I went to a presentation today at �Duty to Live�, the organization that looks after vulnerable families. It was a day for the children in celebration for Christmas. I ended up taking so many photos, the children were all dressed up from pink dresses to crocodile suits etc. and were so cute.

The children gave presentations, performed plays, told jokes, sang and danced. My favourite boy, Haigaz, the one who made me cry last time, sang again. His voice is amazing! He sang a really sad song on Karabagh but I contained myself this time.

Once the performances and dancing were over, Santa Claus arrived and delivered presents to the children. The toys were donated from other organizations within Armenia which were hand made from the kids themselves and other toys were bought for this event. The atmosphere was cheerful to say the least and I�m glad I was invited to experience this joyful event.

On a different note, it�s almost E day. In a couple of days 300 million Europeans will commence using the Euro, how exciting! Think how much easier it will be for travellers. Obviously there are still going to be a few differences, such as some products being cheaper in certain countries due to their tax system. For example in Germany, some goods will be cheaper as they have lower VAT in comparison to other European countries, etc.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, may your dreams come true!

I forgot to mention something very important to me. I received a mail from my nephew Peter from Sydney saying that it�s the first X-Mas EVER that we have spent apart. It�s ok Petey, I wuuvvv youuuuuu!!! It just occurred to me that Chrissie is over in Sydney in a couple of hours anyway! Till next time.

Christmas Day! No snow! Tonight I will celebrate Christmas dinner at the Armenian Volunteer Corps with whoever decides to turn up. The director and his assistant are cooking dinner for us. We�ll also probably sing some Christmas carols.

Tomorrow is Boxing Day. No the name does not relate in any way to boxing kangaroos (Aram). This holiday is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. A non-event holiday for the rest of the world, although I may be getting together with a couple of friends for dinner to celebrate this day. Usually in Australia, this day is spent hanging out at the beach or picnicking with friends since most have the day off work (except for retailers of course).

Well, it�s Christmas Eve and it�s freezing conditions in Yerevan. The forecast is for warmer weather, we�ll see. Will I see a white Christmas? Perhaps not in time for tomorrow but by Armenian Christmas hopefully?

I�ll be going to dinner tonight to a friend�s house and I�m hoping to go to Karabagh for Armenian Christmas if all goes well. New Year�s Eve is still up in the air at this stage.

A couple of days ago, I decided to do something about my phone bill. You see on the 15th of every month, the phone bill needs to be paid at a post office. However in my case unfortunately, I need to pay mine at the main Armentel office near the Republic Square. The reason for this is because my residence on the Title Deed is classified as a business as opposed to residential. Many moons ago my flat was an artist�s studio and so on the Deed, it still shows up as a business. Every month when I pay the bill, the process takes approx. an hour since I first need to obtain a print out from one section then pay it somewhere else and the queue is generally quite overwhelming, so I decided I needed to do something about this.

I visited the �bed� of Armentel re my situation and was advised I needed to go to the �cadastre� which is like a Land Titles office. The following day I went to the �cadastre� pronounced ka �das- ter, with a colleague and was advised that it was up to the decision of one man located at the Municipality Council. So the next step is to visit the Council and apply to have the status changed. I�d hate to think how long that process is going to take place and how much it�s going to cost. Once I obtain approval, I then need to re-visit the cadastre and hope for the best, I�ll keep you informed on the outcome.

The second annoying part of having my place classified as a business, apart from the wait time, is the fact that I pay a monthly charge of 3240 drams as opposed to the 900 drams standard charge. I know this isn�t much, however if and when the per-minute charges are introduced, I won�t have the luxury of 120 minutes? of free talk-time. I know it�s all up in the air still (the per minute charge) but I may as well try and resolve the situation ASAP.

Last night was my last evening of teaching English class for this year; I may re-start the classes in March. The students were so amazing; we exchanged phone numbers and e-mails with those who have access to computers from their work place. They sang Armenian songs for me, and one special one �Cilicia� since both my parents are from Cilicia, which was quite touching. Arthur was playing the guitar while the others were singing. They also presented me with a Christmas card and all had written as to how much they enjoyed my classes. It makes it all worthwhile. They really are a bunch of enthusiasts and special people.

