The experience at the Armenian Music Awards in Los Angeles was certainly a pleasant one. L.A. is another world with a huge Armenian population in the Metro L.A. area. Armenian TV stations, restaurants, gift shops, etc. It is a fully developed ethnic sub culture totally different from what I've been used to. I left Chicago in 1989 for Boston because I was was seduced by the Armenian scene out East. Watertown, MA is like Fresno, CA in many ways. Old Armenian ways combined with the antiquity of New England life provided me some great experiences here. They still do. However, seeing a fully developed Armenian scene in L.A. overwhelms the senses.

While in L.A. I met Stepan Partamian who owns Garni Music and is the head of Armenian Arts. He also has a television program in L.A where his reputation is considered eccentric to say the least. His theory on the Armenian sub-culture is an interesting one. Those of you in L.A. know what I am talking about. It is extreme, but I understand and appreciate his passion for the arts. He's produced some great music and continues to strive to create and exposure more. In short, Stepan is a valuable part of the community and a pioneer in producing Armenian music.

Another interesting fellow is Gagik who runs www.narek.com, the Amazon.com of Armenian on-line music and books shopping. Great concept and the first of its kind in the Armenian community. You can find almost anything Armenian at this website. However, what seperates his site from others is its thoroughness and customer service.

I saw "Ararat" last night in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. Being a long-time Egoyan fan and a general film buff, I liked what I saw. Although the film is not perfect, it has some powerful moments and the film score is gorgeous. I would say that the cast is excellent, especially Elias Koteas as the gay Turk, Christopher Plummer as the customs official, and David Alpay as Raffi. I won't say much, except for the fact that although it did not have the emotional payoff I expected, it was a very thoughful and engaging film. Obviously, we all should go out and support his fine effort.

I look forward to working with the award winning designer Arsineh Khachikian on several project in the upcoming month. She is amazingly talented and I am lucky to be working with her. Gor will be in town in a few weeks and will be heading back to Armenia on the 22nd of December. Arsineh, Gor, and I will be nailing down the CD booklet for the new Gor CD, scheduled to be out in the summer of 2003. Right now, we are working on Bambir.

Here's a timely event happening in Toronto. I decided to post the detailed info regarding this event. I think we are starting to think and mostly act quickly using the opportunity at hand to our advantage.
(PS: BRAVO Raffi, Gor and all the others who worked hard at getting Gor and Hover all the way to the AMA. That in itself is a great reward for your hard work. By the way, Idi get a chance to see Hover perform live when I was in Yerevan... Wow! oh yes, did you know that Peter B was form Montreal?)

ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
255 Duncan Mill Rd., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, Canada M3B 3H9
Tel: 1-416-250-9807 Ext. 104 Fax: 1-416-512-1736 E-mail:
zoryan@idirect.ca
www.zoryaninstitute.org


GENOCIDE AND FILM:
A PANEL DISCUSSION ON ATOM EGOYAN'S ARARAT


Atom Egoyan's new film Ararat is causing a sensation, both as a work of
cinematic art and as an exploration of how history affects us today. The
Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which up to 1.5 million Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire died as the result of government policy, is largely outside
of people's knowledge of history and is thus ignored today. Yet the impact
of this tragedy still resonates powerfully for the survivors and their
descendents. The Turkish government's dismissal of this tragedy, and its
ongoing and active denial that a genocide took place further aggravate the
effects of these events.

The background of the story in this film has immense implications today
regarding truth, justice and universal human rights. Egoyan explores these
issues among many provocative themes in his latest film. The viewer is
challenged with such concepts as the horror of living with an atrocity that
has been systematically denied; what it means to pass judgment on somebody
living today for things done by people who are no longer alive; story
telling and how history is remembered; identity and the way it is passed on
from one generation to another; the denial of truth and its psychological
repercussions; the relationship of genocide to diasporan identity, and
more. A panel will explore these and other topics from a variety of
perspectives.

The program is as follows:

Screening of an excerpt of an interview with Eleanor Ussher-Baker, daughter
of Clarence D. Ussher, who is the author of An American Physician in Turkey
and a character of the "film within a film" in Ararat. This excerpt gives
her recollections of the massacre at Van in 1915, of which she was an
eyewitness.

"The Life and Work of Dr. Clarence D. Ussher in Van."
David R. Baker, JD, grandson of Clarence D. Ussher, author of An American
Physician in Turkey.

"Cinema as History: Egoyan's Ararat and the Armenian Genocide."
Dr. Taner Akçam, Visiting Associate Professor, Dept. of History, University
of Minnesota Minneapolis.

"Genocide and Diaspora in Atom Egoyan's Cinema."
Lisa Siraganian, Johns Hopkins University.

"Genocide and the Formation of Identity in the Armenian Diaspora."
Dr. Anny Bakalian, City University of New York.

"The Psychological Impact of Genocide: Survivors and Their Descendents."
Louis M. Najarian, MD; Fellow American Psychiatric Association; Diplomate,
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; Clinical Associate Professor
Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine.

Date: Saturday, December 14, 2002

Time: 10:00 a.m. 1:30 p.m.

Location: York Hall, Room 204, Glendon College, York University
2275 Bayview Avenue, Toronto

There will be no admission charge, but donations may be made at the door,
with official tax receipts available. Free parking has been arranged.

Copies of Clarence D. Ussher's book, An American Physician in Turkey, will
be available for sale.

For additional information, please contact the Zoryan Institute of Canada.

ARMENIAN MUSIC AWARDS UPDATE: Since I've been getting a lot of emails on how we did at the music awards, I'll use this forum to give the results. Of the four categories we were nominated for, we won "Best Album Cover" for Gor Mkhitarian's Yeraz. Came up short on the other two "Yeraz" nominations and on the lone Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia nomination. It was a great experience and I made some news friends and finally met people I've been working with via email and the phone. Namely Gagik who runs Narek.com and Stepan Partamian who runs Garni music. Peter Bahlawanian, the organizer of the event could not have been more classy.

The show was pretty good with acts and guests from all over the board from John Densmore of the legendary rock band "The Doors" to Datevik, Arto Tuncboyaciyan to Serj Tankian, former "Police" guitarist Stewart Copeland to his brother Miles Copeland (Owner of Ark 21 records and former Sting and The Police producer and manager). There are a many more moments to make note of, but, the bottom line is that the AMA has created a professional forum for our community to appreciate the best in music that we all have to offer. Great to see others from the general music world enjoy the awards show as well.

The afterhours party was surreal to say the least. What a crowd and setting. Pure L.A. is what I say.

I'd like to congratulate Arsineh Khachikian on her award for "Best Album Cover" award along with Gor and Hover for their nominations. It was a night I'll never forget.

More on all of this later....Thanks for putting up with a little gloating...A great weekend indeed...

I am back in Montreal. My babies and Lara were waiting at the airport. They were so cute. I had truly missed them.

