yesterday i was in the middle of a log when the doorbell rang. it was some guy who said he was from the city municipality to collect our annual property tax. because i had not calculated this cost i was a little frightened thinking... do i have that much at home? will this affect the vacation fund? then all of a sudden i saw the figure next to my name 1,790 ahhhhhh. ok now comes the great part. it was in dram. i owed armenia 1,790 dram which is about 3 united states dollars in property tax for the year 2002, or 2003 (he was not sure). I paid the fee and told him that he was welcome back anytime.
so now i can finally write about PROTECT OUR FORESTS. a few of us here have started a new coalition called protect our forests. It is a growing coalition of concerned individuals, businesses, national organizations, international organizations and others who understand the threat that armenia's forests are in and are ready to do something about it. we had over 150 individuals at the meeting and already broke out into 5 groups. i am in charge of the public relations, environmental awareness, and education group and i had a very smart group of eager individuals ready to get started. i will write more about this but if you are interested in the coalition please email us at protectourforests@yahoo.com and see how you can help.
did you know that we are down to 7% of forest here in armenia. our goal is to get it back up to 25%... it is not only a goal. it is a matter of survival. you read a lot of literature that states... that we need to do something... now... for our grandchildren. the scary thing is that in armenia... the situation is so grave we have to do something now... for our children. there will be no forests in 20 years if we continue at this pace.
things otherwise are going well. i have been taking russian classes for over 3 months now and am able to express myself on a very elementary level and it feels great. but mostly i am able to understand what people are talking about. today at the meeting some people spoke russian and i was able to understand some of what they said. it felt great.
tonight i am going to my friend's 30th birthday and am realizing that... i am no longer part of the young university world. i am now 26 and most of my friends are older than that. today at the coalition meeting one of the university students had a bright idea... and i responded with. i am so impressed by the youth here... i am still having a hard time swallowing that i am not that young idealistic university student anymore... but the late 20's working person... admiring that university energy that those young kids had today at the meeting.
everyone who knows me still tells me i have the energy of a football team. i love contributing it to the families in crisis organization, orran (www.orran.am), and now the protect our forests coalition. I hope I never lose this drive.
the funniest part of the meeting was that arthur, my husband the singer, had come to the meeting to support my project. when we went around the group and everyone was introducing themselves (very serious group) arthur stood and said "arthur, song and trees organization." everyone was on the floor. he has such a great sense of humor.
so now i can finally write about PROTECT OUR FORESTS. a few of us here have started a new coalition called protect our forests. It is a growing coalition of concerned individuals, businesses, national organizations, international organizations and others who understand the threat that armenia's forests are in and are ready to do something about it. we had over 150 individuals at the meeting and already broke out into 5 groups. i am in charge of the public relations, environmental awareness, and education group and i had a very smart group of eager individuals ready to get started. i will write more about this but if you are interested in the coalition please email us at protectourforests@yahoo.com and see how you can help.
did you know that we are down to 7% of forest here in armenia. our goal is to get it back up to 25%... it is not only a goal. it is a matter of survival. you read a lot of literature that states... that we need to do something... now... for our grandchildren. the scary thing is that in armenia... the situation is so grave we have to do something now... for our children. there will be no forests in 20 years if we continue at this pace.
things otherwise are going well. i have been taking russian classes for over 3 months now and am able to express myself on a very elementary level and it feels great. but mostly i am able to understand what people are talking about. today at the meeting some people spoke russian and i was able to understand some of what they said. it felt great.
tonight i am going to my friend's 30th birthday and am realizing that... i am no longer part of the young university world. i am now 26 and most of my friends are older than that. today at the coalition meeting one of the university students had a bright idea... and i responded with. i am so impressed by the youth here... i am still having a hard time swallowing that i am not that young idealistic university student anymore... but the late 20's working person... admiring that university energy that those young kids had today at the meeting.
everyone who knows me still tells me i have the energy of a football team. i love contributing it to the families in crisis organization, orran (www.orran.am), and now the protect our forests coalition. I hope I never lose this drive.
the funniest part of the meeting was that arthur, my husband the singer, had come to the meeting to support my project. when we went around the group and everyone was introducing themselves (very serious group) arthur stood and said "arthur, song and trees organization." everyone was on the floor. he has such a great sense of humor.
posted by Madlene at 4:12 PM
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