Lastly for today�s log, I just want to share with readers how lonely it can get sometimes living away from family and friends.

I just got back from my first trip ever to a strip club here... they call it "streep teez" (strip tease with a heavy accent in case you didn't recognize it). It was topless only, and I don't know how the other joints in town are, but I guess it was ok. I just wanted to see one here even though Ithese places usually don't do much for me. I did like the fact that they only came over for tips if you called them, and they weren't doing lap dances and such. In case you are wondering, I saw no reason to believe there was any other "business" going on there. The cover was under $4 and the drinks were very cheap...

So tomorrow is my last day before my flight, and where will I be? Vernissage of course. I would just like to state for the record (a couple of people will know why I feel the need to say this) that I go to Vernissage almost every single weekend, sometimes twice. Somebody almost always needs to go or get something, and on a weekend, it is one of the more interesting things for me to do. Every once in a while I find the coolest thing there for soooo cheap, and I just love it. For example the soviet lava lamp, the Christmas tree decorations and communist star for the top of the tree, some awesome books, rugs, and some of our household goods. Lots of the vendors know me now, which I can't say I like, unless I need to negotiate a price. I know that since they see me often and know I am not a two week tourist, that most of them give me very reasonable prices. The nice thing is tha tI am not shopping for any gifts to take back. I got my cousins kids some magnetic Armenian alphabet set, and that is it. Nobody else gets presents!

Again cilicia is getting record breaking numbers of visitors (today may break a new record) and I can't figure out why numbers would jump something like 50% over the course of the past couple of weeks. Hey, I am not complaining, just wondering. Was there an article or a link that I should know about??

I will be in California in exactly one week... pretty much to the minute. Wow. In any case I leave Armenia in 2 days, so I have to do a few more things and I am all ready. I know I was back in the states a year ago for Christmas, but still this is only the second trip there since I came in summer of 99, and the places seem so far apart... (even though 2 nights ago I was online chatting with friends in New York, California and Karabakh all at once).

I finally made it into ORRAN a couple of days ago (I�ve been wanting to visit since my arrival). Their mission is to divert children of the slums from street life and from begging. Check out their site on www.orran.am. I visited the Center with Katy Pearce, Madlene and Shant and although we turned up unannounced, the staff was very accommodating. ORRAN ensures that the children attend school, after which they walk to the center and receive daily nutritious meals, receive individual attention with their homework, and a fulltime pediatrician is present to attend to their needs.

Amongst the staff are local and Diasporan Volunteers. What ORRAN also does, is involve the families of the children to assist in every way they can voluntarily once a month. ORRAN is hoping to expand their center to cater for the children and elderly. The most amazing part of the unannounced visit was the fact that we saw with our very own eyes how it all worked. In one room, a local volunteer was teaching the children an Armenian song to children aged from 4 to 15. In another room, children were being assisted with their homework and receiving individual assistance. What I�m saying is that, it was so refreshing to see that this place actually worked, there was no formal preparation made for us. I fell in love with Samvel, an 8-year-old boy, who was so happy to see guests at the center that he couldn�t wipe the smile off his face. As I left, all I could do was congratulate Gail Howard, (exec. Director) on an excellent job.

Yesterday, I went to an all day conference organized by The Armenian Chamber of Commerce on Due Process and E- Governance. Over the next couple of days, I�ll be bidding farewell to most of my friends who are going to their respective homes for Christmas.

I have a new story about my evil stepmother Denise. I thought the stories would end years ago, but maybe they never will. She just went through my full sister Karine's childhood diary in the garage, tore out a bunch of pages (including some cute notes from our step-sister) and mailed it to Karine's work address. Unbelievable. Karine moved out 12 years ago and has always been a perfect kid (like myself ;-). This is a mild story compared to many that would make your hair stand on end, but the fact that this is still going on in her head is really something.

