Let me share a little about my amazing experiences in Jerusalem which I hope more Armenians visit when things calm down... the community there is sputtering out due to all the tensions there, and even without immigration it would be much better off if Armenian tourists visit for a week, a month, a summer. Really this land is so incredibly valuable that we must do everything possible to protect it.

In January 2000 I was in Jerusalem for the second time and again had a great reception by the local Armenian community. They were very friendly and me and Zabel had a great time in their homes, agumps, churches, shops and more. We got to see much more than usual tourists get to see, including large parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which are usually locked to tourists, the underground area of the Armenian Catholic Patriachate, and the attached, closed off station of the cross, which the vast majority only see a little number on the outside of the building to indicate the station of the cross, plus the vast Armenian Monastery attached to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and other misc properties.

It was so great to see all this stuff and be shown it firsthand by our newly made friends there... Arpi was a teacher, Bedros a university student, and Haik, Tigran, Bagrad and Armen were clergy. Suren and Suzie in Jerusalem I knew from an online chat, as well as Artur near Haifa and later his friend Armen, both had moved from Armenia with their families.

One of the most amazing experiences in my life is when we were invited to a mass in the middle of the night at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. If you know about this church, built over the spot where Jesus was crucified prepared for burial, buried and resurrected, you know that it is shared by the Armenians, Greeks and Latins primarily and that a Muslim family holds the key to it and locks it every night. Why a Muslim? Because the Christian sects cannot trust one another to hold it. What I did NOT know is that when the door is locked, a whole community of clergy are locked in too, as in our case, congregants who were invited to stay as well. Well Tigran invited us to stay and attend the service which meant being locked in. We accepted and stayed up talking to him in his cell while the hours went by and other sects conducted their masses. Then it was time for the Armenian service and we got up while they conducted the divine liturgy in Jesus' tomb. It was just us sitting there and we took communion at Jesus' tomb. First thing in the morning when the doors were unlocked we had an amazing breakfast of Foul and mint tea.

Anyway, this experience was so special, and so Armenian, that I want to make sure we can preserve our (not so) little enclave there, so that Armenians can have that experience for another millenia to come... so again, for the third time this week on this page, I am asking you to visit www.anca.org and take action against this land seizure. I firmly believe we must stop it at any cost, including if necessary taking the symbolic act of declaring war on Israel if necessary to drive the point home.

i am sitting in my beautiful living room with a million bouquets of flowers around me. it is setting the romantic mood i need to write about the wedding.

the day started off early in the morning when arthur and i went to go and bless the salt which would be later used for the sacraficing of the lamb. we went to the same church that we would be getting married in later and got the salt blessed.

then my mom and i went to the beauty salon and got our hair and our make up done. i put a tiara of natural flowers in my hair... stunning. i came home to see that my dad had decorated the entire hallway entrance to the apartment (banister, two floors) with daisies and beautiful flowers... it was stunning.

we came up and started gathering to wait for the khnamis and kavor people to come. i was wearing a beautiful lavendar ball-gown. i looked very pretty. so they came... they came with a bunch of cars and they came singing and dancing and screaming... and all the women came in my room and we started to dress me for the wedding. we sang traditional hars songs and they shnorhavoreled every single piece of clothes i put on by singing. i felt like i was in some old armenian movie where they are dressing the bride. they kept throwing confetti and candy and glitter on my head... and everyone got sprayed with my perfume so that the scent of the bride may be on everyone.

as tradition tells, my younger brother had to put on my shoes... so my cousin arin came in the room and represented my brothers by slipping on my white heels.

then i was all ready with garter and all.. so arthur came in the room and almost cried when he saw me (or so he told me later on that night)... gave me my bouquet and we walked out into the room where beautiful armenian music was playing and everyone was waiting. we danced for a while and celebrated.

then we all got in the cars...me in my puffy white gown and went to the church. it is not fun to sit in a wedding dress.

the first thing they did was line us up... teni (bridesmaid) the kavor kin, me,.arthur, kavor, and david (the groomsman/ my best friend and the one who introduced us) and they gave both me and arthur white doves... we held on to them and released them at the same time... into the air... beautiful.

the church service was my least favorite of the entire day because it was short and a bit commercial which was really surprising because i thought it would be even more elaborate here... but i made everyone laugh when i downed the entire cup of wine when the priest gave us the wine to sip... everyone thought it was really funny and bold.

then we went back in the cars and tradition led us to the home of arthur's parents... (but since they live on the 6th floor and the elevator was broken we went to his sisters house instead) and at the doorstep we broke two plates (one each) brought from my home. then mom sprinkled this persian (noghle) on us and his mom fed us honey with almonds for fertility and so that we may always say sweet things to one another. then they put big pieces of lavash on each of our shoulders and we walked into the house with lavash (signifies family) on our shoulders... it was cute.

then we got back in the cars and went to ARCHANOTS (which means where the bear is) that was our reception hall. it was an outdoor park with a large gazibo that seated -80. a really beautiful place that everyone was floored by.

i sat in the grass while the photographer and video guy took tons of shots that i am really going to try to post.

