Yesterday was a marathon of rushing about... but great and enjoyable.

I headed off in the morning with Jack to finally visit the guy who did all the wood work in my house, a real miracle worker. He lives up in Vanadzor and although Yerevan was not bad weather, it was freezing near the mountain pass and snowing and descending down into Vanadzor helped a bit. His "factory" was good and we got to see some of Lena's new furniture. Looked great so far. From there we headed up north with his son and the fall colors were quite nice. I stopped to visit with the family I logged about a few weeks ago while Jack and company headed up to photograph Sanahin and Odzun. We chatted for about four hours and it was again quite a fascinating conversation and glimpse into village life. I don't know where to begin, so I will just share some of the more interesting bits...

The daughter, a polite girl who loves attention and makes funny comments (somthing in the neighborhood of 10 years old) announced when she got home that all the students have been told to bring firewood to school for the winter. The lady was saying how things have changed... she used to never be allowed into the living room when there were guests, and was too nervous to even eat a bite in the bedroom when she knew there were guests. When she was married she was only allowed to come out to serve guests and leave quickly. Now that she has no husband around and times are different she is finally free to spend time with any guests (like myself). What a change! She was also telling me how many Russian words which were ALWAYS used for certain objects, even when speaking Armenian have fallen out of use. Table, window, and other words were always spoken in Russian, and if you used the Armenian she said people would laugh at you. Now, many of these words are back in use. I can vouch for that because I do not know the Russian word for table or window, and I would have if they were used even 25% of the time here. I am not sure how this happened, but having western Armenians here who do not understand Russian certainly doesn't hurt. Oftentimes with locals we are forced to find the correct Armenian word for something so that I can understand. The woman was also talking about how she would be unable to live in the village when her father died, there would be no man to do the mens work for her. She idealized life in the city, but I pointed out many of the advantages village life had which she took for granted. She can always grow her own food, she never has her water cut off, etc. She started to think of more positives herself after that. Anyways, we talked for four hours so I will leave the summary at that, but it was quite nice visiting them again.

I was picked up and we headed back to Vanadzor to look at some final furniture samples and get going at 5pm, and on the outskirts of town I started to worry that by the time we got to Yerevan my final mission of the day, buying pumpkins, would be impossible due to the hour. So we asked a girl where the shuga was and headed back to check, joking that I would encounter an American buying the last pumpkin and have to pay double to get it from him. I had not seen and suitable pumpkins in Yerevan
and so I was not sure what to hope for. Not a thing in the front of the market, nothing inside, nothing on the side, finally, in the back I saw a BEAUTIFUL, perfect sized one, and a woman carrying away another one. I hurried over and asked her how much they cost and accepted her price of 80 drams a kilo. I told her I wanted a few including the perfect one and she said it was already sold! "A foreigner wanted it for some holiday they have"... well so did I. She had even drawn a face on it already because that was what they wanted. I went off to see the ones she had already returned to her storage, as she was in the process of packing up for the day and I had almost missed her by minutes. I took all four of her remaining pumpkins, two of which looked nice and two which were passable... telling her again I really liked the one outside. She told me I could have it if I wanted... if I traded for one of mine. Well I said I couldn't take someone elses pumpkin. She explained they had not seen it yet, they just said any pumpkin. Well I wasn't going to argue any more at that point and I happily snatched it up, paid the $3 for the 4 pumpkins and lugged my 20 kilos (45 pounds) of pumpkins to an astonished Jack. Anyone out there who ordered a jack-o-lantern in Vanadzor, sorry, but at least you should know that your pumpkin will be appreciated by many people tonight if that makes you feel better.

We got back at 7:45, three quarters of an hour late for the pumpkin carving party I was responsible to bring the pumpkins to. Believe me there was serious relief! We carved late into the night and ate pumpkin pie... tonight is the big halloween party and I still don't know what I will go as. Eh, I still have a few hours...

Thank you Raffi for posting about VG Airlines, as Arthur and I had put a deposit on reservations already. We have now changed our reservations and all is well except it will be a bit more expensive. I ran around different travel agencies until I found the best price. Of course my travel agent did not call me to tell me that the company had gone bankrupt and I had to find that out on cilicia.com but hey, at least I found out in time to save our flight.

Halloween is around the corner and I am going to a Halloween Party. I don't quite know what I will be, but Arthur is going to sport the meanest Harry Potter you have ever seen. I can imagine with his sense of humor the spells he will come up with. Last year I was a cell phone... it was cute and funny. I now have a reputation of clever and I have to figure out how I can keep my reputation for "good Halloween costume" in one days time. Most locals do not know what Halloween is, or slightly know that we do something crazy in the states one day a year. It will be my job to celebrate Halloween with my office tomorrow. It is nice to share cultures.

For two hours I have had internet. It is a first in over three weeks of internet problems. It has not been cut off in two hours and it has not frozen my computer for two hours. I am overjoyed.

SATURDAY I AM GOING TO THE CIRCUS. I am so excited. Arthur's neice is busy on Saturday so I am looking for a kid to go with, any kid so I can use them as an excuse to go... and not look like a nerd couple who just showed up at the circus... without a kid. I will keep up the search and let you know. On Sunday we went to the zoo, kidless and did get some stares. It did not matter, as I was too busy feeding the animals and petting the deers.

I will go back to Saghmosavank ( a monastary that Raffi, Zabel and I helped renovate) this weekend for the choir performance. I am so excited to see Saghmosavank being used. It was a mess when we got there in 1998, weather had its affects and I am happy that it stands tall today and has services. Go LCO!


It is a beautiful day, the weather has been amazing. Compared to last year (it was freezing) so far October proved itself to be very very nice. Lets see what November will bring. Yerevanian weather is bright and sunny today with a bit of chill.

So, after a while of not logging, I can now present the new Hover website: www.hoverchoir.org - albeit without the links page, which needs some more thought. I hope everyone enjoys it, and if you see any problems or improvements which can be made, please don�t hesitate to contact me.

It�s been a real pleasure to work with Hover; Sona Hovannisyan the conductor is amazing musically and a great personality. The choir members are equally fantastic people and fun to interact with � they�re young, keen to evolve and wonderful singers. I am really quite fortunate to have been given this opportunity to work with them, and �hopefully� they feel the same! We�re hoping to tour the US next year, so if any of you readers out there are interested, and we make it to your city, please come and listen to Hover - more information will be placed on the website in good time.

We�ve also had a box of Hover's debut CDs 'Armenian Voices' delivered to us this morning, care of a very kind Tamar Hajian, and they look, and sound, stunning � everyone go to www.pomegranatemusic.com and catch the direct link with www.cdbaby.com, who are selling the CD � it�s most definitely worth it! Raffi M et al involved, you�ve done an excellent job, thank you.

