I just got back from a rather depressing car ride. Yup, another cop bribery story. I hate writing about this stuff, but seriously, something HAS to be done. Something effective and immediate. This time I was with a very well respected and entrepenurial local businessman, who got pulled over for doing nothing wrong. He tried talking his way out of it, but eventually, for to make his life easier, just paid off the cop. I could see him go into his wallet to get the money... the cop tried to hide the whole transaction with his back and all, but it was visible anyways. I stayed out of the whole thing to see how it would go, and when he came back after giving the bribe, he was very distraught. He explained that these little things become such a burden on life, that people are leaving, they can't get work done, they can't move around freely. He said that as he spoke, the tax authorities continued going through the books at his office, which he keeps perfectly. They are trying to tax him on investments he has recieved for his business, for the expense of exporting his product abroad, they are trying to tax him according to the price his product get sold for RETAIL abroad... He just says that trying to work by the book is torture, and that quite frankly, the Turks would do a better job running the country (*businesswise*). I could not disagree. The spiurk conference is over. We just finished complaining about the corruption, and Kocharian just finished begging us for more investment. Why? We have to have absolute guarantees. Big businessmen must come in and only do business after the president himself signs a document stating that anyone trying to exact bribes, or accepting them will be thrown into jail for hard labor. That is it.

Where have I been lately? Just busy with the Diaspora Conference preparations where I was basically volunteering on the pre-conference events. The business trip went really well and so did the Diaspora meet Diaspora event. Now that it�s all over I have my life back again.

It was encouraging to see some of the Diasporans (from Iran) on the business trip taking notes so seriously and writing down furiously all that was said by the guest speakers on our visits to factories etc. I later asked them if they were journalists or were they just taking notes to report back to their communities back home. The answer was that it was purely for their interest.

On a different note, most of the new Volunteers have arrived for this year�s AVC program. Training will commence on Monday and the volunteers stay with their host families during the whole month of training. The current volunteers including myself have 2 months remaining until our program ends.

Apart from that not much else happening, we have clean up day tomorrow, as it�s the first Saturday of the month. I�m also hoping to do a bit of travelling in the month of June before it gets too hot and while everything is still green.

For those of you who keep careful track of my life (KGB, CIA, FBI :-) you should be wondering what happened with my Armenian Passport (ie. 10 year visa, which is issued in the booklet of an Armenian passport). I went to pick it up a week and a half ago, right on schedule, and the woman said, "has it been two months already?". She told us to come back in a week and a half (yesterday). I didn't mind too much as long as that was as long as it delayed, since I want to make a trip to Karabakh soon, and this way I don't need a visa (I think). Well today we went and woohooo! For ten years I don't have to go back to OVIR, the visa and passport office!! Of course, the celebration may be premature since they might allow dual citizenship before ten years is up in which case I may have to go turn this in for a passport that says "Nationality: Armenian" rather than United States.

The conference is over! The sessions were ok yesterday, and the evening at Sardarabad was very nice. A nice spread and very cool entertainment in a perfect setting on the anniversary of the independence of the first Armenian republic in 1918. They drove us back into Yerevan (an hour from Sardarabad) at midnight, just in time to catch the end of the fireworks show. The weather even at midnight was perfect for shorts, and it appears we have skipped spring completely and went from cold weather to hot. For the past two weeks since the weather broke it has been t-shirt weather and even shorts weather. Just beautiful. At Sardarabad, of all people, we ran into Hagop Bedrossian, one of the readers of the diaspora log! It was quite a nice surprise. He is in town for a couple of weeks, so he will hang out with us a bit and get a real feel for life as a repatriate...

Below is an article about the police corruption you occassionally hear about in our logs. I doubt some of the numbers are right, since I think there are more cops than they say, and people are stopped well over 9 times in 6 months. (It is not all that uncommon to be stopped a few times in a single day). But anyway, it makes for interesting reading.

ARMENIA: BAD DRIVERS AND CORRUPT TRAFFIC COPS

By Atom Margarian

According to a study done by the Armenian Association to Defend Drivers' Rights - Akilles- Armenian drivers have an unwavering habit of breaking traffic laws and the traffic police are notorious in collecting bribes to let drivers walk away from a fine.