then the kef started. arthurs dad and my dad made a toast expressing how it is one of the happiest days of their life... and the rest is a happy dream.

we danced and danced and danced and the music was cute and fun and armenian.. and our entire half of the wedding (our side) probably sat for a total of 15 minutes each... that is how much dancing there was going on.

we danced all night, until 2.

arthur's family had bottles of cognac that they had saved from their wedding just for their son's wedding. the entire party was drinking and there was really really good old armenian cognac all night. for the first time arthur drank... for the first time in his life. he had 6 shots of cognac and did not feel a thing and did not like the taste and said he will not do it again. he even drank the wine at church. we were all soo shocked.

the food was great and the night was awesome... everyone who was there said they want a wedding just like it here in armenia.

the funniest thing was that i wore these really really cool orange sneakers under my wedding dress... everyone got a kick out of them. i guess that was very unique for armenia but everyone kept lifting my dress to see these sneakers and gym socks. funny

they say that july 27 is the day noah landed on Mt. Ararat. We were happy that it has something to do with armenian culture and i am sure it will help arthur remember our anniversary.

oh WAIT, this is the last day you can get a discount on arthur's new cd, three candles... after august 1st you will have to pay a whole 7 dollars more. so go to www.narek.com (search arthur ispirian) and get a copy of arthur's new stuff and my debut to the singing world. i can't say anything about my rap... but i will say that arthur's music is really really amazing.

tomorrow arthur and i will be godfather and godmother to a young couple who is getting baptized so that they may be married in a few days. many people here are not baptized still from the soviet times. tomorrow we will go to the new church and i will do everything to make sure this couple has an awesome baptism.

our best man and maid of honor (even though they were chosen by arthur's dad and we did not know them too well) were so amazing. they made sure we were the happiest bride and groom ever. they have become our good friends since the wedding and we spent the day today at the summer house in garni laughing and gossiping about the wedding.

i had the perfect time at the wedding. i was relaxed and fun and i remember every second. it was romantic and special because it was here on the skirts of Ararat. i was looking at the pictures today and could not find one where i am not wearing my smile.

in armenia they have the tradition of the daros... daroseh dzez... which means i hope you are next. (i say it to single people now and wish that they may get married too) seriously, darose dzez. i hope that you can find someone who completes you and fills your heart. i hope that you can build an armenian ojakh (will not try to translate that word) and that you can have that same smile i wore on my wedding day. it was unreal.

thanks for being a part of this.

sincerely,

madlene and the new guy

In my free time I have been editing a massive text on Karabakh, which I will incorporate into Rediscovering Armenia. It is absolutely brutal work, which is taking forever. I am on page 8 of over 150 and I have been working on it for a long time now... I have to get into a stricter routine. I just don't enjoy editing of this sort, where I basically have to re-write the text, plus cross check a few (often conflicting) sources (in Armenian! and Russian! which I don't even speak, but can read) and maps where the same things apply. Plus my chair is not as comfortable as it could be ;-) so I keep getting up...

Aside from that lots of people coming and going. I tell ya, Armenia really is a massive hub of the diaspora... as it should be.

Sorry it has taken so long to recap my wedding. I have been busy especially since we have been running around trying to find out who will marry us (the state) since we are not citizens of armenia. after a maze of government offices and meetings with several people we found out how to apply and it is going to take one month. since armenia does not have the us equivalent of las vegas... we are going to rough it out.

we went to garni today to the summer house to spend time with our kavor's (best man) family and thank them for a job well done. we had a nice day wtih them at the house. the kids swam and played and we ate and talked and at some more. stay tuned tonight for the big wedding.

On the trip to Gyumri on Saturday, we stopped at Talin and saw some nice churches there from the 7th Century. We then headed off to Dashtadem fortress, which was quite impressive with Arabic inscription on one side. The last stop was Mastara, again a 7th Century Church. We got to Gyumri and visited sister Arousiak�s orphanage, unfortunately the children as well as Sister Arousiak were at their summer camp at Tsaghkadzor but another Sister showed us around the premises and they have done an excellent job with the orphanage. We also saw where the children slept and everything was so clean and organized. The AYF interns I travelled with were a lot of fun and we spent the evening in Gyumri. On our return trip on Sunday we bumped into Zabelle from �Parev Inn� who was taking her group of young Canadian interns up to Gyumri.

Now as for the tourist who was staying with my next door neighbour, here�s a bit of background. He asked me a million questions on Friday night since he couldn�t speak Armenian with my neighbour. He is half Armenian (Dad�s side) from Fresno, an architect and wants to buy a flat in Yerevan. It was his first time here and had travelled from Germany by bus the whole way except for Greece, where he got on a boat. As we were discussing property prices another neighbour informed in passing that the 2 flats opposite mine were sold for $60k. The buyer will join both flats and turn it to a good-sized flat. This buyer got a sweet deal since prices have increased quite a bit lately. He�s the same buyer who also bought the huge space on the 1st floor, which will be a shoe store. He�s obviously loaded.

Well to finish off, I did feel the earthquake the other day but only for a split second.