Anyways, my life is all upside down with preparations to go home for Christmas. (Home meaning California, not meaning where my evil stepmother still lives with my dad). Finishing some work at the office, getting my furniture delivered (couches! finally!), packing, etc. I hope the weather in California is nice and toasty by the time I get there.

Tonight we went to a hidden pirates theme restaurant behind Marco Polo that few people know about. The atmosphere is impressive, as good as Disney himself could do, and the food was ok... but the portions/prices left something to be desired. The important thing is that I got a soup and a smoke free atmosphere for my slightly sore throat. In any case Hovik was with us, who had left Armenia 13 years ago and it was his first trip back. It was fun to see him here at last. I think things look so much better than 5 years ago that he has been saved from shock. 5 years ago there were practically no restaurants, cafes, landscaping, city maintenence, there were large packs of wild dogs, and well, no a couple of hours of electricity a day. The city has undergone a massive transformation.

Sorry for any technical difficulties with my site. The IP number is being changed, so bear with me, it is for a fun cause. )And don't bookmark or link to the IP number, wait till the domain name shows up again) When this all comes to pass in probably 3 days or less, I will be able to work on a cool new script that allows you all to start adding comments to each of our posts... so you can have a dialogue, or complain or maaaybe even agree with our sentiments. If I don't like your comment though, I can always can it ;-) Hopefully I will be able to get to this by the end of the month, but since I will be travelling to the far side of the planet during the holidays, I may not have time.

Now I must nap... I am coming down with something (I think from all this insomnia I have had this week) and want to fight it off before it gets worse.

I would like to say I am impressed by the loggers in the new pure diaspora log. Now I know what is going on with the Armenians of Argentina, and also have seen some really thoughtful posts about diaspora existence. As I said before, I would be interested in adding Armenians from the Middle East, Iran, Continental Europe and the CIS as well.

Last night I hung out with many of my friends, and had a great time. Lots of great conversation (plus food and drinks). Most of the diasporans here are heading home for the holidays, but a few of them will be around to experience the big weeklong festivities that they have here. I decided to head back and see my friends and family... so that has made this week a crazy one as I try to get longstanding issues and loose ends wrapped up. I finally got the parquet guy to come and start the process of finxing the 2 cancer-like swellings in the floor, the sofa's should be here this week, and I am going to the office and rushing around to finish up the Ijevan brochure and other things. I still have been unable to get the water tank guy over, but I have half-solved the problem by turning the thermostat up to 80 degrees celcius. If the thermostat actually worked, that would melt the entire tank, but as it is the water temprature is just perfect. Still, I want it fixed as I fear the thermostat might start working by itself and ufff, I don't want to see what that causes.

my bags still have not come.
my apartment still is not ready.

however

today is my first day of rest. i am finally happy to report that i was resting and sleeping today as opposed to running around like a headless chicken. i had literally doing this for days now.

my apartment will be ready by the end of the week (YAY) and my bags may arrive this week. don't worry i am smiling.

wednesday i will take a two day adventure trip to the Lori mountains. I will write when I return as for now I will get more rest. Oh by the way Atom left and we had a great goodbye party. Nune Yesayan sang acapela and the whole works. We sent him off with a bang. It was an amazing experience as I got to spend a lot of time with him and his score, Mychael. They promised they would come back for the premiere so I can't wait to meet Arsinee, and their son Arshille. Atom was really sweet and so Armenian spirited that he has inspired me. It is one of those good days where I am happy to be chilling at home. Welcome new loggers from the new logs.

Last night again I had really bad insomnia. But in the end I got six hours of sleep which is low, but livable. Dunno what I will be up to today, so we'll see. Yesterday I went to Vernissage with Lena and we ran into Madlene who was *with* Egoyan. I am so stoked I met him, I just wish I could have talked a bit more. Anyways, he likes my web site a lot, so I feel all warm and fuzzy ;-)

So I decided to post the back and forth I had written about yesterday, so here it is without further intro:

> > > > We will never admit to something we never did.
> > > > The only fact on your site is that YOU hate the
> > > > Turks, not the other way around.

