Ah, my water tank is fixed. It was apparently the circuit breaker that went bad this time. I have not had good fortune with water tanks except my first, and can't wait till the water and natural gas lines are normalized so we won't even need these stupid things. Tomorrow is my first day at my new job, and I did not want to have to think about taking a "bucket bath" or a cold shower.
So what is this new job I promised so long ago to tell you about some day? It is the Diaspora Outreach Coordinator for USAID. I will be working within the US Embassy compound, which means I have the dubious honor of getting to pay US Federal taxes while working in Armenia. But the embassy compound is a ten minute walk from my place, so that will be quite nice. My first day already promises to be quite hectic and interesting, and I believe I will be going to the states this month for work. So although I have read a very long job description, I will have a much better idea of what I will be doing in a week or better yet in a month. To get a job in the compound means getting security clearance as well, and the forms you have to fill out are by no means short. Plus you have to go to a police station and get your fingerprints taken, which did not turn out to be as easy as it sounds. The station in my NY precinct never seemed to have its fingerprint guy in, so I wondered how they ever got prints from suspects. I eventually had to go to headquarters. So anyway, I am sure that I will have all sorts of interesting things to share with you from work. One of the things I will be doing is to compile a list of all the projects USAID funds in Armenia, which I will put online. So as I said, more on all this later.
Alright, when I am walking the streets of Yerevan, I am just overflowing with ideas of what to log about, but when I get home I forget most of them. I may need to get a palmpilot just to jot down the ideas. One thing I cannot forget is the massive number of visitors in town. The diasporan and non-Armenian visitors are so numerous they are practically tripping over one another. I got a couple of things at vernissage on Saturday before things get too picked through and overpriced.
Ah, so last night was a bit of an adventure. Ara Manoogian pops by in the afternoon, and we head to Diamond Pizza to meet some others. As I have said, Diamond Pizza I think stands out by far as the best pizza in Yerevan, and has a strong selection of other dishes as well. So who does Lena run into on the street on her way over but Vartan Marashlian of Moscow, who used to log in the diasporan logs. He had been in town for 3 hours and was walking around when they bumped into each other. I have said before how often you bump into people you know walking the streets here. On my walk back from Yeritasardakan Metro this afternoon (beautiful weather), I ran into nine people I know. So we had fun at Diamond Pizza, where Arsine's (Diaspora Log) boss Aram Hamparian and others joined us. Afterwords we went to Haro's party at Garegin N'jhde Metro, a rather nice spot in the outskirts of Yerevan. It was good to see all sorts of people at the party, including people I had not caught up with yet since my return, but I left before 11pm so that I could catch the last metro home and not mess up my sleep schedule too badly after just having recovered from jet lag and right before my first day at work.
Well I think I have filled your ears enough for now...
So what is this new job I promised so long ago to tell you about some day? It is the Diaspora Outreach Coordinator for USAID. I will be working within the US Embassy compound, which means I have the dubious honor of getting to pay US Federal taxes while working in Armenia. But the embassy compound is a ten minute walk from my place, so that will be quite nice. My first day already promises to be quite hectic and interesting, and I believe I will be going to the states this month for work. So although I have read a very long job description, I will have a much better idea of what I will be doing in a week or better yet in a month. To get a job in the compound means getting security clearance as well, and the forms you have to fill out are by no means short. Plus you have to go to a police station and get your fingerprints taken, which did not turn out to be as easy as it sounds. The station in my NY precinct never seemed to have its fingerprint guy in, so I wondered how they ever got prints from suspects. I eventually had to go to headquarters. So anyway, I am sure that I will have all sorts of interesting things to share with you from work. One of the things I will be doing is to compile a list of all the projects USAID funds in Armenia, which I will put online. So as I said, more on all this later.
Alright, when I am walking the streets of Yerevan, I am just overflowing with ideas of what to log about, but when I get home I forget most of them. I may need to get a palmpilot just to jot down the ideas. One thing I cannot forget is the massive number of visitors in town. The diasporan and non-Armenian visitors are so numerous they are practically tripping over one another. I got a couple of things at vernissage on Saturday before things get too picked through and overpriced.
Ah, so last night was a bit of an adventure. Ara Manoogian pops by in the afternoon, and we head to Diamond Pizza to meet some others. As I have said, Diamond Pizza I think stands out by far as the best pizza in Yerevan, and has a strong selection of other dishes as well. So who does Lena run into on the street on her way over but Vartan Marashlian of Moscow, who used to log in the diasporan logs. He had been in town for 3 hours and was walking around when they bumped into each other. I have said before how often you bump into people you know walking the streets here. On my walk back from Yeritasardakan Metro this afternoon (beautiful weather), I ran into nine people I know. So we had fun at Diamond Pizza, where Arsine's (Diaspora Log) boss Aram Hamparian and others joined us. Afterwords we went to Haro's party at Garegin N'jhde Metro, a rather nice spot in the outskirts of Yerevan. It was good to see all sorts of people at the party, including people I had not caught up with yet since my return, but I left before 11pm so that I could catch the last metro home and not mess up my sleep schedule too badly after just having recovered from jet lag and right before my first day at work.
Well I think I have filled your ears enough for now...
posted by Raffi K. at 8:15 PM
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