What would you do if.....

Since money has such a great influence in our lives in this society, sometimes when my dream seems so far away, I ask myself what I would do if money was unlimited.

This opens up my mind to endless possibilities, it excites and ignites all those things that I deeply desire to do, but stop myself thinking about because of money. It can also help set goals, all be it very long term goals.

So what would I do if money was unlimited?

I would:

- renovate all the orphanages in Armenia, including new floors so the icey winter wind doesn't enter; make sure every one of them has heating, uninterrupted, in the winter; repair all the holes in the roofs; furnish each one. Also implement a committee who are the 'follow-on' after the orphans turn 18, so they are not shoved into society without guidance and counsel.

- reconstruct and repair all the highways leading to villages in Armenia. Those villages are such an escape and have their own whimsical beauty.

- build a handful more of 5 Star hotels in Yerevan, Armenia's capital.

- set up a funded committee that looks after all the tourist sites in Armenia, like the many churches, so that these places can be cared for as they should be. They are ancient, they are treasures (and I love them!!).

- following on from the above two, conduct a worldwide Armenia tourism campaign, like nothing that has ever been seen before, including television commercials, free holidays for travel agents and more. It would encompass the facts that Armenia is a spiritual land, filled with beauty beyond your dreams, with such a friendliness you won't find anywhere else. You will find it hard to leave, and when you do, you will start counting down the days until you return.

Armenia is so beautiful that it should be shared with all the world. Everyone should visit it at least once, to breath the air and feel the soil underfoot.

It's free to dream.

What would you do if money was unlimited?

At peace

When I was a child we had a small picture in our kitchen. It was of Jesus and it read "He is our Peace." As a child I always thought they had misspelt it and it should have read "Here is our Place." How the child mind works!

It's been quite a few years now that I have been conflicted and even guilty about where I feel at peace. I don't mean the place, like the church, the hairdresser etc, but the place where you feel it when you walk on the earth, when you breath the air, when you smell the surrounds.

From my experience, you don't choose it, it chooses you. You don't plan it, aim for it or have it as a goal - it overtakes you.

Gradualy I am accepting where I feel at peace. I was almost relieved when Prince Harry recently stated that he feels most at peace in Africa. It gave me the feeling that I wasn't alone in feeling at peace in a land that I wasn't born in, a land that I didn't grow up in, that I had no connection to until my adult life.

I did months of research, read countless blogs, looked at many photos and listened to a lot of talk about Armenia before we went there. But nothing could prepare me for the overwelming feeling I had when I put foot on its soil, breathed its air and absorbed the live culture.

Armenia is where I feel most at peace.

Your Calling

I was going to make this post about Armenia and my love for it, but the hot topic of discussion at the moment for me is ‘your calling’.

It all started with a discussion about image.
As I look around I see a lot of people who spend their life trying to ‘catch up with the neighbors’, trying to impress their friends. Name drop at every opportunity (and even when there is no opportunity).

We all know that money is power in this world we live in. Most likely that’s why so many people want it (money) and try to accumulate things with it, so they can be seen as ‘having money’.

So what does money and image have to do with your ‘calling’?

I guess that’s my point really. A lot of people seem to be content with having the ‘car/s, house, holidays’ life. Just living, really. Now, if that’s what they feel their calling is, then good luck to them! I find it hard to believe that God put the majority of people on earth, in this day and age, to just live.

I recently watched an interview with Alberto Cairo who is known as the ‘Angel of Kabul’. He left his very comfortable life in Italy 20 years ago to go to Afghanistan and open the Red Cross Orthopaedic clinic in Kabul to help people walk again after losing their limbs from land mines. Now 20 years later he is still there, still working, he’s trained Afghanis in his profession, helped educate some and is one of the happiest people I’ve seen. You can read about his story here.

Cate Bolt is another who has dropped out of the corporate life to pursue her calling. She’s an Aussie mum doing extraordinary things. You can read her story here.