The study was done involving 500 drivers who said that in the preceding six months they were stopped approximately 4,500 times by the traffic police and in %98 of cases the encounter ended in the payment of a one to two US dollar bribe or sometimes a higher amount. The drivers believe that in %68 of cases there was no violation. In their view traffic police routinely stop people just hoping to get some money, threatening a summons, which ultimately would be costlier for the driver in terms of both time and money.

Asked as to who starts the discussion leading to a bribe, drivers said that in %44 of cases it is the police who ask for a pay-off, while the drivers themselves offer bribes in %32 of cases, just to avoid the legal process of a summons.

The head of the Motor Vehicle Administration Margar Ohanian told RFE/RL that almost everyone routinely breaks traffic laws and the police should not be blamed for frequently stopping drivers.

The Motor Vehicle Administration in Armenia employs about 350 traffic cops, a number which is completely inadequate for properly enforcing traffic laws, according to Ohanian.

According to drivers and the president of "Akilles", when a bribe is not paid, traffic cops usually confiscate the driver's license, a measure reserved for extreme cases according to the law. As drivers attempt to go through legal processes and reclaim their licenses, authorities continue to violate the law every step of the way, making a traffic violation a costly misstep by an ordinary citizen. Even in cases when courts have issued verdicts to return driving licenses to drivers, the authorities have resisted the decision by delaying tactics.

It is interesting that %70 of drivers who participated in the survey admitted that they do not fully know traffic regulations. This contributes to illegal actions by law enforcement officers. However, one question remains unanswered. How could people who do not know traffic regulations obtain driving licenses. Here also the culprit is most probably corruption.

Yesterday was the first day of the actual conference. In the morning it was just speeches and speeches and speeches, and all afternoon it was panel discussions which were open to audience questions and comments. I skipped the speeches, and attended many of the panel discussions. Many of them were quite interesting, but unfortunately simultaneous, so I could not listen to everything I wanted to hear. This morning the panel discussions continue and then there will be some closing speeches in the afternoon and a the Sardarabad event. Lets see how the day goes!

Last night was one of the big social events of the Armenia-Diaspora conference. We went to fancy Hotel Yerevan and mingled with many of the diasporans who had come to Armenia for the conference. We met lots of cool people, including old friends, new people who are here for the conference, and even some diasporans who have been living here for a solid decade now! It is good to see the conference attracting so many people. Today and tomorrow during the day will be the actual conference and many related events going on simultaneously. Tuesday night is going to be the big end-of-conference bbq at Sardarabad, coincidentally (?) on May 28, Independence Day of Armenia's first republic.

I have been wanting to have a very cool message board script on my site forever now, and this morning I have finally finished installing one. Check it out at http://www.cilicia.com/board/index.php!

Yesterday was the business trip for the diaspora conference. It went very well despite the high number of no-shows. A good variety of businesses were visited and we were fed very very well ;-)

So I got a call last night from another cousin who�s visiting from Toronto and will be catching up with him tonight. I think it�s his first visit so it�ll be interesting to hear of his impressions.

Since Raffi K. mentioned the Vehapar visit last week, I guess you can read about it on http://www.majart.com.au/inchman.html

The business trip for the Diasporans is looking good for this Friday and since we have over 60 registered we will have 2 buses. Let�s just hope the weather holds up, it�s been amazing lately.

I�ll be going to the FM this afternoon to help with the Sunday event where Diaporans meet Diaporans living in Armenia, the book sale for the conference etc etc. busy times.

Saw two plays on the weekend.
At least dozen theatre groups perform in Yerevan and at each season they add on their repertoire. Unlike anywhere else I've been, the audience is a fair mixture of very young, young and adults.
The play I saw and like to discuss is The Beast on the Moon presented by Metro Theatre.
Three years ago I had seen the English version in Toronto presented by Hrant Alianac.
It is only natural to compare the two, both were beautifully played, except that three issues bothered me and I'd like to share them with you.
In the Armenian version:
� at the end the couple splits, because the wife sees that the only way the husband can feel the empty head places in the family picture is for her husband to get remarried to another woman (because she's barren).
� the level of verbal and physical abuse by the husband was in high volume;
� The kid, (was it Vence), is housed with a catholic orphanage and is being sexually abused by a priest;
� After the wife walks away, the husband gives away items most dear to him including his bible and decides 'to live'.
Anyone read the original script? Just wondering, which version was truer to the story.

