I am back a bit early from my trip, although it felt like four days. What an amazing adventure it turned out the be in just 30 hours. We went to Kino Rosia on Friday at noon where the cars heading north leave from, and caught a ride to Vanadzor, from there Shant's friend in Vanadzor drove us up to Sanahin, stopping on the way at a great little place for fish for our late Good Friday lunch. In Sanahin we stayed at a very dilapidated hotel and a sudden cold snap in Armenia caused us to all bundle up in a room, play cards, eat a healthy dinner consisting of M&M's (regular and peanut), Twix, and other kinds of chocolate. The women there were very nice and the next morning we had breakfast brought to our room. Then we wandered over to Sanahin Monastery, one of the nicest in Armenia. After taking loads of pics, and entertaining some school kids as they entertained us at the same time, we left Sanahin with our bags and took the cable car to the bottom of the canyon to the town of Alaverdi. In Alaverdi we caught a ride back to Vanadzor stopping on the way for the steep, one hour hike straight up the side of the canyon to the amazing monastery of Horomayri. It is one of a group of wonders here in Armenia that virtually nobody in the world knows about... neither local nor tourist. I had seen it from the top of the canyon, from where it is inaccessible, but this time I actually got to wander around the grounds. The monastery is built halfway up the canyon wall, and in fact, the canyon wall is one of the walls of the monastery buildings. It is incredibly well camoflauged and hard to spot, with no signs to help you out. The buildings, carvings, khachkars, caves, views, and canyon all make it unforgettable. Can I rave any more? I haven't added the new pictures to the page yet, but you can see how well camoflauged it is from above. Our driver Movses then took us to the Vanadzor bus station where we had a great lunch and after some commotion foud a driver for the last leg of our trip, to Yerevan. This guy, who we could only assume used to be a race car driver, got us home in record time. Travel in Armenia is always an adventure. Overnight stays and public transportation though turn any trip into an adventure...

As for Ashod the programmers "redundancy" logic, all I can say is phooey! What a bunch of nonsense, just like his code ;-) This is a forum not only to impart major events of your life, but the most minor. Readers want to know what it is like to live here, and that includes, yes, the cold weather. It includes what paying bills is like, prices, shopping, showering, getting around, dealing with cops, and for those of you who were with us last summer, REMONDING :-)

Happy Easter


I was recently told that I haven't been logging for some time now, and because I was surprised, they were surprised. I tried to explain that I actually was logging and that probably it had something to do with the font I was using or something� After all it�s not a perfect world we are living in. I went on explaining how incompatible computer systems are to one another�


Well, I haven�t been logging for a good reason. For me the log is to reflect life in Armenia through our (the loggers�) life. Not the other way around. And when there isn�t really much going on in your life that you would like to share with other, you�ll probably talk about the common-to-all issues. Winters, the cold and major events in the country are a few examples of what I�m talking about. Most of the loggers talk about this stuff; I bet you heard a lot about how cold winters are in Armenia. That�s what we (programmers) call redundancy of information and, of course, the higher the redundancy the lower the efficiency.


So, it�s spring again, and after �laying low� for a season or two, I decided to surface. The weather helps, sure, but I also have some interesting stuff to share with you. What is most interesting to me is to notice and feel the changes this country going through, a hard thing if you are living the changes, but if they are major and important you can�t help but take a moment and really think about them. That includes the good and the bad, although I like talking about the good better.


Since I mentioned some technical stuff, I�ll start by work. As some of you (the ones with good memory) may recall, I�m a computer programmer, working for HPLA (www.hpl.com) and one of the things that I really like to tell you all, is that HPLA is constantly expending, hiring more and more people and taking over more floors in the building. We are about 150 already and still growing, seeing new faces is something I got used to for the past 6 months. We are taking over (or at least they are negotiating with the land lord) what will become to be our 4th floor. They have also been talking of buying a building or a land and build on it. Also, through my friends in other computer-related companies, I know that it�s not only HPLA that is growing, Netsys and Credence are two good examples.


One of the things that I don�t admire is heavy advertisement. I�m talking about streets and building walls being covered with huge ads. But the rate at which they pop-up makes you take that moment I mentioned earlier and think about it. Sure the person/company/family that is selling the ads is making a gross amount of money, which doesn�t really mean that economy is improving; it might be a sign of monopoly though. But it sure reflects how well the advertisers are doing, albeit roughly. It also tells us something about the consumers. I don�t want to mislead everyone into thinking that this actually means the whole country�s economy has improved. It�s just some of things that I noticed and like to share with you. Also, Namak news reported a week ago that the average wage has risen by 15%. From what I noticed, the number of cars has increased tremendously in the past 2 years. When seeing a fancy car, I used to think about the gross amount of money the owner must have stolen from the county to get him a car like that. But in the past 6 month, I noticed that it�s not only BMWs and the Mercedes cars I run into, a lot of European and Asian cars are in the streets today and they were scarce (if ever) a year ago. Examples are: Opel, Audi, Golf (VW,) Hyundai and more. That also tells me something; they can�t all be from the mafia to buy cars like that. Also these cars are not as expensive as, say, a M5 BMW or a 600 SEL Benz. Which tells me that you don�t need to be in a gang to get one; good business can help you afford one.


I know how some of you might think about what I�m talking about, but as much as I like acknowledging the bad and the negative, I like to be optimistic and see the good and try to rejoice. The negative is usually easier to manifest, faster to destroy hope and beautiful dreams.


Yesterday I went to the CD shop to see what�s new, and to my surprise I found out about something I�ve been trying to find forever; English spoken movies. Yes, it might sound weird, but the only source for such movies was VHS tapes, which aside from the low quality, I don�t have a player and a TV. What I was looking for was video CDs to watch on my home computer. To my surprise, what I found was beyond what I wanted; multi-language CDs (English and Russian) with Russian subtitles. Now this might not be interesting to you, but for someone who is trying to learn Russian this is god sent. Before, they used to be Russian only. Now I can watch my favorite movie in English then with the Russian translation or with the subtitles. I got �God Father� (all three parts) and �Indiana Jones� ;-) I think you can guess what that means to me.