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

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

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

Today is officially my last day as a Volunteer with the Armenian Volunteer Corps. My aim was to make a difference in at least one person�s life and I believe I have achieved that. Personally I have familiarized with the culture but have yet a long way to go. It has been an experience to say the least facing a few challenges and obstacles. The colleagues at work don�t want to say goodbye, but want me to stay. Where to now?

I will travel to Gyumri this weekend with Arsineh and her group of interns. I have also been presented with the opportunity of going to Georgia early next month so I will take up the offer and visit for a week.

The Armenian National Dance Ensemble ROCKS (as my Kiwi friend would say). I just saw their performance at the Opera and boy were they incredible. I had seen them once before in �99 but this time they were unbelievable and Gohar I was thinking of you all night, I know how much you would have enjoyed their performance had you been here. The costumes, the talent, the choreography, so much passion exuded from those performers. Did you know that there�s actually a live band performing in the background rather than a playing a CD? They performed songs by Ara Gevorkian, Sayat Nova and Aram Khachaturian and the Director danced a little at the end too, what a character.

Vartan, you came to mind too when they performed the Georgian Dance with all the shimmies that they do. There was also a lady who was called on stage, she�s originally from Iran but now lives in Switzerland, but I didn�t catch her name. She exhibited costumes designed by herself for all the regions of Armenia from Zangezour to Artsakh to Van. Of course when the costume from Marash was exhibited, I got all teary thinking of my Dad who was born in Marash, I know pathetic. The best part was when the dancers in training came out and showed off their skills, they have a bright future ahead. Although I was also told that the performers earn $8 a month and that�s only when there�s an upcoming concert. Regardless, we were in such a good mood that Alex and I came out dancing, wanting to join dance lessons immediately.

When I got home, my neighbour told me that there�s now an Armenian staying with her from California who can�t speak Armenian. So I�ll be meeting him tomorrow morning and doing my usual translation for my neighbour.

I met a couple of Kiwis (New Zealanders) this morning who were staying with my next door neighbour. They have been going around The Caucasus and were really impressed with Armenia. Yesterday they climbed Mt Ara and they wish to return soon and spend more time here. Tonight they will take the night train to Tiblisi. My neighbour told me that this time she didn�t even get a phone call from the information centre, the couple just turned up at her doorstep with back packs. Still, it�s great to see Tourists here and I'm more than happy to translate for her.

today was one of the happiest days ever... as I saw our CD on the internet. even though the release date is august 1st and we do not have copies of the CD yet... you can buy the CD for 10 bucks (with a 7 dollar discount) before august 1 and save a bundle and even have a copy of "three candles" before we do. for those who are not avid readers let me give you a history of this work.

arthur ispirian (my husband to be) is a pop armenian singer here in yerevan. his music is a r&b, stevie wonder turned armenian style which holds a lot of popularity here in yerevan. he decided to produce a new cd which would have a mix of his style (the marvin gaye, barry white style) and songs about the current poltical situation here, and the current spiritual situation... there are deep songs, fun songs and i make my debut in this cd with a little bit of rap on one of the songs. we have been working on it for a long long time. amazing to see it online available for purchase. felt great.

you can hear a sample from all the songs and see if it interests you. go to www.narek.com and type in arthur ispirian in the search... it should pop up... "three candles" check it out and hear his voice. do it before august 1, if you are considering purchasing so you can get that big discount (the pre-release price) and then tell me how the packaging and stuff came out as we do not have it in our hands.

ok with all that exciting stuff out of the way... i will tell you all a shocker. for the past few weeks we have had a tough decision to make. after one gets engaged... the first thing they here is... "wow, so when is the wedding?" ... ahhh it stressed us out because we were in such a tough situation. my family lives so far away... siblings all over the world and cousins, aunts, best friends... how could i do it without them... but then how could we do it without arthur's family and all our friends and family here.. i mean after all this is our home. so we were stuck.

so we had two options.

either we could have a wedding here next year which would give everyone ample time to get ready and get here (although some of my loved ones are too old or not able to travel) and just get whoever was able to come out... or we could do one here and one there. so if we did one here... we would have to do it when my mother and father were here... which is only in the summers. so either this summer or next... looking in eachothers eyes we just knew we could not wait a whole year to marry SO last minute we have decided to have my wedding on saturday... yes this saturday ... yes in three days... yes we are crazy.

it will be a small wedding... a really small wedding with just family... and then we will have a string of parties for all our friends and close ones... then we will have a party in la in the winter for all our la friends and family. but even this tiny wedding is stressful. as there is no post here in armenia we have been delivering the invites by hand... and running around like headless chickens buying wedding dresses and flowers... nuts.

i wish all my loggers could be with us... but we are going to have a bad ass wedding party that will rock our family reception any day... i just know it. and ara, you have to come to yerevan for it because i promise sushi.

so i will try to log on tomorrow and try to explain all the new armenian matrimonial traditions i have learned of since this whole fiasco. some pretty interesting stuff.