I don�t even remember the last time I logged. I�ve been so busy with Diasporans visiting, the Diaspora Conference and going out to the regions on weekends, it�s exciting times. For those of you who haven�t registered for the conference, do so and don�t forget to register for the pre conference events starting this Friday.

For those of you visiting (It�d be nice to see some names in the commentary section, from those who have e-mailed me and are coming), the weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment although I have heard reports of snow just last week on the road to Karabagh. I�ll try and log more often.

I just got back from FM and registration is now closed, too late.

Just about now, the brand spankin' new country of East Timor is being born. It has recieved strong international support for its independence... so naturally, as an Armenian, I want to know, WHAT ABOUT KARABAKH??? (Not to mention Palestine, Abkhazia, Tibet and other peoples)

Comments are working again! ;-) I think there won't be any more problems with them...

Meanwhile, I thought Turkey list of preconditions outlined by their foreign minister this week is ridiculous, and it basically tells the world that Turkey is not interested in relations with Armenia. Here are the preconditions:

1) Armenia must renounce its habit that creates hostility using history, leaving the issue on Armenian Genocide for historians
2) Armenia must eliminate the points concerning the territorial demands from its Constitution.
3) The Karabakh conflict must be settled, which, according to Turkey, means that Armenia must withdraw its army from Karabakh.
4) Armenia must provide a corridor for communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan.

Fantastic... here are my four retaliatory preconditions for Turkey be granted diplomatic relations with Armenia!

1) Apologize for the Armenian Genocide
2) Return Wilsonian Armenia and Cilicia
3) Pay 100 billion dollars in reparations
4) Raise 5 million Turkish & Kurdish babies as Christian Armenian speakers to populate those lands

Did I forget anything? Hmph!

Below is an interesting article that Harout Sassounian writes about... it talks about diasporas (Armenian, Chinese, Jewish) helping their mother country. It talks about the best way to help... note, he does not say that Armenians are not helping Armenia on a vast scale, but he does say that the help needs to be focused more on investment and business, which quickly begins to help the country help itself. It is an interesting analysis and worth the read.

Commentary
World Bank Expert Analyzes Diaspora's Role in Armenia

By Harut Sassounian
California Courier Publisher

As the Armenia-Diaspora Conference will be held later this month, it would be interesting to look at the relationship between these two entities from the dispassionate view of an "odar." The outsider in this case is one of the World Bank's senior economists, Lev M. Freinkman, who compares the Armenian Diaspora to several other Diasporas. The upcoming conference in Yerevan is slated to cover such topics as dual citizenship, Diaspora's role in Armenia's economic recovery, and concrete organizational structures that can link those residing outside to the homeland. It would be instructive to see how other nationalities

have approached these issues in order to learn from their successes and avoid their mistakes. In a paper he delivered last August at a Florida conference, Mr. Freinkman argued that "from the transition perspective, support provided by the Armenian Diaspora to independent Armenia since 1991 has been rather inefficient." He explained that China and Israel have been much more
successful because "they managed to divert a considerable chunk of expatriates' resources into a source of investment finance, export expansion, and new technology." He asserted that "most economies in transition face a significant shortage of skills and resources over which many Diasporan communities have much better control and/or access.

This relates to many core components of financial, human, and social capital, which, if well mobilized, could accelerate the entire dynamics of the transition process." At the end he made some recommendations on "how to rationalize Diaspora's involvement and assistance to home countries" in transition.

"China and Israel seem to be the best-known examples of countries that received a major developmental push from their nationals located throughout the world. While in most countries the main Diaspora-related benefit for the domestic economy was and still is associated with private transfers (including remittances) sent by members of Diasporas to their relatives and friends at home, China and Israel managed to complement this traditional financial support by much more active involvement of the Diaspora in their economic development," Freinkman said. "In these countries, Diaspora investors and entrepreneurs played a critical role in attracting FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), setting up joint ventures, promoting export of domestic companies, etc. In short, these examples confirm that traditional ethnical and cultural links could be instrumental in facilitating integration into the international economy as well as transferring of new professional and managerial skills."