Talking about learning Russian reminds me of the improvement I�ve made recently speaking the language. I guess I passed the stage where �What�s your name?� sounds like �What are you staring at!� I can understand about 75% of conversations if I know the subject, or it�s easy to learn form the dialog itself. I�m very excited about speaking and writing it. I can already read, but writing is just another league.


From another side, I so much enjoy seeing more kids on the roller blades every other summer, more people in shorts and more people working-out and going to swimming pools. Oh, I don�t mean watching the kids, looking at the men in shorts or joining them in the pools, I mean watching the number grow�


Since I don�t know when I�ll log again, and no, I won�t promise, I hate to break promises, I�ll tell you a bit about my personal life. Aside my work I go to the computer science and computer engineering school at State Engineering University of Armenia. I have another 2 years and I�m planning on getting a Ph.D. degree. I�m also planning on buying an apartment (although not for another year.)

Some of you might also recall that I was working on a project called Spitak or like it was called on several occasions "Project Espion!!" for no obvious reasons. I'm still working on it, only I'm planning on finding more hands to support the project along other 3 huge projects. I'm working on them and soon will be sharing some of my dreams with the rest of the world asking them to help them grow and prosper.


Untill the next time, Happy Easter.


Ash


Please take a moment and sign this petition: http://users.ihost.biz/armgeno/petition2002.asp?order=signdate&page=1

And visit a great site about the Genocide: www.genocide1915.info


Please also email them to your friends and relatives, Armenians and Foriegners alike.

It's almost Easter, and instead of attending a church I will give my twopence about a hot issue often discussed everywhere by Armenians: Did we need to build the new church in Yerevan, St. Grigor Lusavorich.

According to official statistics there are more than 3 million and two hundred thousand people living in Armenia. One third of the population lives in Yerevan that makes around a million; let's assume there are some inaccuracies and 'fix' the number around seven hundred thousand.

About churches in Yerevan, lined by their chronological age from the oldest to the youngest are: St. Hovhanes, Katoghige, Zoravar, St. Sarkis, St. Sarkis, and Lusavorich. Armenian Protestants have a worship house, (and there's the Iranian blue mosque for Iranians), which brings the total of all Armenian worship houses to seven. What's the proportion, one hundred thousand to each church?

When I resided in Toronto, there were 2 Gregorian churches, one Catholic, one Protestant and one for Brethren 'yeghpayrutyun'. Five Armenian churches for 30 thousand Armenians. I am sure that's the proportion in every city of Diaspora.

A typical tourist visits Armenia for 14 days and sees 12 to 15 churches/ monasteries. Gets the impression that there's church overflow. Most monasteries were built for hermits, monks, in remote places and are not accessible for day to day life. Think of Datev and Noravank.

Do we need more churches or not? Definitely yes, (I can hear your screams) though we don't need to spend $10 million on each. And we need more clergy especially the type that can reach people in their dire times. The void is already being filled by unorthodox cults.

Happy Easter.

I will stick to much lighter subjects today. Well, after three years, I finally got a TV. I had always said it was pointless to have a TV here without cable, so yes, I got that too. What a surreal experience watching the Simpsons at 9pm for the past 2 nights. And I saw an ad for "Survivor: Marquesas", a show which I have heard so much about, but missed the entire thing being here. I can't say I have missed TV a great deal, but those couple of shows I do enjoy, plus a good nature channel and an occasional good movie is really nice. The only thing missing is a home improvement show. I love watching them build room additions and tiling floors and donig all sorts of other projects I may or may not ever try for myself.

I won't be logging for another 4 days. We are going up to Sanahin for a long weekend. I haven't spent much time in the country-side for a long time so I will enjoy this. It will also be interesting to see how Easter is celebrated at one of Armenia's most magnificent monasteries also. So here is a funny exchange Tamar Hajian shared with me. One of her neighbors many Easters ago was greeted with the traditional Kristos haryav i merelots, and forgetting the traditional reply (something I have been guilty of a number of times) ended up replying, "Daros' kezi". Hehehe, that one cracked me up.

Ara has been posting some interesting stuff about the diaspora, and its involvement with Armenia. I would like to discuss that a bit myself.

Armenians are human beings. People. Special we would like to think, and I certainly do, but normal. We have been through a lot and accomplished more than our share I think. As unique as our story is, we have parallels with many more groups than we sometimes remember. Not just the Jews, but the Irish, the Assyrians, the Greeks, and the Kurds among others. Genocide is not unique to us, and neither is post-communist economic collapse, diaspora existence, division, apathy, or anything else we experience. We can learn from the mistakes and successes of others.

Jews are reputed to be the most united, patriotic people in the world. Talk to one, you may be very surprised. They will talk about the horrible divisions that plague their community, they will even sometimes express admiration of the unity among Armenians. Their Church (Temple?) is divided into countless splinters, the primary being Orthodox and Reform. (Catholic and Protestant, or Echmiatsin and Antelias, although the analogy does not hold as well). On top of this they have their Hasidics, Ultra-Orthodox, secular Jews, etc. In America now, HALF of the Jews getting married, are marrying gentiles. Their diaspora is already thousands of years old. Could the bulk of the Armenian diaspora have survived nearly as long? Not likely. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians moved to Poland about a thousand years ago. You don't even hear about traces of them. The only difference I can think of even worth mentioning is religion. Armenians were Christians, so they could intermarry and they did. Jews in Poland never could, because during all those centuries religion was so critically important, that not only would Jewish parents not allow it, neither would the Polish, and back then that was that. To draw parallels with today, in places like America where religion is quickly losing importance, and interracial marriages are considered almost cool. Jews and Armenians are - despite pressure from their communities - intermarrying in great numbers. Large numbers of even adult Armenians today come from mixed marriages, and many who don't have never learned a word of Armenians anyways. How the Armenian community reacts to these people is going to be of critical importance in the coming years. So far, for the most part, I feel they have been failing miserably.

