Conan O’Brien Takes Assistant Sona Movsesian to Armenia

Dear Conan O’Brien, Sona Movsesian, Team Coco, and Crew,

I would just like to say thank you to you all for making the trip to my homeland Armenia and for taking Sona Movsesian who had never been to Armenia. That is such an incredible and beautiful gesture that you made for Sona and that flair was definitely felt throughout the Armenian community of the world. Not every boss in the world would do those beautiful and thoughtful things for their friends/workers and that there tells a lot about a person’s character and personality and Conan, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you and your crew, not only because you took Sona to Armenia, but you as a person who demonstrates quality, who is dedicated, and put your employees first. That is a rare occurrence.

You have no idea on how much we Armenians appreciate all that you have done and continue to do. Now, a lot more people know about us and that is something that I/We will forever be grateful for.

It is so awesome on how the #ConanArmenia show was presented to the world. Thank you for adding humor into the show, which made me laugh hysterically. I have watched the episode at least 10 times by now, if not more. I just cannot get enough of it. Sona is a beautiful person who is so full of life and I would love to meet you Conan and Sona someday and tell you in person.

As the show was airing, I was sending out live tweets and explaining to what was going on and I was so excited about it. I must have sent hundreds of #ConanArmenia hashtags throughout the world.

On behalf of all the Armenians in the world including myself, thank you for introducing Armenia our homeland to your viewers and fans, thank you for taking the time to travel thousands of miles to be with Armenians, getting to know and embrace our culture, language, heritage, making Armenian friends, putting us on the map and as well as addressing an important and integral part of our history about The Armenian Genocide, for saying the word Genocide, visiting the Genocide memorial with Sona in the end of the show really put a sweet and touching tribute and for recognizing what had happened to 1.5 Million Armenians who were displaced, massacred in 1915, and for letting people know about it.

When Sona was explaining about her family and what had happened in the village we lost of Sepastia which is now in Turkish lands, really made me all the more emotional as I am sure the Armenian community of the world. I started to cry too with Sona and I felt her feelings about it.

Again, we cannot thank you enough for doing this. We love you Conan, we love you Sona, and may you all have continued success with your show in Los Angeles or wherever life takes you.

Sincerely,

Talin Orfali
talinorfali.wordpress.com

The Armenia Tree Project — Greening Armenia Since 1994

Just a few years ago, I discovered a vibrant and wonderful program called The Armenia Tree Project, and right away subscribed and became a member. The Armenia Tree Project is something that is very important for Armenia. Nearly 60,000 trees were planted in Armenia’s towns, villages, rural areas, family backyards, in front of churches and other historical monuments and historical structures that make it bloom more. The community tree planting has restored over 1.1 million trees in Armenia and Artsakh. To this day, they will continue to restore forests to make it vibrant and beautiful. Armenia is a beautiful country and it is mountainous. Armenia has beautiful winding roads that lead to a church there, and a church here, and every turn there is always something to see, whether its mountains, or historical monument, statue, and so much more. Armenia’s Agriculture, Forestation and environment is so beautiful and the Armenia tree project is doing their best to make sure Armenia is taken care of.

Armenia and Armenians have faced challenges of the past with the Armenian Genocide of April 24, 1915 committed by the Ottoman Turks of Turkey with killing 1.5 million Armenians and plus the 1988 Earthquake of December which killed about 25,000 people and did a lot of damage, and so the Armenia Tree Project helped restore a country who has been through it all. The main mission to this beautiful project is to make Armenia vibrant which it already has been and to protect the future of the environment, nature conservancy, and provide care and greatness to our beautiful Armenia.

Thank you to Jeff Masarjian for your incredible and beautiful spirit and to all those involved into this, thank you to the donations given by so many people, thank you for all the efforts made to make Armenia whole again.

For more information in regards to this beautiful project, please visit — http://www.armeniatree.org and there you can see photos, and get more in touch with My Motherland Armenia.

 

Heading To Armenia Summer 2013!

