A few quick funny stories before I get on the helicopter to Artsakh... where I will be visiting fellow logger Ara Manoogian.

Today was interesting. I pulled a muscle in my rib/upper stomach area... so I called my friend Ashot who is a doctor at the Kanaker-Mikaelian Hospital and asked if I could swing by. One of my Co-Workers came with me and we took a Marshotni (mini-bus) to Kanaker. Once in his Cabinet (office) they gave me a check up to make sure it is not my liver or lungs and then gave me a prescription on regular white paper. It was a mixture of this Russian drug, a lot of Novacaine and water. We came back to the Mammography Center and mixed the medecine. Now I have to soak a towel and wrap it around my upper stomach for 14 days until the pulled muscle is healed. funny

They kept insisting that I stay warm in Karabagh and that I pulled my muscle because I got sick because a fan was blowing on me, or I came out into the summer night sweaty. It is far from the medecine that I have learned to know in the West but ... I honestly am feeling better.

Will try to write from Martuni.