Why is this? Many Armenians seem to greet Armenians of pure or mixed background with a great deal of scepticism or suspicion instead of embracing them and keeping them a part of the community. Jews on the other hand, and Turks for that matter will try their hardest to keep these people in their community if possible. In the case of a mixed marriage, is it better to lose the Armenian, or gain the odar? If they don't speak Armenian already, will shunning them ever help? I just don't understand this mentality. I know that in the past Armenians have had to be extremely guarded in order to survive, but who can fault a person because their parents did not teach them Armenian? They should be encouraged nicely to learn it. It should be made easier for them to do so. Of course coming to Armenia and taking some intensive courses, or living here a year is a great way to do it, but most will not take that option, and shouldn't have to. Churches have to change too. The Krapar service is great, but there MUST also be English. Church, or after-Church activity needs to become real family events, not just for the elderly. It is by far the easiest way to give the community a place to meet and bind and keep together. Will this work? Yes! Why do I think so? Go to a sports bar, go to a popular Protestant Church, go to kids soccer game, a concert, or a number of other places in America and what will you find? A community. Everyone craves it, everyone needs it. In America, because people come from so many lost ethnicities and move around so much, they have created these new communities. People have the freedom there to choose whatever community they want to belong to. If the Armenian community provides the same things for people that these other groups provide, it will thrive and grow. Otherwise, it will shrink and yes, disappear. Armenians of all ages, married or single, with Armenian or odar spouses, need to be able to find like people to talk to, socialize with, and they need to be able to find it easily. Well I have gone on way too long on this topic, so I will move on to other things now, but my sermon may be continued ;-)

Let me try to keep my opinions on investment briefer. DO IT!!!!! Do it wisely and do it on a large scale if you have the means. Getting your feet wet like Ara will work for smaller investors, but don't be afraid to think big. When I was here in 95, I knew that Coca-Cola would come, just like I still know that McDonalds¹ will come some day too. When diasporans in America were asking me so many questions about investments, and I made suggestions like Coke, they would ask why nobody else has done it yet. That attitude among diasporans led to the Greeks doing the Coke bottling first. Italians have a couple of very nice hotels and a great residential high-rise now, the Spanish have a huge water-slide park which is expanding into other spheres, the French own much of the beer and cognac production, and still diasporans ask me, why hasn't anyone else done this or that if it is a good idea. To those people I say keep waiting, your time will never come. To everyone else I say, treat Armenia like just another investment. Be very careful!!! I have heard of factories built and handed completely over to corrupt locals. They are immediately dismantled and sold off for parts, the quickest way the management can get cash out of it. Approach investment in Armenia EXACTLY like you would in Mexico. Find a need, find good people to work with, expect a reasonable return on your investment, and then fill the need. Yes it will be much more difficult for you to have patience with all of the problems and corruption Armenia is rife with, when all you want to do is give people jobs and produce things... but it is definitely possible and there are diasporans who are doing just this. Restaurants, rug production, hotels, law offices, dentistry offices, and other investments are paying off just as they would in any other country. Meanwhile they provide sorely needed jobs, services, and introduce a new way of doing business in Armenia.

¹Don't bother look into the McDonalds investment unless you are a citizen of Armenia. I have looked into it already and you must be a local in order to be eligible for a franchise. That does not mean that other chains impose the same restrictions.

Meanwhile, I also have for a long time thought a diasporan mutual fund/share based type of investment system might make it much easier for regular diasporans to take part in rebuilding Armenia without just giving their money away. Perhaps the returns wouldn't be spectacular, but the investment should grow. If people out there feel this idea is worth pursuing... feel free to ask your friends and family (even half-Armenians ;-) their opinions too, then let me and Ara know and perhaps steps can be taken in this direction. Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, and he feeds himself for the rest of his life.

I would like to welcome Vartan Marashlyan to the pure diaspora log. He is an old friend that now has the responsibility of representing perhaps the largest Armenian diaspora community in the world. Yes, Moscow may very well have a larger Armenian community than Los Angeles, Russia almost certainly has more than the US. So this is a huge part of our nation that many of us, including myself are more ignorant of than we should be. I hope he gives us a good picture of life in Russia in general, the life and treatment of Armenians there, who are often called "black" along with the other Caucasians races, as well as regular updates on the weather ;-) A large void has been filled with his participation and now the two remaining large voids are France and the middle east. I would like someone from Iran and someone from either Lebanon or Syria or another Arab country. Of course an Armenian from Turkey would be great too.

So a few projects are brewing in Armenia which are going to transform the capital city. I have already mentioned the "Northern Blvd", which is a pedestrian street being built right through the heart of the capital, from the Opera to Republic Square. It will be lined with brand new highrises and shops. I am hopeful the buildings will be a beautiful credit to traditional Armenian architecture with a tasteful modernization to suit today's needs. Some of you may have also read that the dilapidated, horrific Zvartnots airport is going to be transformed by Eduardo Eurnikian. He is an Argentinian-Armenian and if I remember right, a billionaire. He owns most of Argentina's airports, so this is right up his alley. The existing airport is going to be transformed into a massive duty-free hub, and small-scale Dubai. Lots of layovers in Armenia and massive cheap shopping opportunities. I can't even imagine! Project number three is the Cafesjian Foundation's privatization/purchase of the cascades. The cascades are a massive structure of white steps going up the hillside from near the Opera to the top of the a higher plain where some suburbs and monuments and parks are found. It was to have landscaping and waterfalls and cafe/restaurants all along the steps, and was nearly complete when the Soviet Union collapsed. Inside it has escalators going all the way up the hill, a Metro station, and more space. Now it will finally be finished.