Dropped my dad off at the airport... an 8:55am flight, not too bad. I tell you the VG airlines has impressed me so far. My dad nevertheless almost missed his flight ;-)

Jack left this morning after his successful walkathon of 1000 kms tour of Armenia and Karabagh which took him slightly over 9 weeks to complete. We went to the airport at 3.30 am and the queue was so long but at least organized (they had these ropes for lines, amazing). As I have not slept all night and it�s now 5.30pm and I�m still awake, I thought I�d write a few lines. We bumped into Ara M. at the airport who was seeing his people off at the airport and helping with their luggage. In fact we came back home together at 6am.

I finally found someone who is willing to assist me with my Armentel problem so that I can change the Certificate of Title for my flat from business classification to that of residence. But there�s a catch, I need to first obtain a letter from the Municipal Council to present to him. This man admitted that the person I�ll be dealing with is very difficult to work with. So tomorrow morning I�ll be tackling this ongoing issue, this is my last resort and if this doesn�t work, I�ll wash my hands off the whole thing and just pay business rates to Armentel.

Since internet has been a problem over the past week at work, I visited an Internet Caf� on Terian St called Alexserv, I remember Hans (a tourist) mention to me that it was a fast connection. It really was and I was quite impressed with it so will frequent it more often.

Madlene, this is getting beyond ridiculous we live 10 minutes apart and I haven�t seen you in weeks and still haven�t congratulated you and Arthur properly for the engagement, let�s get together this week.

The "pool" really is a life-saver, but we are having to change the water every few days because the winds bring in so much dirt ;-( Eh, that's life. I totally agree with you Madlene that the modern wedding is just crazy. In fact I went to one last night, and it really was great fun, but we were not really close to the bride and groom, just friends of the family... and that kind of seems to lose something if you ask me. In any case, I am a strong proponent of eloping (be warned!).

Yesterday morning I stopped by the tourist information office, to check on the plans for a trip to Western Armenia... unfortunately the trip has been postponed it turns out, but I met a really impressive tourist who had been backpacking across Armenia. In fact, he started in Ankara, walked through western Armenia, then to Armenia for three weeks. He was a complete odar who had come across the ruins of Ani and Akhtamar Monastery in current day Turkey and was fascinated, wanting to visit more. He saw more in three weeks, on foot, than just about any diasporan I have ever met. I really enourage all of those who that sounds even remotely appealing to to just do it. Really, this guy without a word of Armenian, has been able to walk from Noyemberyan to Goris, seeing countless sites along the way, no doubt spending pennies a day.

lena, why pay all that money for waterworld when we have raffi's jacuzzi? just kidding. you have convinced me to go to waterworld.

i do not have time to breathe. with all the visitors here and with all the wedding planning i have it is almost unbearable. we are planning a small small wedding... not even a real "wedding" we are just getting family together and instead of having a big wedding we are going travelling... but even that tiny tiny wedding is a lot of work...

if it was up to arthur and i we would... wear our jeans... drive somewhere and just get married... but as armenian tradition prevails and the needy armenian families demand... we will wear wedding outfits and do the whole song and dance. i tried on dresses the other day and freaked myself out... i will attempt it again on monday.

next week on monday i promise myself waterworld. maybe we should go as loggers to celebrate. speaking of celebrating and loggers... i will let you know about an upcoming party at our apartment to celebrate our union... sometime in early august.

right now there is this sad movie on with richard gere and winona ryder and my mom and i are glued to it and sad and feeling a lot of sympathy for richard gere's character as ohe loses winona's to a deadly disease. sad. ok... pathetic... must change channel before i train myself to cry for hallmark cards.

Sorry I don't post pics more often, but it is a bit of a pain in the butt... in any case, Lena got me back on track with the picture below I would call... "Where's the sidewalk?" It might not look too bad, somewhat like a beach, but at 100 degree tempratures and no ocean anywhere in sight and frequent winds, it is no walk in the park.

The picture on the left is my penthouse lap pool ;-) You can't swim laps in it, but the water just reaches your lap! You can see the building in the background which have a great view of us swimming. Behind me as I take the picture is the great view of Ararat you have seen before which is what I face when I am "swimming"... The important thing is just to immerse myself in the cold water, and drop my body temprature, and for that it works great. Forecast for today? 102F

I�ve been out of action for a few days and this is why. Tuesday I went up north to Haghpat, it was one of the places I still hadn�t seen even though I had been to Sanahin. Haghpat is very impressive, out of the many Khatchkars that I have seen, the ones at Haghpat and Dativank would have to be my favourites. On the way back down went via Sevan to try and cool off, unfortunately it didn�t make an ounce of difference.

Wednesday I walked 25 kms around the city just soaking in the atmosphere and taking heaps of photos of road construction, so bear with me and I�ll have them posted soon.

Thursday I finally went up the Cascade (it�s only around the corner from me but I�d never climbed it) and walked around Monument and Mayr Hayastan. The park up there is quite nice and peaceful and of course great views. So after walking for 10 kms, I finally caved in and went to Water world. Everything I had heard about that place was true. I was really impressed by the cleanliness and the organization of the place. For instance the lifeguards are really strict on sunnies (sunglasses). Not allowed to wear them inside the pool and photos aren�t allowed in the pool. Every now and then, they start the waves in the pool and the crowd goes crazy. As soon as they started the waves I also went in and was screaming in joy like the rest of them. For most it would be the first time that they have experienced waves? All this fun for a cost of 2500 Drams since I only wanted to use swimming facilities and not the water slides. They were playing music over the speaker anything from Cher to Kylie Minogue to Nune, well worth it.

