Since 2014, the number of Filipino tourists, visiting Armenia each year, has increased from a few hundreds to more than 22,000, some of them even preferred to settle down in Armenia. The reason to visit our region is not only cheap flights. Most Filipinos who visit are expatriate workers in Gulf countries, who are forced to leave often to renew their visas because of visa rules.

The Adalia family is one of the Filipinos who moved to Yerevan. Their friends recommended to travel to Armenia in 2016, and since they noticed how the number of Filipino tourists was increasing day by day, the Adalias have established a tour company in Armenia.

By living in the city center and organizing tours around the country, they have started loving and appreciating Armenia even more than local people. The family participated in the Armenia's Velvet Revolution, taking to the streets with locals. Mediamax has visited the Adalias' place and talked to them about their family's peculiarities, business and the big love for Armenia.

#feeling Armenian

The name of the Adalias' son is Jivan. When the family moved to Armenia, in several occasions they called him in public, “Jivan!”, they were amazed that their son's name is so popular in Armenia. Surrounders even started to ask whether they purposely named their son after  Armenians' living legend, Jivan Gasparyan. The little Jivan also likes that he is so famous in Armenia, as well as the couple is very happy that they have such a strong connection to Armenia because of his name.

Jivan Adalia

Photo: Mediamax

When the couple named their son, they had almost none idea of Armenia. Jivan is a South Asian name, before Armenia they used to live in Nepal, the couple did not expect to have another baby during their initial season in Nepal. He was a premature baby born at 31 weeks instead of 40. So, they named him Jivan which in Nepali language means life.

Once Sam’s Armenian lawyer even told them to have their DNA tested for Armenian blood as their family name Adalia has an equivalent Armenian surname Adalian.

Sam and Imee Adalia

Photo: Mediamax

“We might not become 100 % Armenians, but we can do so by heart. We feel like locals here, we are not foreigners. We also took streets during the Velvet Revolution, of course we were not screaming, like locals, but we were protesting in our hearts and praying for everybody,” said Sam, the father. The eldest daughter Issa added that even though there is still a language barrier because not everybody speaks English, she feels welcomed here and she is very happy they moved to Armenia.

“In the Philippines and around Asia, we only see people who look like us, have the same skin color, the same features. We think Caucasian people are really beautiful, so when we came here I was amazed by people, even after these two years, people still seem to me kind of wonderful.

Amalie Khachatryan and Issa Adalia

Photo: Mediamax

When I speak to you, I am sometimes surprised that we are still similar inside, we are still people and we all have our dreams, struggles, we all like to have fun with each other, we joke, we tell stories,” said Issa.

She has lots of local friends in Armenia, Issa is going to apply for American University of Armenia this year. Despite all this, she often misses her friends from the Philippines, as well as feels a bit sad that there are not large English bookstores in Armenia. Her sister, Abbie and she have started learning Armenian, they have already learned the alphabet.

Home Together

The evenings are mostly musical in this home, either they enjoy watching classical concerts, gathering all together in the living room or they create music on their own. Sam turned the TV on and a concert of the violinist Ara Malikian immediately continued, Sam asked enthusiastically: “Do you know that he is Armenian? He speaks Armenian very well.”

Since we visited them in the afternoon and we wanted to have nice photos, we asked Sam to “perform” one of their evenings for us. Everybody took their instruments except the mother, she plays Filipino national guitar, which they left in the Philippines. They chose Tauren Wells Hills and Valleys song and all started to sing along with the eldest daughter. The sisters play several musical instruments, by the way they are now looking for English speaker music teachers to continue their lessons.

Adalia family

Photo: Mediamax

Once they completed singing, Sam asked his wife to bring their son's army suit. When father and son stay home, they play army games. Sam bought the suit in the Phillipennes, Jivan had told his father he wants to became a soldier. “I bought this suit because I also want to identify ourselves with the Armenian army, we have friends from Nagorno-Karabakh, when they visit us, I always let Jivan be with this suit. I tell them we are always with them, we feel them and we pray for their safety,” said Sam. 