Arminco decided I would not log before I leave Armenia. So, here is what I was intending to post a few days ago, before I left :

So this is the last log for this trip. I am flying out in a few hours. I Just finished packing and looking forward to see my babies and Lara.
I have enjoyed my trip very much. I have met so many interesting people with a mission to make Armenia a better place. Tim, Laura, Haik, Editt, Aram, Rhoda, Lena, Ludmila and Gohar, Anna, Narineh, Armen, Alex, Roupen, Jiro and of course Sebouh (who’s supposed to be logging from Lebanon!) I also met up with old friends like Raffi and Zabel, Madlene, Antoine, Alina, Sevanna and Sevag, Astrig and Hratch… I may have left out some names, but you get the point.
Although these names might not mean much to most of you, I decided to point out easy it is to bond with people here. Life is very easy going and people have time to see each other and most importantly get to know one another… not superficially.
This is my Armenia! Alongside of the churches and historic sites, what makes sense to me is the people I have bonded with along the years in Armenia. I don’t know how to explain it best but life makes sense in Armenia. This is where I belong and I hope others consider this place as a real country with real problems but also real solutions. Armenia is only 11 years old… it’s a small figure if you consider its 3000+ years of history. It’s a baby that is still learning to crawl. It needs many hands to help it stand on its feet to eventually start walking. Patrick, Editt and others have (had) committed to doing just that since almost the beginning. I think it’s high time they got some support from the rest of us.
I was here in 99 and 2001. Since then I have seen so much improvement (and of course with every god, there is a bad side.) Economically, Armenia is improving at a very fast pace, which has it’s down sides… have you tried crossing the streets in Yerevan… might as well take up bungee jumping! Big time RISK!!! And the pollution…
Stores are opening up everywhere. Which is sometimes making Armenia’s beautifully orchestrated and ornamented architecture suffer. What’s with that ugly glass tower on Abovian?
It’s 2:30 a.m. My taxi should be here in an hour.
Au revoir Armenia
I will be back soon.

Let me begin by saying that it is a trip to see Gor in Los Angeles. He arrived Saturday night, bought an outfit Sunday morning and was off to the Armenian Music Awards show immediately after. He's been shmoozing and talking on his cell phone... ah a star is born. It's good to see him.

So let's begin from the top. We started the day dressed up to go to Raffi's kebab. mmmmmmm it's so good. No kebab in the world like it.The anticipation grew. So we headed over to the Alex theater just in time. The weather was perfect, it was a classy event and everyone was dolled up.... then again, this is LA. So Raffi, Gor and Aaron (Gor's banjo player/former peace corps volunteer) sat with the stars in the orchestra section. Alishan, Natasha (Raffi's lady), Sara (Aaron's lady) and I sat waaaayy up in seats that were certainly not what they promised. We couldn't even see the stage. But how are we even going to argue, it's the seats we assigned and all the others were filled. So I started flipping through the program to see the nominations... Best Alternative Folk Album... that's nice, Gor is selected. Best Newcomer... Gor again, this is great. Best Lithurgical... Hover, fantastic..... Best Album Cover, Gor again? I thought Raffi was kidding when he said I might have a nomination, but there it is. I called Raffi on the floor and he informed me that I needed to come down to accept the award if it wins... I said 'fat chance' it's going to win, I'll just hang back... okay, good luck. The show was interesting, but a bit slow in the beginning. It picked up in the second half. So going through the nominations, sadly Gor did not win his categories... but I will say he had tough competition. He definitely deserved it, but I guess we'll wait for next year. Same with Hover, it did not win. Okay, so best album cover... after all that, I decided to hang back a bit anyway... I probably wasn't going to get it, why bother going all the way downstairs? "And the winner is.... Yeraz - Gor Mkhitarian" Huh? I didn't go, I saw Raffi and Gor going and kinda preferred it to be that way. The man flew all the way over from Armenia for this, let him accept the award. But what a rush.

At intermission, we met and I took a look at the award... I don't even know how I'm going to carry this back to DC. I can imagine the security issues they'll have with this one. It is heavy. We drank and celebrated... afterall it was the team that won. It put us all on a Pomegranate Music high for the night.

The rest of the show was a bit more up beat. There were more dance routines, comedy acts and interesting moments. Datevig Hovannisian was one of my favorite.. going from a traditional Armenian song right into a blues number. What a voice. Serj Tankian came out and presented the award for Peace and Unity Awareness to Arto Tuncboyaciyan. I hope that's the right spelling. I thought is was a necessary award. He is such an amazing musician. Then he played. Beautiful.

And then the after hours party. It was held at Tangiers. Oh, I drank... and danced. I met Miss Armenia (stunning beauty), and a couple of the presentors. I also met the organizer of the whole event, Peter. What a standup guy. So down to earth. After that, I don't remember much. I woke up on Alishan's couch which is a good sign, but with a not-so-good feeling in my head and stomach... oh what a miserable hangover. I'll go see all my relatives tonight, hopefully Shoosig soon, I'm about to call you, party a bit more tonight and then I'm back off to DC. Home sweet home.

KHANAMIRIAN


Holaaaa!!! The year is coming to an end. Argentina is promising the reception of thousands of foreign tourists because of the cheap Argentinean Peso. Lots of events and social cellebrations are taking place here. But we have some problems too...
Mora than a thousand of armenian persons received an e-mail about the problems that are suffering the armenian teachers in their schools. They are not being paid. This is a terrible problem because is bringing danger to all schools here in Buenos Aires and the armenian education to itself. Now is time to re-think some things in our community. The youth is feeling that big monsters are falling down and new ideas must be taken into account to re-born as a new community. For example, many institutions are supported by some old rich guys that who know how long they will be among us to help the community around. What must the armenians school change??? Why don´t we (at least in Argentina) talk in armenian as used to our parents??? Are the armenian schools pretending to be english schools or just are not finding the right way to offer their services to educate our youth???
For example, armenian rich families to not send their kids to the armenian school, they send them to the english tradition ones. So, they give with one hand and take with the other. Another example is that our schools are filled up with english lessons. And not only that but the english lessons have not any armenian contents. We learn british traditions that have no connection to this country or to the armenian history. I think enlish is an essential language to know nowadays. Look i am logging because i went to an armenian school and there i learned this english, i did not take extra lessons. But i think the english lessons with armenian contents would be perfect to reach our aims of identity and progress.
This log is to remember an educator that came here some years ago. An armenian 100%!!! If Komitas cleaned and purified our music, Vanush Khanamirian defined the Armenian Popular dances. He showed to the world how is our Kotcharí, national dance. I remember a thing he said and i read it in an armenian newspaper these last days. "There are kids that don´t know the armenian language or history, but when they dance they feel armenian and they connect with their roots."

That is what i was trying to say. The armenians have lots of centuries of history. Any armenian of the world can have things in common or things to choose of our history. Our culture and our traditions are enough to choose one. If its natural , its good. Do not enforce our feelings.
True Feelings are like a good player of Kemantcha, they make you cry...

