附录:New Armenia On our trips to Armenia, we witnessed a country in transition, especially around Yerevan, where a new generation of Armenians from Europe and America are putting down roots to help rebuild the country. Diaspora Armenians are investing in the wine industry, creating tech startups, and aiding with infrastructure projects, while Syrian Armenians displaced by war are reinvigorating the local restaurant scene, offering polished hospitality and Middle Eastern flavors that are a break from the state-run restaurants of the past. Politically, Armenia is also changing rapidly. In 2018, peaceful protests across the country succeeded in ousting unpopular prime minister Serzh Sargsyan and putting Nikol Pashinyan, a highly popular opposition leader, in power, kicking off a wave of reforms. Yet some older residents are nostalgic for the Soviet years. On April 24, 2018, Remembrance Day, as we walked along with thousands of others to pay tribute at the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, an older woman behind us lamented the rise of materialism in Armenia. It used to be that no one knew what they were missing, that they were all the same, she said. Part of the reason for the nostalgia stems from fresh memories of the difficult times that followed the collapse of the USSR. Under the Soviet Union, Armenia became a hub for engineers and physicists. Yerevan's art scene also flourished. In contrast, in 1991 the republic became a tiny independent country without the infrastructure to deliver basic needs. In those dark days, kerosene and bread were handed out by international aid organizations, and sometimes all there was to eat was bread and water, which cooks turned into Konchol , a soup flavored with caramelized onions, chopped herbs, and an egg, if you were lucky. Those who were kids in Yerevan in the 1990s remember bracingly cold winters and their parents' attempts to distract them by playing games or instruments, or encouraging dancing to keep warm. When the lights flickered on for a rare few hours, the entire city celebrated. There are different challenges today. During the Soviet era, one kept the same factory job for life. But in an Armenia that wants to participate in global trade, employers require more flexible skills, and some people feel left behind. The problem was not lost on the diaspora, which was how the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies came to be. Armenian-Texan philanthropist Sam Simonian and his wife, Sylva, founded TUMO in Yerevan in 2011 with a mission to close the education gap with technology and creative endeavors. Thousands of Armenian teenagers have since taken TUMO's after-school workshops led by pioneers in robotics, film, graphics, music, food, and writing. The same grandmothers who miss the old days are proud of their grandkids, the TUMO generation, who will be the ones to lead change in the country. These days, whenever we find ourselves chatting with anyone Armenian or not- -who has traveled through the country, we end up sharing this little excited smile with each other. It's like we're in on a secret, pulling a fast one on the rest of the travelers of the world, who tick through the obvious international tourist spots, dodging selfie sticks while enduring greatest-hits menus. In this place between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the ancient sites become open-air museums set against dramatic terrain, and the hospitality is honest and gracious. And these days, there is also always plenty of lavash to go around. |