Father and son

Photo: Mediamax

Before Armenia

They stayed to build life in 2017, before they had visited Armenia as a tourist. “We only came for three weeks, I remember asking myself what I was going to do in Armenia. Although we are Christians, I did not even know that Ararat is here.

We traveled a lot, we have been to 11 countries around the world, we received numerous invitations to work in South Korea, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, but once we visited Armenia, we fell in love with the country and started studying the possible ways of moving,” said Sam.

Sam used to work as a National ICT consultant for the Philippine government projects funded by various multilateral organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the European Union. His wife, Imee is an interior designer, she managed interior design company for 9 years.

Adalia family

Photo: Mediamax

Several years ago, the family moved to Nepal and ventured on social business, coaching, business consulting and humanitarian work for the Filipino Community in Nepal. Sam planned to put his own coffee shop and export business, but the 2015 Nepal earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people, eventually shifted his focus to humanitarian and rehabilitation work. He and other team of Filipino expatriates in the country were able to organize relief operations and initial rebuilding initiatives in more than 100 villages. He also led the distribution of 43 metric tons of food and shelter materials to 14,000 Nepali victims.

Pros and Cons of Armenia

While speaking about Yerevan, Sam would say the city or just Yerevan, once he said our city, he wanted to correct himself, but then he kept speaking: “I can say our city, as we live here.”

“We enjoy walking in the city, it is safe, particularly for our kids, it is a very child-friendly city. Armenia is the only country where pedestrians are respected, whenever we step on the pedestrian line, cars stop. In comparison to Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, everyone there is rushing. When we ask for direction, they offer their help really exhaustingly, we mean they will not stop until you reach your destination, our nation is like this, people are very kind and nice,” said the couple.

They say that people would stare at them, at first it was weird, but later on they understood they look different, that is why people are staring. They were surprised when people asked to take photos with them, they thought they were Chinese.

Father and son

Photo: Mediamax

The Adalias love Armenian restaurants and cafes, they only do not like when people smoke inside. “Outside of Armenia people respect each other in terms of smoking. Here, once I even saw my neighbor smoking while he was holding a baby,” said Sam.

They also stress the language barrier, they tell that few people working for services speak English: “I think Armenia should be global, especially after the revolution, because this is your season now, it has already come, hence I believe people should improve their English.”

“You might ask why not Georgia or Iran, but Armenia?” without waiting for my questions Sam asked himself and kept replying: “Besides the fact that living in Armenia is very convenient, the cost of living is also very inexpensive, however if you search on the Internet, it is vice versa. When my guests ask me how cheap is Armenia, I always reply it is cheaper than Georgia. As well as, making friends is very easy in Armenia, we have a lot of local friends.”

Compared to the Philippines, Sam and Imee say that they enjoy living in Armenia, although in the Philippines life is more comfortable like in the USA. Whatever they want, they can get it in mere minutes, they have a hospital and a church even at an ordinary mall, but at the same time, it is extremely crowded, half a million people go inside the mall. 

“How long does a normal traffic jam last here? Approximately one hour? It is not a traffic jam for us, in our city, Manila, a traffic jam may last even 8 hours, the regular one is 2-3 hours,” said the couple.

They still do not think of moving back to the Philippines, one day they would definitely return. Currently they got used to Armenia and they have already launched a business, which they believe, in this new Armenia should develop better.

The business

Before telling about their business, Sam said proudly that he knows Armenia better and has traveled around the country more than locals.

“Once, while I was waiting for a business meeting in a hotel lobby in Yerevan, I started a conversation with a Diasporan Armenian fellow sitting next to me, he runs a limousine business in downtown Los Angeles. I told him some facts on Armenia and the Armenian fellow quipped in American accent: “This is embarrassing, I am an Armenian, but a foreigner is teaching me about my country,” said Sam.