A scene from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding comes to mind – when her mother says to her that they fled from the war in Greece and came to America so that she could have a good life. That was then – this is now. Is it really enough in this day and age, in the Western world, to just live? Just work, just eat, just watch tv?

Maybe the people I see just living haven’t found their calling, maybe they never will.
You know you’ve found your calling when you’re obsessed by it and when it’s so deeply lodged in your heart that you can’t ignore it or remove it.

For me, I live every day thinking of Armenia. To return, have a business that will support our family to live comfortably and to do our dream. To once again pursue our goal of owning and managing a ‘Westernised’ Premier League football club and to set up the Foundation which will have so many ways of helping those in need in Armenia – the orphanages, the young people with dreams and aspirations but no money to pursue them and so many more.

All this takes money. So I guess that’s the connection!

Our journey has been long and hard. Six years on, but I know one day we will make it a reality.

One of my favourite quotes is from the kids movie Robots: The dad tells his son “A dream that you don’t fight for will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Have you found your calling?

A change of pace

I originally started this blog as 'All Things Armenian', to share my passion for Armenia. I haven't had the time to post much in the past, but I've now realised how much I miss writing. So I've decided to make this blog about my journey - my life, my loves and everything inbetween.

I'm passionate about many things, I have certain views about things and (after support from people close to me) I now feel it's time for me to share these.

I guess it's part of maturing, to be able to stand up and say "This is me", without being concerned what people think.

So, this is me.....nervous and excited at the same time.

Armenia 2-1 Belgium

I know I'm late with this, but I'm still thinking about it, and it is one of our passions, and an interesting subject we could talk about for hours!

Armenia won against Belgium on 9 September 2009, their first win in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifyers.

I watched the clip from the game the next day. Armenia seemed like a different team then when they recently played against Bosnia-Herzegovina (which I watched live on the net), where they lost 0-2.

Against Belgium, Armenia appeared strong. The First Armenian Front (FAF) were there - wow they are growing! And getting louder!! Their voice too was loud and clear when at the end of the match with Bosnia-Herzegovina they chanted that the FFA head go.

After being there, involved in football in 2005, I can see from the above matches that not alot has changed, which is sad, because it all has so much potential. We lived the potential. But as not all things go as planned, and money is such a huge issue, our dream sits and waits for us.

My favourite Armenian musical instrument

"The Armenian duduk can talk to you,entertain you, amuse you, the Armenian duduk can also get you into deep contemplation... "

How true is that statement!! If I hear it in an upbeat Armenian folk song it gives life and spark and you want to dance! The sound can also bring me to tears at the utter sadness that it can portray.

I first became aware of the Duduk while listening to my favourite Armenian music - Armenian Folk, many years ago. We now own a Duduk of our own - bought in Yerevan, Armenia on one of our trips there.

We have all tried to play it. We manage to get sound from it, but we recognise the fact that to be able to play it will take time, practice and dedication.

To sum up, the beautiful sound that comes from this piece of aged apricot wood is soul moving to say the least.

To find out more about the Armenian Duduk go here. To watch the master of the Armenian Duduk, Jivan Gasparyan, play go here for upbeat dance, and here for soul moving.

Shake Falls - Sisian, Armenia

Shake Falls is the biggest waterfalls in Armenia and is very beautiful.
To see Shake Falls in it's full glory, and other great photos of Armenia you should see this book Armenia in Colour.
"We went to the biggest waterfall in Armenia, Shake Waterfall. His Excellency (The then US Ambassador to Armenia, Mr John Evans) climbed very close to the water fall and said he could feel the heat behind him and the coolness in front, coming off the waterfall. There were two young women at the base of the falls, boiling Armenian sourj (coffee) on an open fire."

The above is taken from my other blog on MSN Space which consists of seven articles I wrote during our six month stay in Armenia in 2005, that were published in various magazines and newspapers. I also have a lot of links there to other Armenian websites and blogs.