearts that are so friendly and welcoming of visitors that they open their homes to you. (I wish you had experienced things like that George instead of the indifference of Yerevantsis)

On another occasion my father took me all the way to the Lori Region where I saw the lush green mountains that I thought only existed in Kharapagh. He took me to Noravank where I saw breathtaking rocky mountains jutting out of the earth. He stopped off in the Areni region where he knew a lady that made wine and we got to do some wine tasting. I thoroughly enjoyed my short visit to Armenia. I spent quality time with my father at his house, saw his place of business, meet his fiancé and her kids, attended a baptism, met chalo the dog, enjoyed a handful of home cooked meals, ate my weight in tomatoes and scored by going to Khor Virab on a day where I could stare at Ararat without even a single cloud in sight.

While in Yerevan I was surrounded by tourists who would constantly complain about slow service, indifference and rude people. I couldn’t help but wonder if these people have traveled anywhere else. This is how it is in most major cities around the world. Locals are sick of tourists! Tourist needs to go with the flow, drop their western standards and expectations and adapt to the way things are in the country they are visiting and just make the best of it. While living in Florence I found the locals arrogant and rude, but towards the end of my trip I understood why. Do you know what it’s like to be running late and trying to dodge heards of tourist following an umbrella held up in the air by a tour guide and then to have them all of a sudden come to a full stop in front of you so they could admire the Duomo? After a while it’s not cute to be stuck behind a honeymooning couple in a café while they take their time flipping through their language book to try and figure out how to order in Italian. Maybe that’s how the people of Yerevan feel about us too.

What I don’t find acceptable in Yerevan is the local people’s attitude of entitlement. On more than one occasion I have felt unwelcome and made to feel like I’m intruding in THEIR country. I find that unacceptable! Unlike their relatives who voluntarily fled and moved away my family didn’t choose to leave! My Grandfather was a genocide survivor who tried to move back in the 40’s and was denied. His dream was to return to Armenia and see it independent again. Although my medzhayrig didn’t get to live his dream, I think his soul is probably at peace with it because his son moved back and lived his dream for him and his grandchildren have been to Armenia numerous times. I don’t think Hayastanci’s realize what a BIG deal it is for some Diasporan’s to be able to come to Armenia. I don’t think they realize what it means to be the descendant of a Genocide survivor who lost their home, their family and was pushed out and I find it utterly sad that they don’t see it.

I think the most valuable part of my trip came out of traveling through Russia, where I had to stand in line for over 2 hours for NO REASON and deal with the unpleasantness that is the Russian system and the Russian people. I’m going to go ahead and assume that the flawed system and cold and unfriendly nature of the people are all remnants of the Soviet era. My layovers granted me enough time to realize that the qualities I see in my people that I dislike so much are merely negative characteristics picked up during Soviet times. I started thinking about what Armenia would have been like now had it maintained its independence sine 1918! How would she have prospered? I realized how much the Soviet Union held us back and impeded our Diaspora from returning or helping. During a discussion about our beautiful new airport someone mentioned how the USSR put Armenia on the map by giving us our first international airport but who are we kidding the Soviet built airport was dreary and dark and ugly and after seeing how far Armenia has come since the fall of the Soviet Union and how far it has come in the last 15 years do people really think we wouldn’t have had an international airport had it not been for the Soviets? Come on…..I just don’t buy it!