> > > Have you read any books on the subject? Have
> > > you even tried to read the
> > > books on my website which you can download for
> > > free which were written at
> > > the time by foreigners? You really should. It
> > > is good that you are proud
> > > of your heritage, but that should not blind you
> > > to the truth.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > n_w$$h

> > Yes, I have. I still don't see evidence enough to
> > make any kind of judgement. And since I am not a
> > historian or a judge, perhaps the judging should be left up
> > to a court of law. Maybe at the Hague? Why don't you
> > guys take the Turkish government to court if you really
> > believe that you have a case? I hope you do soon,
> > becasue pretty soon we will take you and all the
> > web sites like yours to court, at the very least on
> > slander and racism charges.
> >
> > thanks.

> Uh, in case you didn't know, this already HAS gone
> to court on a number of
> occasions, and in case you didn't know it you are
> WRONG. So obviously you
> haven't read a whole lot. Here is one indictment
> for you to mull over while
> you consider which court to sue me in...
>
> The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal back in 1984
> reviewed and fully answered the
> question. The Tribunal, composed of prominent
> scholars, legal experts and
> Nobel Prize Laureates, found that:
>
> ------------------
>
> "The extermination of the Armenian population groups
> through deportation
> and massacre constitutes a crime of genocide not
> subject to statutory
> limitations within the definition of the Convention
> on the Prevention
> and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December
> 9, 1948.
>
> With respect to the condemnation of this crime, the
> aforesaid Convention
> is declaratory of existing law in that it takes note
> of rules which
> were already in force at the time of the
> incriminated acts."
> ------------------------
>
> Listen, please pause for one second and consider
> what has perhaps never
> occured to you before... that you are completely
> wrong, and that you have
> been lied to by your government your whole life.
> Why do you think your
> government has not already taken me to court? Why
> does it spend millions
> every year trying to shut up talk about the
> genocide, rather than just print
> a single book that proves that we are lying? After
> all they have the
> Ottoman archives right??? Come on now, think about
> it. There is an answer
> to this rather simple question. The fact that Heath
> Lowry was writing
> letters for the Turkish Ambassador to send to
> authors asking them not to use
> the term Armenian genocide should tell you
> something. The fact that the
> notes Heath Lowry included to the Ambassador with
> those letters shows quite
> well that they BOTH knew that the events were a
> genocide also should tell
> you something. Here, read all about it:
> http://users.ids.net/~gregan/pac.html
>
> Now if you are really open to the truth, you will
> begin to see what has been
> pulled over the eyes of the censored Turkish people.
> Nobody is blaming you,
> but it is your duty to educate yourself and others.
> To build bridges, not
> blockade Armenia.
>
> Best,
> n_w$$h

raffi,

i think you are justified in what you seek. if it
helps, i am sorry for what your ancestors went through
at the hands of mine. even one innocent child is too
much to give up for any cause.

i'm truly sorry and wish you and your people the best.

happy holidays,

[name withheld]
"My heart is sad and sick.
From where the sun now stands,
I will fight no more forever."
(Chief Joseph)

I am having an unbelievable case of insomnia now, with my head just whirling with thoughts, so maybe logging will settle my mind and wear me out enough to sleep.

My site has a rather large section on the Armenian Genocide. I have gotten all sorts of feedback about it from Turks over the years. Hate mail, threats, name-calling, and even apologies. This week I got a combo name-calling (liar) threat (take me to court for lying) and after a few back and forth e-mails, I got a sincere apology from the guy. It is such an amazing feeling knowing that yet another of a quickly growing number of Turks now knows what the whole world has know for almost a hundred years now. The Turkish government has been able to censor things within Turkey very well this whole time, but now with so many Turks abroad, and so many Turks on the internet, they cannot hide the truth from their own people any longer. The lesson to be learned here is that if you learn your history well, and can speak authoritatively and calmly, you can change minds and make a difference. Honestly, the apologies from Turks, often from out of the blue (no previous correspondences) do make me feel better, and give me a hope for the future of our nations. These events cannot be ignored or forgotten, but they can be discussed and forgiven. Even though it was not todays Turks who were responsible, it is todays Turks who must take responsibility... and today, at least one more did just that.

