Today is my day in the sun... yup, I'm going to Lake Sevan :-) Yesterday we went to the "Dan Shuka" or house market, where people wear or post house for sale signs, plus brokers rent tables, billboards, etc. It was a bit hard to navigate and a little of it was in Russian, but it did not seem to be the complete clearing house I was expecting. Such a place just doesn't exist apparently. It was interesting to see though, and I still have to make it to the car market, were people drive out with their used cars to sell them.

On Friday we spent some time in Bjhni, in a river canyon. It was just beautiful, the village and the scenery. We had a picnic/BBQ with some people I just met who were all great with one long-winded drunkard, and then stopped at a massive hotel/restaurant complex which is incomplete but beautiful. The owner of course is looking for "sponsors"... it is funny they don't seem to use the word investors here so much as sponsor. This is why I think it is so much better to invest here and give people jobs than handouts.

Anyway, I want to point out to people that the Armenian lands in Israel are being used and abused by the Israeli government. They are seizing it without warning, destroying fences, buildings and orchards and then demanding the Armenians sell it to them. This sort of thing has been going on there for way too long and for once we are raising our voices as a nation to put a stop to it. Please visit the www.anca.org site and take action immediately. With the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Armenian government and the entire diaspora speaking up, I think this problem will be fixed AND future problems will be minimized. Gone will be the days when the Armenians there have no voice and no support, a new nation and a diaspora hooked up to the internet have a strength which Israel will have to learn to contend with.