I have done a fair bit of travelling in the past few months and while I�m still in Armenia, there is one other place I want to see and that is MEGHRI!

So my dad is here! It seems so normal, like he is here all the time. He took the new VG airlines flight and loved it. He is here for a week only, since the primary reason for coming is to attend the wedding of his friend's daughter, but he will do his own thing too. Maybe he will be back in September for longer. He came with lots of goodies... one of the things I had him bring was a cot for himself to sleep on :-) There are these great camping cots I saw at Costco during Christmas and they are so much better than the more expensive junk they have here. So now I have a great camping cot and can actually have guests sleep over at this place. (Richard -- YOU still have to bring your own cot if you come! hehe) He also brought an electronic mosquito zapper light, which fried a minute after I plugged it in. I am not sure whether it can be fixed, or what even caused it. Ahhhh.

arthur is an amazing exception to this rule and i must say that he has never had alcohol in his life. isn't that amazing. no beer, no wine, and no hard stuff... just vodka on some bruises as a disinfectant and that is the extent of it. i on the other hand have become literally the same... since there is no opportunity to drink because he never does... so i am thinking of just taking the extra mile and being a good example to people around me by never drinking too... so we will see how that pans out because sometimes i enjoy a good wine.

so we gave arthur's apartment up for rent.
it was pretty sad because it is a beautiful apartment that we both loved. but since we are planning our lives together there is no sense having two apartments so his went as mine won in the practical category and mine won in the practical category and his won in the ...can get the most money out of it category.
we will officially give it tomorrow when our new tenant finally comes in for the kill. ohh our aching heart.

i missed the melody cafe thing (kohar and armen i am sorry i did not say goodbye and i hope you have a safe return home and a quick return to armenia) because i went to the airport to pick up my favorite aunt in the world... and we have been having a blast since... mainly laughing.

today is the most amazing of days because i am going with my friend to pick up a baby she has been trying to adopt for three months now... finally today is the day and i am honored that i get to share it with her. the baby is a girl and she is precious... will tell you more after the big ...pick up.

My dad lands in 9 hours...

So last night we had an absolutely massive gathering (over a dozen tables pushed together) at a cafe by the Opera to say our good-bye's to Armen and Kohar. Kohar was an AVC volunteer this past year and is going back to the states this week for an MD... I suspect they will eventually be back. So Lena was sitting next to me, and Ara, keep your pants on, guess who comes and sits at the table opposite us, within spitting distance.... That's right, none other than Nune. Yes Ara, the REAL Nune! We were kicking ourselves for not having a digital camera, we know we would have had an instant desktop photo for you. Small, funny world we live in.

Anyways, I can vouch for the horrible state of the sidewalks... there is just no need to tear them all up before getting to them. And Boghos "watering" the dirt just makes mud, which is at least as bad as dust, so the solution is to simply us a little common sense and tear as you go! Seems straightforward to me. I don't think there is any cost savings involved in the destruction. They are also renovating ALL the museums of Yerevan at once, so they are all closed. Another example of stupidity. Why not space it out? Why not close them all in winter when there are no tourists? No, it is simply incompetence.

So real estate prices in Yerevan are SHOOTING up. I mean like an additional 20% these last 2 months. Why?? For those of you who don't know, Russia has the largest Armenian diaspora in the world now. Recent racial attacks and even mild pogrom type activity is creating a lot of fear among the Armenians there and many of them have decided to come back or to at least buy a home here as a safehaven.

Friday night at the Opera was great but so hot inside I felt so sorry for the Conductor.
Someone sent me an e-mail that made me think of logging about it. The streets of Yerevan are undergoing major construction/remodelling all at once. As soon as I step out of my place, it�s like a war zone. There are no sidewalks; uncovered holes everywhere and with the slightest wind, dust everywhere. Instead of working in sections, they have demolished the entire city (pokr gentron). It is an absolute mess and dangerous to walk on with some traffic lights not working at all, making it difficult for pedestrians.

Let�s see what did I do Saturday? Oh yes cleaned the house cause of all the dust. The floors were black since I leave the windows open at all times, I changed the bucket water so many times and it still came out black. In the evening I went to the opening of �Parev Inn� it really was very impressive. The rooms are spacious with all facilities such as shower in each room, air conditioning and very decent prices for Yerevan as opposed to a hotel. The best thing about the place is that it�s so cosy and has a family atmosphere. I met some guests staying there who were from Lebanon, California and The Emirates.

Sunday I spent most of the day with Katy. We had lunch first to give us energy for our vernisage trip. Oh boy, walking in the sun carrying bags of gifts was a bad idea but it was the only free day she had for vernisage so it had to be done. Then we stopped by for a drink to cool off and on my way home I wanted to buy ice cream from a vendor right under my flat and since the seller wasn�t there, this kid comes running towards me. I must have looked in such need of cooling off, the kid suggested I cross the road to buy �marojne� from another vendor. I didn�t even have the energy to cross the road to buy it since the roads are such a mess and I was so hot In the evening, we went to Subway jazz club for a little while since it�s air conditioned.