WOW, what a perfectly full and FUN evening!
It's now 4 am. Just got home and thought of logging.
So here's how it went:
Went to Baregamutyun Dance Ensemble from 6 to 8. They were GREAT! but unfortunately they don't sell enough tickets. They had sold 100 out of 300 and had let the other 250 people walk in for free... heck I won't buy next time either if you are willing to let me in for free at the end!
Then from 8:30 to midnight we had an LCO ex-pat reunion at Bacchus restaurant. There was live music and a great ambiance.
Then a bunch of us went dancing at the new underground club (in the park of the Opera) called Astral. We danced and danced until the bouncers said we had to leave cause they wanted to close… it was 3:40 a.m.
Only 2 more days left before I see my babies again. Being away from your soul mate and kids really SUCKS!
… mi lar hokis mi lar, hima baban gou ka…
weather these days is excellent!

I board a flight tomorrow at around 9:30am for Los Angeles for the weekend. The purpose is to attend the Armenian Music Awards and to just relax and have some fun. The big surprise is that Gor Mkhitarian is attending the show from Armenia. While VISA issues are always a problem in Armenia, it looks like he got lucky and was able to get one. Someone from the Peace Corp pitched in and purchased the roundtrip flight and there you have it. Needless to say, eveyone is excited to see the Gentle Giant from Vanazor. For those of us having worked on the Gor project for a year and a half, it's gratifying to know that Gor will be in L.A., able to enjoy his moment in the sun (and smog), and maybe even play a gig or two. He deserves it. Assuming he is able to stay for a few months, we've got a gig lined up for him in Boston already at Johnny D's, a premier music club. So, all is well.

Needless to say, the L.A. experience is going to be a carnival. The awards, Gor, music industry people, record stores, catching the movie Ararat, etc, my day and a half will indeed be a full experience. It's the only way to live...

So I made it to Glendale! Whooh, I know I come here a lot in general, but it seems like there are more and more Armenians every time I come. So far, haven't done much. Just went out for sushi with my cousin Alishan and a few friends. Afterwards, Alishan and I were going to go see Ararat, and wouldn't you know it (of all places... in Glendale) in front of the theater I see my friend Areen whom I met in Armenia being interviewed by Horizon about the film... along with a couple other people. By the way, I plan on seeing this film a hundred times over and over again. But to my dismay, the showing was sold out. Well, I can't complain, actually, I can celebrate. YAY, IT'S SELLING OUT!!!!!! So we went out with a few of those guys: ANC folk. We went out for a few beers and all we could talk about was Ararat. As Shooshig expressed, it is so refreshing to see all Armenians rallying around this film. It's such a proud time for all of us.

Tomorrow I see Shant whom I haven't seen since Armenia. Considering we were inseperable there, this is going to be a happy reunion. But it all boils down to this... the Armenian Music Awards. Sounds kinda silly when I say it, but I gotta say, I'm excited to see something new. This is definitely new in my book.

Oh Shooshig, I'll e-mail you back, but yes I'm here on Monday, so let's hang out. Small freakin' world. Raffi Niziblian is in Armenia finally meeting all the repat loggers, and I'm over here in LA hanging with another fellow Diaspora logger. Raffi Kojian, what have you created?

After about six months of work, we've finally got the Bambir-Quake lyrics for our next CD release on Pomegranate. I received an email from my mom (who now lives in Gyumri, Armenia) saying that it's all finished. She's worked on this for a half a year and as luck may have it, now lives in the same city as the band. Interaction between the two led to the having them clear up some dialect issues in the words. The dialect in Gyumri is much different from that in Yerevan. The CD should see the light of day sometime in 2003.

Otherwise, all systems are go for the Armenian Music Awards this weekend...

Be honest, how many of you made the joke... "let's see if there are any Armenian names in the credits!" I know Shooshig was. By the way Shooshig, I'll be in LA in exactly 12 hours.

So I too went to see Ararat Saturday night in New York. We had a large group... my sister, her husband, his sister, their cousin, my cousin, her fiance, and two close friends of ours. A family affair it was. Though most of these people are not typical Atom Egoyan fans, for no other reason that his films are not their style. Much to their surprise, they enjoyed the film more than they anticipated. I fell in love with it during the first scene, but it didn't help that we had to sit through a half an hour of previews. It's easy to say, 'he should have done this','he should have done that' because we all know all Armenians are chiefs and know how to do things better. But I think for the first time, everyone was generally satisfied. Sure, some people said this could be different or he could have left that part out, but overall, I think everyone seemed happy anyway.

My reaction? Every minute I sat through that film, I had a different thought in my head about my feelings of being Armenian. But mostly, it brought out my pride with such a beautiful culture and that I get to be a part of it. I feel sorry for people that don't get it. But lucky that I do... and lucky that I'm not alone. The language, the traditions, the talent. We ROCK! I don't want to talk to much about the plot because I don't want to give too much away. But the acting was terrific. The story... it's a different way to look at the issue, and that's why I love Egoyan.

Afterwards, the big family group of us went on a family outting to a nearby diner. It was pouring rain outside with freezing cold wind, so we didn't go far. We all shared our thoughts, but as I sat back and watched what was going on, it all hit me. I realized the significance of this event. Everywhere around the US, this is happening. Groups of people, Armenian or not, will be discussing this film about the Armenian genocide. This little secret of ours that everyone tells us to forget will be told, and told again and again and again and again. This movie will remind us of the tragedy that took place, and also tell the rest of the world what we've known all along.

I'm now in DC at my parents' house getting ready to fly to LA tonight. I get to see more cousins and I'm sure I'll be viewing the movie a few times while I'm over there. I'm so happy to say I'm not just going for the cause. I'm going because it's a great film. BRAVO!

ARARAT

There are so many different impressions; I don’t know where to begin. First of all I’d like to say that I was deeply touched by the dedication and most importantly the drive of all those people who were involved in making this movie. (I feel like I’m giving a speech at the Oscar’s). The truth is, without these people’s interest and hard work the views and impressions I will share would not be possible. I know I waited so long to see this movie, but now that I have seen it I don’t quite know how to analyze my feelings and thoughts. It’s everything I knew it would be and then some.

Being familiar with Egoyan’s unique style, I tried to pay attention to all the details in the movie. The way all the characters come together… and how each of them in a way is a piece of how Armenians feel. Aznavour, with his pain as the son of a survivor. Raffi, as an Armenian of the new generation who not only realizes why we remember, but also understands the exact meaning of why his father was willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. Even the half-Turkish character Ali, who challenges Raffi. He too represents some Armenians (among others) who believe the past should be left there.

I don’t want to say too much about the details of the movie… but I want to talk about some of the feelings it evoked (in a quite random fashion because that’s how they are coming to me). When the movie was over I felt like I needed to take several deep breaths, and would have liked to sit there listening to the music as the credits rolled. (joke: Possibly the only movie to date where there are actually more than one or two Armenian names in the credits.) I felt as though there was something heavy resting on my chest. I was all of a sudden hit by the realization that I was not in an Armenian center or classroom watching all that. I was in a movie theatre. Non-Armenians would see that movie, just as I had. What would they take from it? The music was incredible. It absolutely MADE the movie. It was almost as if the music was the key to open your heart and mind to understand and accept the movie. To feel each character from within. Excellent!