This coming Sunday, November 3rd, Hover are going to be singing the badarak in Samoghsavank � if anyone is in Hayastan at this time, you would be very welcome to join us around 11am.

Finally, the weather is still good, a bit cold at times, but it�s sunny (we don�t have sun in the UK, even in the summer). Life is still hectic � but extremely enjoyable, let�s hope it feels like this in the freezing cold of winter � although I did have a power cut for the day yesterday, adding to my 3hrs worth of water a day ;-)

I was sad to hear that VG Airlines, a Belgian company, has gone bankrupt. They had a great flight from LA to Yerevan (or from Boston and I think NY) for under a thousand dollars, but they did not advertise enough and did not fill their planes therefore. I never got to try them out, and enjoy the under an hour stopover, without changing planes. Oh well, maybe they were a little ahead of their time, or just did it wrong, but there will one day be another quick and cheap flight to LA from Yerevan. Poor Tamar found out about the bankruptcy the hard way. Now I am searching for a reasonable fare to Australia, and it is proving impossible to find... heeeeelp!

Last night a few people gathered at Artsbridge to celebrate Jack's b-day. I was blown away (no pun intended) by the amount of smoke when I walked in. I realized that as far as eating out goes, the long winter has begun for me. Avoiding this massive amount of nasty smoke is pretty much impossible in the winter, so I am going to have to start having friends over and going to their homes. Non-smoking is just unheard of in this country. Anyway, as usual, I bumped into lots of people I know there. It may have been said before here, I forget, but the place in that respect is like a little "Cheers".

A postscript about the yellow pomegranates is that the inside thingys are clear, with a pinkish skin... therefore they do not stain your fingers or anything else at all!

Another important link... http://www.mtve.com/ema is the Euro MTV Music Awards site where you can go and vote for System of a Down. (And tell a friend of course)

I would also like to tell you that I had my first ever white/yellow pomegranate this morning. I love 'em! They have a somewhat different flavor and none of the bitterness/sourness that red pomegranates have. Much like my discovery (meaning I had not had them before, not that I "discovered" them or that America does not have them) of white peaches here, this will be a welcome addition to my table.

Thanks Katy for the fun GotGat? link...

Well I finally did it, I messed up my ankle on these messed up sidewalks. On my way home in a particularly torn up Sakharov Square, I stepped over a non-existent curb, onto an uneven ground and my foot came down at a funny angle and I just collapsed onto my ankle. I couldn't stand and was in a lot of pain. After sitting for a few moments, cursing to myself, I hobbled over to a (thank goodness) nearby cab and went home for a couple of days to recover. This at least gave me a chance when I got past just laying on the sofa, to work on things, and I finished up a map I have wanted to do for a long time, as much for myself as for others. People who live here and like to garden will appreciate my new map of USDA Garden Zones in Armenia, part of a new maps page where I am bringing together many of the maps on my site in one easy to find spot.

I just want to remind people to use www.calendar.am to post their Armenian events, and see what is going on in their community! The LA, SF Bay area, Argentina, and Yerevan calendars are already quite busy, and I hope soon to have NY, DC, Montreal, and Beirut busy as well. I need your help to do this. I need links from your sites, I need you to share the address with others, and I need you to use the site! Thanks... ;-)

Today I attended a conference on �Diaspora as a factor of Country Competitiveness� organized by the American Chamber of Commerce. I was invited to speak on Socially conscious Tourism with many other interesting topics discussed by others.

I also met a Dutchman today in his 70�s who�s volunteering in Armenia in the textile business. I asked his impressions of Armenia and his words were �you are brave people�. He also shared his emotions when he visited the Genocide Memorial and said he was glad that he was alone as he was free to really pay his respect to our people in front of the eternal flame and the music in the background. He told me there was a recent documentary on national TV in Holland covering the Armenian History and the report said that there were 13 million Armenians with 3 million in Armenia. He�s certainly done his homework, considering this is his first visit to Armenia.

Readers have been asking me about the kid with leukaemia which I had logged about last week, I will write an update in the next week or so.

it is cold... i just remembered how cold it gets here in yerevan. ouch.

sorry i have not logged, i have major internet problems at home and at work.

i have so many things to say that i think i will number them so i do not forget.

1. DENTISTRY IN ARMENIA: do it... i am amazed. I have had toothaches for a long time now and have not been to a dentist since I lived in New York well over a year ago. I was avoiding dentistry here and thought it would be similar to the doctor's visits i have had and was scared... just thinking I will wait till I get back to Los Angeles. I mentioned my tooth hurts to Uncle Varooj and he referred me to a dentist. I told him that I would wait till I got to LA and he started to scream. He said that dentistry was amazing here... just as advanced, if not more. then i started to notice that tourists were coming here and having dental work done. was this for real? so i made an appointment to go see Uncle Varooj's dentist and thought I would get a cleaning and x-rays and see what happens. IT WAS AMAZING. she is just as good if not better than any dentist i have been to in the states. good news is that it is cheap and it is professional and i recommend it to anyone... find out prices... you may be able to get your teeth worked on in armenia, pay for your airfare and hotel and still save tons of money. the bad news is that i have a few cavities. i just had two filled yesterday and i get to go back for one more tomorrow. it was just as it is in the states... first she numbed my gum with bubble-gum gel and then i did not feel the needle and i got a filling that looks like my tooth exactly and a few hours later when all my numbness was gone... i felt great. the difference was that for two fillings i paid 40 dollars (this is unheard of in the states) GO ARMENIA! if you need a referral, my dentist was superb.

2. i know this is a beaten subject but yesterday you could see every single rock of ararat. it was amazing. locals that usually tell me... you look at ararat... we have seen it all our lives were FLOORED. i was floored. i am still to this day amazed that this historic mountain is part of my everyday life and inspires me everyday... it has not become old for me... it is still soo amazing everytime i look at it.

3. last night arthur and i really wanted to go to a play but it was already 8 pm and most of the theatres are closed (because of the amazing generocity of mr. kerkorian)_and so we missed all the shows that are left. so we settled on a movie instead. of course we do not have a choice of what movie we want to see because there is only one playing a night in english. we went to kino nairi and it was maverick... i wasn't too excited but we had no choice. we ended up getting tickets and watching ... maverick. i have to admit mel gibson is a cutie and is enjoyable even when the movie is a bit of a ... disaster. there were four of us in the entire theatre... they were professors at aua and were from bali... and so it was amazing to find that one of them spoke malay and we asked him to translate the words that arthur uses in his new song which has a sound byte of a malay woman speaking. he promised to email us after he heard the song and walked away with arthur's cd... i am curious to find out what i am wording in our new music video.