Ara, I thought my body guard was Eric?

saturday and sunday are vernisage days. without exception we always go to vernisage as it is one of the funnest spots in yerevan. we always bump into the gang there (raffi, zabel, lena etc) and we always buy things we don't need just because they are armenian and because they are old or beautiful... or both

but today it is tooo hot i don't want to move. i want to go to raffi's and jump into their pool. i want to go into my shower and let the cold water run...

like everyone else i have visitors in town and so i will be busy this week.

the best news of all is that my mimi morkoor and cousin teni are coming this week. they are some of my favorite people ever so i am happy that they will be here with me.

today is the first sunday in a long time that i am not going to garni village to the summer house to rest. i forgot how calm yerevan is on sundays.

The heat wave is baking us as you keep hearing, but we have finally solved the problem... we got a POOL!!!! That's right, we have a swimming pool now, and I don't even think Ara can say that. But we live on the fifth floor, how can we have a pool put in you ask? Alright, I will level with you, it is just a kiddy pool. One of those inflatable plastic pools that 4 people can sit in. But in any case it does solve our roasting problem. Thank goodness our balcony is so big, not many people could pull off a stunt like this, and believe me the neighbors across the street find it pretty funny.

As for Ara's post, I should warn you it is a bit of an inside joke... ;-)

The heat wave continues... I have decided for sure that the mayrakaghak is built in the wrong place, Yerevan should have been built in a place like Ijevan or Kapan which both have much better climates... It should be about a hundred degrees every single day this week. Definitely time to buy a fan.

Last night we went to the Gor and Mher performance which was soooo nice. What a refreshing change to listen to *quiet* live music that allows you to talk while you listen, and breathe too. That's right, there were virtually no smokers in the large room, so the air was pretty fresh for the first hour or two, before all those bodies in one room eventually made it pretty hot. What's going on this weekend? I dunno yet... we'll take it as it comes.

A big �kef� last night at Stiop�s house, it wasn�t a special occasion just a get together with a few friends. While we were having dinner, which went on for hours at the table, there was a huge storm and dust everywhere. (I was covered with dust from head to toe) When I got home last night I found the clay plate that Tamar had given me as a house-warming present on the floor, shattered in pieces. I was devastated since 1) it was a present from a dear friend and 2) I loved that plate with petroglyph drawings. It was totally my fault as I had left the windows wide open.

I will attend a concert tonight at the Opera with Julie followed probably with Gor�s concert at the rock club, depending on my mood.

SUSHI... SUSHI, SUSHI, SUSHI. It was the one thing I complained I missed. The one thing that I said was missing from home. Guess what? OK, I'll just tell you. They opened up a Sushi Restaurant... right in Pablavok.

my fiance and I (that is the second piece of good news to share, i'm engaged!!!) went to the opening tonight. A good friend of ours opened up a Sushi Restaurant right inside Pablavok the jazz club. They have eel, salmon and the whole works...they are still missing a few things... arthur (fiance) frowned when they looked confused at his request for yellow tail... but an otherwise wonderful menu...and relatively CHEAP. am i tempting you with cheap sushi?... those who have been thinking about moving but needed that extra little push... here it is, cheap sushi. lol, kidding.

all you die hard armenians will think this shallow... and ... yes, i understand we are just talking about sushi... but it is a challenge living in an internationally food challenged country after living in the epi-center of multi-national cuisine. it is refreshing that i will have the option to eat unagi when i crave it. i think that's fair.

it is 6:00 in the morning and i am up because the mosquitos are once again eating me alive and i cannot deal with it anymore. after all night of scratching myself in a half awake dream that was too complicated to enjoy and boiling boiling boiling i decided to give up trying and just come to deal with the fact that tonight sucked and i will not be getting anymore sleep. (i hope it is not the sushi)

in an attempt to put a final end to my unwanted collection of mosquitos i went to shinararneri street (remond street) in hot pursuit of screens for my window. i would like to present to you... the conversation... although i do not know the young man's name i would like to call him hendul.

arthur: do you have screens
hendul: yes
arthur: how much are they?
hendul: 25 dollars a window!
arthur: is the netting made out of gold?
hendul: no
arthur: how much is the netting?
hendul: 300 dram a meter (50 cents a meter)
arthur: and what do you use to frame the screening?
hendul: plastic borders.
arthur: how much is that?
hendul: 200 drams a meter (33 cents)
arthur: so why did you say 25 dollars... looks like your overhead is less than a dollar
hendul: labor
arthur: 24 dollars labor?
hendul: yes
arthur: for putting a screen on a window?
hendul: sure
arthur: (now annoyed and just continuing the conversation for principles sake) so we have five windows, aper jan, how about doing it for 20 dollars a window?
hendul: che aper jan, i can't do that.
arthur: why are you being so ridiculous?
hendul: what can i do, we have no business?
arthur: can i give you a clue as to why you do not have any business......ahhhhhhhhhh

hendul sold us the raw materials. with 4000 dram worth of materials... we came home and in an hour had all five of our windows screened (we did it ourselves) for an average of 700 dram (a little over a dollar) each. this saved me over a hundred dollars in labor (an hour of labor)... and the screens are great. (you may be wondering why i am still being eaten alive, and i think it is because my current residents are still alive and feasting here at the mosquito inn).