Freinkman started his analysis with a general observation that "development is not so much about allocation of existing resources but rather about mobilizing resources that are hidden, scattered or badly utilized." He then underlined two key lessons learned from the experience accumulated during the past 10 years of transition in Eastern Europe: "1) economic growth has been coming mostly from newly-created companies (both domestic and foreign), not from privatized inherited state enterprises; 2) speed of change in management culture and business practices is a critical factor of growth." In the medium term, the factors that make a difference in the country's transition are: "the quality of investment climate, proximity to established markets, speed of transfer of new managerial skills, simplicity of access to existing assets, including land, etc." In this respect, "the Diaspora could accelerate closing the gap that inevitably exists between the post-socialist economy and the rest of the world as well as provide a strong backing for integration of the home country into the global market."

Freinkman suggested that the leaders in the home countries could use their links to the Diaspora to: "1) extract additional support in forms of FDI and management training to facilitate the creation and expansion of new companies; 2) accelerate building new business partnerships between local and international companies to advance transfer of skills and technologies; 3) provide advice to governments of home countries with respect to improvement of investment climate and deregulation." Of course, this assumes that these leaders are amenable to listening to advice. The Diasporan investors could play the beneficial role of "first movers," Freinkman suggested. These are investors who come first to an emerging market that is characterized by "great uncertainty and excessive economic risks." By so doing, they "could change market expectations and advance an inflow of more conventional FDI."

To avoid any misunderstandings, Mr. Freinkman has noted that the ideas expressed in his paper, subsequently posted on the groong website, were his personal views and should not be attributed to the World Bank.

Next week: An in-depth look at the Diaspora's involvement in Armenia.

It has been an interesting few days, but I couldn't log until now because the internet has been working so poorly.

Two days ago I went in search of a mineral spring with Davit, which started near Khor Virap and led us past Vedi. Eventually, with enough questioning of people standing on the sides of the road (always countless people standing on the sides of the road), we got to a guy who told us we were close, but had to have someone with us to show us the way, because it was so hard to find. We were trying to avoid that since we were planning on swimming, but were eventually convinced that our search would be fruitless and to at least take a kid along with us. So a twelve or so year old boy jumps in our car and guides us. It was a few kilometers through dirt roads and riverbeds, and really we would have never found it without either the boy, or very very good directions. We were disappointed however because the water is a pretty cool temprature, and offered nowhere to swim or sit. So we headed back to the village and dropped off the boy as we headed off into the mountains.

You are going to get sick of me talking about how green it is, but all this rain (it is raining now again, pretty much every single day it rains) had turned that region, which is one of the driest in Armenia, nice and green, with beds of wildflowers here and there. The number and variety of birds we saw as we drove along the foothills towards Lanjar was incredible! The lime-green, blue and purple (I think) bee-eater birds were everywhere and gorgeous. Then there were hawks, storks, yellow, black, black and white birds, swallows and pidgeons. Eventually we headed down a dirt track to Surp Karapet Monastery, where a tent community springs up each summer to pasture their animals.

We got back to the highway and headed for Yerevan, reaching the outskirts around 10pm when the cops stopped us for "starting to signal too late in the turn". This is one of the worst police points in Armenia I think, and of course we were not about to pay them a bribe. They started to give us a hard time about Davits driving license not being international and were not letting us go, so I decided to take their picture, which usually polarizes the situation one way or another. This guy freaked out and accussed us of being spies and claimed he would take us in for questions. He puts our car in a gated area right there and now a big scene is developing with a half a dozen cops gathering to see what is going on. The whole time I have been playing with my GPS machine and they are telling me to turn it off and take it away from them... I refuse knowing they have no clue what it does and that it makes them more nervous. I tell them we need to make some calls to friends and they are demanding I delete the picture (by this time I have explained it is a digital picture and showed them the shot too). We start writing down police badge numbers (which they are trying to hide) and names as well and again demanding to make some calls which makes them more nervous. Well now the captain starts to explain to us how we really should get an international driving license and how it is against the law to take pictures of police and their posts. I insist I don't believe it, and that on a public road I can take any picture I like... but that if they stop bothering us and let us go I will delete it. At their long winded explanations of the law I assume that they are looking for a way out and so I decide to really tell them my honest mind, what the hell. I tell them I have published a guidebbook to Armenia which is in the car, and that their pathetic attempts to collect a 1000 dram bribe from tourists is disgusting. I told them I am working like mad trying to attract visitors who will come and spend honest money in honest places and that they don't need to see cops every five minutes who leave a bad taste in their mouth. Next time you accidentally pull over a tourist I said, you should first say "Welcome", be very polite, and if you can speak their language explain what they have done wrong and ask them to be more careful, then say bon voyage to them. Most of them were knodding and saying it is true. They all want to see the book and already they are all laughing and chatting with us except for the one guy who originally tried to get the bribe from us. They enjoyed flipping through the book and the chief invited me to go into the mountains to see some cool khatchkars he was sure I did not know about. Anyways by now they had agreed that "because we are guests" they will let us go, as long as I deleted the picture, which I did in front of them, and deleted the recording (they thought the GPS was some kind of recording device ;-) So at 10:30 as we pull off into the now dark streets of Yerevan we had a half a dozen cops shouting "Welcome" at us... definitely one of the more interesting police stops here. Should I call up the cop who offered to show me around in the mountains? It is quite tempting I must say.