To have made the movie and have brought it this far is already a huge success. Egoyan was able to capture my feelings as a Diasporan-Armenian dealing with the denial. Speaking of denial, I wanted to mention that towards the end, when Raffi takes Ali home and they are having a discussion in the car, Ali says that Raffi was supposed to hate his character before he even saw the movie… he was conditioned to do so. At that moment I caught myself feeling that exact same thing. Right there, I realized though that I didn’t dislike his character because of who he was portraying in the movie within the movie, but because he was the character that challenged everything I have known to be real. He represents all those people that we, Armenians have to overcome in order to get our cause heard and recognized.

The movie showed how different generations of Armenians are dealing with the issue of Genocide and most importantly denial. The theme of denial is apparent throughout the movie. Not just as the denial of the Genocide, but also Raffi’s denial that his father’s cause could have been so important for him to have sacrificed so much for it. The denial that Celia felt, not willing to accept the fact that her father committed suicide (or did he). Even Christopher Plummer’s character denying the fact that his son is gay, and finally coming to the realization that he must accept and move on. An interesting twist on denial comes when Raffi denies that the cans are filled with drugs. I think that maybe Egoyan was trying to show us the other side as well. When someone believes something so strongly, and denies it…they can actually convince themselves that it is indeed TRUTH. All these bits and pieces people see tie into the major idea of the movie which is, how the denial of the Armenian Genocide affects us Armenians today. Perhaps Egoyan was subconsciously encouraging viewers to compare the denial of such an inhumane act in 1915, to the denial that all of us face in our lives today, whether it is with our work or family.

\De*ni"al\, n. The act of gainsaying, refusing, or disowning; negation; -- the contrary of affirmation.

I’m sure there is so much more that I could say… I plan on seeing it at least once more. I must say however, that from the people I’ve spoken to, it seems as though Armenians of older generations are not quite understanding the movie as the younger generations are. Granted, Egoyan is not always easy to understand. He is one of those filmmakers who challenge you to search for meaning within. So I must conclude that the movie is not for everyone. You need to go in without expectations and with an open mind. File everything you see in your brain, so that during the next couple of days you can put them all together piece by piece. I believe this is a huge success, because it keeps you thinking about the movie and what it means to you.

Thank you!
TSUH! :)~
p.s. - thanks Armen for the link to the K & B interview! :)

When I sit down to log, it’s like being in the twilight zone.
I am writing from the Diaspora end but am living in the Ex-Pats side…

Being here, visiting old friends and meeting lots of new and cool people has definitely been exciting. I have lots of stories to tell, but where do I start?

Saturday about 45 people attended the Saghmosavank service for Patrick. It was weird being there. I was there in 2001 with LCO to prepare for the opening. When we were there the church was a big, beautiful, empty building. It has now become a catalyst for most of the villages and Aashtarak. Every Sunday, they hold a service and a choir sings the Armenian liturgy. We then got together at Madlene’s for a bite (excellent food!) and watched a film. Raffi K, Zabel were there and I finally met Ara Manoukian. I’m telling you it was like the twilight zone.
I then was invited to attend a good friend’s (Antoine from Canada here with the AVC) B-day dinner. It was Rhoda who had invited me… have you ever heard her sneeze? It has to be the most hilarious sound you’ve ever heard. It’s like she’s hyperventilating, laughing, coughing and saying tchiiiiii at the same time… I was on the floor.
Sunday, had a meeting at 9 am… this was with an American. As I had motioned all Armenians sleep in (especially on Sundays… why do you think our mass usually starts at noon?) I then went to a cemetery for a one year commemoration. Anyway, what I wanted to say was, I was being driven to and from Saghmos and this cemetery by 2 very wild Armenian Americans who kept getting lost… as a back seat driver, all I can do was laugh my heart out! Cops did not stop us! I thought they were doing an ok job. I was only stopped once since I have been here. And I’ve been in all kinds of cars with all kinds of drivers and all kinds of places… OK, so then I went to vernissage (lots of talented Armenians… what a waste that they don’t have a venue to show and sell their works abroad.)
Today I will be in Yerevan mostly, but for the next 3 days I will be on the raod and in Karabagh… YAAAY!! I can’t wait to meet my Yergir yev Mshaguyt (LCO) friends from Shushi and Karin Dag. I miss them soooooooo much.

Ok, that’s it for now. See you in Armenia!

RESPECT 101

Here's a little story to clarify just how intollerant I am of the lack of respect among my peers. A while ago, I was asked to attend a meeting for a committee (that will remain nameless) that I'm not even serving on. The reason I was asked to attend the meeting was because they have hopes that I will serve next year. This is not an average committee, it is a full time commitment. The meeting was to take place in Philadelphia this weekend and I was told months ago. Fine, I said I would go. Infact, I was so generous to attend this meeting I have no obligation to, that I revolved my schedule around it. Since I had to drive down to Philly this weekend, and then go to LA the next weekend from DC, I figured why not combine the trips, I'll go to Philly and continue to DC and fly to LA from there to avoid two coastal 10 hour trips back-to-back, which also saves them a reimbursment to me for a car rental. Only problem is, I backed out of a freelance job to do it... a paying freelance job. Yesterday, I got a message that the meeting was cancelled because the other members of the committee were tied up with their own work. These committee members are close friends of mine. I love them to death, but I don't stand for this. I decided to find the bright side of the situation, at least it gave me a couple more days in New Jersey with my sister. AND I could stay to see Ararat on Saturday night, since Friday was all sold out, and we all know how much Arsineh has been anticipating this film. YAY I got a ticket. riiiiing.... hello? Arsineh, nevermind, the meeting is back on!

Moral of the story: STOP TAKING ADVANTAGE OF LOYALTY! I am convinced that one of the reasons our community suffers the way it does is because there is an unspoken standard that if you care, you will drop your life to work for all these organizations without reward and you'll like it. Therefore, people take advantage of this to pass on the things they don't want to do to others. I can't count how many times this week people have asked me to do things they are capable of doing, but don't because they don't want to. Some say I am a valuable asset to this community. I say I am the problem... until now. Patch work isn't going to get us anywhere. Leaning on the overwhelmed, burnt-out veterans is not going to cut it. STEP UP PEOPLE! You want something done, do it yourself! Travelling city to city at the snap of someone elses finger is not my idea of loyalty, it's stupidity. I'm not a sucker and wont be treated like one.

The happy ending of the story, I'm blowing off the meeting and going to see Ararat!

I had promised to log often about my stay in Armenia. It was hard to write during the past days. I know you have probably read logs about Patrick but I can’t stress how much it has affected us here in Yerevan. Tomorrow will be yet another day full of Patrick memories. We’ll be at Saghmosavank … it’s closer to heaven from there. We can connect with Patrick for sure, because he is definitely up there, in Heaven.

As for what I am doing with my time, it’s simple. I’m trying to enjoy life as it is in Armenia. Arsineh talked about highs and lows… she also mentioned smooth sailing. But what I would like to mention is the level of stress and the pace of our lives. People in Armenia are not stressed, although they would have a better reason to be. They have to assure they survival and work hard at building a country. They don’t do any of this before 10 a.m. in Yerevan. Try and get an appointment befor ten, the answer will be “shat shut a” (to early). I LOVE it!

