How I got to Armenia
Having lived in Australia my entire life, culturally I have grown up within two spheres of understanding: one Australian and another Armenian. The Armenian sphere has provided me with an abundance of social life, cultural education, and a second language (also thanks to the hard work of my parents; taking me to Saturday school kicking and screaming because which kid wants to go to school on the weekends?), and has almost been as if I have been living two lives: one, I’m just any other kid going to school in multicultural Sydney with my ragtag group of friends who also come from a plethora of varying backgrounds, and two, I’m an Armenian spending my evenings and weekends at the cultural clubhouse (ակումբ) with my parents’ friends’ kids and social basketball teammates, many of which I’ve known since birth.
Growing up in Australia has been a blessing for so many reasons and is the reason I have achieved what I have to date. There is one thing, however, it was never able to provide: a real understanding of my Armenian heritage, the country, and the culture located 13,655 km away. The Armenian sphere tried its best. We had many a cultural evening and commemoration, many international guest speakers and diplomats coming from abroad, all trying to paint the picture for us one disjointed evening at a time. But it seems that this was not enough. After 28 years of living in Australia, there was one word that I had not heard once growing up: Azerbaijan.
It was not until the2020 Artsakh War, that this word came right to the forefront of the community’s attention, and all I could feel was disappointment, letdown, and anger.
Why, after so many years, of participating in so many community groups, had I not once been informed about Armenia’s number one threat and imminent disaster? Why after so many evenings and Saturday school lessons had I not been taught about Armenia’s most contemporary history of the1991-1994 War with Azerbaijan? It was an insane proposition and very difficult to swallow. These questions rattled me so deeply that it felt like Morpheus had slipped a red pill into my drink. What did it say about the leadership and the goals of the community I hold so dear?
So I started to read books likeMy Brother’s Road and began to educate myself on Armenia’s history over the past 100 years. I read about the formation of Armenian political parties in the late 19th century and their roles with the Young Turks and Bolshevik revolutions (more on this at a later date). I read about Stalin and his relationship with Armenia in Stephen Kotkin’s amazing historical accounts and slowly a realisation dawned on me; I could read as much as I wanted but there was one other thing I had to do which was non-negotiable: I had to move to Armenia myself. I needed some primary source material to let go of my over-romanticised and unrealistic view of Armenia which had been cultivated for me over the years.
In October 2022, Azerbaijan initiated a skirmish in Armenia proper. I called my boss that evening and broke the news: I was going to quit my plush, corporate job to move to a developing country that was on the brink of war. He understood and surprisingly, so did the whole office. They wished me luck and that was that. By November 15 I was in Yerevan and had started my first day of work.
What it Has Been Like to Live in Armenia as an Australian
Many of us have visited Armenia for one reason or another. Some for family, some for sporting games, some for business, but, and to state the painfully obvious, visiting Armenia is not the same as living in Armenia – smoking darts I bought for $1 AUD a pack while drinking wildly over-poured cocktails all night at ‘Downtown’ during the Pan-Armenian games may be some of the best goddamn experiences I’ve ever had, but they are not the real experiences of Armenia. I’ll cover some of the most critical differences to understand below.
1. Passports & Travel
Holding an Australian passport is a gigantic blessing on this side of the world, a blessing I didn’t fully comprehend until I became friends with people who didn’t hold such powerful passports; it can take months for some other passport holders to gain a simple holiday visa. While here, I can travel to Europe on a €50 flight at a moment’s notice. Flying to Crete to eat octopus on the weekend isn’t something we get to do back in Australia. There are also new airlines opening up to enable travel to more destinations for cheaper from Yerevan. The places to visit in the proximity are endless.
2. Institutional Support
This one is pretty simple. Australia trumps many other countries, developing or otherwise, when it comes to institutional support. Medicare is a key difference – free health care and choice is not available to the same degree in Armenia. Once you have your visa or citizenship, you sign up for your local ‘Polyclinic’, like a clinic with many types of doctors located in the same building. While this is free for tax-paying citizens, any referrals outside of the clinic are paid for out of pocket. So health insurance is something to consider and may be a bargaining chip for your employer.
Government offices and departments can also be difficult to navigate. I’ve found a lack of transparency in the process and an unwillingness (for the most part) to provide help and service to those seeking it. Obtaining visas and citizenship can be a huge hassle but more on that topic later. To summarise, things that are simple and straightforward in Australia may take much longer and that takes some getting used to.
In Armenia, social support is absolutely critical. Investing time into making connections and a local network will be invaluable to enable you to get the things done that are important to you. Read ourtips for moving abroad.