I restarted teaching English to families at �Duty to Live� last night being our first lesson since our Christmas break. The students were so glad to see me, I embraced them all individually and they presented me with lilies to welcome me back. How could you not feel rewarded by teaching a bunch of amazing people like these? By the way, congrats to Rhoda on your acceptance to AVC program, see you in August! Vartan, welcome to the log and it really was a pleasure seeing you again in Armenia, albeit for a short while.

A weekend of music! Friday night I had the pleasure of attending the concert of the Armenian Navy Band, truly an outstanding performance, just like Raffi mentioned. Saturday night I went to the Opera House and saw Mozart Requiem with the Serenade Chamber Orchestra and Armenian Philharmonic Choir. Then last night, I went to the jazz club again to see the band �Cactus� perform as I was really impressed from the previous time and boy am I glad I went! Not only were there a bunch of cool people at our table but also I spotted John Hughes from AIM and asked him to join our group (he stayed with us the whole evening), as well as meeting some cool Diasporans visiting Hayastan. Then to everyone�s surprise the piano player from The Armenian Navy Band (don�t know his name) joins the band and starts playing the piano. What topped the night and made it a really special evening was when Arto Tuncboyaciyan from the Armenian Navy Band appeared and after being there for not even 10 minutes, couldn�t wait any longer, stood up and he too joined the band. It was such a thrill seeing him jamming with the band, smiling the whole time and having a ball. Only in Armenia! It truly was amazing seeing all these talented musicians together in a tiny cozy club. If only I had my camera with me!

The internet has been virtually useless during the day and night, I have almost been limited to early morning usage. The lines are just very crowded and slow during the day, so that you can't even view a single page on the web, or download a few e-mails. I am not sure when/how this will get better, but maybe my provider will get a wider connection.

Anyways, yesterday we went out into the countryside to do see more ancient churches. We visited Ddmashen, a huge 7th century church, and Makravank (not to be confused with the two Makaravanks). They were both quite nice, and virtually never visited sites. Yesterday was a very nice day to travel. The muddy conditions however, did prevent us from reaching a last church we were hoping to see. It was my first trip out of town this year and I took my new GPS with me. I can now start to keep a table of exact latitude/longitude and elevations of all these churches and monasteries so that in the future anyone with a GPS (which now is already down to $80 in price and can even be found incorporated into a watch) will have no trouble at all finding these sites, whether they are driving or trekking. By the end of the day we of course got stopped by a policeman who let us off with just taking his picture. He tried pretty hard to get a bribe, but when it was apparent he was not going to get it, he decided a picture would have to do. I have heard they will even use your cell phone to make long distance calls as an alternative to a bribe. I would never have even taken his picture if it wasn't a digital camera...

Meanwhile I got lots of e-mails about my Arto post, he is already quite popular with many of you apparently. Meneshian was able to give me a great summary of where to get Arto's older albums online... so here goes.

• His work with Night Ark (RCA Novus Sessions) can be found at Traditional Crossroads www.traditionalcrossroads.com
• His work with Night Ark on Universal can be found on amazon.com (Petals on your path, however, is tough to find as it was never released in the U.S., only in Europe and Canada)
• His work with Ara Dinkjian only, including CD's called Onno and Tears of Dignity, is only released in Greece and can be found at the www.etnomusic.com out of Barcelona, Spain
• His Navy band stuff can be found at www.narek.com and www.etnomusic.com
• His Paul Winter stuff, you've already found.
• His Al Dimeola Sessions can be found at www.amazon.com
• His Elefteria Arvanitaki stuff can be found at any Record Store...

I like the Dinkjian and Armenian Navy Band stuff, which is what I have heard. The other stuff I have not listened to yet. One last link was sent by another reader who recommends mp3.musichall.am, which has free Armenian mp3 downloads.

Well I have scoured the internet for his albums, and had a hard time finding anything available except Tuncboyaciyan's newer US debut album, Every Day is a New Life. But it sounds like his classic stuff, so listen to samples of it online... Amazon.com has it with real audio samples, CDNOW has windows media player samples, and Half.com seems to have the cheapest prices for albums that have been yanked from stores. Anyways, I highly recommend you listen to it and get the album if you like it. His next album will be released soon and is a cooperation between him and Serj Tankian of System of a Down. I am quite curious to find out what middle ground they have found between their wildly different music styles, both of which are so unconventional.

Absolutely Awesome!!!!!!!! I try not to waste exclamation points, but Arto Tuncboyaciyan's Armenian Navy Band performance tonight was just incredible. The entire audience, including myself, was transfixed the entire time. Speaking for myself I can assure you that this really means something as I have a very hard time finding live music performances interesting after about 20 minutes. For 2 hours non-stop this guy riveted us with his sense of humor, voice, a stringed instrument, drums, pots, glass bottles, tambourines and who knows what else. The rest of his band was great too, but after hearing his CD's which sound so interesting, I could never imagine that he could reproduce the songs so exactly in person. From the incomprehensible sounds and mumbling, to the tapping of unconventional objects. I am not sure where you can buy his music, but I will try to find a good link for you where hopefully you can listen to a bit of it and then buy the CD...

Well yesterday was the big day. We went to OVIR, the office here that deals with passports and visas and turned in our application for a ten year residency passport. It is not actual citizenship, but the next best thing. You go in with 7 passport photos, 5 xeroxes of the page of your passport with the picture, and $300 cash. An basic form is quickly filled out, after which you then go downstairs for some women to write a timum. Literally it means application, but it is actually a one page handwritten letter something like a college entry essay. It has become so routine that it now consists of about one paragraph, and your input is neither asked for nor probably welcomed. You then pay these women a couple of bucks and head back upstairs where you turn in all your forms and are told to return in exactly two months. Of course you get no reciept for your $300, no proof whatsoever that you were ever there... but remarkably, it is no concern because they will have your passport for you in a couple of months. Whether it is completely ready in 2 months or not remains to be seen. It was a remarkably easy process. Easier even than getting a 3 week tourist visa has been in the past.