Aaanyways, last night was a big game of Risk, which was a long and brutal battle. We paused for the Simpsons which was the episode where you find out Principal Skinner's real name is Armen Tamzarian. It was hilarious.

an evening alone in yerevan is so rare during may. it is a busy month filled with tourists. tourists fly in and out of yerevan and friends and family come throughout the year. may through september is high season. it seems like every day is filled with dinner with one or a trip to vernisage with another. i love it.

today i went to an open audition for this new show that my friend is producing. there were 100 people trying out (vocals) of which 40 were to be picked. all the jury members were friends of mine so it was fun watching the selection process and the dynamics of the jury. the talent here is wonderful. i was also surprised that there were so many contestants singing armenian songs... the audition could be performed in russian, english or armenian. most chose armenian with russian coming in at last. the english songs chosen were quite modern and performed well. i don't know how the jury chose only 40... there was too much talent (good good talent) in the pool.

the weather... the weather... ahhh the weather. as of today it is looking up! hopefully by the time my mom comes (10 days) it will be perfect.

yerevan is getting ready for the armenian diaspora conference. i will be in attendance and am very curious to see how things will turn out. will keep you posted.

Yesterday was a whirlwind tour of northern Armenia, mostly for the benefit of Gohar's brother, but we all had a fantastic time. The one benefit of all of this annoying rain (it is raining again now) is the incredibly green spring and I intend to enjoy that as much as possible. I love green countryside and forest, which Yerevan does not have, but the northern parts of Armenia (Lori, Tavush) plus parts of the south (Tatev, Kapan) do have year round. This however, is an incredible level of green. If you are coming to the diaspora conference, bring a lot of film... it is just beautiful. One of the highlights of the trip for me was driving from Dilijan to Vanadzor on a mostly very nice newly repaved road (they are still working on it). The scenery was again fantastic, and we passed an "Amish" village which was really cool. They are not Amish really, but actually called Molokans here. They are "old believers" of the Russian church and were expelled from Russia over a century ago. The men keep beards and the women cover their heads, while all the platinum blond kids and scenery really do remind you of Amish country.

Also on my agenda yesterday was planting some more of my seeds in the wild. I have been very particular about where to plant them because almost no spot in Armenia can escape the many sheep, cows, and even pigs you see grazing all over the country. Plus you want a moist spot with decent soil... so I was very happy to accomplish all the planting yesterday. I am very hopeful that the next time I visit I will see things in full bloom. The one other problem though is that locals love to pick wild flowers. This is a problem for some of the endangered plants, and now for the flowers I have planted as well. They pick as many as they can for their own vases as well as to sell, and any plant which is not incredibly widespread can begin to have problems in developing seeds and multiplying. I hope that the isolation will give them an edge... in case you are wondering I planted Colombines of two sorts and foxgloves. A few candy lily's here and there were also planted, so cross your fingers, today's rain should at least get them off to a good start.

I am typing this as it drizzles... not a very good day for vernissage ;-(

Yesterday was a nice day out in Garni village. Davit has a place in Garni now, with an incredible view, and a whole lot of work for him to do. But he was enjoying getting some soil under his fingers and I had a chance to plant a bunch of my seedlings in his yard. A few months ago I heard a rumor from Patrick (who insisted it is not a rumor, but rather fact) that you can buy land here now with your ten year passport. We have real confirmation now and this is really cool. It will make it much more convenient for diasporans to buy second homes, vaction homes, retirement homes or even primary residences outside of Yerevan, or even in Yerevan's suburbs if they want a house. Before you could only buy a flat (apartment) without land. Land you could lease for 99 years from the govt which was easy enough, but nobody likes to do that it seems. When you have a house with land here it is called a dun (or 'tun' I should say ;-) while if you have a flat it is called a p'nagaran. If it is not in Yerevan and you live in Yerevan, they usually call the house out of town a dacha.

