I am back in California doing... a remond!!! Just kidding... sort of. I remodeled my place in Orange when I bought it, and now after a few years of renting it out I have put it on the market. The tenants did not take good care of it at all, so it was back to painting and hardwood floors and plumbing and so on. But all in all it was only a few days a work, so as they say in Armenia ejhan b'rdzank (we got off cheap). Being in the land of technology and convenience, I am reduced to the stone ages. No phone line, no internet, but ahhh, great weather ;-) I am wearing *one* or sometimes two layers of clothes, not three or four as I would in Yerevan or Boston. As Meneshian mentioned, I did a stopover in Boston on my way home and he gave a great tour of the Armenian sites. I really think it is sad that such a beautiful and livable city was built in such a bad climate (worse than Yerevan's ;-)

Almost nothing seems to have changed since a year ago except for the insane number of flags attached to everything. Ufff. One thing I noticed in Armenia is that the flag is virtually never flown except on government buildings. It surprised me at first because we use it as part of our identity in America, but then in Armenia, who do you need to show your Armenianess to?