Finally settled
It’s been a long journey (left my apartment in NYC at 5:45AM on Friday, arrived to our hotel in Yerevan at 2:30AM on Monday) - but we made it!
With luggage in tow, Arek dropped me off at Newark Liberty International Airport, and I set off on my first leg of the journey — to meet Talin at LAX. I was pleasantly surprised when I boarded this flight to discover they had upgraded me to Economy Plus! I got some much-needed shuteye, and before I knew it, Talin and her family scooped me up in Arrivals, took us back around to Departures, and we boarded a 16-hour flight from LA >Doha, Qatar together. We had a 3-hour layover and then flew from Doha >Yerevan which was an additional 3 hours.
We were thankfully seated next to each other on our moderately-crowded flight. Overall our experience with Qatar Airways was pleasant: the flight attendants were friendly and attentive, and they served numerous meals & snacks throughout our flight. When we were about 2 hours shy of Doha, we did hit some turbulence which of course caused some passengers to panic and several items to go flying. Luckily neither Talin nor I got motion sick!
Upon arrival at Zvartnots International Airport, we got through Customs and Baggage quickly. A driver from our hotel Panorama Yerevan was waiting for us with a sign. We would very much like to thank the Panorama team, as they have graciously hosted numerous healthcare volunteers free of charge. If you are traveling to Yerevan in the future, I highly recommend looking into Panorama as a viable lodging option. You can check out photos of Panorama here! It is more like an “extended stay” resort with multi-room suites which are clean and comfortable. It is situated in the neighborhood of Nork-Marash, which is not in the city center, but rather sits perched up in the hills and offers stunning, sweeping views of the city and Mt. Ararat.
Monday: A Day to Transition
After catching up on much-needed sleep, we made several phone calls to inform Armenia’s Ministry of Health of our safe arrival. We received our official assignment, which will be to report to the Armenian Red Cross Society Gratsia International Rehabilitation Center tomorrow morning at 11AM.
According to the website, “The main activity areas of the Center are treatment of marrow, spinal cord, musculoskeletal diseases, general and post-traumatic rehabilitation, patients’ vocational training, psychosocial rehabilitation and sanatorium-and-spa treatment. In the Center each patient with marrow and spinal cord injuries is individually treated and cared by a doctor, nurse, rehabilitation therapist, psychologist and sport trainer.”
Today in the early evening we were met by Nvard Sununu who will be joining us at the Gratsia Center to assist with written translation of patient education materials. She has studied Law, Political Science, and Linguistics, speaks both English and Armenian fluently, and will be an excellent resource and addition to our team!
We were also met by a great friend of Arek’s family, Gagik. He has generously connected us with a driver who will take us to the Gratsia Center on a daily basis. They brought us some rehab supplies & equipment that we had sent to him via personal package prior to our arrival. One corner of our suite looks like an Amazon warehouse! We will use much of this equipment during our treatment sessions and will gift appropriate items to the injured soldiers to help them live more comfortable, independent lives! Thank you again to all who made this possible.
We are very much looking forward to arriving bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to get to work tomorrow morning!