I mentioned last week I would log about Manana separately so here it is. Manana Youth Cultural Educational Centre is an NGO and has been operating since 1994. The Centre encourages childhood creativity where the kids can freely express themselves. More than 50 kids attend the Centre varying from 8 to 16 years old who write different articles, life stories and learn computer skills. There�s no selection process as to who may attend the Centre, it�s basically word of mouth. The magazine that the �young journalists� publish called Khabarbzik (gossiper) is distributed at different schools, which in turn attract more youths. The Centre has mainly being operated on grants and assistance from parents who help pay the rent and prepare food for these special presentations. Apparently they have sent many applications to the Government for grants and their request has gone unanswered.

So the performance last week that the children displayed was based on UNICEF�s Children�s Rights. For each message, the children had produced short video clips, using humour, imagination, creativeness and the works. Some examples were the following messages.
- Children have the right to a home
- Children have the right to express themselves
- Children have the right to a loving and caring family
- Children have the right to protection from guns
- Children have the right to a healthy environment
- Children have the right to enjoy their own culture

For instance the right to protection from guns, the video footage showed kids playing with toy guns at the beginning, running around just being kids, then discarding them into a fire.

During intermission, the kids would get onstage and read stories that they had written. The one that caught my attention, I thought I would share with readers:

In the backyard.

It was a bright, sunny day. Happy sounds of children could be heard. Everyone had come down to the backyard. Gago was there too. His head was bent over looking for something on the ground. I went up to him and asked, �What are you looking for, Gago?�

He said that he�s looking for apricot pits to make a whistle to sell. It was the first time I�d heard that they make whistles from apricot pits. �Gago, how do you make a whistle?�

�You soak the pit in water, rub it against a rough rock until there is a hole, take out the seed with a needle, then take it home, wash it, dry it, and the whistle is ready.� Gago went and sat on a rock and began to rub it on the stone. The kids tried to help, but they couldn�t.

�Why do you make so many whistles,� asked Narek.

Gago said sadly, �I make them so I can take them to the market to sell and buy something to eat�.
�What if you don�t sell any?� Gago sighed deeply and said, �So I�ll be hungry today again.�

There were many stories told on the day, it really was great seeing youths given creative opportunities, the chance to express their feelings and having fun. Unfortunately at this stage Manana does not have their website set up as yet but if anyone wants further information, they can contact the Director Ruzanne Baghdasarian on mananayouth@onebox.com

I visited a blind school for children today upon recommendation from a friend. However when I called the Director for an appointment, I didn�t realise I had called the blind centre and not the school. Because of this misunderstanding, when I turned up at the school, I didn�t want to take up too much time of their time since my visit was unannounced and since at the same time, the Director of the blind centre was waiting for our meeting. What a mess, but the assistants at the school were very accommodating and took us around, glad to have visitors. Not all the kids are blind at the school but those that are, are assisted by fully-sighted children who come from vulnerable families where the parents are blind, just walking along the corridors for instance. We visited some classrooms, the English classroom, breakfast room and their playroom. What can I say about the condition of the school, also served as a boarding school? I came away with mixed feelings. Joy because the children at the school have others to talk to, play with, learn to read and write Armenian Braille, and I�m told have beautiful singing voices. Sad? Well even the condition of the hallway where the parquet floor was coming apart is dangerous enough for fully sighted people let alone blind ones. Since I didn�t spend much time there, I�ll go back and actually talk to some of the kids instead of just a quick hello! By the way for photos access the following link http://home.media.am/german_avakian/str05a.html

So my next visit was to the blind centre. The Director himself is blind and he explained how the centre has evolved from Soviet times, where the blind were respected and had jobs. During Soviet times the Centre used to have performances such as plays, concerts etc. now there�s not only no performances because of lack of finances, but the blind have no jobs either. The Centre is now mainly used for a get together for games of chess and dominoes. The chessboards are especially designed for the blind. When I explained my mistake as to how I stumbled across the Centre instead of the school he told me it was a �necessary incident�.

I added our e-mail addresses to our posts again, so we can be contacted easier... but I did not make them into clickable links. Before when our e-mail addresses were clickable links, web bots would harvest our addresses and send us tons of junk mail which I am still drowning in. This is my compromise.

When Shant, who just got here a week ago from LA, and Vartan, who got here two days ago from Moscow called to tell me about the group Cactus playing at Subway last night, I thought it must be be pretty good. By the end of the night I was truly impressed. Great Brazilian music, amazing Brazilian dancing (some of it by 12 year old girls), fantastic service, and a very well ventilated (read not too smoky at all) jazz club made for a good night out. The only bad news is that the bloody mary is not drinkable. Anyways, it was lots of fun.

Today I did not do much, but tomorrow should be more eventful. I should finally get some news on a project I have been interested in for a while.

Friday night I met up with an Aussie woman whom I had met prior to my holidays to Sydney. She�s working with M.S.F. located in 2 sites. One site is at Berd and in that region the project involves raising awareness in reproductive healthcare and sexual health. The other site is at Bagratashen (cross border market with Georgia) with the project being in prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. She said on the busiest market day, they distributed condoms, talked to people and generally the response from the community so far has been positive towards the project. Also once the clinic is established for sexual and reproductive care, it will be free of charge. We have made a tentative date for a visit to the area in early April, it should be interesting.

Saturday night I attended a concert of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia with the Conductor being Aram Gharabekian. Again a great night for a mere 1000 Drams ($2) US. Sunday night, I went to a small jazz club with a few friends and the band playing called Cactus was very good. Even though the lead singer is Armenian, the whole repertoire was Latin American.