4. arthur's new exercise plan is going great. he goes to yerevan's gorge everyday for a few hours for some natural exercising. yesterday i decided to go with him. although his workout suffered because i can do nothing but walk at a fast pace while i complain... but he said it was fun having me in his morning setting. the place was amazing... the nature was soo beautiful. we walked by a train station that used to house young soviet's called pioneers. it had become an abandoned building with a kiddy train that seemed forever parked. we walked around the river and i saw all the exercising crew doing their best to stay in shape. since it is not a gym people were using anything to stay fit. i actually saw a guy running laps with an old tire strapped around his waist by a rope... he was running and the old tire was dragging behind him... it must work because he sure looked great. boxers were boxing the air, arthur was doing situps and counting and i was enioying this open air, no equipment gym full of people who are creative and inventive.

5. today i will do some fall cleaning here at the office before the cold sets in.. and people become much slower.

Big changes afoot for me? I have left my job (effective end of month) and am planning a long overdue trip to Australia in a month or two with Zabel to visit my cousins there and explore the vast continent which I have not been to in over a decade. It is a very nice, liveable (as the recent poll results confirm) relaxed place and my cousins are all fantastic. They have been busy reproducing these past few years ;-) and I have a crop of little ones to see. I hope to spend a good deal of time with them. Their Australian accents always surprise me because their Armenian is exactly like mine, then suddenly when we switch to English they have an accent! After that we come back (hopefully having missed much of winter) and see what to do with our lives. I have not been on the beach in the summer for 4 years now and I hope this Australia thing happens so that I can enjoy their beaches a while.

Ararat was breathtaking indeed today... I took a dozen photos of it. From my desk at home I have a perfectly framed view of it in the window.

Oh my God, what a sight, what a beauty. In one word ARARAT. So crisp, so clear, all the way to the bottom after yesterday�s rain. Yes I am obsessed with Ararat.

My internet is still so iffy (I am typing this offline) that I often forget things I want to log by the time I get a chance. Well today I (re)met a Candian-Armenian fellow, who is a friend of Nigol's. Quite a nice guy, who came for the first time a year ago and is now back on another trip. With a friend like Nigol here, he is already thinking of how he can make Armenia more a part of his life, and spend much more time here. It really helps to reinspire you to talk to "fresh blood" like that. Living here has its ups and downs, and although the good outweighs the bad overall, it doesn't necessarily do so every day ;-) It was also a pleasure to catch up with Nigol, one of the many friends I have here that I never seem to have the time to catch up with. Still it is just comforting knowing they are here, doing good, and making things better.

In fact, for the past month, excepting a very few nights where I went somewhere with my dad, I virtually have not gone out once to eat or watch a movie or anything, nor to peoples houses, nor had people over. A couple of day trips out of Yerevan has been about it. I have really enjoyed the hermit-like life, the cooking at home, the smoke free atmosphere. After endless months of going-out overload in the summer (don't laugh Shant!), I finally have caught up with my slow time I think. My house is back in order, I have gotten some long-standing things off of my todo list, and all is well.

Today it rained or more like drizzled on and off. It is a bit chilly and I had to wear my fleece for the first time this year. You can really feel fall hitting. It seems to have come a bit late this year, but maybe it is just me. This means the leaves will be changing in different parts of Armenia for the next few weeks, and I hope to be able to see some of it (and maybe share some of it with you as well).

So I think my first 6 months of cable TV will end any day now. It was really great, and I am glad I got it, but I am not sure if I will renew. I have had my fill of sit-coms. The thing I do appreciate a lot is the nature channel and documentaries/travel shows. I even caught an episode of a travel show featuring Armenia and Georgia last week which was absolutely fantastic. Naturally I only caught ten minutes of the Armenia part and 40 of the Georgia, so I wonder how much coverage Armenia actually got in the end, but still it was something else to see Yerevan and Geghard and Sevan on a real, normal TV show. May it become the norm!

Once again, I will mention that any comment that rubs me the wrong way will be deleted without explanation. :-)

I finally saw Star Wars Episode two, the video of which was sitting on my shelf for months. It was as much of a disappointment as I had expected, having seen the reviews and now agreeing with them. Just a very weak movie, weak story, weak everything except special effects, and I am sorry but special effects neither impress me, nor make a movie for me. Oh, the other thing that bugged me about it, and caused me to wait so long to see it was that it is 2.5 hours almost. And, as I suspected, it was unnecessarily so long. Some movies like Braveheart, you don't feel that much time go by, but this movie did not need that much time and you could feel it. Oh well, no doubt I will watch episode 3 as well when it comes out and be disappointed with that as well.

This weekend went by without my plans to visit Jermuk coming to fruitation. It is quite sad, but then I came down with a bit of a cold, so it is probably for the best. It is so strange for me still to live in a place where this "winter" dominates your life for 5 months and keeps you from travelling... so you feel this impending doom, if you don't travel now, in a few weeks you have lost your opportunity. Of course I am exagerating a bit, you can always travel in the snow, but it sure makes hiking and driving much more difficult.

We went to Garni and Geghart today. Garni got part of Linsi's money and is having excavations. On the way to Geghart the axles of the car broke. Nigol called help and waited with his friend, while his friend's wife and I walked to Geghart. You appreciate the monastery and the nature more when you're walking. We also appreciated the gallantry of Armenian drivers who stopped to offer us rides.

Before, there was 'Hin Yerevan', now there's only 'Mer Kyughu', a restaurant that has the d�cor of the Armenian village and live traditional Armenian music. Tonight, after fixing the car, we took the same friends to dinner and noticed the commercialization of the band. They play one song every 15 minutes and wait for requests. More and more bands are following this tradition. We experienced it a couple of days ago in Monte Cristo of Hraztan Gorge, we had taken 49 people for dinner and they adopted pay and I'll play policy.

Yesterday, we couldn't resist Gor's invitation. In his e-mail he wrote, We guarantee good music, warm beer and cold women:-" we went and as we enjoy his music but could only last six to eight songs; need a smoke mask to survive a whole concert.

Still yesterday, we got another TV from Aray and took it to Zeitoun orphanage. This time the money came from a group of Notaries from Marseilles. They visited Armenia for five days. Out of 43, only five had Armenian background. Enjoyed the sites, food, drinks and chance meeting with Yeltzin at Ashdarag Dzor, and planned meeting with the Catholicos and other high officials. They're also sponsoring the building of a school in Giumri.
Some were surprised with the contrast: the wealth of Echmiadzin's museums and the poverty of people.