Another piece of good news is that in the past two days my site has again had a huge jump in visitors. A whopping 30% increase from out of the blue. I can't figure our what is causing it, nor if it will last, but meanwhile I am not complaining.

Now lets hope I can get some sleeo.

I spent much of today and part of yesterday scanning in the trial of Soghomon Tehlirian. It is fascinating. This is the guy who assasinated Talaat Pasha in Berlin for having masterminded the Armenian Genocide. He admitted that he shot Talaat, and was never-the-less found innocent of murder. I have not edited the text yet, merely scanned it into the computer, but it is readable.

correction: The anniversary of the earthquake is December 7th. it is 5:00 am here and since the sun is not up yet I was still thinking I was in yesterday zone.

I'M BACK!!!

Ahhh so much to tell. Well it all starts like this. My friend, Shant, and I are sitting in the Paris Airport waiting for our Armenia flight when all of a sudden he notices a certain very famous Armenian Movie Director from Canada (guess who!!!). We were so excited to have an opportunity to meet with him. We approached Atom who was the warmest and friendliest guy and ended up meeting him and Michael who were on their way here to score for his upcoming movie, Ararat! We talked for a while and decided to keep in touch. So right when I think that things were going really great...

We arrived to Zvartnots airport and BOTH MY LUGGAGES DID NOT MAKE IT TO YEREVAN! so with just my purse in hand... we got into my friends car and start heading back to the city. I was not too bummed because after all I was moving back into my newly remonded apartment! That had to make up for everything and erase an sour pout, right? WRONG!!! When I got back home I found out the new apartment is not ready and I have to move back into the rental till it's done. So I needed to go to storage because in this freezing cold I only happen to have the clothes on my back and my purse. Of course I did not store efficiently and summer clothes were mixed with the winters so I ended up tearing apart storage and bringing it all out again... ahhh. I will have to restore and then repack and move it to the new apartment when and if it is ready (new move in date Tuesday December 11).

No worries, there is a flight twice a week now from Paris. They will be here soon enough. THINK AGAIN.
I wen't back to the airport tonight as I was told on Monday that they would definitely be here on Thursday. Well, GUESS WHAT? THEY AREN'T!!! Now they tell me Monday. Problem chka, I say to myself... I will get them eventually, I hope!!!

As for Atom, we have seen him a few times since and it was a real treat to go to dinner with him to Mer Gyugheh, an authentic Armenian Village Cuisine restaurant. We talked for hours about living in Armenia, his new film and just being Armenian in general. We asked our waitress to take a quick picture of the four of us and got to talking to her. She told us that she had visited America for 5 months with a group of students. The other students had stayed on but she had come back... because she just couldn't leave Armenia.. I thought to myself, neither can I.

It is amazing to be back... I would trade a thousand pieces of luggage and a thousand annoying and useless trips back and forth to the airport to be here.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the earthquake. The situation in Spitak and Gyumri and the entire region is still pretty bad. Let's all keep the victims in our hearts and wish strength upon their loved ones.

The snow has slowly melted but it is still cold. There are many wonderful Diasporans around and it is great because winter brings those that do a lot of work and philanthropy here so it has been great meeting all these dedicated Armenians from around the globe.

I received a second package full of goodies from Annette Collins again. The box is full of washable crayons, markers, colored pencils, tracing and writing letters, pencils, alphabet flash cards and plastic bags for our next clean up day. These goodies will be given to the children of �Duty to Live� as Christmas presents.

I also received my first (probably only) Christmas card from Annette, which was a very kind gesture. I have it displayed in my flat for all to see. As opposed to the 6 weeks it took for the previous package to arrive, this one arrived in 11 days.

I had an interesting day today. I went to an international film festival which has been gonig on here in Yerevan, and watched four movies (approx. 30 min each). The first was a Georgian movie which showed me that large parts of Tblisi are very unattractive. (I hear all the time about the beautiful old town, but nothing else). Then two Estonian movies which taught me that the Baltic republics of the Soviet Union are already practically caught up with the west, unlike Armenia and Georgia. They also taught me that about 400 birds will be homeless next year and that people played chess during WWII. The last movie, which is why we went, was about the Hamshen Armenians. A good sized population in NE Turkey near Georgia and the Black sea which speaks Armenian, but are Muslim, and don't really know they are Armenian. It was Turkish movie about a kid and there, nothing to do with the fact that they are Armenian, but it was quite fun to listen to their funny dialect nonetheless.