Well the seven new pages are now complete. None of them have a great deal of text yet, but they all have great pictures! For those who have not seen it yet, here is the brand new St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan. Then there is the very impressive Khuchapi Monastery on the border with Georgia which is unbelievably tall. Then there is the cool monastery of Jukhtak, across the hill from the simple, mossy monastery of Matosavank. Both are undiscovered and just next to Dilijan town. In the region of Lori, just past the well known sixth century Church of Odzun are the cliff hugging, extremely well camoflauged monastery of Horomayri, and the cartoony monastery of Hovhanness in Ardvi. And finally, I added a page on the rather nice Monastery of Surp Karapet, which is near the main highway, but off a bad road, so almost unknown. So I hope you enjoy clicking around on those pages.

Today we may go paragliding or hanggliding, whatever it is called. All depends on the weather. I will let you know of course if it happens. The weather does not look too great right now (8am) so I am not too sure.

Last night during my last dinner with Greg and Sonia (they�ll be back), Greg mentioned how saddened he was by seeing all the trees cut. He said the whole way to Sevan, he would see 5 stumps in a row, a tree, then 6 stumps and a tree. It really is very sad, while it is common knowledge that the population, out of desperation are cutting trees for warmth now, what about future generations? Anyway, Greg said he got everything out of Armenia he wanted to, plus a couple of extra surprises, mainly due to the bits and pieces he had heard from family members, while Sonia had lived in Armenia previously and was glad to be back. Since the weather wasn�t great during their stay, they�ll have to return to experience another season. On my way back from the airport, I got talking to the taxi driver and found out some interesting facts. He has 2 daughters and a son and is a Conductor by trade and has sung in Church choirs for years, but these days he drives to earn some money. As he doesn�t own his own car, from the total sum earnt on a given day, he pays the owner of the car 50%, he then pays his employer 30% and ends up with 20% for himself. Also while he�s driving, he generally gets pulled over by the police for whatever reason, and pays a bribe to them so as not to have his license taken away, which comes out of that 20%.

On a lighter note, this afternoon, I went along to watch a performance of Manana Organization with a few people. I believe this experience deserves a separate log so I�ll do that shortly.

I just updated a bunch of older tourist site pages with new pictures, something I had been putting off for years in some cases. They really look a thousand times better now, which is important since these were some of the most beautiful sites in Armenia. Khorakert, Goshavank, Noravank, Haghartsin, Haghpat, Sanahin, Ejmiatsin, and Amberd all have one or more new pictures added. I would like to add about a half a dozen brand new pages in the next few days of sites I have visited in the past few months. All the pictures you see that are (c) Raffi Kojian in the year 2000 or later are taken with my digital camera and have not been altered with photoshop or anything else. This is just what these places look like.

Other than that I have not been up to much. I have been setting up some tiny greenhouses to germinate some really cool flower seeds I brought here from the USA. I want to plant some of them out in the wild so they can naturalize and spread. The blueberry bushes I brought last year ought to produce some fruit this spring, so I will have to go and visit the bushes soon.

Dinner was spent on Proshian Street last night otherwise known as barbecue street. I wanted Greg and Sonia to experience the real khorovatz. I on the other hand ordered a fish, which was conveniently overlooked by the waitress so I had to content with eating barbecue potatoes and tomatoes. We then went back to my place to watch a video I had brought back from Sydney on the winter coverage of the Olympics presented by Roy and H.G. I�m sorry, but only Aussie readers can relate to this one! Which reminds me, I met an Aussie bloke a couple of days ago who happens to be staying with my next door neighbour and is just as surprised as I was to meet other Aussies in Yerevan. His trip to Armenia as he put it was totally unplanned but indeed a pleasant surprise.

Last night I went to Mer Kugh (Our Village) restaurant with my nephew Greg and Sonia. It�s a nice traditional Armenian restaurant, with traditional music and traditional costumes. I had my usual fish dish wrapped in lavash. I only have 2 more days with Greg and Sonia so I�m making the most of it. I also watched a documentary last night on an area called Kond in the heart of the city. It was a very interesting program highlighting the history of the place and the pride of the residents. One of these days I will make an effort to walk around Kond, armed with my digital camera to take some interesting photos of the people and the houses.

I am fully back in the swing of things now. After a 3 hour nap yesterday and seven hours of sleep last night I hope my jet lag is now totally behind me. Today I go to OVIR to finally apply for my 10 year visa. Now that my current visa is running out I may as well get the ten year. It looks just like the Armenian passport, except for a rubber stamp in it that says "special residency status". It is not dual citizenship, but it is easy to get and costs $300 or so. When I moved here almost 3 years ago, they were going through a period where they were not issuing the ten years which really pissed me off. Well anyways, I thought I would be clever and work around the system... I would apply for Armenian citizenship! In America when you get your green card you can live there the rest of your life without taking the final step and taking on American citizenship. Not that I don't want Armenian citizenship, I just don't want to give up my American citizenship which you have to do in Armenia which does not allow dual citizenship. Aaaanyways... to make a long story short, the guy in the citizenship office tells me that ordinarily the citizenship process takes a long time, but he thought he could process mine in an unheard of two weeks! Unheard of efficiency for Armenia. All I had to do was bring my US Passport with a stamp in it from the US Embassy saying that I have renounced my US Citizenship. Well, needless to say I thanked him and haven't returned to the citizenship office since. I believe that the only reason that the government here is not allowing dual citizenship is out of fear of the diaspora. They do not want to give any power or strength to this outside force. The diaspora might finally do something about the corruption which enriches those in government so much. As children of genocide however, the diaspora really ought to be able to maintain dual citizenship.

We had our 5th Conference today on Culture as a Component of Country Competitiveness. The speakers were from spheres of Language and Literature, Geology (Landscape and Environment), Archaeology, Architecture, History and Religion, Art, Arts and Crafts, Instrumental Music, Vocal Music, Sport and Chess. The guest speaker spoke on Cultural Tourism and stated that by the year 2015 the tourism sector will be the largest employer worldwide. Overall it was a successful conference and looking forward to the following sessions.