Now each of the five group of the orphanage has it's own televisions. We discussed other needs with the caretakers and decided that the next priority is washing machine. They do have a couple of industrial ones from 1960's, one in half working condition and the other does not work at all but they keep it to use the spare parts with the halfworking one. Together we decided to equip each group with its own, a precaution and defense against contagious viruses or diseases.

So much happening. I attended a lecture during the week at AUA given by Dr Vahakn Dadrian on the current state of the Armenian Genocide. I must say he�s the best speaker I have heard so far, and is probably one of the very best in the world. The presentation was informative, delivered with passion and with use of lots of examples. Dr Dadrian went through his experiences in Karabagh and even though he was exhausted (he had arrived back to Yerevan an hour before the lecture) he delivered an excellent speech. The Q&A that followed was also quite good. I was frantically taking notes while Madlene kept asking me for more paper. The lecture was followed by a relaxing dinner with Madlene & Co.

Work is great, it�s so busy I love it, the busier the better. I will have a lot to do over the next couple of weeks, visiting Artisans, manufacturers, and practice my Armenian skills, which isn�t crash hot, but vochinch. Over the winter I want to start reading Armenian and concentrate on improving it.

I also had my first meeting with my neighbours this week which was rather funny. I knew most of them but the meeting reminded me of the Body Corporate meetings I used to attend back in Sydney. It�s good to see that the neighbours are in agreement for improving the building. The first step will be to place a security door at the entrance and they�re even talking about remonding (remodelling) the stairs. Wow just think, permanent lighting on the first floor, no more graffiti on the walls and no usage of the hallway as a bathroom outlet? We also all signed an agreement to extend our flats and have the council people approve it. This will make each flat larger by approx 40 sq.m. but of course won�t commence till spring next year. Which reminds me, will they finish these roads before the first snowfall?

we rented our apartment to americans because they pay more for rent than locals do. i am sad to say that it was the biggest mistake. i was reminded at how uncaring, cold, and curt the west can make you, thus my tenants. they will be leaving the apartment soon, and i will think twice before i choose our next tenant. these guys just didn't know how to say TSAVET DANEM, and that makes a big difference in this world.

we stayed home last night! it hadn't happened for a few months. it was the premiere night of epigendron, the new television station that replaced A1+ the opposition station that was canned a few months ago. it was pretty unorganized and did not have much going for it. i hope that it improves because we can not afford to waste any of our tv signals on a station that just doesn't cut it. who knows? maybe it was just their first day and they were having a bad string of luck.

my friends vahagn and baydsar are here to baptise precious sose. she is so cute and is a year and a half old and already dancing all day. adorable. the baptism is tomorrow.

as for today, arthur and i will try to sort out the apartment situation and look for a new tenant who either knows how to say TSAVET DANEM or has learned how to say it through their experiences in a culture that still respects human interaction.

Life in the Armenian Volunteer Corps is such that as much as I might like to add to these logs, getting time to sit down and write them is a nightmare and, by the time I sit down to write them I have so much to write that I end up writing about so much less than I could write about.

I�ve been here in Armenia for two months now and it definitely feels like I�ve been here for absolutely ages. Last week was spent in Romania where I was presenting a paper I wrote last year with my university, at a conference. The conference was held in the Carpathian mountains about 2 hours drive from Bucharest, hence the scenery was just breathtaking. I expected Romania to be similar in economic levels to Armenia � so when I arrived at the airport there was just no comparison, it was an �international� airport and my friends kept on laughing at my astonishment at the situation in Romania. It is significantly more advanced than Armenia � examples being: the 24 hr water, the instant hot water, the central heating in all the apartment blocks, the beautiful little houses in the villages, the well-kept and painted stately buildings in the center of Bucharest, the variety of cars, the abundance of shops (not kiosks), the TV stations showing films in English with Romanian subtitles, the existence of the yellow pages, the posting of telephone bills, the payment of wages by bank account, the existence of timetables for the bus system. The hotels are cheaper and the food is cheaper. All these seemingly small things add up to me being constantly laughed at for the week for being soooo astonished � I had expected things to be at the same level as Armenia! The infrastructure of the country, the existence of sea, and a proximity to Western Europe - all of these and other factors have really enabled such development, and although the Romanians themselves may still not be content (that�s life)� in comparison with Armenia�s standards I would say that there�s not much to complain about. Oh, and I did visit the Armenian church there which was vast. Also, I went to a really interesting museum called the Zambacchian museum, the guy used to collect art in the communist time and supported Romania�s artists as well as bought various Matisse etc � when he died it was handed to the state as a private art collection was illegal, and in 1996 his house was opened as a museum. This is supposedly one of the most amazing collections of Romanian artists in the 20th century and is also extremely well presented.

Although I had an excellent time in Romania and really enjoyed seeing my friends from my old lab who looked after me extremely well (they�re Romanian) during my time there, I am now really pleased to be back in Armenia and it does feel like home � even if I only have water for 3hrs a day�plus, it was really cold in Romania and here in Armenia it is still pleasantly warm!

Hover�s CD is being released in November and things are in line for a big CD launch concert and reception. Also, Hover will hopefully have a website up very very soon (www.hoverchoir.org), and general promotional information is also being produced which should then complement their musical excellence just nicely.

In case you can't tell, we are experiencing some technical difficulties with blogger today... I will fix any problems when it is back up completely. I have no idea if any of these posts are making it up at all, or if they are being posted half a dozen times. You may also notice that I am trying a brand new comments server. My last one, netcomments.co.uk just disappeared off the face of the earth.

My laundry detergent is "Barf". I kid you not! In fact I think I have logged about this before. It is Iranian, and I think it means "super-duper white" or something like that in Farsi. Anyway, it is definitely a crackup. I am tempted to scan the box for you, but I am feeling too lazy to do that now. One of the interesting things about this box is that, like many other Iranian products, they copy American packaging lingo, whether they know what it means or not. For example, it says "The Seal of Quality" under its logo. OK, that makes sense, but what does "T.A.E.D" mean? They write "Barf with T.A.E.D." as if I should know what it means. This reminds me of the Iranian toothpaste I used which said "MFP" on it, again with no explanation. What did it mean? Maximum Flouride Protection, taken right off of the Crest tube ;-) Sadly, the Iranian store by our house closed. It was the only one I knew of which had many of the products we loved. (Worry not, Barf at least is sold everywhere)

Here is the English blurb on the side of the box for your amusement...

Combination of T.A.E.D. with perborate in Barf, delivers effective bleaching and hygienic performance, even at cold wash.

Barf with finely balanced formulation, removes even the most stubborn dirts without causing any harm to clothes.