as for the engaged part... i will share this, as it is cultural and interesting. following the armenian tradition... arthur's family came "uzelu" which means... they came a wantin...

from the window i could see them. in their hands a huge cognac, a huge box of chocolates, a huge bouquet of flowers and the entire "arthur klan". when we let them in... they walked to our dining room table and arthur's dad spoke. it was something like... we have come with the intentions of "wanting" your daughter... as he said this he put the cognac on the table. (a huge huge [like two feet tall] bottle); if my father agreed to the union he would have to put his own cognac on the table... making the cognac a pair. my dad did and that was followed by the opening of the cognacs and a night of celebration. although arthur was living in america for the past ten years (and he decided to return to armenia, so i guess he is a repatriate) his whole family is here and it is nice to have them here... and nice to follow some of these old armenian traditions. the night was special and beautiful and we are now working on remembering we are engaged... tonight at sushi was typical as we ran into friends that we introduced to one another the night was a repeat of... "hi --insert name-- this is my boyfr... rrrrrr.... fiance, arthur". will tell more when our plans develop but for now we are a smiling couple on our way towards building an armenian ojakh (an armenian home/family) and that feels great.

I am getting ready for the opening of Parev Inn Suites, by cooking home made mortadellas and sarmas.
Nigol is busy with other matters, like going to Harkayin. The accountant told him that Harkayin refused last month's report instead demanded: July taxes in advance, a meeting with CEO and only then wanted to accept June's accounting report.
So Nigol went, and asked why they demanded to see him in person (in a very loud voice). And harkayin denied it's own request and said there was no reason for him to come. Then negotiation began for July tax payments, Nigol wanted to make the payment at the end of the month and they wanted it right then, eventually they agreed on a date in the midst of those two.
Tax collectors from business are very enthused workers; or, there is too much pressure on them. Whatever the case they've been doing good job.
Hope we all make good money and pay our share:)

My cousins from LA left this morning quite early on VG airline to Belgium. It was my cousin�s and her daughters� first time in Armenia although her husband had relatives here whom they visited. Even though they had good impressions of the nature and the countless Vanks and Monasteries, and were quite happy with their tours, they were getting more and more depressed towards the end of their trip. They did a lot of travelling out in the regions and were able to see how poorly people lived as well as the status of his relatives who lived in Yerevan. Their parting advice to me was �pack your bags and leave, come one month a year and do some volunteer work�.

Another distant cousin called me from London last night, I met her for the first time in Armenia last month and she�s considering coming to Hayasdan to volunteer for a year.

Wow, Yerevan is just hopping tonight. I took a nap from 7pm to 8:30pm and an hour later went out to meet Katy, but as is our tradition I missed her and ended up wandering all over Yerevan which is just crawling with people... even 8 year old girls walking down Mashdots, the major street of Yerevan at that hour, no worries about safety. It is still quite hot, the temp outside is 82 degrees at 11:15pm and it is definitely warmer indoors ;-(

My cousins from LA, Julie and I went to the Opera House last night and watched the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra perform, conducted by Ruben Asatrian. They were all very impressed and admired the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, it really is beautiful. We then went to dinner at Artbridge, a bookstore Caf� and the display of clay there was really nice. Drinks at the Opera followed that. It is my cousins� last day in Hayasdan today; they are leaving with good impressions.

BTW Raffi, it�s Wimbledon not Wimbleton!

Vartavar was quite something this year as I had to hike across town in the middle of the day. If I had remembered it was "bucket day" when I was making the appointment I would have never agreed to go. I was determined not to get splashed, and walking across central Yerevan through backstreets, alleys, busy areas, all the while avoiding balconies as much as possible gave me a true taste of what a war zone is like...

As for our traitor Lena who supported an Australian over an Armenian from Argentina in the Wimbleton final, I must warn you all from trying to talk sense into her. Even though Nalbandian made it to the finals of the Wimbleton, the first time in open history that someone makes it to the Wimbleton finals on his first try, Lena insisted she doesn't care, she supports Hewitt instead.

I made it through Vartavar somehow. I was at the office in the morning and the doorbell rang, I opened it thinking it was a work colleague, instead I was confronted with 20 kids and 20 buckets facing me, I slammed the door in their face so fast, they didn�t know what hit them (poor kids). Then on my walk to my lunch meeting with Ara, I again somehow avoided being drenched and looking like a drowned rat as there were 50 kids waiting downstairs and I ran for my life.

For all you Diasporans living here reading this log, get over it, it�s not a question of loyalty, Hewitt is the no 1 player, he is my favourite tennis player and he happens to be an Aussie, so what!

