Update – Much about Nothing

I have finished my work for the first semester and now I have 4.5 days of vacation to relax before jumping back into the fire. The second semester which starts Monday will be more difficult than the first semester. The classes will be about strategy and leadership. The goal is to take human resource management, finance management, management accounting, marketing, operations management, and information management and roll them together to apply to business problems. My strategy module’s syllabus is 18 pages and it lays out a huge challenge but I am really excited about it. Bristol Business School (BBS) just hired in Dr. O’Regan to push the strategy curriculum forward a notch. My other classes will all be lead by department heads and all seem to feel their class is king. I am not complaining but I will have to be much more proactive and serious about reading ahead this semester as I ran short on time this past semester. Obviously, with our expected bundle of joy, I will have a few more things to do to keep our household functioning.

For me, before the baby comes which will be the highlight of my spring (and probably my life but it is too early to tell), I will be involved with the Bristol Rugby Referees Society and Cherry D. First, the Referee Society will allow me to return to my beloved game of rugby as a referee. I am bit apprehensive about this as I am in England where a lot more people know more about rugby than I do. However, I have had some excellent referee instructors and I am sure I will do well. My personal goal is to prove myself to be a good referee, continue my physical fitness improvements and in reasonable time be a sought after referee. I know I can call a good game and even though I am not the quickest on the pitch I am a thinker which serves me well as referee. Second, Cherry D is my effort to get back to my love of volunteering and possibly make a bit of income. You can check out its website but in essence I will do what I did in Armenia by acting as a consultant to not-for-profit organisations who are wishing to improve themselves. Today, 17 January, I will meet at the Cherry D office to begin to get my hands dirty. Mandi, the business manager of Cherry D, has lined me up a not-for-profit who needs help finishing its business plan. That is right up my alley! Also, I will help them update the content on their marketing and look at the feasibility for grant writing.

I am sure someone is going to tell me I do not have enough time to do my school work and volunteer either with Cherry D or rugby and that would be true. However, I have come to know myself pretty well and I know the more I have on my plate the better I cope and the more effective I am. Both activities will give me time away from my studies as it is a seven day a week job. More importantly, they will get me into the local community where I can network and meet people. My next step in life, returning to work, requires that I have a good network of contacts especially if I am to find work in the Bristol area. I figure if Terra wishes to pursue further study, it is better to have those relationships started so they could prove beneficial a few months from now.

At the same time, I am trying to find ways to increase my grant writing for Gavar Special School. Sadly, I cannot find any grants that will apply. All the emails I have sent in the past six months about Gavar Special School go unanswered or flat out rejected which is disheartening. Also, I am feeling distraught because I know Lavrik, my dear friend who runs Gavar Special School, is really being pressured by the local government for kickbacks as in the past 18 months the school received a new roof and new courtyard wall from generous donors. In Armenia, it is assumed that 10% minimum of any project is absorbed by the person in power. I know with the projects I help Lavrik run at Gavar Special School, there was no corruption however the people in power do not believe that. In short, they are shaking Lavrik down for a piece of the pie by threatening to fire him. It makes my blood boil but I find myself in a damned-if-I-do and a damned-if-do-not situation. For the kids, do I continue my efforts knowing that it might jeopardise Lavrik’s job as they may fire him for not “passing on what is due”? If I loose him as a change agent, I worry all the effort will be for naught. I am thankful especially for our dear friends, FCN, in Glendale as they have such a major impact at Gavar Special School. I just wish with every good thing there was not an associated backlash. Of course, the changes that have been made will continue on but there are so many children in my treasured Gegharkunik region of Armenia that need just a little help. In the years to come, I must find a way to directly address this problem and bring true change. It will take lobbying the government and bring focus upon the problem but I will find a way to do it.

Of course I can continue on about my favourite topic, myself, for paragraphs and paragraphs but I would like to tell you how proud I am of Terra. She has been working very hard on her assignments for her first set of classes and has already started her second semester classes last week. Her skin is absolutely radiant as being pregnant really suits her. I am tickled when I hear here conversing with the baby. When she is doing various activities it will become quite active and she takes the movement inside to be answers to her questions. It is quite the pleasing comic act, if I do say so myself.

I keep telling Terra how happy I am to see her thinking. While we were in Indianapolis, she did not think very much as her work was not challenging for her. When Terra is busy thinking and learning, her mood is one of delight. While she certainly is experiencing a bit of stress with her term papers, mainly caused by trying to cram 20,000 words of content into 3,000 words of a quality term paper, I am impressed by her organisation and methodology in regards to learning. She is a much better student than me. I am pleased I can take joy in watching her learn and seeing her excitement for the topics she is covering.

For me, the next few months will be a blur. I will be busy but this is a good thing, allowing me to be more effective in my studies and networking. I do find my mind drifting to Armenia almost daily and sometimes experiencing feelings of guilt as I am not there to continue to help those people, I have come to care about deeply, move Gavar forward. I have to remind myself there is a lot of life remaining for me and if I am creative enough, I will find a solution to allow me to put effort into Gavar even if I am not there physically. I gain solace in knowing the best thing I can do is to finish my degree, do as well as I can and then use my future professional roles to create some possibility of change for Gavar.

According to the baby tracker, we only have 80 days until our little one decides to come out into the world. It will be a joyful time and I am thankful that the child will have dual citizenship, UK and US, as it will afford the child many future opportunities allowing him to work in the US or anywhere in Europe. Of course there are education advantages as well.

In closing, I am excited about the coming changes and challenges. I am a blessed man to have Terra with me in these challenges and I am so proud of her for being so capable. Do drop us a note and say hi if you have not heard from us in a bit!