With inclusion of soap in Barf formulation, the softness and texture of fabric is preserved.

For more cleaning and shining

if lena tells me to do something, i do it!

last saturday edith, lena, arthur and i decided to check out this hot new club called Astral. The space used to be the public bathrooms of the opera, now it is the hottest new club since 'studio 54'. We arrived way to early, apparently over-eager... but it is a good thing we did, because we got a table which would prove itself very important as the night progressed and you just wanted to sit.

when we first got there... it seemed like your average yerevanian club... but bigger and with better sound... at 11:00 everything changed. i was transported to new york city at a hott night at 'twilo'... almost every race was represented. asians, africans, african-americans, white people from america, europeans, repatriates from iran, students from lebanon and syria, hip locals, the gay and lesbian community of yerevan, and a lot of regulars from other clubs around town. it was wild... over 500 people dancing to hott dance mixes. we lasted as long as we could considering the horrible smoke value, kind-of bad music (in my opinion), and the pushing and shoving of a lot of people... we eventually decided to throw in our towels.

arthur was absolutely a doll. hating places like that...he was shining just for me. the first few hours he kept going in and out for fresh air... not dancing and really really unhappy but not showing it. eventually, he saw that i was sick of dancing by myself and had resorted to sitting. this got the best of him and he asked me for a dance. very cute. i love dancing with him. he laughs the entire time he dances and looks around in shock that he himself is on a dance floor. pretty shy for a famous singer.

the next morning we woke up, both sporting the same headache... we figured it was from the smoke. we had one of my "ideal sundays" filled with sleeping in late, elongated breakfast, walking around yerevan, back home for some reading and napping... then off to arthur's sisters house to spend time with family. perfect. i finally got hold of harry potter four and since then...nothing else seems to matter. i am glued. it overtook 70 percent of my sunday...

last night i had my kavor and kavorkin (best man and maid of honour) over for dinner. i laid an impressive table and everyone was happy. i am kinda getting used to this marriage business and being a 'couple'.

one more thing to report... arthur officially quit smoking!!! so now he NEVER smokes, NEVER drinks, and exercises 6 days a week. viva arturo. following his lead i do not smoke and i hardly drink but exercising!!! wild horses could not drag me there. why are some people so sport challenged?

Well folks, it looks like I may not be logging as often as I used to. Again, I have no internet access from home, my internet provider advised to collect my deposit from them, as they were still having problems with Armentel. I asked if there was any hope at all, that the problem would be resolved in the near future, their reply was that we always have hope. True Armenian spirit but extremely inconvenient. Which brings me to my next point that I will be very slow in responding to emails since I am now using an internet caf�.

I�ll let Madlene log about last Saturday about our outing with Edith and I can see that Raffi has already logged about Sunday. It was truly an amazing relaxing day, which is just what the doctor had ordered. I really want to keep traveling for the next couple of weekends until the weather changes.

This month is crazy, I am ridiculously busy but from next month things should get back to normal, as I�ll probably commence my hibernation. I had a farewell breakfast this morning with Mama Manoogian and Ara from Martuni who drove up to Yerevan for his mum�s flight tomorrow morning. She�s such a kind woman, makes us laugh heartily, thinks the world of us and constantly encourages us. It is also Papa Kojian�s (Dr Kojian�s) last day.

I have had many responses from my previous log regarding the kid with leukemia which I will pass on to my friend. So thank you to all, for your encouragement, I just cannot write to you individually and it is nice to know that people out there care.

Verchabes, Surp Grigori!!

OK, I mixed up some E and W Armenian there, but vochinch. Today, I finally made it to Surp Grigori Monastery, below the village of Dsegh (Where Hovhannes Tumanyan is from). I have tried unsuccessfully to find it before, but this time Jack knew the way and me and Lena saw it for the first time. Fantastic ruins, hidden in lush green forest, in a beautiful canyon. What a treat to see a monastery of this beauty, which I have driven nearby so many times and look for unsuccessfully. Next we went to Kobayr, another fantastic monastery, which they have fixed up quite a bit, with nice stairs leading up to it now. We spent some time with a family there, where the woman was so amazingly genuine and nice, and even in this little village she seemed so wordly. Her father made one of the most impressive string of comments and observations I have ever heard here...

They call Vanadzor, Armenia's 3rd largest city, and nearest large city Kirovakan still. When we commented that we use the new names already, he explained that Kirov was a communist that was no better than Stalin, who won out in the quest for control. He said Lenin and Stalin were horrible for all the evils they did to people, and especially the Armenian nation. Lenin for giving away Kars, Ardahan, and the rest of Western Armenia, which was not his to give, then Stalin for giving Karabakh and Nakhichevan to the Azeris, as well as for sending so many Armenians, including diasporans he had encouraged to come to Siberia. He said we could have built an amazing nation by now if we had just been left to our own devices. Now we have to start from scratch having lost all those years. His thoughts about the Soviet times and his optimism are so rare and so beautiful to me. Then this 80 year old man climbed up a rickety ladder to pick some grapes for us to try. Whoah, they were incredible... tasting just like grape cool-aid or blow-pops, which are artificially flavored... but this is the real thing. He raised seven kids in this village and was happy with his life, while his one daughter left in the village preferred to move to a city. The family had also tamed a wild pidgeon without ever caging it, but rather just by feeding it. The village kids which were all out and about were so well behaved, friendly and adorable that they were a pleasure to be around. This perfect day was topped off with perfect weather. What a fantastic Sunday!

i am happy to announce one more repatriate just came to town a few days ago. harout from canada, welcome aboard. fasten your seatbelt... this is a bumpy ride. you may experience turbulence especially with internet connections... but mostly it is smooooooth sailing.

for the past few weeks i have been breathing and living apples apples and more apples. our summer house has a lot of apple trees and so every time we go to garni we bring 50 pounds home. they are everywhere i go... because i take them everywhere. apples at work, apples being eaten by my neighbors as i walk by (apples i gave them) apples on my living room table, in my refrigerator... the apple core in my trash. do you get the point? i am thinking of investing in a juicer so i can make apple juice and save it for the winter. i swear that i am eating an apple as i type this. (apples on my keyboard).

mama manoogian. you brought me to tears. your log was so beautiful... thanks for complimenting us and our spirit... we are the way we are because we have parents like you. you made us... compliment yourself for the energy you dedicated in order to create the energy we bring to Armenia today.

today i will go to Zatik orphanage to say hi to a few of my friends there and order some of those amazing greeting cards the kids make and sell. they are one dollar each so i am going to send my parents some christmas and all occassion cards... they are really beautiful.

our music video is almost ready and i will keep you guys informed as i get the juice (apple juice?).

as for now. back to work (i work on saturdays, this is still a really sore subject), that kisses 50% of my vernisage weekend experiences goodbye. :o(

will tell you more about the new repatriate after we meet him for the first time this weekend.