Aaanyways, back to Davits Dacha... it was funny to sit on a rock in his yard and watch the tourists come and go at Garni. It really made you feel more like you belong here when you watch tourists from a distance like ants, coming to admire what you take for granted when you are here. His next door neighbor came by and had us over for a true Beverly Hillbilly's feast if you know what I mean (all the parts of the lamb that I don't like, not that I like lamb to begin with) and showed us his large plot of land which has no sense of aesthetics whatsoever. Fortunately we then headed to two more neighbors houses, the first of which was quite nice, and the second of which was just immculate and beautiful. I gave that guy some of the seeds I had brought with me and am comfortable they are in good hands. He is tring to grow all sorts of interesting things, and I want to try to get him some cool new things to propogate.

In the evening I met Gohar's brother Raffi who is here for a few weeks. I still have never met a Raffi I don't like! I hope this weather doesn't ruin his weekend trip...

Indeed Rhoda it was SK, what a lovely girl, we�re getting on like a house on fire (must be the Crown thing). She sends you her batchigner and says Britannia Rules!

Regarding the weather, I�m afraid I spoke too soon, it rained again yesterday and yes I�m still in my winter clothes.

Last night I attended a lecture by John Chilingirian on Leadership, he is indeed a great speaker as everyone who had heard his lectures had said so. That was followed by a dinner at a traditional Armenian restaurant and it really was great fun, you know one of those spur of the moment things where everyone was in a great mood. There would have been about 20 of us and it was Raffi K�s relatives� last evening, what a great family. It was an absolute pleasure to have met them and they assured us that they would return soon and said that the get together was the greatest gift we could have possibly given them.

Let�s hope this ridiculous spring? weather improves and that we have a good weekend.

Eastern vs. Western

Sometimes it feels like it really is east vs. west when you hear people discuss it, or some of the comments about the main divide in the Armenian dialects, but as inconvenient as it is, I kinda like having two major dialects in our language. My history with them is growing up speaking western Armenian, then moving here and wondering what people are talking about for weeks until I started to get the hang of it, then starting to use Eastern conjugation and vocab, while maintaining a primarily western pronunciation of letters. After a few months of that I had trouble switching back to Western for just a few sentences... I had to speak it for about a day to really get it back. Finally, now, after all this time I can always switch back to Western clean, but if I have been in Western mode for a while then Eastern takes a day to get back into. The funniest thing is that when I can't remember an Armenian word that I know in Spanish, I really want to say the Spanish word for it...

The comments really will be back... the site hosting them is working on it. But it is probably a matter of weeks not days.

It�s the third day with NO rain. The weather is absolutely lovely at the moment and Ararat is crystal clear, what a sight cannot put it into words.

Apart from the weather update life is pretty hectic with a couple of deadlines to meet and people visiting. Just yesterday I met 2 young Armenian girls from LA visiting our Homeland for the first time. Another visiting from England, lovely girl. Almost every Diasporan somehow makes it to our office for a quick visit so I get to meet them all.

This morning I uploaded a new page, and for that matter a new kind of page, detailing the hike from Odzun to Horomayri to Kobayr. I hope to make at least a few if not many more of these available online so that people coming to Armenia will have more options than to just sit in a car all day being taken from place to place, and even giving them freedom from needing a guide at all for that matter. If you are coming to Armenia soon and want to do some nice hikes, try this one out for starters, and maybe by the time you get here I will have more online...

Yesterday was hectic as usual. I was doing some volunteer work preparing texts for foreign travel agents being given a free tour of Armenia, in order to promote it. I also made some progress on a potential business project I am working on, and bought a set of very nice satellite maps of Armenia. I did not have the cash on me to buy them and told the woman I was too lazy to go get it from home... so she ended up sending her nephew with me, saying that she was going to buy him an ice-cream anyways, so he may as well earn it. Well I had just stopped unsuccessfully at 3 ice-cream stands looking for a Melody ice-cream sandwhich which I was craving, and told her I would get him the ice-cream myself.