3. Wages vs Expenses
During the time I’m writing this, the cost of living in Armenia is wild. The government itself has been subsidising the US dollar in order to devalue the Dram in order to keep the economy stable. Costs of essentials:
• Milk 1L – 400 ֏ ($1.50AUD)
• Cup of Coffee (Long Black) – 550-1800 ֏ ($2.10-6.80AUD)
• Bottle Water 1L – 220 ֏ ($0.85AUD)
• Bread (Madnakash) – 280 ֏ ($1.05AUD)
• 1 Bed Apartment Rental in Kentron – $800-1200 USD monthly ($1,220-1,830AUD)
• Gas Bill – 30,000 ֏ monthly, averaged out over the year ($113.50AUD)
• Schooner Tap Beer – 1800 ֏ ($6.80AUD)
• Gym Membership – 36,000 ֏ monthly ($135.60AUD)
So while eating essentials like bread, milk, and eggs you can get for very affordable prices, other things like rent and gym memberships are exorbitant. You could rent an apartment in Carlton for less than an apartment in central Yerevan.
Compared to wages, my wage as an Armenian from Australia would be roughly 800,000 ֏ ($3,030 AUD) monthly after tax, for middle management, skilled roles, like a Project Manager or Senior Architect. This is also a much higher-paying role than a local would be paid for doing the same job.
Let’s take out expenses on a monthly basis:
• Average Rent – 405,000 ֏ (50.5% of wage)
• Gym Membership – 36,000֏ (4.5% of wage)
• Living Expenses (groceries, coffee and eating out twice a week) – 200,000 ֏ (25% of wage)
• Utilities & Mobile – 45,000 ֏ (5.5% of wage)
• Transport (taxis) 50,000 ֏ (6.25% of wage)
736,000 ֏ ÷ 800,000 ֏ = 92%
To live comfortability, up to 92% of a relatively high wage in Armenia goes to the essentials, and that’s considering that Armenia does not provide free healthcare to the degree in Australia so medical expenses can be unexpectedly brought into the mix. There isn’t much wiggle room or ability to save. That being said, the government provides tax subsidies to young people buying apartments with a mortgage which is an awesome initiative.
With that being said, access to organic produce and things like dairy is very affordable. I buy my weekly 1L milk, butter, yogurt, cream, 6 eggs, and 1Ltan all together directly from my local dairy farmer and it costs me less than $10AUD.
4. Professional Life
This topic is one I’ve really struggled with the most. It’s easy enough to adjust lifestyle and adapt to cultural norms but when it comes to professional life, I have found the sacrifice to be huge. That being said, there were benefits to the work culture too.
Having worked for a local business here for 12 months, as what would be seen from the outside as a ‘progressive’ organisation, my main takeaway was thatmachiavellian power dynamicswere the main focus from the top down. For those who’ve worked in the corporate sphere, competition to get to the top can be fierce, but there is a certain level of competence required to ensure that the business keeps running. In Australia, there is a lot of support from the system to ensure things keep working as they should, which allows, sometimes, people with low competence to succeed financially i.e. other people you’re working with pick up the slack, the government regulates employment, etc. and these are all forms of support which are not as strong in Armenia.
I’m sorry to say this but I found the professional working life to be difficult. The executives were concerned mainly with keeping position and power (a ‘do it because I said so’ type of attitude) and rewarding those who were loyal, groveling and flattering sycophants, which left little room for professionalism, competence and positive outcomes. This (repeatedly) led to huge blowouts in project resources and timelines. It led to disingenuous interactions with financially contributing external organisations and stakeholders and worst of all, it led to terrible strategic decision-making and outcomes. All of this is behind the shroud of intense marketing, managed by an overworked communications team, holding the weight of the organisation on its shoulders.
That’s not to say one shouldn’t come here to work. Firstly, I was able to see the impact I was making on a daily basis and that was really fulfilling. I made lots of friends which I still see to this day. Each individual has to balance this fulfillment with their ambitions, their financial security, and their ability to navigate such a political environment. Professional life in Armenia can provide great social opportunities to make friends and expand your network. The culture may allow later working times at some places (I used to start at 10:30am) which then promotes the ability to spend time with friends and family until late in the evenings.
All in all, moving to Armenia was hard, but it was necessary and has been very, very rewarding. It opened my eyes not only to the real situations the country faces today but to who I am and where I fit into the global picture. I’ve met a lot of people from lots of different countries and I can say proudly that I wouldn’t want to be from any other hybrid culture because Australia, at its highest levels of power, still respects the moral imperative to a higher degree than most other developed countries in the Anglosphere, while Armenia has provided me a place to learn about my hereditary, culture and connection to the world, and most importantly, a place to meet people just like me.
Moving overseas can be very challenging, especially in a developing country. It’s important to understand the challenges so you can face them effectively and maximise the benefit gained from these experiences. For more tips, see our articleTips for Moving Abroad.
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