I am slowly catching up on my e-mails, I�ve had practically no internet service from home for almost 2 weeks (it�s been on and off). I have decided to wash my hands off my housing situation after more than a year. I knew all along that the problem would not be solved without bribing a few of the departments along the way, I wasn�t na�ve but I had hope. You know in a normal country when one pursues a matter, things gets accomplished, not in Armenia.

Seeing Ararat again last night placed me in a vulnerable mood. To put it bluntly, I need assistance. I received a mail this morning from a friend who met a 13 year old child with leukemia in its last stages. Because the family is from Martuni (near Vardenis, a very poor region in Armenia) and they are not registered in Yerevan, they are unable to treat their child with morphine as it is considered a narcotic and is only prescribed from a registered polyclinic.

My friend watched the poor kid being restrained by 3 adults as they applied painkiller after painkiller orally and a few injections on top, while the kid was in agony for 4 hours. Basically the kid has about 2 years to live if that.

Does anyone know of some international charitable clinic to help children with leukemia? If anything, the poor kid should be spared spending his last days in pain. Please contact me directly.

We're happy when we get visitors.
Didn't expect as many in October. Last week there was a businessman from Arab Emirates, one of the first flyers on a new airline. He was content with the weather, though it rained constantly. The city he lives in hasn't had rain for the past five years. According to him, more visitors will come to Armenia, now that they have the choice of not flying with the Armenian Airlines.
Met a third cousin for the first time. She's lived most of her life in LA and I have visited the city several times, but we had to meet in Yerevan. This city brings families together. The last day together we went to the Armenian Airlines office to get her ticket confirmed, something she did not know she was supposed to do. The agent told her that her booking was cancelled, because the ticket number was not entered in the computer (?!@). Fortunately the agent fixed the problem with no hassle.
Yesterday a couple returned to Lebanon. The day before got informed that their open ticket would keep them in Armenia for at least another two weeks. The flights to Lebanon are supposed to be booked till the end of the month. The couple had received their higher education in Yerevan and was revisiting the country after an absence of 12 years. The woman and the man took emotional turns with the
country's unemployment, poverty, population number, food, and with the unchanged problems of the Armenian Airlines.
A good trip turns sour with unplanned extensions. We're happy when we get visitors and we're happier when they leave, on time.

Wow!!!! I saw Ararat again last night, this time in its original English. Again, it was just amazing. Although I never re-watch movies so soon after I have seen them, this was well worth it since the first time the dubbing caused me to miss a couple of minor things and it was still a many layered movie. Aside from the difficult to watch scenes of the genocide, the pre-genocide shots of the markets and streets of Van, with Western Armenian being spoken everywhere, and even just seeing Armenian on "the big screen" in general was fantastic. Now that I have seen Egoyan tackle a subject so close to my heart, I can truly appreciate his incredible talent. In a million years I could never have written a script half as good as this one. Alright, I will stop raving for now, but you MUST see it as soon as it is released near you, and you MUST take your friends, Armenian or not as well. Last nights showing was the only one I think they played in English, and the turnout was massive. The place was sold out, and the entire expat community showed up. Americans, French, German, Italian, you name it. Anyway, I am still waiting to see a proper "Forty Days of Musa Dagh" made...

Aside from this I would just like to say that my internet situation is still horrible and I just don't know when it will get better. There is a clear need for government intervention, which does not seem like it will ever come. The Greeks have 10 more years of monopoly to abuse us with.

I would never have imagined life would be so hectic in Yerevan. It seems like I�m involved with too many side projects apart from work. The days are flying by, although last weekend was great since I did manage to get out of Yerevan. I�m also hoping to go some place this weekend since I have a 3-day weekend preferably Jermuk.area before it gets too cold.

I visited some printing houses today for my work and was really impressed with the quality of books and posters. On the way to the printers we passed a bridge and the driver told me it was called Lambadayi gamourch (Lambada bridge) strange name for Armenia.

Also I�m still trying to fix my housing problem with Cadastre (catastrophe) Armentel etc etc. I went to Cadastre again today hoping to pick up my new Certificate of Title since it should have been ready yesterday only to be told that I would need to go back to the Architect place in some building. Prior to leaving their office I asked for an original document I had left with them and was told I had to request it in writing. So I demanded to speak to their boss and told them I couldn�t write in Armenian, he says �vay, khentre ourishi�. I left the department defeated and prepared to forget to whole procedure since it has taken me over a year to change the Deed from business to residential.

I still went to this other building and asked a man for his help on the wrong floor, he took me to his office (this man doesn�t even deal with these issues) and for the first time since I started this procedure he gave me a copy of the relative Law. He said God wanted you to run into me so I could give you the correct procedure and so that I wouldn�t need to run around every single department in Yerevan. I will read the Law tonight in Armenian (I can read but can�t write, BIG AMOT). Again I�ll keep you posted on the outcome.

Tried to go clothes shopping for the first time since I�ve been here (18 months) with a girlfriend at lunchtime only to be told off by the owner. We liked a couple of pairs of pants but I didn�t want to buy it since I noticed the tag which was in Turkish so I told the lady I didn�t wish to buy it. Well she just went off and told me what�s the difference, it�s the cheapest place to buy clothes from and that she was feeding 5 families. My girlfriend was quite shaken since the owner was right in her face and really having a go at her, whilst I just kept my mouth shut and left the store. I guess my day wasn�t that productive after all, although it was great to see Zabelle (our logger) who popped in to say a quick hello.

Finally tomorrow night I will see Ararat again, this time only in English. When I saw it a couple of weeks ago, my wish was to see it again without translation and here�s my chance, should I have wished for something else?