Sorry folks blogger was down on Friday, so I�m posting this late!
As Madlene mentioned it was International Women�s Day March 8th, and every street corner was selling the most beautiful flowers. We went for a stroll during the day as we had the day off and everyone was out in full force. All the girls had flowers in their hands and the Republic Square was the meeting point for young men and women. The weather was warm and glorious, had to get out of the house for a little while as I was going crazy sitting around with this flu thing. Went to our usual Friday night dinner and caught up with Raffi K. who�s back into town.

The weekend was spent with my nephew Greg who�s in town with his newly wed wife Sonia. They will only be with me until Friday before they continue their honeymoon and head back to Sydney. We did the usual vernisage on Saturday for souvenir shopping and Greg bought himself a dhol. He also picked up this cool Armenian coffee maker (well water boiler really made from stainless steel) where no stove is required and is just plugged in to the wall. This contraption will be used at his work for when he needs an Armenian fix, what ingenuity! In the evening we went dancing at a club, which was quite interesting.

Sunday morning I went for my hour walk again with Gohar and this time it was minus 1 degree. Ararat was crystal clear in the morning all the way to the bottom and we had to stop and just admire it for a couple of minutes. In the afternoon I went to my first Armenian funeral. I will not go into details but mention that it�s culturally different. It was my friend�s grandfather�s funeral.

I'm back!!!!! My new computer is put together and smokin! So things haven't changed too much since I left, except for the weather, which is fantastic. I came via Vienna, which was a really long journey. I had an 11 hour layover there, which I did not appreciate properly due to 2 nights of not getting enough sleep. I did go out into the city for just a few hours though and saw much of the historic central parts, plus ate an incredible lunch. I had bratwurst with saurkraut (sp?) and potatoes. I had never liked saurkraut before, but this tasted nothing like anything I had had in America before. The city of Vienna in many ways reminded me of Yerevan. The double sets of windows for insulation, mostly 5 storey buildings, winding roads, "poop inspection" toilets (I will not explain, but if you have used one you know what I am talking about), and lots of remonds. I slept all day yesterday and half the night last night, so now I am properly recovered I think. I brought so much great loot from America. Lots of books and household goodies. Plus mini Reeses Peices cups. Oh, how could I forget to mention that I *finally* got to sit on the sofa's I ordered last year! They are fantastic. My house is totally complete now. I just love how it turned out. Someone bought the place downstairs and is remonding it. I am not sure if I cam going to like them since they closed off their beautiful balcony, which is quite a sin I think. Well as long as they put a motion sensor light on their floor I guess I will be happy.

I realized recently that this journal is going to be a year old in a month. Now there is really a ton of information about living here for anyone that is curious. Every single diasporan who has participated in this log is still here, so if voting with your feet counts, we still think it is a good choice to come and live here. Not for everyone, but this place definitely has a lot to offer that many people still don't know about. On the way back to America last Christmas I sat on the plane with Katy (of groong fame) and Khajag, who I had never met before. He was returning to America for the first time after living in Armenia for FIVE years! What a shame we didn't meet years ago. He worked on the celebrations of the 1700 years of Christianity in Armenia.

tomorrow is women' s day here in armenia and they really make a big deal out of it. there were the most wonderful flowers on every street corner and all my friends are getting ready for the festivities.

i found a video store that sells english movies... so david, arthur and i are watching casino tonight. i bought classics such as "one flew over the cuckoo's nest", "clueless", "the godfather" and many others. all of a sudden i am ms. popularity to all my repat friends who miss watching american movies in english. i am planning an atom egoyan film festival at my house soon.

yesterday we went to garni village where my friend has a summer house and another good friend of mine is looking into buying one. we went to the space museum (but it was closed) and we went down into the dzor (valley) that was amazing. then we went to our friends house in garni and i got to play with newborn cows, horses, puppies, lambs and goats... this calf was born last week and was just too adorable. i am going to try to spend some good quality time in garni this summer. it is a beautiful village.

lena jan, feel better. i will check up on you tomorrow.

Spring is definitely in the air in Yerevan, girls are already wearing skirts (I don�t believe it�s quite that warm yet to warrant this) and the cafes around the Opera are opening. There seems to be �remonds� happening all around too when I look out from either the office or the courtyard behind my flat.

Unfortunately I�ve managed to catch this virus that seems to be going around and has affected almost everyone I know except for tough Aram. While the weather has been great, I�ve been freezing due to the fever and of course the sore throat and cough that goes with it. I�m hoping it will pass in a couple of days as I really want to start enjoying this great weather.

i almost got killed by a bison today. all my friends couldn't blelieve that i came all the way across the world to have a near death experience with an animal which is only indegenous to my home continent... north america. i guess it is my fault, since i wore a bright orange shirt to such a user friendly zoo. today i went to the yerevan zoo... the only zoo i have ever been to which encourages feeding the animals... as i was trying to give this huge huge bison a loaf of bread, he decided to attack and as he came in for a head bump i ran for my life and saved myself from getting knocked by the bison... by a bisonic hair...

the zoo was indeed interesting as i worried for each animal's wellbeing. the monkeys were being tormented by a bumch of young kids who thought it was funny to give them already chewed gum. when i found this way to disturbing not to report, the zoo keeper came over and gave me a candy and told me to throw it at the monkey... "with the candy wrapper?" i asked. ayo, ayo he replied... puzzled i threw the candy at the monkey. the gabik cleverly unwrapped the candy and threw the wrapper on the floor and threw the candy in his mouth and walked away, unappreciative (i might add). then a baby monkey came and took the wrapper and tried to eat it. this made the zoo keeper laugh while i quivered at that thought of what this wrapper might to do this newborn's digestive system.

the entrance to the zoo was 150 dram however we took a picture with a royal python (about 5 feet) for 500 dram and feeding the animals and ourselves cost us about 1000 dram... all in all the day at the zoo cost 4 of us... about 3 dollars total... what a bargain.

then we went to vernisage and i bought an authentic armenian hat (the kind made of old carpets) which only tourists wear. once i put my hat on the price quotes at vernisage went up by about 60 percent... for the sake of my friends and their pocket books... i took off the hat and the prices sank back down to local prices. this was quite clever. my advice to all who visit vernisage is take a local or at least try to walk and talk like one.

if there are spelling errors it is because i still can't see... the grammar errors are because i don't get to practice my english too often and finally the lack of capitalization of words is simply just laziness.

did i mention i got 24 channels of cable... so now i will sign off and go and watch the discovery channel hoping that there will be a special on bisons and just maybe i can find out why my friend at the zoo today disliked me to the point of near homocide.