I know that my trip to Armenia is a year away, but I have a lot of time in between to prepare my trip to Armenia. I have been to Armenia before but this time I am going for a whole month. There is this Canadian Youth Mission To Armenia which is CYMA, and they go and help out in renovations and community service for a village in Armenia, and you stay with your host family and eat, and be in their lifestyle and as well as touring Armenia. I am excited to go back to Armenia after so many years. I plan to also go for my 30th birthday in 2015 and at the same time I will be there for the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide Commemoration at the Armenian Genocide Memorial on April 24, God willing everything goes well until then, but it is good to plan from now and save save save and put money aside until it comes time to booking myself on that trip. I feel so good to go and serve my country and people and just being in Armenia is what is so incredibly awesome. You won’t know until you land on Armenia’s soil. A different feeling comes to you and you feel so blessed being on Armenia’s soil itself. I am so excited, I want to count the days, but It will just make me go crazier. Well, I have a year to prepare, with type of clothing to bring, toiletries, and among other things. I love packing for trips, and I love going away all the time. I cannot stay still.  Yay to Armenia!!! See you soon my motherland!

 

Childhood Memories Of Tweed, Ontario, Canada – North of Belleville, Ontario

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about my Childhood memories and another has sticked to me was my moments of going up to the Cottage with my family in Tweed, Ontario Canada about 15-20 minutes North of Belleville, Ontario exiting off the Highway 401 on #544 to Highway 37. Everytime the time came for us to go to the cottage, I was so excited. I would pack my bags and sometimes my mom would pack my bag and we would load up the car and drive down. It took about 2 hours to get there everytime and I enjoyed the trip so much all the time. I am a huge fan when it comes to roadtrips 10 hours or less. :). I remember going fishing, boating, paddle boating, swimming and jumping off the Raft My dad and my uncles built. Sometimes it would be weeks at a time we would go and the grass was ever so tall and when the fall hit, there would be so many leaves on the ground, so I would help rake them up. It was a cute little cottage. What would really scare me when I was a kid, at night there would be Thundershowers, and very strong ones, so I would be so scared that I would hide under the covers and cover my eyes shut so I would not see it, but I am past that stage now. Anyway, I would like to tell you a bit about the Town Tweed, Ontario.

Now, Tweed, Ontario is located north east of the Province Ontario. All the time we would go to Tweed, we would stop by the IGA food market which is not called Valu Mart, and we would get some food for the weekend or however long we would be there. The town is so small and you can get everywhere within 5 minutes 10 minutes. They have North America’s Smallest Jailhouse, The Amazing Dollar Store, a Hardware store, Daisy Mart Beckers Store for convenience. I would always get Bubble Gum Ice cream or Popsicles, and snacks. There is also the Park Place motel which always makes me think of the Game Monopoly, There is a beach on the Lake Stoco, but way too weedy, but it is beautiful. Also A beer store. There is also a Bridgewater Antique Shop near the end of Tweed. There was this man people used to Call Uncle JED, so each time we used to go, we said Hey Uncle Jed, he began to know us and whenever we came to town, he greeted us and he used to give me treats when I was little. After the years went by, we decided to sell the Cottage because nodody was hardly going there anymore after people started getting older and new things were happening in our lives and we just couldn’t go to Tweed anymore which sort of Saddened me and it took a long time to get over it, but its not so bad now.  After we had sold our cottage in 2001 about a year or 2 later when I was about 18 years old, I drove by the town with my brother before we headed to a Camping trip with friends and we decided to pop by and we saw a New Tim Hortons at the end of the Town. A few things were changed. My 2 years of not being in the town does surely change and the population became a bit higher to about 2000 people.

Now on our way to the Cottage in Tweed, as soon as we saw Trenton, Ontario, I said we are getting closer and closer to Tweed. We used to stop at the Mcdonalds on the way at exit 519 on Highway 401 East. At the time there were the barbies and hot wheels happy meals. So I would get the toys. Now that Mcdonalds doesn’t exist anymore. A couple of years ago, they gutted it all out and it became a new OnRoute Service centre with Tim Hortons, Burger King, and so much more. It is now called Trenton, South. There is one just up north of the 401 Parallel to Trenton South. It was so fun just stopping there and you would see all these big 53 footer trucks, tankers, RV’s and stuff. I said wow its awesome. I began to develop a strong respect over truck drivers since that age. My dad said these guys are taking big loads of stuff to other cities and they drive for hours and hours. I love stopping at Highway 401 Service centres. I have had many experiences in them all the time. To this day, These service centres, the Highway 401, Tweed, Ontario and all these little things in life have a big place in my heart and I will never forget it. I do not want to sound weird by loving a Highway and showing my feelings toward it, but its the way I am and like I said, I am very sentimental when it comes to memories of my past and holding onto belongings that mean the world to me. If your ever in Canada, in Ontario, Tweed, Ontario is such a cute place to visit. You will need a car there of course, but its worth a visit. In My Opinion, but everyone has different ones of course.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading. Thank you for stopping by. Come again.