LOVE MY JOB.
(If you have forgotten us) - Nigol and I are in hospitality business; have B & B, place tourists in our and other hotels, do tour guiding, provide other services related to the job, and enjoy life.
According to Nina Hovnanian we had 20% more tourists visiting Armenia in 2002, and it's not even year end. Last year Armenia got 126 thousand tourists.
Room booking is part of our job. It's hard work. Here's an example.
We got a letter from a Torontonian. He's coming to Armenia with his wife and son. Wants to book with us but does not clarify room numbers. I know him from Toronto, and also know that among other things he loves fishing. I write him back asking, on behalf of Ishkhan and Garmrakhayd, whether this was going to be a business or pleasure trip. And add that the mundane matter of booking rooms could be completed upon his arrival. He answers back, "The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources was extremely pleased to hear that I am leaving the province for a couple of weeks. For them, it meant that the fish massacre in Ontario will hold during that period.
Ishkhan and Garmrakhayd, being Armenian fish will be protected. Please assure them that I will not come close to any body of water in Armenia.
Furthermore, I am bringing sperm with me and if they have the eggs, we can start a new species, and may call "Arca" (Armenian / Canadian) (Takavor-better than Ishkhan)
I have been in Armenia not too long ago (1967)
Back to serious stuff-Regarding the room(s)
When we got married 32 years ago (I was 2 years old), our bedroom was so small that we could fit only one narrow single bed horizontally. Vertically it could take a double bed, but who wants to sleep standing up. So after 9 months, when T. was born,still couldn't afford a bigger room. Therefore, to enlarge the room, I removed the wall papers�."

I also do tourguiding I provide them with historic facts and dates, myths, and inevitably we'll start group discussions. Always, always, always, someone will say 'do you think it's right to spend 12 million on a church when there's so much �. Unemployment and poverty'; or, 'if only we had built fortresses instead of churches'. I always warn the tourists about the pickpockets especially in Vernisaj and Ecmiadzin, it's one of the parts of my duty that I take very seriously.

99.99 percent of the drivers are self assigned tour guides. The average driver is very sociable, doesn't drink on the job and has excellent driving skills. The tourist realizes the extend of his skills on the roads of Dilijan and Datev and appreciates it. When it comes to providing facts and historic info he's very creative. Once we were passing by the statue of 'Guy' (Guyi artzan) and someone inquired about it, the driver said it's Vartan Mamigonian. Or, whenever someone asks me the name of a tree in the middle of nowhere, I turn to driver for help.

I wanted to tell you about my meeting with the police, but I won't.

I want to share some fantastic pictures from my Sunday trip of some fish being dried and smoked. We brought some home with us, but I haven't tasted them yet. Each smoked fish cost 10 cents (US) and the woman was apologetic that they even cost that much. I must say I am so glad I got this digital camera in spring 2000. I have taken close to 15,000 pictures with it and they really make an incredible record of all the crazy places I have been and things I have seen, as well as all the rapid changes happening. I keep wondering if it is not stupid not to get a digital video camera as well, but I hate travelling so so much gear as it is, and looking like such a tourist. Maybe when the new, small digital video cameras get to the point where they can take high resolution digital pictures, and all this costs a reasonable price then I will splurge and get one.

Action packed weekend.

It started on Friday morning when we took our neighbor, Emma, to the hospital so that she may undergo surgery to remove a cyst from her right breast. Arthur's uncle performed the surgery and we sponsored the procedure becuase Emma is grossly underpaid at her job in a factory cleaning every day. The three days off of work was enough to make her worry. It was nice to help.

After the hospital we went to Ellen's 9th birthday party. Ellen is Arthur's neice (sister's daughter) and she had invited her entire 3rd grade class to Hekyat Cafe. Hekyat Cafe is a new restaurant where kids get to play and eat. There are clowns and dressed up characters which organize games. It was great to see the kids doing some of the things I grew up on... including the international chicken dance and the hoki-poki. I even learned a new game which Ellen and I played alone the next day. FUN.

We came home from Hekyat Cafe in time to get dressed for a huge wedding. It was a family friend's wedding. One extremely wealthy family marrying their daughter off to another extremely wealthy family. She is 18 years old (just turned 18 in May) and it was arranged... shall I even get into this?
They will be living in the groom's home with his parents. She will be the only "hars" in the home, so the responsibilities will be all hers... cleaning, cooking and taking care of her parents-in-law. The wedding was huge and was held at this new super-duper restaurant they have built off Proshian called Nor Dzoraberd. It is currently the hottest place on Proshian and so it was an esteemed venue for this very showy wedding. The wedding was too formal and too big. I felt like I was at some show sitting in the audience rather than at the wedding with the newleyweds... just a touch away. We hardly got to say hi. Perhaps we could have bumped into them on the dance floor except that she was not allowed to dance much. Traditional weddings call for a traditional bride who is supposed to be amanchkot and hnazand (shy and submissive)... She got to dance a few dances... one slow, one armenian bride dance... and one or two dances at the end of the wedding which was pretty much a mercy allowance for the bride who did not look like she was having the greatest time in the world. I sat depressed about some of the cultural negatives that affect our youth to this day. We did not dance much either. It was more of a string of speeches gloating the patriarchs of the family rather than a celebration of love. We left early and it killed my mood for a while. I found out later that the next day they had guests and the bride was responsible for all the wear and tear of the day after party. THE DAY AFTER? come on!

After the wedding we went to express our condolences to our friends Arthur and Garen who just lost a grandma. Arthur was here from Geneva and his brother from Moscow. In LA when this happened... you wore completely black and went to express sorrow by sitting quietly and being sad... outwardly showing that you are depressed and affecetd by the death. Friday night was much different. Arthur walked in and kissed the entire family and I followed. We sat for a few hours and Arthur made them laugh and brought smiles to their face. We talked about their grandma and stressed the good things... (she got to see her great-grandchild and died in her sleep) but mostly we just lightened up the house. They busied themselves with listening to our funny stories and offering us sweets and tea. Time passed and for a few hours they smiled.

After this long day I came home to change. I took off again to the airport to send David off to America for a few months. We will miss him, but will see him on our upcoming trip to America. After long hugs my friend Edith and I set back for the city. Upon our arrival we noticed that we were only half an hour away from the sunrise. A u-turn had us headed for Monument and we watched the sunrise from the Cascade. BEAUTIFUL.

Since I was already at the Cascade and I work at the Cascade I did not bother to go home but went to the office for a work marathon which led me straight to the middle of Saturday... a sleep deprived, overworked zombie who needed a release. I called my sweet Ellen who reminded me that I had not seen her presents. Off to my sister-in-law's house for more time with Ellen. We looked at all her presents and talked about her birthday party. I made her a hair charm with strings which I am sure is going to be the hottest new topic for the entire female half of the 3rd grade class.

Arthur picked me up from and we left for TSAKHKADZOR. I will leave this for a later log becuase this log is way too long... and I do not want to show Ara up... that is his forte :o). I will continue later as tsakhkadzor is definitely worth a write-up.

