Barev and hello, thanks so much for reading!
My name is Lucy, and on September 2, 2012 I touched down in Yerevan to start my year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. I'm very excited to share my adventures with you!
When I was a sophomore in college, my decade-long obsession with all things Japan was beginning to dwindle. I knew I really needed a new country to get interested in, especially if I was going to go to graduate school, so one day I casually mentioned to a friend that I wanted to learn Turkish. That friend happened to be half-Armenian, and referenced the Armenian Genocide in his reply, jokingly disapproving of my choice (basically: "Don't you know what they did to my people?!").
The problem was, I had never heard of the Armenian Genocide (or anything related to Armenia). After a night of Google searches, I was totally struck by the history of this country I could hardly place on a map. The ancient Christian heritage, the unique and beautiful language, the cultural values, the long and complicated relationships with its geographic neighbors--everything captivated me. I downloaded music replete with the duduk and zurna; I subjected my Facebook friends to hours of Armenian traditional dances from Youtube. I had to go!
My name is Lucy, and on September 2, 2012 I touched down in Yerevan to start my year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. I'm very excited to share my adventures with you!
Where are you going again? Albania? Romania??
I'm in the Republic of Armenia (in Armenian, Hayastan), which is bordered by Georgia, Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
Why Armenia?
When I was a sophomore in college, my decade-long obsession with all things Japan was beginning to dwindle. I knew I really needed a new country to get interested in, especially if I was going to go to graduate school, so one day I casually mentioned to a friend that I wanted to learn Turkish. That friend happened to be half-Armenian, and referenced the Armenian Genocide in his reply, jokingly disapproving of my choice (basically: "Don't you know what they did to my people?!").
The problem was, I had never heard of the Armenian Genocide (or anything related to Armenia). After a night of Google searches, I was totally struck by the history of this country I could hardly place on a map. The ancient Christian heritage, the unique and beautiful language, the cultural values, the long and complicated relationships with its geographic neighbors--everything captivated me. I downloaded music replete with the duduk and zurna; I subjected my Facebook friends to hours of Armenian traditional dances from Youtube. I had to go!
In the summer of 2011, I decided to take my interest one step further and apply for a Fulbright grant so I could live and work in Armenia. After months of preparation and way more months of anxiety-filled waiting, I got the best email of my life--that I was accepted for my grant, and would spend nine months living in Yerevan as an assistant English teacher.
What's with the blog name?
"O Hye!" is a take on "O hai!" plus the root word for Armenia, which is hye/hai/hay.
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