So we headed off and soon ran into an ice-cream stand that had my melody bar, and this (I'm guessing) 12yo kid goes for an ice-cream cup that comes with a toy. I wolf down my ice-cream and inconspiciously hold onto the wrapper then toss it into a bin we come across. He takes note and asks me if I held onto it just to find a bin, saying that they don't do that in Armenia. I explained that in America we don't have women who sweep the streets, and that even in Armenia I don't like to throw things on the street because until the next morning when they sweep it looks quite ugly. He decided to hold onto his wrapper till the next trash can too. Then this kid asks me if I think the girls here are attractive! I don't think I was checking out girls in that way at his age, at least not with adults around. He told me about his house which is being torn down to make space for the new blvd, and about his friends. He has tons of friends, but only 2 or 3 best friends. He told me he likes the Armenian saying, "Clothes are best new, and friends are best old". (old refers to how long you have had them, not their age)

work is really amazing but it is keeping me quite busy. i am working on a newsletter for orran (www.orran.am) which is a haven for street children and have also started grant writing. in fact my life has gotten fast busy just like it was in new york... always something to do and always apologizing for events that i cannot attend. i guess if you are a busybee you are one anywhere... even yerevan.

my mom is coming in 17 days and i am so excited that i keep cleaning the apartment and trying to enter with her eyes to guess what her reaction will be. she has only been here for one week and that was in 1997 so this is going to be quite a change. this time she is coming for 70 days... yes you read right 70 days... when she travels, she travels. i am more than excited to host her and already have all 70 days nearly planned. the first place i am going to take her is the ponchikanots. the ponchikanots is my favorite spot in yerevan. ponchiks are better than donuts and even better than most french pastries. each ponchik is 50 dram and its always a contest on who can eat more ponchiks at the ponchikanots. i usually try to but heads with pre-teen who get a kick out of beating me by one or two ponchiks.

i found a giant head statue last week. it was near the trash to the entrance of my hyat (common backyard that i share with my building and neighbors from other buildings in my area)... it is huge and stone and carved into an old roman figure... my friends and i still don't know who it is. but i brought it home and have placed it on my mantle (i washed it before i placed it on my mantle) but during the bringing it home process i pinched a nerve in my back and was shot for a few days. it was all worth it.

perhaps i will snap and pic. of the statue and someone can tell me who i have found... and if he worthy of my mantle... lol

I am still recovering from the week in Lori region. The120 e-mails awaiting me are still looming, a week of groong news is massive, seeing my friends, and meeting some distant relatives of mine from France for the first time in decades has kept me busy. The relatives, the Ghazarossians (Marie and Hampo) are just great. They grew up together with my parents in Ethiopia and knew them very well. They are here on a ten day package tour with their daughter Edina who is my age. I had never talked to them about it, but they were already considering getting a place in Armenia and possibly retiring here. They came over after dinner and loved my place, and we had tea as we talked into the night and worked on my family tree a bit. Hampo apparently has a formidable one that he improved a great deal at the very successful Ethiopian-Armenian reunion in LA last summer that they had organized, and which I missed being in Armenia at the time. One day we will have to combine the two trees. If you keep going with them, I think that eventually every Armenian in the world would make it onto there... Well one day perhaps we can do that website ;-)

The weather today looks a lot more promising. Spring has been crazy with snow coming down on parts of Armenia last week. It has been on and off again very cold weather and never-ending rain. Nobody here knows what to make of it all, but we keep telling ourselves it HAS to end any day now... could today be that day?

What a week! We got back last night from a week up in the Lori region. We were taking bucket bathes (since there was no shower) and the place was run down as can be. When the locals found out where we were staying they would shake their heads in disappointed wonder ;-) So it is nice to be back to a clean house and functioning bathroom. The weather was great most of the week and we did some really fantastic sightseeing and relaxing. The nicest surprise was the monastery of Akhtala, which I had seen before only from the outside. The outside is quite impressive with the fortress walls, underground chambers, intricate carvings, and large church, but the inside was breathtaking also. Look at that fresco! The inside was just completely covered with these... A few days of reading and relaxation was quite nice too, but it is always good to be home.