What an interesting trip we took to Dilijan and Ijevan. We were scouting for houses yesterday and mulling over locations, which was extremely useful. I did not feel the distance on the way there as much as on the way back. I knew I would not enjoy making such a long trip for only a two day weekend. Plus I liked the resort feel of Dilijan better as a getaway, and the weather of Ijevan better. Plus I still liked the idea of one or two other places, but they are all so far! Anyway, it turns out houses in towns are more expensive than I had hoped, villages are where you have to go for cheaper homes. The cheapest houses we saw were a couple for $1,500 in Dilijan, one of which was breathtakingly beautiful, but to call them fixer-uppers was a vast understatement. A woman I knew from previous trips to Dilijan helped us scout out homes there. So the trip served its purpose of educating us, but it seems unless I plan to stay there a week or month at a time, that it may be worth paying a little more and buying much closer to Yerevan, or scratching the plan altogether...

I would log more often, but as I said, the internet connection has been been pretty worthless lately, and I have had to use it for other work I do online. The biggest online project keeping me busy has been the new www.calendar.am site I have been working on. This site has a different Calendar of Events for every single Armenian community in the world. Today I moved some calendars around and finally consider it totally complete. I need all of you to start adding events going on in your community (just click on "add event") and to help me get others to link to this new site. Also, if any of you are interested in dedicating some time to your local community calendar, I would love to help you kind of "run" it yourself, adding/editing/modifying events, adding fields, etc.

The past two days have been colder and rainy, with a big lightening storm last night, which coincided with the fireworks show at the Vosgi Ashun (Golden Autumn) celebration. It was fantastic watching fireworks and lightening coincide... in the foreground of the view of this great show was the brand new huge billboard on my street with a lighted cigarette ad on it. It is sad to see the commercialism of the west creeping into every nook and cranny of this country.

My dad left today for Karabakh, where he will spend three days. That is way too short a trip there, you need to spend at least a couple of days there and a couple stopping along the way there and back. The drive alone is about 6 hours.

I want to buy a place in the countryside, a place where I can have a little garden and get away from it all. Some houses cost at $500 or less. The big question is whether you just go for the absolute best spot, or the closest nice spot, or a compromise... if it is half an hour away, you might visit much more often than if it is 2.5 hours away... but the place 2.5 hours away could be in a much nicer spot with a fantastic climate and cost a fraction of the price. The microclimates here make a big difference, and the area near the Azeri/Georgian border has palm trees it is so much warmer!

What else? Well I have forgotten the other things I wanted to log about, so you will have to wait for Ara's next log for more entertainment... oh! That reminds me that I saw him and his Mercedes, and I STILL can't picture him driving the streets of Karabakh in it! :-)

What an incredible 4 days I�ve just had. As Ara mentioned I went to Karabagh with my friend Carlos, while the other friend who was going with us pulled out at the last minute. As always Karabagh satisfies me in a way I cannot describe, I absolutely adore it and get the same feeling every single time. The names of the places I�m about to mention I have not visited since 1999 even though I�ve been to Karabagh a few times.

So we left Saturday lunchtime, since my Niva needed a good wash prior to our departure and our breakfast and the car wash took longer than expected. We drove down through Goris a really nice town but unfortunately didn�t get a chance to spend time there and thought we could do it on the way back. We drove through Lachin straight to Stepanakert. Once there we phoned Ara who immediately decided to drive for an hour and have dinner with us. So he joined us with a couple of friends and we all had plenty of pizza and Kilikia, then we all went back to the hotel and spent the evening together.

Sunday morning Ara and his friends went back to Martuni and after our breakfast we drove to Gandzasar. Since it was Sunday there were plenty of people around and the complex is really nice. From there we drove back down to Shushi and walked around the city. If only that place was warmer in the winter, I would seriously consider moving there. After Shushi we drove to Martuni through Aghdam and spent the night at Ara�s house and yes there was plenty of food and home made wine and tuti oghi at his friend�s house for dinner.

Monday morning we drove to a little village called Nngi where Jeff, an American has a pottery factory and we wanted to check it out. The road was pretty rough leading up to that village. Believe it or not we got lost whilst in the village and never found the factory and I was tired of asking instructions on how to locate it, mainly because I couldn�t understand what they were saying anyway. We rushed back to Martuni as we were supposed to meet Ara and as it turned out he never made it back from Stepanakert as he had too much work to do.

So he asked us to go to the Mayor�s office so that someone could accompany us to Hadrut. A very nice man did accompany us that afternoon through Fizuli all the way to Hadrut where we saw a nice Church. The whole way this man was telling us Monte stories and for hours I was translating these stories for Carlos. This man was Monte�s soldier and his radio man so you can imagine his passion. We only had an hour of sunlight left so we rushed back to visit Amaras Monastery, a great complex. We dropped off our guide at his home and Carlos bought a few items from him such as a bronze plate, a ceramic vase as a thank you since he wouldn�t accept money from us. That evening Ara cooked for us and it was a nice relaxing evening. We also visited his factory and checked out his new car.

Tuesday morning we left Ara�s house at 8am and drove through Mardakert to Dativank. That place is very special and it bought back a lot of memories from my 99 trip. From there we drove through Kelbajar driving through Zod Gold Mines Vardenis and Sevan. Kelbajar and Lachin would have to be on top of favourite to see lists. It was a long day and it took us 9 hours to reach Yerevan and as we hadn�t eaten all day we had a healthy dinner once in Yerevan.

Once I got home I rang Mama Manoogian, a very special lady, and since she�ll be leaving for Karabagh tomorrow I will be seeing her tonight with a few friends and Ara hopefully who�s driving from Martuni to pick her up. By the way trying to contact Mama Manoogian deserves logging. She�s staying at a reputable hotel and when I called, I was told by the reception lady that �he�s not in the room� so I said it�s a �she�, she says so �she�s not in the room then� and hangs up. I call back and tell them I�ve been disconnected and if I could leave a message. The new girl tells me that she�s in the room now, ok so can I speak to her? �No I�m mistaken she must be out�, �ok can I please leave a message�? Luckily Mama Manoogian calls me back last night not having received any of my messages of course.

I have a lot to do this week, follow up the Cadastre people (I prefer to call them catastrophe), carpet man, Netsys which isn�t working due to technical Armentel problems and so I have no internet etc etc. BTW speaking of Shpion, I think Carlos is one too! (I�m kidding of course).

I have been busy busy busy these days, never a free minute. My dad is here, so I am spending time with him, work is getting more hectic, and at home I am working on Project Shpion, which I wrote about a year ago when Ashod (a past logger here) worked on it a while and then gave up. The first part of this project involves approx. 2,800 minutes of scanning... I am almost half way through with that. That is when things get ugly. I think I will need like a gigabyte of RAM just to start processing these scans, and perhaps patching them.

Not too much exciting to report however. The weather is fantastic, and I am trying to convince my dad to go somewhere this weekend, but it is a tough sell to get him out of Yerevan.