Life in the Armenian Volunteer Corps is such that as much as I might like to add to these logs, getting time to sit down and write them is a nightmare and, by the time I sit down to write them I have so much to write that I end up writing about so much less than I could write about.
I�ve been here in Armenia for two months now and it definitely feels like I�ve been here for absolutely ages. Last week was spent in Romania where I was presenting a paper I wrote last year with my university, at a conference. The conference was held in the Carpathian mountains about 2 hours drive from Bucharest, hence the scenery was just breathtaking. I expected Romania to be similar in economic levels to Armenia � so when I arrived at the airport there was just no comparison, it was an �international� airport and my friends kept on laughing at my astonishment at the situation in Romania. It is significantly more advanced than Armenia � examples being: the 24 hr water, the instant hot water, the central heating in all the apartment blocks, the beautiful little houses in the villages, the well-kept and painted stately buildings in the center of Bucharest, the variety of cars, the abundance of shops (not kiosks), the TV stations showing films in English with Romanian subtitles, the existence of the yellow pages, the posting of telephone bills, the payment of wages by bank account, the existence of timetables for the bus system. The hotels are cheaper and the food is cheaper. All these seemingly small things add up to me being constantly laughed at for the week for being soooo astonished � I had expected things to be at the same level as Armenia! The infrastructure of the country, the existence of sea, and a proximity to Western Europe - all of these and other factors have really enabled such development, and although the Romanians themselves may still not be content (that�s life)� in comparison with Armenia�s standards I would say that there�s not much to complain about. Oh, and I did visit the Armenian church there which was vast. Also, I went to a really interesting museum called the Zambacchian museum, the guy used to collect art in the communist time and supported Romania�s artists as well as bought various Matisse etc � when he died it was handed to the state as a private art collection was illegal, and in 1996 his house was opened as a museum. This is supposedly one of the most amazing collections of Romanian artists in the 20th century and is also extremely well presented.
Although I had an excellent time in Romania and really enjoyed seeing my friends from my old lab who looked after me extremely well (they�re Romanian) during my time there, I am now really pleased to be back in Armenia and it does feel like home � even if I only have water for 3hrs a day�plus, it was really cold in Romania and here in Armenia it is still pleasantly warm!
Hover�s CD is being released in November and things are in line for a big CD launch concert and reception. Also, Hover will hopefully have a website up very very soon (www.hoverchoir.org), and general promotional information is also being produced which should then complement their musical excellence just nicely.
I�ve been here in Armenia for two months now and it definitely feels like I�ve been here for absolutely ages. Last week was spent in Romania where I was presenting a paper I wrote last year with my university, at a conference. The conference was held in the Carpathian mountains about 2 hours drive from Bucharest, hence the scenery was just breathtaking. I expected Romania to be similar in economic levels to Armenia � so when I arrived at the airport there was just no comparison, it was an �international� airport and my friends kept on laughing at my astonishment at the situation in Romania. It is significantly more advanced than Armenia � examples being: the 24 hr water, the instant hot water, the central heating in all the apartment blocks, the beautiful little houses in the villages, the well-kept and painted stately buildings in the center of Bucharest, the variety of cars, the abundance of shops (not kiosks), the TV stations showing films in English with Romanian subtitles, the existence of the yellow pages, the posting of telephone bills, the payment of wages by bank account, the existence of timetables for the bus system. The hotels are cheaper and the food is cheaper. All these seemingly small things add up to me being constantly laughed at for the week for being soooo astonished � I had expected things to be at the same level as Armenia! The infrastructure of the country, the existence of sea, and a proximity to Western Europe - all of these and other factors have really enabled such development, and although the Romanians themselves may still not be content (that�s life)� in comparison with Armenia�s standards I would say that there�s not much to complain about. Oh, and I did visit the Armenian church there which was vast. Also, I went to a really interesting museum called the Zambacchian museum, the guy used to collect art in the communist time and supported Romania�s artists as well as bought various Matisse etc � when he died it was handed to the state as a private art collection was illegal, and in 1996 his house was opened as a museum. This is supposedly one of the most amazing collections of Romanian artists in the 20th century and is also extremely well presented.
Although I had an excellent time in Romania and really enjoyed seeing my friends from my old lab who looked after me extremely well (they�re Romanian) during my time there, I am now really pleased to be back in Armenia and it does feel like home � even if I only have water for 3hrs a day�plus, it was really cold in Romania and here in Armenia it is still pleasantly warm!
Hover�s CD is being released in November and things are in line for a big CD launch concert and reception. Also, Hover will hopefully have a website up very very soon (www.hoverchoir.org), and general promotional information is also being produced which should then complement their musical excellence just nicely.
posted by Rhoda at 4:25 PM
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