Well I am still in California... the weather (which we seem to always have to mention, yet I still find interesting) is pretty nice. A bit cool at night, but often over 70f and supposedly going to hit 80 tomorrow. Woohoo! It is nice visiting family and friends. Did I mention I sold my condo here? Prices have just gone nuts, and I sold it in 2 weeks. So now I am homeless in LA.

So the good news is I have an interesting tentative job offer in Armenia... why do they always have to be interesting? Why never normal? I am waiting for the final offer to materialize, but I *think* it is just too interesting to pass up. Unfortunately as usual, it is only a couple of months of work and then I'd be unemployed again...

So now that I am back in California, what did I miss about America you ask? Well, I admit it, a car. I hate cars, its true, but sometimes having a nice, solid, reliable car on good roads is a fantastic feeling. What else? Not all the bazillion stores selling ridiculous things you don't need, but the biggies that make things so easy. Costco, Home Depot, the Walmart equivalents and IKEA. What other stores are needed in life? I guess thats about it. I miss the beach too, but it is winter anyways, so I don't get to "go" to the beach anyways. The other thing I miss is being normal, uninteresting. In Armenia, when someone meets an American-Armenia, they are almost surely interested in asking a bunch of often amusing, often personal, often excessive questions. If you are there as a tourist for a couple of weeks, this can be really cool, and make you feel in touch with people and with the homeland. But after years of living there, being asked yet again whether America or Armenia is "better" gets old.

So what do I miss about Armenia? Well my flat, first of all. Yes, it really feels like my home. It should after all that remonding I complained about ;-) There are sofas and the floors are fixed and everything is just just right. I miss walking around the streets of Yerevan, I miss weekend trips, I miss all my little eateries, and before I am killed, I miss my friends over there ;-) I would say I miss the fruits and veggies which are so good, but all they have in the winter is potatoes, onions, beets and cabbage. Then at various times during the winter they have carrots, celery, mandarins, persimmons and pomegranates. It is funny, I see tomatoes here priced at a dollar or more a pound and it seems sooo expensive... but actually you can buy tomatoes in Armenia during the winter for that same price. You just never do because it seems sinful to spend so much on something that costs under 5 cents a pound in the summer.