Yesterday, Raffi K and I went up close to the border of Georgia to a village called Airoum. This is mostly populated by Armenian refugees from Baku and Sumgait. I had never been north of Gumri. Vanadzor was a great city with a vibrant population. Sort of reminded me of Yerevan in the late 90’s. It is a very industrial city with the train tracks going right through it up to Tblisi. From Vanadzor to the border, through Lori Marz I saw another Armenia; one full of colorful trees and beautiful mountains full of vegetation. It was gorgeous! The weather is very nice here. Cold and crisp!

Other than that, I have been mostly in Yerevan visiting with friends and discovering new hot spots… and believe me there are plenty!
Yerevan is a cosmopolitain city. I was walking from point A to point B in Yerevan and bumped into Aram H in front of Ani Hotel on Sayat-Nova. He introduced me to a Mexican-Armenian who was planning to attend the World Scouting Jamboree in Thailand this December with the local scouts. There was a young Hayastantsi Scout leader with him… 4 people from 4 different countries. This happens a lot.

Today is Madlene’s B-day… happy birthday to you! Remember that Patrick is smiling down at you.

It's very hard to write about anything else. The only thing that seems to have importance these days is Patrick because his passing brings up so many thoughts. I'm sad, but it's not reality to me because I'm not there. I'm happy because I did get a chance to meet him before his passing. I suppose the one thing this should say to all of us is to take a look around you and identify the people like Patrick in your life. The remarkable human beings who inspires you. Hold on to them, because good people are hard to find these days. My friends often come and go and never attach to anyone. I do the same, but the remarkable ones, I never let go, even in passing. Patrick's spirit will live on in all of us.

The one thing that makes me dislike being in America is that I feel less when I'm here. But it makes it easier to get through your day. No highs or lows, just sail right through the day. That's why I gotta get out of here. What a drony lifestyle. So I'm off to a tour of the East and West Coast. I leave for New Jersey tomorrow, hoping that I'll get last minute tickets to see Ararat in New York. Staying with my sister, of course and bugging the hell out of my brother-in-law. He loves it, stop feeling sorry for him. Then off to Philly to see friends, then moving on to DC to see the folks... just in time for the holidays, but wait! First a trip to LA. Yes, the Armenian Music Awards are just around the corner and I purchased my tickets. Front row first balcony. This should be a hell of a show. While I'm there, I'm going to catch a showing of Ararat somewhere, I don't care where, ANYWHERE I gotta see this film. All these trailors and talk about it, I want to see this film. For two years I've been hearing about this movie. Now I have non-Armenian friends asking me if Christopher Plummer is Armenian. HAHA! No, but the director, Cher, Principal Skinner (the fraud one), Andre Agassi, Gwen Stephani, Kirk Krikorian, Arshile Gorky, all of System of a Down, and so-on are. I always have to take that shot when I can. Soon... Then home for Thanksgiving... mmmm candied yammmssss.... cranberry sauce and turkey stuffing... mmmm...... then back here... wooptidoo. Two weeks of travelling, I feel like a superstar. Not to mention that I'm going to LA for an awards show. Glamorous Arsineh!

First off... the last time I logged, I had not read anyone else's post... so I'd like to say that even though I did not have a chance to meet Patrick, I'm deeply sorry for his passing. It sounds as though he was one of those very special souls that only come around once every so often. Reading about what he has done, and the mere fact that he was a repatriate 10+ years ago makes him a hero in my eyes. I believe that he must've touched so many people... his body died, but his soul lives in all those people FOREVER....

Well, I had a little bit of sad news myself yesterday. Last week I wasn't feeling all that great, so I skipped class on Thursday to go get a blood test, and sure enough things weren't quite what they're supposed to be. It turns out that I need yet more adjustment of meds and an almost definite possibility of another radiation dose in a couple of months (spring time). First thing I thought of was that I wouldn't be able to go to Armenia in the spring as I had planned. We will see what happens... maybe a miracle? :) So yesterday I spent the day at home catching up on homework, making portfolios, doing some reading. Often times I forget that I'm not "superwoman" and I need to slow down...so I get reminded (even though I try to block it out).

So since I was home yesterday, I just happened to be listening to the radio while I was doing my "work". And all of a sudden I heard that Serj from System of a Down and Atom Egoyan were going to be on "Kevin and Bean" on KROQ (106.7fm) Kevin & Bean. I sat in front of my stereo intently listening to the show as K & B introduced Serj and Atom and proceeded to talk about their impressions of the movie ARARAT and the work that System does for the Armenian cause. They spoke about how ARARAT addresses a very important issue, not only about the Genocide but more importantly of the DENIAL and how that affects the youth of today. (I haven't seen the movie yet, so I'm only paraphrasing what I heard.) After that discussion, they took calls from the public. There were numerous calls from young Armenian, but the most touching one was from a 19 year old named Nazo. Nazo spoke directly from my heart. First of all he thanked both Serj and Atom for the work they are doing for the Armenian cause. He told them how proud he was as a young Armenian to be able to witness something this "big" that his grandparents would never believe would ever happen. Nazo also spoke about what it feels like to be an Armenian today... a descendent of this denied injustice. He talked about how he was brought up with the constant feeling of "we will never forget"...and how difficult it was in reality to keep that fire alive within himself and his peers. He told both the audience and K & B about the efforts within the Armenian community to get every theatre and every showing of ARARAT sold out so that it can then be distributed nationwide. Nazo's phone call touched both the people in the studio and me as a listener. I have to say that I was VERY proud of this young guy, not only for listening and calling but also for putting into words what most of us feel and think. THANK YOU Nazo, and bravo!

One more comment about KROQ's interview... I've been listening to that morning show for more than 8 years. I often listen to KROQ on my long drives to Northridge and back. It was an incredible feeling to have both those VERY different worlds come together for me. Here is this alternative radio station in Southern California, and all of a sudden my other world of something SOOOOOOO Armenian crashed into it! It was indescribable! I go back to the idea of "nepantla".... this was definitely a 10 minutes during which I felt WHOLE. It validated my 2 worlds and united them for me. If you listened to the show, it would be nice to write Kevin and Bean a thank you e-mail. Their emails are on the link above. (Even if you didn't listen, they might have a clip of it on their site soon.)

