Barev Yerkir

I love Armenia. I love everything about it. The cute old women selling apricots at the corner of the street, the Soviet style buildings that managed to survive despite all of the development around it, the fact that it is so beautiful that no picture I take will do it any justice, and especially the fact that I am staring at Mt. Ararat as I write this blog. It is for these reasons, and so many more, that I decided to participate in the AYF Youth Corps this summer. I’ve visited Armenia many times before, but this time I will be experiencing it from the other side; living the way the ‘deghatsis’ live, changing the lives of hundreds of kids, and in turn, the kids changing mine. It’s been almost a week since I’ve been in Yerevan and I can’t wait for the program to start. I can’t wait to wake up in Karabagh surrounded by luscious green mountains and be greeted by the kids every morning in Gyumri and Broshian. I’ve talked to previous participants, heard their stories, seen their pictures, read their blogs, and after months of counting down, it’s time for me to make my own memories.

-Ani Der Grigorian