Uff, I am feeling like a shadakhos, would someone else post already?

I am starting two new logs this week, and need more people for them. One is a log of Diasporans in the Diaspora (as opposed to in Armenia) and one is Hayastantsis in Hayastan (as opposed to having joined the diaspora). If you are interested in joining, please send me and e-mail (go to the feedback form and click on my e-mail address, don't bother fill out the form). I am looking for a few things in diasporan loggers, so let me know your age, location, gender, and background. I want to cover all the major communities at least and try to get different ages too.

Now if anyone needs to link to a specific entry in the logs, they can just click on the eternity swirl at the start of the post and they will see the permanent unique address of that entry. I just added some code to set that up.

The heater in my water storage tank is out, and I can't get in touch with the guy who has to fix it. Tomorrow I am going to my other apartment just to take a shower... down 5 flights, up 6, shower, down 6 flights, back up 5 flights...

If you are bored, you can visit my Yerevan Metro page. I just added the entire text of a Soviet tourist brochure about the metro to the bottom of that page and the English used is quite humorous... some sentences even seem to be forming a new language. 30,000 copies of that embarrassing text were printed... no wonder the Soviet Union collapsed just 2 years later. Here is the introduction:

If it is your first visit to the capital of the Soviet Armenia, your first problem Is going to be how to reach a place you need. The aim of this brochure is to help you in that matter.

Having looked it through a visitor of Yerevan will acquaint himself with places of interest, squares. museums and theatres of the city, and with all this the spirit of hospitality which is really sincere there.

There are many ways of getting about this city. There is a wide choice of tram, bus and trolley-bus routes in addition to taxi service. But the pride of Yerevan is the Metro, as the Underground is called here.

The date of birth of Metro in Yerevan is stated by March 7, 1981. That day in spring turned a jolly holiday for every citizen.

Of course, a long distance of time had passed since the moment in early 70-s, when due to the problem of shortage for transport means in a rapidly growing city, a problem which turned even more complicated, because of non-homogeneous geological relief, spread of different districts of the city and a great number of small crooked streets, difficult for a car to pass by, a solution for a new and more secure transport means was becoming rnore and more necessary.

A thorough technical analyses and detailed economical calculations, which had been carried in design and research institutions, throughout the country, guided by the State Planning Committee officials, brought up a decision for constructing in Yerevan a subway system--starting from Kievian street to to the Lenin Square.

The work on construction site started in 1972. During the first five years of boring work only a distance of 3,9 km for underground tunnels was passed. The tempo was too slow.

In 1977 the Communist Party's Central Committee together with the Ministry Counsel adopted a special decree entitled "Construction of Metro in Yerevan".

From that day on a new era in the history of city's underground started. The whole country participated in constructing Metro Yerevan. By that time, Armenia, the "country of mountains" had great traditions for tunnel construction. In spite of that, some highly qualified experts for boring, erection and furnishing works from Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi and Minsk were the first ones, who started the affair. Until now the metro-constructors in Yerevan will not forget "the great masters" A. Sukhanov, A Tukhamovich and others, who contributed sufficiently to the work.

The Metro stations with their vestibules organically combine national architectural traditions with modern shapes.

For the third time in the last week I have gotten a new virus e-mailed to me. This one scares me because it takes a while to dowload the message and the attachment, then both are blank. So what just happened then? What was downloaded? Is anyone getting blank messages from me? The previous virus which I must have recieved over a dozen times which said something like "hey, I wanted you to review this file, thanks" did not worry me because you had to open the attachment to actually infect your computer. I even got that one in Spanish! But this one... it's scary.

The huge invention that has been causing some commotion turns out to be a new scooter... it sounds like a great little machine, but I was expecting more ;-)