Let me check on dinner...
TSUH! :)~

OUR ETERNAL AMBASSADOR:

I was fifteen years old when i saw him at the very first time. On that occasion, he gave us a conference about agriculture in armenia and the armenian lifestyle as well. We got astonished when the school director, Ms. Kristin Tahta introduced him as a young argentinean guy who started to live in The Republic of Armenia and to work for its progress. We were surprised about the idea of a professional argentinean of armenian origin returning to Armenia and not to other country. We saw the first example of repatriation in Argentina. Hundreds of stupid-minded-pseudo-charlatan heros filled their mouths with promises of freedom, songs about how to reconquer armenia and burn istambul and such things for many decades. But when the freedom came, no one came back to Armenia. A humble guy did it. That conference where i knew him was in 1995. In those times i use to avoid all about Armenia and armenians. Some years later, some things changed a lot...In 1998 i traveled to Armenia. I couloured my head with pink and i took my guitar there to Yerevan. I was having the old nescafeian breakfast of the Hotel Armenia when i felt an index finger knocking on my arm. I heard a friendly voice "Ustedes son Argentinos?" (Are you Argentinean?) And there he was again. Both we got surprised. My brain was saying "This ArG-Menian is still living in Yerevan, the man of the conference!!!". And he got surprised too when i told him i recognized him from that talk he gave us. After that trip to armenia and those coincidences i got Armeniantitis as a fever. I was sure i was going to see him soon. Years later in Buenos Aires when we got suddenly both of us walking on the armenian street he used to say as a joke. "You are not the same guy i met in Yerevan. The one i met there had a pinkish coloured hair!!!"
Then we started to keep a fluent touch by e-mail periodically.
Last year he brought me some CD´s i ordered him from Paris, The Kotchnak Ensemble, who´s leader Aram Kerovpian was a very close friend of him. He was that kind of person that could not deny any favour. Step by step we discovered that we had lots of relatives, friends and points of view in common. The big armenian net was unifying us and promising some co-working activities for the future. This current year we sent books to each other. We were getting to a closer friendship. Such as i use to call him Ice-cream man (Heladero) because of a freezer brand name that was exactly the same as his name.
He made Armenia to progress and Armenia gave him some progress, too. He was moving up to a big russian style house when this happened.
He was one of the main bridges to unite Armenia with Argentina. Now he is a bridge to heaven.

Every time i´ll listen to Kotchak i will remember him, every time i´ll read the book about armenian medieval architecture he sent me i will remember him and every time that i know a new spiurkahay that returns to its country I WILL REMEMBER HIM.

Badrig Jan, We will remember you.

To The Eternal Argentinean Ambassador for the Armenian Republic.
Patrick Tateossian 1964-2002

PS: Don´t forget to check my mails, enguer...g@ desnvink hon ver@... Hovig Jan

Wow, sorry to hear about Patrick. I did not know him, but it seems pretty obvious that he touched some lives. My condolences to everyone that knew him and his family.

On a brighter note, this weekend my brother Sevan rolled into Boston from Chicago (soon to be Milwaukee, Wisconsin) for the Sarine Gregorian wedding. It was good to see him as I get to hang out with him about once per year. A bunch of us went to Boston Billiards near Fenway Park on Friday night and had a great time.

Earlier that day, I heard some great news on several CD projects that are in play. Filmmaker Atom Egoyan emailed me an endorsement on "Armenian Voices" that will show up in the banner up where Gor's is now. I never thought he would respond after sending him the CD and some info, but he did and shows that he is a class act and is a music lover. Also, just before I headed out to the pool hall, I received notice that Gor's "Yeraz" has been nominated for another music awards ceremony. It's called the Just Plain Folks awards and "Yeraz" the album was nominated as Best World Music Album and "Yeraz" the song was nominated as "Best World Music Song". The awards show is in L.A. sometime in February 2003. Needless to say, Friday was a pretty exciting day.

It looks like there will be a decent size Pomegranate Music cheering section at the Armenian Music Awards in Glendale on November 24, 2002. While Gor's status is still up in the air as to whether he can attend (U.S. Embassy Visa issues), Aaron Stayman (guitarist on "yeraz") will be attending, so will designer Arsineh Khachikian and about 10 of our friends. Since it's my first AMA, I don't know what to expect. From what I've seen from last years show on video, it looks like a professionally run event with a very competant orgainzer in Peter Bahlawanian. The website is www.armenianmusicawards.com in case anyone wants to come out and check out the show...

6:58 am... I have 2 minutes before I have to leave the house, but as you can see, I'm not too ecstatic about hitting the freeways this morning. Seems like the closer it gets to December (the end of my Undergrad career) the less I want to actually be there. Now it's easy to miss a class here and there, but you miss one, then you say, "oh what the heck, I'll skip the next too" and then you realize you spent the day at home. (not good).

So I'll give you a quick update. The community here is BUZZING about "ARARAT". Everyone is organizing and waiting for its release this weekend. This morning (or maybe it's tomorrow) Kevin and Bean on KROQ (an alternative radio station) will be interviewing System of a Down and Atom Egoyan. Exciting stuff!!!! There are flyers with info about the theatres where the movie's opening EVERYWHERE! Not to mention countless e-mails.... I have a REALLY good feeling about this. "Take your friend to ARARAT" campaign organized by the ANC is going well too! Word is spreading FAST.

Thanksgiving is coming... YAY! I feel like there is so much to be thankful for this year.... but I'll save this for an upcoming log as I'm now officially late! 7:04am

TSUH! :)~

I had the brief honor of aquainting myself with Patrick last summer. In the short time I got to know him, he managed to inspire me. There are certain people in this world who you know have fewer enemies than anyone else. I can't imagine him having any. Patrick was a remarkable human being, and humble. For that I believe he will go to a better place. For those who know him, not much can be said to live up to his amazing character. I will pray for his family in Argentina, likewise for his friends and the community in Armenia who are also losing a great human being.

It's hard to talk or think of anything else, but there are people who believe that good things happen after bad things, and likewise the other way around. The day Patrick passed away, I was at a wedding for a great friend of mine, and the groom, an old roommate. Weddings hold little meaning these days, but this one stood above others. It truly was a union meant to be. It brought together our circle of friends from decades of history and the celebration was spectacular. 300 close friends and family attended, but this crowd was no average crowd. We were all friends and arrived early to get good seats. The bride, Sarine (Gregorian) Adishian, was glowing with beauty. Her groom, Aram Adishian, eyes lit up with love. I truly believe that life balances out in the end. I am sure that this is one of God's ways.

FONATÓN, CULTURE AND FUTURE!!!

First of all, sorry about my absence.
This year is coming to its end. The rule says that the last parts are the great ones. So this months in Buenos Aires are going to be active for real.
We are ready to work for Armenia. The whole community in Argentina is interested in what is going to happen on next 14th to 17th November: The Armenian National Fund of Argentina organized a FONATÓN to collect money for the North-South Karabagh road. More than 10.000 armenians families are participating of this event!!! Lots of armenian youth volunteers are going to make the phone calls to make possible this collect. Maybe the amount would not be "the great amount" but the good attitude of the community deserves a congratulation.

Well, spanish readers the new Generación 3 offers new and great articles. You can find some good data about the life of Gomidas Vartabed. This magazine is also in a project of making a fluent bridge of comunication with those armenian communities in Argentina that are not settled in Buenos Aires. The first example is the city of Rosario. About Armenia there are two articles: one about the astrological and mystical stones of the Karahundj written by the super-hyper-professor and armenian ambassadoruhí Rosita Youssefian-Balian, and the other about the Natural Protected Areas written by Paula Sarafian, a talented student of geography. Ending about this magazine. it is interesting an article about the father of the Republic of Turkey: Kemal Attatürk and the Jewish heritage Of the Turkish Republic. It´s not a bad to read this article and then analyze about the triumph of Endorgan and the islamic party in Turkey on these last days. The work of this interesting article was product of the investigation of Carlos Vartkés Pozian, a member of the community of armenians in Venezuela. Thanks to him!!!