Sam established a tour company Vochnner, which organizes tours  all around Armenia for the all seasons. Their tourists are Filipinos who work in Gulf countries, they have also tourist customers from India, Lebanon. This year Sam tends to target also Russian tourists.

The whole process Sam started since 2017, he hired an Armenian law firm to facilitate their business registration in Armenia. He benchmarked Armenia alongside Georgia and Iran, and developed risk assessments for companies. Their company mostly employs Armenians now. He actually enjoys working in Armenia, he says paying taxes is very easy here.

However the company has an office in the city center, they mostly work online. They cooperate with local drivers and a bunch of hotels in Yerevan. They even encourage their own guests to stay in a hotel so as to promote tourism in Armenia.

Homeschooling

When we arrived their home, Imee was teaching a lesson to Jivan, girls were studying on their own.

Photo: Mediamax

They actually were not doing their homework, it was their regular class time. This family does homeschooling. Their children have never been to a conventional school, currently their mother is a full time housewife, she teaches the lessons. Girls were also joking that their father is the principal.

Technically, they study the same classes as their peers have at a conventional school. Their mother uses alternative teaching methods, after she checks the results and grade them. They do not go to school, but they attend group classes in Theater Arts, Music, Ballet, Creative Writing, they also join workshops, attend conferences.

Homeschooling is quite popular in the world, there are 1.8 million homeschoolers in the U.S. which is about 3% of the American students. Homeschooling is allowed in over 50 countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK, Russia, France, etc. Every year children pass special exams, which tests their level of education, so after completing their studies they would receive a diploma. Their homeschool program is fully accredited by the Department of Education in the Philippines.

Girls are studying on their own

Photo: Mediamax

“The biggest advantage of homeschooling is you can travel around the world and move to another country whenever you want, while our kids can explore the actual world perceiving it as a school. Many families want to travel, but usually they have to cancel trips because of their kids’ exams. Our eldest has already started doing her lessons online, the others still carry their books and gadgets during our trips,” said Sam and Imee.

Photo: Mediamax

They sticked their curriculum and daily schedule on the refrigerator, Imee gives a grade for everything they do even for the housework. “There is nothing wasted, I always observe and grade them,” said Imee. 

Alternative classes

“When our first daughter was born, I started attending some trainings, so at one of those meetings, the speaker said do not abdicate from your role as a parent and hire a nanny because of your work. At that time it was a totally new method in the Philippines as well. After discussing with Sam, we decided to homeschool our children and spend more time with them,” said Imee.

Photo: Mediamax

The children are able to enroll in a conventional school whenever they want, however girls said that they enjoy studying at home.

“At a conventional school, you spend most of your time with children at your age. There is a myth that homeschooling kids do not have a lot of friends, sometimes people tell us they think we are not socialized. They would always be surprised with the amount of friends I have, I have older and younger friends from 50 countries. Besides, you do not study core values by the books” said Issa. By the way, she also runs her own blog.

The parents teach lessons in practice. For example, one time, when Sam went home, he learned that his wife brought their 6-year old daughter Issa to a bank and allowed her to deposit into her bank account. Back then, Imee was teaching her Mathematics, at the same time building her social skills by talking appropriately to adults and specialists.

The parents also proudly stress that their children are not scared in talking to anyone as they do have the skills to tackle talks with high-ranking officials, such as ambassadors while meeting them at events. Because Sam practice them to do so, for example, he might say if you met now the U.S. president, what would you say to Donald Trump.

Homeschooling allows to study whenever they want, while Imee is cooking, she let her children count the vegetables, chop them, watch how soup gets boiled and what happens when you add ingredients. Playing football outside is also considered to be Physical Education. Children like to play outside, especially in winter time, when it snows. Jivan says his most favorite thing about Armenia is winter, because he saw snow for the first time in this country.

Amalie Khachatryan

Photos: Emin Aristakesyan