What a great weekend so far! Friday as usual was falafel day at Middle Eastern cuisine, I had missed falafel so much that I had it twice, one for lunch and another for dinner. Friday evening was Gor�s concert which was held at the rock club on Pushkin Street, a great night was had by all. Saturday was the clean up day, I went with Gohar to Orran to pick up the kids and then met up with the rest of the group. The kids were so excited and were so well behaved for the duration. I believe Gail Howard must have given the kids a pep talk prior to our arrival. We all were so impressed with the enthusiasm they all put in and in fact when we dropped them off back at the Centre for their meal, more kids wanted to volunteer for the next clean up day. At our next meeting with the kids we are thinking of splitting them up into various groups so they can interact with others. While we were cleaning, a man approached us in a truck and said that we were doing such a good job and offered the kids �Tan� to drink for their efforts (Tan is a drink made from yoghurt and water). Overall a successful clean up day with a total of 40 volunteers!

This morning Gohar and I went for a long walk (Gohar had gone jogging previously and met me for our power walk, she�s very fit). When we started at 10am, the temperature was a warm plus 3 degrees but it felt really nice. So we went up Baghramian, turned down Proshian (BBQ street) with the nice smell wafting in the air, then onto Mashtots and the walk took an hour. By the way, the view of Ararat from Proshian is awesome, I think you can gather by now that I LOVE Ararat. We are now heading off to �Goom� on Tigran Mets where I�m told prices are a third of what the �pag shooga� charges on Mashtots. We will do our weekly shopping of fruits, veggies, dried fruit, nuts etc.

hi all

so if you are wondering why i have fallen off the face of the earth... let me give you a few excuses... i mean a few explanations.

first of all... i decided to have laser surgery to correct my vision and take of the stupid glasses that i have been tortured with my whole life. i found out that they perform laser surgery right here in Yerevan and since this is where i live, i strongly believed that this is where i should have the surgery done. so after a few consultations etc... i had surgery!!!

the surgery here is a little diffferent than the one done in the states... here they completely burn the lens as opposed to leaving the outmost flap layer thingy... so it is a tougher recovery... your eyes are closed for three days and i still can't really read too clearly what i am typing... but within a month i should be completely recovered.

so while i was recovering they turned off my internet connection... here in yerevan you don't get bills mailed to you or reminders sent to you ... you have to remember that your internet will get cut off on such and such a date and your phone on such and such a date...etc etc etc... so because of surgery i forgot about my internet... after a few days of laziness (not wanting to walk up the three flights of soviet stairs that come with paying my arminco bill)

Yerevan is completely amazing this time of year... Armenia is amazing this time of year. i was blessed with a drive out to Garni last week where i had an amazing day at the village with a few of my friends. My brother David, a friend from LA Arby, Arthur and I set out for a day in the village. after the traditional visits to Garni and Geghard we went to Garni village to visit some friends that we have there.

once we walked in... the wife apologized for not being prepared... the cow was about to give birth so they had been in the gom all day with her. we went to visit all the animals and i got to play with newborn goats, sheep, puppies chicks and a baby horse.. sooo cute.

after having my eyes bandaged up so long it was great to be out in nature and my favorite part of the day... other than all the baby animals... was seeing the dzyun dzaghiks... which are these beautiful purplesque flowers that come out of the snow... they are magnificent... they symbolize spring and i was happy to see them.

i am going to get into the habit of writing more now that i have my vision back and my internet connection paid for until May.

After spending much of the winter in California, I will be back in Armenia in exactly 7 days. I have really enjoyed the even for California unseasonably warm weather this February... which meant I even got to go to the beach and swim. I have tied up some of the loose ends that I had here, and am ready to get back into the swing of things in Armenia. The interesting job that I found out yesterday I did not get was the writing of a guidebook for a guidebook company. They were the one's who originally approached me, and then in the end said they chose the odar over me because he/she would not have the bias that I might have. They mean politically I think, so except for the short blurb describing the war in Karabakh that the book would have, I can't imagine how any of the rest of a tourist guidebook should be affected by politics. Fortunately I have some other possibilities and if worse comes to worse, I can do some more intense travelling there... I still have a long list of places I must see!

Today we went on a "field trip" with the AVC Volunteers to a village called Khachbar. The purpose was to learn about the Armenia Tree Project and you can log onto their site www.armeniatree.org. The site we went to today at Khachbar is the latest site ATP has purchased, they also have another site at Oshagan in Karin village. The site at Khachbar is 4000 sq metres and they have recently purchased another 4800 sq metres from adjoining land. Basically the background is that since this project's inception in 1994 they have planted over 300,000 trees. The nurseries provide high quality trees for out planting. They plant trees at schools, hospitals, orphanages and other community sites once these places pledge ongoing care for them. The best thing about this project apart from improving social and environmental conditions is the fact that they employ villagers from the surrounding areas and train them. ATP is also involved in the dried fruit production again helping farmers.

Last night I ran into some of the street kids from Orran who somehow recognized me from my short visit there this week. Anyway we talked for a while on the street and they were so enthusiastic about cleaning the streets tomorrow. Looking forward to it and will keep you updated.