The dance troupes of Buenos Aires moved a lot their skeletons!!! The Nairí Group of Armenian Traditional Dances presented their annual performance with joyfully and strenghfull as ever they did. The Masis Group of Armenian Folk Dances offered a blasting show. Next weeks the oldest group of folk dances in Argentina that still remains their style, Kayané is going to be on stage for its 42° anniversary.

Muzika!!! That is what the Kindonners of Tiflis shout at the time to start their old traditional dance. Muzika here is making us shake our heads, arms and legs!!! (??? ;-) The Nor Arax Band is cellebrating its 30° anniversary with the music. They launched a new album called IAVUDÚ. The lead singer in the album is the legendary Arturo Kouyoumdjian that still deserves the title of The King among the Armenians Singers in Argentina.

Hamazkayin gave us an important conference to know the armenian rights in the Sainted Places in Jerusalem and Belen. It was really amazing the history of the freedom of Palestinians in 1918 told by Guillermo Karamanian, who described us how the armenians in the battle of Arará gave the point to start the palestinian freedom of that year. All the news about the Baron Der lands have been exposed. It was a nice conference.

Little by little, as Noel Gallaguer would sing now, argentineans are starting feel the terrible competition about the presidential voting on the begining of next year. I am ending my exams, so i think it will be difficult for me to log again during this month.
As a gift i will give you a link on an interesting topic: The Apocryphal of the Infancy (Armenian Gospel X, 10-23)

What a sad day this is for the repat community in Yerevan.
The day started out quite nicely. I met up with Lena M and we had planned a full day with Raffi K and others. I was having dinner at Mer Kyugh Restaurant with some friends when one of them told me that Patrick (a friend I was planning to see in a few days) had passed away. This guy (French/Argentinean) was one of the first repats to have been living in Armenia since 10 years. He’d worked on LCO at Saghmossavank and then gotten jobs with the UN and other NGOs over the years. He was well respected and loved. He spoke Armenian, French, Spanish and English… what a great loss for Armenia and mostly to his friends here.
As I write this I still can’t hold back my tears… he was 37 years old.

Today Yerevan is gray…

Adieu Patrick . Tu va nous manquer!

So it’s been a few days… a few full days for that matter. I got a chance to see Madlene and Artur. I met up with Raffi K and Zabel. It was like a déjà vu. I haven’t seen these people over a year and it felt like only yesterday we were sitting in the Karin Dag (Karabagh) school yard in front of a bon fire goofing off and teasing each other… this was during LCO 1999 (www.lcousa.org)!
I visited the American University of Armenia with a Lebanese repat/student (he will soon be a new logger- that’s an inside scoop) and then had dinner at Sherlock Holmes. They have a very nice salad bar… very full and varied. The chicken plate I had was EXCELLENT!
Before the visit I had gone ton an NGO exhibition/conference at the Hamalir (the sports center). Wow and Wow!
The first Wow is for the Hamalir. I’ve always passed by when I visited and have seen umpteen pictures of this place. Yesterday was the first time I went in. It is just HUGE! It’s nicely designed but might need some touch ups here and there. It’s still gray/dull looking. Needs some colors and perhaps some art pieces to liven it up. But what architecture! Some may disagree with me but Thank GOD for the soviets who made Yerevan the great city it is now… I’m talking about the big government buildings, the metro system, the investment in the Arts and culture.
The second Wow was for the conference. I met about 30 some NGO reps from the hundreds that were there. They seem to be doing good work in the many Marzes of Armenia. There were your women groups, the children’s rights advocates, the disabled and veterans of War and their families support groups and so on and so on… I was truly impressed. Bravo Hayer!
BTW, Yerevan has now has ots of middle eastern restaurants. I went to … oops forgot the name… on Nalbandian. The hummos, shish taouk and tabouleh I had were much better then some I’ve tasted in the states or Europe.
Some people wrote to me asking about the weather and if I was cold and so on… people I come from Montreal. It had snowed 5 cm when I left Canada… cold is like my middle name.
OK, seriously. The evenings are chilly. The days are nice… comfortable. A good sweater and your set… unless you are from LA and don’t know what snow is!
Some of you may remember Raffi K’s comments about smoking in restaurants and café’s … it is disgusting. First you can’t breath, then you stink then … well you dye from second hand smoking. Raffi and I are going to push for non-smoking sections (that are respected) and maybe some non-smoking joints where we can hang!
Real estate is gone crazy here. It is getting expensive by the minute it seems. So all of you who want to eventually buy a house or a pad… make it quick!

OK, enough for today, I’ll write some more tomorrow (if Armentel allows it)

(Bachigner Amassia yev Varanta!)

GO GOR! GO HOVER!!!!! I'm so psyched that these two CDs are nominated because I think that they both deserve it so much. I've been hearing so much hype about the Hover CD. People love it. I think everyone that worked on it really did a fantastic job.

So I decided to go to LA for the Awards show. I can't miss it. I just booked my ticket... and then rebooked it when I realized I had the wrong dates. By the way, People in DC and NY, DEFINITELY fly JetBlue to LA from now on... same goes the other way around. I'm flying at peak travel time... the Tuesday of Thanksgiving and the roundtrip ticket still comes to $250. Then when I had to change the ticket, it only cost me $25+ the difference of the ticket, which was $10. Big deal. I asked the girl on the phone why their tickets are so cheap and she started laughing. She very humbly said that they simply don't jack up the prices like normal airlines. Then I asked her if they have frequent flyer miles because I plan on racking them up. LA people, start getting used to my visits because I think there might be a lot of them. Normal travel time flights are usually $198 roundtrip (plus taxes n such) from DC-LA-DC. I know I'm unemployed, but bring it on!

So the exciting news around here is the nominations. A trip out to LA might be what I need to break from this cold and dreary atmosphere. Everyone seems to be down in the dumps everywhere I look. But I am getting new red couches in my apartment as we speak, so that should brighten my day.

News... the elections are all I hear about. Mitt Romney got elected for Gov. of Massachusetts. Personally, I was rooting for the Green Party because I think both the Democratic and Republican candidates were the worst I've seen in a while. Watching one of the debate, I thought I was watching two little kids fighting... One said, "let's both stop with the negative campaigns," and the other said "You started it first." I only wish this was an exaggeration, but those exact words came out of our new governor's mouth.

I've been getting a lot of news lately about System of a Down, Atom Egoyan, etc. receiving awards, doing radio interviews, getting press in general. That's VERY exciting. Other than that, life is a snoozer. Still unemployed, but that's okay, because it seems the rest of the US is joining me... it's becoming a trend!