This morning we went out only to discover that it's Vartavar. All kids (and not only kids) are throwing buckets of water on passengers, especially on girls and women.
I kept my windows locked while we were driving. Especially Apovian was war zone: young men on the roof of a building with buckets of water, drenched cameraman, several young women completely soaked.
Left Apovian and decided to have iced coffee at petite Paris, between parking and entering the caf� a group of 'lagods' pursued me, I was almost running and made it just in time by entering the cafe.
You never know, they may get me in the afternoon.

POPPIES everywhere! I finally went south to Sissian last Thursday with Julie. The trip was uneventful on the marshrutni (mini bus) and it only cost 2000 Drams. Well I say uneventful once the bus left but for the seating arrangements we had some problems. Julie and I decided to sit in the front seat next to the driver and there was a guy literally fighting to sit there (he reckoned he had the right to since he was militsia). Other passengers got themselves involved, mainly guys, who were trying to convince this militsia that as women we should get front seat (advantage or disadvantage).

Didn�t want to let above spoil my trip, so I thoroughly enjoyed the nature it was absolutely amazing, I will try and post some pics. We met up with Jack in Sissian who�s still doing his walkathon of Armenia and we stayed at a really nice hotel in Sissian for the night. I also finally met Ashod, a painter from Sissian (I now own 3 of his paintings) who is a very interesting character and a great artist. The following day we drove to Zorats Karer (Armenian Stonehenge) saw devil�s bridge and visited Datev Monastery. I have wanted to see Datev for so long now and I finally had the opportunity.

Got back to Yerevan late Friday and took my visiting cousins from LA to the famous falafel place then onto Paplovok Jazz club (I only go there with tourists). Saturday we did vernisage and they bought lots of souvenirs even a duduk. After dinner, I took the girls (my cousin�s daughters) to a disco since they wanted to experience the nightlife. Funny thing was as soon as we walked in they were playing System of a Down followed by Tata, garodelem, they couldn�t believe it!

Today I will meet with Ara for lunch (he�s visiting from Karabagh) and we�ll watch the video of our Karabagh trip from a month ago. Tonight I will take my cousins to a traditional Armenian restaurant followed by Subway, a great jazz club.

COMMENT RULES - I would like to mention that I have the power to delete comments, and today I deleted one by an Armenian replying to Arsine's post in the pure diaspora log. It was very rude, unthoughtful, and wrong, and the next time such a comment is made I will block that user for good. Learn economics, psychology and manners before you post again, because you had no idea what you were talking about and it is not up for debate here.

Me and Aram Hajian were online when we ran into the following quote which shows how much things have changed for Karabakh in the last ten years. The war was raging, it could go either way, and the president of Azerbaijan who had recently been kicked out in a coup made the following statement:

If there is a single Armenian left in Karabakh this October, the Azerbaijanis will hang him in Baku's Central Square."

--Former Azeri President Elchibey, 6/92

Thank God for the freedom these people earned with their blood, to be rid of a government which would say such a thing about them.

A new Belgian airline is flying, but you would almost think it is Armenian from the flights and flight schedule! The cities it services are NY, LA, Boston, Brussels and Yerevan... just the perfect cities to bring the diaspora in America to Armenia and no more! In fact, the flight from LA->Brussels->Yerevan is a direct flight with only one 45 minute stopover (you don't even get off the plane in Brussels). That means you get to Armenia in less than 15 hours which is amazing! Sorry I am so excited about all this but it really makes life easier for Angelinos. The airline is VG Air by the way and I met people who took the first direct flight and they really liked it. The ticket was $999 round trip for them, which I am not sure if it is an introductory rate or not, but it is worth looking into.

What else? Its 4th of July today, lets see what I end up doing. It is nice and cool thank goodness, that heat wave in June really whooped my butt. Maybe order some nice khorovadz and eat it on the balcony while staring at Mt. Ararat??

Allz well on my end... despite all the flak I am taking for my last post. ;-) I guess you're all lucky I am not at the Armenian MFA! I am just working away and it is going quite nicely. We sent a big shipment of goodies to America (work related) and now am doing some follow-up and more computer work (mostly writing). Nicest of all of course is that I will soon get paid finally... woohoo!!

Later this month I have a good opportunity to see some of Western Armenia (including some of the land I proposed we trade for ;-P) but unfortunately it conflicts with a visit from my dad. I will have to see how flexible the trip dates are but I am going to try to go still. If I go I will give you a full report on how well/poorly the Turks are taking care of our lands!

We had a gathering on Saturday night with AVC (Armenian Volunteer Corps); it was a function to say good-bye to the old volunteers (my group) and to congratulate the new volunteers for completing their 1 month training. We (my group) also had our second last meeting this morning since we have just less than one month left in the program. It was time to reflect on our achievements for the year and how to re adjust for those going back to their respective countries. Since I�m planning to stay a little while longer the latter won�t apply to me just yet.

In fact just about an hour ago I handed over my students to the new volunteer who will carry on teaching those youths from �Duty to Live�. We all gave each other huge bear hugs and really it was great to see them all again.

I have also recovered from all the hiking I�ve been doing for the past 8 days which is just as well cause I found out a couple of days ago that my cousin and her family are arriving from LA tonight.