After a winter of preparing for our volunteering experience in Armenia our departure is finally right around the corner. We have been struggling through learning the Armenian alphabet and vocabulary (we could now tell you green cucumber cold kitchen table for whatever that is worth). We have also been diving into Armenian history through a collection of books as well as pointing out Armenia on a map to many curious friends and family.
A pleasant surprise to even us, we have been interviewed by documentarians for an upcoming film, "A New Armenia", set to air next spring on PBS. Our filmmaking friends will be accompanying us to Armenia to chronicle the experience of an Armenian-American and his photographer wife attempting to connect with his heritage. We look forward to seeing our family's story as well as the stories of many other Armenian-Americans on television next year.
We will be living with a host family in Yerevan, Armenia for ten weeks while we volunteer. Annie's organization, Armenian Volunteer Corps, will have her focusing on photojournalism projects centered around their 15th Anniversary as well as the Armenian Genocide Centenary. We feel very fortunate that Annie will be able to use her photography skills to help commemorate such important historic events.
John will be participating in a travel fellowship through Birthright Armenia (BA). BA has placed him with the Children of Armenia Fund where he will be teaching after school writing classes in English in a couple of rural Armenian villages.
BA has weekly excursions planned for volunteers which will allow us to experience many social, cultural, and historical places throughout Armenia.
We plan on using this blog to keep all of you updated of our many travels and experiences while living in Armenia. We are so grateful for all the love, support, and encouragement we have received from countless cherished friends and family, especially our loving parents and sisters.