I just found out that "Yeraz" by Gor Mkhitarian was nominated for Best Alternative Folk Album, Gor was nominated for Best Newcomer, and "Armenian Voices" by the Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia was nominated for Best Liturgical Album by the Armenian Music Awards in Los Angeles, CA USA. The awards ceremony will be at the Alex Theater in Glendale, CA USA on November 24, 2002 at 5pm. It will be televised on local cable TV in the Los Angeles area and via satellite worldwide. Congrats to Gor, the Hover Choir, and EVERYONE who helped out, purchased, and performed on these CD's. I can't thank everyone enough... Let's see what happens on the 24th...I'll be attending the awards ceremony and hopefully I'll get to see some relatives in California for the weekend. I visit California about once every five years or so. Glendale is pretty fun. I grew up in Chicago, moved to Boston, and it's always fun to check out L.A. If you're out in L.A. and are at the after-hours party for the ceremony, stop by and say hello.

I spoke to Gor on the phone today from Armenia and he just finished up the first video for the as yet unreleased "Godfather Tom" album (Summer 2003). The song is called is called Sassoonsiner and footage was mainly taken from their concert at the Genats Festival in October 2002. He is pretty pumped about the AMA nominations. Both of us never expected it. Also, from what I hear, the Hover CD release party is under control and will be at Aram Khatchaturian Hall in Yerevan, Armenia on November 23, 2002. If you plan on being in Armenia during that time, please contact the ever-vivacious Rhoda Manouk for details. She is doing a fantastic job in coordinating the Hover stuff...

So where was I ...
Oh Vienna... well so much for that. I have more exciting things to tell... ARMENIA!
WOW... Yerevan is just Gorgeous. Even the ugly things look good (this may dissapear with time!) Anyhow, I arrived with Austrian Airlines from Viena to Armenia. Again, on time and good service. Then again how would I know, I was knocked out in my seat. I didn't care about watching Stewart Little so ... ZZzzzz...
On the Plane I saw Ara H from DC. Nice guy. We promised to get together in Yerevan. Maybe tomorrow.
So the plane lands at about 4:50 a.m. and here I am thinking I will be the only one that needs to get a visa... WRONG! about 30 ppl lined up to get the visa... about 3-4 minutes each... long wait. Visa cost $30 US for 21 days and $20 US for a three day transit.
I had decided that I wouldn't ask ppl to pick me up with the arrival time being so early and all. I decided to take a taxi. I had trouble finding a cart. Some guy was holding on to one and offered it to me... nice eh? NO! as I returned with my luggage he started to follow me and asked for "pogh" (that word was used for Arsineh's sake).. needless to say I told him that this is airport property and that he wouldn't see any Dram from me. After al the cart belongs to me as much as it belongs to him, right?
Make it short... took a cab for 4000 Dr, (I could've gotten cheaper but he told me he'd been waiting at this early hour and all... So he drives me to my friends house. I remembered where he told me it was. I want to pay him, but I had not changed any Dollars... had a 10 I told him to keep it since he had started to say "aper jan ... mi kich this, mi kich that..." it was done! I took my luggage out on the corner of Abovian and Toumanian (one of the busiest "khachmerouk's" of Yerevan). The taxi left. I remembered that I hadn't written down the bldg # the floor or the apartment... not funny! So I roll my luggage down the empty streets of Yerevan at 6:15 a.m. Get to the Yerevan Hotel. very good service guys!
change some money - use the internet on the other side of the street - get the info from my hotmail account - back to Hotel to pick up my suitcases I had asked them to watch - drag them down the empty streets again - finally I reach the dark stairs and try to read the door numbers with the light of my watch. I am laughing all the way. I thought this could've been an ideal Sienfeld episode!
Today was relaxing and slow. woke up late. Made some calls and then just walked around had a Shawarma and a latte at Art Bridge. There is, as most of the Repats have written about, lots of construction happening. So many new stores ... and expensive too! The service has deffinitly inproved since 1999 when I was here with LCO (www.lcousa.org) Ppl are well dressed and better looking too!
I must admit though, I would've liked to be doing all of this with Lara. Yerevan is realy a romantic city. Walks down the streets and in the parks while holding hands with your favorite person is seen frequently here.
Is it me or do people seem happier? Maybe time will tell.
It still kills me how Yerevantsis like to stare and are not secretive about it. They used to stare when I had long hair and wore jeans in 1990. Then they stared when I wore open sandles (the ones with the velcro) and bermudas in 1999. And then they stared some more when I had Amassia in a carry on on my back and when I changed her diapers or fed her yoghort in 2001. Today, they were staring ... at what? my long curley hair? my bright (next to their black or grey) orange sweater? my goat pinch (you know, small beard on your chin with no mustach)? or my red shoes? ok ok, I admit, I asked for it this time!
Well, it's now 3 a.m. long day ahead. gotto sleep.
If any of you want me to look into something, just write and I'l try to find out!
bari gisher tsel bolorin and oh Arsineh, tsav't danem kurro jan!
sorry for typos and spelling, I'm not rereading... ZZZzz...zz...

I am no longer in Montreal. I flew out yesterday heading out to (drum roll) ARMENIA! Can't wait to see some of my logger (and non-logger) friends.
I am in transit now and had about 11 hours to kill in Austria. I decided to visit the Mekhitarist seminary... inch mekhk! I was very dissapointed. Here's my story.
Before I left, I got the address and phone number from the website. Upon arrival, I was so excited to want to see the famous Museum and Book collection that I was focused on going there as soon as I got out of the airport. I tried calling the 2 numbers but there didn't seem to be any such number.
Anyhow, I walked took the tramway and the bus (whichwas cool) and finally after asking about 3 or 4 people I found the place. I rang. This Hayastantsi man answered. I told him that I am in town for just a few hours and would like to see the place if possible. Well, let me tell you who wasn't too thrilled about that idea!
I insisted, after all I did't come all the way here for nothing.
He let me in only to say that the priest was in Lebanon and there isn't anyone else who could show me around. I still insisted. He let me in the church. Very nice and RICH.... mega gold people!
I started opening doors when he wasn't looking. Very nice building... old but beautiful...

I'm out of money on my card... to be continued!

Thank you everyone for the encouraging responses to my web designing plight. Hagop, I would be happy to design yours first. Let me get mine underway and then I'm all yours. I do have dreamweaver, my friend is going to give me a quick lesson, then I'm taking a flash course and BOOM... web designer.

Of course, I realize the jobs out there are slim to none. But they are less when you don't have that skill. Every job posting I find for graphic designers requires some web knowledge. While I'd like to think that it isn't necessary to do good design, no company will hire me if I at least don't know how. Besides, it allows for more freelance work as well, which seems to be my only hope these days.

So the other day I was sitting in the ARS office designing their magazine, "Hai Sird," one of my many freelance jobs these days. They are having some sort of meeting and a group of people arrived from Armenia. One of them is a member of parliament, the others, don't know, but there's Hayastansis in the office. One guy starts dialing the phone and just listening to him talk made me misty eyed. I remember when I was in Armenia, I missed hearing Western-Armenian and Persian-Armenian dialects. Now it's Hayastansi. My God, I still miss it so much. Someone asked me yesterday how the transition was from Armenia to America and I told him that it sucks. I don't talk about it much anymore because I don't want to burden people with my misery, but wow it sucks. The guy on the phone asked me when I was there, where I worked and where I lived. I started throwing back my Hayastansi Armenian at him. I used words like "zangel" and "ashkhadoomem." Oh, the good ol' country!